“Morning Mood” is part of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Op. 23 was written in 1875.
The melody uses the pentatonic (five-note) scale, lending itself to beginning piano books.
Orchestra:
Music box:
Cartoon:
Flash mob(!!)
Morning Mood is available in Piano Maestro, Piano Pronto Prelude (as Morning Theme) and other books.
Happy Fourth!
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. This declaration announced to the world that the 13 colonies would no longer be held by British rule. Today Americans celebrate by the flying of a flag, cooking at home (usually a cookout, also known as a barbecue), and watching a brilliant fireworks display.
Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment
• 1826 ~ Stephen Foster, American composer of songs
More information about Foster
• 1832 ~ It was on this day that America was sung in public for the first time — at the Park Street Church in Boston, MA. Dr. Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words, borrowing the tune from a German songbook. Ironically, and unknown to Dr. Smith at the time, the melody is the same as the British national anthem.
• 1895 ~ America the Beautiful, the famous song often touted as the true U.S. national anthem, was originally a poem written by Katherine Lee Bates. The Wellesley College professor’s poem was first published this day in the Congregationalist, a church newspaper.
• 1898 ~ Michael Aaron, Piano Educator
• 1900 ~ Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader Read quotes by and about Armstrong
More information about Armstrong
• 1902 ~ George Murphy, American politician (US Senator, California), actor and dancer (MGM Parade)
• 1909 ~ Alec Templeton, Pianist
• 1911 ~ Mitch Miller, American conductor, oboist, record company executive, producer, arranger for the Sing Along with Mitch LPs and TV show
• 1937 ~ Ray Pillow, Singer
• 1938 ~ Bill Withers, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer
• 1942 ~ The Irving Berlin musical, This is the Army, opened at New York’s Broadway Theatre. Net profits of the show were $780,000.
• 1943 ~ Al ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson, Musician, guitarist, harmonica, singer with Canned Heat
• 1943 ~ The Rhythm Boys, Bing Crosby, Al Rinker and Harry Barris, were reunited for the first time since the 1930s on Paul Whiteman Presents on NBC radio.
• 1948 ~ Jeremy Spencer, Musician, guitarist with Fleetwood Mac
• 1955 ~ John Waite, Singer
• 1958 ~ Kirk Pengily, Rock Musician
• 1985 ~ A crowd, estimated at one million, gathered in Philadelphia to celebrate the 209th anniversary of America’s independence. The Beach Boys were joined by Mr. T. on drums to really add some fireworks to the festivities. The Oak Ridge Boys, Joan Jett and Jimmy Page joined in the celebration.
• 1999 ~ Ronny Graham passed away
• 2001 ~ Maceo Anderson, a tap dancer and founding member of the Four Step Brothers, died in Los Angeles at the age of 90. The group tap-danced all over the world, performing for the queen of England and the emperor of Japan. The Four Step Brothers also performed at Radio City Music Hall. The group started as a trio. In the mid-1920s, the group performed at the Cotton Club with Duke Ellington, who wrote The Mystery Song for them. Anderson began dancing as a child in the South. When he was six, he and his mother moved to a basement apartment in Harlem. He taught tap dance at his own school in Las Vegas and across the country until 1999.
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from Great Britain.
Independence Day fireworks are often accompanied by patriotic songs such as the national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “God Bless America”, “America the Beautiful”, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”, “This Land Is Your Land”, “Stars and Stripes Forever”, and, regionally, “Yankee Doodle” in northeastern states and “Dixie” in southern states. Some of the lyrics recall images of the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812.
A bit of audio for your listening pleasure, as played by Vladimir Horowitz…
Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment
• 1801 ~ Johann Nepomuk Went, Composer, died at the age of 56
• 1892 ~ Joseph Labitzky, Composer
• 1809 ~ Joseph Quesne, Composer, died at the age of 62
• 1814 ~ Janis Cimze, Composer
• 1819 ~ Louis Theodore Gouvy, Composer
• 1846 ~ Achilles Alferaki, Composer
• 1850 ~ Alfredo Kiel, Composer
• 1854 ~ Leos Janácek, Czech composer, conductor and collector of Moravian folk songs. He is best known for his operas including “Jenufa” and “The Cunning Little Vixen” as well as for his orchestral piece “Taras Bulba.”
