Music

There are 42 posts filed in Music (this is page 4 of 5).

Check out these videos of the theme songs for “The Jeffersons” and “All In The Family”!

 

Read: Open Music Theory

This is a pretty neat site, should explore it more…

Open Music Theory is an open-source, interactive, online “text”book for college-level music theory courses. OMT was built on resources authored by Kris Shaffer, Bryn Hughes, and Brian Moseley. It is edited by Kris Shaffer and Robin Wharton, and is published by Hybrid Pedagogy Publishing.

Sights and sounds of the Christmas season

The choir at my church, Resurrection Catholic Parish in Tualatin, Oregon, sang last week at The Festival of Lights in Portland, Oregon, hosted at The Grotto, a religious community and gardens. We performed a half hour of sacred vocal music at the Grotto Chapel, and it was a wonderful performance!

 

During the Festival of Lights, the grounds of the Grotto are filled with Christmas lights:

Finally, the choir my wife and I sing in performed at the 5pm Mass on Christmas eve. It is a contemporary group, and I made a recording of one of the prelude songs (What Child is This) performed in a jazz style by a quartet. Enjoy!

 

Leonard Bernstein at 100

Yesterday, I listened to a terrific episode of Radio Open Source, Christopher Lydon’s wide-ranging podcast, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. The show focused on his popular musical, West Side Story. I have played several arrangements of West Side Story and other Bernstein works in concert band and marching band, and they have been some of my favortite band pieces. The conversation between Lydon and Nigel Simeone is a fascinating analysis of many of the songs in the show and looking at the influences of classical, jazz, and Latin music on Bernstein’s creative process. Check it out!

The effect of music in our lives

Earlier this week, I read a terrific post by Ron Chester on the effect of silence at the end of the performance of a piece of music. I sing in a church choir, and there have been many times that a short silence at the end of a piece can really bring home the feeling of richness to the experience. During the past weekend, I also had two musical experiences that reminded me of the power of live music. I sang at a church retreat, and attended a community band concert. In the retreat, I was moved to tears at one point by one of the songs as I sang. At the band concert, several of the pieces were ones I had played when I was in band in high school or college, and the pieces brought back fond memories of making music with a group. It also helped that the band was excellent, easily the best community band I have ever heard. All of these experiences helped to remind me that having music in my life is an uplifting experience, one that I want to continue to have.