Listening: Flight of the Bumblebee

"Flight of the Bumblebee" is a very well-known piece of music. It was composed by Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov in 1899-1900. Originally, it was part of an opera called The Tale of Tsar Saltan.  

In the opera, a magic Swan-Bird changes the Tsar's son into an insect so that he can fly away to visit his father (who does not know that he is still alive). This music was used to end the scene. (See wikipedia for more information.)

Today, "Flight of the Bumblebee" is played on all kinds of instruments. Professional and amateur performers like to show off their technical ability and speed. Although it looks like they can do it so easily, it sometimes takes them years of slow practice and slowly increasing the speed to be able to play the piece at the speeds they choose.

Here is pianist Yuja Wang playing "Flight of the Bumblebee". Her speed and accuracy are incredible. She not only plays all the notes, she is able to make the melody sound louder than the other notes. This is very difficult.

Click the link below to see a 16 year-old playing on the marimba. The marimba is an instrument that is set up much like piano keys, but you strike it with a mallet.

Flight of the Bumblebee on Marimba