Arts in the Renaissance: Palestrina

Bruce Heim, a University of Louisville music professor, discusses and demonstrates key characteristics of Renaissance music including counterpoint and homophony. The segment concludes with the Louisville Brass performing an arrangement of Renaissance composer Palestrina's "Sicut cervus."

Arts in the Renaissance: Upon a Summer's Day

Instructor Jennifer Rose teaches students a Renaissance dance, Upon a Summer’s Day, from John Playford’s book The English Dancing Master. They perform the dance’s three figures and chorus. Rose relates that this was still danced in Appalachia in the 1920s and explains dance’s role in social interaction in the Renaissance.

Arts in the Renaissance: About the Bransle

Carrie Nath, director of education for the Kentucky Arts Council, explains the purpose and structure of the Maltese Bransle, a country dance that was popular in the courts of England and France during the Renaissance.

Arts in the Renaissance: Bransle

Kentucky students perform the Maltese Bransle (pronounced brahwl), a country dance that was popular in the royal courts of France and England during the Renaissance. The segment was recorded by KET in partnership with the Kentucky Arts Council and Kentucky Shakespeare. Kentucky Shakespeare also provided the costumes worn by the dancers.

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Arts in the Renaissance: About the Pavane

Carrie Nath, director of education for the Kentucky Arts Council, explains the purpose and form of the Pavane, an Elizabethan processional dance.

Arts in the Renaissance: Pavane

Kentucky students dance the Pavane, a processional dance from the Renaissance. The segment was recorded by KET in partnership with the Kentucky Arts Council and Kentucky Shakespeare. Kentucky Shakespeare also provided the costumes.

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Arts in the Renaissance: Scene from Hamlet

Actor Kevin Hardesty performs the famous “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Act III, Scene I of the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet. Hardesty opens the segment with an introduction to the scene.

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Arts in the Renaissance: Scene from Much Ado About Nothing

The main plot in Much Ado About Nothing revolves around Claudio and Hero. This scene features the more mature lovers from the play—Beatrice and Benedick. Hero’s character has been defamed, causing her fiancé, Claudio, to reject her at the alter. Enraged, Beatrice urges Benedick to kill Claudio.

African/African-American Culture: Anansi's Rescue from the River

In this video, storyteller Nana Yaa Asantewaa performs the story “Anansi’s Rescue from the River.” The Anansi tales are told by the Ashanti people of Ghana, West Africa, and have been passed down through the generations by oral tradition.

African/African-American Culture: E Sin Mi D'Africa

Bi-Okoto Drum and Dance Theatre performs a welcome dance that combines movements from several traditional dances of the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

African/African-American Culture: Gue Pelou

Moha Dosso, a professional stilt dancer and musician from the Mahouka tribe in Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa, performs the Gue Pelou dance from the Ivory Coast.The Gue Pelou is a sacred rite used to honor and communicate with the spirit world and can be danced to protect the village.

African/African-American Culture: Hambone

Folk singer John McCutcheon demonstrates the hambone, an African-American rhythm technique that uses the whole body as a “drum set” to produce different sounds.

African/African-American Culture: Kou Kou

Moha Dosso, a professional stilt dancer and musician from the Mahouka tribe in Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa, performs the Kou-Kou dance from the Ivory Coast.Kou-Kou is a communal recreational dance, often used to teach kids how to dance. Moha Dosso performs with the Kyene Drum Ensemble of Louisville, Ky.

African/African-American Culture: Manjani

The Imani Dance and Drum Company of Louisville, Ky., perform the Manjani, a West African dance that celebrates an important event such as the harvest (as in this performance), a wedding, or a naming ceremony.

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African/African-American Culture: Music of Mali

Yaya Diallo, a musician from Mali, talks about how he came to live in Kentucky, the healing properties of music, and his interest in new forms of African music that com¬bine the music of the elders with that of young people.

African/African-American Culture: Plantation Dance/Ring Shout

The Plantation Dance/Ring Shout represents a style of dance and music found in African slave communities on plantations in the southern United States, Caribbean Islands, and other locations.

African/African-American Culture: Sohu

Bi-Okoto Drum and Dance Theatre performs Sohu, a ritual cleansing dance from Togo.

African/African-American Culture: Zudio

This African-American game song is sung to movements described in the lyrics and demonstrated by the children in the audience. Many African-American music and dance styles emphasize rhythm and self-expression, both evident here.

