5 Baroque and Classical Composer Biopics Music and movies have gone together since the earliest days of cinema. Silent films were...

May is #AAPIHeritageMonth May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a celebration of Asiana and Pacific Islanders in the...

Ruth Crawford Seeger: Modernist Composer, Music Educator, Ethnomusicologist, and Mother Before we get into our Mother's Day themed post,...

Celebrating The Legendary Career of American Composer John Williams Before we get into our celebration of Star Wars Day with a bit about...

The Stories Behind the Songs April is Jazz Appreciation Month, also cleverly called as "JAM."The Smithsonian's Museum of American History...

The Stories Behind the Songs April is Jazz Appreciation Month, also cleverly called as "JAM."It was founded at the Smithsonian's Museum...

Five Creativity Challenges for Artists of All Ages This February Here in Chicagoland, February is one bitterly cold, sometimes...

Inventor and Composer In previous posts, we've focused on the instruments played in the conventional Western orchestra, some instruments...

Music for Remembrance We've reached Fall 2020, a year that will no doubt be remembered as a year of transition and mourning. This past...

New Subscriber-Only Content and More Coming Soon! Like what you read in the Perennial Blog? This blog, while a labor of love, takes...

More Than "Just A Singer" – Voices As Instruments In the last post, I introduced the four main voice types, as well as additional...

Classifying the Voice There are four main voice types in choral music: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.

Add These Sounds to Your Earbox In previous posts, we have touched on the instruments of the conventional Western orchestra, some...

What images pop into your heard when you hear the word "texture"? Soft or hard? Dry or wet? Alive or inanimate? Slimy? Sticky? Fur, skin,...

A Brief Introduction to Sampling in Music: Part Three Breakbeats, Turntables, Early Hip Hop In the previous installments, we continued...

Get Inspired this Winter Snow. Ice. Sleet. Slush. Wind chill factors. Here in Chicagoland, it can be tempting to stay home and hibernate...

Part 2 of the Sample This! series where we learn about new instruments including the Mellotron and the Chamberlin

Part 1 of the Sample This! series where we discover what sampling is in music.

What rings in the Holiday Season for you? Is it the sound of Jingle Bells, a Sunday afternoon Sleigh Ride, or the scent of Chestnuts...