We’ve been having a lot of fun this year with our Video of the Month Club!  And to celebrate our “halfway through the year” mark, I thought something extra fun would be in order!  February’s Video of the Month is the result of a request that has been voiced numerous times by two of my students, Harris and Theo!   They’ve been asking me to share it since November.  It is by The Piano Guys (of course!) and apparently inspired by Steve’s 6 year old son, Eli, whose “enthusiasm for Star Wars, light sabers, and watching his daddy wield one while playing cello fueled the project continually”.  It’s been one of their biggest productions so far with 24 hours of filming and over 1000 hours of editing.

We will be listening to and viewing this video in our classes and lessons all week long, using this “cheat sheet” for a more active listening experience:

1. Rhythm and Meter–does the music move quickly, slowly or in between? Can you feel the beat?

2. Melody–does the melody line contain many notes or just a few? Are they mostly stepping like a scale or jumping all over?

3. Harmony–is there more than one “voice” or melody line?

4. Color and Texture–different instruments create different color or texture…how many instruments are used in this piece, how do they provide different color and texture?

These four ways to better listening were found in this article:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2014/01/28/267777013/4-ways-to-hear-more-in-music