Creative Composers

This past Saturday we had fun sharing our original compositions with each other at our Creative Composers recital. I made a video clip of each student describing and explaining things about their piece that I showed before they played. There were a few "Ooops!" moments during the video making process, so I created this Blooper reel to share a few laughs.

Congratulations to all of my students for a job well done! 

Listening: The Music of the Universe

"The music is all around us; all you have to do is listen."

So says August, in the movie August Rush. He is right. There is music everywhere around us. Even outer space is full of sound waves and radio frequencies. For example, here is what a red giant star sounds like if the light waves are translated into sounds that we can hear.
      Red Giant Concert

Did you know that the Earth is also making sounds? Human ears cannot hear many frequencies of sound, but Earth is emitting radio frequencies all the time. In October of 2012, NASA spacecraft orbiting Earth recorded some of these sounds and brought them up into an octave that we can hear.

A group of dancers used these sounds to inspire a beautiful musical piece. Notice how they introduce in their dance some of the unique features that make planet Earth a place we can live: earth, wind, fire and water.

Are you interested in learning more about the NASA project that is recording these sounds? 

You can watch a video here.

Performer Spotlight: Victor Borge

Today I would like to introduce you to a musician whose performances I have really enjoyed. 

Victor Borge was a wonderful comedian and musician.  Mr. Borge was born on January 3, 1909 and passed away on December 23, 2000.  
   He was born in Denmark. His parents were both musicians. His father was a violist and his mother was a pianist. Victor Borge began piano lessons when he was two years old.

During World War II, he had to escape his country and he fled to the United States.  When he arrived, he had $20 and he had to pay $3 for customs! He did not know any English, but learned a lot by watching movies. He soon began to perform and he developed his musical jokes.
  You can find out more about his life here.

Victor Borge was a very talented pianist. He liked to make a joke where he pretended to get "distracted" while he was playing a long piece. He would suddenly start talking about something silly or else he would play something that reminded him of another song (often a popular song) and he would begin to play that song instead!

Here is a video of Mr. Borge playing with Rowlfe the Dog on the Muppet Show. They are playing the Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 by Franz Liszt. 

Here is another video clip in which Victor Borge is playing a duet with another pianist, but he adds other songs (like "Oh My Darlin' Clementine" and "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow") and then starts changing the key so that the other guy can't figure out what notes to play!

Want to hear the real pieces? Click on the links below.
Alice Sara Ott performs Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Lang Lang performs Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1