Form- the way music is organized and structured from beginning to end- guides composers, performers, and listeners in all musics. Here, the traditional Western sonata, the blueprints behind improvisational jazz, the narrative structure of traditional Japanese music, call-and-response forms in West African music and American gospel, and Irish fiddle tunes exemplify worldwide variations in musical form.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, is considered the most powerful woman in American politics. Pelosi was the first female Speaker of the House and the first woman to be third in line for the presidency. Among her greatest accomplishments in government was the passage of the Affordable Care Act/Obama Care, providing millions of Americans access to medical insurance. She shares what it was like wielding such political...

There is no music more beautiful, more compelling, more American than Black Sacred Music. It is the soul of the Black Church and the Black Church is the foundation of the Black Community. This program from Tony Brown's Journal is the second part in the Thank God four-part series that started out as a documentary on the African oral tradition which manifested on these shores largely as America's indigenous music. As the scenes unfolded and research...

Photographs from around the world celebrate the universal joy that kids get from making music, whether they are playing instruments, clapping their hands, stomping their feet or singing.

This program introduces viewers to the musical styles of three distinct eras within the common practice period: Baroque, Classical, and Romantic. Typical structures, forms, instruments, rhythms, and melodies are described and supported with examples. Significant composers and famous works from each era are identified. This is an easy to follow overview of the changing characteristics of European art music over three centuries.

"A legendary record producer-turned-brain scientist explains why you fall in love with music. This Is What It Sounds Like is a journey into the science and soul of music that reveals the secrets of why your favorite songs move you. But it's also a story of a musical trailblazer who began as a humble audio tech in Los Angeles to became Prince's chief engineer for Purple Rain, and then create other No. 1 hits (including Barenaked Ladies' "One Week")...

The Lyric Project celebrates how and why songs can have such a lasting impact on us. An anthological documentary, these themes are explored through submissions from the general public - recordings of people reading the lyrics from their favorite songs and reflecting on why the song had such a strong impact on them.

Like an actor's script, a sheet of music instructs a musician on what to play (the pitch) and when to play it (the rhythm). Sheet music may look complicated, but once you've gotten the hang of a few simple elements like notes, bars and clefs, you're ready to rock. Tim Hansen hits the instrumental basics you need to read music. [Directed by Thomas Parrinello, narrated by Tim Hansen].

Early musical notation was much like a road map that lacked names or places. The use of neumes gave the basic shape of the tune and a primitive notion of rhythm, but could not tell the performer what note to start on. This program shows how all of that changed around the year 1030, when the choirmaster Guido of Arezzo came up with the simple device of a thin red line: a dot directly on it would always represent the note "F"; a dot above it, G; a dot...

HBO Documentary Films presents The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, chronicling the triumphs and hurdles of brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb, otherwise known as the Bee Gees. The iconic trio, who found early fame in the 1960s, went on to write more than 1,000 songs, including twenty #1 hits, throughout their storied career. Directed by Academy Award® nominee Frank Marshall, the film follows the Bee Gee’s meteoric rise as they rode...