Essence of Music

All the way my Savior leads me

2011-11-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

I love this song so much. I think I'll be able to sit on a bus and travel even a thousand miles smiling...this my song through endless ages, Jesus led me all the way!

Listen to its simplicity and be mesmerized on how good the Lord can be...

Air on the G strings by Johann Sebastian Bach

2011-06-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Air on the G string became the popular name of the suite originally known as Air of Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major. Bach was employed as the Kapellmeister of Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen in 1717 and he wrote this suite for him.

The song became known as Air on the G string when a violinist August Wilhelmj arrange the piece for violin and piano. He was able to play it on his violin using only one string, the G string.

I've heard a story before that Wilhemj's violin got broken on the very day of his concert and he was planning to play this suite. Almost all the strings are cut off and the only string that remained is the G string. After all the chaos he decided not to quit but instead he played the piece on G string and it impressed the crowd tremendously.

I don't exactly know if that's the real story behind it. All I know is that this song reminds me of the presence of God and that is where I find my peace. Jesus is my song and He is the music of my soul. Try to listen to this song and feel the air that it brings :) God bless

Download Air on the G string Here

Johann Sebastian Bach -- Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

2011-06-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most acclaimed composer, organist, harpsichordist and violinist in the Baroque period. I can say that he's one of my favorite because his heart speaks through his music and his main interest of mostly his written songs is also my main interest in all my songs...it's Jesus!

He is a Christian and not just a normal practicing christian but someone who live by the bible. The music that really moves my soul and makes me cry is not the songs that are played for a person or for a thing but those that are sang to the One that I love the most and that is Jesus. He is my First Love, my Desire, my Delight, my Song and my Everything. I sing for Him alone and my heart belongs to Him solely.

The essence of music is when it is directed to the One who created it and that is God. One way that God speaks to His creation is through music, that's why we feel something beautiful when we hear a beautiful melody played, that's why we feel refreshed whenever there's a beautiful song in the air.

"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul." -- Johann Sebastian Bach

Listen to one of Bach's beautiful composition of all time.
"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"

Moonlight Sonata (Piano Sonata no. 14 in C#)

2011-06-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most beautiful piece I've heard out of all the songs of Beethoven. I first heard it while my brother was playing it on our piano and I was captivated by the flow of every note. It reminds me of my tender years, sitting by the window while observing the beautiful sunset and the yellowish grass on the field. It's like touching the wind looking through the eyes of a bird.

Moonlight Sonata is not actually the original title of this piece, it is "Quasi una fantasia" (Almost a fantasy). He dedicated it to his pupil to whom he fell in love with, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi in the year 1801. After he finished this composition it is believed that he proposed to her but then got rejected due to one of her parent's disapproval.

The title "Moonlight Sonata" only came after the death of Beethoven, Ludwig Rellstab, a German music critic wrote that the sonata reminded him of the reflected moonlight off Lake Lucerne.
Well enjoy this beautiful piece then :)

Kiss The Rain

2011-06-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

Raindrops has a special place in my heart. It reminds me of my childhood, back when life is simple. Running around, playing in the rain with my little brothers and eating champorado.

It rained on the day my father died. The scene might be blurry in my memory but i still remember the rain, it was the only thing that I remembered. It was like the heavens are crying along with us,however, there is peace in my heart because i know that he is in a much better place now.

anyway I love this Christian guy. I only know that his name is Yiruma and he is a christian. I listened to most of his songs and it brings me to places. It's wonderful to know that he wanted to glorify God in playing songs for him. Well this piece is about rain. It's raining here and I feel like running in the rain never minding the people around me, but i think that's not going to work out here... My hometown is so much better when raining than here in the city. Well I love this city but when its raining there's something in me that misses my home.
Try to listen to this soothing music.

The Next Mozart?

2011-06-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Music touches the deepest core of human soul, it has something in it that really will draw you away and take you to a place where you have never been, where you always was dreaming to go...

There's a melody everywhere if you linger and try to listen, you will hear the sound of the universe proclaiming the love of the One who created it. Life is a gift, music brings color to it..

A beautiful creation with a beautiful gift. Perhaps even when she's still on her mother's womb she has already heard the beautiful melodies of this world that has been playing for a long time.

Emily Bear was only 3 years old when she started to compose her own music. She has already written 130 songs by the age of 8 and has been playing it for the world.

It's a gift!

