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 percussion family is home to a great variety of instruments.  Everything from a wood block to a vibraphone falls into this category.

One major distinction among these instruments is pitched percussion as opposed to non-pitched percussion.  Non-pitched instruments make sound, but do not have the ability to change in pitch.  A triangle, tambourine, or snare drum are good examples of this group.

Some pitched percussion instruments are the xylophone, the steel drum, and the kettle drum.  Do you know a different name for a kettle drum?

Can you name any other pitched percussion instruments?

Want to get funky?  Of course you do.  Funk is a genre of music characterized by infectious dance rhythms, a strong blues/jazz influence and most often, a very prevalent bassline.  Funk popularized a bass guitar technique that is synonymous with the genre itself.  Rather than plucking, the performer pysically grabs the stings or even strikes them with his thumb.  This makes the attack of the instrument much harder than other bass techniques. 

Do you know the name of this style of bass playing?

One of the most versatile and interesting families of instruments a composer can write for is the human voice.  As instruments go, it has among the widest pitch ranges, and easily the largest tonal range.

Many pieces for voice have a somewhat standardized arrangement referred to as “S.A.T.B.”   What do the letters in “S.A.T.B.” stand for?

Welcome to March, folks! March 1st was quite an eventful day in music history. It’s Johnny Cash’s and June Carter’s wedding anniversary, it’s the birth of pirate rock ‘n’ roll radio off the coast of Europe, and the anniversary of an event that changed the way we discover music forever. In 1941, on March 1st, the first commercial FM radio station went on the air.

So for this week’s question:

Where was the first FM radio station broadcast from?