Listening assignment #3: Charlie Brown + Vince Guaraldi

Hi everyone! For this week's listening assignment, and what I hope turns into a deep dive into the music that makes the essence of Charlie Brown, I give you The Great Pumpkin! 

At our house, Fall starts only when we've pulled out the Charlie Brown Video collection. Every year I think how the music is what really makes these so quintessentially nostalgic and so perfectly Autumn. Which leads me to tell you about a most amazing jazz pianist and composer of all Peanuts' cartoon soundtracks — Vince Guaraldi a San Francisco-based pianist/jazz musician. Give it a listen! 

Questions: What do you think about this kind of music? How does it make you feel? Which of the clips below is your favorite?

Quick update & Listening #2: tell the story

Quick update then on to the next listening assignment. Lessons will be canceled on Monday, in honor of Columbus/Indigenous People’s Day then resume Tuesday. 

LISTENING #2: Music has the power to make us feel something and sometimes to tell a story. Many of you said that the listening assignment last week made you feel calm. It’s true, music allows us to feel what the composer or musician wants us to feel — just like magic! And at this Halloween season, here is one of my favorite examples of a piece of music that can tell a story — “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” by French Composer Paul Dukas. 

I’d like you to listen to the video below once with your eyes closed. Imagine. What story does the music tell you? Share in the comments below. Then watch one more time with your eyes open to see what Disney animators interpreted the story of the music to be in the movie Fantasia. If you’d like more, find the entire movie on Disney Plus — full of creative animation to beautiful classical pieces. Enjoy!

Listening #1: why Bach?

For your first listening assignment this week, you'll find three videos below. Watch each (certainly doesn't have to be all at once) then answer these questions in the comments below: How you feel when you listen to the music? What do you imagine? What is one new thing you learned from the Bach video? 

All students, watch this:

Younger students, watch this: 

 

 Older students, watch this: