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Concert Review

I was unable to attend a solo concert so I went to the Concert Band concert  this weekend and It was fun and short. For some reason, I was expecting a longer performance, but the choices they made were fun and that is what counts. One thing I noticed was the cool setting. It is helpful that they have the trombones and the percussion on different levels because they carry the sound; they push it forward, and this way they are not blocked. The Last Cantour, the opener, was kind of loud for me. The band as a whole was a good sound but the symbols were a bit much in my opinion. I know there are some pieces that call for extremely loud crashes but I am not sure if this was on the sheet of music or if the director asked for it. I liked this piece because there is a sudden change in tempo and it is uplifting. The program says “sweeping woodwind lines and brass fanfares capture the intensity of this section.” We have discussed fanfares in class and have said that they are used to open for something grand and that is what I felt this piece did. A second piece I enjoyed listening to is March of the Trolls. This was the second piece and I enjoyed it because I think the beginning was played by some bari saxes . Because the work is supposed to grasp the idea of where trolls are found, there are many crescendos and there are changes between allegro and legato tempos. During the slower tempos one can hear the soothing sound of the flute. During the faster tempos, one can hear the hectic on and off between the timpani and the tambourine. Overall, I would have liked a longer concert since it was only about half an hour, nut the music was very interesting and I will definitely be attending more concerts after this class.

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Blog Post #20

One of my favorite presentations was the one connecting animals to music. I think this presentation connects the most with the section on music being part of our surroundings. John Cage’s piece allowed us to widen our perspective on what music is and isn’t, and I think this presentation did too. The animals are matching pitches and can sing very complex rhythms. I think we can underestimate the importance of the sounds around us, so this is a great presentation that could reinforce the idea in 4′ 33′‘.

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Blog Post #18/19

1. John Adams’ “Tromba Lontana” : This piece is an orchestral fanfare in a minimalistic style. A fanfare usually presents something grand and important with some suspense. At the end of this suspense there is big bang that is built from the suspense, but “Tromba Lontana” does not have progression. The song seems to be building up to something great but it stays in constant suspense.

2. Schoenberg’s “Der Moonfleck” : The style of this piece is Sprechstimme which is the use of spoken words as vocals. To make this type of music, I could let my voice travel up and down a given scale while saying a sentence. By using the different music markings, the instruments in the background build a story that match the acting and the voice.

3. Anton Webern’s “Frive Pieces of Orchestra“ : Klangfarbenmelodie is the style used in this piece. This is a style that changes the timbre of a constant melody over time. The goal of this style is to add different colors to one melody that would sound plain without many dimensions. I wrote down twelve instruments that I heard in the piece but I know there are more I could not make out.

4. Billie Holiday’s “Fine and Mellow” : The form used in “Fine and Mellow” is called 12 bar blues or AAB form. The first eight measures are very similar, almost identical. The last group of measures is a variation of the first measures. Because this form is a bit short, improvised solos play in between choruses sung by Holiday. Billie Holiday’s style of singing is very rough around the edges and “blues-like.” When I was in jazz, the saxes were told to be more sassy and “dirty.” This is what her singing reminds me of.

5. Duke Ellington’s “Take The A Train“ : The form of Ellington’s piece is 32 bar form. One can tell this music is played by a big band because of the basic instrumentation and set up of the band. The rhythm section consists of a drum set, an upright base, and a piano. The Trumpets and the “bones“ make up the brass section and the saxes make up the wind section.

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Blog Post #17

I am going to be presenting with Adrienne. We have chosen to present on the topic of Music Therapy. My major is CSD, and I am striving to become a bilingual if not trilingual speech pathologist. This type of therapy is similar to my future career in that the goal is to improve expression and communication. Music is just another language that is being used to get through to the patients. Our project will focus on the explanation of how music applies to the career, so a video like the following example will most likely be incorporated in the presentation.

