Harmonious Puddles Make You Lose Control

"Wagner: The Rebel"

2005-12-11T18:11:00.000-05:00

In 1842 Wagner had begun to garner approbation and fame from the immense success of his third opera, Rienzi. He and Cosima soon moved to Dresden, where the opera had premiered. The next year he was appointed Kapellmeister at the Royal Court Theater after having conducted the premiere of Der Fliegende Hollander. Over the next five years he would also compose Tannhauser and Lohengrin, all of which marked his growth and maturity as a composer. His musical career and preoccupations did nothing to fetter his political activity, however.
A leftist nationalist movement had been gaining support within the independent German States. Many middle-class citizens felt downtrodden by social inequities and wanted their rights respected and improved upon in addition to unifying each of the weak German States into a stronger nation. Wagner was an earnest participant in this movement, hosting such guests in his home as the August Rockel and Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, an associate of Marx. Rockel happened to be Wagner's assistant conductor and editor of Volksblatter, a weekly journal. It was through this journal that Wagner and other political malcontents frequently published their diatribes against the government.
Wagner expressed much zeal not only for political reform, but for cultural and artistic reform as well. He proposed a plan to the government which entailed the formation of a German national theater with an elected director, the organization of a drama school and the expansion and autonomy of the court orchestra. Such avante garde ideas were of the same democratic mind-set as the goals of the new nationalist movement, however, and were therefore rejected.
If there had been anything equivocal or uncertain about Wagner's position among the revolutionaries, they were definitely expunged from everyone's mind in June of 1848 when he gave a speech to the Vaterlandsverein, the most prominent republican group. He spoke of republican goals in relation to the ruling Saxon monarchy. He castigated the corruption frequently correlated with commerce, labeling it as a hindrance to the liberties of mankind. He also foretold the downfall of the aristocracy. While Wagner and the other middle-class radicals sought out a new, constitutional republic, the maintained that the Saxon king would govern as "the first and truest republican of all." Of course, this idea was propagated not because of their approval of the concept, but because of necessary compromise that had to be made in light of the limited power of the republican group in face of the monarchy.
Frustration with the Saxon government came to a head in April 1849 when King Frederick Augustus II dissolved his parliament and dismissed the new constitution that his people presented to him. A revolution that would come to be known as the May Uprising broke out in retaliation, but was soon to be put down by the combined strength of Saxon and Prussian forces. Soon, warrants were issued for the arrests of all the revolutionaries. Because of Wagner's past political activities and his involvement in the rebellion, he and Cosima were forced to flee for their lives. With the help of Franz Lizst, they were sheltered in Weimar, then fled to Paris by means of a false passport. They soon left Paris and finally ended up in Zurich, Switzerland. Wagner was forced to spend the next twelve years there with Cosima in exile.

"Wagner, (Wilhelm) Richard,"Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2005
http://encarta.msn.com 1997-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

"Richard Wagner." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia 2005
http://en.wikipedia.org 2005 Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

"Richard Wagner." Grove Music Online 2005
http://grovemusic.com 2005 Oxford University Press.

The Origins of Music: Innateness, Uniqueness, and Evolution

2005-12-10T15:41:00.000-05:00

Hello, my article is titled The Origins of Music: Innateness, Uniqueness, and Evolution, and although the entire article focuses on just that, my presentation focuses on explaining how the article was written and researched.
My article was long (24 pages to be exact). If I were to stand here and give a detailed, in-depth presentation of the entire article, I would most likely be standing here for a half hour, maybe even longer. Therefore, I will briefly review the article by talking about how the article is set up. Think of it as an outline to a textbook chapter or a review to a three-hour movie. [next slide]
The article begins by pointing out that music is universal in how it is found in every known human culture, past and present, and how it is incorporated with many cultural events, including weddings, funerals, religious services, dances, sporting events, and solitary listening sessions. The article questions as to why an individual has their own unique musical preferences: is it because of their cultural upbringing or an innate mechanism? The facts that every culture in the world has some form of music and most were developed independently from each other suggest that there seems to be some innate machinery motivating the production and appreciation of music. By giving a detailed account of the innate mechanisms behind music and how they interact with cultural experience, the strong constraints on the evolutionary explanations of music will become clearer.
Music is, by no means, easily defined. The article uses its own definition of music, meaning that music is structured sounds produced directly or indirectly by humans, the sounds are made to convey emotions and to produce enjoyment, and they often have complex structure. The article also describes its use of “innate traits”: traits determined by factors present in an individual from birth, even though the trait may not be present until later on in development. [next slide] As for theoretical background, the article highlights four main points: developmental evidence, comparative evidence, cross-cultural evidence, and neural, or brain, evidence. [next slide]
Developmental evidence deals with the studies of mainly infants, as this is one of the most obvious ways to study whether any aspects of music perception are innate. In a classic setup for an infant study, a sample of music is played repeatedly from a speaker in front of an infant. Once the infant is used to the music, the experimenter conducts test trials, some of which introduce some change to the music sample, such as a key change or rearrangement of the notes. If the infant is sensitive to the change that is made, then they will tend to look longer at the speaker. It is important to study infants because infants lack the cultural exposure that adults have been subject to their whole lives. [next slide]
Comparative evidence works with the studies of animals because it is a way to limit musical exposure and its effects, much like with infants. Some infant and animal tests are the same, such as placing the animal in front of the speaker and watching its reaction as the music changes. Other techniques include training animals to recognize and/or tell the difference between different types of music, only then to be tested with new untrained music to see how they handle it. Why should there be studies on animals and music if we are interested in humans and music? The animal studies show if the trait in question is unique to humans. If the trait is not uniquely human, tests in multiple species can reveal whether it evolved as a homology (inherited from a common ancestor that expressed the trait) or a homoplasy (shared across two distinct lineages lacking a common ancestor with the trait). Also, animal studies can help to establish whether the trait evolved as an adaptation to a particular problem. Comparative studies can provide insights into the evolution of music that are difficult to obtain with other methods. [next slide]
Cross-cultural evidence deals with the studies of music perception in different cultures. The common features of different cultures provide evidence of innate constraints on what people are inclined to perceptually discriminate, remember, and enjoy. Similarities between musical styles from different periods might indicate that there are innate constraints on the music cultures are likely to produce. The features of music that have not undergone change most likely represent musical features that are stable given the brain’s tendencies or constraints. There is some risk to this hypothesis in that common features might have been simply passed down across the ages and are not indications of anything built into the brain. [next slide]
Neural evidence suggest that genetic constraints on music might also be indicated by the existence of brain circuitry dedicated to music, such as the possibility of circuitry that is used primarily during music perception or production. The larger issue, though, is that even if there is evidence that part of the brain functions specifically for music perception, it is difficult to rule out the possibility that the music-specific structures in question emerged through a lifetime of musical experience rather than innate constraints. [next slide]
The article goes in depth by giving countless study examples for each of the four points. If any of you are interested in this topic at all, I suggest reading (or skimming as this is very long and tends to repeat itself) this article as it is filled with different studies and hypothesizes.

"How Loud Is My Voice Inside My Mouth and Throat"

2005-12-09T23:14:00.000-05:00

In, “How Loud is My Voice Inside My Mouth and Throat?” one of the Journal of Singing’s articles for this year, Ingo R. Titze explains how the sound that is produced within the larynx is not the same sound that is heard by the listener. Now, he isn’t referring to tone color, or even resonance. What Mr. Tizte is talking about in this article is how the actual loudness of the sound is greatly diminished after leaving the throat.

Mr. Titze mentions two different terms which are usually related to sound intensity with loudness being the more common of the two. Loudness is actually what is referred to as a “psycho-acoustical measurement”. This means that loudness is a subjective term that has no specific definition or precise scale, but is subject to the internal interpretation of the listener. For example, at home my mother will often complain about that the television is too loud while my brother and I are watching it. We will not necessarily think that the volume of the television is too loud, but that is the way my mother perceives it. Even if I am you are borrowing someone’s headphones, for example, I doubt that you would leave it on the previous setting; we all have different opinions about what loud is. There is no specific level where loudness becomes present nor is there a specific level where loudness diminishes or becomes non-existent.

An example more pertinent and relevant to our lives as musicians is the deviation and differences in the same dynamic marking between different performers, or even the same performers playing the same piece at a previous or later time. We are taught from the beginning of our musical training that forte means to play loudly and piano means to play soft. Yet there is no one set level of volume for either of the dynamic markings, nor any dynamic markings for that matter. The fortes and pianos that one plays can depend upon the health of the performer, the particular instrument played upon, the size of the performing venue, and other various factors. The actual precision of the dynamics in a piece must then be measured in respects to the dynamics of all notes in sections in relation to each other. For example, the louder one’s normal forte, the less soft the performer’s piano. However, the player or singer’s fortissimo would have to be louder in order to be consistent with the forte and the other dynamic changes.

So in short, the loudness of sound is a subjective thing that is capricious and is set in accordance to many other volatile factors. Yet there is a way that scientists accurately measure the intensity of sound emission. They do this by measuring the sound pressure level, or SPL. While loudness is a subjective analysis, the SPL is actually a physical measure. In spite of this, the SPL is useful method of estimating what would be the generally perceived loudness.

This estimation is possible because of the standard reference pressure used to measure acoustic emission, 0.00002 Pascal. This particular level of sound pressure is so miniscule that it is just barely discernible even by the best ears in the most ideal surroundings. Our ears are able to manage sounds over a million times this reference pressure, however, so this logarithmic equation is used to calculate the SPL: 20 log10 P/P0 dB. The SPL is always measured in decibels. Inside of our vocal tract airway, the SPL can exceed 1000 Pascal.
Different areas of the air tract obviously have different pressures as well. The varying pressures consist of a great range of disperate levels. For example, the pressure in the lungs can range from 800 Pa to over 3000 Pa. The body is thus capable of producing sound well over the pain threshold.
So if our body is this great conduit of sound, why then does so much less pressure come across to our listeners? This is because the acoustic energy is emitted in a continuing circle outward from the head. This means that the sound is distributed across more surface area, which greatly minimizes on the SPL. Another cause is that much of our sound is reflected by our mouth, tongue and other internal structures, also diminishing the intensity of the sound.

In conclusion, the SPL is greatly diminished upon exiting the body because of the reflection of sound and the increase of area upon which the sound is spread. Within our own air paths the sound is significantly louder. Take in mind that if the sound were not so affected upon exiting the mouth, one would be able to hear a singer from a distance of twenty miles away. This is, of course, a hypothetical situation, but one that gives one a great appreciation for the natural, untampered power of the human voice.

Titze, Ingo R. "How Loud Is My Voice Inside My Mouth and Throat?" The Journal of Singing 19 (2005) : 177-178.

The Feeling of Music Past

2005-12-09T22:26:00.000-05:00

The Feeling of Music Past: How Listeners Remember Musical Affect

Article written by Alexander Rozin

Report written by Gabriel Yonkler

Introduction
This study discussed in the article from this article was conducted to determine how listeners derive evaluations of past aural musical experiences based on moment-to-moment increments as well as overall evaluation.  The experiment will provide us possible ways and reasons people feel and remember music based on intensity.

Background Knowledge
A musical experience is felt differently based on specific moments of a musical experience or piece.  The characteristics of moment-to-moment listening that influence “remembered musical affect” are the music’s intensity and quality.  Despite temporary differences in felt musical affect, listeners form a overall evaluation of an experience/piece after it has ended, reducing the many different effects felt into a single word, or even a cliché (e.g., sad, good, out of this world).  This article investigates how listeners remember these musical influences; how they assess a past musically effective experience.  A study of remembered musical affect and how it derives from moment-to-moment affect is a crucial element of a total understanding of musical influence.  “How does a listener’s designation of a piece as ‘sad’ or ‘intense’ emerge from a continually changing experience that may last several hours?”

Past Research and Results
Experiment #1: The first experiment, led by Daniel Kahneman, proposes insight on how to explore the affiliation between remembered affect and moment-to-moment affect.  Despite this experiment not relating to music and dealing with pain rather than intensity, this research can still aid us in our current study.  Participants of the study evaluated plotless movie clips from ocean waves to an active volcano, which yielded pleasant/unpleasant responses and overall evaluations.  The statistical analysis from the experiment showed that the best predictor for remembered affect of positive film clips is the sum of the highest of the moment-to-moment ratings (the affective peak) during the clip, and the momentary rating at the end of the clip.  This is what Kahneman called the peak-end rule.  As far as negative film clips are concerned, the affective peak rating appeared to be the best predictor of remembered affect.  In both positive and negative examples, the duration of the film clips did not have any influence on the retrospective ratings.  This is known as duration neglect.  Although it is rational to think that by adding moments of appeal or pleasure makes an experience better and adding pain makes it worse, this experiment refutes that logic.
Experiment #2: This experiment further investigates the role of duration neglect we found in the first experiment.  Each participant provided on-line and retrospective ratings of two separate experiences.  In the first trial, participants dipped one of their hands in 14˚C (57.2˚F) water and left it submerged for sixty seconds.  The next trial was the same as the first trial, except after the initial sixty seconds, the experimenters heated the water from 14˚C to 15˚C (59˚F) in an additional thirty seconds.  If the peak-end rule predicts remembered affect like in the positive film clips, than the participants would have preferred the second trial because it ended with a higher temperature, which was lower pain or less uncomfortable in that case, than the first trial.  This came to be true as most participants wanted to repeat the second trial.  Again the length of the trial had no effect on the remembered affect even though the longer trial proved to be more enjoyable; it was simply the temperature that affected remembered affect.

