basic need if u want to crochet 🧶𓍯𓂃𓏧୨ৎ

Hey Charlie!

    I love crocheting, and at the beginning, it was quite difficult to find good videos to understand and improve. 

And so here are some tips and links that, in my opinion, can be useful to start. 

    First of all, if it's your first time crocheting, I advise you to use a hook between 4 and 5mm. To choose the right yarn, just follow the instructions given on it. 

    Here we start

In crochet u can start with two types of knots

• slip knot

This one is the basic level you will need to use it in almost every project.

The goal is to make a chain ( a line to start ur crochet).

• The magic ring 

it's a little more complicated

You will use it to start with a circle ( for exemple when making a plushie)

Please 🙏 don't be discouraged if you struggle with this one; it's totally normal. 

(It took me a whole day to finally do it using the second method )

a less typical method ( it's basically how to make a bow)

    With this second method, after doing it, you have to pull the yarn a little to see which one is connected to the whole ball. This one is the one you need to insert the hook in.

    Now, this is the most common stitches  and their abbreviation you will need to follow a crochet tutorial 

    After that, I wish you will be able to start. Time to crochet !!

Just follow the tutorial for the project of your choice (๑'ᵕ'๑)⸝*

                                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                                                   Good luck!!

What is street art ?

Welcome to my readers :) Well today, for my first article I’m going to present you what is street art (even if I’m sure you probably know what is it, I’ll go into the details) so, let’s begin: What is Street Art? Street art is a contemporary artistic movement that developed itself at the end of the last century. It is defined as the art of public places, the one we find in our streets, on walls. The one we do not always pay attention to but which can reserve nice surprises, pass messages, share talents or opinion. It comes in a variety of forms: graffiti, stenciled graffiti, poster design, pastel, and even video projection. (All of them are incredible) Street art origins aren't recent, men used to write on the walls. For example, The caves at Lascaux, in southwestern France, have almost 2000 images painted on their ceilings and walls, dating back to circa 15,000 BCE. It was a mix of abstract signs, animals and people. Some specialists think that street art was born in the early 20th century. In Mexico after the revolution of 1910 a lot of mural paintings appeared. In Russia the same phenomenon, mural paintings of propaganda invaded walls, it's the start of an artistic period marked by politics, economic or social protestations. However, we consider that street art really started in New York and Philadelphia in The USA in the 1960s. Well you must know famous street art artists such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Cornbread, Jean Michel Basquiat or Keith Haring, but I'm going to talk more about the different types of street art. Sooo there are different types of street arts, such as: Graffiti: It consists in spray paint or painting your signature, a message or even abstract things. It was the first art associated with vandalism. You can find different types of graffities: - The tag, which is the signature - The Flop, it looks like the tag but there is a real work on the volume - The Graff, its composition is more complex and sophisticated. - The mural, which is the biggest graffiti of all.

Stencils, they appeared in the early 1880s. It's was a new technique and a new form of expression. In Paris, the artist Blek le Rat started stencils and painted them everywhere on the walls.

Here's the link, you also have plenty of Banksy's work: https://www.nouvelobs.com/galeries-photos/photo/20140522.OBS8235/photos-banksy-legende-mysterieuse-du-street-art.html Stickers or Stick art, they are getting more and more famous because like the stencil it's really easy to do. Besides it's also less damaging than spray painting.

This is a famous sticker by OBEY Street installations, they consist in featuring three-dimensional objects, they play with the space and the public interactions. These installations allow the public to question themselves, to think, certain things shock others call for attention. Whenever I see one I feel so destabilize. <

The tape art: This art consists in making art with adhesive tape. It can be made with brown tape art, which plays with the shades of colors or by mason’s tape and waterproof to do geometric forms. The first street artist to use this technique is Mark Khaisman, but it's the Dutch artist Max Zorn who is the first to expose his work everywhere in the streets.

Street art is used to send a message, share talents or to embellish the street with colors. I think street art is wonderful and I love the fact that it's accessible to everyone. You just need to go out to see and admire some arts instead of buying a ticket to go to a private exhibition. Besides some street artists really inspired me and I would really like to try stencils in places where I can. I think my favorite street artist is Banksy because his work is stunning and it delivers messages that are important and that we need to think about. I hope one day street art will be accepted by everyone, especially in democratic countries because I think it’s a symbol of freedom of conscience where everyone can express their opinion through art. I hope that you learned new things and that you enjoyed the images of these beauuutifal masterpiece 😊 Maïa

The types of battle in hip hop. And my favorite battle of all times !

