Ben Folds Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Special Offer for Music Educators
Acclaimed musician and composer Ben Folds gives credit for his life-long love of music to his earliest teachers and mentors, men and women who took the time to encourage and inspire him to find his true voice.
You may have heard his latest work, “So There”—eight chamber rock songs with yMusic along with his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero.
The following videos, in which Ben talks about the process of composing, provide inspiration for your students as you teach them composition. Share them in your classroom to spur discussion about the creative process with your student composers.
Here, Ben talks about composing Movement 1 of his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra:
Here, Ben discusses composing in his head, in the process of creating “So There”:
You can watch more episodes on Ben Folds’ Youtube Channel.
Now, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) is excited to announce that Ben is offering his entire scores, with all the instrument parts, of his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra to music educators for download.
This Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a wonderful composition to consider for your upcoming concerts this year.
To complement the printed scores, he is also offering for a limited time the audio tracks of the entire concerto at a discount price on iTunes. For $2.99, you will receive downloads of all the tracks for all three movements.
Watch the Cleveland Youth Orchestra perform the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra:
Ben is a proud supporter of NAfME advocacy and educational outreach initiatives nationwide. It’s Ben sincere desire that his new composition can become a tool to inspire and educate young musicians and composers now and for years to come.
- Have great ideas about teaching composition? Submit a session proposal for the 2016 National In-Service Conference by January 15, 3:00AM Eastern/Midnight Pacific time.
- Encourage your students to enter the 2016 NAfME Student Composers Competition (deadline: March 1), open to K-5th, middle and high school students, and college/graduate school students.
