Last week I returned to the blogosphere by linking to the first of 10 half-hour episodes of my father’s TV show, Man and His Music, which debuted 50 years ago on Cincinnati’s PBS affiliate, WCET, TV-48. This week, in the second espisode, Dad dives into a lecture on the six common components of music, material that eventually wound up in his first book, The Musical Imperative.  His ability to break down concepts into language understandable by the average Joe and Jane is on display here, as he, for example, compares music to science when discussing the elements of tone and when he likens ovearching structure in music to the building blocks of language (a note = a syllable; a motive = a word; a theme = a clause; etc.).

We also see Dad absolutely in his element, utilizing all genres of music to illustrate particular aspects of melody, harmony, and rhythm.  So while we do hear listening examples from Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Dvorak, and Beethoven, we also here from Buck Owens, Joni Mitchell, John Philip Sousa, Simon & Garfunkel, Janis Joplin, Dave Brubeck, a Gregorian chant choir, a Dixieland jazz band, and the cast of Jesus Christ, Superstar.  Other highlights include a brief lesson in the French pronunciation of the word timbre and a lip-synched rendition of a Rudy Vallée song, both done with the characteristic twinkle in his eye.

If you have the time to watch, I hope you enjoy Man and His Music, episode two, “Common Components of Music.”