It's Spring!

Happy Spring, everyone!  The weather is warming up, and the flowers and trees are blooming early this year.  Every morning I awaken to the sound of the robins and other birds creating their music outside my window.  Many composers have been inspired by the spring season and have written pieces to describe what they hear, see and feel.
   One of the most famous pieces of this season is Antonio Vivaldi's "Spring" from his work called The Four Seasons.  In the performance below, world-famous violinist Itzhak Perlman performs with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.


   Can you hear the the birds calling back and forth in the first movement?
   Vivaldi also creates the sound of thunder during a rainstorm.  Can you hear it?
 (Hint:  Listen for the tremolo in the strings.)


   Draw or paint a picture as you listen to the music.  
Here are some questions to help you as you draw:
        What kind of picture does the music make you think of?  What colors do you think fit with the music?
   Please bring your drawing to your next lesson so that we can share our experience together!
  (Note:  The drawing does not have to be any specific picture.  You can even do an abstract piece of art in which you simply make shapes or lines using colors inspired by the music.)


"Spring" from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi performed by Itzhak Perlman and the Israel Philharmonic.
(Please click on the link above to find the YouTube video.  I was unable to embed this video.)

After you have created your own drawing, take a look at this video of sand art done to the same piece of music.  The artist is Ferenc Cako.

Listening: Electric Music

Music is an amazing thing.  It is sounds, put together in a way that creates something enjoyable for us to hear.  There are thousands of instruments that we have invented to play music on.  In the last blog post you saw how thumb pianos, made out of wood and metal, can make interesting and beautiful music.  Did you know that we can make music with lightning?

A sound is really just the movement of air, which our ears pick up as vibrations in the eardrum.  Electricity moves the air in vibrations (or frequencies) that can be altered to move at a speed that our ears can pick up as sound.

In the following videos, you will see Musical Tesla Coils create lightning that we hear as well as see!

Popcorn performed by The Masters of Lightning on their "Zeusaphones".

The skinny poles in the middle of the stage are light bulbs that glow from the electricity in the air.

Here is another video by ArcAttack on America's Got Talent.  This group actually interacts with the lightning by wearing special suits that make the electricity go around them.

You can play all kinds of music with lightning....even J.S. Bach!  Here is Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor performed by The Masters of Lightning.

Want more information about how this works?  Click here for a brief explanation from ArcAttack members.

Get a really in-depth, technical explanation from Steve Ward, a man who pioneered this idea, here.  (For those parents or older students who really want to know.)