More information about Janácek
• 1855 ~ Piotr Maszynski, Composer
• 1860 ~ William Wallace, Composer
• 1862 ~ Friedrich Ernst Koch, Composer
• 1871 ~ Vicente Arregui Garay, Composer
• 1873 ~ Josef Michal Ksawery Jan Poniatowski, Composer, died at the age of 57
• 1878 ~ George M. Cohan, American songwriter, vaudeville performer, playwright and producer
Listen to Cohan’s music
More information about Cohan
• 1879 ~ Philippe Gaubert, Composer
• 1880 ~ Carl Schuricht, Composer
• 1891 ~ Stefano Golinelli, Composer, died at the age of 72
• 1930 ~ Carlos Kleiber, German conductor
• 1930 ~ Pete Fountain, Jazz clarinetist
• 1940 ~ Fontella Bass, Singer
• 1941 ~ Cab Calloway and his orchestra recorded the standard, St. James Infirmary, for Okeh Records.
• 1945 ~ Johnny Lee, Country singer
• 1945 ~ Victor Borge was first heard on NBC radio. The network gave the comedian/pianist the summer replacement slot for Fibber McGee and Molly.
• 1948 ~ Paul Barrere, Musician, guitarist with Little Feat
• 1952 ~ Daniel Zamudio, Composer, died at the age of 64
• 1952 ~ Laura Branigan, Singer
• 1953 ~ Harry Belafonte was shown with actress Janet Leigh and film star Tony Curtis on the cover of Ebony magazine. It was the first time a black person and two Caucasians were seen together on a U.S. magazine cover.
• 1954 ~ “Wonderful Town” closed at Winter Garden Theater New York City after 559 performances
• 1955 ~ Neil Clark, Musician, guitarist with Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
• 1957 ~ Richard Mohaupt, German Composer (Bucolica), died at the age of 52
• 1958 ~ “Andy Williams Show” premiered on ABC (later on CBS & NBC)
• 1960 ~ Alfred Henry Ackley, Composer, died at the age of 73
• 1961 ~ Vince Clarke, Songwriter, keyboards
• 1965 ~ Clarence Loomis, Composer, died at the age of 75
• 1966 ~ Andre Gailhard, Composer, died at the age of 81
• 1966 ~ Joseph Deems Taylor, Composer, died at the age of 80
• 1969 ~ Brian Jones, guitarist (Rolling Stones), drowns to death at 25
• 1969 ~ Hermann Grabner, Composer, died at the age of 83
• 1971 ~ Jim Morrison, rock singer (Doors), died of heart failure at 27. He co-wrote some of the group’s biggest hits, including ‘Light My Fire’, ‘Love Me Two Times’, and ‘Love Her Madly.’ On the 25th anniversary of his death, an estimated 15,000 fans gathered at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France to pay their respects.
• 1971 ~ The Newport Jazz Festival’s reputation was tarnished as gate crashers stormed the stage. The unruly mob forced the show to leave Newport, Rhode Island and move to New York City. Oh, and the artist the crowd got unruly over? Not Bob Dylan, not Miles Davis, but Dionne Warwick’s! She was singing What the World Needs Now is Love at the time of the incident.
• 1972 ~ Mississippi Fred McDowell, jazz artist, died at the age of 68
• 1973 ~ Charles Ancerl, Czech conductor (Prague/Toronto), died at the age of 63
• 1973 ~ Clint Holmes received a gold record for his hit single, Playground in My Mind.
• 1976 ~ Brian Wilson rejoined The Beach Boys, who were appearing at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, CA (before 74,000 fans). Wilson had been out of the group’s road tour schedule for 12 years.
• 1977 ~ Hugh Le Caine, Composer, died at the age of 63
• 1986 ~ Rudy Vallee, singer (Vagabond Dreams), died at the age of 84
• 1986 ~ Mikhail Baryshnikov, considered by many to be the world’s greatest ballet dancer, became a U.S. citizen in ceremonies at Ellis Island, New York Harbor.
