World Music Exploration 2010/11 Week 3 - Visions of a Nomad

This week, my piano students and I are listening to Visions of a Nomad, an Australian jazz fusion/groove pop band that is accompanied by the didgeridoo, an Australian indigenous instrument. Band members include: Michael Cuming (didgeridoo, keys, percussion, classical harp, clarinet, guitar, vocals), Silvana van Dijk (drum kit, small percussion, congas, vocals), Tim Berry (trumpet, flugelhorn,trombone) and Adama Storey (double bass/electric bass).

This group has received rave reviews on its international tours, from theatres to concert halls and from festivals to the club scene.

Career highlights include: Tour of United States in 2005, Diversions Festival Ireland, Holland Theatre concert tour, Cultural Olympiad Greece, Ireland Theatre tour, Japan concert tour, Powerhouse Theatre Brisbane Australia and Conservatorium Theatre Australia. Michael Cuming and Silvana van Dijk were asked by the Olympic committee to produce and aboriginal show to be performed on the ruins of the Acropolis and Olympia.

Here's a clip of Australia White Birds:

We are also exploringThe Edgethis week.(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

World Music Exploration 2010/11 Week 2 - Elena Kats-Chernin

This past week, my students and I explored Wild Swans and Alexander Rag by Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin. She was born in Uzbekistan in 1957 and received her musical training in Yaroslavl and Moscow before immigrating to Australia in 1975. Career highlights to date include: having her music featured at the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Olympic Games and the 2003 Rugby World Cup and having six published CD's under her belt.

Her discography is comprised of ballets, operas, piano concertos and commissioned works for many performers and ensembles, including Sydney Alpha Ensemble, Evelyn Glennie, Bang on a Can All-Stars, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.

(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

World Music Exploration 2010/11 Week 1 - Aboriginal Dance

This year, my students and are embarking on a new "Music from Around the World" journey. Each month, my students will watch or listen to clips of the featured country of the month. I thought this would be a fun thing to share with fellow musicians, as well as give my students one central spot to find the clip that was played at their last lesson.We are exploring music from Australia this month. At the beginning of the term, we watched the following clip of aboriginal music, called Aboriginal Dance 1:

Their ratings were all over the map - as low as 1 star to as high as 5 stars.

(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved

Patrick Henry Hughes - Transforming "Disabilty" into Endless Possibilities

Thanks to my hair stylist for this inspiring clip about Patrick Henry Hughes. This phenomenal young man is blind and has some condition that severely limits his movement. He travels in a wheel chair and is unable to stretch out his arms.He plays a wonderful version of Debussy's Clair de Lune and plays trumpet in a university marching band. Yes - a marching band!

Here's the clip:

As the newscaster says, "Patrick Hughes plays so that we might hear the music of opportunity and the sound of potential."

What an inspiration to us all.

(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

More Exercises for Music through the Ages Exploration

This is becoming more and more enjoyable as the days go by. I stumbled upon a new approach towards the end of the week for the Music through the Ages Exploration: comparing and contrasting the evolution of a genre through the decades.

Angie, a high school student, decided to explore pop at her lesson. She picked Kalafina, a Japanese band formed in 2007. She contrasted and compared that to ABBA, the 70s pop/disco group from Sweden. Finally, we came back to North America with Celine Dion, the pop sensation from the 80s - today. We had a great discussion about music texture, timbre and compared and contrasted pop not just from the 70s to today, but from one continent to the next.

Today, some of my students explored Bee Gees, ABBA, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Elise Estrada, UVERWorld, The Eagles, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus and Merle Haggard. Regardless whether it was young Mia or elementary student Emma, we were able to have intelligent conversations on:

• instrumentation/timbre: My students dutifully reported that country music still uses primarily voice, guitar and percussion and that there are more crossover artists these days. Those crossover artists have more electronic music sounds and "sugar pop" drum grooves. They added that pop/rock has gone more electronic.

• the development of the music videos: They express a great appreciation for Michael Jackson's and Madonna's pioneering contributions.

• the evolution of dance in live performances: "They just stood there and sang in the 70s. There's more dancing and acting now."

• the deterioration of melodic shape, dynamic contrast and rhythmic variance: Some were quick to notice that the melodies are getting flatter and that the rhythms are getting more basic. Ostinato seems to be the modus operandi. As for dynamics, "everything's louder", "it's just one level" and "they yell more" were popular comments.

As for me, I'm happy to report that I sill know the lyrics to Billie Jean, Material Girl, Dancing Queen and most of Desperado.

[October 29, 2009 update] My singing teacher recently said that today's country is yesterday's rock.