 

Hi there everyone.

Today is the day where I continue to procrastinate on writing the next hip hop style article by talking about my favorite types of battles and go over the different types of battles in hip hop.

Indeed, battles are modular (just like anything in hip hop really), so let’s look at the different categories of battles, and before making any changes to the rules here, we will start of by talking about the classics.

There are are 3 types of classic battles.

Solo

Duo

And crew.

The definition of a crew for battles is a team of dancers, some contests have a limit on the number of people in a crew. For example, in UNSS championships, the one that are monitored by schools in France, a crew has to have at least 3 members and maximum of 8 members.

But in more classic competition the limit is much more easily bendable, you can see small crew of 6/10 people, but there are also more average sized crews of 10/25 people which, IS A LOT, and in some instances there are massive crews which go from 40 to 60 people!

 

Personally, I enjoy them all for different reasons, generally solos show one’s mastery and are often shorter battles with not a lot of variety in terms of style. It’s mostly to show musicality and free style.

Whereas the crews tend toward having a much stricter set of music and one of each styles so that the pros of each style, that compose a well made crew, can have their time to shine.

In crew competition its also more obligatory that different types of choreography happen, there are some where you are free to take as many members of your team as you want, but more than often the require one crew, one duo and one solo, and they get to chose for one passage .

That’s why I have more of a soft spot for duo competition, because it both gives a break by giving a variety, but still keeping a lot of the solo elements that are essential to judge A dancer. Plus almost all solos are improvised, and you know that I love me some impro. What is even better with duos, is that some people are so close and have already done so many things together that they do “connection passages”, where its total impro but with 2 people and so they follow the music and the other and try to create something beautiful on the spot and the amount of knowledge, care and closeness that emanate from them is insane. I mean, not only do you need to think of what the music's going to do, BUT ALSO you need to have a close enough bond with your partner that you should be able to predict what they're going to do !

 

So that’s about the match-ups. But then what are famous bending of those rules.

Well there’s the "armagedons", or "dancemagedons", or "tri battles", whatever you want to call it, it is when a battle is between 3 sides, most often done with duos and solos, it also sometimes happens between 3 small crews, and so you have this triangle of forces that is very interesting. 

Because if I were to draw a schematic, based on where you look you appeal to different types of audiences. (here on the classic schematic above its the judges and the audience). 

But in an armagedon the structure entirely changes and it forces you to rethink how you interpret space in your dance, because if you flaunt you have to do it to 2 sides (or it would be weird, you wouldn't respect one but you'd respect the other), the audience isn’t just one side anymore, its 2.  And appealing to the judges would mean turning your back on your audience and opponents

 

Another honorable mention are the "experts battles" that I discovered through the UNSS and that have a ton of other names. Its battles where you have a set style that is given for each passage, you have to do for example popping or you’re out. These battles are set in 6 rounds, so they are looooong, and the last one is obligatory a solo, BUT, on a music that isn’t hip hop at all, it could totally be classic, metal, rock, jazz… and in these solos to end the battle there are wonderful displays of sensibility and originality its jaw dropping.

 

Finally my favorite type of contest with my favorite battle of all times is the French invention the “I love this dance” which is a solo competition, where each dancer comes with a music of their own. And the first round is the dancers discovering and dancing on the music of the opponent and the second round is the dancers dancing on their chosen music.

Here, you have display of strategy that is wonderful in term of choosing the music. There are 4 main tendencies that I found in those battles, so lets look at those scenarios.

1.       You are a mastermind in one style so you take your favorite song in your style so that you can crush it with your performance, but possibly give a nice song to your opponent but you’ll get a comeback after it because you are a master on this particular subject.

2.       You know your opponent has aprticular strong suit so you get around it by chosing something else, or even more vicious you know they’re very bad at one style so you take a music where its almost impossible to do any other type of dance on it and look good. And so you can take up the advantage, but it could be something at which you’re not particularly good at so you’ll do better but it’s not the best case scenario for you.

3.       Another strategy is taking musicality behemoths of songs, where your opponent will get destroyed by taking a crack at an unpredictable music. However, on your passage you will have studied the music and know all of its nuts and bolts (it might even give you an advantage by showing to the judges much better their choreography before could have been because you make them discover whole new elements of the music they wouldn’t have discovered otherwise)

4.       Last and certainly not least (and my personal favorite) people that take something that’s not hip hop at all like classic/jazz… but this is rookie level of trickery, I’ve seen someone come in with a recording of an inspirational speech… the opponent when discovering it like waited for it to start off, but it never started, because the speech wasn’t an intro to the sound, it was the sound. SO not only to you surprise them, but also take them to grounds they wouldn't have discovered before. However, this level of trickery bears a disadvantage, you need to be able to dance onto it better than your opponent on a sound that is made for them in second round.

