The Music Box

Today’s the last installment of our series on music from around the world, where we’ll learn about the music of Nicaragua from Marlon Obando Solano, a native of San Lorenzo, Nicaragua, who now lives in Louisville, Kentucky. You’ll hear about different folk traditions, including dances that tell stories about Nicaragua’s people and history. You’ll also learn a new song about bananas! *** Featured m...

We’re going to the mountains today with musician Cari Norris, who teaches us about the traditional music of the Appalachian region. We’ll hear banjos and dulcimers, fun songs to sing along, and how this music can keep families connected. *** Featured music: Hillary Klug & Jim Wood: Arkansas Traveler Hillary Klug: Fire on the Mountain Jean Ritchie: Killy Kranky Jean Ritchie: Shady Grove *** Don...

We’re using some of our favorite happy songs to power an imaginary train ride, with a lesson in fast and slow tempo. From grave to presto and everything in between, we’ll move our bodies to the beat. *** Featured music: Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey: When You Believe John Lennon: Imagine Cast of The Wiz Live: Brand New Day Nat King Cole: Smile Katrina and the Waves: Walking on Sunshine Flo Ri...

Continuing our explorations of music outside the European tradition with our guide Charles Amewudah, a native of Ghana and a drumming teacher. We’ll learn about the different kinds of percussion instruments used in Ghanaian music, and how drumming is part of life in Ghana. *** Aseye Ensemble , the drum group led by Charles Amewudah More information on the Ewe drumming tradition, including images o...

We're taking a (virtual) trip to different parts of the world and learning about music from different places! Today, we'll learn about music from Thailand and Iran with multi-instrumentalist and composer Jon Silpayamanant. *** Born in Udon Thani, Thailand, Jon Silpayamanant is an intercultural multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music educator based in the greater Louisville area. As a biracial T...

Getting along with friends can be a challenge, but we've got the musical solution! We’re returning to the magical land of Arpeggio for today’s adventure. Sing along with the Three Fierce Fairies! *** National Standards incorporated: Exploring and demonstrating music concepts (such as beat and melodic contour) Creating musical ideas (such as answering a musical question for a specific purpose) Unde...

It's a time-traveling musical adventure as we learn about beat and rhythm. We’ll put on a pair of magical boots that will help us save the future of music! *** National Standards incorporated: Exploring and demonstrating music concepts (such as beat and melodic contour) Creating musical ideas (such as answering a musical question for a specific purpose) Understanding how a specific music concept (...

We'll explore the world of dynamics (how loud or soft a sound is) with a big box of fireworks! KA-BOOM! You’ll hear some very special pyrotechnics and learn some special words to describe dynamics. *** National Standards incorporated: Understanding the relationships between music and other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life. Understanding rhythmic and melodic ideas Demonstrat...

You'll learn about how math is used to make music! Just like chopping vegetables in half, you can chop notes in half too. *** National Standards incorporated: Understanding the relationships between music and other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life. Understanding rhythmic and melodic ideas Demonstrating knowledge of musical concepts *** Additional resources: Musical Notation...

So many people in our community are grieving and reacting to current events related to the Breonna Taylor case. Out of respect, we’re going to postpone today’s episode until next week. We’d rather direct your attention to what’s happening in our city now. You can follow the news coverage from our sister station WFPL , and we’re putting some links below for how to talk with your family about racial...

So many of the composers we usually learn about in school are men -- but that's only telling half the story of who writes the music we love. *** National Standards Incorporated: Analyzing the elements of music (including form) of musical works, relating them to style, mood, and context, and describe how the analysis provides models for personal growth as composer, performer, and/or listener Unders...

It’s our Season 4 premiere! We return to the fantasy world of Arpeggio with a tale of two very different performing groups and how they learn to get along. *** National Standards incorporated: Exploring and demonstrating awareness of music contrasts (such as high/low, loud/soft, same/different) Applying personal and expressive preferences in the evaluation of music Understanding how to perform mus...

We’re wrapping up our season with a very special story, featuring a magical land full of extraordinary creatures. And you’ll learn a few new things you can do with your voice too! *** National standards incorporated: Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. *** Additional resources: Solfege Hand Signs Solfege Scale with Hand Signs *** Donate to support this and future seasons...

