Category: MTMS Blog Posts

Love Songs

So many of us think of love songs around Valentine’s Day, and it is a time for love to be in the air. Everyone has their favorites – don’t be afraid to share with us, in comments or on our Facebook page.

The oldest known love song is the love song of Shu-Sin, which was discovered in the library of Ashurbanipal in Mesopotamia. It’s about romantic and erotic love. It predates Solomon’s Song of Songs from the Bible.

Wiki defines a love song as a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings surrounding these experiences.

Looking for a love song that’s new to you?

https://www.timeout.com/music/60-best-love-songs

While I’d heard most of them, I’m going to try a few I’m not familiar with. If you’re a streaming music subscriber, you can request love songs on your platform.

Romantic love and falling in love are very specific to the people it happens to, so don’t worry if your favorites aren’t on the list. Feel free to make your own list, share with someone you care about, and sing (or play) with them when that feeling strikes.

Here’s one of mine that didn’t make the list:

MTMS Winter Benefit

On Saturday, January 14, the MTMS Winter Benefit Concert at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Gahanna raised over 180 pounds of food for GRIN (Gahanna Residents in Need)!

This concert was set in two hour-long sessions. Our students delighted friends and family with their hard work and great music. MTMS is extremely proud of every student and the progress they’ve made with their music.

Congrats, performers!

February Theme!

Did you guess a cappella? This form of music includes singing without instruments. Categories within a cappella include bass, tenor, alto, soprano, and beatbox. In the lab you’ll be asked to create your own version of an a cappella song. In music history you’ll learn a lot more information about a cappella music and how it came to be.

Last Chance (before February comes)

In the lab this week, the challenge for students is to write at least one minute in both monophony and polyphony on your own instrument or even one you’ve never played before. New words for music support people? Monophony is a single melody line. Polyphony is multiple melody lines.

There are many songs in popular music where there is a single (sung) melody line, and at a later point in the song the earlier melodies are layered together. (I’ve got We Don’t Talk About Bruno stuck in my head, but every song sung in the round starts with a monophony, turns into a polyphony, and ends in monophony. Please save me from my earworm and comment with your favorite songs that blend both of these. Adele – Rolling in the Deep and Happy – Pharrell Williams)

Have a blast in the lab with the medieval music theme. We’re looking at music styles between 500 and 1400 AD. Many common examples include Gregorian chants and church music.

crop man with wired headphones in studio
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

January Themes

The theme this month is Medieval Music! Music history and music composition will focus on the ideas that make medieval music what it once was – the longest running era of classical music. It’s also the first documented era of music and a great way to start January.

The five characteristics of medieval music are monophony, music notation, instruments, troubadours and trouvères, and rhythm/modes. Some of those are new words for me and maybe you, too. Monophony refers to one melody line, often vocals sung with or without accompaniment. Music notation, far from what we read as music today, was to show where to have the vocal melody rise or fall. Instruments included a flute (with holes, not keys), recorder, lute, dulcimer, and lyra. Troubadours are traveling musicians and trouvères are poet-musicians. Medieval music was not organized as modern music; instead, the time period used rhythmic patterns called modal scales – and there were eight of them.

As always, for our youngest students we offer new seasonal coloring pages and other age-appropriate activities.