Happy Thanksgiving!–Time really flies, man. It feels like the whole year just flew by. In these ‘Coronian’ times, if you’ve made it this far you have a lot to be thankful for. I am most thankful this year for Coffee and Music Conversation. I’ll tell you why. As a barista and piano teacher, I’ve been able to converse with friends, family, students, parents, customers and co-workers about music and coffee. This type of conversation allows you to travel back in time and helps to pass the time…in a useful way, in my opinion. Talking about music and making music seem to be good ways to use your time. And, if you’re enjoying a conversation with a favorite latte in hand or practicing with a latte within reach, it seems to make the moment more special. I encourage you to give it a try. I was so inspired by my students to bring you the Beethoven Latte and the Mozart Special Spice Latte. Now I want to give you something further to talk about with regard to these two composers:
- Beethoven – experienced gradual hearing loss and eventual complete deafness in 1819. He composed nine symphonies. He wrote the Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise for piano.
- Mozart – wrote over 600 pieces during his lifetime (b. 1756 d. 1791). Ninety-one symphonies! Twenty-seven piano concertos! He composed pieces for orchestra, keyboard, chorus, chamber ensembles, opera, ballet, etc. My favorite work is The Magic Flute…Papageno, Papageno, Papageno.
I thought it might be worth it to give some tidbits about Bee and Moz. Hopefully it helps your conversation and keeps you curious about music and music-making. I’ve intentionally shortened their names because we live in a world filled with emojis, acronyms and initials for everything…anything short goes. But, I had kind of an amusing conversation the other day with a co-worker who had confused his facts. He thought that Beethoven was the musician who cut off his ear and then went deaf…lol! I quickly pointed out that Van Gogh was a painter, a visual artist who had done that except for the deaf part.
I wish you a very nice week and I hope to see you again next week. Take care. Stay safe. We’re all in this together. Be well.
Peace, Love & Latte,
-C.
CMajor's Classroom 