Michigan Music Retreat
2024
Good Morning Class!
Let's Get Started
The Red River Valley (circa 1870)
This beautiful song uses only three chords, C,F, & G. See if you can identify where the chords change from one to another.
Singer not identified. Thought to be
Suzy Bogguss.
Characters who can't read a note.
95% of O' Sole Mio' is the three basic chords, the foundation of music.
The Good, the Bad, and the Worst
Reminder to Bob: play the good stuff first or they'll leave.
Mozart's Gran Partita
Ranelagh Gardens near London, 1865; Typical setting for a performance of a Mozart divertimento
Below: London Symphony Orchestra members performing Mozart's Gran Partita
The Worst
When there became no such thing as bad taste and talentless trash, and a publicity campaign to promote it as "genius."
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.
Piano Concert: 4:33
William Marx, Pianist: 2010
Prepare yourselves for absolute, talentless crap.
"I always think of it before I write the next piece."
One critic called it "the pivotal composition of this century."
Pianist David Tudor called it "one of the most intense listening experiences you can have." May 8, 2000
Orchestral Version
Charles Ives
He criticized Mozart for being "afraid to ever miss a note" in his compositions.
Enough Already!!!!! Stop!!!!!
Back to the good Stuff
("Come back! Come back!)
Jimmy Rodgers; "The Singing Brakeman." circa 1920s
Jimmy came out of abject poverty to heights he never dreamed of because of his music.
Maxwellton braes are bonnie
Where early fa's the dew
And 'twas there that Annie Laurie
Gave me her promise true
Gave me her promise true
Which ne'er forgot will be
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I lay me doon and dee
Her brow is like the snowdrift
Her throat is like a swan
Her face it is the fairest
That e'er the sun shone on
That e'er the sun shone on
And dark blue is her ee
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I lay me doon and dee
Like dew on th' gowan lying
Is the fa' o' her fairy feet
And like winds in summer sighing
Her voice is low and sweet
Her voice is low and sweet
And she's a' the world to me
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I lay me doon and dee