Author: Ransom Carlson

June Theme: Mash-Ups

This month’s theme is hard to envision – mash-ups of music? But there are all kinds of music, and we love to find new ways to put it together.

Try this playlist if you’re ready to keep up with the kids: (256) MTMS June 2024 Listening Playlist – Mashups – YouTube If you’re not ready to keep up with the kids, remember that we’re all on our own music pages and also that exposure to new music can give your brain a good workout.

Enjoy these mash-ups, and see what it brings to your appreciation of the music you already know and love.

Summer Music Plans

As the school year winds down, we’ve been to concerts and many other events with music. If you’d like to share photos or videos, we’d love to see them!

What are your current summer plans? How do you keep music fun and fresh in the summer while school is out? Don’t forget we have a couple summer camps, but it is a good time to think about what you want to do for the summer.

Need an idea? Try out a new genre to play. Pick out a song that your teacher can help you learn. Maybe it’s time to pick a new instrument that you’ve always wanted to try. No matter what your plans, music will carry you through.

May Theme: Movie Themes

Many movies have a theme, a song that brings the experience to life and memory. This month the lab is exploring movie music themes. Some of them are old – think Wizard of Oz and An American in Paris, to more contemporary ones composed by John Williams.

Think about your favorite movie – what’s the song that brings that movie to mind? What’s playing in that moment where a main character gets the goal? The music binds together images to create the entire movie experience. Next time you watch a movie, pay attention to the sound and when these themes are woven into the storylines. Let us know what you think!

What Our Students Said About K-Pop

My son has been taking drum lessons from MTMS for years. He told my daughter he learned about K-pop music history, and she was jealous. We’re an online lesson family, so she could have listened to it, too, but she was too busy trying to sing K-pop karaoke with a friend over the webs and complaining she couldn’t sing in Korean (I corrected her to Hangul, thanks music history lessons!).

Other comments:

Korean lanuage (Hangul) is the 7th most learned language in the world. Some songs have Spanish in them.

There are lead dancers. They play fast and the music goes low and high, and we don’t see the instruments. It’s a lot like American hip hop, and it is highly energized.

Groups have to be close-knit like a family to be successful. Many have colors and names for their fans. I didn’t know about how many different words are used like ship and bias that becomes a k-pop culture movement.

Did you listen to more K-pop because of this month? I did!