Hsee and Abelson (1991)
Experiments Hsee and Abelson believed that the significance of other moment-to-moment characteristics go beyond the peak-end rule.  They suggest that the positive or negative slope of change within a musical experience is perhaps the dominant factor for evaluating these past experiences.  Evidence shows that participants naturally prefer declining sequences of pain rather than increasing sequences.

The Main Experiment

“Hypothesis 1. Duration Neglect: The length of a piece of music should contribute minimally to the remembered affect.”

“Hypothesis 2. Peak Significance: The peak of momentary affective intensity should disproportionately influence remembered affect.”

“Hypothesis 3. End Significance: The last momentary affective intensity should disproportionately influence retrospective evaluations of affect.

“Hypothesis 4. Slope Significance: The slope of moment-to-moment intensity experience should influence remembered intensity in some significant way. Perhaps a larger, more positive slope translates into better memory encoding.”

The following study tests the validity of these hypotheses for music.  How do listeners derive a single remembered intensity from moment-to-moment intensities?  Do any or all of these effects hold for experiencing music?

(Turn on projector)

Procedure: Twenty participants from the University of Pennsylvania (seven male, thirteen female, with an average age of 21, and each had varied musical training ranging from 0-15 years) were to listen to fourteen different selections (see Table 1) each played twice consecutively.  These selections varied from pop music to classical and that the length of each selection would range from forty seconds to three minutes.  While the participants listened to the selected music, a pressure sensitive button on the right arm of recliner they were seated in was used to determine the moment-to-moment emotional intensity.  To gather information of remembered affects, in addition to the pressure sensitive button, the participants filled out a questionnaire after each selection.
Results: For eighteen out of the twenty participants, the connections between remembered intensity and liking were positive.  The more intense memories of a piece of music the listener has, the more that listener likes the piece.  Table 2 is a clear representation of this observation.  As you can see also from Table 2, eighteen out of the twenty participants had a positive correlation between remembered intensity and familiarity.  Although not as influential as the connection with liking, remembered intensity does appear to depend on familiarity.  Table 3 is a clear indication of duration neglect.  The remembered intensity is better predicted by the average of moment-to-moment affects than the sum of moment-to-moment affects for nineteen of the twenty participants.  (Change slide to fig.4 +5).
     Data gathered from the experiment does not support the peak-end rule.  Peak plus offset was the best predictor of remembered intensity for only three participants, while compared to five for average, five for offset, and seven for peak.  Further analysis reveals that peak and end significance are examples of more general effects.  End significance results from a recency effect.  Recency is a familiar property of memory and demonstrates that greater amounts of time between initial learning of information and attempts to recall that information yield inaccurate recall.  Peak significance is an indicator of an intensity effect.  This concept can be understood by the correlations between remembered intensity and intensity-ranked values of on-line experience.  Listeners derive remembered experience predominantly from the most intense moments of on-line experience.  The least intense moments contribute relatively little to affective memory.
     The last effect that was observed from the data is a slope effect (change slides).  A measure of the slope of a moment-to-moment curve is the difference between one moment and its immediate antecedent, which in this experiment is measured by 0.1 seconds before that moment (refer to figure 3).

2005-12-09T21:55:00.000-05:00

(Turns slide on and appears title) Good morning everyone! Right now, I will ask everyone to take out a scratch piece of paper and a pencil. I will play 15 seconds of a piece, and I would like you to tally/count how many soft tones are in the melody. (Play melody, and then give a couple of seconds for them to review). I will now play it once more, and I would like you to see if you have missed any. Talk about the answers everyone got. This introduces the topic: Differential Brain Response to Metrical Accents in Isochronous Auditory Sequences. Within the sequences, listeners may distinguish the tones from one another, and hear the accenting of the sound events. The process of grouping is one of the basic method performed while listening to music.
(change slide) The Basic Process of Grouping The sequence of events is segmented into units, which this limits processing time and memory demands.
Despite how old you are and how much musical education you have received you will conform a general pattern in the sequence.
Perceptual and cognitive principles have been proposed by Drake & Bertrand to be universal.
(Change slide) Phenomenal Accents
“any event at the musical surface that gives emphasis or stress to a moment in the musical flow.”
“The physical properties of certain tones, the time intervals between them, or their serial position within the sequences make some events more perceptually salient (accented) than others.”
These professors in the article did a reasearch on different brain reactions. They had an amount of males and feamles. They let them play the melody as much as they wanted to. Then they had to write about what they heard.

Influences of Temporal Fluctuation on Infant Attention

2005-12-09T15:19:00.000-05:00

In the auditory world of human life, the events that occur and how we as listeners react to them, is based entirely on predictability. Whether listening to a Mozart Sonata, a clock ticking, or a bell chiming every hour, we hear these different events based on their being predictable or not. The article puts it simply enough, “A soothing lullaby exemplifies a highly predictable event…a sudden exclamatory vocalization exemplifies a relatively predictable event.”
The article by Nakata and Mitani describes an experiment which tests infant attention based on the regularity and irregularity of controlled sounds. Before the experiment is described the authors mention numerous examples from various works dealing with reactions to sound sequences when dealing with infants. For instance, infants have the ability to detect subtle “auditory events,” like differences in the time between “brief tones” (Trehub, Schneider, and Henderson). Also, infants are said to be able to detect acceleration from a constant sound and tempo sequence of an intermediate tempo if the ending tempo is 15% faster than the original (Baruch and Drake).
The article goes on to discuss information dealing with the ability of adults and infants to differentiate meter-preserving and meter-violating musical patterns. American adults could tell a difference in simple meters that had disturbances, but not in complex meters (often found in music of Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, and South Asia). Adults from Bulgaria and Macedonia who are familiar with simple and complex meters were able to hear the violations in both meters. Oddly enough, American infants, who had little contact with western and eastern music, were also able to hear the disturbances contained in both the simple and complex meters. (Hannon and Trehub)
The last topic before the experiment discusses “infants’ responsiveness to the maternal speech style.” First they mention adult directed speech, normal talk, and infant directed speech, baby talk. Many feel that babies are more likely to pay attention to infant speech because of the exaggerated pitches and contour lines (Fernald and Kuhl), but further research reasons that babies have no preference of adult directed versus infant directed based on pitch modulation alone (Colombo and Horowitz). They hypothesized that the rhythm of infant directed speech plays an important role in keeping the infants’ attention. Next, they described different ideas dealing with maternal singing opposed to maternal speech. An experiment by Shenfield, Trehub, and Nakata provided evidence to suggest that singing increases the level of health and lowers stress in infants. The last idea by Drake and Bertrand says that humans are predisposed to consistent sound based on internal oscillations and expectancies of future events.
The second half of the article addresses the experiment. Nakata and Mitani decided to test attention towards regular and irregular sound sequences for infants in two age groups, 6-8 months and 9-11 months old. They theorized that regular sound sequences would keep the attention of both age groups and irregular sequences which require more cognitive thinking would keep the older infants’ attention better than the younger infants’ attention. They made sure to note that all infants were healthy, free from congestion or ear infections, and had no family history of hearing loss to assure that all children had good hearing ability that would not skew the results. The participants consisted of 17 infants between 6 and 8 months of age and 15 infants between 9 and 11 months. An iBook computer was used to present visual and audio stimuli for the participants. The main stimuli consisted of a sound sequence, sounding similar to a xylophone tone, each sequence lasting 30 seconds in length, either a regularly occurring tone sequence or an irregularly occurring sequence. The visual stimulus was needed so that the infants would link the sound to the image allowing the testers to recognize and record the time that the infants were looking at the image (listening to the music), and not listening. The results found that younger infants looked longer at the regular sequence in the last five trials versus the first 5 trials but lost interest in the irregular sequence, having shorter listening times in the last 5 trials. The older infants had similar regular and irregular looking times with both decreasing from the first 5 trials to that last 5.
In conclusion, the authors were correct in certain portions of their hypothesis. They guessed that the regular sequence would hold infants’ attention longer than the irregular sequence. For younger infants, this was exactly true with their attention to regular increasing and irregular decreasing. On the other hand, older infants’ attention to the differing sequences stayed the same, decreasing in both tests. The younger infant results make sense based on studies dealing with motor development which show that regularity is very important at 6 months. Infants are said to kick at regular intervals until about 6 months.
The article goes on further to mention a study by Deckner, Adamson and Bakeman, stating that “rhythmic maternal vocalizations were associated with good infant language outcomes.” Experiments on auditory temporal patterns and attention still have much more research to carry out, controlled tests to run, and outcomes to analyze.

Harmonious Music Helps You Keep Control

2005-12-09T14:15:00.000-05:00

(SLIDE) Norman Cook's recent book Tone of Voice and Mind: The Connections Between Intonation, Emotion, Cognition, and Consciousness is examined chapter by chapter in this article by Klaus R. Scherer and David Sander, appearing in the journal Music Perception. (CHANGE SLIDE)
First, a quick look is taken at Cook's previous book entitled The Brain Code, and Scherer and Sander say that the expectations are high for the new book. They say that Cook is "a thoughtful and provocative author in the surging domain of the neurosciences," or dealing with the nervous system. Cook is said to find new ways to think about things, as opposed to the traditional, "inside-the-box" thinking of some modern scientists. (CHANGE SLIDE)
The main argument in Cook's book is the fact that the human brain does not contain two completely different hemispheres, but rather two parts that have complimenting components. A musical example would be that the right side of the brain picks up on pitch, harmony, and melody, while the left side focuses on processing rhythm and tempo of tones. Cook uses another example of how humans digest language to support this idea.
One thing that the authors disagree with Cook about is the fact that Cook says that this asymmetry of the hemispheres is not true in the case of animals. Cook says that this fundamental principal dictates human nature, while the authors point out that animals also share this, specifically pointing to songbirds. (CHANGE SLIDE) Studies have shown that canaries display song control with the left hemisphere and harmonic control with the right hemisphere. (CHANGE SLIDE) Pointing this out, the authors make the amusing comment that this conclusion doesn't only point out "what it means to be a human but also…what it means to be a canary." (CHANGE SLIDE)
The next chapters are focused on the affective, or emotion causing, properties of pitch in spoken words. What is suggested is that when in high spirits and good moods, the intonation of someone's speech will reflect this by generally outlining major triads, and when in low spirits and bad moods, the triads will be minor. The author's may agree, but they believe that this information is provided in a sketchy and unclear manner. For example, they discuss that Cook referenced the general consensus that major chords are linked to happiness, while minor tones are linked to sadness. There is little reference to examples dealing with speech, however, according to the authors. (CHANGE SLIDE)
Cook's reference deals with animal calls. He says that higher, shriller animal calls are associated with inferiority in status, whereas lower, stronger calls display dominance. The authors point out that Cook does not take into account that a lion's low and high pitches are much different in range than a monkey's low and high pitches. Also, threats meaning to display dominance may sound gruff, while high pitched, shrill alarm calls do not sound minor and dark.
Another main argument is that all of these moods revolve around the fact that minor scales are differentiated from major scales by harmonic ambiguity or tensions. The authors note this several times, referring to Cook's work and following back to the previous situations, such as animal calls. It is not merely the pitch that determines whether or not the call is dominant or submissive, but the subtle changes in the tones, creating harmonic consonances, or pleasing sounds, or harmonic dissonances, or unsettling, incomplete sounds. However, the authors find inconsistencies in this thought as well. Cook does not explain a reason why a decrease in one of the pitches of the chord, normally creating dissonance, actually creates a bright, happy sound, while the change in the fundamental frequency, or bass pitch, is foreboding when animals are trying to scare or dominate others. (CHANGE SLIDE)
The authors tend to agree with Cook's ideas, but frequently find them to be incomplete or contradictory. There are a few more chapters, but they are breezed through in the article toward the end, only stating a few facts about the last part of the book. In general, Scherer and Sander are saying that Cook is on the right track, but his ideas, at least in this book, are not yet complete enough to be taken seriously by the neuroscientific community.

2005-12-08T22:58:00.000-05:00

Is there a perception based alternative to kinematic models of tempo rubato?
By Henkjan Honing

A theory commonly accepted says that kinematic models have no effect. Kinematic models are made up of three parts.
Number of events
Overall rhythmic structure of the piece
Overall tempo of the piece

A huge part of kinematic structure is the final ritard. Fridberg and Fridberg, scholars who studied final ritard in depth, found that the final ritard induces inner human movement. Also found a mathematical equation known as the Runner's Declaration.

Note density also plays a role in kinematic structure. The question taht note density raises is whether the rhythm is synchopated, or the tempo is indeed slowing.

Rhythmic structure- quantizers take time patterns after the tempo of teh piece is presented, and predicts the percieved duration of the slowing tempo. The best/most useful quantizers are symbolic, connectionist, and traditional. It's been assumed that a musician intuitively follows the rhythmic structure.

The global tempo is the overall speed at which an expressive performance. The overall tempo of the piece constrains expressive freedom.

In conclusion, this study finds that the closest mathematical resemblance to a final ritard is a square root function, or in lamen's terms, the higher the tempo, the more of a chance of a grandeur final ritard.

"Voicecraft" Study

2005-12-08T21:36:00.000-05:00

The article by Alison D. Banghall and Kirsty McCulloch is about a study on “The Impact of Specific Exertion on the Efficiency and Ease of the Voice.” Previous and recent voice literature has encouraged avoiding exertion, muscular tension and strain by relaxing to produce a better sound. Speech pathologists follow the same techniques with patients with voice disorders by use of “progressive relaxation.” “Progressive relaxation” is done by tensing and relaxing certain parts of the body, one part at a time, to understand what relaxation truly feels like. Contrary to the idea that relaxation produces the best voicing is the belief that those using a great deal of energy and proper amounts of exertion, will produce the best tone. “Voicecraft” is a technique based off of the physiological and acoustical studies of Honda and Estill, which focuses on exertion control to help with health, stamina, and versatility of the voice for both speakers and singers by controlling the laryngeal muscles for efficient functioning of the vocal folds. It’s focus is to help be aware of the difference between the less desirable sound and the sought out sound. To help establish the best form of exertion, whether controlled or not at all, a pilot study was conducted.

The study was made up of 10 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 50, 7 women and 3 men, 7 speech and language therapists and three singers with different levels of training. These volunteers participated in a “Voicecraft” workshop in 2002, in England and Greece. These workshops ranged from 3 to 6 day trainings which taught the volunteers different techniques to control the larynx to rid strain and remain comfortable in order to produce a clear sound. The technique helped the volunteers to contract certain muscles in an orderly fashion and to perceive the difference in different amounts of exertion but does not deal with breathing techniques and avoids all references to relaxation. To help determine if the “Voicecraft” training is beneficial, each subject was hooked up to Sony Digital Audio Tape-corder, Walkman and JVC Binaural Headphone Stereo Microphone and was recorded before and immediately after the training. A subject sang or read a passage, according to their profession, for both recordings, as well as sustained the [i] sound for analysis, then filled out a questionnaire. In this questionnaire the subjects were asked to label the amount of total exertion on a 7-point scale, with 7 being the most. The second question asked them to specify a percentage on certain body parts, corresponding with their total exertion. Lastly, they were asked to rank on a 4 point scale, their total comfort during both recordings, ranging from “uncomfortable” to “extraordinarily easy and comfortable.”

To begin the analysis of the data, the digital recordings of the sustained [i] sound were sent to Kay’s Computerized Speech Laboratory, in Lincoln Park, NJ.. Similar 10 second sections of both the pre-training and post-training recordings were analyzed specifically for noise-to-harmonic ratio, and jitter and shimmer, to measure the level of efficiency of the signal. Then the recordings of the passages and songs were analyzed by 6 experts: 3 speech pathologists and 3 experienced voice instructors. These experts were asked to compare the pairs of recordings, played in random order, for each subject, and decide which recording had a better tone quality with respects to “audible breathiness, strain, or roughness.”

The results of the questionnaires completed by the subjects show they rated “comfort and ease” significantly higher for the post-training recordings. The average rating at this point was 3.5 on a 4 point scale. 50% of the subjects stated their voices were uncomfortable pre-training, but post-training, all of the subjects stated complete comfort with half of them stating it to be “extraordinarily easy and comfortable.” The overall exertion had little change on the 7 point scale where 4 subjects said they felt an increase, 1 said it remained the same, and 5 said it had decreased. The percentage assignment to a specific body part’s exertion showed only one increase in exertion: the head and neck. The chest, throat and abdomen all showed a decrease. The most significant change in exertion was with an increase in the back. The results showed an 18.72% increase, changing from an average of 11.78% to 30%. Although 8 out of 10 subjects reported their back muscles working harder, none of them reported working any less.

The results of the noise-to-harmonic ratio with the sustained [i] sound reported there was a significant difference with an audible improvement in breathiness, strain, and roughness. The results from the perceptual analysis by the experts also reported an improvement. All of the experts agreed which recording of the pair was indeed the post-training sample, but only were able to agree on 8 out of the 10 subjects had outstanding post-training recordings with regards to breathiness, strain, and roughness.

These results show the “Voicecraft” training is efficient and effective by producing a significant improvement in the quality of the voice while increasing the level of comfort and ease. The subjects were never told to sing a specific way during either recording ,yet the results of the post-training recording show the subjects had remembered and applied the techniques. “Voicecraft” targets reduction of strain in the throat, abdomen, and chest and an increase of exertion in the head, neck, and back. This technique’s efficiency is shown through the decrease of the average percentage of overall exertion in the throat, chest and abdomen, and a significant increase in the back. Relaxation was never mentioned during the training, yet it is evident that controlled relaxation in specific areas occurred, which allowed for the controlled exertion in the other areas. This study of “Voicecraft” training shows it is effective to not be completely relaxed when wanting the best voice quality, but it is not the only effective training. Other similar techniques are also being tested and studied to hopefully define the best use of controlled relaxation and exertion to efficiently produce the best clarity of voice.

Effects of a Change in Instrumentation on the Recognition of Musical Materials

2005-12-08T20:10:00.000-05:00

Effects of a Change in Instrumentation on the Recognition of Musical Materials

[Timbre- tone color: brass has a different timbre than woodwinds]

The main purpose of this study was to determine whether or not different instrumentation has an effect on a person’s ability to recognize a melody. The study also provided an opportunity to determine whether timbre, along with pitch and rhythm, helps to define the identity of a musical work. For example, would Moonlight Sonata be as recognizable if it were performed by an orchestra instead of a piano? In the history of Western music, the timbre of a piece of music, which is created by its instrumentation, has always been considered less important than its pitches and its rhythms.

Several previous studies contributed to the formation of this study’s hypothesis. The first, a study completed by Peretz & Kolinsky in 1993, asked participants to make various judgments about two consecutively sounded pitches. When the two pitches were performed on the same instrument, those participating in the study were able to judge them faster and with greater accuracy than when the pitches were performed on two different instruments.

A study completed by Pitt & Crowder in 1992 suggested that the timbre of a pitch can actually influence someone’s perception of the pitch. In this study, subjects were again asked to listen to two consecutive tones. After hearing the tones, they were to determine whether the second pitch was the same as or different than the first one. When the timbre remained constant, the listeners had no trouble providing the correct answers, however, when the timbre changed, the listener’s accuracy decreased significantly.

Contrary to the Pitt and Crowder study, however, was the Semal and Demany study of 1991, which attempted to study the relationship between pitch memory and timbre. They concluded that pitch memory is independent of timbre and that there is no correlation between the pitch and the timbre of a note.

But again in 1998, a study by Peretz, Gaudreau, and Bonnel showed the strong effect of timbre change on melody recognition. Melodies that stayed in the same timbre were recognized with greater accuracy than melodies that were performed in different timbres.

Because of the results of these studies, along with a few others, it was believed that the timbre of a piece of music would be influential in the work’s recognition.

The Trials

For the first trial, 73 students from a university in France participated: 29 were regular university students, and 44 were music students. Musical excerpts from The Angel of Death, a piece composed by Reynolds in 2004, were played for them. 18 of the excerpts were performed on piano, and 18 were played by a chamber orchestra.
The experimental procedure was performed in two phases. In the first phase, which was referred to as “the learning phase,” participants were asked to carefully listen to 9 excerpts, which were a combination of piano and orchestral recordings. They were told before the examples were played that there would be a recognition test following the learning phase.

In the recognition phase of the study, the participants were asked to listen to 18 excerpts. 9 of them were those they had listened to earlier, and 9 were other sections of the same work. Sometimes, the timbre of the old sections was different than in the first hearing, and sometimes it remained the same.

They were then asked whether or not they had heard each of the 18 excerpts previously. For the non-musicians, the percentages of correct answers always hovered between 50 and 60%, or just a little over chance. Only with the trained musicians did the timbre appear to have a significant effect.

It was then decided that since the participants had been told before listening to the original 9 excerpts that they were going to be tested later over recognition, the results may have be misleading. So, a second trial, nearly identical to the first, was prepared and set into motion. The only difference being that the students were not informed of the second phase of the study.

The results of the second trial were nearly identical to those of the first. When the same excerpt was replayed in the same timbre (both performed by an orchestra), the accuracy of the participants in recognizing it was 80%. However, when a melody was performed first by an orchestra, and then by a piano, the accuracy was only 55%.

There was also a third trial performed as part of this study. The purpose was the same, and the only difference was category of musical excerpt chosen. Instead of contemporary instrumental music, the chosen selection was Liszt’s Symphonic Poem #3. The results of this third study were similar to the two previous ones.

In conclusion, the timbre of a musical work can influence an audience’s recognition of it.

Sound

2005-12-08T15:37:00.000-05:00

What is sound and how do our bodies deal with sound? That's what I'm going to talk about today. Most people would describe sound by saying it something you hear. It is actually sed to describe two different things: 1) it's an auditory sensation in the ear and more precisely, the ear drum and 2)the disturbance in the medium that causees this sensation. But there is a lot to be explained in these two definitions.
Sound is carried through gases, liquids, and solids by sound waves. When we think of "waves", we usually think of the ocean. But sound waves create a different motion but generally all waves--light waves, water waves, shock waves, and radio waves--have some similiar properties. They can be reflected or refracted, which means that they bend as they travel from 1 medium to another. Think ofa corridor with a bend. 1 side has a light and after the bend, there are no lights in the hallway. You are standing in the dark portion and you can't see where the light is coming from but you can still see light. [I'll be drawing a figure on the board]. THis is because ethe light waves are bouncinng off thew alls until they reach the bend and travel down the perpendicular corridor and into your eyes. The same thing would happen if a perso was talking in the same spot as our presupposed light bulb--you cant see the person but the sound waves are still hitting you ear. The waves transport information and enery through a medium without actually transportinng hte medium itself. In space, sound cannot travel because there is no medium for it to pass through. A sound is a disturbance or small movement that passes through the particles of the medium. Imagine air particles between a stereo and a persons ear. The sounds waves leave the stereo and bump into the air particles closest to it. [another figure drawn by me]. These particles quiver a ltitle and bump innto their neighboring particles. This chain reaction continues all the way to your ear, wehre the particles collide with yor ear drum and make it vibrate. This vibration sends a signal to yor brain that you are heaving something. The brain then interprets the sounds as music or words. Louder sounds are percieved to be such becasue the particles shake and collide with each other and consequently hit your ear faster and harder. The particles retrn to their calm state after the waves have passed. Sound waves are slower then other kinds of waves, traveling at 343 m/s or 1125 ft/s in air, compared to light waves which travel at 3*10^8 m/s or 186,000 ft/s.
The threshold of audibility is the minimum pressure flctuationns t which your ear can respond. For most people, the threshohld lies at one billionth of atmospheric pressure. On the flip side, the threshold of audibility is a sound pressure change of 1 million times greater but still less then 1/1000 of atmosphere pressure. [Table 3.2]
Sound pressure leverls are differnet than "loudness" because loudness is a subjective thing. After hearinng a rock concert, people usually talk louder than normal because their ears have gotten used o hearing loud noises and base all other noises on previous sounds. Loudness also depends on the frequency of the sound--high sounds will alwyas seem louder to our ears than lower sounds even though they might have the same sound pressure level. This is important to remember as musicians in order to keep a balance of sounds, whether you are a pianist or play in a group setting. HIgh sounds seem louder because they almost always fall in the range of 1000-4000 hz which is where the ears are most sensitive. Music usually falls inn the middle of the range of sounds in both Hz and dicibels. [ Table 3.3]
Music tries to express different levels of loudnes sby dynamics. THer are six common ones from pp to ff but research has shown that musicians rarley play all six dynammics throughouut any given cocert. As musicians, we need to remember that the loudness is all relative. A piece may be marked piano, bt htat doesn't mean that you necessarily have to start very soft--instead, you need to be able tto make a much louder sound relatvive to the beginning sound in order for your audience to recognize the differnet as p>>>f. Many wind and string instruments rarely go over 20 db althoguh thhere are multiple exceptions to this statement, for example: saxophones and violins. This also highly depends on how far the listener is from the instrument. Generally, it is established that the sound pressure level decreases 6 db as the distance doubles. It also depends on the source power of the innstument. This power, like elcticity, is measure in watts. However, to be practical in the numbers, people express the power level in decibels by using a reference level which is a power of 10-12 watts. THe most powerful instrument in the orchestra is the bass drum which emits a powere level of 20 W or 133 db at its loudest. At a distance of 1 meter, thhe db level is 122, while at 10 meters is still loud at 102 db. This explains why the bass drum can always be heard over the entire orchestra. This causes a problem in the balance of the orchestras sound because some tonns can be masked by other tones.
Masking the upward shift in nthe hearing threshold of hte weaker tone by the stronger one. Weak and stronng are just words used to describe the relationnship and do not correspond with the words softer and louder, althhough that obviously can happen. masking can happen when 2 tons hhappen simultaneously but more surprisin is the fact that masking can happen even when they are not.
Now taht I've discussed waht loudness is and how it related to the human ear, I want to discuss the differnece betwee the loudness of a short, impulsive sound capared to thhe loudness of a steady sound at hte same level. Previous experiments hahve shown that the ear averages sounds over 200 milliseconds so that teh sond grows over time up to that level. People cannot feel this growth in sound because 200 milliseconds is a really shohrt time.
The human ear has come up withh defenses to protect itself from the damage of very loud sounds. THe ear can give effective protection for up to 20 db by the muscles attached to hte eardum and the bones that are attched to the middle ear called ossicles. WHen the sound elvel reaches over 83 db, occicles muscles tighten another mscle called the ossicular chain and pull 2 bones called stapes away form the cochlea. This reactionn to loud sounds is call the acoustic effect. However, thihs reflex doesn't kick in until 30 or 40 milliseconds afterh sounds begins. Also, the reaction to cover the ears with you hands usually only occurs after 150 milliseconds. This means that loud, unexpected sounds can do damage to the ear before any reaction can occur. An interesting concept to think about is what kind of protection the human body would have developed had loud sounds of hte modern world hahd existe for millins of years. Maybe soemthing like earlids?