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Blog Post #16

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Concert Review

I attended the Clarinets for Conservation last week and enjoyed it very much. I think it is easy to ignore the origin of different instruments because we are accustomed to think only about the music that comes out of the instrument. To fully appreciate an instrument, though, one has to learn about its background. This idea was repeated in Hampton’s talk when he said learning about a person’s culture and background influences the way you see their music. At the Clarinets for Conservation concert, I learned about the mpingo tree and the fact that it is endangered. When I was playing clarinet, I never thought about the origin of the wooden instrument, and I wish I did.

The music was very interesting. Because there are different voices within this specific instrument group, the sound was always very whole sounding when the group sizes were bigger. The types of clarinets I saw were the regular clarinet, the Eb clarinet and the base clarinet. One of my favorite pieces was the solo by one of the professional clarinet players, Christine Bellomy, and her piano accompanist, Mary Neil. This was a solo played on the clarinet. The reason I liked this piece so much was the many unique sounds that were blown through the instrument. Throughout the performance of Sholem-Alekhem, rov Feidman, there is a large amount of pushing and pulling notes while holding an intense trill. The performance changes in tempo from slow to fast too. When I heard this, I felt I was watching a black and white movie. The change in tempo and range in dynamics help the song tell a story. The entire song was very exciting. At the points where the clarinet made squealing sounds, I got goosebumps! Out of all of the performances, this one was my favorite. 

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Blog Post #15

I have not seen Hamilton yet but some of my friends were able to go see the musical. The purpose of history in our is to learn from mistakes that were made back then and try to fix them in the present or future. In Hamilton, the purpose of history is to shape the storyline of the musical and in some ways they are also fixing mistakes that were made in the past. They are making the work of Alexander Hamilton more noticeable to the public. Even though the article does state some instances where the story is not perfectly aligned with the facts, the portrayal of what happened in that era is very good. In my French class, we have been looking at plays and the terminology used for the different types of décor. In this musical, the use of décors schématisés which are schematized decorations or decorations that do not hide the artificial aspects of the play. Hamilton is trying to retell the story with their own twist to it; I am sure there wasn’t a lot of singing during these events in that era. I think it is okay for history to be curved to fit the script. No one is actually changing history. I am not very sure about the question about bias, but I do know that the purpose of music is to connect with a larger audience. Because people may think the story of Hamilton is sad, they might not want to watch it. Music attracts audiences because it keeps the performance more interesting.  

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Blog Post #14

In comparing the two versions of the song, tempo was a little confusing to me. I kept playing and pausing the two videos to try and find a difference. I concluded that there is no difference in tempo; what I think made the first version seem faster is the instrumentation. In the first version, I could hear and orchestra, a guitar, and the steady beat of a drum. These instruments created a light and bouncy feeling that made me think the song was faster than the second. The Black Eyed Peas changed this aspect of the song, I think, to create a more serious tone. Also, in the first version I felt the words were being a little overpowered by the orchestra and the guitar in the background. The new version consisted of a repeated and more monotone background with the help of the piano. This makes it easier to understand the words; the words are enhanced because of this element. There were instances when multiple people were singing, but most of the time each singer had his or her own moment in the song with little action in the background. The dynamics are also helpful in enhancing the serious tone and bringing out the lyrics. In the both versions, I noticed there really isn’t a part where dynamics get louder. I did notice that the second version does like to use silence and decrescendos during some parts, which also make the listener focus more on what is being said. Overall, I think the second version is more powerful, because the message of “Where is the Love” is more clear.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/glaad-present-demi-lovato-vanguard-872241

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Blog Post #13

The session I chose to attend today was “Is it OK for any Choir to Sing Gospel Music?” Last term we had a featured speaker, Ayana Mathis. Throughout the session about the Augie Reads book and James Baldwin, she mentioned that people need to become more informed about the issues of others and other cultures several times. She explained we need to do this because we all live in the same country, the same world. By having the information on the backgrounds of other cultures, one can better understand others’ experiences. In this case, the author focused more on the subject of the Black Lives Matter movement, but Keith Hampton based his session on the topic of music and culture. Some of his quotes are directly related to what Ayana Mathis explained: “Music is an expression of what’s inside of us,” “The best way to get to know a person is through their culture,” and “It’s appropriate if you know the story.” Although there are many questions about cultural appropriation, Hampton explains it is okay to sing or play music of different styles, countries, and cultures as long as we express the same amount of appreciation as the original performer had or has for that music. In class, we have covered an immense amount of styles and time periods to become more aware of the evolution of music. The reason we get a quick slide of background information before a new piece of music is to be able to understand the “context” of the piece. Without the “context,” we would not be able to appreciate the piece or the artist fully.