 

So, now I think I can talk about my favorite battle of all times.

And my favorite battle is between popping C and Zyko in the I love this dance tournament.

Popping C went for the 1^st strategy while zyko went for the 4^th.

Here is the link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXydlS4hOG8

And… allow me to nerd over these performances

 In the first pass there’s Zyko, who showed a great display of some of his freestyle… (To be honest Zyko was for a long time what I’d think of doing if I could get to pro level. It's this kind of movement that I find really interesting and fun to play around in. This idea of collapsing and going back up while sort of puppeteering yourself is what I look for)

I don’t really have anything more to say but to look at the dance, there’s nothing particularly interesting to look at or any real mistake/flaw to nitpick… its just… great.

 

I think that in popping C’s response you can see how popping C was taken aback by this and tried to make the most of thisunusual audio. He gave a great display of musicality and technique but he wasn’t confident. Well, he was but we can clearly see that he didn’t truly recover from the shock of a music that he knows but didn’t expect. He started off with great confidence on the first sound that popped up without waiting to discover the actual music, and had to slow down to think when the piano appeared and when he heard the lyrics he finally understood but you can still see that he is puzzled and doesn’t hide it well.

But overall real great passage with very beautiful popped waves. Even where he incorporated some of the lyrics in his dance with the 2 lovers that are mentioned.

 

THEN ! THEN THE BEST PART, we move on to the second round where dancers dance on their music and there is my favorite part.

But before that, please debate one which passage was best from the first round, feel free to pause. Ponder. Give your opinions on who won for you in each round

 

AND NOW, we come to my favorite passage of all time… (I haven’t seen a lot of battles but shush here, I was new to hip hop when I first saw it and it struck me… and it still does… the first display of a champion on a music that isn’t hip hop)

 

Ne me quitte pas is already a powerful song, its lyrics show a man that hit rock bottom... AND BROUGHT A SHOVEL. 

Zyko has a display of skill, playing with his articulations beautifully. Its just jaw dropping, there’s imagery oozing everywhere, there’s the symbolism of the song that oozes back, you can see the fields, the golden light falling down on him, the waters springing forth… but what truly hit me is when he sort of mimicked hanging himself, and then his feet moving a little to always push him up a little more, it’s a powerful move he did there and it hits hard I think. This is creativity andorigiality at its finest.

And the best move here was during the chorus of ne me quitte pas, where I think I could do a whole analysis of these move without having to invent anything. He is turning his back to his audience, showing us the hands where we can almost see as if this love and this embrace was taking him down just like this relationship does. Further on, the way its loose and then digs itself in before actually pulling on him sort of does this chain-like effect where he is once again trapped in this desired embrace, this illusion of a relationship that once was and that pulls him into despair and pain.

But if you look at it from the perspective of the judges, they can only see someone hugging himself, the ultimate act of comforting oneself and when people are at their lowest and alone. and he gets lost into it, his torso pulled into this, he alone is the one pulling himself further down, but he can’t let go, he is trapped and can’t do anything just like in a forced camisole. This breakup incapacitates him and drags him on the floor.

 

(I don’t have a lot of things to say about the response but it’s also beautiful it’s just compared to that personally I think Zyko destroyed him but it’s still a wonderful response, one is all about originality and creativity, and the response is jaw dropping technique and musicality)

Popping C is showing a great display of technique, he is a master of popping, and he shows it. The confidence, the easiness yet precise aspect of his dance show a particularly interesting sense of how well he incorporated this style. After all, it’s not for nothing that he is called POPPING c.

 

And for me at this point, popping C barely won the first round but its Zyko who won by a large margin the second round… but what is your opinion, which one did you find best, and why, even if its just a hunch say it, a hunch in art is a valid argument in my opinion, especially when you're not usd to it. Your feelings are always valid in art, and in this one you don't ahve to justify yourself because you're not really analysing a performace, you are comparing 2.

 

SO yeah that’s my break down of the different types of battles, competition and my favorite battle ever.