Presentation Transcript

2005-12-08T09:38:00.000-05:00

“Music Perception”
Differential Brain Response to Metrical Accents in Isochronous Auditory Sequences
By Donna Abecasis and others
Equidistant Tones: as it Relates to the Brain and Groupings
What makes for the meter of a song?
(4 quarter notes on the same line repeated)
Grouping in Music Introduction
1) Very Basic Process that occurs because of memory stipulations
2) Statistics
I. Children and Adults Alike
II. Leads to accents (Strong vs. Weak Beats)
3) Accents are a basic form of organization that starts through brain waves. Your brain waves cause the accent, the accent does not cause the brain wave.
Example: The way people say words sometimes depends on where they
think the accent lies in the word or phrase.
I. Phenomenal Accents-any events in music that have a stress was researched in this article and is the basis for it
II. (aside)Structural accents and Metrical accents exist but are not emphasized
III. Accents are then organized into what is called events or happenings

3b) Recap grouping to accentuation and emphasize the word events
3) Events (actions) are the time that one note or “event” takes can cause it to be accented simply because of the way the line is written by the composer. Also the pitch and other factors can lead to accentuation. So, different properties can also lead to a note being accented.
Some theories say: An accent is an event... An attention getting event
Theory 2 Says: Changes are better processed on accented events than on unaccented ones.

4) Now we arrive at the question of the day. What happens when there are no changes in stimuli? So, can we prove that accentuation starts in the mind not just in events that cause accentuation?
5) With the use of identical sound and time sequences (reference the quarter note example) we can begin to experiment and make some conclusions.
6) People will generally report that they hear a group of tones (usually 2,3, or 4 tones) with an accent on the first tone of each group. (Subjective Rhythmization)
7) So, we could simply ask people are since accents are attention getting events, we can measure brain waves to come to a more substantial answer.
8) Components of measurements for brain waves are used to measure auditory significance.
9) Now that a conclusion has been reached about holding each note constant, we can move on to change one note to be higher or lower but hold all else constant….i.e. hold rhythm constant.
I. So, the the beats that were tested was 8,9,10 and11.This gives the individual time to hear accented rhythms in their mind.
II. A change in the tone of was placed on each one of the following beats. But each time the tone was changed, It was changed to be the exact same tone just in a different place in the number of tones 8, 9, 10, and 11.
10) The conclusion ended up being that peoples brain activity increased more on the oddly numbered events where changes occurred on the evenly numbered events.
Explain: 8 and 10 versus 9 and 11
Experiment Concluded
11) What if the changes occurred by making one beat longer and holding all else constant?
12) Used an alternating long-short pattern(Binary) and long-short-short pattern(ternary) holding everything else equal.
13) Used EEG recording for brain waves and the same techniques or changing the 8,9,10, and 11 tones were implied only with elongation being the change not a change in the tone.
14) Two groups were separated (binary and ternary) and a control group was used.
15) Data collected supported the hypothesis that on the “weak beats” people response would be height. (Significantly larger amplitude in 9 and 11)
Refer to page 7

"Voice Onset Time"

2005-12-06T21:08:00.000-05:00

In this study, an experiment was done to assess the differences in Voice Onset Time (VOT) between trained male singers and non-trained male singers. The hypothesis was that the trained males would have a longer (VOT), especially during singing, because of the physiological changes caused by vocal training and the alleged recurrent weakness in articulation during singing. It was also hypothesized, however, that trained and non-trained singers' articulatory timing during speaking would be similar. The experiment was conducted by having five male trained singers and five male non-trained singers sing and speak several phrases with a specific, designated vowel each time. The results showed that there is a very distinct, pronounced difference in VOT in trained singing and non-trained singing. While the hypothesis correctly showed that singers sing with longer VOTs than non-singers, it was found that this is due to more deliberate, articulate phonation, not imprecision. The hypothesis was also correct in predicting that VOT among trained singers and non-trained singers would be similar; the difference in VOT among trained singers and non-trained singers was negligible.

McCrea, Christopher R., and Richard J. Morris. " Comparisons of Voice Onset Time for Trained Male Singers and Male Nonsingers During Speaking and Singing." The Journal of Voice 19 (2005): 420-429.

Influences of Temporal Fluctuation on Infant Attention

2005-12-04T19:27:00.000-05:00

Our life is filled with recognizable rhythms, characteristic tempos, and beginnings and endings, making up important time-based features of our auditory environment. These auditory events can be based on predictability. For example, when one rhythm is played over and over, it becomes predictable, but when changed with an accented note, or altered rhythm, it becomes slightly less predictable. Infants, in contrast with adults generally, hear many more subtle auditory events. This makes them more capable of hearing changes in time, and more capable of reacting to them. In realizing these facts, an experiment entitled "Influences of Temporal Fluctuation on Infant Attention" was done by Takayuki Nakata and Chisato Mitani at Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University. The results of this experiment were presented in the Spring 2005 edition of the journal entitled Music Perception. In this experiment, an infant's attention to sequences of sound was examined as a function of the repetition and regularity of timing and the infants' ability to familiarize themselves with the sequences.

According to Takayuki Nakata and Chisato Mitani, the purpose of this experiment was "to compare infant's attentional responsiveness to sound sequences that differed in temporal coherence." In other words, they wanted to see how well an infant remembered and recalled sound sequences that had changed in some fashion. The reason why they did this experiment was because no studies had been done on infant attention to temporal, or time-based attention preferences for regular and irregular sound sequences. Previous studies, such as Nakata and Trehub in 2004, had done similar studies based on recordings of infants' mothers speaking or singing. In that study, they found that regularity in tempo plays a key role in keeping the atention of an infant. The only difference between that study and our study is that the Nakata and Trehub study only took into account regularity of tempo.

In order to take this difference into account, it was hypothesized by Nakata and Mitani that "regular sound would be more effective than irregular sound sequences in sustaining attention among younger infants, 6-8 months of age, and older infants, 9-11 months of age." The study itself was made up of infants from the two age groups listed above. All of the infants were healthy and did not have a history of ear infections or a family history of hearing loss. An iBook computer was placed in front of the infant in order to present the infant with auditory and visual stimuli. The digital sound files were played on the computer to a speaker behind it. White paper and cloth was placed over everything so the infant could only see the monitor and a puppet to attract the infants attention before every trial. Regular and irregular sound sequences were played for the children in 30 second intervals. The infants were tested individually in a quiet child care facility on top of a female caretaker's lap. When the infant was alert and calm, the experimenter started the monitor, flashing alternating red and black flashes on the monitor every 1/3 of a second. Then the sound sequences begun. The infants were given 10 trials of regular sequences and 10 trials of irregular sequences in random order, but making sure that no more than two of the same type were played in a row at any time.

The results of this experiment supported their predictions for infants 6-8 months of age, but not for those who were 9-11 months of age. The younger infants payed better attention to regular than irregular sound sequences in the last five trials. The older infants did not show different degrees of listening on the basis of sequence of regularity, and they showed less attention than the younger infants to both regular and irregular sound sequences. Also, the experiment showed that the sex of the infants and the sound sequence presented first had no effect on the attention of the infants. Overall, these results thouroughly showed that infants need regularity. Not only did the results support this, but the caretakers reported realizing this during the experiment. This research can also apply to language learning of infants. If regularity is used in teaching language, the students will learn language more effectively. This is the same for music in general. Repitition in music is crucial in the musical learning process.

Exertion on Efficiency and Ease of Voice

2005-11-30T20:00:00.000-05:00

"The Impact of Specific Exertion on the Efficiency and Ease of the Voice: A Pilot Study" Alison D. Bagnall and Kirsty McCulloch

Previous and current voice literature encourages relaxation for better voicing to avoid muscular tension, strain, and force, for both singers and those who speak publicly. However, evidence shows that those whose head and neck musculatures are active rather than passive have more energy while performing. This article goes through the physiological parts of using ones voice and the process and findings of an experiment based on “Voicecraft” training. In this experiment 10 volunteers, made up of men and women, speech and language therapists and singers, young adults and elders. Each subject was recording immediately before and after their participating in a 3 or 6 day “Voicecraft” training, then were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their ease, comfort, overall and on specific body parts. Judges then listened to the pre-training and post-training recordings and assessed the differences. 80% of the judges assessments matched the personal assessments, which showed the subjects’ comfort and ease were significantly higher after the training, with no significant change in overall exertion. Although the results of this pilot study conflict with previous teachings and beliefs, it may help define the best way to use the voice to increase clarity, stamina, and maintain vocal health.

Abstract

2005-11-30T19:11:00.000-05:00

Abstract on “The relationship between the piano teacher in private practice and music in the National Curriculum”

By Elizabeth Goddard (From the Cambridge Journal Online- Oct 2002)

This article investigates the relationship between the private music teacher and the music of the National Curriculum that is used in most schools. The article explores present insights and practices in order to gain a clearer understanding of the situation between the two groups as they coincide today. Numerous strategies for improving communications between school and private teachers are discussed with the hope that pupils feel as though their private lessons are working in harmony with their music in school. The research from the article suggests that an increased awareness needs to exist in order to develop the relationship in teaching philosophies between private teachers and the National Curriculum. The article clearly explains that the two groups need to cooperate with each other in order to further the education of today’s musicians.

Basic Saxophone Skills:Reeds Part I

2005-11-30T17:29:00.000-05:00

This is the first of a series of articles titled Basic Saxophone Skills that are presently devoted to the conditioning of reeds.

The main ingredient of a saxophonist’s sound is the reed. The reed’s significance is often overlooked by many players, when should be focused on more than any other element of the saxophone. Unprepared reeds lead to all kinds of problems and this article will teach you how to assess your reeds as well as take care of them. Reeds that are played directly from the box cause many problems. Most manufacturers will sell them without taking the time each reed needs devoted to it. Paul Berler discusses a process of “breaking the reeds in” which condition them to last longer and be ready for action when needed.

The Fish

2005-11-30T09:27:00.000-05:00

Music is the force that allows humans to express what may not be expressed with words or in other means. Music education is instruction in the symbols used for this mode of expression. This idea comes from the fact that communication occurs through symbols, most easily recognizable in human language. Several "theories" have arisen about how or why to teach music, and how students learn these lessons. Musical content should include conceptual focuses, meaning that musical concepts should be taught instead of hard facts alone, or skills to reproduce music on instruments or with voice. The way in which students learn must allow for individual pacing, and the idea that learning deals with experiences and the rate at which these experiences are encountered aiding in the comprehension involving the whole person through action, emotion, and cognition. All learning, however, occurs only within one's social and cultural environment. Sharing is also a large part of teaching, and this should encompass holistic experiences, or involving the whole being in musical experiences. This is not the only mode of teaching, but it is a solid foundation for ideas on theories for music education and instruction.

Abstract for the article "Generating a Theory of Music Instruction" by Eunice Boardman from the January 2001 issue of Music Educator's Journal.

Woody's Misconceptions Put to Ease

2005-11-30T02:21:00.000-05:00

Robert Woody takes five frequet misconceptions and puts them to ease with his dual explanations of "Element of Truth" and "Informed Perspective." Topics such as "Scientific study of music diminishes it's magic" and "The artificial enviornment of a research experiment is nothing like a real-life music classroom" are remedied with two explinations; one of which says that there is truth in the statement, and the other saying that there's a bit of a perspective. Both answers, by default and writer's choice, lead to the ultimate "Yes and No". The 'misconceptions' include the following; "Research adresses esoteric topics that most music teachers wouldn't be interested in", "Scientific study of music diminishes it's magic", "There are some things in music that cannot be measured by research", "The artificial enviornment of a research experiment is nothing like a real-life music classroom", and "Statistics can be used to prove anything."

Fitting In Fiddling

2005-11-29T23:42:00.000-05:00

(This is an abstract for the article "Fitting in Fiddling" by Karen Townsend Gordy from the magazine Teaching Music, Vol. 13, Number 2/October 2005.)

It is common knowledge that if a student is studying to be a classical musician, they should study classical music. However, many people, including teachers, do not realize that other genres of music can not only bring awareness to other types of music, but can also help the student with their classical music studies. In this article, Ms. Gordy talks about how fiddling can help a student that is a string player with their studies whether they are aspiring to be a classical performer or some other performing genre. The article talks about the Ms. Gordy's personal experiences and sucess of involving fiddling with her teaching. An example she gives of how fiddling helps classical music is the fact that fiddling can improve a musician's improvisation skills. She offers advice for teachers on how to incorporate fiddling with their other teaching methods. Throughout the article, Ms. Gordy repeatedly mentions that a well-rounded education in string music should include fiddling as well as classical music.

