I’ve been listening to a lot of classical music lately. I really like to play it while I’m driving. I can still remember spending hours trying to find the name of the composer of the music from the “Diamonds are Forever” commercials for DeBeers when they used to have those shadow commercials. I was raised on Brahms, Vivaldi and Mozart, so it’s not as if it’s exactly new to me. But, I love hearing pieces I’ve never heard before by composers I’m not familiar with. Or, pieces I have heard before, but never realized who they were by or that they were from a symphony or part of a certain period of music.
So, all of this got me thinking and thinking about it led me to searching and I finally found this Web site! I feel this site serves as a very good introduction to different eras and composers of classical music.
Eras – Well, apparently there are six main periods of music in history: Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Twentieth Century. By clicking into this section from the main page or from the navigation strip at the top, you’ll come to an introduction page that has a side menu. On the side menu, you will find each era of music. In each section, you will learn about that era of music and if you’d like, you can click on the composer link in that section and you’ll find out which composers are from that era as well.
Composers – As a singer, I am fascinated by the thought of composing music. I sing by ear, because I’ve never been able to grasp reading music or how to apply the music I can read to the notes I sing. So, I’ve learned every performance piece I’ve ever done by ear. Just the idea that there are men and women out there who have all of this music floating around in their heads and the talent and ability to put it on paper and write all the different parts for the different instruments is simply incredible!
To navigate this section, I just clicked the link in the introduction text to see the complete listing of composers. However, you can also you use the alphabetical navigation strip at the top of the section. You will find a short biography on each composer, as well as, a sampling of their work. To listen to the samples, you need Real Player, which you can get here for free.
Glossary – Since music has its own terminology, you may find yourself wondering what they’re talking about in the descriptions sometimes. If that happens, just head right on over to the glossary and use the alphabetical navigation at the top of the page to find that word. It’s as simple as that!
I’m thrilled I could share this site with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I already have!
http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/
~ Amanda