I just finished a yearly project. Each day of the month I posted on a pre-determined theme. During the month of November, I'll post a collage of all my photos on the daily theme from the past year. The theme for the twenty-ninth day of the month was "Song."
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South Hampton Avenue - I have listened to way too much Blessid Union of Souls in my life.
Billboard Song of the Year - When I offended many people with my questionable taste in music.
Feminist Country - Still all dudes on country music radio, my friends.
The Gaslight Anthem - This band rocks.
Riding a Turtle - I go off about the state of country music AGAIN.
About Dogs - I create a playlist with songs about dogs.
About Cats - I create a playlist with songs about cats.
Of Summer - Ahem. More ranting about country music.
On the Seasons - We need more songs about autumn.
Songs of the Year Update - I mostly, but not entirely, agree with Previous Me.
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The Story of Classical is an Apple Podcast original. In nine episodes, it walks you through the history of classical music. The first episode is mostly about definitions (what is a concerto anyway?), but then it concentrates on different periods of time, focusing on interactions between luminaries of the musical world.
My husband pays for Apple Music, so he was able to access all of the episodes and it led to us quietly whispering the name Buxtehude to each other in a British accent like the guy who narrates the podcast. It also led to us speculating way more than was appropriate about the relationship between Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, but I guess I feel like everyone from that story, right down to the children, is long dead, so I can speculate all I want.
My musical education background is that I played clarinet from sixth grade through twelfth in concert and marching band. I was actually really terrible, but I was good at remembering things like fingerings and what the name of that note five lines above the staff was, so I was handy to have around during sightreading competitions. I also took piano lessons for a very brief period a few years ago. But I never really learned the history of music and how things like written music and the printing press were gamechangers in the field of music. I also did not know how very much I enjoy the sound of the harpsichord ("buzzing around in the background" is the phrase used in the podcast).
Anyway, if you, like me, have a substandard education on the evolution of classical music (how did we go from chanting monks to whatever this is?), give it a go. If you're already an expert, this is likely to roll your eyes, but I'd love to know what you think of the accompanying playlists for each episode.
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What is your musical background? Could you use a podcast like this?
my musical background is NONE, so I should give this a listen.
ReplyDeleteIt's told in an entertaining manner. If you don't want the boring definition stuff, start with the second episode.
DeleteI also played the clarinet, but only in 7th and 8th grade. I actually really liked it, but (1) switched to the trombone which I found much more fun and (2) did not learn anything about music history in band class. Other than that, my Mom turned me onto some classical music, but I also never learned history there either. I would say that this podcast would probably be great for me and I would learn a lot from it, including what Buxtehude means, since right now I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteBuxtehude was a Danish composer! And I could not figure out what the narrator was saying when he said his name (sounded like Bookstahooooooder to me - lol). You've already learned something and you haven't even listened to a single episode!
DeleteWhat a neat angle on the Zelda and Hannah pics... I feel like I can see them in their next moment stretching...
ReplyDeleteI don't have any background in Western classical music, so I could really use this podcast!
It's PERFECT for you. It's not too overwhelming and will clear up the timeline a bit.
DeleteI'm probably not going to listen to this podcast because I'm far too busy listening to podcasts about skincare and other random unimportant things. I have played piano for...38 years now? I guess? I was trained for Royal Conservatory, but now I just play what I feel like. I can still bust out the classical pieces when I want to, but I also recently learned how to play Stairway to Heaven and it was surprisingly fun and challenging. I like to play a little every day to keep my fingers nimble.
ReplyDeleteI think it's amazing that anyone can play piano. How do you make your right and left hands do such different things! Throw in foot pedals and I think playing piano is an Olympic sport!
DeleteI'll look for the podcast. Thanks for the suggestion. I played clarinet from fifth grade through twelfth in concert and marching band. Not very good, but I showed up and tried which is about all that was necessary to be part of the bands.
ReplyDeleteHey, in my band you just had to show up. LOL.
DeleteWait, did I know you used to play clarinet? You played all the way through high school- you were a band nerd! How fun. Anyway... I did take two years of music history in college, but I'll bet there are still things in this podcast I've forgotten, or never learned in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely a band nerd. I am not sure if I have any photos, but I'll dig around and see if I can find any. Marching band competitions are hands down my best memories from high school. We had a competition on a really rainy night and more than one person marched right out of their shoes!
DeleteI took piano lessons for about thirteen years, and then again in college where the grad student who was my teacher was so awful that I gave it up for YEARS.
ReplyDeleteI remember you talking about that piano teacher (when I talked about how pianos were designed for the "average" male hand, which is larger than a woman's when I read Invisible Women)! What a jerk! Piano is for everyone!
DeleteLOL. I suppose at some point we will have heard all of each other's stories?!
DeleteI played the flute forever. No, it only felt like that. I played the flute for about four years because my sister played the flute and we had a flute. I didn't play in high school because band was after school, and I didn't like the band director or the idea of staying after school every day.
ReplyDeleteI will say, however, that the flute itself was beautiful--sterling silverplate and highly engraved and etched. No one else had one like it. But I always wanted to learn the piano.
