--- Len Mullenger <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >A teacher in need of help.... >Posted by Katie Tiffany [log in to unmask] on September 7, 2002, >11:38 pm > >I am looking >for similar bars, stanzas, tunes etc. that some artist may have >pulled to sample or imitated or incorporated (with a slight change >perhaps) into their own music. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't know any website that can help you, but I can give you at least a couple of examples, or at least references to get you started. For what I offer, perhaps others on the list can fill in the blanks: 1) Coolio's "Gansta's Paradise"- This was the theme song for the movie,"Dangerous Minds." It's a good song (to those who like this sort of thing), but I also definitely remember one day hearing on a classical station the piece from which the song's music seemed to be derived (I believe it was the opening of the song, and not the chorus). Any brave souls who want to try to guess what the classical counterpart is can hear the song at: http://coolio.audioseek.net/download/1754340/0/1/Coolio%5CGangsta's_Paradise.html 2) Sting's "Russians"- This was a hit song back in the eighties during the "Cold War." The music is definitely derived from a Russian composer, and right now I'm thinking it's Glinka. Perhaps someone can confirm what piece this was lifted from. 3) If you want to reference "Classical Pop," it should be mentioned that a lot of the music John Williams has composed for movies sounds like he has borrowed heavily from Dvorak (and possibly Wagner? Someone may have told me that). Again I can't give details, but perhaps someone else can. 4) Finally, I wanted to mention that Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen fame, once said that one of his classical influences was Bach (along with Debussy.) (Eddie Van Halen was apparently a serious pianist before turning to guitar in his teens.) I thought I could hear this influence in his guitar playing, which often sounds either polyphonic or like he's using pedal notes. "Eruption" would be a good example. At any rate, although there's no direct quoting involved it might be interesting for the kids to hear how elements of Bach find their way into popular songs. Hope this helps, hector