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Free Online Video Music Lessons
ArtistWorks for Libraries provides patrons with world-class instruction through self-paced video lessons from Grammy Award-winning music and artistic professionals.
Language
English
Description
One of the most individual of all alto saxophone players, the cool-toned Lee Konitz has always had a strong musical curiosity that has led him to consistently take chances and stretch himself, usually quite successfully. This performance for Solos: The Jazz Sessions offers viewers front row seats for an intimate and unique jazz experience.
62) Frederic Chopin
Language
English
Description
Inspired by Paganini's dedication to a soloist instrument, the violin, Chopin decided early in his career to write only for piano. This beautifully produced program presents a biography of the Polish-born child prodigy and composer who blended Slavic influences into his works. Sketches, paintings, and cinematic treatments of Chopin and his times complement the music. Archival footage includes Arthur Rubinstein, Alexis Weissenberg, and Byron Janis...
63) The Organ
Language
English
Description
Pipe organs are the most majestic of musical instruments, and each one is a unique work of art named after its designer. This program studies the painstaking craftsmanship in wood and metal that goes into pipe organ construction and illustrates the function of the instrument's many parts. The voicing process, in which the volume and tonal quality of a pipe organ is adjusted to suit the acoustics of its location, is also explained. Generous musical...
Language
English
Description
Steven Bernstein is a trumpeter/slide trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, and composer who lives outside of musical convention. His influences and collaborators include, Lou Reed, Sex Mob, Sam Rivers, Levon Helm, and Trey Anastasio. In this Solos: The Jazz Sessions performance Bernstein dedicates spontaneously improvised pieces to a variety of culture makers including Lenny Bruce, Sly Stone, Marianne Faithful and Leonard Cohen.
Language
English
Description
This collection includes seven enriching, short documentary films created to support teachers, encourage parents, and promote community engagement in music education. Introducing music from the Renaissance through the 21st century, this invaluable series features rarely heard music from a broad range of performers, music styles, and ideas. The seven segments include an inspiring teacher performing with his students; an internationally known pianist’s...
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English
Description
How do three talented individuals translate their unique artistic sensibilities into action? This program explains. Section one focuses attention on Jacques d'Amboise, one of the world's finest classical dancers and founder of the National Dance Institute, which exposes thousands of inner-city school children to the magic and discipline of dance. Section two introduces viewers to Andre Andreev and Dan Covert, lead designers for many of MTV's premiere...
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English
Description
Bobby is eager to join the orchestra but knows nothing about it. Luckily, Strauss the Conductor is here to teach him before he signs up. Through the antics of these two engaging puppet characters this program teaches students about the woodwind and brass sections of the orchestra. It explores the history and development of ancient aerophones to the modern day flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba, and demonstrates...
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English
Description
Opening with Toscanini's performance of the Forza del Destino overture, this program observes how destiny, as it were, drove many of the great European conductors to America, where they built extraordinary new orchestras in their own image: the NBC Symphony, the Philadelphia, the Boston. The program contains footage of Toscanini rehearsing the "Coro di Zingarelle" from Traviata (including one of his famous tantrums) and performing Respighi's "Pines...
Language
English
Description
How do musicians find the inspiration to create? Do most songwriters come up with lyrics first, or music? What does it mean to be a composer in today's high-tech world? This program addresses questions young people may have about embarking on a career in music or musical composition. Focusing on current styles like rock, techno, and hip-hop, the video includes interviews with a classically trained composer as well as artists in other genres. Subjects...
70) The Trumpet
Language
English
Description
The story of the trumpet begins with the trumpeters' guilds of the Renaissance. We see how improvements in its construction led to its use in the Baroque period, and how Vivaldi began to use a more refined version in his compositions. Later flexibility made it popular with dance bands and jazz musicians. Combining computer graphics with music, a trumpeter demonstrates how the sound of the instrument developed over time, and how new playing techniques...
71) Materia Wood
Language
Español
Description
In Italy there’s a strong tradition of working with wood. In this documentary we start in the Forest of Violins in Paneveggio. Each tree is specially selected and felled for its quality grain. The forest is never over-harvested, with a mindfulness of preserving the forest and the traditional trees that are used to make the world’s finest violins and other objects of art. Visit schools and witness local carving traditions, like Krampus masks and...
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English
Description
Saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator Greg Osby has made an indelible mark on contemporary jazz as a leader of his own ensembles and as a guest artist with other acclaimed jazz groups for the past 20 years. Highly regarded for his insightful and innovative approach to composition and performance, Osby has earned numerous awards and critical acclaim. In the set for Solos: the Jazz Sessions, Osby explores a range of emotional and musical states,...
Language
English
Description
Though the violins of Antonio Stradivarius and Guarneri del Gesu remain the gold standard for concert musicians, their prices-often in the millions-and their scarcity place them beyond the use of all but a handful of soloists. This NewsHour program looks at Samuel Zygmuntowicz, the master violin-maker whose replicas and original designs fetch
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English
Description
Guitarist John Abercrombie combines bop and free jazz stylistic elements with electronics utilizing phase shifters, guitar synthesizers and the good old volume pedal. What has kept his playing fresh is his refusal to be chained to these digital devices. Saxophonist, composer, producer and educator Greg Osby has made an indelible mark on contemporary jazz as a leader of his own ensembles and as a guest artist with other acclaimed jazz groups for the...
75) The Oboe
Language
English
Description
The modern version of the oboe and the many forms it has taken during its evolution are the subject of this program. We see the oboe's ancient Egyptian ancestor-an unrecognizable prototype of the instrument played today. The more familiar-looking oboe, developed in the 17th century, is discussed within the context of its predecessors-the English horn, the heckelphone, and the contra bassoon. Works from Lully to Strauss illustrate the oboe's versatility...
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English
Description
Michihiro Sato is considered the finest player of the Tsugaru shamisen, a traditional three-stringed instrument of the Tsugaru province integral to Japanese folk music. This program combines live performances by Sato at the Otsu Traditional Performing Arts Center with the musician's commentary on the history and role of the shamisen player, a door-to-door minstrel of a bygone era. Sato also discusses the future of Tsugaru shamisen, such as his work...
Language
English
Description
Singers and band members get all the attention, but the technicians and producers who work inside a recording studio are just as important to the creation of a great song. This program introduces viewers to the experts and equipment at the heart of a sound studio. Topics include acoustics, soundproofing, pitch and frequency, microphones, the mixing console, multi-track recording, and the overall significance of the control room. Interviews with professional...
78) The Clarinet
Language
English
Description
This program shows how the German-system clarinet's unique sound and wide range of musical expression assured it a place in chamber music ensembles and in the orchestra itself. Beginning at the 18th-century workshop where it was created, we see how it was constructed, and how it has evolved over time. Its musical history is illustrated through extracts from works by several famous composers, including Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart.
79) The Flute
Language
English
Description
This program deals with the history and development of the metal instrument we know today as the transverse flute. We learn how the flute was popularized by French flautist Jacques Hotterre, son of its creator, Jean Hotterre, at the court of Louis XIV. We see how continuing improvements to the instrument over time increased its use, until it became a key instrument in modern orchestras. Flute performances from works by Lully, Frederick the Great,...
Language
English
Description
Bobby is learning a lot from his new mentor, Strauss the Conductor, but he still has more to learn before he can become a member of the orchestra. Through the antics of these two engaging puppet characters, this program introduces the percussion section of the orchestra, examining the history and development of ancient membranophones and idiophones to modern day orchestral percussion instruments. Viewers see these instruments in action, and explore...