Musician of the Month: Evelyn Glennie

Evelyn Glennie was born in Scotland in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1965 and currently lives in England. She is most well-known for being an accomplished percussionist – somebody who plays percussion instruments (or instruments you hit), such as the xylophone, drum kit, and tubular bells. She started playing percussion when she was age 12, after having started playing the piano some time before, and has said she immediately felt a connection to it.

Not only is she a fantastic solo percussionist, she also has dedicated part of her career to teaching people how to listen to music and experience sound in new ways. Evelyn Glennie started to lose her hearing when she was 8 years old and therefore has had to learn how to listen using her whole body instead of her ears. She can hear music by playing barefoot so she can feel the vibrations through her feet, and she can feel the resonance in her body to help her hear. She encourages people to experience and feel sound in similar ways to her.

Click Read More to learn more and watch a video!

Musician of the Month: Rachel Portman

Rachel Portman is a British composer, best known for her film scores. She has written for many well-known films, such as The Manchurian Candidate and Chocolat. Among other awards, she was nominated several times for an Oscar for her music, with one Academy Award win in the category of 'Best Musical or Comedy Score'.

Portman was born in West Sussex, U.K. and started writing her own music from the age of 14. After school she attended Oxford University to study Music and continued composing for student theatre and film. Besides her feature films, she has also composed for British television dramas and films.

In the video below you can hear a track from the film Chocolat:

Musician of the Month: Sean Shepherd

Sean Shepherd is a composer of contemporary music. Originally from Reno, Nevada in the USA, he composes music for orchestras, ensembles, duos and solo piano.

Year 2 have been learning about Shepherd’s composition style in context with his piece Tuolumne (which is a word from the Native American language Miwok), inspired by several photographs of Yosemite National Park in California. There are three movements to his piece of music, each representing a different photo, titled: “Water over Rock”, “Winter Sunrise”, and “Merced Lake Country”. He wrote music that told a musical story that was shaped by the aspects found in the photos, such as the shape of the mountains or light and dark areas of the landscape. Below is a quote from Shepherd talking about the way he used the photos to compose his piece, Tuolumne:

“The three movements of Tuolumne are, in my view, best understood as emotional responses to these works of art. I intended neither to illuminate nor describe the photos in a deliberately programmatic or pictorial sense. […] The story of the music, with its twists and turns, peaks and valleys, and shifts of mood and character, may or may not mirror one’s experience of the images.” – Sean Shepherd, quoted from his website.

Click Read More to learn more about Shepherd's music and to listen to a piece!

Musician of the Month: György Ligeti

György Sándor Ligeti was born in 1923 in Transylvania, Romania. He was, however, from a Hungarian family and for many years, this was the only language he was exposed to. He grew up in a turbulent period in Hungarian history, with the Trianon treaty reducing the borders of the country drastically. These factors, it is suggested, perhaps played a formative role in his musical development, as he grew up as an “outsider” culturally, as well as being isolated from the musical scenes elsewhere in European cities.

It is possible that this separation from ‘classical’ musical methods and traditions that were being taught and performed in cities like Vienna and Budapest helped Ligeti’s style develop so uniquely. He said he had to rely much more on his “own imagination” when composing – he would picture how he wished the sounds and elements of the music to be in his head before writing his piece.

His music is very different to that of some of the Classical European composers you may be used to hearing! Listen to one of his famous pieces, Atmosphères, in the video below, written for ensemble in 1961. This piece has been used by directors in films, perhaps because of the atmosphere or ambience it creates. What do you think Ligeti was imagining about the music when he wrote this piece?

Click Read More to learn more about Ligeti and listen to another piece!

Musician of the Month: Doudou N'Diaye Rose

Following our amazing percussion workshops in November with Mr Andy, during which we had the chance to learn about djembes and samba music, our next featured Musician of the Month had to be a percussionist!

Doudou N’diaye Rose was born in 1930 in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. He is well-known as a master drummer and was a talented sabar player. A sabar is a type of traditional Senegalese drum which is played with both a hand and a stick. N’Diaye Rose was born into a griot family – a griot in West Africa is a renowned storyteller or musician – and through his natural attraction to the sabar drum, he himself became one of the greatest griots of his time.

Below is a video of Doudou N’diaye Rose performing with the sabar, along with his sons, who are also accomplished drummers:

Click Read More to learn more about this composer and drummer!

Musician of the Month: George Gershwin

George Gershwin is a well-renowned American composer and pianist who lived in New York City. His works span several genres, including classical, jazz, opera, songs, and film music. He collaborated many times with his brother, Ira Gershwin, who was a lyricist.

It was apparent from childhood that Gershwin was a talented pianist. He was introduced to Classical composers by his piano tutor, but also to Debussy and Schoenberg, who were considered slightly more unconventional choices to focus on in piano studies during that time. This range of musical introductions, as well as the music scene in New York City at that time, likely influenced the development of Gershwin's own unique musical style.

Click Read More below to listen to some of Gershwin's music!

Musician of the Month: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This term, Year 1 have been learning all about fairy tales and using their imagination to enter different worlds, illustrated by music. In their Music classes they have been listening to The Magic Flute, composed by Classical composer Mozart, to see how the music can help to create dramatic scenes and imagery.

Have a listen to Mozart's "Overture" for The Magic Flute:


Click "Read More" to learn more about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!

Musician of the Month: Antônio Carlos Jobim

As it is Olympics season in Rio de Janeiro, we thought there would be no better time than to celebrate a Brazilian composer. Antônio Carlos Jobim himself was born in Rio in 1927 and was instrumental in developing the "bossa nova" style of Brazlian music in the 1950s and 1960s. Jobim's music is very popular in Jazz repetoires, and the "bossa nova" style draws upon Jazz and Samba.