 

If you’re craving any more battles I advise you to check out the accounts of the big events (just debout, i love this dance, WOD...), but you can also find compilations of dancers or just search hip hop battle and add whatever you want next to it and you’ll find it.

Hope you had a great time, and, until next time, don't forget the pillars of hip hop :

- peace - love - and have fun !

Classical music is not what you think… And pieces I would recommend!

Hi Charlie!

 

Today I wanted to write a general article about classical music, and more specifically about what

are misconceptions about it, about accessible pieces I would recommend to start listening to this 

genre. And I think I will write another article (otherwise it would be too long) just for fun, I will give 

pieces that I don't find accessible at the end, especially for non musicians.

Classical music is often seen as "boring", "only for intellectuals or a small elite", ad music, music you 

hear when a villain appears in a movie, background music / relaxing music to study or sleep… 

Pretty bad reputation right? You will see later in the article that classical music is not so serious :D 

And for a start, I found a pretty recent video about this topic by the great conductor and humorist 

Rainer Hersch with his orchestra. I really recommend you watch this one: 

https://youtu.be/uEybws6Fnw0

But I am not against the fact people use it to relax at all as it is what it is meant for for many pieces, 

but it is also not meant to make you sleep unless it is entitled "lullaby". I think the pieces I really like 

have more depth than just music to relax to. Also we should not categorize music classic into the 

"relaxing" box, for instance you all know: 

https://youtu.be/GXFSK0ogeg4

So not everything is relaxing, plenty of pieces seek the opposite with representations of death, 

violence, madness etc… or some pieces are just made to be complex to show off your techniques 

like the 4rth caprice of Paganini (I put that one but all of his compositions are made to impress 

people):

https://youtu.be/H5qpfp-AjPQ

Or the well known campanella by Liszt (same for this composer, but on the piano):

https://youtu.be/MD6xMyuZls0

As some of you might know, I really like the YouTube channel of two australian violinists, Twosetviolin. 

I was just writing this very article when one of their videos on elitism was uploaded. I think it reflects 

really well the stigmas of classical music on that point, how it is considered wrongly inaccessible. 

https://youtu.be/ldBlc1HHCGA

And by the way, watching this channel or others such as "Heart of the keys" or Nahre Sol’s channel for 

composition, can be a great way to discover classical music in a fun and humoristic way! If you are 

interested let me know in a comment below, as I know a few more. 

Though I put a lot of known pieces above that you might have recognized, the misconceptions 

about classical music come from famous pieces we all know that are often stereotypes. I myself can't 

listen to some pieces because I feel I listened to them too many times, or that it is really cliche. 

Musicians or people just into classical music don't listen to the turkish march of Mozart, the summer 

by Vivaldi as it is presented in mainstream competitions, the various waltz of Vienna etc… or at least 

rarely. Of course I must know them but it is just not what I listen to in my everyday life. Classical 

music is a very wide term that went through centuries, starting at the very beginning of music 

creation. As a consequence, the repertoire is absolutely gigantic, so it should not be reduced to 

a few works. These choices will be forcingly reductive, but I can’t put and talk about a hundred 

pieces, so these are just suggestions. Most of them are also quite famous for musicians, but my 

goal is not to pick videos with the least views either!

I am not a specialist in all musical periods (especially the classical and renaissance ones) so my choices

will be influenced by my instruments and my musical tastes (mostly german and french baroque as 

well as post-romantic / modern french and russian music), though I will try to vary the repertoire. 

Also if you decide to listen to one of the pieces below, please take the time not to do anything, 

close your eyes and listen to the melodies or try to invent a story with it! You are not forced to 

listen to the whole piece, you can just stop anywhere you want and just listen for a few minutes, so

don't be impressed by the long 40 minutes long videos. I will give the pieces + some extra 

compositions/ composers in the same style if you like one of them, and you can ask me for any advice 

in the comments. If you don’t know which one to pick, read my description.

