Yost Music Studio

Music Class

2009-05-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

The topic for yesterday evening was the organ. The organ has been around since about 200 BC! During the Byzantine Empire the organ was modified from water powered to air. Two children would get inside the organ and jump on the bellows to get the air flowing...hope they had ear plugs! The composer we studied was J. S. Bach. A very talented organist and composer from the Baroque period. He was not very well known for his compositions until about 100 years after his death. Bach was a devout Lutheran (not surprising being from Germany!). On most of his manuscripts he wrote INJ for In the Name of Jesus.

Next class meets Thursday, May May 14.

Music Class

2009-04-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

This year has flown by! We have nearly covered all the instruments of the orchestra as well as some famous and not-so-famous composers. Last time we talked about the role of the conductor. In early days, conductors didn't use batons but pounded the floor with a stick! This could be quite dangerous as Jean-Baptiste Lully found out! We also talked about a famous American composer, teacher and conductor - Leonard Bernstein. Leonard wasn't the name given to him at birth. He changed his name to Leonard when he was a teenager. Did you know that Bernstein assisted with a stage version of Peter Pan?

The next class is Thursday, April 30. I am looking forward to studying a very popular instrument and composer. Hope to see you there!

Music Class

2009-01-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

This music class meets every other Thursday evening and is geared for school age children. In our last class we covered the bassoon and contra-bassoon. We listened to The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas. Dukas was a French composer who lived in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. He composed many works but very few were published due to Dukas' extreme perfectionism. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is based on a story by the German poet Goethe. The following is a link to the version of the story that I used in the class: DSO Kids.

After reading the story, we watched a clip of the Disney movie Fantasia which is loosely based on The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Next time we meet we will begin studying the brass section of the orchestra. There is still room for more students in this class. If interested please contact me by posting a comment or emailing shondayost@gmail.com.

Music Class

2008-11-14T06:43:00.001-08:00

October 2008, I began teaching a music class geared for students grades K-12. This is a general music class focusing on the instruments that are used in an orchestra. We are also studying various composers as we go along. Last night we studied the cello and double bass. The composer for the evening was Rossini who is famous for opera. Two of his most famous operas are The Barber of Seville and William Tell. As we listened to the overtures of these two operas we discussed the life of Rossini as well as a little history of Italy at the time that Rossini lived. Also included in the class was a geography and social studies lesson as we discussed a little bit about Italy; how her government is set up as well as her industry and main religion.

There is still room for more students in this class. If you are interested or know someone who might be interested in a music class please comment on this post or email me at shondayost@gmail.com.