This month SCMT are going back to the classical world and will be featuring Igor Stravinsky. A Russian composer, born in 1882, Stravinsky played a huge role in the development of 20th Century music.
The great thing about Stravinsky was that he didn’t stick to one genre through his career. His first big break as a composer was writing scores for the Ballet. He then moved on to a neo classical period, where he wrote music using ideas of classical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and exploring them through his own composition. He then moved on to a more serial approach, where he was composing music using techniques and sounds never heard before. In his later life Stravinsky even turned his hand at composing for Hollywood films.
Such a broad array of musical styles and genres gets me to thinking how often do we, as musicians, explore other areas of music that may take us out of our comfort zone. We all have that safe place, some of us are more comfortable with a Mozart concerto, or maybe a Bach study. Then there are some of us that could think of nothing worse than being stuck in a strict structure and rather play the Blues or more popular music. Either way why don’t we make July the month we explore something new. There are so many different musical genres, that is what is so fantastic about this broad ranging subject. Ask your teacher to find something that puts you out of your musical comfort zone and start exploring the possibilities…