Echos from a Teaching Adventure in China

2005-11-29T21:49:00.002-05:00

(I have found this article in the MENC's October 2005 edition of Teaching Music)

Chinese Professor Jianhua Lu invited Minnesota University Professor Hilree J. Hamilton to his country. This invite specified a presentation at different music schools in China: Central Conservatory of Music in Bejing, Northwest Normal University , and Tianshui Normal University which are both in Central China. Professor Hamilton was to present different music methods to the music teachers in these schools. This article gives you the Lesson Plan that Professor Hamilton did for each group presentation. One activity they needed to do was to sing in front of each other as an "ice breaker." This would make everyone comfortable. In other words, she had the teachers, once again become students. By this, they did many activites, and discussions. Throughout this two week period in China Professor Hamilton learn that those teachers are dedicated, and motivated to learn new ideas.

"Relax at the Piano" by Katherine Glaser

2005-11-29T19:43:00.001-05:00

Relaxation is key to playing hte piano because it promotes a rich, full sound, awell as preventinng injuries. To avoid tension, the pianist must incorporate the entire body- hands, arms, and back-- to work as a unit. Good posture is also important in preventing the undue stretching and overworking of muscles. Besides good technique, pianists must also be smart in their approach to practicing: it is vital to stop before pain arises and never to continue working despite fatigue and tension. Mental fatigue causes carelessness for the body--rests and alternation of work metrials is key to good practice.

2005-11-29T19:43:00.000-05:00

An Abstact of "Preface to the Critique of Music"

2005-11-29T19:26:00.000-05:00

Preface to the Critique of Music
Charles Seeger

In this article, Charles Seeger talks about how the century of Historicomusicology analyzes an expressive art form. Gods and old Roman styles of music analysis were first used to describe music. Through this analysis of the Romans, value has been placed on music through old Roman methods and continues throughout current times. Musicologists must begin to configure a theory that will be a for sure determinant for the value of music because musicians can play perfectly together and still not have the same opinion of what was played. We must first define as musicians what value is. From there we must begin to formulate a mathematical approach to the analysis of music.

Deep Listening to the Musical World

2005-11-29T10:34:00.000-05:00

Deep Listening to the Musical World
By Patricia Shehan Campbell
Music Educators Journal
September 2005, Vol. 92/No.1

Although music is a significant presence is the world today, children are rarely taught to listen to it. Many teachers view listening as a passive process and instead spend time and energy enhancing analysis and performance skills. While these skills are important, active listening can be an invaluable aid in such educational processes.
Listening can be taught in three stages, collectively called the pedagogy of listening. The first stage is a teacher-directed approach, known as attentive listening, that focuses on musical structures. Specific points of focus are identified by the teacher for each listening exercise. The teacher may utilize visual aids, such as pictures or diagrams, to help draw students’ attention to these points of interest, and an analysis or discussion may follow.
The second stage of the pedagogy of listening is known as Engaged Listening. In this stage, listeners actively participate in some form. They may sing along with a melody, tap a rhythm, or perform a dance pattern. This stage is related to a belief that listening becomes more thorough when listeners are able to follow along or participate in the music itself.
The third stage is known as Enactive Listening and is geared toward the eventual performance of a musical work. Listeners are asked to pay attention to the smallest of nuances with the intention of stylistic interpretation in their own performance. While notes and chords are important, that is not the focus of this specific stage.
The role of the teacher is quite important in encouraging active listening. The teacher should identify points of focus, challenge the listeners with questions, and provide visual, as well as audio stimulation. To farther encourage active listening, examples of music from all cultures and backgrounds should be included in classroom study. The variety will keep students entertained, as well as identifying with their vast variety of cultural backgrounds.

Flamboyancy in Percussion Class

2005-11-28T19:34:00.000-05:00

(This is an abstract for an article called "Flamboyancy in Percussion Class" by Dan Distefano in the MENC publication Teaching Music from October 2005.)

The introduction of roll rudiments and flam rudiments would be an effective and challenging way to begin instruction for new percussionists trying to learn their instruments. It would also add a new dimension to the lack-luster band method books being shown to today's students. Before teaching percussionists to read music one should start by doing eight consecutive strokes on each hand, eight alternating buzzes with both hands, and flams, one hand at a time. After the rudiments have been introduced and practiced, written music should be substituted in place of the rudiments. In doing these exercises, students should be practicing a high, even, powerful stroke to correctly build the muscles needed to play percussion. These strategies allow ensemble percussionists to develop their hands far beyond what the method books offer while learning and experimenting with traditional rudiments. This method requires new percussionists to go beyond learning how to simply recognize notes and practice interpretation.

Cuttin' it Loose in Berlin

2005-11-22T22:32:00.000-05:00

Ella had just recorded the famous Songbook series on the Verve label and was considered at the top of her game - her appeal now reached an audience wider than the average jazz listeners. After having recorded Ella with smooth, studio-perfect Songbook recordings, her producer and owner of the Verve label, Norman Granz, wanted to capture the live energy of Ella at concerts. He also wanted to take advantage of her new widespread popularity, so he decided to record the live concerts on her first European tour. In 1960, Ella made a stop on her European tour in Berlin. The cd recording from this famous concert would eventually be considered Ella's finest and most famous recording.

Ella's recording of her Berlin performance, appropriately titled Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife, is filled with examples of jazz genius. Twelve thousand fans packed the Berlin Deutschlandhalle to watch Ella perform such jazz standards as "The Man I Love," "Summertime," "That Old Black Magic," "The Lady is A Tramp," and "Misty." Each of these songs were sung with a type of technical-yet-effortless sound that only Ella could produce. However, the two most famous recordings from this cd, perhaps from her entire reperitoire as well, is her renditions of "Mack the Knife" and "How High the Moon."

Before she starts to sing "Mack the Knife," Ella warns the audience that there have been no former recordings of female vocalists singing this song, most likely due to the demanding range, and that she hopes she remembers all the words to the song. Halfway through the song, she forgets the some of the lyrics. Ella decided to use this as an opportunity to showcase her skill at improvising lyrics as well as notes, creating humorous lyrics on-the-spot such as "Oh, what's the next chorus to this song now/This is the one now I don't know/But it was a swinging tune and it's a hit tune/So we tried to do Mack the Knife" and "Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong/They made a record oh but they did/And now Ella Ella and her fellas/We're making a wreck, what a wreck of Mack the Knife." She also impersonates her close friend Louis Armstrong with a low scat.

On "How High the Moon," Ella scats throughout most of the piece. She uses "Ornithology", the jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker's classic solo based on the chord changes to "How High the Moon", as a springboard for her own improvisation. It too is filled with little humorous lyrical improvisations inbetween her scatting, such as "I bet these people wonder what I'm singing" and "I guess I better quit while I'm ahead". Ella also would quickly incorporate other songs within her scatting as well, such as "Stormy Weather," "A-Tisket A-Tasket," "Heat Wave," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." It has been argued that this rendition of "How High the Moon" is the greatest scat solo ever recorded by a jazz vocalist.

Ella received two Grammys for Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife, for the Best Female Vocal Performance (Single) that Year, and for Best Female Vocal Performance (Album).

Citations:

Krohn, Katherine E. Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song. 19 Mar. 2001 <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=pLBEVVf69K0C&dq=Ella+Fitzgerald+%2B+Verve+%2B+Norman+Granz&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Flr%3D%26q%3DElla%2BFitzgerald%2B%252B%2BVerve%2B%252B%2BNorman%2BGranz>.

Maliner, Michael L. "Ella Fitzgerald - A Final Word on the First Lady of Song" Good Times 30 July 1996 <http://www.maliner.com/bio/ella.htm>.

"Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife." Web page. 13 Nov. 2005 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_in_Berlin:_Mack_the_Knife>.

Bob Marley: Smile Jamaica Concert

2005-11-22T22:09:00.000-05:00

In 1976, the Cultural Department of the Jamaican Government decided to put on a concert in a park in the middle of Kingston. The People’s National Party (PNP), led by Prime Minister Michael Manley, decided to have this concert and asked Marley to be their lead act. During this time the country was in great political turmoil because of disputes between the PNP, who was in control of the government at that time, and their opponent the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP). While Marley faced great danger in accepting their invitation to headline the show, he couldn’t refuse to play because he was in debt to Tony Spaulding, the PNP Minister of Housing, for giving his family their home in Bull Bay. Consequently, the PNP decided to have an election soon after the concert. They knew that if the country believed that Marley was in support of their cause, then they were sure to win the election. JLP members were extremely angered because they also knew that the country would e swayed by Marley’s apparent support of the PNP. Soon after the concert posters were put up, Marley began to receive many death threats.
Marley could deal with death threats and so much more. On the evening of December 3, 1976 at 56 Hope Road, Marley and his band, the Wailers were rehearsing for their concert scheduled for two days later. Marley had gone to the kitchen during a rehearsal break, followed by his manager, Don Taylor. A gunman appeared in the door and began firing shots in Marley’s direction. Marley was only grazed by a bullet on his chest while his manager was shot four times in the groin. Outside the house, another gunman started shooting at Rite, Bob’s wife, who had just gotten into her Volkswagon to leave. She was also shot but not critically wounded because the glass of the car seemed to slow the bullets. After the incident Marley was quickly transported up the road to a safe encampment in the Blue Mountains above Kingston.
Two days after dealing with his near death incident, Marley went on stage at the Smile Jamaica Concert. In actuality, he was forced into by the PNP. Through everything, the Wailers put on a superb performance and Marley’s bodyguards were close at hand. Marley’s performance truly showed courage to all of the Jamaican people considering that his life was in grave danger during the entire performance.

References:
wwww.bobmarley.com
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
Penguin Encyclopedia of Pop Music
(these will be in proper format for final versions)

Coltrane Jazz

2005-11-22T21:53:00.000-05:00

Coltrane Jazz is not referring to the album, but an entire style of jazz that Coltrane founded. John Coltrane was a revolutionary saxophonist and a lovely addition to the jazz community. By the be-bop and hard-bop era of the 1950s, John Coltrane had already developed an unorthodox dynamic style on the tenor saxophone. His deep and dark sound along with his coarse musical expression separated his style from the giants before him like Charlie Parker. Coltrane’s innovation developed into his own style and sound of jazz: Coltrane Jazz.
There has been much debate over which saxophonist has influenced Coltrane the most. In rare recordings from the early 1950s, his style is comparable to of Lester Young’s and Dexter Gordon’s recordings that took place early in their career. The combination of Young’s licks and Dexter’s dark, full sound, seem to have fostered Coltrane’s style. Although Coltrane did not directly refer to Young as an influence, he did mention Dexter and Sonny Stitt.
Along with all the inspiration Coltrane obtained from saxophonists, other non-saxophonists developed his style, just as much, if not more. From 1955-1957, he played with the Miles Davis Quintet, which is arguably where he first became experienced with ‘modal jazz.’ Just before Coltrane’s official departure from Miles’ group, from 1957-1959 he played with Thelonious Monk, who made him equipped with the skill of blowing long solos, forcing him to broaden his horizons for soloing.
After many different influential experiences, it was time to for Coltrane to be the lead on an album, also commencing the era of Coltrane Jazz. His first album Giant Steps (1959) devoted totally to his own compositions including the famous songs such as Countdown and Giant Steps, which exemplify his "sheets of sound." These sheets of sound refer to the “Trane-cycles” used consistently. Trane-cycles are a particular ii-V-I chord progression that allows an array of notes to be played. These cycles are difficult chord progressions, which yielded multi-noted solos; Coltrane liked to hit every note possible. This was his first step (unknowingly) towards developing Coltrane Jazz.
The other feature of Coltrane Jazz is the “modal” music he became fascinated with. It started in 1960 with the album My Favorite Things, and is also present on the albums Impressions (1961) and A Love Supreme (1964). By 1960, Coltrane had become deeply engaged with the music of India and even studied in India with Ravi Shankar (Coltrane named his son after this teacher: Ravi). Coltrane took the idea of ragas (Indian scales) and applied them to modal jazz, which created a beautiful hypnotic sound. It is arguable that his Eastern influence was even greater towards his playing than Miles Davis.

Works Cited

Goldberg, Joe. Jazz Masters of the Fifties. New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 1980.

Gridley, Mark C. Jazz Styles History and Analysis: Third Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1987.

Ralph Vaughan Williams

2005-11-22T21:10:00.000-05:00

Ralph Vaughan Williams
Biography
Ralph (“Rafe”) Vaughan Williams is arguably the most influential British composer of all time. Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in October 12, 1872 to a middle class family in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire. Young Ralph Vaughan Williams moved had a simplistic and calm life but it just so happens that his uncle was Charles Darwin. When Ralph turned six, The Origin of Species was published and their family and much of the world was shaken to the core by Darwin’s accusations. But in Ralph’s loving home, his mother replied when Ralph asked her about The Origin of Species, “The Bible Says that God made the world in six days, Great Uncle Charles thinks it took longer: but we need not worry about it, for it was equally wonderful either way” (Williams 13). Ralph started music lessons at a very early age as soon as his natural interest and talent was realized. Ralph Vaughan Williams continued to study music at the Charterhouse School, then the Royal Academy of Music, and Cambridge. In 1909, Williams began to directing and composing professionally. It was not until late in life after being in the army and serving as the Director of Music for the army that Ralph took on a new and different style all his own. Many of his most famous works were produced after this time in his life. Throughout the latter part of Ralph Vaughan Williams life, he began to become a great friend and mentor to many new composers in Britain and in America. He lectured all over the world and was blessed that his music had become quite popular throughout his own lifetime. Many of Ralph songs were composed with a spiritual meaning in the text and style. Yet his second wife who loved him dearly said that it seemed more like Ralph was an atheist. On his final night alive, Ralph sat in his bed and had a late dinner. Everything was seemingly a normal night and Williams was planning for the next day. That night he passed away, August 25, 1956.

