2.
A full-speed version with two bars of only audio metronome before starting (to lead you to the right tempo), then metronome with accented beats for the duration of the piece;

3.A special slower tempo (-20%) version with two bars of only audio metronome before starting (to lead you to the right tempo), then metronome with accented beats for the duration of the piece. (This one is recommended for practice purposes.)

Mp3 music accompaniment files are currently available for following instruments and ensembles:

Instruments:
Alto Saxophone
Bass Clarinet
Bassoon
Cello
Clarinet (in Bb)
Clarinet in Eb
Double-Bass
Flute
Guitar
Horn
Mandolin
Oboe
Tenor Saxophone New item
Trombone
Trumpet
Tuba (in C)
Tuba (in Eb)
Viola
Violin
Voice

Ensembles:
Cello Duets
Viola Duets New item
Violin Duets

Download Mp3 Music Accompaniment

: Classical Sheet Music

Mp3 audio accompaniment

G.F.Handel: Sonata Op.1 No.10 sheet music to download for violin & piano
Instantly downloadable sheet music by G.F.Handel for violin & piano of MEDIUM skill level. Contents: hwv 368

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: Classical Sheet Music

G.F.Handel: Sonata Op.1 No.10 sheet music to download for violin & piano

G.F.Handel: Sonata Op.1 No.3 sheet music to download for viola & piano
This is an exclusive transcription for viola & piano of MEDIUM skill level from the original composition by G.F.Handel. This title is available as instant sheet music download. Contents: hwv 361

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: Classical Sheet Music

G.F.Handel: Sonata Op.1 No.3 sheet music to download for viola & piano

G.F.Handel: Sonata Op.1 No.3 sheet music to download for violin & piano
Instantly downloadable sheet music by G.F.Handel for violin & piano of MEDIUM skill level. Contents: hwv 361

4.99

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: Classical Sheet Music

G.F.Handel: Sonata Op.1 No.3 sheet music to download for violin & piano

G.F.Handel: Mezzo Soprano Arias sheet music to download for mezzo soprano & piano
Instantly downloadable sheet music by G.F.Handel for mezzo soprano & piano of MEDIUM skill level. Contents: serse

alcina

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: Classical Sheet Music

G.F.Handel: Mezzo Soprano Arias sheet music to download for mezzo soprano & piano

When I was a kid, I had no interest in classical guitar music. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t even aware that it existed. My parents loved classical music, but I hadn’t gotten into it that much. I would listen to it when it was on in the background, but what I really liked was rock ‘n roll. I dreamed of becoming a rock guitarist, shredding in front of crowds of thousands and making millions of dollars at it. Needless to say, classical guitar didn’t fit into that.

Then one day, rummaging up in the attic I found my dad’s old classical guitar. I did not understand that the nylon strings and headstock design were unusual compared to acoustic guitars or electric axes, since I had never seen a guitar up close before. I figured this was what all guitars looked like, and I asked my dad to give me some lessons. He showed me a few things that evening, and I began to practice nonstop.

One of the great things about starting on the classical guitar was that it allowed me to practice a lot more than I would have been able to otherwise. When you are first starting out on an acoustic guitar, the strings really bite into your fingers. Because classical guitars use nylon strings, they don’t really have this problem. You can play with ease even as a beginner. This makes it much less frustrating during the first few weeks.

Eventually I discovered that I was playing classic guitar music, but by then I was too into it to care. It really was a beautiful instrument, and I was loving the stuff that I was being shown. The great thing about learning classical guitar is that you can also quite easily pick up rock ‘n roll. Rock music, folk music, and most popular music is extremely simple. Learning classical music will give you all the tools to easily take it up anytime you want to. As a matter of fact, some of the best lead guitar players out there nowadays are classically trained.

If you are thinking about learning guitar, at least give classical some thought. It is easy to find online beginner classical Spanish guitar lessons to try out for free. You can look and see what the teacher is doing and decide if you like it or not. Even if you ultimately discover that classical guitar is not your style, you won’t have lost anything. If anything, you will have started with a solid musical foundation that will make you a better rock player than if you hadn’t studied classical music.

