Summary: This energetic program illustrates how unpredictable rhythms punctuate musical pieces, and how different instruments are used to create the effect. The orchestra dissects the two Stravinsky pieces line-by-line, illustrating the composer's use of stark rhythm changes to achieve wondrous musical special effects.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Whenever the pressure of air is changed rapidly-by the beating of a drum, rattling a stick in a can, plucking a string stretched across a box-the ear-brain system detects the pressure changes as sound, which travels from source to listener as sound waves. This program examines sound waves: why some sounds are musical and others just noise, and the relationship of regularity or irregularity of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Opera is unique among musical forms in that it developed over a relatively short period of time, unlike the concerto or symphony. From the birth of opera in Florence with the Camerata to the genius of Monteverdi and beyond, this program looks at how opera grew into both a form of entertainment and a vehicle for delivering incisive social, political, and cultural messages. The operettas of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Using Mozart's lively operatic piece, this program illustrates how composers weave together musical ideas to bring contrast and texture to their music. Abrupt pizzicatos, resounding fanfares, and languid melodies presented as a series of quick edits illustrate the point, along with an uninterrupted playback of a portion of the Overture.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Pythagoras believed that music originates in nature and that natural harmonies express very distinct mathematical relationships between their notes. From Pythagoras' first scales and the advent of harmony to the standardization of all instruments to equal temperament, this program traces the evolution of the system of tuning that revolutionized Western music. Few musical cultures have escaped...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Music is an art that depends greatly on the quality of the instrument as well as the skill and talent of the performer, the nature of the music itself, and the perceptions of the listener. This program explains how the brain perceives music and why certain melodies seem more appealing than others. The flute is used to show how this instrument has been adapted to different music and musicians at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: As many non-Western cultures have always known, music affects human development from the womb to the grave-in fact, it may even have specific health benefits. This documentary examines the role music plays in shaping our brains and improving our well-being. Starting with the effect of musical vibrations on premature infants in neonatal intensive care, the film moves on to study the role of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Early musical notation was much like a road map that lacked names or places. The use of neumes gave the basic shape of the tune and a primitive notion of rhythm, but could not tell the performer what note to start on. This program shows how all of that changed around the year 1030, when the choirmaster Guido of Arezzo came up with the simple device of a thin red line: a dot directly on it would...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Singer-songwriter Andrew Bird is a virtual one-man band - along with his vocal talents, he plays the violin, guitar, xylophone, and glockenspiel. The celebrated musician winds his instrumental techniques together with sophisticated electronic looping. Add in his uncanny ability to whistle anything, and he becomes not just a band but an orchestra. This TED presentation by Bird offers an ideal...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: How do musicians find the inspiration to create? Do most songwriters come up with lyrics first, or music? What does it mean to be a composer in today's high-tech world? This program addresses questions young people may have about embarking on a career in music or musical composition. Focusing on current styles like rock, techno, and hip-hop, the video includes interviews with a classically...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Call it the ultimate leadership challenge - to create perfect harmony without saying a word. Could your typical CEO pull that off? Probably not, but it's second nature to an orchestra conductor. After a decade-long career at the podium in his native Israel, Itay Talgam has reinvented himself as a conductor of people in business. In this TEDTalk, Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009