Happy Spooky Season! – New October Store Update
As we welcome the October “spooky season,” we’ve refreshed the Practice Space app with new avatars and backgrounds. This new collection comes complete with FIVE well-known composers who have written music perfect for this time of year – Plus fourteen new Halloween-style musicians who all come with their own unique flair!
The Practice Space store is part of the fun gamification side of the platform. Students earn digital Practice Gems by completing the practice goals set by their teachers. Then, they can redeem their Practice Gems for items in the store such as avatars, backgrounds, power-ups, and more! Teachers can even upload their own prizes into the store!
Since Practice Space is a platform made FOR music teachers, BY music teachers, we like to make each part of the student-facing app educational. This is why each composer includes 5 fun facts about their lives and career! Plus, you can find performance videos of their works linked below – Feel free to shares those with your students as well.
Enjoy learning more about this month’s composer avatars! Happy teaching!
György Ligeti – Meet music's ultimate sound scientist! György Ligeti turned ordinary instruments into ticking clocks, floating space clouds, and wild sonic mazes.
Facts in app:
My eerie, floating music was featured in the classic sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I composed a piece played entirely by 100 ticking mechanical metronomes.
I was fascinated by mechanical toys, clocks, and machines that run out of sync.
As a child, I created an imaginary island complete with its own secret language.
I layered different tempos together so a single piano sounds like two people playing at once.
Watch this performance of ‘L'escalier du diable’ The Devil’s Staircase!
György Ligeti: Étude No. 13: L'escalier du diable / The Devil’s Staircase
Alexander Scriabin – Alexander Scriabin was a piano genius who saw music in glowing colors and believed sounds had superpowers!
Facts in app:
I had synesthesia, which meant I actually saw distinct colors whenever I heard musical notes.
I built a custom keyboard that projected a matching light show during my concerts.
I created a famous six-note chord that musicians call the "Mystic Chord."
I was born on Christmas Day in 1871.
I practiced so hard as a teenager that I injured my right hand, leading me to write brilliant music for the left hand alone.
Watch this performance of Sonata No.9, Op. 68, Black Mass
Alexander Scriabin, Sonata No.9, Op.68, Black Mass - Elina Akselrud, piano
Béla Bartók – Béla Bartók was a musical detective who recorded real village folk songs and turned them into high-energy masterpieces.
Facts in app:
I hiked through remote countryside villages carrying a heavy wax recording machine to capture folk tunes.
I wrote Mikrokosmos, a famous collection of 153 piano pieces that builds from simple beginner songs to expert concert works.
I loved nature and frequently mimicked bird calls, croaking frogs, and insect noises in my pieces.
I started playing piano at age four and performed my own original music in public by age eleven.
I treated the piano like a percussion instrument by using sharp, driving rhythms.
Watch this performance of ‘The Night’s Music’ from ‘Out of Doors’:
Bartók: 'The Night's Music' from 'Out of Doors' - Beatrice Rana - Live Concert HD
Bernard Herrmann – Bernard Herrmann was the master of movie magic who wrote thrilling, spine-tingling musical scores for iconic films.
Facts in app:
I created the famous screeching violin sound for the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho.
I used a Theremin, an instrument played without physical touch, to create spooky alien sounds.
I chose five organs and zero violins to score Journey to the Center of the Earth.
I founded and conducted my own full orchestra when I was just twenty years old.
I wrote iconic theme music for famous radio shows and classic TV series like The Twilight Zone.
Watch this performance of Psycho Suite:
Bernard Herrmann - Psycho Suite - BBC Proms 2011 (HD)
Camille Saint-Saëns – Camille Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy who brought roaring lions, gliding swans, and dancing skeletons to life through music!
Facts in app:
I wrote The Carnival of the Animals, which famously slows down high-speed can-can music to represent lumbering tortoises.
I composed my first piece at age three and performed complete piano concertos by memory at age ten.
I was an avid astronomer who used my music earnings to buy a powerful telescope.
I used a xylophone in Fossils to imitate the sound of clinking skeleton bones.
I wrote one of the very first original musical scores created specifically for a silent movie in 1908.
Watch this performance of La Danse Macabre:
Camille Saint-Saëns - La danse macabre
Background Update
Some other fun additions
These all cheer the student on but also talk about tempo and other musical terms!
