Alligator Alley Analyse

Though my ears are not exceptionally honed nor trained to point out musical mistakes, I would like to add that mistakes, if any, were not thoroughly noticeable. The musicians blended well and produced the right effect based on the musical context. However, when the vocal soloists sang in the final movement of the Ninth Symphony, their voices were drowned out by the loudness of the orchestra and large chorus. It did not help that the soloists were located lower than chorus, which made the perception of hearing the soloists more difficult.

Jokes aside the band did do a terrific job with this piece as Mitchell introduced it with something that teenagers could relate to; television. The song was commonly played in many TV shows that the target audience are known to have seen before. However, I never knew much about this composer or his music. The bizarre, but an expectation from a percussion based performance was that the xylophone took the lead. This was actually wonderful to hear because of how unusual it was to hear. The melodic line was also supported by the upper woodwinds which went together significantly well. The timpani player brings out the beat and the base line. It was almost as if there was a great presence as soon as the piece began because of the timpani because it establishes the quarter-note pulse. I’m not used to hearing a whole section of a string family play together with the brass family and the woodwind family, but they did quite the job together. The string family played the off-beat eighth-notes which totally coincide with the timpani’s pulsing quarter-notes. Then there was the famous glissando in the trumpets and trombones. This glissando reacted to the melody that came from the woodwinds and the xylophone, and according to my research this “reaction” to the melody is a compositional technique known as “call and response”. Hearing this piece live was absolutely magnificent, and I felt like I was in some sort of adventure

In the first piece, Hamilton, the intonation and pitch, especially on the higher notes and runs of notes, were not rock solid and needed to be worked on just a little bit more to be fixed. Also, during this piece, the violins and violas, even though very rarely, did not match and one of the sections lagged just slightly behind the other and made the piece not as great as it could have been, even though it was still an amazing piece to listen to. In the second piece, William Tell Overture, again, the runs of notes were not completely rock solid, and sometimes the cellos were not completely together. Also, the orchestra needed to be a little bit more together with the band because it was just slightly off at times. Still, this piece was amazing and was a beauty of a piece. In the third piece, The Cowboys Overture, there were a couple intonation problems here and there, especially on the higher notes, and there needed to be more blending between the orchestra and the band. Other than some minor mistakes, this piece was perfect. It really was played to perfection and sounded just like it was meant to. In all three pieces, the intonation was there for the most part and the rhythm shown throughout the performance was just fabulous, being very accurate and stable. Also, the

While in the head, the winds played a harmonization of one theme, the rest of the band just accompanied behind them, creating a rather homophonic texture. The form of the piece seemed rather simple, AAI, with larger structure of: intro-head-solos-head-tag. At the beginning of the piece, the drumset player was given room to improvise an intro, and it was nice to hear what he did especially after not having played many solos in the previous tunes. Right after the drumset player’s intro, the group jumped right into the head. This specific arrangement seemed to have written out snippets of Coltrane’s solo, because right after both iterations of the head, instead of jumping into the solo section there was a densely-harmonized saxophone soli that sounded like quotations. It was after this showcase and a few more embellishments from the rest of the group that the actual solos began. Most of the soloing was grounded on staying right on top of the changes and echoing the angular phrases in the head, not venturing out too far with the rhythms. I think the soloists did a good job of that, but could have taken more risks with playing around with the rhythms. However, being in the hot seat is already stressful enough on this piece that playing it safe is not a bad thing, it’s just about surviving at that

On April 11th, 2017 in the Louis Armstrong Theatre, I attended the GVSU “University Band”. This up-beat ensemble lasted about 90 minutes; the talented students of GVSU’s university band joined together to perform multiple different songs ranging from a Waltz to a Dixieland Jamboree. All of the songs that the band played for the audience were all well-known, popular songs that they all enjoyed. Having the opportunity to attend this concert has opened new musical paths for myself and has allowed me to enjoy and kindly critique something that I perhaps would have never had the chance to otherwise.

