olivia-musicandciv-blog

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Dies iae” #19

Britten composed “Dies irae” in honor of St. Michael’s Cathedral. He wanted the words to speak to the tragedy and horrors of war. The music is very choppy, and does not flow well. The meter is an asymmetrical seven beats in each measure. The musical effect is parallel with the trembling theme of the words. French horns and trumpet start the piece off contrasting each other. Men sing start singing the first few lines of the text, then the music grows louder with horns and trumpets. Women come in singing the next few lines. They grow quitter and then louder. The brass and percussion sections play an extensive passage. The piece ends with the brasses playing a few figures and then the section closes quietly.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Hallelujah” #18

“Hallelujah” was composed by George Handel. When it was first preformed during the Messiah, King George II stood up and applauded in amazement followed by the rest of the crowd. This is a very well known song that is played a lot in church especially around Christmas time by choirs. The song starts with repetition of “Hallelujah” at different pitches and emphasizing different parts of the word. It then moves to a lower pitch to sing, “for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth”. That is repeated multiple times again using different pitches to vary. Different groups such as sopranos, altos, and tenors switch off singing different parts to add to the overall beautiful melody. Counterpoint and imitation are used to add to the melody and the repetition of the piece. I think different pitches add so much to this piece because they emphasize the “king of kings”. Overall, different pitches, counterpoint, repetition, and the polyphonic texture of the work blend together to make a beautiful piece that is played all over the world.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Kleine Kammermusik” #17

The full title of this piece is Kleine Kammermusik fur Funf Blaser, Op. 2, No. 2 which means Little Chamber Music for Five Winds. This is one piece of a total of 8  compositions by Paul Hindemith. The five instruments being the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and French Horn. The five movements are all very different. The first being cheerful and following a loose sonata form. The flute, oboe, and clarinet start off the piece.  The second is graceful consisting of short sections. The oboe playing off the beat, while the bassoon plays a line in contrasting motion. The third is a elegant slow movement with long melodic lines.  The fourth goes back and forth between a slow theme and fast solos from each instrument. The fifth is very fast with the theme A B C B A. Irregular meters can be found in the first two themes. He changes it so often that he doesn’t use meter signatures. Repetition is also very noticeable in this piece with the themes and individual instrument pieces. The work ends with three solid cords.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Char de Lune” #16

“Char de lune” means moonlight in English. It’s recognizable and is one of Debussy’s best-known compositions. Belonging to the Fresh Impressionism era, He composed it to be part of his Suite bergamasque for piano. Today, it is mostly heard as a separate piece and as an orchestra. The opening melody has several ending notes of one measure that tie together with the first note of the next measure in order to blur the meter of music. The melody of the work is a descending major scale with a few decorative notes He tends to obscure the rhythm. The piece starts off with the theme in a very slow, soft melody getting a little louder as it approaches changing to the second theme is more lively and louder. The second theme is repeated, then changes back to the first theme with a peaceful mood. The beautiful piece ends with a string of chords sounding almost harp-like.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

Sound Sculptures XXII - (Concert Blog #3) #15

Last night I attended a concert, which I think was for some type of final project for a music production class. The concert consisted of 15 pieces produced by various different students. The teacher got up and described that there was going to be visual and just audio pieces. Also, he said that all the chairs were pushed to the middle so there were speakers on both sides of the walls so we could hear certain things on each side of us. I will only describe a few since there were so many. One of my favorites was “Final Project: The Radio Station.”  The producer for this also produced 3 other “commercials”. For those, he basically redid the sounds behind popular commercials you see everyday. I was confused for a while because it sounded so good that I couldn’t tell that it differed from the original sounds. His radio station project consisted of a song for a few minutes, then the sound of scrolling through radio stations, and another song. The songs, the slow tempo, and the rain behind the songs promote the relaxed feeling. In the notes, he describes this contemplation of sounds to indeed relax and induce someone into peacefulness. I was shocked because you would think that the scanning through stations is a rough noise but he turned it into something great. Another great project by a great producer was called “Absorbing gravity.” This piece included elements from sounds heard from space, from the mars rover, and what people think aliens sound this. I was a little skeptical after reading his notes, but I decided to have an open mind. He is a music therapy major, and I completely understood that after listening to the song. He used such a variety of sounds, they were almost cooling and calming. They were pleasing to the ear even though they were allude to the thought of extraterrestrial life. This concert was overall my favorite from any other concert I went to because you got to see these students project presented. The joy on his or her face when everyone clapped was incredible. It was a great way to end the year.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Waltz of the Flowers” #14

