Arlington Community Education

Get an introduction to the fascinating world of glorious Renaissance music masterpieces. We will listen to gorgeous melodies, brilliant harmonies, delight in illuminated manuscripts, and consider works by composers like Thomas Tallis, Josquin des Prez, John Dowland, and Johannes Ockeghem.

Do you love acting or want to learn how? Join a fun-loving group of newcomers and returning actors. We’ll play around with acting exercises and perform short scenes for each other in a supportive and welcoming environment. Get to meet the local playwrights who wrote some of the scenes we’ll perform and help bring their vision to life.All new material each term.

A harmonica is like a party in your pocket! Learn to play your favorite tunes and blues riffs on this simple, take-anywhere instrument under the direction of an enthusiastic and experienced instructor. Beginning: Cover basic skills including positioning the harmonica properly in your mouth, hand techniques, breath control, and fundamental chords. Bring a C diatonic harmonica ( not chromatic) Continuing: Learn draw bends, blow bends, tongue block, and pursing methods to move more fluidly around your instrument. We will work toward building solos that reflect your style, and play octaves, chords, and warbles, among other in-depth techniques. Bring all Major and Minor harps you currently use.

Opera may be 400+ years old, but the art form is alive and well. In fact, your new favorite opera is likely being created right now! We’ll watch and listen to a new contemporary opera every week, breaking down each piece’s important musical and theatrical moments. We’ll pinpoint what makes each opera a masterpiece and probe the individual creative and technical elements of opera. A professional opera singer leads the course, and will invite special guests to share their pathways in this thriving art form.

Please note that this class runs 6:30-8:00. The end time was listed incorrectly in the catalog as 8:30. Explore the fire and originality of America’s great jazz singers. With its African provenance, we’ll look at how American jazz evolved into “talking music.” Breaking from classical tradition, horn players began to shape and slur their notes, emulating the human voice. In subtle ways, vocalists began producing the sound of musical instruments. In New Orleans, a young Louis Armstrong and his cohort began “scat” singing—mouthing percussive syllables rather than whole sentences. Later, the Mills Brothers produced the sound of a small band using only their voices. In jazz ensembles, brass and reeds started to “call and respond,” as voices did in the early churches. Thus, jazz became vocal music—whether sung or played on a horn. And repertoires included plenty of love songs—making this class an ideal one for Valentine’s Day!

Relive and rediscover your 45 collection with this fun class that explores how pop songs from the 1950s through the 1980s became the hits we know and love. Hundreds of songs were released by many independent record labels and while some were natural hits, others found success by accident, luck, or a combination. The charts were determined by airplay and sales were calculated by methods over which only a few people had control. Cash Box Magazine was one of the prominent music publications that Dick Clark, Solid Gold, and Rick Dees’ Weekly Top 40 used to count down the hits. Class content is different each term.

Beginning: Starting with tuning and holding your ukulele, learn the basics quickly and start playing songs you love right away. Simple chords will have you sounding great after just one class. Soon you’ll have a repertoire of popular songs from many genres. Find ukulele chord charts, strum and sing at the same time, and strum rhythmically with confidence. For absolute beginners only. Continuing: Keep building your chord vocabulary including barre chords while we strum rhythms across a variety of genres and enhance your strumming with cool percussive techniques. We'll practice switching chords more quickly and also explore fingerstyle uke with tablature for plucking cool rhythmic patterns and some recognizable riffs and melodies. For those with some experience who are comfortable strumming up and down. Please note: Bring your own ukulele. A clip-on tuner is recommended but not required.

Explore djembe, a goblet-shaped drum played with bare hands, in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. Learn techniques to make basic drum sounds—bass, tone, and slap—to create rhythms integral to West African culture. All levels are welcome and no experience is necessary.