We’ll learn about meters in music, also known as time signatures, using math. You'll be able to hear the difference between 3/4 and 4/4 and understand how to read a time signature. Then… it’s an epic battle between time signatures! Who will win?? *** Featured musical excerpts: The Beatles: Yellow Submarine Dionne Warwick: What the World Needs Now Rodgers & Hammerstein: My Favorite Things from...

Artists and musicians can inspire each other's work, even though they use different materials and techniques! We’ll learn about some of the ways that art and music intersects, and we’ll take a turn being inspired ourselves. *** Featured musical excerpts: George Gershwin: An American in Paris, New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein Jane Ira Bloom: Jackson Pollack, from Chasing Paint:...

This is the final episode in our mini-series about songwriting: we’ll explore how instruments are used to tell stories in sound — most specifically, in movie soundtracks! You’ll be sure to hear a few familiar tunes here, and you’ll never watch movies the same way again. *** Featured musical excerpts: John Williams: Star Wars Main Theme, from “Star Wars” Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Hans Zimm...

This is the second of three episodes on songwriting. This week, we’ll learn about how songs help us celebrate special occasions (hint: it involves cake and candles) and also how songs can make us feel strong in the face of hard times. We’ll hear some examples about songs that bring people together, and we’ll write our own verse to a well-known call-and-response song. *** Featured music: B.B. King:...

This is the first of a series of three episodes on songwriting. This week, we’ll learn about how rhyming words can help us tell a story. We’ll start with some songs you already know, and then we’ll write our own song! *** Featured music: W.A. Mozart: Variations on “Ah vous dirais-je, Maman” (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) *** National standards incorporated: Singing, alone and with others, a varied...

We had a new episode all ready to go for you, but it just doesn’t feel right in this moment. Listen in and we’ll tell you why we’re hitting pause this week. And we’ll be back with you next week with a new episode about how you can write your own songs. *** Resources for discussing current events with your kids: Race Talk: Engaging Young People in Conversations About Race and Racism (Anti-Defamatio...

We’re wrapping up our roundup of the instrument families with the woodwind instruments this week! We’ll learn how they make sound (with some activities you can do at home) and even learn about a couple of surprise members of the family. *** Featured musical excerpts: Bottle Boys: Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepson cover on bottles) Corrente: Bartolome de Selma y Salaverde Bagpipe Master: Going Home p...

We’ll be exploring all the different instruments of the brass family this week. We’ll learn about what defines a brass instruments, the various sounds they make, and all the different kinds of music they play. And we’ll practice blowing into our own imaginary brass instruments — it sounds pretty funny! *** Featured musical excerpts: Hector Berlioz: Damnation of Faust, Hungarian March John Philip S...

Percussion instruments are anything you can hit, shake, or scrape — which means they can be a LOT of fun to play! We’ll learn about the two main categories of percussion instruments, we’ll play a game to tell them apart, and there might even be some dancing, too. *** Featured musical excerpts: Djembe solo by Master Drummer M’Bemba Bangoura Get Lucky (Daft Punk)  - Steel Pan cove r played by Jonath...

Did you know that we can put most musical instruments into family groups? Just like your family, there are larger and smaller members, and they all make different sounds. We’ll start learning about the string family today: violins, violas, cellos, and more. *** Featured musical excerpts: Sonata for Violin Solo, No. 1 in G Minor - J.S. Bach Viola Sonata, Op. 25, No. 1: III. Sehr Langsam - Paul Hind...

We’ll learn about the ways that sound can move, both in the air around us and inside our bodies. Get ready to surf the musical waves with us! *** Featured musical excerpts: Catchy Song - Dillon Francis Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118 - Franz Schubert Mandala Offering - The Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir Be Like the Water - A.N.D. *** National Standards incorporated: Understanding relationships between mu...

Welcome to Season 3 of The Music Box! Today’s episode will help us learn how music makes us feel. From silly to sad, from angry to energetic, we’ll discover the tools and tricks that composers use to affect our emotions. *** Featured musical excerpts: The Washington Post March - John Philip Sousa In the Hall of the Mountain King - Edvard Grieg Russian Sailors’ Dance - Reinhold Gliere Happy - Pharr...