National Polka Dot Day celebrates polka dots, and since 2016 has also been used to celebrate Minnie Mouse, who is known for often wearing the dots. She usually is seen wearing a red dress with white polka dots, and often has a matching bow. Celebrants of the holiday don polka dots to celebrate the dot […]
Night on Bald Mountain refers to a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky composed a “musical picture”, St. John’s Eve on Bald Mountain on the theme of a witches’ sabbath occurring on St. John’s Eve, which he completed on that very night, June 23, in 1867. Interestingly, […]
‘ The Skeleton Dance’ comes from a 1929 Disney short film called Silly Symphony, and it’s a perfect example of classical music at its most creative. The light-hearted music scores the dancing skeletons’ movements with various percussion instruments – and one of the skeletons themselves even gets used as a glockenspiel. As we hear the chimes […]
The Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett is in Piano Maestro with 3 different levels to play. The song was released as a single in August 1962 along with a full-length LP (record) called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes. The “Monster Mash” single was #1 on the Billboard Hot […]
Shiny, new Piano Maestro version is live! We’ve listened to your amazing feedback and have added your most requested songs, improved your Teacher reports, polished the ‘Share The Moment’ feature, added iOS 16 compatibility and squashed tons of bugs! Welcome to the Simply family! As part of unifying all our Simply (formerly JoyTunes) products under the Simply umbrella, we’re bringing the […]
“The Entertainer” is a 1902 classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin. It was sold first as sheet music, and in the 1910s as piano rolls that would play on player pianos. It was used as the theme music for the 1973 Oscar-winning film The Sting by composer and pianist Marvin Hamlisch. The Sting […]
Today, we’ll listen to the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, of Ludwig van Beethoven. It was written between 1804–1808. It is one of the best-known compositions in classical music, and one of the most frequently played symphonies. As is typical of symphonies in the classical period, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is in four […]
Take a bow, Alon Kaplan, for creating the first fun Summer Camp song, Disney hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” Available in three versions, it can be found in the new ‘Summer Camp’ category in the Library or tap the button on the main menu. Tune in each week to see which other free songs will […]
This is the month for graduations of all sorts, college, high school, even preschool. Perhaps you know someone who is graduating this year. Maybe it’s you! This piece by Sir Edward Elgar is called Pomp and Circumstance and usually heard at graduations. It was featured in Disney’s Fantasia 2000. Edward Elgar’s father was a musician who tuned […]
t’s not too late to have your students take part in this magical adventure and play the Disney themed song special! “Let It Go” from ‘Frozen’ is the last Disney song for your students to play in this special challenge (don’t worry we’ll add more Disney songs soon).
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