Centennial, Colo., Sept. 6, 2023 - “Music Blocks,” the award-winning music appreciation podcast from Colorado Public Radio, returns for its third season September 19.
Each of the six episodes this season will focus on a specific instrument family and the way different instruments are used across genres, eras and cultures. The first season of “Music Blocks” explored basic emotions — such as happiness, sadness or surprise — and how those feelings are expressed in music from around the world, while the second season looked at how music tells the stories of our lives through sound.
“We’re excited to take young listeners on a different kind of musical journey this season,” said Brad Turner, the show’s executive producer. “We’ll explore how an instrument you might hear in a classic rhythm and blues track is related to sounds in a Tchaikovsky ballet or the groove in a cumbia song.”
“Music Blocks” found a devoted audience with teachers, students and families in its first two seasons, who praised it for being educational, diverse and fun to listen to. Each episode of “Music Blocks” is about five minutes, making it fit easily into class or family time. Originally developed in consultation with Colorado music educators, the podcast was awarded Best Podcast for Kids at the Podcast Academy’s second annual Ambies.
This season, listeners will also learn about the technical categories of instrument families. Rather than grouping instruments by strings, percussion or woodwinds, the show creators decided to use terms like aerophones, idiophones and chordophones.
“We chose to organize the season using technical names for instrument families because we believe that these names are more inclusive of the variety of different instruments in the world and the way that these instruments produce sound,” said Carla Aguilar, Ph.D., a professor of music education at Metropolitan State University of Denver, the music content specialist for the Colorado Department of Education, and the education advisor on the podcast. “Using these technical names gives us information about how the sounds are produced, which is more inclusive than how the instrument might look.”
“Music Blocks” is a production of CPR’s Audio Innovations Studio and is hosted by CPR podcast producer Rebekah Romberg and CPR community audio producer Luis Antonio Perez. In addition to their work on CPR’s podcasts, Romberg and Perez bring their own musical experience and tastes to the show. Get to know the hosts and hear some of their favorite examples of instrumentation in the season three trailer.
The first two seasons of “Music Blocks” are available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and our website. Season three launches September 19 with six new episodes released on Tuesdays.
Media inquiries: Clara Shelton, [email protected]
###
About Colorado Public Radio
Colorado Public Radio is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization delivering meaningful news, music, and cultural experiences to everyone in Colorado using the power of the human voice in all its forms. Roughly 95 percent of CPR’s funds come from the private support of listeners, businesses and foundations. For more information, visit www.cpr.org.
- CPR News delivers in-depth, insightful and impartial news and information from around the world, across the nation and throughout Colorado, examining its relevance to our state and connecting it to our community.
- CPR Classical takes listeners on an in-depth exploration of thoughtfully curated music – with an emphasis on Colorado’s classical community – providing context to a broad range of meaningful and compelling works from past to present.
- Indie 102.3 takes listeners inside the world of new and independent music – exposing them to up-and-coming artists and highlighting Colorado’s local music scene.
- Denverite is an online news source dedicated to Denver's curious and concerned.
- KRCC is a public radio station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, serving Southern Colorado. KRCC is operated by Colorado Public Radio in partnership with Colorado College.
