Happy Spring everyone! I hope you are doing well, as we all settle into our new routine for a while.
April lessons will continue online. Be sure to let me know if you need to cancel any April lessons, no later than Wednesday, please.
If you canceled a lesson March 13-31, please let me know which April or May lesson to apply your make-up credit to. The standard cancelation and make-up policy is back in effect starting April 1.
This Oscar-winning movie musical almost starred Julie Andrews, but she was busy filming Mary Poppins! Scroll down (or look right) for more info on this classic.
Name That Tune
Challenge your sight-reading skills with the melodies below!
You've Got Rhythm
Practice your rhythm with some fun exercises below!
Recorded by everyone from Bing Crosby to Ray Charles, the Beach Boys, and Aretha Franklin, this is an American favorite. Find out more below!
Composer Spotlight:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky is one of the most famous composers of the Romantic era, best-known for his ballets, including the perennial "Nutcracker" ballet. He also was a prolific writer of very expressive songs in the Russian language. Scroll down to hear some of them!
Musical of the Week
My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's play
Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story tells of Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a speech and diction expert, so that she can pass as a lady and get a job in a flower shop. The original 1956 Broadway production starred Rex Harrison and a young Julie Andrews, and it won the 1957 Tony Award for Best Musical.
Rex Harrison reprised the role of Henry Higgins in the
1964 film version, which starred Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle. A critical and commercial success, it won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director.
In the film, the singing voice of
Marni Nixon was dubbed in for most of Audrey Hepburn's songs. Marni Nixon also provided the singing voice for Deborah Kerr in
The King and I, and for Natalie Wood in
West Side Story. You can also see her as Sister Sophia in the film of
The Sound of Music.
Rex Harrison's singing style is "Sprechstimme" or speak-singing, a technique commonly used by non-singing actors.
For any of you who want a unique acoustical challenge, overtone singing might be your thing!
Overtone singing is when the vocal folds (cords) sing a pitch, and then the singer manipulates their resonance so that a harmonic overtone sounds, creating an additional higher pitch, essentially singing two pitches at once.
Many indigenous cultures have "throat singing" or overtone singing traditions, and it is amazing to hear.
Here is a
video of Tuvan throat singing - listen for the low fundamental pitch and then the higher harmonic. Here is
another cool video demonstrating several different female throat/overtone singers.
And lastly, here is the
MRI video of Anna-Maria demonstrating overtone singing, which some of you have watched with me. Check out what she does with her tongue to make the resonance support the overtones - so cool! Give it a try!
Folk Song Favorites
You Are My Sunshine
Recorded in 1939, this popular song originated in the country music genre, and has become one of the most commercially recorded songs in American popular music.
Have fun sight-reading these folk tunes! Do you recognize them?
You've Got Rhythm!
Here are some exercises for rhythm practice - good luck!
Composer Spotlight: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States. He was honored in 1884 by Tsar Alexander III, and awarded a lifetime pension. Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression, and he died at young age, perhaps of cholera or suicide.
Tchaikovsky is famous for his programmatic music, including
The Nutcracker and
Swan Lake ballets, and the fantasy overture
Romeo and Juliet. He also wrote many beautiful and romantic songs - check some of them out below: