Music: Historical Eras, Styles, and Compositions

During the 1900s, passion of composing music arose and encouraged many young teens to create garage bands and elder to perceive music as career. Famous musicians like Robert Johnson, Bill Monroe, and Elvis Presley were seeking the same. Although many were composing songs, most of them adapted their own versions from many which created a list of similarities and differences between them. Most commonly similar were themes or forms yet some differentiated in delivery style or instrumentation. Many artists got more creative and used similar instruments but give a twist into the sound play. This can be seen in the script or heard in the audio of the songs “Walkin’ Blues” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” like many others.

Throughout history people listened to music and used it for various different things. In the earliest of times music was used to help emphasize story telling(Young 11). As centuries went on music became more prominent in everyday things and eventually was used for social occasions like festivals and weddings(Young 82). Today we use music for everything from recreational to rehabilitating people. We use music to express ourselves and say things we don’t know how to say. Music is an outlet for people now-a-days. What people don’t realize is that music is basically a medicine. It helps us rehabilitate people, calm them down, keep our bodies in rhythm, and it is used to help people with disabilities function better in society. The only thing is is that people don’t know how to properly use music to help themselves and others. But music is beneficial to people’s health!

1. How is the history of European and Arabic cultural contact reveal through musical characteristics in places such as Spain and Bulgaria?

Following the few words was the Cello Concerto of Sir Edward Edgar. Structured with four movements rather then three opens with slow and poignant music. It reminded me of the music that you hear when someone is mourning from loosing someone. It had its ups and downs in-between and the third was like energy broken down with mourning while going into the forth was the longest and most overly dramatic, it brought the audience to its feet. The performance was soothing and relaxing and amazing to see that each one of those people on that grand stage added something to make the piece special. With that being one of the first symphony performances I

I attended the concert of Anton Nel and Bion Tsang at Bates Recital Hall on Friday night, April 15, 2016. Anton Nel played piano and Bion Tsang played cello. The concert lasted about an hour and thirty minutes. The performers total performed three Sonata by different composers, but my favorite one is the first one, which is Sonata in C major, Op.102, No. 1, composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven.

Throughout the early years of music there were numerous examples of different forms of music that were on the rise while others were deemed to be ushered out. As these new styles of music were becoming more popular they had to fight against groups and individuals that were resisting the change. There were various reasons why people did not approve to new styles of music, including racial tensions, raunchy or obscene movements, and inappropriate movements. Even though there was a lot of resistance to these movements there were a couple key players that helped guide these movements into the national spotlight.

During the renaissance, Europe went through many changes politically, socially, and psychologically. Most of this change was due to the reformation of the church, and the humanist movement. The humanist movement focuses on revisiting Greek ideas, and the church supported these thinkers, artists, and musicians (Oxford). The church slowly became morphed with politics, to the point where the church was also the law. Different churches wanted to attract new patrons, so they tried to impress others through the use of art and music, and no longer just their words.

The concert that I chose to attend was performed by The Auburn Symphony Orchestra. Which was led by musical director and conductor Peter Jaffe. In addition, his son James Jaffe, a renowned cellist, accompanied the ensemble with a beautiful solo performance. There are three pieces that are instrumented by the symphonic orchestra. The first piece is Dances from Cake Walk, by Hershy Kay. The second piece is Schelomo, Hebraic Rhapsody, by Ernest Bloch, and the third piece is Symphony No.9 in E minor, op.95, “From the New World” by Antonin Dvorak. All three of these pieces originated in the early 19th century.

During the performance, the orchestra performed works by several composers: Giuseppe Verdi’s Overture to La forza del destino, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 op. 107, and Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, op. 95 “From the New World.” Although I was seated in Row 5, seat 39 in the Mezzanine, I was able to experience the wonderful music because of the venue’s acoustics. The Wagner-Noel Performing Arts Center had a great attendance that evening.

The second piece was Concerto for Two Pianos in D minor, FP61. The piece was composed by Francis Poulenc. This piece is from the Modern era. Its genre is concerto. Concerto is a large composition for orchestra and solo instrument. This piece has three movements: Allegro ma non troppo, Larghetto, Allegro molto. The

Lastly, the third music that the played it was for Haydn Symphony No. 104. I do know this piece, and I was happy when I saw them playing it. they played the four movements. The first one which was the Adagio – Allegro, reminded me with Beethoven his 9th symphony. The opening of this movement was hard and dynamic of it is loud at the beginning, but then is getting softer with the cello and violins. It tempo of it is fast as well; it feels like a darkness with the loud start at the beginning. The end of it was pretty by the cords, it is a nice piece. The second movement Andante opened by the violin. It is fast a little bit and softer than the first movement. It has repetition but different sounds and different instruments. Then at the middle

There were several genres of the A Middle Ages as well as the Renaissance. During the Renaissance period, the vast majority of the musical moved from the church to the courts. Composers were more open to experimentation, and had more imaginative opportunity and basically were no longer afraid of the churches response. In this time frame the church had less control over musical movement and this allowed the composers to go in their own direction with minimum consequences. In this time frame the Kings, Princes and other prominent members of the courts had a greater amount of an impact over the music, yet the church still attempted to keep the music pure and basically the same. Thus more composers utilized musical instruments in their compositions.

Music and technology aid one another. In a way a person can capture music they love through technology and then the electronic companies flourish due to the sale and popularity of these electronic devices. If a person wants to listen to music they can turn on a stereo or TV, choose a CD or DVD to play, or listen to a songs downloaded in ITunes. All of these devices are proof to show how technology is used to record, play, and change the way music is heard. A look through history will show how far society has come in music alone. The development of technology has changed the way the music industry operates and the way society hears and purchases music today.

Throughout music history, influences from different cultures gave the basis of how music is written, played or performed. In the two fieldworks, I conducted at Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn College convey the idea that music no matter where it is performed can reach others and tell stories. Whether the music is new or old, all music has a beginning.

There was a string choir consisting of both violin and cello as well as solo performances between the orchestral performance pieces. Although the beginning songs were songs that are used to learn to play the specified instrument, the songs that followed by the more experienced musicians were from both the classical and romantic era. The best known composers that were featured in the performance were Bach and Mozart.