• 1991 ~ Irina Nijinska, Russian/US dancer, died at the age of 77
• 1995 ~ Brad Lee Sexton, bass guitarist, died at the age of 47
• 2000 ~ Harold Nicholas, American dancer known as one of the world’s greatest dancers (Nicholas Brothers), died of heart failure at the age of 79. Children: don’t try this at home – never, ever dance on a piano!
• 2001 ~ Country guitar player Roy Nichols, who played in Merle Haggard’s band for 22 years and helped create the Bakersfield Sound, died after being hospitalized with kidney inflammation and a bacterial infection. He was 68. Nichols began recording with Haggard’s band The Strangers in 1963 and played with some of country music’s biggest names from the time he was 16 years old. “A lot of people may or may not know that he played for Johnny Cash on Tennessee Flat Top Box, the original version, and also on The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” Haggard told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. Haggard credits Nichols with jump-starting his own career and playing a key role in developing The Stranger’s distinctive sound.
• 2001 ~ Grand Ole Opry star Johnny Russell, whose song Act Naturally was recorded by Buck Owens and The Beatles, died of leukemia, diabetes and other ailments at the age of 61. Russell once said that it took him two years to get someone to record Act Naturally, co-written with Voni Morrison. When Owens recorded a version in 1963, it went to No. 1 on the country charts. Two years later, it was recorded by the Beatles, with Ringo Starr singing the vocal. In 1989, Starr and Owens recorded a duet of the song that was nominated for Grammy and Country Music Association awards. Russell’s own recording career took off in the 1970s. His biggest hit was the working class anthem Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer, which went to No. 4 in 1973 and was nominated for a Grammy. Russell joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1985, and over the years became its regular closing act. A jolly, 275-pound man, he would joke to audiences in his opening line: “Can everybody see me all right?” Russell also wrote the No. 1 hit Let’s Fall to Pieces Together, recorded in 1984 by George Strait, and Making Plans, which was recorded by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt on their Trio album in 1987.
• 2012 ~ Andy Griffith, American actor, comedian, television producer, Southern gospel singer, and writer (Andy Griffith Show, Matlock), died from a heart attack at the age of 86
• 2018 ~ William “Bill” Watrous, American jazz trombonist, died at the age of 79
• 2018 ~ Richard Swift, American singer and songwriter (The Black Keys), died at the age of 41
Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite of ten pieces (plus a recurring, varied Promenade) composed for the piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.
The suite is Mussorgsky’s most famous piano composition and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists. It has become further known through various orchestrations and arrangements produced by other musicians and composers, with Maurice Ravel’s arrangement being by far the most recorded and performed.
You can download the sheet music at IMSP or I have a copy of the book, as well as simplified sheet music.
The work opens with a brilliant touch – a “promenade” theme (above) that reemerges throughout as a transition amid the changing moods of the various pictures.
The ten pictures Mussorgsky depicts are:
The whole piece for piano. See if you can tell which pictures are which.
Orchestrated, with the full score:
Just the Baba Yaga section:
The Emerson, Lake and Palmer version:
Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment
• 1581 ~ Johann Staden, Composer
• 1589 ~ Guillaume van Messaus, Composer
• 1636 ~ Daniel Speer, Composer
• 1663 ~ Thomas Selle, Composer, died at the age of 64
• 1714 ~ Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer of operas including “Orfeo ed Euridice” and “Alceste”
More information about Gluck
• 1737 ~ François Leonard Rouwyzer, Composer
• 1746 ~ Hardenack Otto Conrad Zinck, Composer
• 1763 ~ Peter Ritter, Composer
• 1778 ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Composer, died at the age of 66
• 1793 ~ Antoine Prumier, Composer
• 1794 ~ Franz Xaver Thomas Pokorny, Composer, died at the age of 65
• 1814 ~ Atale Therese Annette Wartel, Composer
• 1857 ~ Francesco Spetrino, Composer
• 1878 ~ François-Emmanuel-Joseph Bazin, Composer, died at the age of 61
• 1880 ~ Albert Szirmai, Composer
• 1887 ~ Marcel Tabuteau, French oboist with the Philadelphia Orchestra 1915 to 1954
• 1892 ~ Jack Hylton, English orchestra leader and impresario
• 1895 ~ William Rockstro, Composer, died at the age of 72
• 1900 ~ Sibelius’ “Finlandia,” premiered in Helsinki.
