Musical Mavericks

We had some fun with the idea of mavericks in classical music at our opening class, Sept. 24. Did you know the word "maverick" comes from the name of an actual person? Samuel Augustus Maverick was a 19th-century cattle rancher in Texas. When he won a herd of cattle in a poker game, he decided not to brand his new cattle, but let them loose on the range. After that, any free, unbranded steer was called a maverick and the word eventually came to mean loner, dissenter, someone who strikes out on their own.

Next class is all about choral music and the beauty of voices singing together, Oct. 29.

Here are some of the "revolutionary" pieces we heard:

Chopin Etude Op. 10, No. 1, Garrick Ohlsson, piano:

Claude Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun," Danish Radio Orchestra:

George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Gershwin, piano:

Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians," Eighth Blackbird: