Which Composer Poster Do I Use?

[johnQpublic]

Schoenberg. He's the most important historically. And he taught at UCLA.

[greg]

Okay, stupid poll perhaps, but I need some help with a problem.  I have a set of 20 composer posters that I'm hanging up in my band room.  I'm hanging them between the sound panels because the 16"x20" frames fit perfectly.  I have spots for 15 posters.  I have already selected the 14 listed below but I need some help choosing the last one.  Who should go on the wall, and why?


Mahler   
Bach
Haydn
Schoenberg
Prokofiev
Schubert
Mendelssohn
Schumann
Brahms
Dvorak
Tchaikovsky
Stravinsky
Shostakovich
Rachmaninov

Here's how it should look.... beautiful, isn't it? 

[Larry Rinkel]

"Bust" is a good word here.

I voted for Prokofiev. For me personally, Schoenberg is the more important name. But these are young kids, and right now Peter and the Wolf will register with them more than Pierrot Lunaire.

[karlhenning]

Remove Copland and you end up with zero American composers; doesn't sound too good considering that the school is in North Carolina.

Get them used at the outset to the idea that for major music organizations to take you seriously, you'd best be either dead or foreign.

[Szykneij]

Get them used at the outset to the idea that for major music organizations to take you seriously, you'd best be either dead or foreign.

Good point. Perhaps it would be best for hornteacher to enlarge the photo in his avatar and hang Hilary up there. It'll show you don't have to be dead and ugly to make music. (It just helps, I guess). 

[hornteacher]

Put up the picture of Schoenberg. Tell them if they act up Arnold will get 'em. That ought to shut them up.

BRILLIANT!   

[hornteacher]

Good point. Perhaps it would be best for hornteacher to enlarge the photo in his avatar and hang Hilary up there. It'll show you don't have to be dead and ugly to make music. (It just helps, I guess). 

ALSO BRILLIANT!   

On second thought it might be too distracting for me to teach!

[hornteacher]

Mahler, of course.  If I might make another suggestion, drop Copland and put up Sibelius of Schoenberg. 

I just KNEW this suggestion would come up, and though I understand your reasoning, I've got to have the USA represented.

Sometimes, as an American I feel like saying to the rest of the world:  "PLEASE give us Copland.  We don't have a national champion like a Dvorak, Sibelius, or Elgar that is also respected throughout the rest of the world.  PLEASE let us have Copland!  He's good.  No really, he is.  Please, pretty please."

BTW, Keemun, love the Beethoven quote in your signature.

[Kullervo]

You have Sibelius on the list, and you're still not sure?

[Keemun]

I just KNEW this suggestion would come up, and though I understand your reasoning, I've got to have the USA represented.

I understand and sympathize with your reasoning for wanting an American composer.  If it were me, I wouldn't sacrifice quality for nationality.  In my opinion, there is no competition between Copland and Sibelius.   

Sometimes, as an American I feel like saying to the rest of the world:  "PLEASE give us Copland.  We don't have a national champion like a Dvorak, Sibelius, or Elgar that is also respected throughout the rest of the world.  PLEASE let us have Copland!  He's good.  No really, he is.  Please, pretty please."

The way I see it, we will always have jazz.   

BTW, Keemun, love the Beethoven quote in your signature.

Thanks!   

[hornteacher]

The way I see it, we will always have jazz.   

Spoken like a true Louisiana resident!   

[Kullervo]

If you must have an American, make it:

[Renfield]

i think i know what the problem is, but seriously, middle school kids, how much do you expect them to know?

Actually, I'd expect them to know a very great deal; or rather to have the capacity for understanding a lot more than you might suspect... One of the prime reasons for undereducated children is our giving them (far) less credit for understanding than they are due!

But more on topic, I really do think Mahler should be there. Yes, he's complicated, but he's also a person with far less "stern" sensibilities than other composers, in his music. If nothing else, Mahler's music reflects a spiritual wanderlust that I would consider very appropriate indeed, for younger audiences.

Also, he looks unassuming enough to be pleasant to look at, for a child; whereas Rachmaninov would probably be a bit too "hardcore" for a middle-school classroom wall! And the same I think applies to Schoenberg.

Finally, as far as a starter piece for Mahler goes, I think, even though the "legitimate" starter is definitely the 1st Symphony, you could try using the 4th. I know it charmed me instantly: and I take pride in having more in common with children than I do with most adults.

[Que]

Young Johannes Brahms



Q

[Kullervo]

Young Johannes Brahms



Q

He was a fetching young man!

[George]

He was a fetching young man!

Indeed, you read my mind. 

[Haffner]

Mendelssohn because I've heard on great authority that he's Jewish.

But so was Mahler !

[greg]

He was a fetching young man!

that and his hilarious wisecracks made him a total stud 

[greg]

The String Quartets players ask Brahms "did you like our tempo?"
"yeah, especially the first violinist's tempo"

or however it goes; still makes me laugh 

[Fëanor]

Remove Copland and you end up with zero American composers; doesn't sound too good considering that the school is in North Carolina.

Easy fix for that:  Elliot Carter ...