• 1904 ~ Carl Weinrich, Composer
• 1906 ~ Robert Levine Sanders, Composer
• 1910 ~ Earl Hawley Robinson, Composer
• 1910 ~ William Douglas Denny, Composer
• 1911 ~ Felix Mottl, Composer, died at the age of 54
• 1918 ~ Sheikh Imam Elissa, Player and singer
• 1922 ~ Genrikh Matusovich Vagner, Composer
• 1924 ~ Rick Besoyan, Composer
• 1925 ~ Marvin Rainwater (Marvin Kalton Percy), American country singer
• 1925 ~ Yasushi Akutagawa, Composer
• 1926 ~ Billy Usselton, Saxophonist
• 1926 ~ Lee Allen, American tenor sax
• 1927 ~ Brock Peters, American actor and singer
• 1929 ~ Ruby Keeler starred in Flo Ziegfeld’s production of Show Girl which opened in New York City. Critics liked the show.
• 1930 ~ Ahmad Jamal, American jazz pianist
• 1933 ~ David Benjamin Lewin, Composer
• 1935 ~ Gilbert Kalish, American pianist and professor at SUNY-Stony Brook
• 1936 ~ Tom Springfield, Folk singer with the Springfields
• 1939 ~ Paul Williams, Singer with The Primes and The Temptations
• 1940 ~ Bertram Shapleigh, Composer, died at the age of 69
• 1942 ~ Mike Abene, Composer of the score to Goodbye, New York
• 1942 ~ Jo Stafford joined Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra for Manhattan Serenade, which was recorded for Victor Records, in Manhattan.
• 1945 ~ James Orville Fulkerson, Composer
• 1949 ~ “High Button Shoes” closed at Century Theater New York City after 727 performances
• 1951 ~ Joe Puerta, Musician, bass, singer
• 1952 ~ Henriette H Bosmans, Dutch cello player, pianist, composer, died at the age of 56
• 1955 ~ “7th Heaven” closed at ANTA Theater New York City after 44 performances
• 1955 ~ “Almost Crazy” closed at Longacre Theater New York City after 16 performances
• 1955 ~ “Lawrence Welk Show” premiered on ABCIn Welk’s 24-piece band was the ’Champagne Lady’, Alice Lon.
More information about Welk
• 1956 ~ Elvis Presley recorded Hound Dog and Don’t Be Cruel
• 1960 ~ “Once Upon a Mattress” closed at Alvin Theater New York City after 460 performances
• 1971 ~ Edward Ballantine, Composer, died at the age of 84
• 1972 ~ “Fiddler on the Roof” closed at Imperial Theater New York City after 3242 performances
• 1973 ~ Betty Grable, U.S. actress, singer and World War Two pin-up girl, died. Her films included “How To Marry A Millionaire,” “Down Argentine Way” and “Tin Pan Alley.”
• 1979 ~ Sony introduced the Walkman, the first portable audio cassette player. Over the next 30 years they sold over 385 million Walkmans in cassette, CD, mini-disc and digital file versions, and were the market leaders until the arrival of Apple’s iPod and other new digital devices.
• 1982 ~ Paul Rovsing Olsen, Composer, died at the age of 59
• 1984 ~ Ramiro Cortes, Composer, died at the age of 50
• 1984 ~ Epic Records set a record as two million copies of the Jacksons’ new album, Victory, were shipped to stores. It was the first time that such a large shipment had been initially sent to retailers. The LP arrived just days before Michael and his brothers started their hugely successful Victory Tour.
