If you did not finish your composition exercise based on the art works today, please send them to me before class next week.

We will host Mark Pellegrino in class on March 8th, discussing composing for percussion. If you can, please come to class a bit early to help him move equipment after his previous class. That will both help him and will give us more time with him.

My musical happy moment this week is inspired by Nathan’s use of Don Giovanni in his piano piece. This is the finale of the opera, with the title character sung by one of my favorite baritones, Sir Bryn Terfel, who is Welsh. There’s a lot of wild and crazy stuff going on in this part of the story. I love how he really takes the crazy up a notch. This particular video does not have subtitles, so you might consider watching this one first, which does have subtitles, and then go back and watch the other one. This also can be an interesting exercise in interpretation and comparison. Don Giovanni is an interesting “comic” character, and there are a number of choices that singing actors can make in how they portray him.