
Happy St. Patrick's Day 2021!
Ah, 'tis the 17th of March, and that can only mean it's St. Patrick's Day! 1) Who was St. Patrick? From Brittanica.com: St. Patrick was a 5th-century missionary to Ireland and later served as bishop there. He was born in Britain of a Romanized family. At age 16 he was torn by Irish raiders from the villa of his father, Calpurnius, a deacon and minor local official, and carried into slavery in Ireland. He spent six bleak years there as a herdsman, during which he turned wi
March Monthly Musicianship: Tritone interval
If it's MARCH, it must be TRITONE MONTH! A Tritone - Augmented 4th (4+) or Diminished 5th (5º) - is made up of 6 half-steps, or 3 adjacent whole steps, and splits the scale in half. During the Renaissance, it was referred to as the “devil’s interval” because of its dissonance, and was banned from church music. For a more detailed explanation, click here: Tritone explanation Reminder songs: ascending (4+/5º) = "Maria" and "Cool" from West Side Story; "The Simpsons" theme s

Happy Birthday, March Classical Composers!
Wow! I had no idea some of my favorite composers were born in March: Bach, Vivaldi, Ravel, Wolf, Mussorgky, Rimsky-Korsakov. Let's have a look at some great classical composers born in the windy month of March! Click on their links below to listen to some examples of their wonderful music. This is just the tip of the musical iceburg- there are SO MANY more important March composer birthdays. Use this link to search for their names: Classical Music Composers. Frederic C