• 1987 ~ Michael Bennet, Choreographer of A Chorus Line, died at the age of 44
• 1990 ~ Snooky Lanson (Roy Landman) passed away
• 1992 ~ Edith Valckaert, Belgian violinist, died at the age of 42
• 1992 ~ Jose Monje, Spanish flamenco singer, died
• 1994 ~ Marion Williams, Gospel singer, died at the age of 66
• 1995 ~ “Rose Tattoo” closed at Circle in the Square New York City after 80 performances
• 2002 ~ Ray Brown, a legendary jazz bassist who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and his one-time wife Ella Fitzgerald in a career that spanned a half-century, died in his sleep in Indianapolis. He was 75. Brown was in Indianapolis for an engagement at the Jazz Kitchen. Brown, whose fluid sound helped define the bebop era, started his career in the 1940s and performed during jazz’s Golden Age with Gillespie, Parker and Bud Powell. He was a founder of bebop and appeared with Gillespie in the 1946 film “Jivin’ in Be-Bop.” Brown later became musical director and husband of singer Ella Fitzgerald. They divorced in the early 1950s. Ray Matthews Brown was born in Pittsburgh in 1926 and moved in 1945 to New York. While playing in Gillespie’s Big Band in 1946 and 1947, he became Fitzgerald’s music director – and, in the late 1940s, her husband. Brown played with an early edition of what became the Modern Jazz Quartet, recording with the Milt Jackson Quartet in 1951. He subsequently was a founding member of the Oscar Peterson’s Trio, which ranked among jazz’s most popular groups of the ’50s and ’60s. Among his recordings is the solo effort Something for Lester.
• 2002 ~ Experimental composer Earle Brown, whose visually elegant scores and collaborative spirit pushed traditional musical composition, died at his home in Rye, N.Y. He was 75. Brown worked with composer John Cage and became known for his graphic scores. One of their most famous works is “December 1952.” Brown believed in allowing musicians much freedom in playing his compositions, describing “December 1952” as “an activity rather than a piece by me, because of the content being supplied by the musicians.” Brown’s music was highly influential in Europe and he was repertory director of an important series of new-music recordings that included works by 49 composers from 16 countries between 1960 and 1973. He taught at Yale University, the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and at the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals.
• 2016 ~ Earle Brown, American Composer (open form), died at the age of 75
• 2019 ~ Michael Colgrass, American-Canadian composer who won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Music for the piece “Déjà vu”, died at the age of 81
Johann Sebastian Bach’s towering monument of organ music, with its deep sense of foreboding, will forever be associated with Halloween.
Get a free copy of the sheet music at IMSLP or borrow a copy from the O’Connor Music Studio. I have this arranged for organ, piano, duet, 2-piano, simplified…
It’s also available in Piano Maestro, Piano Pronto Encore and Coda
If you want this in a book with other Bach transcriptions, amazon has this: Toccata and Fugue in D minor and the Other Bach Transcriptions for Solo Piano, arranged by Ferruccio Busoni.
Here, Virgil Fox performs it on his Allen Digital Touring Organ.
Diane Bish plays the Massey Memorial Organ at the Chautauqua Institution and talks about this instrument.
Animated organ:
Glass harmonica
Accordion
Cartoon:
Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment
• 1586 ~ Claudio Saracini, Composer
• 1592 ~ Marc A Ingegneri, Italian violinist and composer, died
• 1662 ~ Simon Ives, Composer, died at the age of 61
• 1663 ~ Franz Xaver Murschhauser, Composer
• 1688 ~ Johann Ludwig Steiner, Composer
• 1691 ~ Marc’Antonio Pasqualini, Composer, died at the age of 77
• 1735 ~ James Lyon, Composer
• 1742 ~ Bohuslav Matej Czernohorsky, Czech monk and composer, died at the age of 58
• 1764 ~ Georg Christoph Grosheim, Composer
• 1784 ~ Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composer, son of J.S. Bach, died
More information about Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
• 1805 ~ Georg Ritschel, Composer, died at the age of 60
• 1883 ~ Manuel Gregorio Tavarez, Composer, died at the age of 39
• 1899 ~ Cavan O’Connor, Singer
• 1908 ~ Peter Anders, German opera singer
• 1910 ~ Marius Petipa, French ballet dancer and choreographer, died
• 1914 ~ Earle Warren, Alto sax player
• 1915 ~ Willie Dixon, Blues Musician
• 1917 ~ William Gillock, Educational Music Composer
• 1925 ~ Erik Alfred Leslie Satie, French composer, died at the age of 59.
