The Musical Muse
Blog dedicated to music education, practice tips, health & wellness, and geeking out.
Thanks again to my Virtual Choir mate Luma Zuri for finding this week's clip of the week. We are exploring the music of La Oreja de Van Gogh (Van Gogh's Ear). This Spanish pop/rock band earned an Ondas Award for Best New Act for their debut "Dile al Sol".
is popular on both sides of the Atlantic.
This is Comets in the Sky (Cometas por al Cielo):
Click on the CD image below to check out more of La Oreja de Van Gogh's music:
Making Music Fun is a friendly site with music games, music worksheets, free sheet music and music resources. These are geared toward beginner to early intermediate-level students.
There is a nice selection of note-naming worksheets as well as interval worksheets. They are visually appealing to young students. There are also composer word searches.
Making Music Fun is well laid out. Visit the Music Library and learn all about a composer. There are composer biographies, worksheets, lesson plans and sheet music. You can also access this information in the Print It section.
There is also an arcade, which contains two music theory games ("Music Distress" and "Eek Shark!"). All worksheets are available for free.
(c) 2012 by Musespeak(TM), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.
I had to call for assistance for this week's selections. Special thanks to Luma Zuri, one of my friends from
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 3.0, for introducing us to the music of Bebo Valdes and Diego El Cigala.
Bebo Valdes is a Grammy winning Afro-Cuban pianist, composer and arranger.
Diego El Cigala is a Grammy-nominated cantaor (flamenco singer). Their music is a fussion of jazz and flamenco. Listen carefully to the rhythm section (piano, drums and bass).
Their grooves combine flamenco and Afro-Cuban rhythms. The harmonies are typical of music both flamenco and jazz (love those "blues" intervals). The piano and drum licks? Pure jazz.
This is "Lagrimas Negros" ("Black Tears"), which is one of Luma's faves. I just love that piano intro.
I don't know about you, but thanks to Luma, I need to add Valdes and El Cigala's music to my music collection. You can explore more of Bebo Valdes music here:
(c) 2012 by Musespeak(TM), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.
The first time I heard the music of Soler was at the Honens International Piano Competition. The sonata reminded me a bit of Domenico Scarlatti's music.Years later, I learned his Sonata in c# minor, which was a lot of fun:
This week, I'm introducing Padre Antonio Soler to my students.