Ancestors Talk Through Drums

In this segment from EGG:the arts show, meet Camilo Gaetan who is becoming a master drummer.

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Andy Warhol Napkin Drawing, ca. 1983

In this video from Antiques Roadshow appraiser of paintings and drawings, Kathleen Guzman, discusses the value of a food-stained napkin with doodles by the famous 20th century pop artist, Andy Warhol.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Choreographer Do?

Choregrapher Andy Blankenbuehler describes how he stages the dancing for shows like ANNIE: THE MUSICAL.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Costume Designer Do?

Costume Designer Susan Hilferty explains what goes into creating clothing for characters in shows like ANNIE: THE MUSICAL.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Director Do?

Director James Lapine explains how he puts together all the creative elements of a Broadway show like ANNIE: THE MUSICAL.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Hair & Wig Designer Do?

Hair & Wig Designer Tom Watson talks about what goes into making Annie’s famous head of red hair.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Lighting Designer Do?

Lighting Designer Don Holder explains the critical role of lighting in a production like ANNIE: THE MUSICAL.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Musical Director Do?

Musical Director Todd Ellison talks about the importance of music in ANNIE: THE MUSICAL, and his role as orchestra conductor for each performance.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Producer Do?

Producer Arielle Tepper Madover talks about what it takes to get a show like ANNIE: THE MUSICAL onto Broadway.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Set Designer Do?

Set designer David Korins talks about how he created 1930s New York onstage for ANNIE: THE MUSICAL.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Does a Sound Designer Do?

Sound Designer Brian Ronan describes the importance of good sound design and theater acoustics for shows like ANNIE: THE MUSICAL.

ANNIE ON BROADWAY: What Do Stage Managers Do?

Stage Managers Peter Lawrence and Rachel Wolff talk about how they work together to make each night’s performance of ANNIE: THE MUSICAL run smoothly.

Chalk Sculpture

In this video segment from Art in the 21st Century: Paradox, two artists create a public art piece using giant pieces of chalk.

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Choctaw Dances

This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, presents aspects of traditional Mississippi Choctaw activities.

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Collective Improvisation

In this video segment from Jazz at Lincoln Center, jazz musicians perform an example of collective improvisation.

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The Cutting Room Floor

Get an insider's view of the film editing process in this video about the making of the American Masters documentary Bill T. Jones: A Good Man.

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Dance Theatre of Harlem

Learn about the Dance Theatre of Harlem is this segment from A Walk Through Harlem.

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Early America: Cluck Old Hen/I Had a Rooster

Mike Seeger sings two folk songs about animals in traditional Southern style to maintain their distinct flavor. Both feature the banjo, a traditional gourd banjo on “Cluck Old Hen” and today’s steel-string banjo on “I Had a Rooster.”

Early America: Derby Ram

Folksinger Mike Seeger performs the English-American song “Derby Ram” for a group of students. Seeger explains, “Exaggeration is the core of this English-American song reputed to be one of George Washington’s favorites. I’ve been singing this version since I was about 12.” The guitar and harmonica are featured instruments.

Exploring Excellence: Kimani Griffin

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, 17-year-old guitarist Kimani Griffin of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, plays the third movement Preludio e toccatina from "Aquarelle" by Sérgio Assad.

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Found Sound: Joshua Jones

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, 16-year-old Joshua Jones plays a breath-taking rendition of Paul Smadbeck's "Rhythm Song" on the marimba.

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Frankie Quimby of Sapelo Island

In this video segment from EGG: the arts show, resident Frankie Quimby discusses the African slaves' history on Sapelo Island. Singers perform "Swing Low Sweet Chariot."

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Gullah Music

In this video segment from EGG: the arts show, visit Sapelo Island, an island in Georgia inhabited by descendants of African slaves.

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Gypsy Airs: Anna JiEun Lee

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, 12-year-old Anna JiEun Lee plays a dazzling violin piece by Pablo de Sarasate called Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs).

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Innovation through Experimentation: Kiyoe Wellington

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, hear a young double bassist from Hawaii play a soulful contemporary piece.

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Islamic Art

This video segment from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly highlights the traveling exhibition "Palace and Mosque,” which features one of the most renowned Islamic art collections in the world.

