Amidst the anxiety parents feel about their ability to teach their children, it’s useful to remember a basic tenet of teaching. At the root of the verb to teach is an Old English word tæcan meaning “to show, point out, or demonstrate.” Tæcan matches up … Read more
Beethoven, Eroica Variations, Op. 35 Last week we featured a major work of Beethoven, his Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”). This week I want to look at a related work that Beethoven composed for piano the year before in 1802. It’s a set of 15 variations … Read more
An Interview with Dr. Peter Mooz Is art an elective? In our continuing series of interviews with Dr. Peter Mooz, I asked him about art education and the ways children come to know art. Art comes about when civilization progresses to the point where it … Read more
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Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”) Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica“) can be viewed as marking the beginning of the Romantic era in music. Beethoven’s early works tend to conform to the Classical style that you would find in the works of Haydn and Mozart. But with … Read more
Zeal is a useful word. First of all, there aren’t that many commonly used “z” words, once you get past “zip,” zero,” “zoo,” “zone,” and “zebra.” Not in English, at least. But zeal describes a particularly marvelous human feeling. The word traces back from Latin … Read more
Telemann, Viola Concerto in G Major Since Professor Carol was answering a question about Telemann yesterday, why not turn to him for this week’s Friday Performance Pick? It’s hard to think about Georg Phillipp Telemann (1681-1767) without making comparisons to J.S. Bach. Telemann was just four … Read more
We love to receive questions from our students. Here’s one that we just received: I am an eighth grader and pianist. I am studying your “300 Years” course. Why is Telemann not in the Lutheran hymnal, despite his family’s ties with the Lutheran church? What … Read more
Barber, Adagio for Strings It may seem that I feature works in this series that tend to be less well known if not obscure. There’s some truth to that. It results in part from the fact that I look for shorter works that I think … Read more
An Interview with Dr. Peter Mooz Art Historian Peter Mooz discusses his new book “Religion in American Painting.” Dr. Mooz will be familiar to many of our readers through his involvement in Exploring America’s Musical Heritage and Early Sacred Music. I have had the pleasure of … Read more
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Handel, Messiah – For Unto Us a Child Is Born If you followed Professor Carol’s Advent Calendar this year, you know that we remain in the middle of the Christmas season. It’s the 8th day of Christmas – maids a’milking and all that. Handel’s Messiah is frequently performed … Read more