Theres something about this

2010-02-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

I don't know how it awakens me but there's something about music that penetrates my very being and catches my sleeping soul. Am I sounding weird already? well I am....if I lost my reality and my imaginations take me far away from who I really am, music is taking me back to where I am suppose to be. to who I am suppose to be giving my heart to and to who I am supposed to be giving my eyes to...

Actually I am quite distracted, I am losing focus, I am running to the wrong direction or am I running at all??..I feel dehydrated..My soul needs rest, my heart needs a touch.. I just want to feel the One that will relieve me from all of this..and until then..I cling unto this music..until I am alive, until I feel and know that I am alive..

Maybe I've neglected the most important thing......or I'm wasting too much time for the things that will fade........the only thing I can take to heaven is my music and my heart.............

Canon Rock

2009-12-31T23:18:00.000-08:00

Canon Rock is a neo-classical metal arrangement of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D major by the Taiwanese musician and composer Jerry Chang (JerryC). The piece became popular on the internet after a video of JerryC playing the piece was posted online. Perhaps the most famous of the covers was created by the South Korean guitarist Lim Jeong-hyun, aka “funtwo”, his Internet alias.

This canon arrangement was introduced to me by my brother and for me it's awesome..

I love Pachelbel's canon a lot and this arrangement brings back the beauty of this composition.

This one is played with guitar by Funtwo

And this one with violin. The musicians are wearing funny costume but the song is played with passion and it turns out so great.

Videos taken from youtube.com

You can find the tab on this link

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/j/jerryc/canon_rock_tab.htm

You Raise me Up

2009-11-27T09:47:00.000-08:00

This is the very first song I've played in the piano. I am not really good in piano but i guess i can produce a tune.
The music was written by Secret Garden's Rolf Løvland and the lyrics by Brendan Graham. The song was originally written as an instrumental piece and entitled "Silent Story".

This song is very popular as it is sang by Josh Groban. This songs popularity reached its highest peak in 2004, the song was played more than 500,000 times on American radio.

I personally love this song. It is very inspiring as i think about the One i love. God. Listen to the song, Played in piano.

Pachelbel's Canon in D major

2009-11-20T09:22:00.001-08:00

One of the most beautiful creation of the famous composer Johann Pachelbel. The only canon he had written. It remained until today and is one of the most famous piece of Pachelbel, It was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue in the same key. The Canon (without the accompanying gigue) was first published in 1919 by scholar Gustav Beckmann, who included the score in his article on Pachelbel's chamber music. Over the years, the Canon has been arranged numerous times for a wide variety of ensembles. The Canon's chord progression proved to be immensely influential; it was used in countless pop and rock songs.

In Baroque era this type would have been played moderate to fast tempo but in the 20th to 21st century it became a fad to play this at a very slow tempo.

I totally love this canon. Whenever I listen to this song I am taken to places where I've never been. I feel the warmth of summer, the beautiful daisies on spring and the chilling beauty of winter. Sometimes it makes me cry thinking about the beauty of life and how good it is. God is so good that he created such beauty.

You can download the whole piece here

Pachelbel Canon in D Piano version

Johann Pachelbel

2009-11-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

(Baptized September 1, 1653 – buried March 9, 1706) was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher. His works was very popular during his lifetime; He is a popular teacher and his music became a model for the composers of south and central Germany.

Johann Mattheson mentions that the young Pachelbel demonstrated exceptional musical and academic abilities. He studied at St. Lorenz high school, but soon his father recognized his music potential, so he arranged for his son to receive outside musical training from two leading instructors: Heinrich Schwemmer and organist Georg Caspar Wecker. He became a student at the University of Altdorf, where he was also appointed organist of St. Lorenz church the same year.

Financial difficulties forced Pachelbel to leave the university after less than a year. In order to complete his studies he became a scholarship student, in 1670, at the Gymnasium Poeticum at Regensburg. The school authorities were so impressed by Pachelbel's academic qualifications that he was admitted above the school's normal quota. They also made special arrangements for him to study music outside of the gymnasium with Kaspar Prentz, He introduced Pachelbel to Italian music.

Prentz left Regensburg in 1672, and soon after, in 1673, Pachelbel decided to travel to Vienna. There he was immersed in the works of Catholic composers from Italy and southern Germany. Johann Kaspar Kerll also moved to Vienna in 1673, he may have known or even taught Pachelbel, whose music shows traces of Kerll's style. Pachelbel stay in Vienna caused him to absorb the music of Catholic composers from southern Germany and Italy, whose styles contrasted with the more strict Lutheran tradition he was bred in.