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Blog Post #12

When I think of social justice music, I think about a band who bases their music solely on their pride of Latin America. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ultimate goal was to make people recognize and value variety and equality among each other; he took action with pride in his ideas. Calle 13 has a very popular song that explains what it means to fight for privileges and the land people claim as their own. Latinoamerica is a very inspiring song about the ups and downs of trying to make something of the life one is given. One of the major messages in this song is that wealth can not pay for many of the privileges we have but actions do, and I think the message can be applied to many different cultures and countries. One of my favorite lines in this song is “ El jugo de mi lucha no es artificial porque el abano de mi tierra es natural,” which means “the juice of my struggle aint artificial because my Land’s fertilizer is natural.” For example, when we feed off of a land that gives people freedom and opportunity, we have to work to keep it that way. I actually found a video with the subtitles.

A session that looks very interesting is “Is it OK for any Choir to Sing Gospel Music?” This session is one that, I believe, will focus on a common issue: Sometimes we feel becoming involved in other customs is not acceptable. Because of the mentioning of discussions and singing, this event sounds fun and very creative.

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Blog Post #11

The first few seconds of Cage’s 4′ 33′’ were a bit humorous because I was expecting something played on the piano, but the silence was not silence at all and that made this performance stand out from many others.

Once I started thinking more deeply about the performed piece, I got the idea that silence was the goal, which is different. What I mean is most pieces of music do not incorporate the sounds of everyday life because it is easy to think those noises are not pleasing to the ear. Cage accentuates these noises, I think, because he wants to make it clear that each sound is unpredictable music and they are worthy of a little spotlight. One of my favorite parts of the article was when it says, “The piece, while based on a structure of silent time, is bursting with sound,” and the comment is entirely true. It is interesting to think movements and coughs were both featured in this piece. The music was created from the combination of sounds and empty space like other music except these are sounds people hear every day. The article states, “This was the place to which silence had been pointing: an effortless succession of sounds arising, existing for a time, and then passing away.” These are sounds people hear but do not exactly listen to, and I believe Cage wanted people to be more aware of the beautiful music we unconsciously perform within a 24 hour time frame.

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Blog Post #9/10

During this time, Stravinsky had a teacher by the name of Korssakow and he was one of the major supporters of Russian Nationalism. Through the teaching of different notes and rhythms, Stravinsky began to admire the work done by his teacher so much that, as said in the documentary, he actually used some of the notes from one of Korssakow’s pieces in his piece, Firebird. Besides the exposure to Russian Nationalism from his teacher, he was also accustomed to being in the countryside and seeing and hearing “the wild power of village music.” These encounters are what led the artist to grasp those powerful sounds and messages and put them into his music. When The Rite of Spring begins, an unusual sound comes out through the openings of the bassoon. The reason this sound is very stunning is due to the range the instrument is playing at. Bassoons are most likely always going to be in their lower register because that is what the instrument is built to play. To play the higher register, the instrument needs to be played with a lot of control because it is an uncomfortable range on the bassoon. Because of surprises like this one, the audience at the premiere was yelling things out. The energetic music along with the strong gestures were too much for the people who were expecting another ordinary ballet. One of the instruments that I thought made the piece very interesting and unique was the base clarinet. The texture that the instrument can give to music can vary from a smooth sound to a rough one. The solo that was described as bubbly sounding was appealing to me. The variation of sounds and alternating rhythms make The Rite of Spring very complex and sometimes too complex. The reason Stravinsky had such a hard time notating the sacrificial dance is that the gestures he wanted to be portrayed by the chosen sacrifice were extremely contorting. He believed there was no possible way they could be represented the way he imagined, but I believe the sharp gestures are represented in a very precise manner by the orchestra’s complexities.

