On Monday, January 30, 2012 the musicians of the Da Ponte String Quartet came to L'Ecole Française du Maine for a special presentation to our students. The Quartet musicians presented their instruments, the different pitches, and different music styles by playing "Happy Birthday" in the styles of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, or Tango for example.
The quartet started with an excerpt from Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony "Playful Pizzicato" to illustrate the violin bowing techniques. They continued on with pieces from Britten and Haydn to explain the concepts of Dynamics, Repetition, Contrast and Variations.
It was a privilege to have these wonderful artists perform just for us. Everyone had a lot of fun and learned a lot!
A special thank you to Linda Vaillancourt who collaborated with the Da Ponte String Quartet to make this concert possible.