As I will talk a lot about musical periods here is a vague chronology for those of you who don’t know: 

But anyway, here are some pieces I think would be great if you want to start listening to classical: 

1. Piano concerto no 2 - S. Rachmaninoff:

Played by Alexander Malofeev: https://youtu.be/0CW6cxApOBg

Played by Nobuyuki Tsujii: https://youtu.be/dGX3temma5Q

Ok I said I would try not to be too influenced by my tastes as this is my favorite concerto 

of them all, but I think this particular piece could really be a great start! It is a piano concerto, 

meaning a piece written for an orchestra and a piano as a soloist, in that case with 3 movements

(as if it was 3 different pieces but within 1 big piece, and with all of them linked by the 

atmosphere, the way of writing, the theme etc…). If you don’t know this composer from the 

post-romantic period yet, go and read my blog article on him :) In my opinion, it is at the 

same time mysterious, romantic, dreamy, melancholic and happy at the same time. But we 

can’t really caracterize this piece in a few words because it would be too reductive, as it is 

infinitely rich musically speaking. Rachmaninoff wrote this after a long period of depression, 

and this work marks the end of this period of his life, like a recovery. That is why we could 

imagine this work as a conversation of the composer with himself, thinking back on what he 

went through but also thinking ahead. The first version I have selected is by the young russian

pianist Alexander Malofeev, as he was only 15 when he performed this! Not to mention the 

difficulty of this piece and of playing by memory a 30 minutes long piece, he delivered 

an incredible interpretation with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic full of understanding and emotions. 

The second version is played by the blind pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii. I already tried to play closing 

my eyes and it is not that complicated, except when there are jumps. And in this piece, the 

opening chords are only jumps, not to mention the following parts. I was really amazed by 

this performance when I first saw him, and I thought of what the pianist must have gone through 

in his life. And this is one of the reasons why it is amazing, there is a real link with the music of 

Rachmaninoff himself.

If you like this work, you can go and listen to his other piano concertos (less good but still 

amazing) notably the 3rd one with the ossia cadenza, but also his preludes or his  etudes 

tableaux for piano. You can listen to Valentina Lisista’s arrangement of the second piano 

concerto for piano solo, playing both the soloist and the orchestra’s part at the same time!

Though it is crazy, I think it is still missing something. There is also Shostakovich second 

piano concerto especially the andante, his dark string quartets, or scriabin’s etude op 8 no 12 

(for piano solo). In the same period but with spanish influences, there is also Albeniz’s 

Asturias for piano solo. And I have to mention “Reveille'' from Pushkin’s Garland by the neo 

romantic and Russian composer Georgy Sviridov, even though it is vocal music.

2. Chaconne - JS. Bach

Played by Hilary Hann (violin): https://youtu.be/ngjEVKxQCWs

Piano version of Busoni played by Helene Grimaud: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOHiI_5yycU

Going back in time to the baroque period, here is a piece I love for violin solo, and apparently 

one of the hardest to play. Bach is another one of my favorite composers, both a composer 

and a mathematician, he wrote his compositions in a very structured way. But this frame leaves 

room for his religious beliefs, as well as emotions and beauty. I won’t say too much about this 

one, but go and listen to it and you will understand!

I chose the interpretation of Hilary Hann, which I believe there is an article about on the blog. 

She is an incredible violinist, with a more romantic interpretation of the piece (whereas 

it is baroque). Though from a completely different time, it gives me the same impression 

of depth, uniqueness and poetry like in the music of Rachmaninoff. I love the interpretation 

of Helene Grimaud of the arranged version by Busoni as well. If you don’t know, she has a very 

interesting life as she rises and protects wolves in addition to being a pianist.

Among the other pieces of this same period, and similar to this one, there is the Chaconne 

by Vitali, or the partitas for violin like the first one, bwv 1002 for instance. Otherwise 

you can listen to the fantasia and fugue in g minor for organ played by Leo Van Doeselaar 

or the passacaglia for organ, very close to the passacaglia of Buxtehude or of the trio in 

passacaglia of André Raison. 

3. Concerto for Flute and Harp KV 299 - WA. Mozart

Only the second movement by Anna Komarova (flute) and Alisa Sadikova (harp, she was only 

9 in the video!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00iO7FXWhx8

The whole concerto by Tamara Coha Mandić (flute) and Diana Grubišić Ćiković (harp): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nheif2BuFz0

You may know I am not the biggest Mozart’s fan, though some music he composed is just 

extraordinary. This is one of the pieces I really like, as well as my little sister’s suggestion. 

As you can see in the title, there is not one soloist but two, one flute and one harp. Though it is 

not a duo but a concerto as the orchestra accompanies them except in the cadenzas. 

I really like the combination of both of these instruments, I think it makes the piece sound a 

bit magical or dreamy. I could easily imagine a beautiful landscape or an imaginary world with 

birds singing answering each other. What do YOU imagine? 

And I just wanted to add that I was really shocked to discover the ridiculous suggestions 

when you write “Mozart” on youtube, like “for babies” “brain power” and then “for baby brain 

development”. Because it is really fitting the cliches concerning classical music, that it makes 

kids or people smarter. I really don’t think that it should be the way we look at this particular 

music, though it is good for kids to listen to classical but not for the same reasons. 

