Happy Easter! The Academy is back and the students will work on the following tunes:
The Wizard of Oz
From the 1939 classic movie featuring Judy Garland as Dorothy (click here to read the full plot), it’s time to put on your red shoes and follow the yellow brick road!
If I only had a brain
We’re off to see the wizard
Somewhere over the Rainbow
Ding dong the witch is dead
Nimrod
In 1898, English composer Edward Elgar wrote a Theme followed by 14 variations, each one of them dedicated to a friend, family member or musician. Variation #9 is the most famous, often played as a separate piece by orchestras. It was dedicated to Elgar’s publisher Augustus A Jeager.
The video shows famous conductor Daniel Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The Surprise Symphony
In 1791, Haydn planned a joke on his audience – a Fortissimo chord at the end a very softly played movement in order to take people by surprise and maybe wake some of them up!
We will only play a small fragment of it, the Minuetto and Trio, here with Patrick Valentino and the Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra.
Stolen Moments
From the 1959 album “The Blues and the abstract truth” by Alto sax player Oliver Nelson, “Stolen moments” is a minor blues particularly popular is medium sized Jazz band due to the front line harmonies. Here is a Big Band version – Jazz doesn’t get any better than this!