In 1677, Pachelbel moved to Eisenach, where he found employment as court organist under Kapellmeister Daniel Eberlin, in the employ of Johann Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach. He met members of the Bach family in Eisenach, and became a close friend of Johann Ambrosius and tutor to his children. . Pachelbel became godfather to Johann Ambrosius' daughter, Johanna Juditha, taught Johann Christoph Bach (1671–1721), Johann Sebastian's eldest brother, and lived in Johann Christian Bach's (1640–1682) house.

The chorale prelude became one of his most characteristic products of the Erfurt period, since Pachelbel's contract specifically required him to compose the preludes for church services.

Pachelbel's Married Life

Pachelbel married twice during his stay in Erfurt. Barbara Gabler, daughter of the Stadt-Major of Erfurt, became his first wife, on October 25, 1681. Unfortunately, both Barbara and their only son died in October 1683 during a plague. Pachelbel's first published work, a set of chorale variations called Musicalische Sterbens-Gedancken ("Musical Thoughts on Death", Erfurt, 1683), was probably influenced by this event. Ten months later, Pachelbel married Judith Drommer (Trummert), daughter of a coppersmith,[17] on August 24, 1684. They had five sons and two daughters. Two of the sons, Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel and Charles Theodore Pachelbel, also became organ composers, the latter moved to the American colonies in 1734. Another son, Johann Michael, became an instrument maker in Nuremberg and travelled as far as London and Jamaica.One of the daughters, Amalia Pachelbel, achieved recognition as painter and engraver.

Works

Pachelbel was best known as organ composer. He wrote more than two hundred pieces for the instrument, both liturgical and secular, and explored most of the genres that existed at the time. Pachelbel was the last great composer of the Nuremberg tradition and the last important southern German composer. Pachelbel's influence was mostly limited to his pupils, most notably Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Heinrich Buttstett, Andreas Nicolaus Vetter, and two of Pachelbel's sons, Wilhelm Hieronymus and Charles Theodore.He did influence Johann Sebastian Bach indirectly; the young Johann Sebastian was tutored by his older brother Johann Christoph Bach, who studied with Pachelbel, but although JS Bach's early chorales and chorale variations borrow from Pachelbel's music, the style of northern German composers played a more important role in the development of Bach's talent.

Much of Pachelbel's liturgical organ music, particularly the chorale preludes, is relatively simple and written for manuals only, no pedal is required. This is partly due to Lutheran religious practice where congregants sang the chorales. Only two volumes of Pachelbel's organ music were published and distributed during his lifetime: Musikalische Sterbens-Gedancken (Musical Thoughts on Death; Erfurt, 1683) – a set of chorale variations in memory of his deceased wife and child, and Acht Choräle (Nuremberg, 1693). Pachelbel employed white mensural notation when writing out numerous compositions (several chorales, all ricercars, some fantasias); a notational system that uses hollow note heads and omits bar lines (measure delimiters). In most cases Pachelbel used white notation for pieces composed in old-fashioned styles, to provide artistic integrity.

Canon is his most popular work, his most highly regarded work is the Hexachordum Apollinis. Others include: 95 magnificat fugues, 60 organ chorales, 16 toccatas, 7 preludes,3 ricercars, 6 fantasias, 26 non-liturgical fugues, 6 ciacconas, 17 keyboard suites, 8 keyboard variations, 3 keyboard arias with variations, 3 pieces for chamber orchestra, 19 arias, 11 motets (9 in German), 11 sacred concertos, 25 magnificats & ingressi for Vespers, 2 masses

Romance For Violin

2009-11-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

The Violin Romance by Ludwig Van Beethoven is a piece for violin and orchestra and is one of the most popular works of Beethoven until today. There are two Violin Romances by Beethoven. Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in G major, and Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 in F major. It is beautiful I say, you can feel the emotion in every note, you will be mesmerize by the flow of this piece.

You can download and listen to Violin Romance No. 2 in F major here. Click the link below
Download Violin Romance in F

This is the Violin Romance no. 1

This is the Violin Romance no. 2

Beethoven, Ludwig van

2009-11-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

One of the most acclaimed and influential composer of all time in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music. Beethoven is acknowledged as one of the giants of classical music; occasionally he is referred to as one of the "three Bs" (along with Bach and Brahms) who epitomize that tradition.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn. He was a German composer and pianist. His father was a musician in the court of the Elector of Cologne working as a tenor, giving lessons on piano and violin. His father was his first musical teacher. He was a gifted musician thus his father persevere in improving that talent in order to create a new Mozart.

Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Court's Organist in that year. Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and by March 1783 had helped him write his first published composition: a set of keyboard variations.

In March 1787 Beethoven traveled to Vienna for the first time, apparently in the hope of studying with Mozart. After just two weeks there Beethoven learned that his mother was severely ill, and he was forced to return home. His mother died thereafter and his father became alcoholic thus forcing Beethoven to be responsible with his two siblings.
In 1789, he obtained a legal order by which half of his father's salary was paid directly to him for support of the family. He also contributed further to the family's income by playing viola in the court orchestra. This familiarized Beethoven with a variety of operas, including three of Mozart's operas performed at court in this period. He also befriended Anton Reicha, a flautist and violinist of about his own age who was the conductor's nephew.

With the Elector's help, Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792. He was probably first introduced to Joseph Haydn in late 1790, when the latter was traveling to London and stopped in Bonn around Christmas time. They definitely met in Bonn on Haydn's return trip from London to Vienna in July 1792, and it is likely that arrangements were made at that time for Beethoven to study with the old master.He never went back to the town of his birth. His friend Waldstein wrote to him: "You shall receive Mozart's spirit from Haydn's hands". His friend Nikolaus Simrock had also begun publishing his compositions; the first are believed to be a set of variations (WoO 66).[30] Beethoven spent much of 1794 composing, and apparently withheld works from publication so that their publication in 1795 would have greater impact.[28] Beethoven's first public performance in Vienna was in March 1795, a concert in which he debuted a piano concerto. Shortly after this performance he arranged for the publication of the first of his compositions to which he assigned an opus number, the piano trios of Opus 1. These works were dedicated to his patron Prince Lichnowsky,and were a financial success; Beethoven's profits were nearly sufficient to cover living expenses for a year. The following year, Beethoven made his first public performance at Vienna (an "Academy") whereby each musician was to play his own work. Then followed a tour: Prague, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin before leaving for a concert in Budapest.

Between 1798 and 1802 Beethoven finally tackled what he considered the pinnacles of composition: the string quartet and the symphony. With the composition of his first six string quartets (Op. 18) between 1798 and 1800 (written on commission for, and dedicated to, Prince Lobkowitz), and their publication in 1801, along with premieres of the First and Second Symphonies in 1800 and 1802, Beethoven was justifiably considered one of the most important of a generation of young composers following after Haydn and Mozart. He continued to write in other forms, turning out widely-known piano sonatas like the "Pathétique" sonata (Op. 13), which Cooper describes as "surpass[ing] any of his previous compositions, in strength of character, depth of emotion, level of originality, and ingenuity of motivic and tonal manipulation". He also completed his Septet (Op. 20) in 1799, which was one of his most popular works during his lifetime.

Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music; he also avoided conversation. As early as 1801, Beethoven wrote to friends describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings. Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he began to weep. Beethoven's hearing loss did not prevent his composing music, According to Carl Czerny, Beethoven said, "I am not satisfied with the work I have done so far. From now on I intend to take a new way". The first major work of this new way was the Third Symphony in E flat, known as the "Eroica".

In the years that followed, the creative activity of the composer became intense. He composed many symphonies, amongst which were the Pastoral, the Coriolan Overture, and the famous Letter for Elise. He took on many students, those he found young and attractive, and he therefore fell in love with several of them. The Archbishop Rudolph, brother of the emperor, also became his student, his friend and eventually one of his benefactors. Beethoven composed highly ambitious works throughout the Middle period, often heroic in tone, that extended the scope of the classical musical language Beethoven had inherited from Haydn and Mozart.

In 1826, Beethoven caught cold coming back from his brother's place, with whom he had rowed again. The illness complicated other health problems from which Beethoven had suffered all his life. He passed away encircled by his closest friends on March 26th 1827, just as a storm broke out.The funeral rites took place at the church of the Holy Trinity. It is estimated that between 10 000 and 30 000 people attended. Franz Schubert, timid and a huge admirer of Beethoven, without ever having become close to him, was one of the coffin bearers, along with other musicians. Schubert died the next year and was buried next to Beethoven.

Some of the informations provided are from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven

Orchestra

2009-11-14T10:48:00.000-08:00

Orchestra is a large group of musicians with strings, brass, woodwind sections and almost always a percussion section as well.

