Small Ensembles Concert Report

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

The piece was extremely loud and before I looked at the program I was not sure if the trumpet ensemble was in fact the first piece or just simple entry music. Not to sound ignorant or anything, but I did not understand why they played behind the crowd; I thought it was kind of cool and different, but everyone had to turn around to see them and I found that a little odd. This piece sounded like a typical fanfare with multiple sharp notes, good end cadences, and a duple meter. I personally thought the song was very fast, but other than that it was satisfactory, the piece is not my new favorite thing, but the piece did not make me regret my decision on showing up

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.

First, the overall tone in all three pieces was phenomenal, but there were a couple spots during the performance that were not as amazing as the rest of the performance. In the first song, Hamilton by Jerry Brubaker, it was hard to hear certain sections

This piece has a different theme than the other songs that I am reviewing today. Built to give thanks for the Russian victory over the French in 1812, the “1812 Overture” gives off a very strong and heroic feeling. The “1812 Overture” was introduced with a forte entrance with the help from the brassier, deeper instruments like the trumpets and trombones. The tempo of the song juggled back and forth between slow and fast paces to set the theme of the song. The “1812 Overture” started more at a homophonic texture followed by some imitative polyphony when the flutes were introduced. The flutes accented the song with their mesmerizing high pitch tones creating the audience to picture a scene where bells were ringing. The accompaniment of the flutes with the brassier instruments really intrigued the audience and left them wanting to hear

The rhythm of the song has a harmonious tone throughout the song. In this song, the timbre has a deep intense color to it making it more interesting for the audience. Emotional content for this song comes with the singer Deejha Marie as she interacts with all the performer in this high beat song. The song has an upbeat tempo that brings everyone up and out of their seats to dance on the dance floor. Jonny playing the sax was into the song and was grooving out, at one point when on the dance floor with his sax and started playing it in the middle of everyone dancing. From start to finish this song makes you want to get up and get rowdy. Sue Palmer the pianist towards the end hits some nice intense piano notes that make the song. In the song, there is a trombone player that wasn’t at the concert but in the actual song she has a solo that’s awesome.

“Minor Mystery,” the first piece played by the group, was composed and arranged by Ellen Rowe. This song is a minor blues that is normally set to be played at a medium swing, however, this performance was taken at a slightly faster pace. This allowed for the piece to be played with more energy, rather than just standing still. “Minor Mystery” is a work that lets the ensemble demonstrate their stylistic technique. This piece is riddled with dynamic contrasts and notations such as marcatos, accents, and tenutos. This proved to be a challenge, due to the fact that not everyone has the same concept of how these notes should be played. While learning and rehearsing this song, stylistic concepts were probably what we spent the most time on. In order to really sound together and like one cohesive unit, the perfection of these articulations was crucial.

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.

On Saturday, December 12th, the High School Philharmonic All-Region Orchestra performed a variety of fascinating pieces. They were directed by Professor Edward Kawakami from Carthage College. The region orchestra began the concert with “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4 op. 39” by Edward Elgar. The next piece that the orchestras performed was “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy. The last piece that the High School Philharmonic All-Region Orchestra performed was “Samson and Dalila Dance Bacchanale op. 47” by Camille Saint-Saens.

Many of the musicians double as professors at different universities; therefore, their knowledge of the history of brass instruments is quite extensive. First, they played different sized conch shells, which is the first horns that formed into the song Happy Birthday.They then played many of the earliest models of the trumpet, which had no valves, and the trombone, that required one to move their whole body back and forth in order to hit different notes. Additionally, the Saint Louis Brass had a clear water hose with a funnel at the end of it as a horn. I was surprised that it made a beautiful sounds, even hitting different notes. After separately playing each peculiar instruments, they came together to play an adorable little diddy. As a future teach and lover of learning, I thoroughly enjoyed this section of their

MUS 110CL Concert Critique Guidelines and Rubric After either attending a live concert or watching a full length concert online, write a critique of the performance following the format below. Here are a few examples of full length concerts you can find online (by conducting a web search using the criteria below) that could be used for this assignment:         Coldplay Live In Boston 2012 (Full Concert DVD) Sting: If on a winters night-Live from Durham Cathedral 2009 (watch all 14 songs on concert) Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman, Jan Hammer, Charlie Duke Ellington The Great Paris Concert Richard Galliano/Winton Marsalis - Billie Holiday meets Edith PIAF Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Jazz Center

I feel that the fourteen members of chamber orchestra and the two vocalists did an outstanding job. This piece was well put together. I loved the harmony that was brought forth between the orchestra and the vocalists. The two vocalists a tenor known as Paul Groves and a soprano known as Anna Larson, did a beautiful job staying in tune. The way that their voices went back and forth in harmony was just beautiful.

The first instance is in measure 46, where all but the horn removes their mutes. While it would be assumed that the only muted voice would be the foreground of the section, the opposite is presented here. The horn continues the ostinato figure from the previous figure. Overall this allows for the rest of the ensemble to act as the solo voices collectively, and allows the rhythmic variance they have against the horn to stand out. In measure 68 we see the opposite combination used, where everyone is muted except for the tuba. This was likely done so that the tuba would have a distinct difference in color comparatively. This is necessary for its melodic line to cut through the ensemble. The end of the piece features the only change in the muted horn in the movement. In measure 73 Schuller marks the horn to play half muted. This technique results in a hold unstable sound, perfect for summing up the themes of the movement.

There were a total of four music pieces performed. They were “Overture from the Singspiel”, “Concerto in e minor”, “Concerto on b minor,opus 104”, and “Symphony#2 in b minor, opus 5”. I think pieces were performed belong to classical style.

The structure of this piece is the whole orchestra, flowed by the woodwinds, strings, brass and percussions. This arrangement happens twice, first highlighting each individual instrument with tempo and dynamic. The second time this arrangement is played the orchestra highlights the same melody with the various sounds each instrument makes. Closing Britten’s musical number in a fugue.