The Moldau (Vltava)

The piece begins with a sweet one bar theme that is played by two solo flutes, representing the trickle of a small creek. The soft melody played in piano and “lusingando”, which means to be played in a coaxing style, convey the delicate and smoothness of the water. The ascending semi-quavers accompanied with a slight crescendo at the beginning of the phrase as well as a two quaver rests at the end of the bar create a rippling effect, symbolising the slight waves of a stream. Furthermore, the lone plucked pizzicato quavers

This activity challenged my critical listening skills and developed my ability to appraise music and use aesthetic sensitivity while concentrating on listening to identify the music elements. It was evident that the composer manipulates all the musical elements and qualities to accurately portray the narrative of the Moldau. Elements of music include duration, pitch, dynamic and expression, structure and style, timbre and texture (REF). For example, duration includes rhythm, beat, accent and tempo, that I was able to identify with the loud, triumphant calls of the hunter’s horn, the dominating French horns, and trumpets playing sharp, rhythmic notes. Also, pitch refers to the register of the note in a sound patter (REF). I was able to identify the cheerful mood of the melody that moves in an up and down pitch. Dynamics and expression are evident in the pattern of intensity and volume of the sound with loud trumpets as the river passes the rapids or the bassoon playing low and dark sounds that I thought contributes to dramatic

Brahms’ vocal and piano accompaniment do not fail to capture and express this imagery of the poem. One example of the vocal line capturing one of the poem’s images is in m. 41. Here, the vocal line is falling in register, painting an image of how a tear might fall. Another example where the vocal line supports the imagery of the text is when the text is talking about how it “floats like a scent away” and “vanishes like a breath” in m. 10 and m. 23. The same text appears twice here and when it is repeated the second time it can be heard like an echo to the first statement, as it fades away and becomes lower in register at the end of the phrase. This echo that fades away supports the images in the text of “floating away” and “vanishing.”

The symphony is in four very powerful and entertaining movements. The first movement begins in the pianissimo tone with the strings section, but quickly enters the fortissimo tone with the introduction of the woodwind, brass and percussion sections. The dynamics of the musical melody varies throughout the movement moving from crescendo to decrescendo modes. The first movement reminds you of a raging storm from soft blowing winds to thunder and lighting. The audience is mesmerized by this first movement of the sonata.

The author uses hyperboles to create a picture of his experience of coneing in the river. An example is when the storm is first approaching, the author is saying that the river is talking to him and telling him to be prepared. On lines 25 it says “ get ready, get ready”. This shows that the storm is “talking” to him and telling him to get ready for the storm. The author also uses personification

In the first line, “My river was once unseparated. Was Colorado”, she shows the past. Next, she shows the current state of the river, “Now it is shattered by fifteen dams” (5). Then she shifts her vision from ground to the upper sky. She describes how the milky way was made, which is the title of this poem.

The speaker recollects in line 9, “Names slipping around a watery bend,” when he envisions small creatures near the edge of a river or lake falling into the water representing loss of lives as they were plunging from the burning twin towers.

Question: analyze the social and economic continuities and changes that occurred in Europe between 600 and 1750.

Staccato, one of the most remarkable characteristics in this piece, brings energy to the entire music. In the subject line of the A section (this piece has a five-part A-B-A-B-A form), the melody of the left hand purely consists of staccatos whose short, bouncing feature opens up a dynamic theme., This dynamic is further expressed as the piece enters B section, since the high-pitched notes have more distinguishable sounds and a more rapid speed. This movement then culminates at five major chords whose high pitch and strong, sharp volume produce an extraordinarily penetrating sound. All these movements delineates a playful scene of rain dancing at every corner of the world: on a roof, a stream, an umbrella, a petal of flower, etc. By reflecting sunlight, every drop of rain looks like a shining crystal that illuminates the surroundings and illuminates our heart.

Throughout the poem the tone and harmony is showing many different moods including shyness, anger and calmness. An example of shyness is at the start of the poem “softy, silently it swishes”, an example of anger is in the middle of the poem “it thumps, it sprays it rips at shores, its ozone spray”, and finally at the end of the poem calmness is shown, “it spends its strength, it sings, it sighs. The wave recedes”. One aspect of the poem I find intriguing is the alliteration and personification. For example, “it sighs, it sings, it seeks”.

The next movement of the concert from Czechoslovakia, Three Revolutionary Marches, began dramatic with leaps and high-range climaxes. The music of this piece perfectly portrays the

Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle depicts her harsh, broken childhood. Walls records somber moments with an upbeat attitude. Her demeanor displays her bravery in the darkest of times. With determination, Walls conquered her challenges and rose to the top.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

f. The song starts forte with an immediate crescendo/ decrescendo, followed by an accent mark on beat 1 mm 5. Mm 9 begins another crescendo/ decrescendo again followed by another accent. The following page brings us all the way down to a Piano, followed by a crescendo/ decrescendo and then immediately after, another crescendo/ decrescendo. Bringing us to mm 25, we are nearing the end of the piece with a forte followed by 2 decrescendos in succession to each other. There is then a fermata which allows for dramatic effect. The post fermata measure then shows a fermata and the word broaden which slows down the piece and leads you to a second fermata holding out a note forteissimo and then going back into time and ending the

Symbolism was key throughout the story, especially the bass and Sheila Mant. The Bass and Sheila were the conflict in the story, “A moment of hesitation...miraculously, the bass was still on”. The fact that the bass remained for a lengthy period of time shows its importance to the narrator. The bass essentially symbolized the narrators true passions and goals. Which at that time he let go of due to a distraction along the way. The distraction was Sheila Mant. Although the date with Sheila was a temporary illusion of happiness and accomplishment, the excitement soon faded. However, the regret of losing the bass stuck with him. He did however, overcome the obstacle which was Sheila. As for the River, it was very subtle, but represented the narrators