Thursday, March 26, 2020

In an earlier lesson we talked about how important drumming and rhythm were to African music. Rhythm gives music its driving force. Even in a song that doesn’t use percussion instruments, there is still a beat that keeps the music going. Rhythms can be broken down into smaller units that we call “measures.” You can

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Storytelling is a very important part of African culture. Many stories were passed down from generation to generation by people telling them to their children, who would then tell their children. Stories might tell tales about history, remind people of religious teachings, or just be told for entertainment. The story in the video is based

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Yesterday we took a ride through many cultures and heard many styles of music used to play the same song. I asked you which one was your favorite. My favorite was the section of Africa. I love the drumbeats and the rhythms that come from Africa. The music makes you want to move, which was

Monday, March 23, 2020

Music has been around ever since there were people on this planet. Throughout the ages, there have been changes in musical styles. At different times and in different places, people have sung in a variety of ways, used many kinds of instruments, and even had different scales, melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. Underneath it all was

Friday, March 20, 2020

I hope you’ve enjoyed our online lessons so far. We’ve seen some music videos, read a story about music, and played an art-and-music game. I think we’ve done enough sitting for right now, so today I want you to stand up and move around with me. Moving with music is as old as music itself.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Music and art often work together. The same ideas that influence art also influence music. One of the big ideas in art and music in the early 20th century was abstraction. “Abstract” means an idea that doesn’t have a corresponding object in reality. Art and music were no longer seen as just depicting the world

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Ever wonder why people started writing down ways to play music? It was a long process in history, and there were and are many ways to write musical notation. Without it, though, we’d have no way for musicians to pass their music on to others except singing or playing it for them, and no way

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Today is St. Patrick’s Day. Patrick was a real person who lived over 1500 years ago. While there are some legends about St. Patrick, it is true that he was a slave boy in Ireland who escaped back to his family in Britain. Later he returned to Ireland as a missionary, and his work there

200316: New Jersey Rockers

I will be posting some links to videos, web sites, and audio files here on this blog so you can explore music while on home instruction during the current school shutdown. I will provide a short explanation of the content and why it is helpful in learning music. Today’s first link is to a performance