World Music Exploration - Cajon Peruano

This week's clip features my tertiary instrument: the cajon! This percussion instrument is Afro-Peruvian in origin, developed by slaves. Now, it's played worldwide in Latin, Flamenco, pop, rock and jazz music.

World Music Exploration - Virgenes del Sol

This week's clip is the Kinsa Trio from Belguim.  Their latest video is based on a popular Peruvian melody composed byJorge Bravo de Rueda.

It starts rather classically on the piano before it switches to the cheery melody:

Great Performances - Dietrich Fischer Dieskau Sings The Erlking

This chilling performance by baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau and pianist Gerald Moore has been hailed on Youtube as one of the best interpretations of this German lied.

Franz Schubert based this "Der Erlkönig" (The Elf King or "Erlking") on a poem by Goethe of the same name.

In a nutshell, the singer portrays four characters: the narrator, a young boy, his father and the Erlköning. Dieskau superbly captures the nuances each character while Moore gallops through those triplets with an enviable pinnache. They paint us a soundscape of a young boy as he rides on horseback in the dark and of his encounter with the Erlking.

The duo are completely in sync, which is a feat considering I read once that the two hated each other. Dieskau's word painting is stellar. Every time I listen to this, I get shivers when the Erlking becomes forceful and the young boy meets his fate.

World Music Exploration - Traditional Peruvian Music

For October, my students and I are heading to South America to explore the music of Peru. Peruvians have several traditional instruments, including:

• Panpipes: also referred to as "siku", "antara" and "zampoña". Traditionally., these were played in pairs.

• Simple notched-end flutes: known as "quenas". These were made of fragile bamboo.

• Tarkas: vertical flutes

• Bombos or wankaras: deep-sounding, double-headed drums.

Here's a lively clip that features quite a few of these traditional instruments:

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Colored Mechanical Pencils - A Musician's Dream

Pilot makes these colored mechanical pencils (Pilot Color Eno), which I stumbled upon at my local Staples. Many of my students (including myself) are visual learners so color-coding dynamics, sequences, trouble-spots is just a treat for us. Since they are pencils (and not pencil crayons), they are erasable - just in time for music festivals and exams!

September 3, 2020 update: The coloured pencils are available on Amazon: