Dr. Music

Send us a Text Message.An addendum to Season 3, addrssing music literacy and appreciation in our culture.

Send us a Text Message.Ever hear a classical piece of music on TV and wonder what it's called, and who wrote it? Commercials never tell you who wrote the famous pieces used on the soundtrack. That's what Dr. Music is for! In this episode, you'll hear examples of great music used on TV and gain an insight into not only who wrote them, but why they might have caught the attention of producers!

Even if you are familiar with the music of Felix Mendelssohn, this episode contains interesting facts about some of his best works - much of which was composed before the age of 20!

We do not have a formal theory of melody in the vast discipl;ine of music theory. But if we limit our examination to particular styles and particular cultural themes, you may be surprised how collections of notes can "tend" toward certain patterns!

Can a piece of music be generated from a 2-note "sigh" motif that has been used over and over again for hundreds of years? Frederic Chopin would say "yes"--as we'll see looking at his famous Opus 64 Waltz in C# Minor!

When Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his Symphony No. 5, he, like all Soviet artists, was writing under the watchful eye of Joseph Stalin. Learn how  a very talented composer can disguise a seemingly nationalistic, optimistic piece as a veiled denunciation of the regime!

Discover how Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov was able to produce such a vivid impression of the sea in his classic symphonic suite, Scheherazade!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind  is one of Steven Spielberg's greatest movies - and features  one of the greatest scores of John Williams.  In this episode, we'll be looking at the last 20 minutes of the film to get a better appreciation of why Mr. Williams is the second most Oscar-nominated person in all film history!

Samuel Barber's Adagio For Strings, from his String Quartet,  is one of the most recognizable works of the 20th century.  Despite its mournful tone, why has this haunting piece caught the attention of so many listeners, including film producers? 

Harold Arlen's "Over The Rainbow" is considered one of the best songs ever written for the movies. What is it about this song that makes it so memorable, and so magical? We'll see how the notes themselves reflect the lyrics in a way as colorful as a rainbow!

Star Trek fans!  What is it about Alexander Courage's famous main theme to the original series that makes it sound otherwordly -- "where no one has gone before?"

What is it about Mozart's last composition, the Requiem, that places it more in the Romantic Period of Beethoven than his own Classical Period?  We will discover that the line between each of these historical periods is not so cut and dry.

Schubert's Symphony No. 8 may be the "Unfinished," but the first few pages of the score can teach us a lot about how his genius worked!

What exactly is pandiatonicism in music? Let's travel to a few countries (including America) and find out!

Why do musicians have access to only 12  notes in the chromatic scale? Why are there not more or less notes available?  The answer lies in math - and don't worry. This is FUN math!

In this first episode of Season 3, discover how music is related to the birth of the universe!

A short addendum to Dr. Music Season 2, including a quote from W.E.B. Du Bois!

Happy Labor Day! Almost everybody is familiar with the Ode To Joy  theme from the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony - right?  But how many people, other than musicologists, are familiar with exactly how that monumental movement is constructed?  What makes masterpieces of music great is not the melody itself.  The French children's song, Ah! vous dirai-je, maman,  is a very memorable melody...but look what Mozart did with it!  Likewise, Beethoven writes a very memorable theme, set to Schiller's famous poem,  and forges one of the greatest symphonic movements in the entire Western European music tradition.  Once you have listened to this episode, the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony will take on a whole new light (and a whole new "Freude," as Beethoven would say)!

The French composer Jules Massanet (1842-1912) is known mainly for his operas, though general audiences are often familiar with either specific arias or suites from operas. Besides the very popular Meditation from his opera Thaïs ,  the ballet suite from Le Cid contains some  popular Spanish folk pieces. Yet how does one make a simple folk-like melody sound interesting and fresh within a serious orchestral composition?  It takes the hand of a very talented composer like Massanet to breathe new life into what could have been a bland, conventional presentation of a folk melody.  We shall see how Massanet treats two pieces from his ballet suite, the Castillane and the Aragonaise. This episode will show how a singable folk melody can be packed with surprises!

What does the French word Gymnopédie  mean?  It could mean an ancient Greek dance, but only Erik Satie, the composer of three piano pieces bearing that name, knows the real answer. Being a mysterious man, it is possible he wanted the meaning to remain mysterious. Yet if the title is mysterious, the music itself is a lesson in unadorned beauty.  Gymnopédie No. 1, the most well-known of the three, is the subject of this episode. We will see how Satie rejects the complexity of large scale traditional forms in favor of basking in music's elemental nature -- the simplicity of melody. In addition, we will take a look at Debussy's take on the piece in his very unique orchestral arrangement.

When you think of a concerto, most often you think of a piece for solo instrument or instruments with orchestral accompaniment--piano concerto, violin concerto, trumpet concerto, etc.  What about a concerto for orchestra? That is exactly what the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók wrote in 1943 while he was living in New York City. One of his most popular pieces, Concerto for Orchestra, displays the kind of virtuosic performance technique one would expect from any solo concerto, except that the solo passages are performed by not only individual soloists, but entire sections of the orchestra. Experience Bartók's unique musical language and also his sense of humor as we listen to notable excerpts from all five movements!

This episode features the podcast's very first interview with a professional musician!  I am privileged to know Dr. Jerry Felker, an educator, arranger, band director, and performer, holding a Doctor of Musical Arts in trombone performance. Dr. Felker will be speaking about his extensive career, ranging from his experience playing in an army band, to both chamber and concert performances of jazz and classical music, to arranging various works in the trombone repertoire. Regardless of whether you know a professional musician, you will find his story both interesting and enlightening. At the conclusion of the episode, you will hear a recording of Dr. Felker playing a movement from Vaughan Williams's Concerto for Bass Tuba!  (Of course on a trombone.) And perhaps he will inspire some of you out there to begin taking instrumental lessons -- it's never too late!

The idea of listening to a "death dance" may not be very appetizing...until you hear one by Franz Liszt.  His 1849 composition for piano solo and orchestra, Totentanz, is a tour de force in virtousic performance, featuring Liszt's "transcendental"  piano technique.  The piece is a set of variations on the 13th century monophonic chant, Dies Irae, or "Day Of Wrath." In the hands of Liszt (and he had two very large hands), these variations encompass styles ranging from Baroque imitative counterpoint to the cutting edge new Romantic style of the mid to late 19th century. You're in for quite a rollercoaster ride with piece, and don't worry--this "death dance" is completely safe for your musical health!

As a companion to Episode 5, we will take a look at another German lied - not by Schubert, but by his successor, Robert Schumann.  Like Schubert, Schumann wrote some of the most beautiful song cycles in the history of western European music.  Perhaps his most popular cycle, Dichterliebe, is based on the poetry of Heinrich Heine, and contains a wealth of musical poetry.  How, in the space of only a minute and a half, can  Schumann so vividly evoke the meaning of the text through his manipulation of keys and harmonies? We will gain a clear insight into how this is accomplished by examining the first song in the cycle, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,  or In The Beautiful Month of May. 

Hearing a jazz chord automatically makes us think of the jazz idiom, but who actually wrote the first jazz chords?  Those rich sonorities actually have their beginnings in the Romantic period with composers like Chopin and Liszt.  But  we can actually hear the beginnings of the jazz style in the music of late 19th century French impressionism.  In this episode, we will revisit the composer of Season 1, Episode 1, Claude Debussy, one of the most important composers of the Western European music tradition. As we examine one of the preludes from Debussy's second book, Heather, we shall see how he synthesizes basic tonal progressions of his predecessors with a new approach to how music can paint a picture. And when you hear those jazz progressions, remember that "jazz" as a historical current has not been invented yet!

