Classics for Kids Podcast Episode Listing Find More Composers at our Composer Explorer
Music In celebration of the Christmas season, some classical compositions that have
There are SO many great music scholars out there. So many folks that make it easy for us to access information on music and its history. That’s the cool thing […]
Well, Gershwin, like Beethoven (and many other composers), didn’t have the neatest
Growing up in Chicago, Margaret Bonds was surrounded by music. Her mother, Estella Bonds, was an organist and fixture of the South Side’s classical music scene. Her composition teachers included […]
Margaret may have written her cantata for Christmas, but she and Langston were thinking
If you love reading about composers, compositions, and music traditions, you’ve likely enjoyed something written by a music scholar. These folks go by many names and use many tools to […]
Together, music theorists, ethnomusicologists, and musicologists have given us books
The operas discussed here are not set in 18th century France or a mythological country. One is set in 21st century Cincinnati, Ohio; the other in 19th century South Carolina. […]
Did you think an opera could have an aria where a character sings about their love
A. Kori Hill Repetition is a funny thing–it can be boring or exciting. It can make you feel like you’re going nowhere or rediscovering something familiar. You can feel all […]
It may be a while before you notice that more instruments have come into the texture
Even if you don’t know it, you’ve probably heard it. I’m talking about “Hallelujah” from George Frideric Handel’s oratorio, Messiah. Celebrating the triumph of the Christian savior, Jesus Christ, over […]
But I’m sure you have some questions. Mainly: what even is an oratorio?
A. Kori Hill Unsuk Chin is a composer based in Berlin, Germany. She was born and grew up in Seoul, Korea, where she studied piano and initially wanted to be […]
But her family didn’t have enough money to get her piano, let alone keep paying for
A. Kori Hill If you study classical music, you’ve probably been told to take the edge out of your sound and make it pretty. There is so much classical music […]
Each musician has at least four other things they have to play.
A. Kori Hill Some folks joke that Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) wrote the same concerto 200 times. He didn’t; he wrote at least 300, some think as many as 500, though […]
didn’t; he wrote at least 300, some think as many as 500, though not all of them have
