In my previous post on “Musical Fellowship in the New Year,” I talked about listening to a piece of classical music in a group or with the sheet music in front of you from a printout or maybe even on a YouTube version that put the scrolling score in front of you. The idea is that we continue to grow in our enjoyment of music and art in community with others and not merely by ourselves. As a follow-up, I thought I would share one of my favorite guided music listening segments for your enjoyment. The above video is an excerpt from a lecture by friend of mine, John Mason Hodges, who runs The Center for Western Studies in Memphis, Tennessee.
John’s training is in music, and he gave this talk and others at my school, Geneva Academy in West Monroe, Louisiana, back in 2019 on “The Importance of Beauty in Music.”
John Hodges has a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from Indiana University. He also spent several summers studying with famed composer Leonard Bernstein, who wrote Westside Story and conducted the New York Philharmonic for many years. John is a trumpet player and percussionist by training. All this to say, he knows his stuff when it comes to music. But I must reassure you that he is the most down-to-earth, humble musician I have ever met in my years of music. Many musicians can be aloof with their noses in the air when it comes to helping others understand their craft of music-making. John is the antithesis of this. I can honestly say that John should be the poster child of cheerful & accessible music advocacy. This is why I wanted to share the above video with you. It’s delightful.
Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-Flat Major, K. 417: III
In the twenty-two-minute edited clip above, you will hear the third movement of Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 2. In this series of talks, John is trying to get at the idea that music can say something significant without even having words.
If you want to be able to listen to music “through new ears,” John’s video is highly worth your time.
You will most certainly benefit and enjoy it. John Hodges will be here in West Monroe, Louisiana, for our 5th Annual Bach Lectures June 28-29, 2023, during the same week as our Jubilate Deo Summer Music Camp. We’d love to have you join us and hear John take us through a guided listening of a LIVE performance that he conducts.
Find Out More About John’s Work at The Center
John Hodges is a Renaissance Man and leads The Center’s Gap-Year program through the best of western art, literature, and music. Here’s more about what they do there:
WE ARE LIVING ON BORROWED CAPITAL FROM AN EARLIER AGE OF FAITH, AND MANY HISTORIANS AND CULTURAL CRITICS ARE PREDICTING THAT THE WEST AS A CIVILIZATION IS LOST.
While none would want to go back to a world of plagues, feudal warfare, and bad plumbing (which is still the way of life in many other parts of the world), we would like to regain and retain anything that past generations have accomplished that could be called truly timeless, and we want to find ways to apply those ideas to human life in our own day.
Our goal is to be engaged in the art and ideas of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and Eliot in order to better engage the art and ideas of (for example) the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the next election cycle. Culture counts, and we are to glorify God with mind and heart as well as soul and strength, which means knowing how to engage with our present culture, and standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before.
A Delightful, Guided Music Listening Clip