Celebrate the Christmas Season with Vivaldi's Gloria

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

I love it when two of my favourite things come together: Christmas and Vivaldi. :-)

Tonight, I'm presenting another webinar for Landry Academy, at 9pm.  This is the third in my "Celebrate" series that features a composer and their masterpiece. (A year ago at this time was Handel and his Messiah and this past spring I tackled Haydn and his Creation). Along with the webinar, I leave each attendee with a gift; a devotional that I have written myself that connects the scriptures used throughout the composition, gives biographical info about the composer, and then some musical instruction while listening to a movement of the piece.  Last year my Handel devotional was 25 days long and was intended for Advent.  Haydn's was much shorter, at only 7 days (to match the days of creation) and this fall, the Vivaldi devotional is 12 days...no, not for the 12 days of Christmas! The Gloria happens to be 12 movements long.  I also create a youtube channel so that each day, if you are using the devotional, you can tune in and use that resource to play the daily music segment. It's always a lot of work to put these all together, but I really enjoy it!

So, if you happen to check my blog today, and you are free tonight for about 30 minutes starting at 9pm, hop over to the Landry site here and log into our webinar classroom.  If you've never done so before, I would advise giving yourself an extra 10-15 minutes, as some computers have to download the launching app for Blackboard Collaborate, the program we use to facilitate the online classrooms.

Oh, here's my "blurb"!

"One of the most joyful sounds we hear around the Christmas season are the sublime violin stylings of the adored Baroque era composer, Antonio Vivaldi. His "Gloria" is a rich musical tradition for many during the holidays. But how to introduce his music to our young families? The average orchestra concert hall is not a place we can easily bring our small children. Landry Academy's "Meet the Composers" teacher, Leslie Kent has just the solution for you. Join her TONIGHT at 9pm for a webinar that will give you the tools you need to painlessly introduce your children to one of the finest composers in the Western tradition. Each attendee will receive a free gift that will enhance your advent traditions. Hope to see you there!"

~Leslie