Music

"Twelve highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion."-Scottish Proverb

Have you ever been in a foreign country and felt so lost because you don't understand the language? I feel that way with music. It seems that everyone in my church is an excellent singer and/or piano player. Our 10-year-old cub scouts play better than I. Years ago in grade school I spent one year learning the violin but gave it up for art class the following year.

So to make amends I've been commuting while listening to lectures on music by Robert Greenberg of The Teaching Company. Some lecture series I've liked more than others:

great: Listening To Great Music
not so great: Great Masters: Beethoven—His Life and Music (too much life and too little music)

One series I had high hopes for was How to Listen to and Understand Opera. Opera inspired so much that we take for granted today like instrumental symphonies and modern orchestral musical instruments. But alas, I did not not learn to appreciate listening to people contort their voice in foreign languages.

A series that pleasantly surprised me was The Concerto. Lots of music was played and much of it I recognized and enjoy like the Bach Brandenburg Concertos. I'd love to find an online radio station that plays mostly concertos.

Bottom Line

While attempting to find Concertos online I stumbled upon free music theory lessons by the Scottish educational system called "Learn Listening Online". It looks like fun and includes bagpipes!

Other resource I found is Classical Online Radio with 160 classical radio station on the Internet. The first station I checked was Iceberg Radio (Canadian) which has a Soloist Instrumental channel that is mostly Concertos.