• 1926 ~ Hans Werner Henze, German composer
• 1927 ~ Hans Eklund, Composer
• 1928 ~ Volker Wangenheim, Composer
• 1930 ~ Leslie Caron, Dancer
• 1933 ~ Strauss and von Hofmannsthal’s opera “Arabella,” premiered in Dresden.
• 1935 ~ James Cotton, blues vocalist
• 1939 ~ Louis Davids (Simon David), Cabaret performer/chorus performer, died
• 1941 ~ Twila Tharp, Choreographer
• 1941 ~ John Gould, British composer and musical comic
• 1942 ~ Andrae Crouch, Gospel Singer
• 1945 ~ Debbie Harry, American singer
• 1946 ~ June Montiero, American vocalist
• 1947 ~ Clarence Lucas, Composer, died at the age of 80
• 1950 ~ Edward Faber Schneider, Composer, died at the age of 77
• 1954 ~ Fred Schneider, Singer for pop-punk band the B-52s
• 1956 ~ Elvis Presley appeared wearing a tuxedo on the Steve Allen Show
• 1960 ~ Benjamin Britten’s cantata “Carmen Baseliense,” premiered in Basel.
• 1963 ~ The Beatles recorded She Loves You & I’ll Get You
• 1964 ~ Pierre Monteux, French/American conductor, died at the age of 89
• 1965 ~ Claude Thornhill, Composer, died at the age of 55
• 1967 ~ “Funny Girl”, the story of Fanny Brice, closed at Winter Garden Theater New York City after 1348 performances.
• 1967 ~ The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, went #1 for 15 weeks
• 1968 ~ John Lennon’s first full art exhibition (You are Here)
• 1969 ~ John & Yoko were hospitalized after a car crash
• 1969 ~ Shelby Singleton bought Sun Records from Sam Phillips
• 1970 ~ Jimi Hendrix first recording session (New York City)
• 1972 ~ “Follies” closed at Winter Garden Theater New York City after 524 performances
• 1972 ~ “Hair” closed at Biltmore Theater New York City after 1750 performances
• 1973 ~ Mario La Broca, Composer, died at the age of 76
• 1973 ~ “Jesus Christ Superstar”, by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice, closed at Mark Hellinger New York City after 711 performances
• 1978 ~ “Act” closed at Majestic Theater New York City after 233 performances
• 1982 ~ John Everett Watts, Composer, died at the age of 51
• 1982 ~ Shon Coco Palm, (Jacobo JM Palm), Curaçan Composer, died
• 1982 ~ ABC national music radio network scheduled premiere, but it never happened
• 1988 ~ Hellmuth Christian Wolff, Composer, died at the age of 82
• 1988 ~ Lex van Delden, Dutch Composer and writer, died at the age of 68
• 1995 ~ “Kiss of the Spider Woman” closed at Broadhurst New York City after 906 performances
• 1996 ~ Placido Domingo became art director of Washington Opera
• 2015 ~ Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer, died at the age of 88
• 2018 ~ Dame Gillian Lynne [Pyrke], British dancer, choreographer and actress, known for Broadway work on “Cats” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” died at the age of 92
and
Today’s piece is the other one of two pieces that are so often played incorrectly that they have the distinction of being banned from competition in Northern Virginia Piano Teacher competitions.
The first was Fur Elise. This one is Spinning Song by Albert Ellmenreich. It’s in many, many piano method books. When I was in 5th or 6th grade, I tore it out of my book, put it in a construction paper cover and played it for some Girl Scout talent show. I have no idea why I couldn’t leave it in the book.