Edvard Grieg is certainly the most famous composer of Norway, though he rightly has secured a position among the top composers of the 19th century.  Besides his well-known incidental music for Peer Gynt (discussed in Season 1, Episode 12), Grieg's Piano Concerto In A Minor, the only one he wrote, is one of his most popular compositions, and a standard of the genre. Like many great pieces of music, the themes have hidden connections that the casual listener may miss.  That is why it is Dr. Music's duty to reveal those connections! So sit back as we take a peek at the first movement, and explore what it is that makes this music so enduring.

Out of all the classical music you've ever listened to, have you ever listened to the music of Josquin des Prez?  If you've never heard of him, don't feel bad. He's not a household name like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Musicologists  refer to him affectionately as "Josquin," because he is by far one of the most famous composers of the entire Renaissance Period. The music of the Renaissance is quite different than the tonal music we are all so familiar with, but no less beautiful. It is a singular beauty that has endured to this day.  This will become immediately apparent when you listen to Josquin's lovely motet, Ave Maria, the subject piece of this episode. 

Peter Tchaikovsky is known mainly for his popular ballets, like The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty,  but he was more fond of his  serious larger works, especially his symphonies.  In this episode, we will take a look (and listen) at the first movement of his great Symphony No. 5, a work that continues to enjoy a healthy life in the standard symphonic repertoire.  Like we saw in the last episode with Gershwin's Concerto In F,  a composer of the Romantic style like Tchaikovsky is very concerned with creating tension and extending it as long as possible. We shall see what it is about Tchaikovsky's procedure that makes him so exceptional!

If you've listened to prior episodes of this podcast, you know that a little bit of music theory goes a long way in unlocking the mysteries of why musical gestures produce certain effects. Great composers like George Gershwin possessed an innate sense of how simply voicing a chord in a particular way can dramatically change how a listener experiences the muslc.  In this episode, we will focus on about 20 measures from the first movement of Gershwin's fabulous piano concerto, Concerto In F.  Within the framework of a unique genre, symphonic jazz, these measures are a lesson on how tension is created and sustained -- in the spirit of the entire Western European tradition!  

If you are familiar with the ragtime classic, The Entertainer, it is possibly due to the 1973 hit film, The Sting. Scott Joplin's rags, of course, were performed and admired long before that movie was released. While we don't often associate Scott Joplin with classical music, he can certainly be credited with elevating the art of ragtime to a hitherto unseen level. This is particularly true of his later pieces, which expand the established dictates of what a rag is "supposed" to sound like.  In this episode, we will examine one of these works, Euphonic Sounds, and discover what it is about Joplin's rags that merits their inclusion among the vast pantheon of masterworks: namely, their unique transcendence of its own genre.  

Polish composer Frederic Chopin was a master of both the short and long forms, and one of the great pianists of the nineteenth century.  Like Bach, he composed a piece in each of the 24 keys, calling them preludes.  But while Bach's preludes were introductory pieces to his fugues, Chopin's preludes are pieces unto themselves. Nobody at that time had ever composed a prelude by itself.  Though often short, and based on one musical idea, there is an art to creating musical tension within a limited amount of time - even 30 seconds!  To illustrate how this is done, we shall explore Chopin's Prelude in G Major, thus opening the key to the rest of this impressive musical compendium!

Imagine you heard a quick, sprightly theme, followed by a slow, lyrical, gorgeously romantic theme.  The two themes sound very different in both profile and emotional mood. Now imagine you are told that the second theme is the first one in disguise! That is the magic of theme and variations, which we have discussed in previous episodes. In the hands of an incredibly gifted composer like Sergei Rachmaninoff, a theme by the  19th-century virtuoso violinist, Nicolo Paganini, can take on  so many different guises that a variation of the theme can become more famous than the theme itself! That is exactly what occurs in the 18th variation of Rachmaninoff's masterpiece, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.  This episode will chart the course of exactly how that works! 

The German lied, or song, can demonstrate the level of artistic heights attained within a symphony, in the hands of composers like Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.  In this episode, we will examine the lied Auf Dem Flusse, from Schubert's song cycle, Winterreise. By the end of this episode, you will appreciate more how a talented composer does not merely write pretty, singable melodies. The poetic relationship between text and music is what makes these short pieces absolute gems, and why they continue to be performed and studied throughout the world. Discover what makes an art song an art song!

