From the category archives:

News

World Cup Music: Shostakovich’s Soccer Match

July 11, 2010

Don’t underestimate the power of either sports or music when it comes to exciting a crowd. Even as a tormented composer writing under the harsh restrictions and demands of Communism, in his 1929 ballet  The Golden Age big-time soccer fan and sometime soccer referee Shostakovich recreated a soccer match. In this ballet, a communist soccer team [...]

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The Music of Soccer: Top 5 Soccer Pieces in Classical Music

July 7, 2010

There’s a lot more to World Cup soccer music than national anthems and the penetrating blare of “vuvuzela” horns.  WQXR classical FM station, highlights the top 5 soccer pieces from 100 years of soccer-inspired classical music.

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Hidden Musical Code in Plato’s Writings

July 7, 2010

A scholar in England just announced his discovery of a secret music code in the writings of Plato.  As a closeted follower of Pythagoras, whose heretical beliefs threatened traditional religion, Plato believed that music and mathematics were closely related, and that music was a reflection of the mathematical principles that governed the universe. Pythagoras codified [...]

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Copyright Laws vs. Teens: The Battle Rages

July 2, 2010

When famed Broadway songwriter Jason Bert Brown discovered his songs were being “traded” freely online by those who had never purchased a legal copy, he thoughtfully requested that the traders stop the illegal trading. Read this fascinating exchange with a recalcitrant yet extremely bright and articulate teenager. Eleanor’s teenage sense of entitlement is absolutely breathtaking. [...]

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Jazz Festivals 2010

June 29, 2010

Here are links & dates for jazz festivals around the world, so plan a trip around an  enticing jazz venue that beckons you to kick back and enjoy live jazz at its convivial best.
Jazz Festivals in USA
Jazz Festivals in Canada
UK Jazz Festivals
European Jazz Festivals
Worldwide jazz festivals are also listed geographically, but without dates, in [...]

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Vienna Vegetable Orchestra: Veggies Never Sounded So Good

June 28, 2010

Since 1998, the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra has performed on musical instruments they make from fresh vegetables. (I couldn’t make this up.) They shop for veggies at the local produce market, spend a few hours making their vegetable instruments, then after their concert, they throw them into the pot and serve up vegetable soup. Contrary to [...]

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The Met Brings Opera into the Classroom

June 15, 2010

Bring full-scale Metropolitan Opera productions into your classroom! The free Live in HD school program from the Met is now available in some school districts around the country, and online educational guides put the icing on the cake.  Teaching guides for each Metropolitan opera production include classroom activities, musical highlights, story synopses, accompanying audio clips, [...]

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The Fine Art of Listening: for Musicians & Audiences

June 11, 2010

Listening skills should be stock in trade for musicians, but experienced musicians face the same challenges of concentration and active listening that audiences do.  Timothy Walker’s keynote speech at Great Britain’s ISM (Incorporated Society of Musicians) hopefully didn’t fall on tin ears. Walker, Chief Executive of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, realistically addresses the difficulties musicians [...]

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Arts & Language Requirement for High School Graduation at Risk in California: Fight Back!

June 6, 2010

These are hard times, especially in nearly bankrupt California. But are we content to see the California legislature gut the heart (i.e., the arts) out of education? The arts and foreign languages are fundamental to education, especially in the world we live in today. If creative thinking and global communications were ever needed in this [...]

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Enjoy Operas from the Met: At the Movies or Online!

June 3, 2010

Can’t go to the opera? Does your busy schedule or a pinched pocketbook or an illness make you miss the magic of the live performance? While there is nothing like the excitement of being in the theater for the real event, there are now 2 wonderful and affordable alternatives:
Option 1. Opera Night at the Movies [...]

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Music Hath Charms to Soothe the Savage “Beast”

June 1, 2010

 
Is music something we share with the animal kingdom? Or did they first introduce us to music? This is the musical chicken-or-egg question, and I might just lay my bet on the animals.
From singing whales in the seas to birds in the trees, frogs on a log to crickets in a fog, the music [...]

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Boomwhackers on Steroids: Plastik Musik

June 1, 2010

If you thought boomwhackers were just for kids, think again. Better still, listen to the percussion group Plastik Musik in their astounding Boomwhacker performance:

The first time I met Craig Ramsell, creator of the Boomwhackers, was  in Phoenix, Arizona, about 15 years ago at a music education conference.  At the time, I knew his [...]

