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Music & piano

2 Modules 8 Chapters 26 Lessons Easy

About this course

This is a course for those students interested in learning about music in general and how the study of the piano fits into the broader discipline of  Music.

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Course Structure

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7 Chapters

Composers

Composers learn to compose simply by composing. Usually they start by imitating the music of those composers they most admire. The more practised they become, the more they shake free of these models and are able to do things in their own way. We recognise the truly great composer by the fact that they have established their own way of doing things - that they have their own personality or style.

Composers 2 Lessons

About composers

Composers are like visual artists, but instead of using a paint brush, crayons, chalk, clay or other art mediums, a composer’s written music is their art.

Composers write, direct, and create music for various genres. They may produce compositions, scores, and arrangements for theatre, film, television, and even video games. Composers have an excellent musical ear and often advise musicians. They are typically skilled in one or more instruments.

What does it mean to be a composer today?

Ask most people to name any famous composer and they will probably say Mozart or Beethoven – but new music is written every day, by brilliant living composers all over the world. How has the role of the composer evolved over time?

This lesson is a resource created by The Ingenium Academy.

Ludovico Einaudi 5 Lessons

Ludovico Einaudi

Ludovico Einaudi is known the world over through films and TV. His music has featured in titles including Black Swan, Doctor Zhivago, This is England and many more. In 2011 his track I Giorni was played on Radio 1, and his haunting melodies are timeless in their beauty.

Watch and listen: Le Onde

"It is only when we become aware or are reminded that our time is limited that we can channel our energy into truly living."

- Ludovico Einaudi

Watch and listen: I Giorni

"It is only when we become aware or are reminded that our time is limited that we can channel our energy into truly living."

- Ludovico Einaudi

Watch and listen: “Elegy for the Arctic” – Live 2016 (Greenpeace)

Ludovico Einaudi performs an original piece "Elegy for the Arctic", on the Arctic Ocean to call for its protection, on June 17th, 2016.

With a grand piano on a floating platform in front of a glacier, Einaudi played an original piece composed for the cause.

The acclaimed composer has turned into music the voices of the eight million people that asks for Arctic protection. 

Through his music, acclaimed Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi has added his voice to those of eight million people from across the world demanding protection for the Arctic. Einaudi performed one of his own compositions on a floating platform in the middle of the Ocean, against the backdrop of the Wahlenbergbreen glacier (in Svalbard, Norway).

Sign the petition to save the Arctic on: https://www.savethearctic.org http://www.greenpeace.org/

Watch and listen: Seven days walking (2019)

Seven Days Walking could be Ludovico Einaudi’s masterwork. Seven albums released over seven months throughout 2019 – variation after variation on a theme, all of them inspired by a winter’s walk he repeated over a period of time in the Alps. It’s a complete world, dreamed up in seven days.

Isaac Albéniz 3 Lessons

Isaac Albéniz

Isaac Albéniz was a Spanish (Catalan) composer and pianist, 1860-1909...

Watch and listen: Barenboim: Isaac Albéniz – Iberia 1st & 2nd book

Daniel Barenboim came back to the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, in August, 19th 2000, to celebrate his 50 years on stage with a solo-recital as in his first appearance as a 7-years-old boy.

Watch and listen:

ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909) "Granada" from Suite española Piano: Alberto Lodoletti http://www.albertolodoletti.com

Charles Avison 2 Lessons

Charles Avison

Charles Avison (1709-1770) was an English composer who spent most of his life working as an organist in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was widely admired as a scholar and composer. Avison published five sets of concertos (50 in all) and a quantity of chamber and harpsichord music, some of which is now being played again. He was also the author of an important and controversial treatise, An Essay on Musical Expression.

Watch and listen: Concerto G major for organ

John Peace, Hill organ

This Concerto is no 1 of Opus 9 The movements are: Largo - Allegro - Adagio - Aria con affetto.

His attractive music was mostly in concerto grosso form, with some vocal and keyboard sonatas. He died in 1770.

The Hill & Son organ was installed in St. John's in 1870 and is largely in original condition. http://johnpeacepianist.wix.com/johns

Milton Babbit 4 Lessons

Milton Babbit

Milton Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer. He began writing music in the style of Webern, but from 1947 explored the possibilities of 'total serialisation' and then, after 1960, moved on to electronically produced music.

Watch and listen: semi-simple variations

It's a theme plus five variations. The theme unfolds in six held notes over the first six measures, which take up the first thirteen or so seconds of the video.

Watch and listen: three compositions, for piano (1948)

Three Compositions for Piano dating from 1947-48 are Babbitt's first works for this medium and are the composer's first mature applications of Schoenbergian twelve-tone principles.

Watch: Milton Babbitt on Rap Music

During a conversation with Frank J. Oteri back in October 2001, Milton Babbitt expressed his bafflement at hip-hop.

Elton John 5 Lessons

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John CH CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer.

Watch and listen: Tiny Dancer – live in 1970

Elton rehearsing Tiny Dancer in 1970.

Watch and listen: Rocket Man (Royal Festival Hall, London 1972)

Elton’s second concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall was an opportunity for him and his band to perform their newly-recorded album Honky Château in its entirety. This live debut of ‘Rocket Man’ two months before its release as the album’s first single is striking in its freshness and its ability to nearly replicate the studio arrangement on stage. The line-up of Davey (guitar), Dee Murray (bass) and Nigel Olsson (drums) immediately established itself as the “classic” Elton band, solidifying Elton’s studio and stage presence through his most prolific period.

Watch and listen: Elton John Live in 2020

Watch a full live concert. Elton John Live in 2020.

Béla Bartók 4 Lessons

Béla Bartók

Béla Bartók, Hungary, 1881 - 1945. Bartók's music is percussive and often harshly dissonant; but it is also tuneful and highly imaginative. 

Watch and listen: Sonata For Piano Sz. 80

RACHEL CHEUNG piano

BELA BARTOK Sonata For Piano Sz. 80 BB 88

May 14, 2015 Colony Theatre Miami Beach, Florida Miami International Piano Festival Discovery Series http://www.miaimipianofest.com

Watch and listen: Romanian Folk Dances for Piano

Danae Dörken playing Béla Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances for piano solo, Sz. 56

1. Bot tánc / Jocul cu bâtă (Stick Dance) 2. Brâul (Sash Dance) 3. Topogó / Pe loc (In One Spot) 4. Bucsumí tánc / Buciumeana (Dance from Bucsum) 5. Román polka / Poarga Românească (Romanian Polka) 6. Aprózó / Mărunțel (Fast Dance)

Watch and listen: Piano Concerto No 1, Sz 83

Béla Bartók Piano Concerto No 1, Sz 83

1 Allegro moderato - Allegro 2 Andante - attacca 3 Allegro molto

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski, conductor

Live recording. London, Proms 2011

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1 Chapter

Performing

This module has been designed to help you to prepare for a performace (an exam or a concert), but to also to help you improve the quality of your musical performance. Music is not just theory, technology and coordination, it can be artistic, spiritual and is always unique to you!

Improving your practise and performance 1 Lesson

Pen