Loudoun School Tutoring

I'm offering online tutoring for the school year - qualified to teach at all levels, including SAT/ACT prep. Please feel free to message me if you need support.

Fusion Fighters

Trying to help this young lady get a scholarship to Fusion Fighters Irish Dance Fest this summer. All it takes is "likes and shares." Please, take a moment to check out this little dancer and share her efforts with your share button! Thanks very much!

Introducing Cast Member Lauren Compton in our second Fusion Dance Fest Video Scholarship Competition!

Lauren who dances in Maryland, USA, will be joining Fusion Fighters along with an International cast of 80 dancers from over 15 countries. Together they will create the first ever professional ‘Online’ Irish Dance Show!

Cast Positions Still Remaining, DM for details!
www.fusiondancefest.com

Music: Sean Softley - Feis Strings

How exciting! Thank you!

What 770,000 Tubes of Spit Reveal About America

Very interesting discussion about how our population has moved over the generations.

blogs.ancestry.com Ancestry scientists used data from 770,000 tubes of spit submitted by customers to map out generations of American migrations across the country to reveal

As usual, another school year is off to a blazing start! With one quarter behind us and already well into the winter holiday season, do your best not to lose focus. Maintain study routines and don't procrastinate. Break time will be here before you know it, and you don't want those holidays to approach with late assignments over your head! Reach out to me if I can help in any way. :-)

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort M'Henry",[2] a poem written on September 14, 1814, by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Baltimore Harbor during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large American flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort during the American victory.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. "To Anacreon in Heaven" (or "The Anacreontic Song"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. Set to Key's poem and renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", it soon became a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one octave and one fifth (a semitone more than an octave and a half), it is known for being difficult to sing. Although the poem has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today.

Francis Scott Key - Star Spangled Banner

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIM8xyVYkh4AcaK5mWRH;_ylu=X3oDMTByN2RnbHFoBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMw--?p=francis+scott+key+star-spangled+banner&vid=04744c45db1019f441d609293d8be900&turl=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOVP.V5a758e7f67e24146ee925e16d7cb6ac0%26pid%3D15.1%26h%3D168%26w%3D300%26c%3D7%26rs%3D1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Ds3H1abxdkFY&tit=Francis+Scott+Key+-+Star+Spangled+Banner&c=2&h=168&w=300&l=139&sigr=11b3irbmm&sigt=118k4mms7&sigi=13282vpg0&age=1453301411&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=ipad&tt=b

video.search.yahoo.com

Francis Scott Key - Star Spangled Banner

Since today is Veteran's Day, we are listening to the Star-Spangled Banner. The lyrics were written by Francis Scott Key as a poem. Later, they were set to music.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIM8xyVYkh4AcaK5mWRH;_ylu=X3oDMTByN2RnbHFoBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMw--?p=francis+scott+key+star-spangled+banner&vid=04744c45db1019f441d609293d8be900&turl=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOVP.V5a758e7f67e24146ee925e16d7cb6ac0%26pid%3D15.1%26h%3D168%26w%3D300%26c%3D7%26rs%3D1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Ds3H1abxdkFY&tit=Francis+Scott+Key+-+Star+Spangled+Banner&c=2&h=168&w=300&l=139&sigr=11b3irbmm&sigt=118k4mms7&sigi=13282vpg0&age=1453301411&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&fr=ipad&tt=b

video.search.yahoo.com

After taking a break from composer of the day, we are back! Now, we're are going to look at some of the contemporary "songwriters". Since the music is not classical in genre, they are not referred to as composers. Here, we will look at the music, the writer, and the events in history that shaped their music.
Our first choice is Woody Guthrie.
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (/ˈɡʌθri/; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter and musician whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional, and children's songs, along with ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This machine kills fascists displayed on his guitar. His best-known song is "This Land Is Your Land". Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress.

Today's composer was Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) Leonard Bernstein was an American 20th century composer, writer, teacher and conductor. All of these activities he pursued to a remarkable degree with great energy and success. He died 5 days after retiring- of lung cancer and pneumonia.

This week we are going to learn about American composers. We will start with the obvious: John Philip Sousa (1854- 1932). Sousa - American composer, bandmaster, arranger and writer known as "The March King". He composed 136 marches including "The Stars and Stripes Forever" - the national march of America. He was born in Washington, D.C. and had 9 siblings. Sousa also wrote several novels.

SAT Essay Tips - FamilyEducation

familyeducation.com Learn basic principles and tips behind the essay section of the SAT.

Today's composer is Mozart (1756-1791). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart the incredible 18th century Austrian composer of the Classical era. A child prodigy, he lived a full but short life, nevertheless creating over 600 compositions. At age 30-31 he was a teacher of Beethoven in Vienna. At age 32, in spite of his phenomenal output of compositions, his financial position deteriorated (possible gambling and overspending) and he began to borrow money. At age 35 he was commissioned to write a Requiem (Catholic Mass for the dead). He composed the Magic Flute, which was very successful. He suffered from severe depression and died December 5, the day after rehearsing the Requiem (probably rheumatic fever), and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.

Wolfgang Mozart

Biography.com has a great bio of Mozart which discusses his life in relation to political and world events of the time. Nicely done and a quick read!

biography.com A prolific artist, Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart created a string of operas, concertos, symphonies and sonatas that profoundly shaped classical music.

Today's composer is Verdi (Italy: 1813-1901) Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian 19th century composer. One of the most influential opera composers of all time and still now one of the most popular and most performed of opera composers.

Today's composer is Ludwig van Beethoven (Germany: 1770-1827)
German 19th century classical composer and virtuoso pianist. Beethoven was one of the most influential composers of all time and one of the most popular. He was known to be grumpy, irritable and manic depressive. He gave his first public performance at 9 years old and published his first work at 12.

Today's composer is Brahms (Germany: 1833-1897) One of the 'Three B's", Brahms is one of the giants of classical music. His output includes most genres except for opera and ballet.
Called by some 'Last of the Classicists' he is classified in the Early Romantic period. He died of Cancer.

Today's composer of the day is J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Bach is now considered to be one of the greatest German baroque composers. During his lifetime however he was famed as an organist rather than as a composer.
He came from a dynasty of 7 generations of musicians extending from the 16th to the 18th century. Apparently he had 76 male relatives who were musicians and 53 of them were called Johann!
(Quote taken from 52 Composers.com)

"Jack, who is the composer of the day today?"
"Taco Bell!"
" Well, sort of..... :-). Pachelbel."
" That's what I said."
;-)

Today's composer is Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706). He was a German composer, performer and teacher. An important composer of the Baroque period, he worked with JS Bach's father and was Godfather to JS Bach's sister. He is best known for his Canon in D, but was a prolific composer with over 200 pieces to his credit.

Today's composer is Aaron Copland (1900-1990). He is also from NY, and was the youngest of 5 children. He became a Harvard professor around the age of 50. Copland is best known for composing and conducting. "To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself... inconceivable."

As some of you know, I have one child who attends public elementary school and I am homeschooling my other child. In the morning, as we prepare to begin our studies, I play music for him and we talk about the composer, what country they are from, what type of music it is, etc. It's rather random. I am not using a curriculum. We are just building his familiarity and appreciation for various types of music and composers.
As Jack is a huge Star Wars fan, today's composer was John Williams. Williams wrote the score for over 100 films, and he won awards for many of them. He was born in Queens, NY and attended Julliard. He's also a veteran.