The left hand is supposed to sound like the foot pumping the wheel to make it move
This is part of a larger work called Musikalische Genrebilder, Op.14 which can be downloaded at IMSLP:
Spinnliedchen (Spinning Song), the best known item from the set, seems to be universally referred to as number four. The announcement of the first edition in Hofmeister’s Monatsberichte lists it as the fifth item. In Schirmer’s 1878 edition (see cover: here) of Op.14 it appears that items two and three were possibly combined into one number (entitled Sorrow and Consolation) so that Spinnliedchen became number four. Perhaps, this is the origin of the re-numbering.
To learn this sheet music, it’s available in Piano Pronto Movement 4 and Alfred Premier Piano Course Book 6
Here’s a sample:
A tutorial
With scrolling sheet music
For organ
How to conduct(?)
While this piece is not usually popular with other instruments, a trumpet quartet gave it a try
The DMS Percussion Ensemble
Singers from the Londonderry Middle School gave it a try:
The first half of this video is flute tuning. After that is a lovely flute duet.
I can’t take any more of these!
Be sure your student reads and listens to Today’s Daily Listening Assignment
• 1666 ~ Adam Krieger, German Composer, died at the age of 32
• 1669 ~ Mauritius Vogt, Composer
• 1722 ~ Jiri Antonin Benda, Composer
• 1723 ~ Christian Ernst Graf, Composer
• 1743 ~ Niels Schiorring, Composer
• 1792 ~ Francesco Antonio Rosetti, Composer, died
• 1818 ~ Edward John Hopkins, English organist and composer
• 1819 ~ Ernst Ludwig Gerber, Composer, died at the age of 72
• 1846 ~ Ricardo Drigo, Composer
• 1889 ~ Eugenio Terziani, Composer, died at the age of 64
• 1890 ~ Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, Composer, died at the age of 71
• 1896 ~ Wilfred Pelletier, Canadian conductor for Voice of Firestone
• 1908 ~ Lucino Tinio Sacramento, Composer
• 1914 ~ Natko Devcic, Composer
• 1917 ~ Lena Horne, American singer of popular music
• 1917 ~ “Buddy” Rich, American jazz drummer and bandleader
• 1918 ~ Stuart Foster, American singer
• 1921 ~ Gordon Reynolds, Musician
• 1923 ~ Claude Antoine Terrasse, Composer, died at the age of 56
• 1925 ~ Will Gay Bottje, Composer
• 1929 ~ Alexander Kelly, Pianist and teacher
• 1930 ~ June Valli, American singer on Your Hit Parade
• 1931 ~ James Loughran, British conductor
• 1932 ~ Martin Mailman, American composer
• 1936 ~ Pauls Dambis, Composer
• 1939 ~ Chris Hinze, Dutch flutist
• 1939 ~ Lindembergue Cardoso, Composer
• 1939 ~ Frank Sinatra made his first appearance with Harry James’ band. Sinatra was center stage at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, MD, where he sang My Love for You
• 1941 ~ Micki Grant, Composer
• 1941 ~ Mike Leander Farr, Record producer
• 1943 ~ Florence Ballard, Singer with the Supremes
• 1944 ~ Glenn Shorrock, Australian singer with Little River Band
• 1946 ~ Billy Brown, singer with Ray, Goodman, Brown
• 1946 ~ Michael Zadora, Composer, died at the age of 64
• 1947 ~ Jasper van’t Hof, Dutch jazz pianist (Live in Montreux)
• 1951 ~ Andrew Scott, Welch rock guitarist
• 1951 ~ “Victor Borge Show,” last aired on NBC-TV.
• 1953 ~ Gote Carlid, Composer, died at the age of 32
• 1956 ~ “Pipe Dream” closed at Shubert Theater New York City after 245 performances
• 1956 ~ “Shangri-La” closed at Winter Garden Theater New York City after 21 performances
• 1959 ~ Lazare Saminsky, Composer, died at the age of 76
• 1960 ~ Clarence Cameron White, Composer, died at the age of 79
• 1969 ~ Jan Evangelista Zelinka, Composer, died at the age of 76
• 1982 ~ “Lena Horne: Lady, Music” closed at Nederlander New York City after 333 performances
• 1983 ~ Bo Gentry, Songwriter and producer, died
• 1985 ~ Yul Brynner left his role as the King of Siam after 4,600 performances in The King and I at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. The show had run, on and off, for over 34 years and 191 performances.