I tried to learn piano as an adult. It did not go so well. I'm just not dedicated enough for that! But maybe someday!
DeleteOMG, I played clarinet from fifth to twelfth grade. I was very good, winning awards in marching band, symphonic band, and so on, BUT I couldn't read music. I learned by ear and thought there was something wrong with me, so I kept it a secret until I was an adult and felt comfortable sharing it.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! Wasn't sightreading part of those competitions? How did you learn songs? I have so many questions, mostly how you weren't taught to read music!!
DeleteI'd be interested in listening to the podcast. I always wanted to play the piano and sing, but never had the chance when I was a young 'un. So I studied both in my 20s and really liked music theory. But I didn't have the talent to match. I just couldn't master sight reading, and there's a limit to what hard work can achieve. But still, it was fascinating to learn more about music.
ReplyDeleteI love all the musical pasts of my readers. It's so interesting. There is a degree of innate talent that just can't be taught or trained. I feel the same way about elite athletes. Even if I'd had all the training and opportunities of Simone Biles, there's something about HER that makes her performances so much better than all the other elite gymnasts. Anyway, I think you'd like this podcast. It's interesting and not boring at all!
DeleteI really need to start playing the piano again, although my hands are so bad these days I'm not even sure I can. Both my children had piano lessons that started promisingly and devolved into what Eve eventually called "A dark time in our family's history" in a music project. She took up the clarinet in high school and that went much better. I was in a band on vocals and keyboards in high school that was really fun, and the university choir for a couple of years when we first moved to Ottawa. But, well, you know me and podcasts. I could say I will listen, but odds are I will not.
ReplyDeletePodcasts aren't for everyone. I think this is the first one my husband has ever listened to and he liked it because there were a lot of musical interludes, so he didn't have to pay attention for a super long time.
DeleteI'm embarrassed to admit that I did major in music, for all the very little I know about classical music. I mean, more than than the average Jane - I know vaguely about Buxtehude - but not as much as I feel like I should know for having a college degree in it. I actually spent a summer writing program notes for a major music festival, but mostly I would read a lot of cd liners and pull together all the major points. That was probably slightly unethical, now that I think of it. I was very young at the time.
ReplyDeleteThere is another quote about the sound of the harpsichord which compares it to skeletons copulating on a tin roof. I like harpsichords a lot myself too.
I imagine you know a lot more than the average Jane, that's for sure. Even if that knowledge is mostly through osmosis! Skeletons copulating on a tin roof! LOLOLOLOL.
DeleteMy interest/ability in music is that I can turn on a radio. I barely know how to request anything, because I can never remember who sings what song, or the names of songs that I like. I'm freaky that way, but I'm also OK with it. I probably would be the last person to listen to a podcast like this. This may sound uneducated and unpolished, but oh well.
ReplyDelete*I'm behind on my reading. Things really got nuts over here with the 'situation'. I set my blog to private when other suggested I do so, and I'm attempting to email invites out to readers who might want to read whatever posts I read when I'm in a 'timet-out'. If I find your email address, I'll try to add you. No pressure. I've decided to post today and tomorrow and then if no one can read it until later when things die down, that's totally fine.
I did get the invite, thank you! It probably is smart to hunker down until it blows over and hopefully that will be soon!
DeleteI LOVE to sing, but have no formal training and dropped piano lessons when I was young which is one of the biggest regrets of my life. I know I could learn to play now but, honestly, I just don't feel like putting in that much effort.
ReplyDeleteRight? I tried piano lessons a few years ago and it was just too hard to fit in practicing around everything else in my life and I didn't make very good progress. Maybe a retirement project? Or maybe I'll just go around listening to Buxtehude.
DeleteI played the recorder from like 6-10 and then I begged my parents for piano lessons. I took lessons from 11-25 (until I moved to the US). I had an elderly lady as my teacher but she had a wealth of knowledge about the classical composers and we went over that quite a lot. Not too much stuck for the long term but it was fun, I remember learning about all the different time periods.
ReplyDeleteThat's the perfect musical background! Do you ever play piano today?
DeleteI have ZERO musical background - well, at least when it comes to instruments. I was in chorus/concert choir when I was in elementary/middle school and did some solos, but that's the extent of my musical background.
ReplyDeleteI would love to listen to this podcast, but I don't have Apple Music. Wah!
I am not much of a musical perosn besides singing in church. That said we all have to take music in school here in Germany from first to at least 10th grade and we go through all the epochs and learn about music history and composers and such. So i guess I have some musical background – not that I would know today though.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me wonder, is music an extra curricular in the US?
YAY! Clarinet band nerds unite! I had no idea I had so many kindred music spirits out there! (We could have a "whose uniform was the ugliest" competition, LOL.) I played piano from 3rd grade and into adulthood... recently gave up my digital piano because a) space and b) time. Sigh. It was hard to give up, for sure. Clarinet from 4th-12th grade and for fun I picked up oboe in 10-12th grade (no oboe in our pit orchestra and they were going to pay one my 10th grade year... )
ReplyDelete