 

Among the pieces close to this one I know, I would recommend Mozart’s requiem in its entirety

if you don’t know it already, the adagio of his piano concerto no 23 played by Helene 

Grimaud, and pieces by other classical composers. For instance the “pathétique” or the 

“moonlight” sonata by Beethoven (he is between the classical and romantic period), 

Schubert’s trio, or Haydn’s trumpet concerto. 

4. The moldau - B. Smetana

Arranged harp version: https://youtu.be/TnYCW8eWqQo

Orchestral (original) version: https://youtu.be/l6kqu2mk-Kw

Before knowing this piece, I did not know any other pieces by this composer, as he is well 

known for this one in particular, and a lot less for the other pieces he wrote. He is part of 

the romantic movement, and likes composing orchestral works with often solo parts for harp. 

The Moldau describes the course of the Vltava, a huge river in Czech Republic. It first starts 

in two small springs, but then gets bigger and bigger. The theme always gets stuck in my 

head when I listen to it, and I really like the visual aspect the story gives. I think it is great to 

imagine water flowing with fishes in it, and it really gives a vivid impression of a landscape. 

And this time I think the arranged version for harp does the work complete justice, to the 

point of preferring it over the original and I really like this performance too! Like the symphonic 

poem, it is very delicate and gives this pittoresque aspect. 

For this one I would recommend “The fountain” by Marcel Lucien Grandjany played by Alisa 

Sadikova (still 9), or the symphonic poem Mazeppa by Liszt, another orchestral that gives a 

story (you can look it up online) even though it is much more violent. In the same period you 

can listen to Meldelssohn’s violin concerto by Hilary Hann, Brahms’ epic violin concerto.

5. Pelleas and melisandre - C. Debussy

Version of the grand theater of Geneve: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOI3C15AisQ

Version of the opera of Lille: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqF7GKNkG2I

WARNiNG: it is in French, shocking I know. But if you don’t already know, opera is a genre that 

tells a story through music, and it is generally very hard to understand a word of what the 

characters say. It depends on the singer, of the piece, or the fact you focus or not on 

understanding. And that is why if you ever went to see an opera in real life, you will always have

subtitles on screens above the scene. But hopefully, you can activate subtitles on the video 

in English!

 

I had to put on opera, because it is a big sub-genre, even though I’ve got to admit I don’t often 

listen to opera. But nonetheless, it is still pretty appealing as it is like theater with a story, 

costumes, texts inspired by poetry, decors, acting, dancing etc... but with beautiful music. 

And I think the story helps to imagine what the music is about, but the music also helps to 

understand the story. But the downside (or upside) is that it is 3 hours long.

According 

to the description of the video, the story is about a prince meeting a mysterious young 

woman in dark woods, and taking her home to a dark castle haunted by repressed longings. 

There she grows fonder of her new husband's half-brother, sparking a fatal love triangle 

between the three of them. I did watch the whole opera but I thought that it resumed 

the story really well. I have a preference for the first version, but the second is really 

good too, and there are plenty of other interpretations.

 

I picked this one in particular, because Debussy is from the modern period, and he has a 

really unique way of composing, using modes, polyrhythms... I remember one meme I 

found on the internet, showing composers with different hands in function to their way of 

composing. Debussy was pictured with feathers instead of hands, reflecting the light 

impression we have when listening to is music. Though for premieres et terminales, you could 

recognize many elements of the gothic genre in this work, especially the first version ;)

If you like this opera, you can go and listen to the famous opera “The magic flute” by Mozart 

performed by the Royal Opera house. It is a classic but the story is great and the costumes 

and I really liked this version, highlighting all the irony and humor Mozart implied. If you like 

music more than the genre, you can listen to Debussy’s other compositions like his book 

“Children’s Corner” with “The snow is dancing” I really like, or other compositions that sounds 

a bit jazzy, his orchestral work “La Mer” or his compositions for voice and accompaniment 

like “romance” or “les angelus” etc...

6. “Sento un certo non se che” - C. Monteverdi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6195KCenTjQ

If you noticed, I did not put any works from the renaissance and medieval period yet, the 

reason being it is nearly always religious, so not the most accessible especially for non religious 

people, but also most of the works are anonymous. However I will put some religious 

pieces at the end to represent this genre. Here is one piece probably composed at the end 

of the renaissance even though the youtube channel is called “total baroque”. I hear it 

because it sounds almost baroque with the harpsichord, but it still has some instruments 

of the renaissance. Moreover, Monteverdi is considered one of the most influential composers 

of the Baroque period. What is accessible is more the performance than the music itself, as 

it is quite a humoristic performance, in which you feel the musicians are just having fun! 