Japanese Culture: Bunraku

In this excerpt from a documentary on Bunraku, students meet an apprentice studying to be a puppeteer at Bunraku Theater in Osaka. In addition, they learn a little bit about the history of this classic Japanese art form and see puppets being manipulated.

Japanese Culture: Japanese Aesthetics

Shozo Sato provides a brief overview of Japanese aesthetics and explains the major differences between Western and Japanese aesthetics. He talks about the Japanese emphasis on stylization and the function of art and the artist in Japanese society.

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Japanese Culture: Kabuki Actor's Technique

Shozo Sato describes Kabuki acting technique and the training that Kabuki performers, traditionally all male, go through in order to learn how to play male, female, young, and old characters. He demonstrates vocal inflections and actual movements—walking, how the head is held, poses—of various Kabuki characters.

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Japanese Culture: Kabuki Makeup

Kabuki master Shozo Sato applies makeup to actor Michael Goldberg as he discusses about how makeup is applied and how colors and lines help suggest character. In Kabuki theater, makeup is used to express a character’s personality.

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Japanese Culture: Koto

Kazue Sawai, a well-known koto player and widow of Tadao Sawai, who is considered the greatest modern koto player, performs “Midare” (“Chaos”) on the traditional Japanese instrument. Used with permission of Films for the Humanities and Sciences, a division of Films Media Group, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved.

Japanese Culture: Scene from Macbeth Kabuki-Style

In the segment Macbeth: Kabuki Style, actors Michael Goldberg and Barbara Robertson perform the scene from Macbeth in which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plot the murder of Duncan. The text used by the actors in this video was adapted to better suit Kabuki-style performance and only resembles the standard text of Macbeth.

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Kentucky/Appalachian Culture: Shady Grove/Bandyrowe

Folksinger Jean Ritchie performs the Appalachian tune “Shady Grove,” a traditional song she learned from her family. Then she performs “Bandyrowe,” a song for which she made up verses to help get her two sons to sleep when they were very young. Ritchie accompanies herself on the lap dulcimer.

Late-Period Egyptian Bronze Falcon

In this video from Antiques Roadshow antiquities appraiser Max Bernheimer examines a beautifully cast bronze falcon, created during ancient Egypt's Late Period.

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Late 19th-Century American Indian Clothing

Tribal arts appraiser Douglas Deihl examines a collection of American Indian clothing and objects, dating back to the 1880s and 1890s and representing several tribes, in this video from Antiques Roadshow

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Listening with Your Eyes: Matthew Lipman

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, 16-year-old violist Matthew Lipman plays "La Campanella" from the Second Violin Concerto by Niccolo Paganini.

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Mad Hot Tango: Caeli Smith

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, 15-year-old violinist Caeli Smith plays a wonderful movement from Astor Piazzolla's L'histoire du tango, called "Bordel 1900."

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Marimba Beat: Jingchen Sun

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, watch Jingchen Sun, a 17-year-old marimba player from China, as she plays a haunting piece by German composer and percussionist Nebojsa Zivkovic.

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Musical Conversations

In this video segment from Jazz at Lincoln Center, musicians create two different musical conversations.

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Musical Journey: Eliodoro Vallecillo

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, 17-year-old Eliodoro Vallecillo plays the Allegro from Mozart's Concerto No. 3 in E flat, K. 447 on the French horn.

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Native American Culture: Cherokee Beaver Dance

The Raven Rock Dancers perform the Beaver Dance, a social dance depicting the actions of a hunting party, at the 2006 Festival of Native Peoples. The Raven Rock Dancers is a family group founded by Walker Calhoun, a respected Cherokee elder.

Native American Culture: About Apache Dances

The Apache Crown Dancers are enrolled members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe and live in Whiteriver, Ariz. In this video segment, the group leader, Joe Tohonnie, Jr., talks about the long history of the dance and its role in Apache culture as the dancers perform Crown Dances.

Native American Culture: About Cherokee Dance

John Bullet Standingdeer is a member of the Warriors of AniKituhwa of Cherokee, North Carolina. In this video, he describes the cultural importance of the ceremonial Eagle Dance, performed by the Warriors of AniKituhwa, and the social Beaver Dance, performed by the Raven Rock Dancers.

Native American Culture: About Git-Hoan Dances

David Boxley of the Git-Hoan Dancers discusses dance traditions of the Tsimshian, whose descendants live on the Northwest coast of northern British Columbia and in southeastern Alaska. He discusses the use of masks and other handmade regalia in the dances.

