Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Teacher Uses AfriClassical.com Audio of Black Composers & Musicians



[String Quartets Opus 14; Third Book of Quartets; Apollon Quartet; Avenira 276011 (2005)]


The Audio page at AfriClassical.com offers more than 100 brief samples of classical music. It features 12 samples of music by Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799), for example. Most samples are about a minute long, but an excerpt of a harpsichord sonata, played by Anne Robert, is nearly 4 minutes long. A clip from a string quartet by the Coleridge String Quartet is just over 5 minutes in length. A teacher in Houston tells us she uses the Audio samples to introduce Composers and Musicians of African Descent to students:


“Hello from Houston, Texas! My name is Jayne (I'm a 2nd grade teacher) and my sons are budding classical musicians. My 14-year-old plays trombone and viola and my 11-year-old plays violin and most recently cello. For Black History, we've located the website featuring M. Chevalier de Saint-Georges and others: AfriClassical.com.


“As a teacher, I am thrilled to introduce African American composers and musicians to children who have expressed musical capabilities. I am sure it will serve to establish firmly within their minds and hearts the contributions of their ancestors to this art that they love so much. My sons have already listened to several selections and I look forward to introducing the other children to these classical pieces with the intention that they will select one or two of the African American composers to perform in quartet or quintet.”






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