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Should School Kids Sing Praise Songs to the Prez?

May 29, 2010

 
There are a few lines that should never be crossed in a democracy. One of those is the line separating church and state. For very good reasons, our founding fathers (while most of them shared the same basic Christian faith) had seen what happened in Europe when religion and politics got mixed. Heads rolled over [...]

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Boys & Men Finding Their Voices in Barbershop Singing

May 23, 2010

The hills are alive with the sound of men singing in Great Britain. Television shows like Glee and The Choir, along with increasing numbers of You Tube videos of barbershop music,  may be contributing to the surge of popularity in Great Britain for close harmony singing. This week over 2500 eager singers are heading to [...]

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New Opera Explores Dementia & Alzheimer’s

May 17, 2010

The Lion’s Face, a new opera on the effects of ageing and memory loss, premieres in Brighton, England May 20, 2010, then tours the UK for the summer.  The music is by Elena Langer, and the lyrics by Glyn Maxwell. The creation of the opera involved an intense collaboration with scientists and doctors at the [...]

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Terror on Broadway: The Show Must (not) Go On

May 2, 2010

The scene was straight out of Hollywood. As my husband Jim and I left our small hotel room on 49th Street we had only 20 minutes to go before the curtains rose at Broadway theaters throughout the district. I had only 30 minutes earlier purchased tickets at TKTS (the half-price ticket booth on Times Square—see [...]

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Free Shipping for Music in Motion Facebook Fans

April 21, 2010

Free Shipping  for Facebook fans on all prepaid orders in the USA through April 25.  Sign up now if you’re not already a fan, and use the Promocode posted on our wall when you shop at Music in Motion. 

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50 Festivals & Places to See Live Jazz

April 21, 2010

Keep this schedule handy, support live performances, and best of all enjoy yourself at these wonderful live jazz events:
Jazz Festivals & Places to See Live Jazz Part 1 
Jazz Festivals & Places to See Live Jazz Part 2
Jazz Festivals & Places to See Live Jazz Part 3

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Opera/Ballet Live in Cinema series: Dallas metroplex

April 20, 2010

This took a little research to find, but thought that opera and ballet fans in the  Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex would find this theater schedule handy for upcoming productions from major opera/ballet companies around the world. How exciting is this! Gather up your friends or your music class and plan a night at the opera, Texas [...]

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See Live European Operas in Local Movie Theaters

April 18, 2010

Enjoy front row seats at the latest operatic productions from Milan’s La Scala and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, as well as from other European venues, all in the comfort of your local movie theater.  Join opening night audiences throughout the world to experience these outstanding operas in digital HD.  Oh brave new world that [...]

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Kids Interactive Music Link: Xploring Xtremes

April 18, 2010

ArtsEdge, Kennedy Center’s interactive website for music and arts education, is a free online resource  every teacher, librarian, parent, and caregiver should know about, but probably doesn’t. 
One of my favorite features was Xploring Xtremes. Kids can explore and analyze musical extremes in dynamics, tempo, and other elements of music, through a variety of listening, [...]

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Jennifer Higdon Wins Pulitzer for Violin Concerto

April 13, 2010

Photo by Candace DiCarlo
                 PRODIGY (not), PULITZER WINNER (yes)
Brooklyn-born Jennifer Higdon was a late comer to music, not beginning formal studies until she was 18.  A self-taught flutist, she did not begin to study composition until she was 21.  From this laid-back musical beginning, she has since catapulted herself onto center stage, becoming one of [...]

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Spring Catalog: A Touch of the Old West

March 9, 2010

Westward Ho! Our Texas roots got the best of us in our new spring catalog, which should be arriving in your mailbox any day, if it hasn’t already. We have lots of interesting new materials in all categories, but I think you and your kids will especially enjoy the pioneering spirit of the Old West, [...]

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Joshua Bell – Dec. 9

December 9, 2009
Joshua Bell

Will the busy world stop and listen to a subway violinist at rush hour, even if he is Joshua Bell? If only we had the ears and heart of a 3-yr.-old. . .

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