• 1987 ~ Federico Mompou, Composer, died at the age of 94
• 1993 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at Point Theatre, Dublin
• 1995 ~ Phyllis Hyman, Rhythm and Blues Jazz singer, died at 45
• 1996 ~ “State Fair,” closed at Music Box Theater New York City after 118 performances
• 2001 ~ Chet Atkins, whose guitar style influenced a generation of rock musicians even as he helped develop an easygoing country style to compete with it, died at the age of 77.
Atkins recorded more than 75 albums of guitar instrumentals and sold more than 75 million albums. He played on hundreds of hit records, including those of Elvis Presley (Heartbreak Hotel), Hank Williams Sr. (Your Cheatin’ Heart, Jambalaya) and The Everly Brothers (Wake Up Little Susie). As an executive with RCA Records for nearly two decades beginning in 1957, Atkins played a part in the careers of Roy Orbison, Jim Reeves, Charley Pride, Dolly Parton Jerry Reed, Waylon Jennings, Eddy Arnold and many others. “It’s impossible to capsulize his life – due to the profound impact he’s had as a wonderful human being and incredible member of our industry,” said Joe Galante, chairman of the RCA Label Group in Nashville. “His artistry and his influence as an industry leader have impacted so many. “There is no way to replace him nor what he has meant to music and our Nashville community.” Atkins helped craft the lush Nashville Sound, using string sections and lots of echo to make records that appealed to older listeners not interested in rock music. Among his notable productions are The End of the World by Skeeter Davis and He’ll Have to Go by Reeves. “I realized that what I liked, the public would like, too,” Atkins said in a 1996 interview with The Associated Press. ‘”Cause I’m kind of square.”
Chester Burton Atkins was born June 20, 1924, on a farm near Luttrell, Tenn., about 20 miles northeast of Knoxville. His elder brother Jim Atkins also played guitar, and went on to perform with Les Paul. Chet Atkins’ first professional job was as a fiddler on WNOX in Knoxville, where his boss was singer Bill Carlisle. “He was horrible,” Carlisle said at a tribute concert to Atkins in 1997. “But I heard him during a break playing guitar and decided to feature him on that.” Atkins’ unusual fingerpicking style, a pseudoclassical variation influenced by such diverse talents as Merle Travis and Django Reinhardt, got him hired and fired from jobs at radio stations all over the country. Atkins sometimes joked that early on his playing sounded “like two guitarists playing badly.” During the 1940s he toured with many acts, including Red Foley, The Carter Family and Kitty Wells. RCA executive Steve Sholes took Atkins on as a protege in the 1950s, using him as the house guitarist on recording sessions. RCA began issuing instrumental albums by Atkins in 1953. George Harrison, whose guitar work on early Beatles records is heavily influenced by Atkins, wrote the liner notes for “Chet Atkins Picks on the Beatles.” Sholes put Atkins in charge of RCA Nashville when he was promoted in 1957. There, he helped Nashville survive the challenge of rock ‘n’ roll with the Nashville Sound. The lavish sound has been criticized by purists who prefer their country music raw and unadorned. Atkins was unrepentant, saying that at the time his goal was simply “to keep my job.” “And the way you do that is you make a hit record once in a while,” he said in 1993. “And the way you do that is you give the audience something different.” Atkins quit his job as an executive in the 1970s and concentrated on playing his guitar. He’s collaborated with a wide range of artists on solo albums, including Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney, Eric Johnson, George Benson, Susie Bogguss and Earl Klugh. At the time he became ill, Atkins had just released a CD, “The Day Finger Pickers took over the World.” He also had begun regular Monday night performances at a Nashville club. “If I know I’ve got to go do a show, I practice quite a bit, because you can’t get out there and embarrass yourself.” Atkins said in 1996. “So I thought, if I play every week I won’t be so rusty and I’ll play a lot better.”
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