Sitting In Chairs And A Little Marching Band

On Tuesday, March 28th, 2017 at 8:00 P.M., The Emerson String Quartet performed three pieces of classical music at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The Emerson string Quartet is a professional string ensemble that performs classical music and consists of four adult males; Eugene Drucker on the violin, Philip Setzer on the violin, Lawrence Dutton on the viola, and Paul Walkins on the cello.

For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at the Kimball Recital Hall. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because I usually work at night. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the composers and/or performers. I went with three friends, who I convinced by telling it would be interesting to see

I chose the genre string quartet and attended a concert at First Presbyterian church on October 19th, 2014. Because of its location the sanctuary where the concert took place had many stained glass windows. It was marvelous and in my opinion well suited the feel of classical music. The audience was very responsive and attentive. They applauded when the musicians appeared, in between pieces, and at the very end. They were quick to join in the sing along portion of the concert. Overall the people attending were an older crowd but you could tell they truly appreciated the music. The concert’s duration was around an

Dr. Carol Williams’s organ plays were just fantastic. Despite the fact that seeing the instrument called, “organ” was my first time, it was pretty impressive how that instrument worked. All the pedals and the three layers of keyboards were just as complicated as a calculus math problem. The concert was played at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion at Balboa Park. The surrounding was not too bad. Although the concert day was Sunday, it was quite crowded. Besides the crowdedness, the surroundings were not too rough. All ages were welcome to seat and enjoy the sounds of organ. I saw mostly old aged audiences and I saw a little amount of college aged audiences with the music report information on their hands.

The music played throughout all of the concerts adhered to be diverse. The instruments, the individuals performing, and the conductor all proved to be outstanding. The concerts proved to be interesting as I witnessed them, first hand.

My favorite part of the concert was the second part. The group played a song called “Body and Soul.” The guitarist played slowly before the others joined. They created a relaxed atmosphere with an old-school effect. All the notes were legato except the melodies of the drum which was staccato. The combination added character to the piece and made it entertaining. At 19:00, the pianist played briskly but beautifully, then the guitarist did the same. The notes became high pitched and the tempo and dynamics increased. After the guitar stopped, everything went into decrescendo and the melodies from the bass and drums became choppy (staccato). Overall the piece surrounded the theme of dependence and how it affects one’s happiness or strength. The piano and the guitar brought the happy aspect to the piece and without it, everything weakened and became uncoordinated. Initially it celebrated peace,

Musical Time Period: As far as the musical time period we haven’t covered the Classical era yet in class. However, new developments such as Mozart’s daring harmonies and the rise of opera music were characteristics new to the classical era.

For my concert report, I chose to attend a University Chambers Players performance. Within this classical genre of music, the pieces performed were all homophonic in texture and each melody introduced was supported by chordal accompaniment. All of the pieces performed ranged from an eighteenth to twentieth century time period, and furthermore, each performance employed the use of western world instruments, such as the piano, cello, violin, and viola.

On February 25, 2016, I was able to see the Mid-Year Band Concert in the PAC. The pieces I have chosen to review were performed by the Varsity, Symphonic II and Symphonic I Bands and conducted by Mr. Bailey and Mr. Hillhouse. “King Cotton,” “Amparito Roca,” and “Valdres” were among my favorites in the program and are all coincidentally, marches.

This afternoon at 12:30, I went to the listening hour, a free noontime concert, at the Music Building. The concert of the day is SJSU Saxophone Studio and Dr. Victoria Lington’s Saxophone Ensemble Concert. Since it is just a one-hour noontime concert, most of the students there just where their t-shirts and jeans to the concert. The SJSU Saxophone Studio students have played six pieces of music in one hour. They began the concert with Sonata no.3 composed by George Frideric Handel (1685-1789). The second piece is Quartett (Allegro de Convert) composed by Caryll Florio (1843-1920). Then the third piece they played is Saxophone Concerto. After that, they played Premier Quartet op. 53 that composed by Jean Baptiste Singelee and Cello Suite No.1 BVW 1007 that composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. The last piece is Rondo, composed by Zdenek Lukas (1928-2007). All of the music performed today is classical music. Only the first and third piece play by alto saxophone with piano accompaniment. And the second, fifth and sixth piece is quartet that include soprano, alto, tenor and baritone. At the concert, I think I am a referential listener. I would think of a scene when I heard the music to understand the music and its mood according to the dynamic changing. For example, in the piece of Premier Quartet op. 53, I would image that people are dancing in the ballroom. When I heard the slow tempo, I think that people just began to dance or have the rest during dancing. When I heard a

     I chose to do my first concert report on Pearl Jam. The concert took place at Deer Creek the weekend after class started, so it was perfect timing to do this assignment. This was the first time I have seen Pearl, and I thought it was worthy of writing a report on.

On Thursday April 25, 2013 , I attended a jazz vocal concert at the Music Concert Hall. The first vocal ensemble opened up the performance with a slow rhythmic song called Blue Skies. It began with vocals and I noticed a light auxiliary percussion and drum rhythm. Also, the bass guitarist used walking bass and the piano and electric guitar joined in as well. The first song also consisted of two soloist Regina and Chantel who took the front stage to show off their chops. After the solo performances they fell back into the vocal sections and finished off the song as a complete band. The second performance had a piano opening which led to vocals joining in at the same time as the rhythm section. This performance

As we all waited in line to go into the concert there was a thrill of

     For my second concert report I thought that I would write about my only experience hearing songs of the Beatles live. The Rib America Festival was hosted by The Beatles Live Repertoire. The group dressed exactly like the Beatles, even had the same names, John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I had never heard any Beatles songs live before, so that was enough to get me off my butt. Not to mention, it was free entertainment, not a bad time at all.

This afternoon, I went to the music concert hall where is located in the music building for the listening hour, a small noon-time concert which is performed by the staff and students from the music majors. Since it is a free noon-time concert, most of the audiences just wear the t-shirts and jeans to the concert. Dresses are not required for the concert. The performance today is given by the Ananda Jazz Ensemble. They have played “Running Away”, composed by Bob Marley; “Madalena”, composed by Ivan Linz; “Conejitos y Ananda”, composed by Abi Romero; “La Bikina”, composed by Ruben Fuentes; and “Chukaro”, also composed by Abi Romero. Because this is a Latin Americdan Journey, all of the music performed is jazz music. All pieces played in the concert are an ensemble of piano, bass, and drums. During the concert, I was trying to be a perceptive listener; I enjoyed the music with concentration and paid attention to the music’s unity and variety, such as the dynamics and tempos. I also tried to associate the music with a picture when I listened to it and understand the emotion in the music.