Native American Culture: About Navajo Dances

Albert Brent Chase, artistic director of The Pollen Trail Dancers, explains the purposes of dance in Navajo culture.

Native American Culture: Apache Dance Performance

The Apache Crown Dancers are enrolled members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe and live in Whiteriver, Ariz. In this video segment, they perform a traditional Crown Dance in full regalia to music sung by the group leader, Joe Tohonnie, Jr.

Native American Culture: Cherokee Eagle Dance

The Warriors of AniKituhwa perform the Eagle Dance at the 2006 Festival of Native Peoples. Like other dances from Cherokee culture, the Eagle Dance serves as a catalyst for people to come forward and share their memories and a way to preserve cultural traditions.

Native American Culture: Cherokee Singer

Cherokee singer Paula Nelson performs a learning song that teaches a greeting and farewell in Cherokee. In the second part of the segment, Nelson says that the Cherokee people are a “water people” and performs a song called “It’s Going to Rain.”

Native American Culture: Git-Hoan Chief's Headdress Dance

Three dancers of the Git-Hoan troupe perform the Chief’s Headdress Dance celebrating the meaning found in the leader’s ceremonial headwear. The Git-Hoan are descendants of the Tsimshian people of northwest Canada and Alaska.

Native American Culture: Git-Hoan Raven Dance

The Git-Hoan Dancers perform the Raven Dance, a celebration of the Raven Clan. They wear masks representing the clan. In Tsimshian culture, the wearer of a mask is said to take on the spirit of the creature it signifies.

Native American Culture: Little Deer and Mother Earth

Marilou Awiakta, of Cherokee/Appalachian heritage, tells a traditional Cherokee story in which humans are killing too many of their animal relatives, threatening the delicate balance of nature. Little Deer leads the animals in taking action, teaching the lesson that people should take “only what you need with respect and gratitude.”

Native American Culture: Navajo Shaker Dance

The Pollen Trail Dancers perform the Navajo Shaker Dance, also called the Buffalo Dance. Artistic director Albert Brent Chase explains that the Shaker or Buffalo Dance is a healing dance that is part of the Fire Dance Ceremony, which lasts nine nights.

Native American Culture: The Dreamcatcher

Susan Mullins (Kwaronhia:wi), a Mohawk from the Kahnawake reserve in Canada who now resides in Berea, Ky., shows her grandchildren how to create a dreamcatcher, an item designed to catch bad dreams and let good dreams through.

Native American Culture: Truman Lowe: Contemporary Native American Artist

Truman Lowe is a contemporary sculptor working primarily in wood that he often scavenges from the landscape. This segment is from the KET documentary From the Shadows of the River, which chronicles Lowe’s visit to Wickliffe Mounds and his creation of a sculpture inspired by the rich heritage of the place.

Native American Culture: Truman Lowe at Wickliffe Mounds

In this video segment, contemporary Native American artist Truman Lowe discusses his visit to an ancient Native American community in Western Kentucky, Wickliffe Mounds, and how it influenced his work. The segment also includes a tour of art works at the Eagle Gallery at Murray State University.

Native American Culture: Zuni Harvest Dance

Instructor Arden Kucate gives background on the Zuni culture and the harvest celebration, explains the significance of Zuni boys being presented gourd shakers, and teaches a group of middle school students two dances from the Zuni harvest celebration.

Native Student Filmmakers Focus on Climate Change

In this video segment adapted from Haskell Indian Nations University, student filmmakers explain why it is important to them to make a video about climate change.

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New Orleans Jazz

In this video segment from Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wynton Marsalis and his band play “St. Louis Blues.”

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One String, Many Sounds: Jonah Ellsworth

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, 13-year-old cellist Jonah Ellsworth plays Variations on One String on a Theme of Rossini, by Niccolo Paganini.

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Performing "The Walrus Hunt"

This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, shows Alaskan students preparing a music and dance presentation that draws on Native traditions.

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Together

Wynton Marsalis gives a brief history of jazz music and explains “collective improvisation” in this video segment from Jazz at Lincoln Center.

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The Young People's Chorus of New York City

In this From the Top at Carnegie Hall video segment, the Young People's Chorus of New York City performs a stirring a cappella piece by contemporary composer Jim Papoulis.

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