Congratulations to Sonatina Festival Students

We had 30 out of 31 students play at the Sonatina Festival yesterday. Sixteen of them were boys and 14 girls.  I believe that nearly everyone was pleased and not totally surprised at their ratings.  You had worked hard and your score reflected that.  Our judge has a habit of attaching +'s or -'s to the ratings.  I am not sure that I like that idea, but if you received a + after your rating, be proud of it.
Next will be the Wee Folk recital for 1st through 3rd grade students who are student affiliate members.  I know of Ethan, Evan, Francesca, and Luke who plan to do this.  Who else will be able to do it on March 7?
We will be selecting music for the Spring Festival this week too. Everybody is expected to do this festival. Please come prepared and ready to work hard.

The Trivia last week gave me no common popular songs.  We are all very different in what we like and dislike.  I did explore some of the current popular music on Youtube and got quite a surprise. Music is much more "violent" than I am used to hearing.   My favorite songs are usually sung by Josh Groban.  I like most of his songs.

Trivial thoughts:  February 16th is Presidents' Day.  i thought it might be interesting to know about the music back then.   There were several attitudes toward music in America's infancy. In New England the muse of song had a difficult road to travel. Music was viewed suspiciously by the Puritans, who at first would allow no musical instruments, and would tolerate singing only as an aid to divine worship, and then only after bitter arguments as to the propriety of singing Psalms in church.

In New York, Pennsylvania and the South, music and secular diversions were more welcome than in New England, although the Quakers in Pennsylvania considered plays, games, lotteries, music and dancing alike, and advised all their members to have nothing to do with them.

To our present knowledge, there were no native-born composers of music until the time of Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791), signer of the Declaration of Independence, treasurer of loans during the Revolution, judge of the Admiralty of Pennsylvania, and a great cultural influence in eighteenth century Philadelphia. Hopkinson, a friend of George Washington, is credited with being the first American composer, and we shall hear later of his songs, which were charming and reflective of the musical style and taste of the period, even though they may have lacked individuality.

We have certainly come a long way since then.  I prefer music from the 50's -70's.   Music is great anyway.