The Great Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky

         Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer who was around during the Romantic era. He is well known for many of his pieces such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. He pursued his musical career despite what his family wanted, and became to be one of the most well known and inspiring people known throughout musical history.

         Tchaikovsky's music is actually very easy to listen to for me because I've heard many of his songs before, especially songs from one of his most famous ballets, The Nutcracker. He uses a large variety of instruments in all of his pieces. In some songs I hear very soft and calm instruments like flutes and saxophones, but in other songs I hear more strong and powerful instruments like drums and surprisingly guitars. I find this interesting because most composers from the Romantic era dare think to put an electric guitar in a piece of such beautiful music.

          In Tchaikovsky's ballet The Sleeping Beauty, I imagine big carousels with colorful, bright horses and  people laughing and smiling as they spin around in circles, or perhaps people in a giant ballroom spinning around dancing and having a good time while still remaing proper. Then the piece starts to calm down into a soft melody that seems to repeat itself, but still keeps you intrigued. In this particular piece I only hear soft, calm instruments like flutes and violins. I find this interesting because in my opinion, thinking of listening to a piece with calm instruments would be boring, but it's actually the complete opposite in this piece. I think this piece tells the story of The Sleeping Beauty just as well as the movies do.

          Tchaikovsky's music has some similarities compared to 20th century music, but I wouln't say much. He uses guitar which a lot of music today has in it, and he keeps an upbeat, exciting tune which is what most people like to listen to today. Very few people I assume would want to listen to a boring, old song! So this is why I think that if people gave it a try, they'd actually find it very joyful and fun!