The Music Workshop Company Blog

Each month the Music Workshop Company publishes two blogs. One blog, written by the MWC team addresses a key issue in Music Education or gives information about a particular genre or period of music. The other blog is written by a guest writer, highlighting good practice or key events in Music Education. We hope you enjoy reading the blogs.

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To contribute as a guest writer please email Maria@music-workshop.co.uk

Posts tagged “BLACK HISTORY MONTH”

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Walker Lyric for Strings

Posted on 19th June 2024 at 16:50

George Walker had a long, prolific composing career, was a respected teacher and was the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music alongside many other accolades.

As a composer, he drew from a wide range of influences, and he made a huge impression on the music world, in spite of the racism that he experienced throughout his career.

We explore his life and works, and suggest an activity inspired by his best-known composition, ‘Lyric for Strings’, which is recommended by the Model Music Curriculum for Year 4 and above.

Image: Composer George Theophilus Walker at the piano, early 1940s. Source unknown.

The Extraordinary History of the Blues

Posted on 15th September 2015 at 16:00

The Blues developed towards the end of the 19th Century. It was first heard among the African-American communities who farmed the plantations of the Delta, a flat plain between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, an area so characteristic of the Deep South that it has been called The Most Southern Place on Earth.

In the mid 1800s the area had been one of the richest for cotton growing in the United States, attracting many speculative farmers who were dependent for labour on black slaves.

Your Year in Music

Posted on 15th September 2014 at 14:00

Our workshops here at the Music Workshop Company explore music, culture and history from all over the globe. Many festivals and important calendar events can be linked to a workshop theme to add depth and understanding to a topic.

This month we take a look ahead to see how music workshops relate to learning throughout the year.

Music Workshops for Black History Month

Posted on 17th August 2013 at 15:30

A music workshop is the perfect way to approach the emotive and valuable subject of Black History Month, which is coming up in October.