Comments on: Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

By: Gwen

Gwen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:01:18 +0000

Sorry, I know nothing about music, but is there then a story behind why the Tchaikovsky’s Danse de Cygnes from Swan Lake sounds just like Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King?

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:59:36 +0000

How can you teach Bach to Rock and skip Bacharach?

By: Sharolyn

Sharolyn — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:21:26 +0000

Thanks for the encouragement, Paul
You are funny, Mike and Eric.

Apparently Tchaikovsky wrote in his diary, “It is Grieg who has altogether won my heart.”

I’m pretty sure I scored some major points with my students when at the end of class one day (and after studying the Lennon version) (and with the enthusiastic blessing of my principal) I showed this.

Chad, I am wondering, since you’ve watched American Idol more than I have this season,
1) Who do you think should win?
and
2) Who do you think will actually win?

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:15:22 +0000

1. Because he had weird satanic symbols tattooed on the palms of his hands.

2. Variation is when you keep playing the same thing hoping for different results - a sure sign of insanity.

3. The theatre organ in Wanamaker’s department store, Philadelphia, PA.

4. Zart. Moe Zart.

5. The Ring of the Nibelungen (a German compound word meaning “of interminable duration, bring snacks”).

6. Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and backstage at the 1812 Overture.

7. Edvard Grieg (but the tune was made famous by Frank Sinatra).

8. It means to get louder (also usually faster and sharper).

9. brass (Hatfields) and percussion (McCoys).

10. I don’t know if Grieg & Tchaikovsky were friends, but they copied each other’s piano concertos. Copland & Chavez were drinking buddies.

11. Disgraceland.

12. Army - We love you Conrad.

13. Don’t they already have names?

14. Ed Sullivan.

15. A - Blackbird, B - Imagine, C - Yesterday

16. Mo-mo-mo- (how do you like it) town.

17. Ebony and Ivory. Paul could only play on the white keys and Stevie only played the black ones. So betwixt them both, you see…

By: Paul Reisser

Paul Reisser — Wed, 21 May 2008 07:12:16 +0000

Grieg and Tchaikovsky also could have used a little Prozac.

Congratulations on your efforts to increase musical literacy. I bet one in ten randomly selected adults wouldn’t get five of your questions correct.

By: Sharolyn

Sharolyn — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:07:01 +0000

1. Guido is said to have been possessed because he could make groups of people sing the same notes based on his hand motions (conducting). It’s hard to tell for sure, but he supposedly came up with what evolved into our notation system. He was eventually forgiven and blessed. He later appeared regularly on SNL. :)

2. We just say that a variation is the same thing said in a different way.

7. Paul, I was right with you with your syllables. A+.

10. Grieg and Tchaikovsky were friends; Chavez and Copland were friends. Just as friends dress alike (just look around the mall), friends compose alike. There were lots of similarities between Grieg and Tchaikovsky - accelerando at the end… favored meters of three… instrument choices… can’t remember the others right now!

I was surprised at how much these students, born in the 1990s, knew about the Beatles. I’m sure American Idol played no small part in that.

By: Paul Reisser

Paul Reisser — Tue, 20 May 2008 06:38:34 +0000

1. Wasn’t Guido the cigarette-smoking priest on Saturday Night Live?

5. The name of the Wagner 4-opera story is “The Ring of the Zzzzz”

7. I can’t think of the composer’s name, but the piece goes,
“Doo-be doo-be doo-be doo,
Doo-be-doo,
Doo-be-doo,
Doo-be doo-be doo-be doo-be doo-be doo-be dooooo!” Etc.

Oh, wait, it was Grieg. I knew it was one of those guys who couldn’t speak English.

12. Elvis was in the Army (thus inspiring the events in “Bye-Bye Birdie,” in which rock-idol Conrad Birdie did likewise. Can you imagine Elvis in the Marines??

15. A-3, B-1, C-2. Perfect world? Yeah, right.

By: michael lee

michael lee — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:58:55 +0000

all the people wants to be linked to from the addison roads.

By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:45:27 +0000

So, Mike…

What’s the deal with the spammer with a phatty for this blog?

By: michael lee

michael lee — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:31:50 +0000

OK, I’m going to actually try this, without using wikipedia or anything.

1. He used a dominant 7th in his music?

2. A melodic theme translated into a series of settings with harmonic and rhythmic alterations. It’s really hard to define this without just using the word “Variation”.

3. Korg PS-3300.

4. Mozart?

5. Unendurable.

6. The Nutcracker Suite, Swan Lake

7. Tolkien

The King beneath the mountains,
The king of carven stone,
The lord of silver fountains
Shall come into his own!

His crown shall be upholden,
His harp shall be restrung,
His halls shall echo golden
To songs of yore re-sung.

The woods shall wave on mountains.
And grass beneath the sun;
His wealth shall flow in fountains
And the rivers golden run.

The Streams shall run in gladness.
The lakes shall shine and burn,
And sorrow fail and sadness
At the Mountain-king’s return!

8. It means to speed up the tempo, while ignoring frantic gestures from the conductor.

9. Brass, Percussion

10. I think the have the wrong website.

11. Surprise. No wait, Graceland.

12. Army?

13. Paul Simon, John Fogerty, George Strait, and Ringo Shiina.

14. Ed Sullivan

15. (A) - all of them?

16. MOTOWN, BABY!

17. The Girl Is Mine. It was meant to symbolize that the girl was nothin’ but run-around gutter trash, gold-diggin her way through any celebrity who would have her. Good times.