Both voices could surprise you, both the contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux  and especially 

the famous french countertenor Philippe Jaroussky. 

This chart is not that precise as all voices are different but it explains voices register pretty well. 

Soprano, mezzo-soprano and alto are the registers for women whereas tenor, baryton and bass 

are the ones for men. Here M.N. Lemieux is a contralto, meaning she can sing lower than the lower 

register for women, and P. Jaroussky is a countertenor meaning he can sing higher than the higher 

register for men. This is why it could appear surprising, both of them have pretty much the same voice. 

Among other renaissance works (this time not so close to the baroque) and if you want a laugh, here is 

part of the miserere allegri but with a little something (though you can listen to the full work afterwards):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1410 × 739ukDAfF0-8q8

Or organ renaissance music (you will notice at the time the air system was not automatic and the 

temperament not equal) put the video at 50:40 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T103Nw-0-k&list=PLcY1BXUowWMjzxlfSBM08nX9WjWA9jaaW&index=59

Or if you like high male voices like me you can listen to P. Jaroussky or other countertenors / boy sopranos 

like Jakub Jozef Orlinski or Aksel Ryykvin on Vivaldi, Monteverdi, Purcell, Haendel or Mozart. I would 

recommend the youtube channel “baroque and beyond” with plenty of comparisons between singers but 

also a way to discover great pieces. A few examples would be “Sì dolce è'l tormento" by Monteverdi, Purcell’s 

“Strike the Viol” or Vivaldi’s “Furibondo spira il vento”. If you prefer low female voices you can listen to 

Nathalie Stutzmann singing works by roughly the same composers. There are several of her recordings on 

the same channel.  

7. Keyboard Concerto no.1 bwv 1052 - JS. Bach 

played by Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZX_XCYokQo

(the playing starts at 5:08)

Sorry this is Bach again, but I had to put this historical recording in here! If the music itself was not already 

incredible because it’s Bach, the performers make this piece a true wonder. Glenn Gould was a Canadian 

pianist, very revolutionary in the way he played because of his unconventional phrasing, clarity of the notes. 

But more than playing differently he became a personality himself for his singing, his memory, his awful 

posture, his compositions or again the number of recordings he made. He had an ease in front of the 

cameras, for talking or playing whereas if I try to record myself I always waste my time as I am never 

satisfied. I don’t think you can hear him sing in this recording as the mics did not catch that, but in all his 

recordings you can always hear the humming. This video of him playing and singing in his house is pretty 

famous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB76jxBq_gQ

The conductor which is also the person presenting is called Leonard Bernstein. He is one of the most 

famous conductors, if not the most famous, for holding a TV show explaining the music as you can hear 

at the beginning, but also for the way he understands music and conducts it of course. I recommend you 

watch the beginning in which he discusses interpretation, but if you don’t have the time you can jump 

straight to the performance. 

For this one I would recommend Bach double violin concerto (with an orchestra of course) by Ray Chen, 

Diego Matheuz and Christian Vasquez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNZKwKRUb7U

This is a crazy performance of the Bach double violin concerto with an exalted public so beware if you 

are using headphones! Or if you don’t like Bach even if I don’t know how that could happen, you can try 

listening to Rameau with “les cyclopes” or the well known “les sauvages” or other pieces by Bach like 

the gigue, played by Grigory Sokolov. In the same period I have not mentioned yet, there are also 

orchestral pieces by Telemann, or sonatas for harpsichord (or piano in more modern takes) or for 

guitar. You could also like Bach’s Goldberg variation or inventions played by Glenn Gould for piano 

(even though this instrument did not exist yet, Bach played the organ and the harpsichord).

8. Chopin ocean etude

Played by Grigory Sokolov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhLunFajgwg

Played by “Rousseau” with a reactive visualizer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRlHKQXjzZY

This is a short one, but very intense and quite hard to play. As the title indicates, it is supposed to 

represent the ocean. And Chopin does so by hiding the melody in the low register, played and 

accentuated by the left hand as if it was underwater. The visible part of the ocean, the waves are 

depicted by the arpeggios. I picked this one because like some other ones I thought it was very visual 

so I hope you will enjoy it!

