Rhapsody In Blue Concert Review

It’s amazing to listen to musicians who do not normally play with each other come together and leave the audience in complete awe. That is exactly what happened on the day of Thursday November 26th 2014. The Bill Crothers Varsity Winds comprised of grade eleven and twelve students along with a few, talented grade tens went to listen to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra play. We travelled via a typical yellow school bus that took us to Roy Thomson Hall where we went right to the top level and took our seats. The seating seemed rather helpful because from a distance you could hear every instrument when you focused on it. It was beautiful. The band presented well with their “Penguin” like attire that was kind to the eyes. They appeared very organized,

The seven dances were divided into two parts with an intermission that gave the audience time to stretch their legs. Before that intermission the performance, Playful Musings, took the most unique route in my opinion for the dance. It started out like any of the other dances with a low lighting, but right away the first dancer made his appearance on stage with style and a light-heart personality. It catches the audience right away with laughter, and filling the small concert hall with a totally different vibe compared to the other performances so

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

The piece was a form of the blues type of jazz, a form that was dominant at the end of the 19th century. Being part of the blues music, it focused on harmonizing with the three principal chords throughout the entirety of the song. It brought excitement and variety to the piece and keeping the audience as well as the ensemble itself on our feet. In addition to the harmonization the ensemble was able to take the form of a loose narrative, often relating the troubles experienced in a society.

57, was a definite contrast to the Rimsky-Korsakov piece in mood. Written in 1940, this

1. I think the biggest element that made this song unique is the use of counterpoint. Counterpoint is the use of two or more melodic lines of equal importance. During the course of the song, no one melody sounds like the main melody, and are all of the same significance. I think this would have upset many of the jazz purists, as it was such a change from traditional jazz music.

On March 15, I decided to attend faculty recital at the Walker Recital Hall (WRH) which stared pianist Dr. Nathan Hess. The WRH filled up pretty quickly and almost every single seat got taken. The audience represented people from different walks of life, starting from the very young and leading up to relatively old.

Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, 4th Movement is monumental. The final movement begins with an extended slow introduction with a dark, ominous tone played by wind instruments. The beginning (around 2 minutes) shows a strong resemblance to the ending of Beethoven’s No. 9 Symphony Finale. There are low string instruments accompanied by surging wind instruments. Both pieces contain exhilarating melodies that close with a triumphant ending in a major key. The introduction concludes with a distinguished chorus of brass and woodwind instruments that was heard before in the beginning.

Brahms musical selection is what I would call an energetic a confident piece. The tempo was allegretto and then moderato with the dynamics of mezzo forte and mezzo piano. The meter would be duple. The texture is homophonic and polyphonic. The musical instruments that I heard and seen were the bass drum, strings, trumpet, and timpani. This piece reminds me of a show my mother watches called “Little House on the Prairie.” I pictured the father, Charles jumping on his horse and buggy to go to save one of his children or a friend in need. This piece caused me to sit with anticipation as to what would happen next.

In the beginning of the piece, I feel as though the band could have done better in terms of balance, such that some sections were louder than the others, such as the flutes and clarinets. In continuation, at measure 20, the flutes could have done a better job at intonation so that the part would have sounded smoother. In the discussion of the flutes and clarinets, we also could have gotten in the runs that were not opted out so that the piece would have sounded fuller. Though despite this, the piece did sound very interesting with the whole ensemble, and was a good way to end our spring concert. In the end, given the difficulty of the piece, I believe that the ensemble did a decent job in executing

In this virtuoso series concert, the style of music displayed was different pieces from 1756-1983. There are six groups who performed and the instruments range from horn, violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, harp, percussion, and a beautiful voice. This concert was full of new sounds, and I wasn’t very familiar with these different sounds and instruments that were being played.

I liked how the show ended with the performance Lifted!. It ended the show off on a positive note with upbeat music and fast-paced movements. It closely resembled African dance and movements. There were many dancers involved in putting this piece together. The amount of dancers involved in this piece aided in bringing everything

A Look into Different Interpretations of the First Movement of Moonlight Sonata: The Piece that Portrays an Assortment of Emotions

Suddenly the piano and bass start playing in the stage area. This catches most of the audience by surprise, as conversations abruptly curtail. They play their warm up pieces with a joy and lightness that comes only from familiarity. Once these tunes finish and all of the obligatory drinks are paid for, the owner of the club begins his introduction of tonight’s entertainment.

In particular the difference in style between the first piece and the second piece stood out in the way the performers moved. In the first piece, Attachment Behavior, the movements were very sharp and stiff. On the other hand, the second piece, Here is Not There, consisted of more fluid, carefree movements such as one dancer dragging another across the stage and sitting on a bench. Furthermore, the second piece also used the voices of both the dancers and the choreographer who sat in the audience. This back and forth interaction showed another contrast in style and provided a less serious tone to the performance. It was also interesting to see the use of voices, like one of the videos from class, but with a slight twist that made the audience feel like they were involved in the performance.