Tuba Performance Review Essay

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 at the Berlin Philharmonie, gifted the audience with a masterful rendition of the movements within the symphony. The Symphony divides into three separate parts, in which the movements complement each other's characteristics. The symphony orchestra features a myriad of orchestral instruments featuring the Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, and Percussion families. Furthermore, the various movements throughout the performance utilize various musical concepts that bring the music to life. Albeit, the complexity of Mahler’s symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed superbly throughout the performance.

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

I found this piece very interesting; it tells a clear story, and has a dissonant accompanist which makes it sound stylistically similar to the music of musical theatre.

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

This journal is about the musical piece composed by a man named Benjamin Britten titled The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This piece was surprisingly interesting to me as it created different feelings of emotions through the instruments volume, sync, and rhythm. I do like various instrumental styles of music, however, I was hesitant about listening to a classical style orchestra. Throughout the piece it seemed the sounds would constantly change, which reminded me of the early black and white cartoons that relied on classical style music to show the emotions they were trying to make the audience feel. For example, I remember a scene from an episode of the old cartoon Popeye, when there was fast paced instrumental music in the background while Popeye was saving Olive Oyl from a dangerous situation and they both were running to get to safety. The xylophone from Bitten’s composition is what made me think of that exact episode of Popeye and Olive Oly running to get to safety.

I still watch every performance, listen to the perfect translation of emotion into music and music into emotion. Even if it’s the same program, I listen. Take mental notes. Scrutinize the flutes’ posture, the trumpets’ embouchure, and the percussionists’ transitions. There is nothing that ever goes wrong.

Overall I actually enjoyed the piece more than I thought I would. It had a nice tempo that allowed listeners to be engaged and even when the volume dropped the violins played a softer texture as if they were inviting you to listen closer and pay more attention. Generally, the theme was also joyful which I took notice of and enjoyed. Lastly, I didn’t notice any musical mistakes, and thought the piece was well played.

What is your stereotypical marching band geek? Weak, thin, and clumsy, having broken glasses and always seem to be holding their instrument?

The audience was wrapped in the complexity and intensity that radiated in this piece. This was due to the disjunct melody, as the piece sounded generally uneven, with recurring wide leaps as the piece had a wide range. It was mesmerizing, watching the technique and fast pace hand movements. Furthermore, the song had a general homophonic texture as there was a clear dominant melody being played, with a few different chords supporting the melody. Despite there being a few tempo changes as the song alternated in pace, the piece sustained a duple meter, emphasizing on the jazz rhythm. The uniqueness of the piece was especially brought out through the frequent dissonance harmony, which made the piece more interesting to listen to. The piece had an overall free rhythmic feel, allowing the combination of distinctive rhythms and dynamics into a unique melody. The timbre of the piano matched the style of music as it was successful in giving the jazzy tone to the piece. Nevertheless, I think that the use of a full orchestra is more successful in delivering the full jazz melody as each instruments timbre provides an interesting influence on the

It is a formless music, but because the performers are quite literally composing in the moment, there were three noticeable sections in the piece. The first part was developing an idea, slowly getting used to each other’s sounds, sometimes gentle and sometime aggressive. Beginning of the improvisation the drumbeat is simple but rather random. There is no set pattern that I could find, but the tom-tom pattern was rather similar so I think that was the main motif. The bass clarinet also started an idea, a 6-note pattern downward without any tonal center. He slowly develops this idea by playing a similar patters, or sequence, to concrete the idea for the audience but slightly mutating the motif little by little each time he plays it. He never plays the same way again. As the bass clarinet gets more active by increasing the amount of notes played and the intensity of the tone, the drum slowly matches the bass clarinet in aggressiveness. The drum plays very sudden loud snare drum occasionally, creating tension in the music with already atonal bass clarinet. Then the drummer starts to put a cymbal and a pad on two different drums to create a very dull thick sound. The bass clarinet and the drum both simultaneously becomes very aggressive, loud, and complex at this point. Bass clarinet sounds very similar to a saxophone at this point. The drummer still

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

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

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.

Saint Louis Brass began their set with a harmonious, traditional 1600s tune. I was amazed at how well all the sounds from the brass instruments melded together. Before hand, when I thought of brass instruments, especially trumpets, I thought of the sharp notes often played in jazz; however, the smooth sounds from the five instruments infiltrated the room, completely filling my body with a calm peace. The musicians sat, fully engaged in the music that buzzed from their lips. I really enjoy this antiquated piece of music far more than I anticipated.

Vuelta del Fuego is a Mexican based piece designed to captivate the “Zorro” like sound generated in Hollywood films. It combination of this with the “over-the-top romance” feel of Mexican style gives it a certain uniqueness and swagger to each melodic line that is passed throughout. Translated to “(The) Ride of Fire” this piece is long imaginary thrill ride that elevates an ensembles musicianship to the next level. Its fast tempos in combination with difficult melodic lines make this piece enjoyable to listen to, and it is slowly becoming a staple in the brass quintet