Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Born: January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died: December 5, 1791 at the age of 35

- One of seven children and has survived sister, Maryane
- Both him and his sister had unusual musical abilities
- His mother, Anna Maria was very important in his life
- Mozart was known as a child prodigy (person with exceptional talents far beyond what is normal for someone of that age)
-He learned to speak 15 different languages throughout his lifetime
- At three years old age he began to experiment with the sounds on a piano
- At age five he wrote his first piece of music
- At age 6 he started to play the violin
-By the age of eight, he wrote his first symphony
- And by age twelve he wrote his first opera
- In his lifetime, he wrote 626 piece of music
- He was able to write this incredible amount of music because of his gifts of perfect pitch and photographic memory

Perfect Pitch: The ability to name the letter of a pitch simply by hearing it
Photographic Memory: The ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with great accuracy and in seemingly unlimited volume

- Eventually he went to Italy in the 1700s. Italy was the place to be for musicians
- He grew apart from his father at the age of 20
- At the age of 26, he married Constanze Weber
- They had 6 childrem, but only two sons survived past childhood

What Have We Learned

Over the past two week in PVA, we have introduced ourselves to class, learned about the kolintang  and did a few practices. Kolintang is an instument similar to xylophone which creates vibrating sounds without the use of strings nor membranes.  Kolintang is divided into five different types which are: melody, alto, tenor, contra and bass; all creating different sounds. In order to create a vibrating sounds, mallets are used to struck the kolintang. There are different types of mallets used on specific type of kolintangs. The correct way to hold a mallet is to place it in between the center of the index finger and the thumb, an inch from the edge of mallet and balance it out in a 90 degree angle.

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