There's a ninja on the loose and he's sneaking through the orchestra. But not for long! Your students will love making up storylines for what happens next in this colorful Asian-flavored piece that uses only the notes of the D Major scale. There are plenty of great teaching opportunities here for your first-year students, including pizzicato, accents, crescendos, and melody/accompaniment balance. Fun for everyone! (2:15) / Orchestre A Cordes

Written to celebrate the 110th Anniversary of the Joliet Township High School Orchestras of Illinois, 'Stone and Steel' is a modern concert overture by Richard Meyer that treats the listener and performer to a myriad of styles and moods. The piece begins with a heavy, ponderous theme marked 'Molto pesante,' which depicts the limestone quarries that first earned Joliet the nickname 'City of Stone' in the early 1800s. The mood soon changes and we can visualize huge barges laden down with stone, making their way through the city's large lift bridges and into the famous Illinois and Michigan Canal on their way to regional customers. With the construction of a steel mill in 1869, Joliet became known as the 'City of Steel.' Stone and steel were now shipped by both canal and railroad, and this exciting new age is represented by a modern, fast-moving theme in a bright major key. The two themes, 'stone' and 'steel,' are then further developed, and the piece culminates in a majestic, celebratory final statement of the 'steel' theme. (6:00) / Orchestre A Cordes

Your orchestra will have a blast working on this fun selection that introduces the time periods of music and the playing styles that go with them. As students climb aboard the time machine, they will 'travel' far and wide! (3:30) / Orchestre A Cordes