Classical Classroom

August is Arts Appreciation Month! During August, Houston Public Media Arts and Culture is paying tribute to art forms that have inspired other art forms. We thought this Classical Classroom rerun fit with that theme perfectly, hence the rerunning.

The remix has been alive as long as the Beastie Boys' "License to Ill". JK! It's been around for as long as music. Learn how composers have been inspired by, paid tribute to, given tips of the hat to, and plain ripped off, each other since the very beginning. MusicLab intern, composer, drummer, and snappy dresser, Daniel Webbon tells all.

Audio production by Todd "Sir Toddeus of Toddleton" Hulslander with serving suggestions by Dacia Clay.

Music used in this episode includes:

– Aerosmith and RUN-DMC "Walk This Way" (with an appearance by Missy Elliott) – Dies Irae: Gregorian Chant from the 13th century – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", K. 265/300e – Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1 in D major – Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8 in C minor (Op. 110) – George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" from the opera Porgy and Bess – Miles Davis and Gil Evans, "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" from the album Porgy and Bess – Luciano Berio, Sinfonia

Take an interstellar journey to one of classical music's most influential works.

Climb aboard the great Classroom space coaster for a trip to Gustav Holst's The Planets! Composer, MusicLab intern, and self-described professional nerd Joshua Zinn is our captain on this journey through one of classical music's most influential and popular works. Who was Holst? How did he write the music for Star Warsbefore the movie existed!? How does one actually pronounce "Uranus"? All of these questions and more will be answered!

Audio production by Todd "Titan" Hulslander with copiloting from Dacia Clay.

All music in this episode is from Gustav Holst's "The Planets".

Producer Todd is "out of town on vacation" this week, so we are bringing this oldie-but-goodie out of the vault. Hope you enjoy it! If you do, check out Classical 91.7's River Oaks Chamber Orchestra broadcasts every Wednesday in August. Go here for more info.

In this episode, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra's Artistic Director, founder, and principal oboist, Alecia Lawyer takes Dacia inside the mind of an oboe player. In this strange world, people grow their own (bamboo), enjoy fame alongside Willie Nelson, and live on the edge without all of the annoying parachutes and bungee cords.

For more about Alecia and ROCO, www.rocohouston.org.

Photo from artsandculturetx.com.

Giuseppe Verdi: composer of Aida, La Traviata, Falstaff, and haver of an adorable Italian accent. But as Eric Skelly – cohost of the Opera Cheat Sheet podcast and Buffy the Vampire Slayer superfan – tells us, Verdi was so much more. He was an innovator who changed opera forever. Learn about how he did this and who he was in this episode!

Audio production by Todd "With a T" Hulslander with nervous pacing by Dacia Clay.

All music in this episode by Giuseppe Verdi.

For more about Opera Cheat Sheet:www.houstonpublicmedia.org/shows/opera…heat-sheet/

It's Classical Classroom's first field trip! We go to the studio of Early Music expert and musician, Matthew Dirst – home to the professor's lovely harpsichord. Matthew transports us to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, when there was a harpsichord in (almost) every home. He also tells us what's going on in Harpsichordia now, and what may be to come.

Audio production by Todd "Tickling the Ivories" Hulslander, with backup dancing by Dacia Clay.

Music in this episode: – Music of the Hydraulis: www.youtube.com/watch?v=atT7Tjpn5js – Harpsichord Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV846, by J.S. Bach, performed by Ton Koopman – Concerto for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin, and Cello by Manuel de Falla – Les Citations Diptych for Oboe, Harpsichord, Double bass , and Percussion by Henri Dutilleux – Domenico Scarlatti

For more about Matthew Dirst and Ars Lyrica: www.arslyricahouston.org

You're at a classical music concert. The music stops and the crowd goes wild! Wait. No. Only YOU are going wild. And everyone is staring at you. You sink down low in your seat and hide…

Don't let this happen to you! Listen to this enlightening episode of Classical Classroom with MusicLab intern Zoe Miller to find out when it is and isn't a good idea to clap, and why. Learn about the movements of a symphony and how to tell where you are in a performance. Yaaaay!

Audio production by Todd "Tiberius" Hulslander with overzealous applause by Dacia Clay.

Music in this episode: – Symphony No. 6, Op. 74 (Pathetique), mvmts 3 & 4, by Peter Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 by Johannes Brahms – Music from Richard Wagner's "Parsifal" – Violin Concerto No. 3 in E major by Niccolò Paganini – Bugs Bunny as Leopold Stokowski

We put on our pith helmets, grab our binoculars, and train our compasses south for this Classical Classroom expedition to Brazil and Argentina. Pianist and educator Tali Morgulis talks about composers Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, Prado, and Piazzolla, how the classical music of South America differs from that of Europe, and…the tango!

Audio production by Todd "Tango" Hulslander, with nuevo by Dacia Clay.

All music used in this episode comes from the CD Archipelago of Light by Tali Morgulis: – Sonata No. 1, Op. 22 by Alberto Ginastera – Children's Carnival by Heitor Villa-Lobos – Tango Suite by Astor Piazzolla – Islands by Almeida Prado

For more about Tali Morgulis: www.tali.morgulis.net

In this special 4th of July edition of Classical Classroom Research Presentations, Dacia ponders why Americans listen to Russian music on their Independence Day. She uncovers the [not really that] secret history of how one man and his love of pyrotechnics made Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture the theme music for America's most patriotic celebration.

Written, produced, and otherwise manhandled by Dacia Clay.

Music used in this episode includes:

– Pyotr Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Boston Pops Orchestra, RCA 63516

References:

For information on David Mugar, Arthur Fiedler, and the Boston Pops Orchestra, click here and here.

For information about Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, click here.

Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

Ravel's Boléro. Next to most of the soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi, it's possibly the most repetitive piece of music ever written, amiright (respect, Philip Glass)? As it turns out, I am wrong, so wrong. In fact, Boléro is a piece built entirely around change. Howard Pollack, professor at Moores School of Music, author, lecturer, and guest on BBC specials and NPR shows like Morning Edition and Fresh Air, is our tour guide through this amazing piece of music by a very subtle and sneaky composer.

Audio production by Todd "Treble Clef" Hulslander with bass clef by Dacia Clay.

Music in this episode:

• "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

• Boléro by Maurice Ravel as performed by Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, conducted by Charles Dutoit

For more about Howard Pollack: www.uh.edu

Franz Schubert was a man on a mission, distracted from composing music by neither the praise of Beethoven, nor the prospect of his own death. But the dude still had to pay the rent. Internationally acclaimed classical pianist, music teacher, and performer Clive Swansbourne explains what "impromptus" were, and how Schubert took them to the next level with the power of the pinky finger.

Audio production by Todd "Drop It Like It's Todd" Hulslander with backup dancing by Dacia Clay.

Music used in this episode:

• Impromptu No. 3 in G Flat Major, D. 899 (Op. 90) by Franz Schubert played by…

• Clive Swansbourne and

• Vladimir Horowitz

• Impromptu by Jan Václav VoÅ™íšek

For more about Clive Swansbourne: www.cliveswansbourne.com