When is and orchestra not and orchestra?
This article, by Neal Zaslow, explains how the classification of orchestra started and how it changed throughout history to define the modern day ensemble known as the orchestra. There is also information on what constitutes an orchestra based on the number of instrumentalists in the ensemble and specific instrumentation of the ensemble influenced by the historic uses of the term orchestra. The original meaning of the term “orchestra” stems from the Ancient Greek and Roman traditions, where the orchestra was “ the place in… theatres in which dancers or actors performed. “ This definition slowly changed over the course of history, from sixteenth century considerations of the orchestra being “a part
In the short book of “No Heroes, No Villains” by Steven Phillips On June 28, 1972, a Transit Authority patrolman, John Skagen, was on his way home from testifying at court for an arrest he made a couple of weeks prior. Skagen was taking the train home to the Bronx when he saw and stopped James Richardson who was awaiting the subway train which would take him to work at Lincoln Hospital. Skagen ordered him to “put up your hands, and get against the wall”. Skagen’s actions seem unprovoked and unnecessary. After a short tussle the two men exchanged shots and Richardson fled the scene on foot. Two other officers that were on the main street above the subway station rushed to the scene.
A book that has been foundational for me trying to make sense of orchestras is Reframing Organizations, by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal. I'll be returning to their framework in later posts, so I'm taking a moment to sketch it out here.
In the book entitled, There Are No Children written by Alex Kotlowitz, he writes a story about two boys that are of coming of age in Chicago in the housing projects called Henry Horner Homes over a two year time period. In their housing projects, the family faces many hardships and struggles to survive in life due to the influence of gangs, violence, death and poverty that consumes their housing projects. Living in such a bad neighborhood like Henry Horner homes proves the fact that “there are no children here” in the housing projects because the children have seen so much crime, violence and death occur that they have lost their youth and innocence as children and have been forced to become adults. An example of one character that changed dramatically due to the horrible conditions of in the projects was Lafeyette Rivers, one of the two main characters in the novel. The three most important events that impact Lafeyette’s life for the worst were the death of his best friend Craig, when his mother told him that he would be forced to become a young adult, and finally being convicted of a crime he did not commit in the first place. These three major events in his life greatly impact Lafeyette over the two year time period it causes Lafeyette to lose all hope in life and as well to live in constant fear of death and of his housing projects.
In this concert, Simi Strings Orchestra, there were twelve performers, who were teenagers and adults, in the ensemble. Most of them were adults, which some of them were college professors and professionals, who sometimes performed in a small orchestra. There were only two college students who had ever been participated in their high school and college orchestras. The instrumentation of this
The concerto form was developed significantly from the Classical to the romantic era; producing changes within its instrumentation, form thematic material and rhythmic devices. The societal attitudes towards the composition and consumption of the concerto form also changed during this time.
I decided to attend the Symphony on the Prairie on July24, 2015. I haven’t been to a Symphony Orchestra since I was very young and I was unable to attend the Symphony last Friday or Saturday. My fellow classmates invited me to the concert on July 24, 2015. I wanted to view a concert so I agreed to attend the Symphony with them. I also like Harry Potter and Star Wars; and they played pieces from both movies in the Symphony concert. Unfortunately there wasn’t any vocal throughout the concert but there were many instruments. These instruments include the entire string family (violin, viola, cello, and contrabass), the woodwind family (flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and contrabassoon), the brass family (English horn, horn, trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, and tuba), and the percussion family (timpani, harp, and keyboard)
My bow lifted off of my cello and froze midair after the final chord of Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival”, and I grinned at my stand partner. The audience rose to their feet, whooping and whistling as the conductor cued the orchestra for the encore.
On April 14, 2016 I attended the Dvorak Cello Concerto at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee. The instruments that were being played were made up of the whole symphony orchestra. In addition, the instrument that was featured was the cello. The reasoning for this is because there was a special guest musician, Susie Yang who was performing with the orchestra and she played the cello. The structure of the performance consisted of three different main pieces of music with different sections within them. In addition, this was the first time I had been to the Tennessee Theatre. The theatre was very intriguing because of the elegance that came with it. The décor was very nice and looked expensive. It is exactly what I imagined when I thought of the setting for a symphony. It was well lit with beautiful crown molding in the celling. In addition, there were lovely curtains blocking an area that looked to be a balcony beside the stage. In addition, there was back drop lights on the walls highlighting pieces that looked to be Grecian Urns.
There are many philharmonic orchestras but today I will be talking about the most famous ones. Before I start I will tell you what it means. A philharmonic is a symphony orchestra or the group that supports it. A symphony is a large orchestra. An orchestra is a large group of musicians who play together on various instruments, usually including strings, woodwinds, brass instruments, and percussion instruments. Philharmonic comes from Greek words meaning ‘love of harmony’.
No longer was the orchestra the main component to listen to when attending an opera. Librettists and composers worked extremely close to get the right feel for arias and other pieces in the story.
Never could I have thought that my first concert experience was going to be in a college class, performed by various composers of classical music. During the concert, I got to listen to four performances. First, the Oxycotton was played by Tim Sanchez. Second, Samantha Post played Acht Stucke on flute, followed by Nicholas Gledhill, playing Blues and Variations for Monk on horn. Finally, the CSU Graduate Brass Quintet performed a piece named Misty. In this essay, I will share my personal experience of the concert and discuss the different elements of music seen in the different performances.
String section and basso continuo central to the orchestra. Other instruments are occasional additions. Standard group of four sections: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Different instruments treated individually.
Since the days of the ancient Greeks, music has been an integral part of drama and theatre. Many composers wrote music to accompany plays, and sometimes the music became more well-known than the play it was written for … It
The symphony is less influenced by the surrounding environment. By looking at the CVF we see that the symphony takes its direction in a flexible and discretionary manner. As we discussed early this fact is represented that the employees (musicians) are empowered to make decisions about the operations of the symphony.
•There wasn't a fixed, standard orchestral group. Ensembles were usually composed of strings, a few woodwinds, percussion, and the harpsichord providing the basso continuo.