: Classical Sheet Music

Classical Guitar

The famous aria for tenor and piano by Verdi from the Rigoletto opera will be ready to download next Sunday.

: Classical Sheet Music

La Donna e’ Mobile, aria from Rigoletto

Recent performances include the role of Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with Arizona Opera; Adina in Donizetti’s, L’Elisir d’amore with Intermountain Opera in Montana; Auretta in Mozart’s, L’Oca del Cairo with the Brazilian Opera Society in Sao Paulo; Baby Doe in The Ballad of Baby Doe with North Bay Opera; Musetta in La Boheme with Nevada Opera; Elisetta in Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto with Israeli Vocal Arts in Tel Aviv and Lucy in Menotti’s Telephone with Solo Opera.

Other notable debuts include: Musetta in La Boheme and Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Arty Award for Best Supporting Actress) with North Bay Opera, Sophie in Werther with San Francisco Lyric Opera, Christine in Phantom with Diablo Light Opera (‘96 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Actress), Cunegonde in Candide and Pamina in The Magic Flute with West Bay Opera, Adele in Die Fledermaus with the Fresno Philharmonic, and Carolina in Luisa Fernanda with the Jarvis Institute in Napa, California.

Ms Breckenridge received a Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she appeared in numerous productions, including Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Queen Tytania and Cosi Fan Tutte as Despina as well as soprano solos in Handel’s Messiah at Davies Symphony Hall. Additional symphony credits include Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem, and the Bachianas Brazileras No. 5 with the Vallejo Symphony. She will soon be heard in Samuel Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915 with the Tasajara Symphony.

Awards include being a Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Finalist (‘99), winner of the prestigious IIE International Travel Award (‘99), a MacAllister Awards Regional finalist (‘99), and Mu Phi Epsilon winner (‘96). In 2001, Ms Breckenridge participated in the Santa Fe Opera apprentice artist program in New Mexico.

Most recently, she has performed the role of Adina in L’elisir d’amore with Inter- Mountain Opera in Montana and sang the role of Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with Arizona Opera in November 2002.

She has been re-engaged by San Francisco Opera to sing the role of Inez in their production of Il Trovatore in June 2003 and returns for the fall season as Papagena in the revival of the Hockney production of Die Zauberflöte. Immediately following that she returns to Arizona Opera for performances as Yum-Yum in their production of The Mikado. At the beginning of 2004, she will be Juliet in Sacramento Opera’s production of Romeo and Juliette.

: Classical Sheet Music

MARNIE BRECKENRIDGE

The National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova, one of the former Soviet satellite countries, is now becoming one of the foremost chamber orchestras to emerge from that region. Their conductor, J. Crispin Ward, was extremely instrumental in securing for them a very prestigious contract with the English recording company Chandos to produce three CDs over the next two years. Their very first recording will be available in early 2005. The repertoire on that CD will be:

All music by Alexander Tcherepnin including Musica Sacra, Suite Georgienne for Piano and Strings, The Twelve for narrator and orchestra, and the folk cantata for bass and strings titled Von Spass und Ernst (in Jest and Earnest).

More information will follow about where you may secure copies of this recording as soon as it is released. The release date will be announced at the beginning of 2005.

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Crispin Ward – Conductor

Crispin Ward started conducting at the age of three when he directed a performance of Verdi requiem, with Joan Sutherland, Pavarotti et al, in his parent’s front living room, standing on a chair waving a kebab skewer. Then after a fifteen years’ gap…

Mr. Ward studied conducting for four years at the Royal College of Music in London with Norman del Mar and Christopher Adey, but it was first as a horn player that he made his international name. He has appeared as horn soloist and section leader in every European country (except Iceland, for which he is awaiting offers). He has worked with many inspirational musicians such as Claudio Abbado, Zubin Meta, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Kyng Wa Chung, Bill Christie (he was principal horn of Les Arts Florissants for six years), John Elliot Gardener, Cecile Ousset, Jessie Norman, Brigitte Fassbender, Leonard Berstein, Georg Solti, Ravi Shankar, Kumar Bose, Viktoria Mullova.

