Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach: “Musette” (1725)

• Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Germany in 1685 into a musical family.
• He could play many instruments but was especially good at the organ.
• His works influenced almost all other composers who came after him including Mozart and Beethoven. Because of this, he became known as the “father of classical music.”
• “Musette” was written as part of a collection of works for Bach’s wife, Anna Magdalena, to play on the harpsichord.
• Bach was a composer during the Baroque era (1600-1750).

“Short Ride in a Fast Machine” (1987)

• John Adams was born in 1947 to a family of musicians in New England.
• At the age of 10, he began composing and his first orchestral pieces were performed when he was just a teenager.
• He is one of America's most admired composers of contemporary times and is still a working composer.
• “Short Ride in a Fast Machine” is an example of the minimalist style of music-which uses heavy repetition of very few musical ideas.
• The work begins with quarter notes played on the woodblock and features the brass and percussion families.
• Mr. Adams used a fast tempo and other effects to paint a picture of an exciting car ride.

• The Magic Flute: “Overture ”(1791)
• Mozart was born into a musical family and was writing music before he was five years old.
• Mozart was a true child prodigy-a child who is extremely accomplished at a skill by an early age.
• Because of his amazing playing and composing skills, Mozart was famous and was invited to play for royalty in Europe as a child.
• Mozart wrote many types of music, including several operas.
• In an opera or ballet, the overture is the introduction music that is performed before the performance begins.
• The “Overture” of The Magic Flute concludes in a major key giving the listener the feeling that this will be an opera with a happy ending

Dances from Terpsichore: “La Canarie” (1612)

• Michael Praetorius was born during the Renaissance period of history, when an explosion of knowledge began.
• During the Renaissance the printing press was invented, which made distributing books and music to the people easier
• “La canarie” is an instrumental piece Michael Praetorius composed for dancing.
• “La canarie” was written for stringed instruments accompanied by lute and tambourine.
• Dotted rhythms and the light sound of the stringed instruments are what give this music a dancing quality.
• Praetorius wrote both sacred music (written for worship) and secular music (written for entertainment).

“The Stars and Stripes Forever” (1896)

• John Philips Sousa’s father was a trombone player in the Marine band, so he grew up around military music.
• Sousa could play many instruments, but his favorite was the violin.
• The sousaphone, a marching tuba brass was made at his suggestion, so it was named after him.
• Sousa wrote over 100 marches and earned the nickname – “The March King”
• “The Stars and Stripes Forever” is one of the most famous marches in the world- It is also the official march of the United States.
• "The Stars and Stripes Forever" features crashing cymbals, booming brass, and high-pitched piccolos.

L’Arlesienne Suite No. 1 “Carillon” (1872)

• Bizet was born in France to parents who were professional musicians.
• Bizet entered the Paris Conservatory of Music just prior to his 10th birthday.
• Bizet wrote L’Arlesienne Suite for a play called L’Arlesienne, (The Girl from Arles).
• A suite is an instrumental composition consisting of several shorter pieces or movements.
• “Carillon” has three sections composed in ABA form.
• “Carillon” is based on a simple three-note ostinato, or repeated pattern, that suggests the joyous ringing of church bells.

Tsar Saltan: “Flight of the Bumblebee” (1899)

• Nikolai Korsakov was born in Russia to a wealthy family and as a child took piano lessons.
• As a young man he worked for the Russian Navy and wrote his first symphony while on a voyage at sea.
• Rimsky-Korsakov was part of a group of Russian composers called “The Five” -who were very proud of Russia and used Russian folk songs in their compositions.
• This opera comes from an old Russian legend where a prince turns into a bumblebee in order to save a princess that had turned into a swan.
• “Flight of the Bumblebee” is quickly recognized all over the world because of its fast tempo and chromatic sixteenth notes.

Peer Gynt Suite No. 1: “In the Hall of the Mountain King” (1876)

• Edvard Grieg was born in Norway and had a very good first piano teacher- his mother.
• One of Edvard Grieg’s most famous compositions is the music he wrote for a play called Peer Gynt.
• Grieg is Norway’s most famous composer and is considered a hero there.
• Peer Gynt is based on a Norwegian folk tale about a young man’s journey to the four corners of the world.
• Grieg used changes in volume (dynamics) and speed (tempo) to illustrate the story of Peer being chased by the trolls.
• “In the Hall of the Mountain King” has been used in countless TV shows, movies, and commercials.

Vivaldi Facts

• Vivaldi wrote “Spring” to describe flowing streams, singing birds, and a thunderstorm.
• Spring is a violin concerto which features a soloist playing difficult passages while the orchestra plays the accompaniment.
• Spring features a section called the ritornello, which is like a refrain after each verse of a song.
• Spring is written in rondo form: A B A C A D A E A.
• Vivaldi composed in the Baroque period of music.

Villa-Lobos Facts

• Villa-Lobos varied the tempo with his use of accelerando (speeding up) and rallentando (slowing down) to depict the speed of the train.
• Villa- Lobos used unusual Brazilian instruments from the percussion family to portray the various sounds of the train.
• Villa-Lobos rode a train through the mountains and heard berry pickers singing. He got the idea for “Little Train “ and wrote it in an hour.
• Villa-Lobos was interested in the folk music of his native country of Brazil.
• Villa-Lobos developed a new system for music instruction and wrote music for his country’s students.

Desmond Facts

• Paul Desmond, the composer of “Take Five”, played the saxophone with the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
• “Take Five” is a good example of the jazz style of music which developed in the early 20^th century.
• One of the special characteristics of jazz music is improvisation—the act of creating music as it is performed.
• “Take Five” has two meanings—to “take a short break” (5 minutes) and as a reference to the meter (sets of 5 beats rather than 4).
• “Take Five” is performed by a jazz quartet- saxophone, drums, piano, and double bass.