The first recording is played by Grigory Sokolov, a great master and very respected russian pianist. 

What I like in his playing is the clarity of each note even in high speed pieces like this one, as well as the 

voices that we hear very clearly. I already mentioned a few recordings he did above so go listen to that! 

For the second one, if you don’t know what a reactive visualizer is, it is a complicated term for a program 

that shows the notes and the rhythm of a piece in a visual way. It is a bit hard to explain but it speaks for 

once you see it and it looks a bit like the visual of a synthesia but prettier. The sound of the recording is 

much better than the previous one as it is more recent. 

You can also check out Schumann’s fantasia, Chopin’s ballades, nocturnes, or his other etudes such as 

the revolutionary or the famous fantaisie impromptu, Wieniawski’s Scherzo Tarantelle for piano and violin,

or Liszt’s transcendental etudes played by Trifonov.

9. Three movements for organ and flute  - Jehan Alain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDYrVcSwBk 

With a piano accompaniment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBrQpbfssZQ

Sorry for the image quality as the video is old, but the sound quality is great. I realized I did not put any duos, 

trios or little ensembles, whereas there are plenty great pieces for them. This is one of them by one of my 

favorite composers. Jehan Alain was a French organist, artist and composer who lived during the two wars. 

Though he survived the first one as he was still a child, he died as a hero during the battle of Saumur taking 

the lives of 16 german soldiers by himself before being shot. His compositions are very unique, resembling 

a bit to Debussy, very light and soft. He also drew caricatures or ink drawings I really like, you can search it 

up online. The first movement makes me think of a calm garden with a bird singing alone. In the second he 

could have encountered a cat and in the third, he could have teased him because he can’t fly. 

I recommend you listen to his other pieces such as “choral dorien”, “le jardin suspendu” or his 3 dances. I 

already mentioned Debussy above, but I think it also sounds like Satie’s compositions. He is a French 

composer that had a lot of humor, mocking the titles or the expression markings. I remember on one of his 

partition it said: “With the corner of the hand”, “don’t be proud”, “provide yourself with clairvoyance” or 

“with astonishments” instead of the normal markings such as “intimate”, “grave”, “dark”, “heroique” 

etc… There are his famous gymnopedies and gnossiennes, his “sonatine bureaucratique” with funny 

markings as well, his gothic dances...

10. Stabat Mater - GB. Pergolesi

Version with Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor), Emöke Barath (soprano), Nathalie Stutzmann (conductor), 

Orfeo 55 (orchestra): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzOmPUu-F_M

Version with Margaret Marshall (soprano), Lucia Valentini Terrani (contralto), Claudio Abbado (conductor), 

London Symphony Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHQVtYzjLao

The Stabat Mater is a Christian hymn to Mary, who suffers as a mother of the Christ during the Passion 

time. I listened to the introduction by the countertenor (that I won’t put because it is in French) and he 

said the text was particularly hard to interpret as sometimes Pergolesi wrote music that sounded joyful 

on passages particularly sad, and I thought that it was very interesting. He said as well that the music was 

built really well in terms of structure, as the composer reserves emotion for certain passages of the pieces 

and not constantly. I think the whole piece is an absolute masterpiece that more than deserved a mention 

here. I love this version the most but you can find others. I already talked about the countertenor Philippe 

Jaroussky for the renaissance piece, but I also really enjoy the voice of the soprano Emöke Barath. They 

interpret the music without too much vibrato but just a little bit. I like the other version with a contralto 

and a soprano less because I think it is not as light as the interpretation of Nathalie Stutzmann, but it is 

always good to compare and listen to different versions. However I have to say that the recording sounds 

really good considering it was recorded in 1985.

Other religious I recommend would be St John's Passion by Bach as I wanted to put this one but 3 pieces 

by Bach was a bit too much! But also all of his cantatas, his mass in b minor and the “orgelbüchlein”. You 

can find plenty of Bach pieces on the youtube channel and website of the Netherland Bach society. There 

is also the Stabat Mater of Vivaldi sung by Tim Mead, or the pieces I mentioned above in the part on 

Monteverdi. The majority of renaissance and baroque works are religious so there are plenty you can 

listen to. Or from completely different periods, the prayer of Camille St Saens for organ and cello, the 

Litanies (they sound a bit jazzy) by Jehan Alain. 

 

There you have it, hope you enjoyed it and that it will be useful if you want to discover classical music! 

Thank you for reading,

Astrid