Next Meeting:

THIRD THURSDAYS 

   1:30 p.m. 

MEETINGS SUSPENDED

DUE TO THE COVID-19 

EMERGENCY

 Place: 

Marjorie Mews Library

 Convenor:

 Deborah Rehner         

Topic: 

TOPICS

        October  2019     19TH CENTURY & OTHER WOMEN COMPOSERS

        September 2019   CHOPIN:   EARLY ROMANTIC COMPOSER

        May 2019  FAURÉ : LATE ROMANTIC COMPOSER  - FRANCE'S GREATEST

        April  2019  SCHUBERT & SCHUMANN:  EARLY ROMANTIC COMPOSERS

       March 2019    Carole Bestfader & the Hardanger Fiddle

       November 2018   The Gambade Viol Consort

      October 2018   The Music of Haydn

     September 2018   The Music of Bach

     May 2018    The Late Baroque:  Vivaldi and Handel

   April 2018  The Middle Baroque :  Pachelbel,  Corelli, and Purcell

  March 2018   The Early Baroque : Monteverdi

   February 2018   Renaissance Music ... melodic polyphony

    January 2018   Medieval music: from plainchant to motets

    November 2017    The music of George Gershwin

    October 2017      The Music of Claude Debussy

September 19      Leonard Bernstein: 

                          The greatest 5 min. in music education

   April 18      Wood Wind Instruments and their Music, part I

        &

   May 16      Wood Wind Instruments and their Music, part II

  March 21      Brass Instruments and their Music

 February 21    The Music of Bob Dylan

 January 24

 A tribute to Leonard Cohen: his poetry and music

November 2016  

A visit with violinist  Carole Bestevater.  How five music teachers are

teaching music through string instrument lessons in a non-profit music school for

elementary students in less propserous districts of the city.

 March  2016     A visit with St. John's composer,  Krista Vincent.

February          Music by Women Composer: exploring the internet to learn about

                      women composers through the ages and listen to the music as it

  2016             is performed.   

January          The Music of Sibelius.   Members are invited to explore the internet for        

  2015            music by this composer,  to be shared at the meeting.

October 2015

Music we like to work to.  Selections ranged from pop music -- Abba --                Scott Joplin -- Django Reinhardt -- to classical music --  the Midnight Sonato to calm down in stressed work situations --  the Brandbenbergs to write to --  Vivaldi's  The Seasons to do housework to.

September    Musical surprises from Kjellrun Hestekin's  CD collection

    2015

 May 2015    Music for Dance :  Baroque  court dances to the music of Handel and Bach

                   and other composers of the period.  The links to English Country Dancing

                   and other folk traditions.

April 2015    The Music of Chopin

March 2015    

The Czech Museum of Music in Prague has a wide array of novel musical instruments,  some of them invented in during the 20th century such as the quarter-tone piano and the quarter-tone clarinet.  Deborah visited this museum last Fall and will report of what she found of interest there.  She will play videos and sound clips to associate with the pictures.

February 2015      Musical Theatre 

The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma -- a wealth of favorite music from  20th century musicals.   Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore - music of the late 19th century stage.  These are examples of show tunes we know and love.  

January  2015     Gaelic Song Tradition 

A brief introduction to Gaelic songs,  including early work songs, women's waulking songs, mouth music,  and keening.  love songs, and how they are re-interpreted with modern rhythms and  instruments. 

November 2014 :  The Music of Benjamin Britten

October  2014 :  Music From the Movies

  In the 20th century,  scores for films became a rich source of fine music composed specifically for the story being told on screen,  to suit moods and locales. 

  Some think this music may be experienced - or reworked - as classical music in the future - as part of the rich musical heritage of our era.    

  Can you find your favorites by browsing YouTube and iTunes to play at the meeting? 

September 2014:   Brahms

• Come armed with your 'favorite' piece by Brahms. 
• The first recommendation is:

Trio in B, Op. 8 is the first piece of chamber music he wrote, at age 21.......of course, we do not know how many pieces he relegated to the wastepaper basket before that!!!......and the Scherzo is the only part which escaped revision 30 years later. So I think it would be interesting to just play the Scherzo for a taste of youthful Brahms........before going all profound etc.

• Check here (Word doc, pdf) for more information and members' recommendations. 

May 2014:   Spring!

• Each of us suggested 1 - 3 pieces which reminded us of spring 
• Check out the music that was suggested here.

April  2014:   Asian folk instruments 

• We learned about several Asian folk instruments and watched and listened to musicians playing them. The instruments included the pipa (a lute), the erhu (a two-stringed viol), an oboe, a flute, a zither, a dulcimer, and the marvellous sheng, among others. 
• Links to the information about the music and YouTube videos. 

March 2014:   Alice Herz-Sommer

• We watched the award-winning documentary "The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life" which tells the story of Alice Herz-Sommer (1903-2014), whose piano playing sustained her and her son through two years in the Nazi concentration camp, Thereisenstadt.
• Her picture, at the left, is linked to a trailer for the documentary.  

• Pat invited us to hear house for an introduction to her digital piano
• This was our first opportunity to play a digital piano and run it through its paces.
• This piano has over 100 instruments, ten of which represent Asian folk instruments. This led to the topic for the April meeting.
• No video link for the picture. 

• We knew very little about Arvo Pärt, who is still composing.
• We prepared by reading about him, looking at documentaries of his life and listening to his music.
• At the meeting we listened to some of his music and talked about it.
• Click here for information about Arvo Pärt and his music 

• We listened to parts of Messiah and looked at its score.
• We talked about Messiah, it's history and what makes it so special.
• We talked about Messiah performances in St. John's
• Click here for information about Handel and his music.

• Mozart! and the Mozart piano, compared to modern pianos.
• This was our first 'composer' meeting.
• Click here for information about some of Mozart's compositions.

• Introduction to YouTube, for some.
• Introduction to 'smalin' (Stephen Malinowski) and his animated scores. 
  (See/hear the "Little" Fugue here or by clicking the image at the left.)
• Decision to focus some meetings on specific composers.

More Detail

• A group of friends who want to learn more about music.
• Our musical backgrounds vary widely.
• We are not professional musicians, though we would welcome those who are.

• Generally, the 3rd Thursday of each month.
• 1:30 to 3:00:00 - 4:00 p.m.   

• Usually at the Marjorie Mews Library

• So far, we have mostly explored topics in western, 'classical music'.
• We may branch out to other forms and traditions of music.
• We will continue to have some meetings that focus on a specific composer; Brahms has been mentioned.
• We choose topics as our interests develop, and welcome suggestions.

• Contact our convenor.