Waltz of the Flowers was written by Tchaikovsky, and is was of the most famous of his three ballets he written for. It is a well-known song to those without a musical ear because of the Nutcracker. The piece starts off with the woodwinds and harp making a peaceful melody. There are three themes that many different instruments repeat and extend off of. Towards the end, the cello and violins plays the last theme with contrasting line form the woodwinds. The coda begins and gradually builds intensity. The music slows with a short passage that is in two beat meter. The piece concludes with full sounding chords. The most beautiful part to me of this piece is the harp cadenza towards the beginning of the piece that really brings in the peacefulness.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Orchestral Masterworks” - Concert #2

Orchestral Masterworks consisted of the GC orchestra and was conducted by William McClain. The conductor immediately set the tone of the concert with his passionate speech on each song preformed.  His little explanations really helped the audience understand and appreciate what was being preformed. I really could hear and comprehend the pieces in a different light. There were 5 songs all played beautifully by the orchestra. The first one was Cincopations, a play on the word syncopation. “Cinco” means five in Spanish, and emphasizes that Latin American influences in the piece with the five beat meter and the five parts. Richard Meyer wrote this piece. I tried to listen for the Latin American influence, hearing almost a melody like those in some restaurants. The next piece was also written by Richard Meyer, called Incantations. Mr. McClain informed us to look out for magical sounds that make you feel like you’re in Lord of the Rings. He said with all the money the music department has earned, they were able to purchase a harp, which really enhances the song. This piece was complicated with 4 different time signatures and an asymmetrical meter. Arvo Part composed these next two songs. The first song, Summa, is almost liked gentle muted harmonic simply notes being rocked back and forth. Mr. McClain informed us that is was initially written as a choral work , but now scored for instruments. His next song, Da Pacem Domine, was composed in Latin and made in memory for the victims of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Mr. McClain told us to really listen and understand how peaceful these unique works are, and that he listens to them with a cup of coffee. The last piece was composed by Benjamin Britten called “Simple Symphony”. This piece has eight themes, two per movement, and he stated writing them all at the age of nine. Since the title of the piece is an alliteration, Britten made the titles of the 4 movements alliterations too. The first two movements, Boisterous Bouree and Playful Pizzicato both had very upbeat and full dynamics. The third movement was Sentimental Saraband, which was calm and solemn, but then the fourth movement changed the mood. Frolicsome Finale was played completely by plucking their strings instead of using the bows. This concert was very entertaining, especially since I had not really seen an orchestra play before. There were also kids from the elementary school playing their violins in the beginning that lighten the mood.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Blue Rondo a la Turk” #12

The song is divided into two distinctive parts. The title of the piece gives it gives away that the work is in rondo form and refers to Turkish music and asymmetrical rhythm patters in between the two parts. The song, written in 1959, was from the Modern Jazz era of American popular music. The piece starts out in a rapid nine beats per measure in a 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2 3 pattern. After the main theme, there is a interlude alternating between the Turkish exotic rhythm and a blues melody. The blues part of the piece features the most common rhythm of blues, 4/4 time, arranged in 12-meausre phrases. The brass emphasizes the beat. The piano and the sax solos give the piece a cool, intellectual feel. The piece ends with the recording fading out.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Barbara Allen” #11

“Barbara Allen” is a folk ballad from the British Isles that date back to at least to the middle of the seventeenth century. It was brought to the Americas by emigrants from Scotland and England. This piece is produced by Pete Seeger. The man singing in a mediocre voice is telling a story of Barbara Allen from a small town. In May, William came from the west and courted Barbara. He sent his servant to call for her. She saw him and saw he was sick. He died and wanted all to the be kind to Barbara. She was heart hardened by this. She says that he died for her, so she died the next day for him. They were buried next to each other, and a red rose and brier grew out of their coffins and up the church wall to the top. The story was very sweet. There is a banjo plucking throughout the background of the song. It was a slow melody, but I still found it enjoyable.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Come Back, Sweet Papa” #10

This Dixieland Jazz song, “Come back, Sweet Papa” was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1926. The song was originally written by Paul Barbarin and Bob Russell, but Armstrong and his Hot Five recorded it in a difference way. In their version, they play the cornet, trombone, saxophone, piano and banjo. The trumpet and the saxophone start of with a short introduction. After the chorus, the other instruments come in to add some melodic figures. . Then the trumpet plays the chorus and adds the trombone for a different effect, and once again repeats. The trombone plays sliding notes called glissando, and trumpet continues as clarinet improvises contrasting parts. The piano comes in while the other instruments play various contrasting parts, almost seeming freestyle. The well-recognizable piece concludes with a nice rhythm.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