A small-sized orchestra of about fifty or fewer musicians is called a chamber orchestra.

A full sized orchestra of about 100 musicians is called a "symphony orchestra" or "philharmonic orchestra".

Classical Orchestra are composed of the following:

Woodwinds
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets in B-flat, A
2 Bassoons

Brass
2 or 4 Horns (in any key)
2 Trumpets (in any key)

Percussion
Timpani

Strings
6 Violins I
6 Violins II
4 Violas
3 Violoncellos
2 Double basses

Symphony

2009-11-12T12:49:00.000-08:00

Symphony is one of the most beautiful contribution of the classical period to orchestral music. Symphony is an extended musical composition which typically last between 20 to 45 minutes. Since the late eighteenth century, composers have regarded the symphony as "the central form of orchestral composition". Most symphonies usually consist of four movements with the first movement in sonata form, it evoke a wide range of emotions through contrasts of tempo and mood, however many symphonies by the acknowledged classical masters of the form, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, do not conform to this model. A typical sequence in a classical symphony is (1) fast, (2) slow, (3) moderately fast, (4) quite fast.

In 17th century, for most of the Baroque period the terms symphony and sinfonia were used for a range of different compositions, including instrumental pieces used in operas, sonatas and concertos—usually part of a larger work. The strict terminology “symphony” arrived only after Haydn and Mozart had begun their symphonic labors; as late as 1766 symphonies could be advertised to the public (in London and in Holland, for example) not as symphonies but as “overtures”. But by 1770, Mozart gave a program for a concert in Mantua and uses the word "symphony". In the late eighteenth century the term “symphony” became firmly established. The classical symphony was marked by overall balance and intricate design in which structural symmetry was a general characteristic of a movement.

Concerto

2009-11-10T13:04:00.000-08:00

Concerto is a three-movement musical work with a solo or main instrument accompanied by an orchestra. It first spark in the Baroque period alongside with the concerto grosso, which is a small group of instruments with an orchestra. The concerto grosso was keep to the baroque period, while the solo concerto remained up to this day as a fundamental musical force.

Classical loves balance and it can be seen in concerto where the soloist and orchestra are equally important. Mozart, as a boy, made arrangements for harpsichord and orchestra of three sonata movements by Johann Christian Bach.He wrote one concerto each for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, four for horn, a Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra, and a Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra. They all maneuver and explore the characteristics of the solo instrument. Mozart, however, treats sonata form in his concerto movements with so much freedom that any vast categorization is not possible.

Solo instruments in classical concertos include violin, cello, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, horn and piano.

Classical Music

2009-11-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

Classical influence plays a major role in the formation of the dynamics of music. It started out in the traditions of western religious music and secular music. There are a lot of musicians who got their inspiration in making their piece out of their religious beliefs and religious practices, one of the most important and influential European classical music composer is Johann Sebastian Bach whom most of his compositions are for his church, the Lutheran church. Another genre is the secular music which are music that are non religious in nature, it is developed in the medieval period and was used in renaissance. Secular music includes love songs, dances and political satires.

It uses a wide collection of musical instruments of different tunes and pitches. Composers wrote orchestras and wind ensembles for chamber music, the opera which uses the human voice as an instrument to create a sound was also a popular classical music.

Forms of classical music will also include the concerto, symphony, suite, symphonic poem and many more. The most respected works of classical music uses musical development. In order to perform classical music one must have technical mastery and should have a certain amount of knowledge in musical manipulation.

The Heart of Music

2009-10-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

Music is so powerful that it can control the emotions of anyone who listens to it. It can take you to places you have never been; it can bring back memories that have been long forgotten. To many people in many cultures, music is an important part of their way of life. In whatever religion or group of people you will find them to have some chants or some musical compositions that distinguish them. There is a string that connects every human being to one another and that is the sound created with melody, harmony and rhythm.

There is music deep within every creation if you will only listen. Open your heart you will see the strings that connects us to it. One part of our substance is music. You can't say that someone is making noise and not music just because the sound doesn't fit on what you think is the right tune, as one musicologist stated that the border between music and noise is always culturally defined.

All things point to God one way or another and music is no different. The wellspring of music will always be defined on the context on how God created it. He is the source of everything. He is the Creator and music is one of His beautiful creations. We can read on the bible that on His throne is surrounded by orchestra that fills the whole place with praises and worship to Him ‑ it all points to Him. The world has distorted music but He will come one day and redeem what is rightfully His.