A Short Biography. Retrieved November 22,2005, from http://www.rvwsociety.com/biography.html

Ralph Vaughan Williams. Retrieved November 22, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams

Williams, Vaughan U. (1964). R.V.W.: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams. New York: Oxford University Press.

Paisley Park

2005-11-22T19:15:00.000-05:00

Paisley Park, better known as Prince, was one of the hottest U.S. singer/songwriter of the 1980s. Prince’s first exposure to music came from his parents. His father John Nelson was a jazz musician, and had a trio who had their gigs. Mattie Nelson, the mother, sometimes sang for Nelson’s jazz group. Mentioning John Nelson’s trio, Prince Rogers Trio, is that this is where Prince actually came from. By the time Prince was a teenager (1970-1980s), he could sing, and play the guitar, drums, bass, piano, and saxophone. Between the age of fourteen and sixteen, Prince played with several different bands. When he was sixteen, he recorded a demo tape and sent it to the company who gave him a contract, Warner Brothers. The demo tape that Prince sent to WB is priceless because he played all of the instruments himself which he recorded each part separately; then later combining them.

Prince’s most successful album was probably 1984’s Purple Rain (Prince was 26). Prince’s fame continued into the 1990s, and his music is still popular today. This artist wrote and produced funky pop songs that had cross-genre appeal, including the top-sellers 1999, When Doves Cry and Kiss. His music is a mixture of fusion of rock, soul, funk, and blues: he became known as something of an eccentric genius. When fans adored this talented artist who dressed in high heels and finery, other people didn’t understand his taste and just didn’t watch him. Although, was so multitalented, that on many songs he played all the instruments himself. His reputation for independent thinking was reinforced in the 1990s, when he changed his name to The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. Prince was known as, “the funky star who recorded 1999 and changed his name to a symbol (www.answers.com).”
Between 1993- 2000 Prince’s name changed in a symbol. He was then known as “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” This symbol combined the signs for male and female. When he changed his name into that combined symbol, many questions about his sexuality evolved. What did this mean the artist was? Was he trying to tell the world something? When 2000 came, the symbol, and "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince," expired, and left Prince. It was seven years later because that was the ending of Prince and Warner Brother's contract.

http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-p/pix/prince_00.jpg

http://www.images.google.com

http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC?vrsn=149&/

One Love, Many Hits

2005-11-22T11:45:00.000-05:00

Bob Marley is by far the best known reggae artist even today; almost twenty five years after his death. His success in Jamaica and the U.K. were unprecedented in his time, especially by a non American, reggae artist. Although most know of Marley and the wailers as a care free group, most of his career was not easy.

At the age of fourteen, Marley left home to pursue music. Later that year, he found Joe Higgs, who helped him produce his first solo single, Judge Not, in 1962. The next year, Marley founded a group with friends, known as the Teenagers. The members of the group included Cherry Smith, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithuaite, Bunny Livingston, and Beverly Kelso. Throughout the years, and with their growing popularity, the group's name changed to the Wailing Rudeboys, and later just the Wailers. Their first hit, "I'm Still Waiting", was produced under Consone Dodd's Studio 1. The next year, Braithwaite and Smith left the group to pursue solo careers. Less two members, the Wailers still succeeded in producing 70 songs before disbanding in 1970.

After a break of about a year, Marley moved back to Jamaica to reform the Wailers, along with Livingston and Tosh, and produced under their own label, Wail 'n Soul 'm. Under this label, they produced singles such as "Bend Down Low".

During this time, The Wailers teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Upsetters, and produced singles such as "Small Axe" and "My Cup". Two members of Perry's Upsetters, Aston and Carlton Barrett decided to join the Wailers full time. With new members, the Wailers decided to make another independant label, Tuff Gong, in 1971, releasing only a handful of smaller singles before Joining Island records a year later.

1973's Catch a Fire, the Wailers' debut with Island records, was a hit. It showcased the smash single "I Shot the Sheriff." By 1974, the group was positioned for worldwide stardom, but Livingston and Tosh decided to leave and pursue solo careers. This is when Bob brought his wife, Rita, and her group the I-9's including Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt into the picture. This seemed to be the right formula; No Woman No Cry was released that year, dominating charts everywhere except the U.S. In 1976, the group's Rastaman Vibration broke the top ten in the
U. S.

Exodus was released in 1977, again smashing charts with singles such as "Jamming", "Waiting in Vain", and "One Love". In the same year, Kaya was released, highlighted by "Is This Love". These were the last of the Wailers' hits before touring began, and ultimately Marley's death in 1981.

VH1's biography of Robert Nuesta Marley
11/22/05
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/marley_bob/bio.jhtml

Wikipedia's biography of Robert Nuesta Marley
11/22/05
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Marley

Fighting Through Some of the Racism

2005-11-22T04:36:00.000-05:00

Growing up in today’s society, thinking of Sammy, a black man, as a musical icon, doesn’t bother us. This is because we see African Americans everywhere in every field; as journalists, news broadcasters, stock brokers, doctors, actors and actresses, musicians, entertainers. However, back in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, seeing an African American, such as Sammy, as an entertainer wasn’t exactly common. Yes, there were black entertainers, like his father, Sam Sr., and his adopted uncle, Will Mastin, who were Vaudeville performers, but there weren’t “famous” black entertainers; there weren’t blacks at the level Sammy was dreaming of. After realizing that the Vaudeville acts the Trio had been performing were becoming outdated, Sammy always attempted to try new things in hope to take it where it hasn’t been before. He began doing that the evening of the Academy Awards in 1951. The trio was asked to be the opening act at Herman Hover’s Ciro’s, a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard where all the stars hung out, for an after party of the Academy Awards. The trio went through their normal routine, ending with Sammy doing some impersonations, and as they were exiting the stage, the crowd continued hootin’ and hollerin’ and Sammy felt the need to go back and give them more. Normally, he was only supposed to tap dance, but instead he broke out of this box and the audience couldn’t seem to get enough of Sammy’s sensational dancing and hilarious impersionations. Sammy left the crowd in such an up roar that the main attraction, Janis Paige, was timid to walk on stage. As Sammy became more creative and the other two became more tired and finding it hard to keep up with young Sammy, the title of “The Mastin Trio” added on “starring Sammy Davis, Jr.” which allowed Sammy to perform new things such as mimicking acts, impressions, and solo numbers. Sammy always shined when he was on stage. When he was on stage, nothing could stop him. Contrary to Sammy feeling inferior to the white entertainers, no matter what the conditions, when Sammy took the stage, he lit up the room. The difference in race between regular entertainers and Sammy was helpful at times because some enjoyed that he was excelling in a white man’s territory, but it also caused a great deal of difficulties later down the road.

One of the people that were taken back with Sammy’s showmanship on the stage was Jess Rand. Rand, a publicist to musicians, caught the Trio in Madison Square Gardens after recently hearing of the group. Rand immediately was amazed at the energy being displayed by Sammy, and ended up bumping into him later on the streets, after the show. Even then, Rand was amazed at the energy and drive Sammy had about his career. Sammy’s drive was so strong that he convinced the others to chip in 15 dollars a week to pay Rand to be their publicist and immediately put him to the test. The only directions to Sammy’s test was stated when he said. “My grandmother won’t believe I’m in show business until I have my name in Walter Winchell’s column and my picture in Lindy’s window.” Rand starting working on both of those tasks instantly, and even though they might have been hard, Rand completed both of them. The harder one was getting their names into Winchell’s column because he had pre-existing ideas of Sammy and didn’t like them, but after submitting to the pleas of Rand, Winchell attended the show at Bill Miller’s Riviera across from Manhattan and was amazed by Sammy, and mentioned the whole Trio in his column.

As the Trio traveled with Rand, the difficulties began to rise. Seeing three Negroes with one white man wasn’t very common which gave Rand a new insight on things. Rand would get angry when they would get turned down for gigs to less entertaining people because of their race. One common occurrence while driving through the Midwest completely changed Rand’s view. Especially through Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, they would get pulled over by cops who would ask Rand why he’s with these men, and he would have to explain that he works for them, and they still would make subtle derogatory comments about them. Cops would even ask Mastin and Sam Sr. for their wallets and would steal money from them, in front of their own eyes. It was also hard for Rand to become accustomed to only being able to eat at certain diners, or having to sleep in motels where it took a quarter to turn on the television. One thing that touched Rand was when he would witness Mastin pawning off jewelry to help pay for things, and see him sacrifice big meals, and new clothes, so Sammy could have the best. Although they had some rough times, they stuck together, but it still wasn’t enough for Sammy.

In February of 1952, Sammy and the trio was introduced to The Colgate Comedy Hour, a new variety show on NBC featuring stars such as Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, and the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis duo. The trios act was great for the show as Eddie Cantor, the host, was always looking for new and different talent. Although Sammy’s amazing tap dancing skills outshined those of Mastin and Sam Sr., they invited the trio back for more performances, however, Sammy began getting more attention on and offstage. Sammy’s presence onstage was so fluid and energetic, as compared to Mastin and Sam. Sr.’s mechanical like behavior. His hilarious impressions he would do off camera made everyone laugh and caught Cantor’s eye who enjoyed laughing as he requested Sammy to impersonate other people. Cantor continued to invite Sammy back and slowly Sammy slipped back into his habits of imitating people, such as Sinatra, but now, he was imitating white minstrel singers and even Cantor himself. The trios television performances on The Colgate Comedy Hour would land them a pilot television series about a traveling trio, much like themselves. Sadly, the pilot didn’t catch on to be a show, but it didn't bother them. They didn't need more than a mic and an open stage to entertain, so the the trio again, was back on the road!

Works Cited
Haygood, Wil. In Black And White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr.. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2003.

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1114/0009_0050.jpg

http://www.africanamericans.com/SammyDavisJr.htm

Miles and Kind of Blue

2005-11-21T21:24:00.000-05:00

Every recording Miles made was stellar- all examples of personal musical expression at its finest. In fact, some of these recordings such as Porgy and Bess or Milestones were considered supreme examples of styles not yet beknownst to the jazz world. With all of his music's freshness, some considered Miles to have peaked, unable to top some of the things he had already recorded. This is a very questionable thing to say though, for in Miles' mind and the mind of several critics, he had the best sextet ever backing him up. On saxophone, he had two saxophonists from opposite ends of the jazz spectrum. He combined John Coltrane, the expressionist, and Cannonball Adderley, the formalist, creating a yin-and-yang, perfect arousal of the body and mind. As a part of his core, or his rhythm section, he used Wynton Kelly, following the talents of Bill Evans and Red Garland on the piano- even combining the talents of the two. Jimmy Cobb played the drums, laying out the feel of the group. To top it off Paul Chambers kept the beat and played the chords on the bass.

This spectacular group, although they had played before, still had the best to come, proving those who said Miles had peaked wrong. Miles, searching for a new style to experiment with, came up with an idea to play jazz based on the diatonic modes, especially the Dorian. In experimenting with this in Milestones, Miles came up with modal jazz, simply jazz based on the diatonic modes. He told his group that there would be fewer chords, amounting for a greater amount of experimentation, leaving the basic boundaries and barriers presented by the harmonic structures formulated in bebop. Thus, birthed from modal jazz came Kind of Blue, the epitome of avant-garde expression in not just modal jazz, but jazz in general. In fact, over the years Kind of Blue has become jazz's best selling album.

Kind of Blue's definitive track, So What, became the track defining modal jazz and Miles forever. He took the use of the modes to the next level in this track, simply switching between two different keys in the Dorian mode throughout the track, D Dorian and Eb Dorian. This track along with Freddie Freeloader, Blue in Green, All Blues, and Flamenco Sketches quickly became jazz standards heard in different clubs and venues all throughout the world.

The feeling presented in Kind of Blue could only be made once though. The restraint of the recording studio atmosphere created the tension, making the pieces what they were. When played at venues, the group could never quite return to what they had done in the recording studio. Thus, Kind of Blue affirmed one thing- restraint and subtlety can make a big statement. From this, Kind of Blue became the Ghandi of the jazz world, proving critics that the best was still to come.

Works Cited

Carr, F. (1998). Miles Davis: The Definitive Biography. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.

Tirro, F. (1977). Jazz: A History. Toronto: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.