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CONCERT REVIEW

I attended the Messiah on Saturday, December 10 and it was a very nice experience. Before the performance began, I took my surroundings into consideration to be able to form my expectations. With the help of the program, I was able to identify the different instruments used in the performance: violin, viola, cello, bass, trumpet, bassoon, oboe, timpani, organ, and harpsichord. Because of the attire worn by both the orchestra and choir, I concluded I was about to hear a high quality performance; the women in the orchestra and the choir were dressed in formal black clothes and some women in the choir had long black dresses. The men in both groups were wearing tuxedos. My expectation of the sound of the Messiah was for the pieces of the orchestra to be complex and disjunct and the choir to be a stronger sound than the orchestra due to the amount of the vocalists compared to instruments. Although I did not pay much attention to the time which was being conducted, the first recitative, I noticed, involved the tenor soloist holding words for longer than one beat but they did not change notes that much. There were times when the soloist used rubato, which added more emotion to the performances. I would call Coakwell's style of stretching his words neumatic. I did also recognize the repetition of some phrases like "comfort ye my people." With the orchestra starting the recitatve, one could hear the more complex rhythms between the first and second violins here; a sort of conversation portrayed between the two parts. Shortly after Coakwell started, his complex variations of dynamics were shown. Overall, the first recitative was a good opening for them. In the fourth aria, the soprano soloist, Mary Wilson, uses a very melismatic way of singing. The melismatic part of the aria is almost always on the word "rejoice." I noticed that the word "greatly" was the most disjunct part of this aria. This, I think, expressed an importance to both words "rejoice" and "greatly." Throughout the entire aria, the orchestra mimicked the soloist. While doing this, the violins, first and second parts, were playing homorhythmicly and the sound is homophonic. I enjoyed this performance very much!

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Although I do enjoy listening to traditional Christmas songs, this song is a little more interesting to listen to because of their unique sound.

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Blog Post #7

In the baroque era, one of the keyboard instruments was the harpsichord which allowed steady sound by plucking the strings on the instrument. What is noticeable  about the timbre of this instrument is that it is very harp-like. The music in the baroque era was one that was more “free.” I believe this is a bit ironic that the harpsichord has a remaining sound after being plucked; it makes me think of the sound being more free within the instrument. Another keyboard instrument that was made in the 1600′ s is the small double strung clavichord. The sound on this instrument is also more free because there is actually less tension on the strings. 

In the classical era, the 18th century piano had more restricted notes than the modern piano but it was upgraded so that the tone quality was more vibrant and loud so people could actually hear the individuality of the notes. I also see a relationship between the instrument and the era in this case because the instrument was made for the tone to be more clear while the classical era provided clarity through tactics like repetition.

The modern piano was made in the 1850′s and this was the time of the romantic era, so the making of these instruments was easier due to factories. The upgrades were more keys, pedals, iron frame instead of a wooden frame, and thicker strings. What happened to the tone after these changes was that it became deeper and more brilliant. These qualities of the modern piano helped musicians show more expressions, moods, and effects, which was great for this dramatic era that called for more power and dynamic change.

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Bog Post #6

Although we learn about the different time periods in other classes and how life is during those time periods, it is much clearer when these images are shown than when one reads it in a book. From this documentary, I learned about how people had to deal with the cold weather and the illnesses that came with it. In this time period, it was difficult to be a musician because not all areas enjoyed the type of music Mozart composed. Because of this, his family had to travel to find people who could hire the boy. I do believe Mozart is a genius because of his different behaviors portrayed in the video. When he was very young, for example, Mozart was writing a concerto on his own. We know that his father did not write it for him because he was very surprised to hear an actual piece being played instead of random notes. Also, it is said that, like many geniuses, Mozart would mostly keep to himself and poured his emotions into his music instead. These are signs that Mozart was a genius.

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Blog Post #5

The original version of the song by Katy Perry is changed by adding more voices. In this time period, the amount of voices usually lies between three to six voices and, in this case, there are four. I also noticed that the sound is a bit clearer in the second version; the syllables seem to be more pronounced. I heard some repetition in the second version that is not in the original, but I could not come up with a deeper meaning for this repetition.