Classical Dynamite Concert at GCSU

I attended the Classical Dynamite concert with David Johnson preforming on the violin and Owen Lovell preforming on the piano. Both are critically acclaimed musicians with Doctorates in Musical Arts. They preformed 3 pieces: “Frates,” “The Recalcitrants,” and “Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108.” Before they started, they talked a little about each piece stating to pay attention to see that the first two are hard and intense on the violin and the last worse on the piano. The first piece, by Arvo Pärt, consisted of many different parts that all ended with the same theme. Starting as a violin solo, there was various meter and crazy sounding with increasing speed and volume. The violinist, at some points, was plucking the strings to allude to a more intense tone. The pianos stayed at a slow tempp the majority of the piece, almost just one chord a second. The piano highlighted the dreary sounding tone the violin was trying to convey. The second piece by Randy Bauer, a friend of Lovell and a jazz pianist, had three movements. The first movement had a moderate to fast tempo with a heave dissonance. The song seemed like it told a story, starting out with danger approaching, high plucking notes for the climax, and then an ending that sounded like falling down rabbit hole. It was almost hard to listen two with the dissonance, but the end made it more exciting. The piano and violin were playing back and forth, almost challenging each other to end the song. The second movement was slower and can be described as having consonance. It would fluctuate between intense and calm playing. The third movement was dissonance against, and the two instruments were not playing anywhere near the same tune. It alluding to danger approaching again or that something bad was going to happen. Finally, the third piece, by Johannes Brahms, was the longest. I was pleased to hear it was a Sonata since we have been learning about these in class.  There were four movements: allegro, adagio, un poco presto e con sentiment, and presto agitato. The first movement was my favorite with consonance and very classical sounding. There was no obvious mood and stayed at a moderate tempo. The second movement was slow, hence the term adagio, also consisting of consonance. It almost sounded like a song Cinderella would be dancing around a ballroom to. The last two were fast and gracefully stepping to each note. The last piece was definitely my favorite, probably because it was so pleasing to hear compared to the others. It was also very interesting to see how the pianist and violinist worked together and would look at each other to keep on track. I have never seen a musical concert before, however I am looking forward to the rest of them.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Hoe Down”

Aaron Copland wrote “Hoe Down,” a song written for a ballet, Rodeo. This piece is western and pretty modern being written in 1942. This piece is one of my favorites, especially with the tempo and the many instruments to create an lively song. The interesting part is the plucking of the strings to make the galloping sound. This definitely helped memorize the song for the test. The galloping also contributed to the square-dancing sound the song gives off. The main theme is repeated three times throughout, even after the slower and lower part towards the end.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Open Thou Mine Eyes”

John Rutter wrote “Open Thou Mine Eyes” in 1980 to be a church chorus genre. The most distinct part of the song is the unaccompanied boys’ voices throughout the entire piece. As we learned in class, the younger boys soprano voices really contribute to the song and make it the way it is. The voices are very perfect and polished, perfect for a hymn in a church. The tenors and basses come in half way through to form a beautiful melody of the combination of pitches. Interestingly enough, the humming contributes to the sopranos’ voices to finish the piece.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Farandole from L’Arlesienne”

“Farandole from L’Arlesienne” is written by George Bizet. The most recognizable part of the piece is the march-like tempo repeated in parts of the song. The tempo is fast and there is 2 or 4 beat meter. At a few points, the music will start at low intensity and get to a greater intensity to empathize the dance part. The first low intensity leads up to the second theme, which is more dance sounding than marching. At the end of the piece, the first and second themes come together to create a loud and intense song. The marching and dance rhythms combined create a good ending to the piece.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Simple Gifts”

“Simple Gifts” was written by Aaron Copland in 1950. I was excited to hear this piece because I have heard it before many times, with and without the words. Throughout the song, the melody stays the same except the contrasting two lines in the middle, almost like a bridge. Although this song consists of consonance, the ending with a  cadence is definitely the most pleasing to hear. When I read the info in the book about this song, it informed me that Copland altered this song to enhance the melody and the accompaniment to create the song it is today.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Concierto de Aranjuez”

“Concierto de Aranjuez” was composed by Joaquin Rodrigo in the 20th century. This is the second movement of the three movements is presented to us. The second movement per usual is the slower tempo, called adagio, like the second movement on my concert blog post. I really liked this piece because I played the guitar earlier in my life. The mood of the entire piece is quite dreary. The guitar is a good instrument to draw out this tone, and especially at the solo guitar part. During the cadenza, notes are played just on the guitar in almost ascending then descending becoming more intense and decorated. The ending theme is the combination of all the instruments at the climax of the song after the guitar’s rapid strumming. The ending quietly plays out on a solo guitar.

[olivia-musicandciv-blog]

“Dies irae”

We are not sure who wrote “Dies irae” but we know it was more of a medieval piece. The type of song is a Gregorian Chant, which is definitely the most interesting genre of music we have learned about. This particular chant is used in the funeral portion of Mass. It is chanted in Latin and the title means “Day of Wrath”. There is no accompaniment and just tenors preforming. The tone is quite sad, being it is a funeral piece. The piece  is characterized by the rhyming lines and the unusual meter.