Biography of Claude Cymerman

2005-11-21T11:16:00.000-05:00

The walls in the Claude's studio are covered in posters from his previous concerts--some of them date back to before I was even born. The rest of the wall space is replaced by book shelves, rows and rows of books describing, teaching, glorifying music--mostly piano and mostly French. And thousands of scores, the majority of which he has played at one time or another. The remaining space on the book shelves is filled up with personal mementos (photos, trinkets, souvenirs) .
Most of the room itself it taken up by two black grand pianos--one for students and the other for Claude to demonstrate on. On top of the pianos are stacks and stacks of scores which give the room a look of untidiness (although in my opinion, is a sign of a busy musician). The rooms look as though it has been "broken in" by Claude over the past 30 years. Ironically, the DePauw job was an unexpected twist in Claude's life which turned into his permanent residence.
But this is where our conversation ended. We began by taking chairs by the window, coffee in hand with a comfortable student-teacher relationship (slowly built over the years) filling the air. However casual our relationship had been over the time, never had our personal lives come into our conversations.
So my questions started at the very beginning of his story-- October 2, 1947 in Metz Loraine, France (bordering Germany). Claude Cymerman was born to non-musician parents: a watchmaker/jeweller and housewife. They were an older remarried couple that had lost their first spouses and children in the horrific World War II. As a result, they were very protective and a little closed-off but like all parents, only wanted the best for their late child. The best included pushing him to work very hard at the piano, which he started when he was seven years old. The story goes that at a dinner party with a family friend, he started to pick a familiar tune on the harmonica with his nose which both amused and impressed the friend enough to offer him piano lessons. The Cymermans also had an old piano at their house on which Claude practiced his perfect pitch by plunking out songs from the radio on (this came handy later in life as well). Before he started his piano studies, he studied at a Catholic School where the teacher played the violin for about five minutes at the end of class which intrigued and touched the musician in the six year old Claude. At seven, he began to take piano classes at the Metz Conservatiore with Mercel Mercier- a teacher, composer, poet, organist, philosopher, and father-figure to Claude. Mercier, well admired and accomplished in Metz (a street was named after him), also had a daughter, Dominique, who was, and remains, a good friend of Claude's. Much like all other kids, however, he did not enjoy practicing the piano until he turned about thirteen and might have quit had his parents not persisted (his asthma kept him from doing things like sports). He did use his piano abilities--which came easily, much more easily than to others, to Claude--to accompany singers and play at the school of ballet where his talent for sightreading and perfect pitch were useful. However, an anecdote he told proved that it is not always such a good thing: Claude soon became bored with the written exercises for ballet warm ups and decided to improvise popular radio tunes. He happened to pick the favorite song of the premier ballerina who laughed upon hearing opening of the song, fell off her point shoe (the other leg was perched precariously on the bar), and broke her leg. His other job for pocket money was to accompany a retired singer, Madame Jungman, who lived down the block from him. She had become too old to be a great singer any longer and was starved for both human and musical interaction. At the time, Claude would make up excuses, any excuse, to not do it which she counteracted by begging him and his parents (who were a little more sensitive to the old lady's problems). Despite how much he hated it then, he swears that improved his sightreading and listening skills. He also realized, even at the time, that the singers success was directly related to the level of preparation and musicanship of the accompanist. Chopin had promoted that exact same thing and nowadays, Claude is a firm believer in accompaning and listening to singers and Opera to learn melodic phrasing and expressiveness.
By thirteen, Claude had begun to enjoy practicing and was entering in various national competitions--and winning. Also at this time, his school work had ceased to be important--most of his work was done for Metz Conservatiore--and his fortunate close relationship with the principle got him out of many tests. He graduated halfway through high school with a "midway" diploma. When he reached fourteen, Mercier and Claude began to take trips to the Paris Conservatory (where his asthma dissapeared and where he found cultural inspiration) to study with Pierre Sarcan. Previous study with a professor was one of the only way to get into the Paris Conservatoire because there was, and is, such stiff competition for admission. At fifteen, Claude was admitted to the Conservatoire and moved to Paris. Sarcan, a big fan of the Russian music school of beautiful technique and emotion, focused heavily on technique and agility. Claude, a self proclaimed "not workaholic", chose to do less than what was assigned technically and probably saved his muscles in the long run (other students of Sarcan did not stop in time and developed tendenitis). He also contributes his ability to relax to hours of foosball spent at the cafe next to the school. In May, 1968, it was the student revolution--later joined by the workers--whose slogan was "Power to Imagine"; there was no mail, no trains, buses, gas. Claude's small contribution to the riots was to push an old grand piano off of the top of the flight of stairs and to help lock the director in his house for a week. The point of the riots was to show the fact that the University's (and governments) way of doing things were too strict and stiff; they did not allow for creativity and personal preference. To get to graduate from the Conservatoire, the students had to win a competition--first year you must get third, then the next second, and then first to actually get the diploma. If someone won 2nd, and then got nothing the next two years, they were kicked out of the school; same thing happened if you get 2nd and then 3rd. But in three years, Claude was done with the Conservatoire.
At twenty, he married and took a year off to play jazz and generally enjoy life; he was in a group called the "Green Penguins" with a (unfortunately rock) drummer, and a bass guitarists who always cut his fingers on the strings. In '66, however, the Prime Minister of France,Georges Pompidou, extented the music education for another three years ( mostly because the Russians kept beating the French in all the International Piano competitions) so that Claude got a call from Pierre Sarcan to apply for the scholarship. After being admitted, he went back to studing the piano seriously. Around that time, the Iron Curtain had been lifted and he was able to go see the likes of Richter, Kemff, and Czefra. At the same time, he was performing the more international competitions--one of the most prestigious was the Margerite Long/Jaques Thibaud Competition in which he got second (and competed against pianist such as Vladimir Viardo).
It was at this competition that Claude met Gyorge Sebok, a Hungarian pianist that worked for Indiana Univeristy in Bloomington. He offered to get Claude scholarships to go to school in America and a week later Claude, his wife, and 6 month old daughter Elina took the last commercial boat, Queen Elizabeth, across the Atlantic (this way, they could take their car and most importantly, music). Claude attended IU for two years and had all the intentions to go back to France when the position for professor at DePauw opened up to which Claude applied, and was accepted and has stayed for the past 30 years.

And It All Came Crashing Down

2005-11-20T11:35:00.000-05:00

The Newport Jazz Festival has long been credited with rescuing jazz from the stranglehold of rock ‘n’ roll during the summer of 1955. George Wein, producing his second Newport festival, was able to procure some of the most formidable names in the history of jazz. Signed on for that summer were the likes of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk, Lester Young, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Dinah Washington, J.J. Johnson, Art Farmer, and even the now-unpredictable Miles Davis. Based on the incredible success of the past year for the still-young Brown and Roach Quintet, the group was invited to be part of this legendary cast. Doomed early on by a poor sound system and uncooperative weather, the festival’s early days yielded nothing but disappointment for most festival-goers. However, according to Down Beat reporter Jack Tracey, “the mental gloom on the part of the audience was dispelled immediately,” by Roach and Brown. They “ignited a fire right away,” he recalls. On a night when some of the most influential musicians in history were all gathered in one place, it was twenty-four year old Clifford Brown who saved the night.
Riding a pre-Newport wave of success after a week-long stint at Philadelphia’s renowned club Blue Note, and another week at the Bee Hive in Chicago, the members of the Brown-Roach quintet were playing as well as any musicians on the jazz scene. Brown continued to produce his trademark “fat” sound and perform his mind-boggling licks, even while suffering terrible pain from a tooth ache, and the group extended their fan base with a quick jaunt into Quebec, Canada. Their magical showing at in Newport only boosted their following, and the group was booked for a two-week stint at Basin Street in New York. According to Gary Kramer in Billboard magazine, the quartet’s performances at this stop brought the club the most business it had seen since Louis Armstrong’s show years before. Kramer continues to stress that Brown and Roach at this time are both “at the high points of their respective careers. These two artists are currently combining their rich talents in one of the most stimulating modern jazz combos extant.” The next stop was another booking at the Bee Hive where the group was so popular that the owners extended their original two-week contract an extra month. Business had never been so good.
However, while in Chicago, the group received some startling news. The grandmother of Harold Land had fallen gravely ill in San Diego. The considerable amount of time spent away from his family was a problem that had long haunted the saxophonist, and after many long, emotional debates, he decided that it was best for him to leave the group and return to his family in California. While the departure of such a great friend was difficult for each man individually, it also posed quite a dilemma for the group as a whole. Land had been an important factor in the chemistry of the quintet, and replacing his experience was going to be difficult to do. Luckily, fate was on their side. Living in Chicago at the time was Sonny Rollins, an already well-established musician who had just wrapped up a tour with the legendary Miles Davis. Davis has often claimed Rollins to be his “favorite tenor at that time.” However, the jazz scene had taken its toll on Rollins, who would disappear for months at a time due to a severe heroin addiction. Having already performed with the best in the business, the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and J.J. Johnson, Sonny had felt unchallenged by the streaky Miles and had fallen on hard times in both is personal and musical life.
That all changed, though, upon his first performance with Clifford, who not only challenged Sonny on the bandstand, but in lifestyle. Rollins was transformed, and later recalled, “Clifford was a profound influence on my life. He showed me that it was possible to lead a good, clean life and still be a good jazz musician.” He quickly kicked his heroin habit and helped to send the Brown-Roach quintet to a whole new level.
Not two months after adding a new member to his band, Clifford added a new member to his household as well. On December 28, 1955 Clifford’s young wife, LeRue, gave birth to the couple’s first child; a son named Clifford Jr. Putting a rush on his travel plans between gigs in Philadelphia and New York, the anxious new father returned home for a few days to be with his new son. LaRue tenderly remembers these moments that Clifford had with his son: “He was a fantastic father. He would take the baby, put him on his lap, talk to him, have a whole conversation with him about philosophy, art, or music. When he would practice, he would lay him across his lap and play something, and he’d say, ‘Now that was so and so and so.” Unfortunately, these tender moments would come to an end. Not six months from his birth, the father of Clifford Jr. would be dead.
The start of 1956 saw the quintet touring and recording at a frantic pace. Roach and Brown at Basin Street and Sonny Rollins + 4 were both released, and the group made stops in Detroit, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Toronto, among many others. Whenever possible, LeRue would travel with her son to meet Clifford at various stops for some all too precious family time. When the group was near the couple’s Philadelphia home, the house became a haven for not just the family, but any other musicians in the area. The house was constantly abuzz with activity.
The weekend of June 22, 1956, his travels brought him near to his childhood home in Wilmington, Delaware. Happily, the exhausted musician took an all-too unusual break from touring to spend a few days with his parents and a favorite sister. The weekend included fishing trips with old friends and delicious home-cooked meals. It, however, ended all too soon, as the quintet was to meet up in Philadelphia and drive together to a gig in Chicago. The family recalls Clifford’s reluctance to leave that weekend. “Boy, I sure wish I didn’t have to go. I’m not in the mood to go,” he would mumble over and over. Trying to console him, Clifford’s father suggested “Well, take it easy. When you get to Philly, let Richie [Powell] drive.” That was the last piece of advice that Joe Brown would ever give his son.
After leaving home, Clifford decided to take a detour through Elkhart, Indiana on his way to Chicago and try out some horns. Elkhart was, at the time, home to several important instrument manufacturers and, conveniently, just south of Chicago. Later, Roach would recall this occasion as the only time Clifford would not ride with him to a gig. After picking up pianist Richie Powell and his wife, Nancy, the fateful trip was underway. The first driver of the night was Clifford, who seen became sleepy and most-likely handed the keys to Richie. Next in succession was Richie’s wife, who in a rain-drenched section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike lost control of the vehicle. The car hit a guardrail, skidded across the road, struck a bridge abutment, jumped the barrier, and rolled down a seventy-five foot embankment. All three people inside the car were killed.
The jazz community immediately went into mourning. Roach remembers little of that night, other than he immediately “locked [himself] in the hotel room and finished two bottles of cognac,” upon receiving the news. Benny Golson, a great reed player of the era, remembers being on stage at the Apollo Theatre in New York with the Dizzy Gillespie band when learning of Brownie’s death. According to him, the members of the band were informed of the tragedy between sets. The group bravely attempted to continue their booking, but most band members played with tears running down their faces, and many of the charts had to be cut off and restarted due to the emotional strain. The jazz world had lost their newest prodigy at the age of twenty-five. Benny Golson sums it up best: “Clifford Brown was a genius.”
Immediately, the “what-ifs” began to creep into peoples’ minds. What if he had lived? What could he have accomplished? Many experts believe that he would have become the single most important jazz figure of the time. In Nicholas Payton’s opinion, “I don’t know if we’ll ever hear the trumpet played like that again.”

Work Cited

Catalano, Nick. Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Morey, Greg. Brownie!. 1997-2005. http://www.cliffordbrown.net/.

Yanow, Scott. Trumpet Kings: The Players Who Shaped the Sound of the Jazz Trumpet.

San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2001.

