Listen Up! Music Is a Language

By ARTSEDGE: The Kennedy Center's Arts Education Network

What's Listen Up! Music Is a Language about?

Did you know music has a lot to say? Without any words at all, music is a language anyone can understand. It tells stories, expresses feelings, and even makes us think. Get ready to hear how!

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Listen Up! Music Is a Language episodes:

10.28.2013
Wanted: Pirates!
Students are introduced to musical scoring for films—music specifically composed to assist storytelling, underscore emotions, and stir ideas. Students are introduced to composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold and his music for the movie The Sea Hawk.
10.21.2013
The Sounds of Silence
Students learn composers often write music to inspire listeners to think or meditate. They are introduced to different types of listening through Jules Massenet’s Meditation for the opera Thaïs.
10.14.2013
Tell Me a Story
Students learn that composers sometimes use music to “paint” or depict the action, characters, and setting of a story by listening to Mikhail Glinka’s opera, Ruslan and Ludmila. Students also experience how the music inspires creativity when designing their settings...
10.07.2013
The Voice of the Violin
Students learn about the history of the violin, its distinct role in the orchestra, and its ability to resemble human “singing.” Students will also be introduced to “pizzicato,” the quick, light rhythmic technique created by plucking the strings. Students listen...
09.30.2013
Who's Talking?
Students learn about the composer’s selection of the right “voice” or instrumentation from the four sections of the orchestra: string, woodwind, brass, and percussion. Students are introduced to music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Leonard Bernstein.
09.23.2013
Introduction
Students are introduced to the concept of music as a language and how music is able to tell stories, convey emotions, and invoke thoughts. Students also learn how stories, thoughts, and emotions can be communicated without words.
09.16.2013
Meet Nick and Ankush
Meet Nick Kendall, violin soloist and host, and Ankush Kumar Bahl, conductor, as they welcome you to The Kennedy Center and the National Symphony Orchestra's Young People's Concert.

What's Listen Up! Music Is a Language about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Listen Up! Music Is a Language episodes:

Wanted: Pirates!

The Sounds of Silence

Tell Me a Story

The Voice of the Violin

Who's Talking?

Introduction

Meet Nick and Ankush