Recently the nytimes did a series choosing the top 10 composers.
Who are the ”essential” composers/musicians that we should cover? When a student graduates from our schools they should be able to recognize major works by the artist, have a conversation about them, and have some sort of historical reference. More than ”Beethoven was deaf”.
Who do we think MUST be included? Lets recognize that their might be regional differences. Only pick ten.
Mine:
JS Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Debussy
Stravinsky
Ellington
Louis Armstrong
Leonard Bernstein
The Beatles
Woody Guthrie
First of all, you'd be surprised how many people DON'T know that Beethoven was deaf. That became very apparent to me when we first screened Beethoven in Vienna in front of an audience.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, though -
Beethoven, of course.
Bach
Handel
Mozart
Stravinsky
Shostakovich
Tchaikovsky
Ives
Copland
Lennon/McCartney (okay, Ringo and George too)
That being done, let me also say that those are not in any particular order and some of them I don't really even care for all that much (Handel and Copland). I am not intentionally snubbing non-Western music, however, I feel that students should know what music from the past has influenced and continues to influence music in THEIR own culture. If I taught in China, I'd include Asian composers in this list. I don't teach in China.
My 10 cents.
Susan
Thats a good list! I think Armstrong and Ellington over Copland and Ives. I also include Bernstein as my Broadway representative. But those are my preferences.
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