Category Archives: Daily Listening Assignment

Billy Connolly and the William Tell Overture

Posted by MaryO on

 

Today, we’ll be listening to the end of the William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini.  This piece, originally the overture to an opera, has been arranged for piano and is in several method books, including Piano Pronto Movements 1 and 2.  It’s also in Bastien Book 4 and Piano Maestro.
The original story

Maybe your grandparents watched the original Lone Ranger

Or you saw the newer Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp

Here’s the entire William Tell Overture played by an orchestra

Piano Solo

Franz Liszt made a really hard version for piano solo. See if you can follow along!

Piano Duet (1 piano, 4 hands)

Piano Duet arranged by Louis Moreau Gottschalk

Piano Duo (2 pianos, 8 hands)

Piano Quartet (4 pianos, 16 hands)

For pipe organ

For synthesizer

And then things get nuts with cartoons. Lots of cartoons used this music. Here are Mickey Mouse and friends

And Spike Jones

Handbells…

Poor Rossini – I think he’d have a fit if he knew how is music was being used.

Have a nice day!

Daily Listening Assignments ~ August 8

Posted by MaryO on

This is another piece I just like to listen to, partly because of the bagpipes.  I do have sheet music, but it’s not quite the same!

This melody was composed by German musicians Ulrich Roever and Michael Korb[1] in 1982 for a Highland games held in Germany. It has been proposed as the Scottish national anthem to replace unofficial anthems Scotland the Brave and/or Flower of Scotland.

 

I heard it first here, at the Edinburgh Tattoo

One of my favorite versions

And, from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

 

 

From the Red Hot Chili Pipers

 

Daily Listening Assignments ~ August 7

Posted by MaryO on

To a Wild Rose is the first piece from Ten Woodland Sketches, Op. 51, by the American composer Edward MacDowell. It was completed in 1896, Numerous arrangements of the piece have been made. Though the original was for solo piano, it has been arranged for two sopranos, alto and piano.

It has been said that the piece is best played by children, as they wouldn’t embellish it heavily but perform it quite simply. Find it in Piano Pronto Movement 4 and other books.

Chamber Orchestra

A beginning band

Flute

Harp

Tuba

Daily Listening Assignments ~ August 6

Posted by MaryO on

 

 

Today’s piece is Hungarian Dance #5 by Johannes Brahms.  It’s available in Alfred Premier Piano Course Book 4 and many anthologies of classical music.

The Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, completed in 1869.

They vary from about a minute to five minutes in length. They are among Brahms’s most popular works and were the most profitable for him. Each dance has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. Brahms originally wrote the version for piano four hands and later arranged the first ten dances for solo piano.

Orchestra

 

Piano Duo

This has been embellished quite a bit

 

Violin

Ragtime (Bill Edwards)

 

Daily Listening Assignments ~ August 5

Posted by MaryO on

 

Just because.  This is a favorite Piano Guys piece that combines Amazing Grace, Scotland the Brave and Fight Song.  I had loved it since the first time I heard it.

 

A couple years ago, we were on the train to New York to visit our son.  He asked if we could go see the Piano Guys and, of course, I said YES!  He got us first row seats and I was amazed.

I could see that they were going to play this last on the program and I was concerned that there were no bagpipers.  I was wrong – they had several pipers and I was blown away.

Daily Listening Assignments ~ August 4

Posted by MaryO on

Today’s piece is Beethoven’s Rage Over a Lost Penny found in Piano Pronto Movement 4, Songs I Love to Play 2 and Beethoven: Exploring His Life and Music. The official title is The “Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio” in G major, Op. 129 (Italian for “Rondo in the Hungarian [i.e. gypsy] style, almost a caprice”).

The story goes –

At one point Beethoven was composing this piece, a booming and boisterous piece that exuded energy and vitality.

One night a neighbor heard a loud dispute.

Beethoven was in a rage, accusing a maid of stealing a gold penny. The maid ran out and was never heard from again.

The neighbor then heard furniture crashing, and he could only conclude that the great Maestro was tipping over furniture, madly looking for the lost gold penny.

The story spread through the neighborhood and became part of the legend of Beethoven’s bad moods and curmudgeonly behavior.

An easier version

A tad faster

From Piano Pronto

Orchestra

Daily Listening Assignments ~ August 2

Posted by MaryO on

Today’s piece is from a TV show my son used to love to watch: Inspector Gadget. The show followed the adventures of a powerful but dimwitted cyborg police inspector named Gadget as he investigates the criminal schemes of Dr. Claw and his organization, MAD, as they fruitlessly attempt to stop him. However, neither side was aware that it is Gadget’s niece, Penny, and her dog, Brain, who are truly responsible for thwarting MAD.

Find the theme in Alfred Premier Pop and Movie Hits 1B as well as other books

Now, for just the theme

One of my favorite piano duet (I have the sheet music!)

For guitar

Did you know… Inspector Gadget was inspired by Edvard Grieg’s piece “In the Hall of the Mountain King”, a Halloween Listening Assignment.

Can you spot the differences?

Daily Listening Assignments ~ August 1

Posted by MaryO on

Today’s piece is a favorite in cartoons as you’ll see below.   Hungarian Rhapsody number 2 by Franz Liszt is the second in a set of 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies and is by far the most famous of the set. They are all based on Hungarian folk tunes, or what Liszt assumed were Hungarian folk tunes. Even though Liszt’s nationality was Hungarian, he wasn’t familiar with the language.

So he ended up making some assumptions. Some of these Hungarian Rhapsodies were not actually gypsy folk tunes at all, but tunes composed by middle-and-upper-class folk, which the gypsies integrated into their own music.

These Rhapsodies are very difficult for pianists since Liszt was a virtuoso musician and liked to compose pieces only he could play.

From the cartoons

For sort-of real

For real

Orchestra

Follow along