One of his most famous songs all over the world is "The Girl from Ipanema" (or "Garota de Ipanema" in Portuguese), which you may have heard during the Olympic opening ceremony. Frank Sinatra also recorded this song, along with others by Jobim.

Desford Colliery Brass Band Visit BIS

Desford Colliery Brass Band visited us here at BIS for a series of concerts. They played concerts for EYFS, AP1 and TX and all of them were phenomenal. Judging from the reaction of the audience, the children found this a wonderful and memorable experience. We hope they can come again soon!

Here are some videos of the fantastic pieces we heard.

Musician of the Month: Desford Brass Band

Many of you will remember this band as the brass band who played on Wednesday 1st June at AP2 Auditorium! We were very lucky to have them say hello and play for us in Ho Chi Minh City. Also known as Desford Colliery Band, this group of British brass players perform a range of both classical and jazz pieces. The band was first founded in 1898! They have been playing for a very long time, with musicians leaving and entering the band regularly. They have been playing even through the First and Second World Wars! Here is the band performing a piece called 'The Hot Canary':

If you would like to read more, please click 'Read More'

Musician of the Month: Prince

Prince, like David Bowie, was another iconic musician to have sadly died this year. Prince also used to dress very flamboyantly and had an androgynous* look. His real name was in fact Prince. He was named Prince Rogers Nelson after his father's jazz group. In 1993, he changed his name into a symbol that looks like this:

The symbol is a combination of the traditional symbols for male and female, and it also contains a cross. This is likely to allude to his religion, as he was Jehovah's witness. It also outlines his gender fluidity, which means that he didn't believe that there should have to be such a big difference between men and women. Having the symbol for a name made it hard for other people to know what to call him. Some people still called him 'Prince'. Some people called him 'The Artist', and some people called him 'The Purple One'. This is because he wrote a very famous song called 'Purple Rain'. This is a video of him performing it at the 2007 Super Bowl:

If you'd like to read more, click 'Read More'.

Musician of the Month: Cy Coleman

Cy Coleman was an American composer and songwriter and he wrote many songs for musicals. A lot of these musicals were shown on Broadway in New York, where he was born. He wrote the music for 'Sweet Charity' which is a musical about a female dancer looking for love. Here is a song called 'The Rhythm of Life' from the musical, which harmony choir and MP3 choir will be singing in the Summer Concert. It will also be a highlight of the FOBISIA Carnival!

If you'd like to read more, click 'Read More'.

Musician of the Month: Adele

Our musician of the month is Adele! Many of you may know her recent song 'Hello' which is about an ex-boyfriend of hers. It was top of the charts for many countries, but in the U.S, it became the first song to sell over 1 million downloads within a week of its release!

Adele has produced three albums: 19, 21 and 25. They're quite simple names for albums, because they're based on her age. However, these ages were important mile posts for Adele and they marked her own personal development. Here is 'Hello':

If you'd like to read more, click 'Read More'.

Musician of the Month: David Bowie

David Bowie was very famous during the 70s and 80s. He is an iconic figure of these times as his music was very popular and his image was very different to anything seen before. His look was androgynous, which means that he looked feminine and masculine at the same time. He used to wear a lot of colourful make up which made him more interesting to look at. This helped to bring attention to the difference he was making to rock music. Sometimes musicians like to show their creativity in the way they look to express themselves and it also helps them get noticed so that more people listen to their music. Here is one of his songs called 'Let's Dance'.

If you would like to read more about David Bowie, click 'Read More'.

Musician of the Month: Hadyn

Joseph Hadyn

Joseph Hadyn's surname is sounded like 'Hi - din'. He was from Austria. He was a classical composer from the 'classical' period. Here is part of a piece Haydn composed, played by Natalie Schwamova.

If you'd like to learn more, click 'Read more'

Musician of the Month: Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters was a Blues musician who was born in Mississippi, USA, but became very popular in Chicago, USA.

This is him performing 'Mannish Boy'. If you'd like to learn more, hit the 'Read more' button below.

Musician of the Month - Ray Charles

This month's musician is Ray Charles - a popular Blues musician who turned many Gospel songs into Rhythm and Blues classics!

Ray Charles

1930 - 2004

Hit the Road Jack!

Hit the Road Jack was a popular hit made famous by Ray Charles. If you notice, the bass line goes down in steps. Can you tell if it is major or minor?

If you want to find out more, click 'Read More'

Musician of the Month - Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

31st March 1685 - 28th July 1750

This June, we are celebrating a magnificent classical composer from the baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach. He was born in Eisenach, Germany and he came from a great musical family who were also very good composers.

Click on 'Read More' to find out more interesting facts about Bach. 

Here are some of Bach's best musical pieces. Happy listening! 

This is the beginning of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 - one of the best pieces of music ever written for cello!

Brandenburg Concert No. 5

Musician of the Month - Antonio Vivaldi

For the month of May, our Musician of the Month is Antonio Vivaldi. As one of the greatest Baroque composers of the 17th century, Vivaldi's compositions influenced classical music throughout Europe. His most memorable concertos are The Four Seasons and the Opus 3.

If you would like to learn more about Antonio Vivaldi's life, click on 'Read more'.  

Please leave a comment to tell us which Vivaldi composition you like best. :) 

Musician of the Month - John McCabe

John McCabe

British pianist and composer

1939-2015

John McCabe was a British pianist and composer. He began making music as a child, taking inspiration from his mother. McCabe said, "my mother was a very good amateur violinist and there were records and printed music everywhere. I thought that if all these guys - Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert - can do it, then so can I!" He went on to become a very successful composer of orchestral and piano music and a very accomplished pianist. Click on 'read more' to find out more about him and to hear some of his music.