Maestro Music

05/14/2024

On this day in 1941, Woody Guthrie started work at BPA. He was hired to write songs and produced 26 songs in the 30 days of his employment which later were collected into the “Columbia River Songbook.” The most famous of these songs is “Roll On, Columbia,” the state folk song of Washington.

12/02/2023

10/01/2023

05/24/2023

This is one of my favorite songs from my childhood. My grandfather sang it every night we stayed over, and my kids request it all the time now at bedtime.

Feel free to skip past the orchestral intro to 1:06! https://youtu.be/RpWtGB8MTMQ

05/09/2023

04/15/2023

My colleagues at the Portland Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon invite you to a Live! In! Person! piano recital by Patrick Orr. The recital is this Sunday at 3pm at Church of the Good Shepherd at 805 SE Ellsworth Rd, Vancouver, WA 98664. We hope you can make it!!

04/08/2023

Why teach note reading?

I love dialogue with peers in music teacher FB groups because I learn from someone else, or learn what I don't know, or learn more about my own values.

Requiring that someone perform music for you before you can repeat it back is a handicap (learning by ear emphasis).

Requiring that a piece be fully composed and notated begins you can participate is a handicap (literacy emphasis).

They have an agonist/antagonist relationship and some instruments prioritize one and often neglect the other. Both must be encouraged. For context, my vocal students are in a modality unit right now. They're learning how heave & light mechanism work together just like the hamstring & quadricep. One cannot be dominant and the other atrophied if you want to have full range. It's the same with music literacy. If a musician ONLY learns by ear or ONLY learns by notation, they'll never have full access to their capabilities.

03/29/2023

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-dna-beethoven-hair-poor-healthand.html

Many astonishingly creative people have lived lives cut tragically short by illness. Johannes Vermeer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jane Austen, Franz Schubert and Emily Brontë are some famous examples.

03/24/2023

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/deer-antler-long-an-museum-storage-earliest-known-stringed-instruments-2261298

After languishing in museum storage, two deer antlers have been found to represent the earliest-known stringed instruments in Southeast Asia.

03/09/2023

This is a fun opportunity for kids to check out instruments typically played in Irish trad music. Kids 11 and under are free with a paying adult ($10); students up to age 20 are $5.
CCÉ Oregon is cohosting the Instrument Petting Zoo. You can find Irish cultural events and offerings at the website https://www.cceoregon.org

02/07/2023

Performance learning = perform + learn! Small groups of students try performing and receiving feedback before the big spring recital. Check out the calendar - we're busy!

02/05/2023

Thank you Kari for your kind words regarding the MusicMobile!