Brass

“The Firebird Suite” is a ballet composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1910. I am particularly fond of this piece, and place it in my personal top five greatest musical compositions of all time. I first listened to this piece back in 1999 when Disney’s, Fantasia 2000 was released. While I do not remember the visuals of the film, I recall the music quite clearly. I have forgotten about, “The Firebird Suite” until I recently bought the CD, Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, Firebird Suite (1999) at Barnes and

In the current time period, musicians have adapted to using modern instruments and reading off their own sheet music. It is straightforward to make a copy of a part for someone, or simple to order a piece offline. Back in the early 15th century, the Squarcialupi Codex was one of the many books that notated early music, a beautiful and vibrant book filled with music and gorgeous ornamental pictures. The sheer size of the codex made it possible for multiple musicians to read off of one single part

Programmatic music amongst all other genres is one of the most intriguing as it creates imagery in one’s mind and positions the listener to imagine the unknown. The purpose behind a piece of programmatic music is to tell a story, whether it be a tale of love and loss or one of childhood fantasy. These musical stories are told through a variety of compositional devices along with the manipulation of the musical elements. The classic Shakespearean story of Romeo and Juliet has been effectively retold

It was the night of November 17, 2016; the concert was to be held in the concert room of the Palmetto Center for the Arts, right across from the theater, where they were holding an acting workshop on the same night. The lights were fully illuminated and glistening on the multicolored floor. I arrived at about 6:30pm just in time to start my shift as a volunteer usher. The work was relatively easy; I stood about 10 feet away from the door of the concert hall and reminded people I saw with any food

King Kong was first released on April 7, 1933. This version was directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B Schoedsack. The lead female role, Ann Darrow, was played by Fay Wray, and the lead male role, Carl Denham, by Robert Armstrong. At the time, this movie was classified into three genres: adventure, fantasy, and horror. Most importantly, the composer of this film was Max Steiner. 72 years after the original King Kong was released, a new, three-hour long version was released on December 14, 2005

Music would not be music if it were not for the sound produced by an object we know of as an instrument. “A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds (Oxford dictionary (British & World English)).” Music dates back to many years and even before electrical instruments humans alway found a way to create sound. Whether it was by clapping, singing or humming people alway created ways to create sound. Although not a proven fact, I strongly believe music is a way to connect

The horn is one of the most complex instruments of the entire brass section. Many people call it a french horn, but now many people just call it the horn. There are two types of horns, the single horn and the double horn. The single horn plays in the key of F and the double horn plays in both F and B flat. The horn has five different parts; the mouthpiece, mouthpipe, valve system, body, and the bell. Depending on the model of the horn the bell can either be fixed on the horn or can be screwed

Bongo drums. All drums are based after this drum which is still widely used in Africa for celebrations among tribes. The Bongo drums were made, originally, from wood and cowhide. Another ancient instrument was the Timbales (drums) which were made of brass and cow hide. Drums, now, are made of

musical situations. It is used in musicals with other instruments for theme music as well as dance music. The modern day trumpet is also used in marching bands, concert bands, as well as jazz bands. My favorite setting where the trumpet is used is brass choir, where only two trumpets are used along with a trombone, tuba, and French horn. There are so many venues that the trumpet is used that many do not think about, such as rock bands and even country bands. When most people think of the trumpet

assuming. It was cool hearing all the different instruments at once hearing the different sounds it actually didn’t sound that bad. The strings were placed in the front the violins on the left, cellos and double bass for the audience view point. Brass performers were behind the strings also the harp. Then the percussion performers were all