Women & Music

Today, March 8th, marks International Women’s Day. How are you celebrating?! March is off to an interesting start. Did you remember to move your clocks forward to Daylight Saving Time? I hope you did. If you tuned in to CBTS (CMajor Before The Show) and CRS (the CMajor Radio Show) you know that we are […]

Songs & Verses

As we approach the new year, I invite you to continue to find some fun and funny moments to share in your music making. We intend to do just that in 2020!–Life is too short to be stressed out over making mistakes at the piano and worrying about playing everything perfectly all the time. And, […]

CMAJOR CHORD CHANGES

Have you ever noticed how many CMajor Chords there are in a song that’s written in the key of F Major? What about other keys other than C, such as G or D? This past week, I had some fun with one of my students who wanted to transpose a Christmas tune to a “better […]

Chords in Fiction

Yesterday’s episodes–We talked about chords found in fiction, e.g. blues and jazz chords. See what you can find our your own. Have you ever run across characters that either play instruments or know something about music-making? Below are some quotes from excerpts from the blues story that we visited on the podcast: He leaned back […]

All About Sound Effects & Chords

This week’s homework is all about sound effects and chords. See if you can hear the blues theme that dominates the work in William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony. Listen for the style of the harmonization. Then listen to the music of Florence Price, Harry Burleigh, Antonin Dvorak, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. Note: The spirituals […]