In Episode 23 of Season 1, we briefly discussed Mozart's Fantasy In D Minor to introduce rhapsodies in music. We return to it in this episode. A fantasy, like a rhapsody, is improvisatory in nature, and doesn't subscribe to any rigid formal scheme.  The challenge in writing such a composition is making it all somehow hold together, and there are many different methods a composer may employ to achieve this.  In this episode, we will gain a glimpse into the mind of an artistic genius -- but it takes a theoretical magnifying glass to discover the hidden threads that bind this piece together! 

Do you think it's possible for a single  piece of music to incorporate multiple harmonic systems and still remain stylistically consistent?  Often that is more the rule than the exception in 20th century music. In this episode, we will be examining part of Ravel's beautiful ballet, Mother Goose, to reveal how 20th century composers can draw upon various harmonic systems - some dating back to the Middle Ages and some modern - to paint a musical canvas as vivid and colorful as the nursery rhymes it depicts!

The late piano sonatas of Beethoven are among the most amazing piano compositions ever composed. Beethoven wrote these sonatas essentially deaf, and it was this afflction that ironically motivated him to produce some of the most original, personal music of the entire 19th century.   In this episode, we will be looking at the Opus 109 Piano Sonata in E Major. It is amazing how, through the course of the sonata, how he can not only develop a theme, but a simple musical interval - the third, to be exact!

Hello Listeners, and welcome to Season 2 of Dr. Music!  In this first episode, we'll be talking about the format of Season 2 in general, and then dive into the first movement of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 - one of the great symphonies of the 20th cetnury.  In relation to sonata form, which was introduced in Season 1, we will gain a better understanding of how the mind of a great composer like Prokofiev works. In particular, how does the emphasis on certain degrees, or notes, of the scale affect our how we experience the music?  It takes a very talented intellect like Prokofiev to discover the poetry inherent in music theory and bring it out in a masterpiece.

In this, the Season 1 Finale, Dr. Music discusses a subset of program music called the tone poem. A tone poem, like other types of program music, is a musical representation of a work of art, be it a short story, novel, poem, or historical event. The later Romantic composers like Richard Strauss had a significantly developed advanced harmonic vocabulary to explore the psychological state of a story's characters, reflecting a Freudian approach to conveying more personal emotions. But most importantly, this kind of music really succeeds in stirring our imaginations, taking us to far-flung areas of artistic expression, regardless of the program. And that's the real delight in listening to the examples in this episode! Be sure to hear the little holiday tidbit at the every end...

Some of the most "informal" compositions are called rhapsodies, in that they don't follow a specific formal procedure. There is no rule for the sequence of events; anything can happen in a rhapsody. In Mozart's time, they were called "fantasies," and by the time we get to George Gerswin, a "fantasy" became "Rhapsody in Blue"...a modern jazz piano concerto in one movement! In this episode we will listen to some famous examples of rhapsodies, and, like previous episodes, learn how different time periods and different composers can change the character of a musical genre.

When you think of Brahms, do you think of pop music? It turns out that many famous composers, like Brahms, Strauss Jr., and Dvorak, wrote what today can be categorized as "symphonic pops." Yet we should always remember that the "popular" element in this music does not lessen its artstic value in the least. Popular music is not trying to be serious symphonic music, so we must judge it like any other musical current: it is the inspiration, craftsmanship, and that ineffable "magic" behind a composition that will ensure it survives, regardless of the target audience. That goes for all the many delightful examples in this episode!

Thematic Tranformation - does the term sound a bit intimidating? It won't be intimidating at all after you listen to this episode. On the contrary, it will be very enlightening, as you will understand better how composers throughout history have manipulated themes to explore the various possibilities that can develop a relatively small amount of musical material. From a composer like Bach, who, as we've seen perviously, can turn melodies upside down and backwards...to a composer like Liszt, who is famous for transforming the shape of a melody until it can almost sound like a completely new one...it's amazing how a fertile mind can work magic on a handful of notes!