During the past five years Mr. Ward has been in constant demand to use his conducting skills and was appointed Principal Conductor with the British Chamber Orchestra, for some time one of the busiest ensembles in the UK. With a vast repertoire this young vigorous ensemble toured extensively within the country, regularly appearing at festivals and concert halls. He is also guest conductor with many other UK ensembles.

Mr. Ward’s experience includes directing over twenty theatrical productions over the past eight years including Oliver, Sweeney Todd (which won the NODA award for the best UK show of the year), Godspell, and due to illness he stepped in, at the last minute, to the role of Captain Tempest in Return to the Forbidden Planet. Apart from having to sing and dance rock and roll dressed like Captain James T Kirk, whilst reciting Shakespeare, in an American accent, in public, he had to maintain his dignity as musical director for which he then received another NODA award for his efforts. He is a regular performer at the Arundel Festival at which he has conducted performances for the last four years including The Magic Flute and The Pirates of Penzance.

For the last three years he has been granted a British Foreign Office Scholarship that has supported his efforts as the artistic director and principal conductor of the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova. This involves conducting this, and other orchestras, in Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, Bucharest, Tver and around the former Eastern Bloc. He has also given masterclasses to advanced music students in both musical history and performance practice. He is involved at government level with the development and promotion of cultural links between Britain and Ukraine, Moldova and Russia. He was recently involved in meetings between Moscow and Chisinau (Moldova), the first meeting at ministerial level since the break up of the Soviet Union. He has just been invited to conduct Dido and Aeneas in the Moldova International Opera Festival.

During his time with the NCO Moldova the orchestra has developed its repertoire from a base of standard works to an exciting modern outlook towards 20th Century works.

Whilst working in Moldova, he instigated a music education project with the orchestra that is now in its second year. This has involved over two hundred performances in schools to some 12 000 children, is backed up with considerable resources for teachers and has tripled the salaries of the orchestral players. It has generated a huge interest from amongst the pupils and it receives many letters of thanks on a daily basis.

As a result of his extremely successful work in the whole sphere of Moldovan music, Mr. Ward received the title of Om Emerit from President Vladimir Veronin in last year’s New Year’s Honours list. This is the highest award that a visitor can receive and is the equivalent of a British Honorary Knighthood. His friends and colleagues call him Sir Crispin at their peril however.

The orchestra has just received a contract from Chandos records to record three CDs, the first of which, containing the music of Alexander Tcherepnin, is due to be released early 2005.

Mr. Ward maintains a very informal approach to orchestral and theatre direction. He has a very animated, romantic, almost aggressive style of performance that has appealed to critic, musician and audience. Mr. Ward is renouned for his relaxed relationship with any audience, including them in the performance, talking to them and inviting humour, laughter and applause.

He is a lecturer at University College Chichester teaching to degree level in composition, history and performance practice.

Mr. Ward is a member of Speedway Sheep, a jazz/rock/soul/funk band that play regularly at events around the UK. He is a lifelong member of London Irish Rugby Football Club and his interests include gardening, walking, cooking and classic sports cars.

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: Classical Sheet Music

National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova

As a music teacher I am often asked the question, “What good is music theory?” “Why do we need it?” “Isn’t it possible for me to play in a band without knowing theory, or even knowing how to read music?”

And while of course it is possible to develop a career as a performing musician without being able to read a note of music – you need to know: your knowledge of music theory will open doors to a world that was previously closed to you. Used correctly, music theory will help you not only understand your music, but will allow you to communicate your musical ideas, and to explore music in ways you have never experienced before.

Used correctly, music theory allows you to be literate, and to expand your musical horizon, and to give you a vocabulary and method for doing so.

Our desire to create

Humans have an innate desire and need to create. It is part of what makes us human. Once we have created an artistic work, there is usually an immense feeling of satisfaction and resolution- a feeling that we have “made a statement”. Sometimes it is almost impossible to say what that statement is, but nonetheless we usually experience a feeling of satisfaction and completion.

Some artists have likened the process of creating to giving birth, as if the work they have created is their offspring. Composing music is, for those who engage in it, a tremendously satisfying artistic release. Whether “classical” music, or garage-band rock & roll, creating a musical work is a way humans have of expressing the often inexpressible.

