Storytelling Through Music

Storytelling is a natural communication tool we all use every day. Combining an interesting story with music becomes a unique, personal project for the student. It brings together multiple skills at once – playing the piano, writing a story, learning the tools and skills to effectively compose the piece,  understanding how to put the music down on paper all while exploring and learning how to communicate through the language of music.  It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s the student’s own creation.

So, what story do you want to tell? Let’s tell it together through music!

For more information about music composition lessons for all ages, Contact barbwyton@gmail.com.

Music is that mysterious art form that communicates feelings, imagery, and thoughts without words. A  piece of music, be it a solo instrument, a string quartet, a jazz trio, a rock band or a symphony orchestra, speaks to us in very different ways. Some feel emotions. Some see colors. Others conjure memories of people and places they’ve been. 

There is a category of music that tells a literal story. It’s called programmatic music. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is perhaps one of the best examples of this. Based on a poem by Goethe, the music tells the story of a sorcerer’s apprentice, left alone in the magicians’ workshop who tries to cast a spell that goes completely wrong. The listener can follow the story line through the suggestive, descriptive musical motifs and development so they can see, or should I say hear, the story unfold.