May/June
100-day Challenge
Keep working on your practice charts. You can still do this challenge.
Start at any time! Download this chart or make your own.
Students who have completed the 100-day practice chart
2020 Composition Contest Winners
Congratulations to everyone who participated. Your pieces were great! Hundreds of students sent in compositions about the Arctic and Antarctica with music about penguins, polar bears, walruses, and other animals as well as pieces about the polar landscapes and oceans! As always, it was difficult to pick just a few, but we are pleased to announce the 2020 winners.
Winning Pieces will be printed in upcoming issues.
10 and younger
1st Place:
A Polar Bear’s Lullaby
by Beverly Horton, age 10
Teacher: Terry Doremus
2nd Place:
The Arctic Fox
by Maggie Miller, age 10
Teacher: Jessica Olson
3rd Place (tie):
Arctic Waves
by Jillian Williams, age 9
Teacher: Jessica Olson
3rd Place (tie):
Tundra
by Harry Graves, age 10
Teacher: Alison Siener Brown
Honorable Mention:
Jumping Arctic Foxes
by David Beamer, age 9
Teacher: Barbara Azevedo
Honorable Mention:
Cold and Beautiful
by Marissa DiChiaro, age 10
Teacher: Mark Raimondi
11 and older
1st Place:
Lullaby of the Northern Lights
by Colleen Leacock, age 16
Teacher: Lydia McCool
2nd Place:
The Penguin Strut!
by Elisa Lipkin, age 17
Teacher: Diana Wan
3rd Place (tie):
Snowfall
by Audrey Schultz, age 11
Teacher: Maggie Casey
3rd Place (tie):
The Groovy Walrus
by Ella Miller, age 13
Teacher Jessica Olson
Honorable Mention:
Waltz of the Polar Bears
by Eli Minasian, age 14
Teacher: Reese Ancheta
Honorable Mention:
Guided by the Northern Lights
by Marina Prikis, age 17
Teacher: Nancy Osborne
Honorable Mention:
A Sled Dog’s Day Off
by Shawn An, age 18
Teacher: Diane W. Higgins
Composer of the month
Béla Bartók
1881-1945
Mikrokosmos, Volume 1
Mikrokosmos, Volume 6
Bartok playing Rumanian Folk Dances
Bartok playing Evening in Transylvania
Paraszttanc (Peasant’s dance): Allegro moderato from First Term at the Piano
Concerto for Orchestra
String Quartet No. 1
Hungarian Sketches (also known as Hungarian Pictures)
Mallet Percussion
Movement 2 of Daniel Levitan’s Marimba Quartet
Claire de Lune performed on vibraphone
Flight of the Bumblebee played on xylophone
Glockenspiel parts in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Harry Potter medley that uses marimba, vibraphone, and glockenspiel.
Drive by David Guetta performed by the Hilton College (a high school in South Africa) Competition Marimba Band
Dynamics
Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony is marked pppppp (in a bassoon solo). Go to about minute 10 where the music is marked Adagio Mosso. Look at how the music gets quieter and quieter. What dynamic does the next section start at? How does this change affect you as the listener?
Tchaikovsky goes to the other extreme in his 1812 Overture. Go to about minute 16 – Allegro vivace – and notice how loud the whole orchestra is as they compete with the sound of cannons at ffff for the exciting conclusion of this famous work!
In György Ligeti’s Etude for Piano, No. 9, go to about 3:20 where the dynamic is ff. What does the piece end at? What dynamics are between the ff and the ending dynamic?
Ligeti’s Etude for Piano, No. 13 has even more extreme dynamics. Watch the music while you listen to it. Imagine how you might play all of these dramatic dynamics!