During times of great euphoria, and times of national trauma, musicians will compose and/or perform music that attempts to describe their feelings in a way that they feel cannot be expressed in any other way.

Composing results in a work that is unique. More to the point, the authorship of a musical work can often be determined by the style of the writing. Many people can tell they are listening to an Eric Clapton guitar solo purely because of the style of the playing, or by particular note patterns. Jerry Lee Lewis’s piano style is immediately identifiable, and yet it is difficult to express in words exactly what makes it distinguishable from others. That lack of ability to express musical details verbally is sometimes attributable to a lack of theoretical background – a lack of vocabulary.

Theory is history

So, will learning music theory improve your musical abilities? Not necessarily, because musicianship is not primarily a result of theoretical knowledge. But an understanding of theoretical knowledge can help you more accurately articulate your musical ideas, and can help you understand musical structures, and this can lead to an accelerated musical development. In my article Writing Music – Making it Work! (a free article provided to purchasers of the Easy Music Theory CD-ROM set), I mention that music theory is not intended to give the composer license – it is intended only to describe certain structures within the piece. Theory tends to be historical in the sense that if something is done enough, musicians develop a theory to explain it. In music theory class, we might learn to write scales, or to analyze and build chords, or to demonstrate an understanding of time signatures. And though we can use that knowledge in the composing of new music, it does not necessarily demonstrate music ability.

Theory versus creativity…

It sounds like I am making a brilliant case for not needing music theory! But let’s use an analogy to continue: In your English class at school, you will doubtless learn about nouns, verbs and adjectives. You will learn how sentences are structured, and you will learn all the rules of grammar. Those things are the theory of English. Does the knowledge of those rules make you an author? Does your understanding of sentence structure ensure that you will write the next great novel? No, not necessarily. Only a very small percentage of individuals seem to be blessed with that gift.

But to say that understanding how sentences are put together is irrelevant to developing writing skills is generally thought to be ludicrous! The more you understand, and the greater your vocabulary, the further your abilities will develop.

Sometimes musicians will claim that they don’t want to study music theory for fear it will stifle their creativity. They equate increasing theoretical knowledge with diminishing artistic sense. And nothing could be further from the truth. The world’s greatest composers were all masters of music theory: J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms- all had a keen understanding of the theoretical constructs of the music they composed. They spent years studying, in minute detail, the music of other composers, analyzing compositions to gain a greater understanding of how music worked.

This understanding certainly did not stifle their creative abilities – it enhanced them! Far be it from any of us to claim that Mozart’s musical abilities were stifled by his highly-developed understanding of theory – such a claim would be extraordinary!

Playing by ear

I am a huge fan of playing by ear – of picking out tunes without the aid of written music, and of allowing your ears to be your guide. I believe that musicians with strong theoretical training often thoughtlessly dismiss the skill of playing by ear. They believe that figuring out a melody by picking it out in a “trial and error” method is resorted to by those who can’t read music. On the contrary, I personally believe that every successful musician must have the ability to play by ear. Here is an analogy to explain:

When you were born, and until you were approximately one year old, you were essentially a non-verbal person. You communicated your needs and desires with crying, gurgles and nondescript vocalizations. Your parents became experts on how to interpret those vocalizations. By hearing speech around you, and with occasional corrections by your parents, you slowly began a process of developing a vocabulary – completely by ear. You did not “study” English. You did not learn about nouns and verbs, and yet within a couple of years, by the time you reached the age of three or so, you were communicating your ideas verbally, using nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs more or less correctly.

This all happened without you actually understanding or studying the theory of English. At a certain point, several years later, you learned how to read. You began to study the parts of a sentence, and how sentences are structured. You learned why words work together the way they do. And by doing so, you enhanced your own use of the language, and increased your ability to communicate ideas. By learning to read, an entire world was opened up to you. Like Mozart’s ability to study other composer’s music, you were able to begin to read other people’s words, and to thereby further heighten your own abilities to use and manipulate words.

So the process is clear. You:

• 1- Learned the language in context, purely by ear.2- Learned the theory of English, and learned to read.

  3- Enhanced your use, and increased your ability to communicate your ideas.

