Category Archives: Education
The Story of Minimalism – Part Two: From Minimal to Maximal
(Special Note: If you are new to this blog, click here to first read Part One of this series.) New Horizons: Postminimalism In our last post, we left off with a broader conception of minimalism as a music which creates a listening experience that is meditative, non-teleological, and process-oriented. It is through this broader lens …
The Story of Minimalism – Part One: A New Way of Listening
“What you hear depends on how you focus your ear. We’re not talking about inventing a new language, but rather inventing new perceptions of existing languages.” – Philip Glass If you’ve tuned into All Classical Portland recently, you may have come across some music your ears weren’t expecting to hear from a classical radio …
Debussy and the Poetic Image
The 100th anniversary of Debussy’s death was this past March 25th. Debussy’s adventurous uses of harmony and orchestration would come to impact nearly every distinguished composer of the early and middle twentieth century. His music leaves behind classical structures and agendas and moves toward beauty for beauty’s sake. One experiences a profound sense of dreamlike …
Women’s History Month: Florence Price
As we wrap up Black History Month and open March with National Women’s History Month, we celebrate the life of Florence Beatrice Price (1887-1953), the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer and to have a composition played by a major orchestra. However, to reach this achievement and become recognized for her distinct idiom, Price had to fight her way …
Black History Month: William Levi Dawson
In our third installment for Black History Month, we turn to William Levi Dawson (1899-1990), a renowned African-American composer, choir director, and professor. Dawson wrote chamber music, orchestral music, and choral music, and is best known for his arrangements of African American spirituals. Through all the forms he worked with, Dawson consistently incorporated African American …
The Canvas of Silence
Here at All Classical Portland, we have our own library of CDs which we draw from to use in our day-to-day radio programming. However, rather than playing these CDs directly on the radio, volunteers first burn each CD into our hard drives, where we can use them on-air in the form of .wav files. One of my current tasks as an intern is to edit .wav files of pieces that have been burned into the computer but are still not quite ready for air play. Using a music editing …
Black History Month: William Grant Still
Since 1976, the United States has officially recognized February as Black History Month, an annual time to recognize the central roles blacks have played in U.S. history and a celebration of the achievements of African Americans in our culture and society. All Classical Portland will be joining the celebration of Black History Month, featuring some …
Pathways to Listening
One thing I find gratifying about classical music is that there is always more to learn from this art form. Whatever your relationship is with classical music right now, it can be enriching to continue learning about it, regardless of your level of experience and knowledge with the genre. It is a joy to hear All Classical carry this spirit of learning into their …
Sampling Classical Works in Modern Songs
To some, classical music may seem like something of the past, yet many artists have sampled classical music, bringing the music to the present. Yet, the issue remains of where one song ends and another begins. It is always smart to give credit to musicians for inspiring a song. Sampling is the process of taking …
The Stories Behind the Eclipse Music
With the once in a lifetime event coming up on Monday, here is some background information on the composers featured in All Classical’s Eclipse soundtrack. Richard Strauss’ tone poem Also Sprach Zarathustra is one of the most popular pieces of classical music, thanks in part to the success of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yet, the …