This year, 2016, marks the 200th anniversary of Indiana as a state. As such, there was no possible way to have a patriotic symphony concert without the inclusion of the meaningful melodies of the Hoosier state. The only question that encompassed the crowd: What is an Indiana Melody? It is a combination of songs native to the state that included: ‘On the banks of the Wabash’, ‘Gary Indiana’, ‘Wabash Moon’ and the fight songs of Indiana University, Purdue and Notre Dame. This collection was delicious. Primarily due to its jazz undertones, this piece was a box bursting with excitement. With it’s of use of swing rhythms and syncopation, this piece seemed more fitting for a nightclub in Memphis during the 1920’s, rather than a 21st century Indiana State Park. For a brief moment, I, along with the rest of the audience, was transported to the 1920’s Jazz Era; swept away by the orchestra’s sweet, wistful melodies and stellar

This song had a nice ballad sound to it. Casey Blackwelder played a wonderfully smooth trumpet solo. There were a few moments where the background music seemed to overpower the solo, but that did not affect the quality of the solo. The next solo was Bryce Harris on the saxophone. The solo was simple, but yet complemented the song extremely well. This song was played second and really caught and kept my

East Carolina’s Concert band and Symphonic band performed on Tuesday, February 16, at seven thirty in the evening in Wright Auditorium. Being a duel performance it included over a hundred of my talented East Carolina peers led by outstanding band Directors Dr. Juchniewicz and Dr. Staub. Along with great students and Directors, the show incorporated a beautiful trombone solo performed by a fellow colleague. Although I have never attended a concert where such style of music was being performed, I did enjoy the music being played and most of them sounded as if I heard them before. The professionalism the students portrayed and maintain to the audience was breathtaking and made me honored to be their peers.

At the very beginning of the piece, it was a little bit shaky as the brass was a little bit too loud over the winds. The alto solo at measure 5 was played over the band though and that set a good tone for the piece. At measure 13, there was a good blend between trumpets, trombones, and flutes. At measure 31, the clarinets and alto saxophones did a good job carrying the melody. At measure 51 the band did a good job of letting the trumpets play the melody in the piece. At measure 59, the trombones were the clear melody and they played at an appropriate dynamic marking. At measure 67, backgrounds were overplaying a bit and the nice flute melody was covered. The trumpets did a good job of controlling the melody at measure 73. At measure 101, the band did a good job of contrasting the flute melody because the other sections of the band came in quietly. The alto saxophone and clarinet melody at measure 120 was played above the rest of the band, but if could have been a little bit louder. From measures 128 to 140, it was hard to distinguish a certain melody. The trombone melody at measure 148 could have been cleaner and louder as it was hard to listen to in the recording. The rest of the piece had a good melody, though as it was mainly carried by trumpets and winds. Overall, the band blending could have been a little bit better, but it still sounded

For this assignment, I went to the Basically Beethoven Festival at the Dallas City Performance Hall. The recital was opened with a few pieces played by the rising stars Madera Wind Quintet. The main performance included Rachel McDonald on the viola, Joseph Kuipers on the cello, Grace Wollett on the violin, Scott Wollett on the oboe, and the great pianist Alex McDonald. They performed a compilation of famous composers’ masterpieces.

I attended this concert with my daughter who is a middle schooler at Westran in Huntsville, MO. I brought her to this concert because she is in her first year of playing the flute. She plans on attending band camp and Central Methodist this summer. She was really impressed with the flute/ piccolo player Mikaela Lewis. My daughter plans to ask her music teacher if she can learn to play the piccolo when she is in high school at her second instrument. She was also impressed with the stand that they had to hold the flute up. I am so glad that I brought her to this concert so she recognizes what it is like to play music at the college level. I can’t wait to watch her on the stage and Central Methodist playing this summer. I am proud to say that all three of my children have attended band camps

Boschnak’s “Expositions” tears into a puissant rhythm and groove after an intriguing intro featuring the deep tones of the bass clarinet, which, together with bowed bass reinforces the foundation’s density with swaggering stance. Rather intelligible than sprinting, the trumpet solo that follows, momentarily complemented with clarinet punctuations, disembogues in a bridge that leads to a vocalized ostinato interlude, obsessively iterate by the guest

On October 13, I attended a concert by the UT Jazz orchestra at the Bates Recital Hall. This performance consisted of seven pieces and all were stylistically different, which allowed the audience to enjoy the various sounds of jazz music. Among the instrument groups, there are saxophones, trumpets, trombones, piano and drums. Professor Jeff Hellmer served as director andJohn Mills appeared as guest conductor. The whole concert made a lasting impression on me.

On Tuesday, April 11, I attended the University of Evansville’s Springs Classic Wind Ensemble production, which was performed in their Neu Chapel Sanctuary. The wind ensemble was composed of approximately forty-five performers. The various instruments included piccolo, bassoon, euphonium, as well as the typical wind and brass instruments such as clarinets, flutes, trumpets, and trombones. The University of Evansville’s wind ensemble was conducted by Kenneth Steinsultz.

B. During the first performance there were many instruments such as the alto Saxophone and the drum set for the piece Mambo. The alto saxophone took the stage beautifully along with the drum set. It was honestly a beautiful performance, there were several people who took on playing the instruments and one could tell they were in unison,