From To Kill A Mockingbird to Clash of the Titans, discover the great music of film composers who are not necessarily household names like John Williams. In this episode, we will look at examples from four film composers: Elmer Bernstein, Basil Poledouris, Lalo Schifrin, and Laurence Rosenthal. We will consider what it is about these film cues that make them special, and very appropriate to the attitude or scene they are aiming to support. Even if you're not much of a fan of the films themselves, you'll find the scores are more than worthwhile to explore!

When you think of a march, you may think of John Philip Sousa -- and rightly so. But the march, like every other genre of music, can take on dramatically various characters, depending on the time period it was written and the particular composer. Think about how different a march by Mozart or Beethoven may be than a 20th century composer like Shostakovich or Stravinsky! We'll listen to some very interesting examples of marches and talk about what makes each so unique.

One of the most common string performance techniques is pizzicato, plucking the strings instead of bowing. Through a variety of examples, will see how dramatically the pizzicato effect changes depending on the musical context, the historical time period, and the particular composer's style. There will be excerpts ranging from ballet music, to symphonic music, to film music, and even a string quartet! And believe me, it takes a lot of pluck to write an entire string quartet movement using pizzicato (pun intended).

Open up a whole world of understanding with an introdcution to one of the most important forms in serious classical music: sonata form. Large forms can sometimes be intimidating, very much like tackling a lengthy, complicated novel. Sometimes it helps to have somebody guide you through complicated novels, and that is exactly how this episode will help you navigate through a complicated musical form. Once you know how sonata form works, you can begin to listen to sonatas from many different composers and understand how the various themes/sections relate. It's a lot more fulfilling than listening to a piece "blindly!"

May 29, 1913 marks a landmark in music history - the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Paris. The basic elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, form, and orchestration would see a fresh new light in this one 30-minute ballet. The premiere was not only one of the most famous in music history - but also one of the most scandalous. We will discuss what it is about this music that was so pathbreaking for its time, and why it continues to enthrall audiences over 100 years later.

A continuation of Episode 14, this new episode looks at Igor Stravinsky's second major ballet, Petrushka. Bridging the gap between his impressive and innovative first ballet, The Firebird, and the earth-shattering Rite of Spring, Petrushka is a fairy tale about two puppets at a Russian carnival vying for the love of a third puppet, the ballerina. Filled with quotations from Russian folk tunes and popular melodies from other countries, Petrushka has earned its place in the concert hall as one of the most sparkling celebrations of how orchestral color can tell a story. From the simplest folk tune to the most complex orchestral fluorish, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

If you asked any musicologist who are the top five most important composers of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky will certainly be on that list. Stravinsky's three major ballets - The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring - remain landmarks of innovative soundscapes, introducing exciting new explorations of the basic elements of music. You will also find it fascinating how Stravinsky incorporates well-known folk melodies into his music. In this episode, we will examine The Firebird and discuss how this amazing piece by a composer still in his twenties reaches back, and looks forward, in its stylistic traits.

Today will will look at the magnificent musical magic of Johann Sebastian Bach. The way he manipulates multiple melodies at once - formally known as a contrapuntal texture - is nothing short of astounding. Regardless of whether or not you like Bach's music, we can all appreciate his undisputed genius, and the indelible mark he has left on music history. After looking carefully at the architecture of one of his fugues, we will look at a few examples from The Musical Offering, where melodies are turned upside down, and even backwards!

After listening to a few more scherzos - including three from the great film music of John Williams - we will be considering the 19th century version of film music. Various great composers like Mendelssohn, Grieg, and Bizet wrote incidental music to stage plays. In some cases the incidental music has become as famous - or more famous - than the plays themselves! (For example, A Midsummer Night's Dream.) Like some film music, this incidental music can be fully appreciated in a concert format without viewing the story it is meant to support - and indeed, that is how audiences experience it today!