Bela Bartok was a prodigy of the late nineteenth century, but it is what he did with his talent that makes me love his music. While many composers were searching for a nationalistic sound, Bartok went into the field to gather folk music from the peasants of his native country, Hungary. Instead of capturing the sound of a group of people, he transcribed many authentic melodies note by note and arranged them for piano or orchestra as art songs. His composition style for piano is unique because he imitates the sound of the folk instruments on the piano. The dances he transcribes are always full of energy, and many of his melodies have an instinctual haunting sound. While Bartok does use modern sounds, it does not take a professional musician to feel it.The presentation itself includes a lecture section, and a performance section. During the lecture, I will include CD and video examples of the dances and a few of Bartok's more advanced works. The performance section includes pieces from Bartok's teaching series, the Mikrokosmos, from his Fourteen Bagatelles, opus 6, from his Sonatina, and from Six Romanian Folk Dances.