Woody Guthrie is considered by many to be the greatest political songwriter of the 20th century.  His catalog is unusually deep for an artist of his era, and it’s filled with folk, political, and children’s songs.

Woody learned to play while working on the migrant farm circuit.  Many of his songs are about his experience there during the Great Depression.

Woody remains a pillar to the American folk community and his children and grandchildren are still active in the folk scene.

Can you name any of the other Guthries that are active in music?

Peter and the Wolf  is one of Prokefiev’s most famous, and easily recognizable works.  The piece tells the story of a boy, his grandfather and several animals that all live in the same forest.  Prokofiev used different instruments to illustrate different characters from the story.  The grandfather is played by a bassoon.  It has a low, warm quality that sounds like an old man’s voice.  The bird is played by a flute, giving it a light, breathy feeling. 

 What other instruments did Prokofiev use in Peter and the Wolf, and who do they represent?

Why do you think Prokofiev chose the instruments he did for each character?

The term concept album refers to one album that has a unified musical or lyrical theme creating one story arc.  This idea has been around almost as long as commercial recording, but it really solidified in the late sixties.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the first widely popular concept album.  The Beatles performed as their alter egos and created actual character names for the band members.  The album is designed to actually be a concert by the Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The seventies brought even deeper concept albums, one of the most influential being Dark Side of the Moon.  Each song on the album illustrates one of the many things that can drive a person insane.  “Money”, “Time”, and “Brain Damage” being some of the easiest to recognize.

Do you know of any other concept albums?  Have any of your favorite artists ever made a concept album?

Time for a nice little bit of theory.

Does everyone remember what intervals give us a major triad?  Great.

If we alter one of those intervals just a little bit, we get a minor triad.

So, what do we have to do to a major triad to turn it into a minor triad?

Let your teacher know.  It’ll probably make them smile.

This year we celebrate Robert Schumann’s 200th birthday!  So in honor of Robert we’ve got a little true or false quiz for you.  Here are three facts about Schumann.  One of them is FALSE.  Can you spot the false information?

Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau (now part of Germany) in 1810.

He was very close friends with Frederic Chopin.

Robert Schumann was a famous composer from the Romantic period.

Now, can you correct the information?