Step two would have been extraordinarily difficult had you not already had a working contextual understanding of English. And step three would have been, it can be argued, totally impossible had you not already known how to use the language as outlined in step one.

And if you question the accuracy of my point here, perhaps you were not one of the people who took French or Spanish as a second language in a non-immersion setting. If you have tried to learn a second language by learning how to conjugate verbs, and by learning lists and lists of vocabulary, then you know what I am saying is true. Learning a language by ear first is the only successful way.

The same is absolutely true of music! I am an enormous supporter of learning to play one’s instrument by ear first. I believe that this kind of “non-theoretical” stage of learning is absolutely essential to a solid development of musicality. That is not in question. The regrettable thing is when musicians stop after step one – they learn their instrument by ear, but then stop there, never proceeding on to steps two or three. And they stop because they believe that steps two and three will squash their creative abilities. Nothing could be further from the truth. Music theory was never intended to tell you what to play, or what to write. On the contrary, knowledge of music theory will open up the world of music to you by allowing you to fully understand and articulate the music you are hearing. The song in your head can now be written down and communicated to another musician. It is always so sad to me when I hear otherwise creative and imaginative musicians say to me, “Is it alright for me to write this chord?” Or, “Can I have a melody that does this&ldots;?” The answer is always, “If that’s what you hear in your mind, then of course it is OK!” Music theory was never intended to allow or not allow anything. It was meant to allow you to understand what you are imagining, not dictate what you should be imagining.

The famous French composer Claude Debussy (1862-1918) had a very keen understanding of music theory. And yet he was often criticized in his own day for writing music that did not seem to conform to the rules of theory. Of course he knew that, but&ldots;. that was not why he valued music theory. He studied theory, and then wrote music that went beyond the theory, that broke the rules of theory. He used theory to enhance his understanding of music, and to better communicate his ideas.

I know so many rock & roll musicians whose creativity, I believe, has been stifled by an inability to communicate properly. And their inability to write down their ideas, or study and properly understand other people’s ideas has led to a diminished overall musicality. To become a fully-rounded musician, you cannot stop at step number one; you need the other two steps:

Conclusion

Music theory will not cause you to lose touch with your creative side – that simply will not happen! It cannot happen! Did learning to read English stifle your ability to be creative with words? Such a claim would be ludicrous! It did not stifle your abilities – it increased them! Music theory will do the same for you. Don’t be stuck on Step one!

Let music theory increase your musicianship and your ability to communicate those ideas that are in your head.

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About the author

Gary Ewer is the author of Gary Ewer’s Easy Music Theory on CD-ROM, at EasyMusicTheory.com. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, he is a composer/arranger and school music teacher. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Dalhousie University in 1982 and subsequently continued his studies in composition at McGill University under Alcides Lanza and John Rea. He returned to Halifax in late 1985 and taught trumpet, music theory and music history at the Maritime Conservatory of Music.

In 1987 he became musical director of Pomorze, a Nova Scotian Polish dance ensemble, and subsequently helped to found the Kalina Singers, a Halifax-based choir specializing in eastern-European folk songs. In 1990 he began teaching for the public schools, and has been teaching in Halifax for the past eight years, primarily at St. Patrick’s High School. He presently conducts four choirs encompassing various eras and styles – Renaissance through to modern pop and jazz.

Mr. Ewer is also director of the St. Patrick’s High School Concert Band, Soundtrax (Halifax’s High School Honour Choir) and the Halifax Schools’ Symphony Orchestra. He is actively involved in composing and arranging music for various ensembles. His music has been recorded by the Camerata Singers (conductor: Jeff Joudrey), the Cape Breton Chorale (conductor: Sr. Rita Claire) and by the Rhapsody Quintet. He continues to teach at St. Patrick’s High School in Halifax as well as the Fine Arts Department of the Halifax Regional School Board, and plays with Symphony Nova Scotia as required. In the Spring of 1998 he began to write the “Easy Music Theory” course as an extra resource for his band students. Based upon the overwhelming success of these music lessons, Gary worked with Spring Day Music to develop the complete music theory course called Gary Ewer’s Easy Music Theory on CD-ROM. It is available at www.EasyMusicTheory.com

: Classical Sheet Music

Why you NEED Music Theory