"From Many, One"

2005-11-12T23:58:00.000-05:00

Vocal technique, as all aspects and forms of music is a subjective thing that appears to be more of an art than the science that it really is. Its practice and teaching is a personal, individual thing, and therefore differs from person to person. Though scientic and physiological aspects of singing have been cleared or elaborated upon over the years, not many if any singers have precise control or knowledge of what specific functions or reactions are taking place in their body.
So, how then do singers sing? How is that they are able to employ a technique? A lot of traditional vocal knowlege, as in any science, is gained through the scientific method. Though voice teachers may not have planned out their technique as an experiment, they clearly had to have taken such steps. Through trial and error they discovered better methods of singing, establishing technique.
So what comprises good vocal technique? Are there any certainties or absolutes? Well, every singer is different, but being human, all have the same general atomic stucture. All singers obviously have lungs, ribs, a larynx, a diaphragm as well as the other organs and appendages that any normal human possesses. It is upon these certainties that most of the concurrence and agreements occur.
For example, most vocalists have recently come to a mutual understanding of the function of the diaphragm in breathing. The diaphragm is a sheet of muscle that rests under the ribcage. It separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. During inhalation, the diaphragm flattens and descends. This creates more space in the thoracic cavity for the lungs and ribcage to fill and expand.
Even though voice teachers agree with this scientifically-proven process, there still are many different thoughts on how to teach breath support. Why? Again, everyone processes things differently. Different mental images are instructive to different individuals to help them technically develop.

Movie Music

2005-11-12T19:09:00.000-05:00

Chapter Twenty Seven: Scene/Mood Setting

Every movie that you go to see, whether it be horror, comedy, action, or adult, is empowered by the music the director chooses to put with the scenes. Think about it; Titanic would have been some lousy, every-day, sigh-when-he-dies type of movie. Even the golden old Batman would have been just another televised brawl.
Choosing the right music for a certain scene is difficult. Among the thousands and thousands of songs out there, there is usually only one perfect fit for a scene. If the screenwrights didn't choose "Iris" for the tip point in City of Angels, what would they have used? No other song would give the viewer the same feeling.
Which is why the right music is a "silent" mood-setter. In the movie The Lion King, for example, there are a few scenes where, if there were no music, noone would realize what was going on. The part where he's running through the dusty lands; if there weren't the driving African drum beat, one could guess that Simba was looking for a gazelle rather than trying to get back to Pride Rock. At the beginning of movie-musical Jekyll and Hyde, you can tell that the story will be a tragic one just by listening to the opening piece.
Also, if you do listen close enough at the beginning of some movies, you can predict what the movie's overall feels and moods will be. A minor beginning with a dramatic major key turn leads one to believe that an unfortunate beginning will lead to an "all is well" ending.
I've done enough explaining the obvious to you all, so I guess I'll stop. Would you believe that they actually publish this kind of stuff? Save yourself fifty dollars; gain some common sense!!!

That's the news for this week, and for all of me here at Humbert 312, Thanx for stopping by. But most of all, Stay Classy.

Gabriel Yonkler’s Condensed Music Theory Textbook

2005-11-12T17:45:00.000-05:00

Chapter VI: Counterpoint- Note-against-note

Synopsis: In this chapter, we will learn about how harmony and melody collaborate to produce two-voice counterpoint.

Introduction
In Latin, counterpoint means “point-against-point.” When writing two-voice counterpoint, we set two musical lines or “phrases” together, usually one melodic and one harmonic. Composers such as Bach and Mozart wrote compositions based on the fundamental laws of counterpoint ranging from the middle-ages into 1800’s. Basic counterpoint is referred to as note-against-note, or 1:1 because each note in the top melodic line has a note “against it” in the harmonic line creating an interval. Learning about counterpoint is beneficial to any music student because it not only teaches them basic guidelines on how to compose music of their own, but also allows them to appreciate the composers and compositions that used counterpoint.

Naming Intervals
When analyzing counterpoint, we focus primarily on the “melodic interval” (distance between two notes played at the same time; i.e. whole step) instead of specific “pitch-interval” names (i.e. major second). There are three terms that we will be referring to when discussing melodic intervals:
1. Step: a melodic interval of a half or whole step
2. Skip: a melodic interval of a third or fourth
3. Leap: a melodic interval of a fifth or greater

To identify harmonic intervals (between the upper and lower parts), we distinguish them by standard intervallic numbers without focusing on whether the interval is major, minor, perfect, etc. When analyzing harmonic intervals, always identify it from the lower part to the upper part, without naming an interval greater than a “ten.” A “ten” is usually sized down to a “three.”

Contrapuntal Motion
When a melodic/harmonic line moves predominantly by steps, it is known as conjunct motion. On the contrary, when a melodic/harmonic line moves by either/or skips and leaps, it is referred to as disjunct motion.

When dealing with the motion of harmonic intervals (movement from one harmonic interval to another), there are four different types of motion between the pairs of harmonic intervals:
1. Oblique: one voice of the first interval remains the same while the other changes
2. Contrary: both voices of the first interval move in opposite directions3. Similar: both voices move of the first interval move in parallel directions, but not by the same standard interval
4. Parallel: both voices of the first interval move in the same direction by the exact same standard interval. This type of motion you have to be the most cautious with. Then basic rules of counterpoint state that harmonic intervals such as fourths, fifths and octaves, are not to be moved to by parallel motion. The most common intervals to use parallel motion are thirds and sixths.

The key to writing a good, basic contrapuntal line is to use mostly stepwise motion, rarely using skips and leaps. However, only using stepwise motion can be boring, so it is okay to use skips and leaps once in a while; although try to prevent using more than two skips or leaps in a row. Try to have your counterpoint be “hilly:” this means change up the direction a lot; too much of any motion (i.e. oblique, parallel, contrary, etc.) gets repetitive, so try to mix them up.

Chordal Dissonance and Resolution in 1:1 Conterpoint
Certain harmonic intervals known as dissonant intervals, resolve in a specific manner from a dominant seventh chord to the tonic chord. Although the most common phrase endings in 1:1 counterpoint are an octave or unison, ending with a harmonic of a third or fifth is also acceptable. In ending phrases, there are three “must-to” resolutions:
1. a d5 becomes a 3 by each voice moving in by a step
2. an A4 would become a 6 by both voices moving out a step
3. a m7 becomes a 3 by the lower voice moving either up a P4 or down a P5 (same pitch class) and the upper voice moves down by a step

*Notice that although a d5 and an A4 spell a tritone, because of its spelling on the staff, they resolve differently.

The music legend

2005-11-12T17:13:00.000-05:00

Frank Albert Sinatra

When passing through Best Buy with my grandmother she suddendly stops and stares at an album that had a picture of a young man. At the age of ten, I was not familiar with who this young man was. Oddly this picture was taken in black and white, and the name of the album was Sinatra. My grandmother said outloud, in a surprise, "I used to listen to him at your age. Is he still popular?" I then told her that I didn't know who he was. That night, I went home and did some reasearch about a singer who made it music history as legondary man.
"Growing up on the streets of Hoboken, New Jersey, made Frank Sinatra determined to work hard to get ahead. Starting out as a saloon singer in musty little dives (he carried his own P.A. system), he eventually got work as a band singer, first with The Hoboken Four then with Harry James, then Tommy Dorsey. With the help of George Evans (Sinatra's genius press agent), his image was shaped into that of a street thug and punk who was saved by his first wife, Nancy. In 1942 he started his solo career, instantly finding fame as the king of the bobbysoxers - the young women and girls who were his fans." (http://www.imdb.com) Sinatra has famous songs now playing as theme songs to movies, or for example, has sung a song about Chicago. I learned that he sang in a romantic voice. Some titles of his music are "Can't Take my Eyes Off of You, Dancing Cheek to Cheek, and Strangers in the Night." The titles and his voice has shreaking more and more of his music. Not only is Sanatra famous for his music, but h

Reel Music

2005-11-12T17:10:00.000-05:00

Reel Music

Leitmotif

A leitmotif is a phrase of music that signifies a character, a place, a plot element, a mood, an idea, a relationship or other specific part of the film. In other words, each theme within a movie has its own music, and whenever that particular theme is presented on film, the particular music for that theme is played. A leitmotif is usually a short simple melody; sometimes it is a small melodic line or rhythm, sometimes it is a few chord progressions, and sometimes it is even just a few notes. The function of the leitmotif is to tell the story without the use of words - the audience can understand what is going on by listening to the music only.

The classical composer Richard Wagner is most known for using leitmotifs, particularly for his operas. However, it is the film composer John Williams that is credited to reviving the leitmotif. Because of him, most film scores today are composed using the leitmotif technique. Williams' use and infuence with the leitmotif is most apparent in his compositions for the six Star Wars films. These scores are filled with leitmotifs. Such as whenever Luke Skywalker, the hero, is seen, the audience hears Luke's Theme. Likewise, whenever Darth Vader, the villain, is on screen, the audience hears The Imperial March.

Leitmotifs are an important and extremely useful tool for film composers as well as directors because they offer a creative alternative to presenting ideas using only music.

Examples of leitmotifs in classical music:
- Richard Wagner
- Beethoven
- Hector Berlioz
- Richard Strauss

Examples of leitmotifs in film music:
- John Williams (particularly Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, and the Star Wars films)
- James Bond films
- The Legend of Zorro
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitmotif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_(composer)

Pianos

2005-11-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

**The following section would be out of a middle school book whose purpose was to teach children about the different instruments--their histories and functions. The targeted audience is assumed to know something about music through their elementary school teaching.**

The Piano:
The piano was invented around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Before that, the only insturment like it was the harpsichord which was very limited in the type of sounds a musician could get from it--it made a much more metalic sound than the piano (due to the string being plucked, as opposed to hit by a hammer) and had no dynamic contrasts. However, the early piano had very many setbacks. It was very soft and easy to break and had only a few octaves of keys. The strings often snapped and the case of the piano sometimes collapsed entirely. This happened because the frame was made of wood and with the tension of 200 string being stretched across it, the frame did not always hold.
However, the times called for a more sturdy instruments--Beethoven and other musicians of the 1700's wanted a more colorful and loud instrument. Beethoven himself broke a many pianos during his concerts. One of his page turners was quoted saying, "I was mostly occupied in wrenching the strings of the piano which had snapped, while the hammers struck among the broken strings. Back and forth I leaped, jerking out a string, disentangling a hammer, turning a page--I worked even harder than Beethoven." So, around the beginning of the 1800's, John Broadwood began making pianos with a frame built with heavier wood and iron reinforcements. This made the piano have a fuller sound and a larger range of dynamics. At the same time in France, Sebastian Erard designed hammers that were more springy so that pianists could play notes faster and could play repeated notes. In the US, Alpheus Babcock, started making pianos with a full iron frame so that he could stretch more strings across it. He also rearranged the shape of the strings so that more could fit (making more octaves) without taking up more space.
Pianos are a unique instrument in the fact that it can imitate the sounds of many other instruments. It also has a larger range than any other instrument and has many possible special effects.

A Guide to Film Music

2005-11-12T15:59:00.000-05:00

A Guide to Film Music: Looking at Film Music Through Composers and Films

Introduction: The Function of Film Music

Film music is the background music in a motion picture written to be used as a vehicle to heighten emotion of the imagery or dialogue on screen (wikipedia.org).
When most people think of film music, names such as John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Aaron Copland, Danny Elfman, Phillip Glass, and Howard Shore come to mind. These are some of the main names in film music today, but they are not the only ones. Many people have written background music for movies, and they are all serving one purpose: to aid in the enjoyment of the film by enhancing the emotional feelings caused by the visual stimulation already on screen.
Music in film can either be added as background or used as "source music," (filmscoremonthly.com) which the actors are aware of. This can be played on a radio or CD player or provided by the actors themselves. This music can describe the scene by the lyrics in the film, provide the setting or appropriate time, or be strategically placed to alter or enhance the mood given by the area or setting. An example would be the placement of a punk garage bend in a club, a chamber ensemble at a dinner party, or a rowdy DJ at an outdoor event.
Music can also serve as a theme to something, somewhere, or someone. Main titles usually have accompanying themes, as well as end credits. Occasionally this is the same song to tie the movie together, or one of the selections can be an overture, tying in portions from different sections in the movie. John Williams does this very well, providing memorable themes for lots of characters, like Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, and Superman.
Another function of music in film is to actually be an integral part of the plot. This occurs in the case of Stephen Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The five-note communication theme happens several times and serves as a theme for Williams to improvise on and vary throughout the film.
One more function is underscoring. This is used to parallel the motion of the film, usually pointing out scenes or characters integral to the plot. When this is used too much, however, the viewer may not be able to distinguish what is important to the film and what scenes are for entertainment. All of the scenes begin to blur together in an incoherent blob. Such an example would be The Rock, where all of the scenes are loaded with action, with no aural break to determine the importance of individual scenes (filmscoremonthly.com)
Background enhancement, source music, themes, and underscoring are all valid means of communication in the motion picture industry, and some very good composers frequent this area of music. As this book continues, you will find more styles and functions described more in detail as we touch on some specific composers and films. And, for any help with terms, the glossary begins on page 234.

Works Cited:

Wikipedia.org

FilmScoreMonthly.com

2005-11-12T01:28:00.000-05:00

Hip Hop History
Hip Hop music today originates back to African traditions, black slaves working in the fields, and the black church. In the West African culture, there were traveling singers and poets, called griots, who told stories though words, music, and movement. This tradition was brought to the United States through African slaves. The slaves continued this tradition by singing or chanting in the fields about their joy and sorrow. Also, they would use rhymes and slang to put down friends or enemies. This half singing, half chanting is very well displayed in our current day rappers, formerly known as MCs for Master of Ceremonies.
The original job of an MC was to introduce himself to the audience and to talk to them over the music to keep them excited for what was coming up next. MCs then began interacting with the audience, improvising, or making up on the spot, simple four-beat choruses, and shortly after, they were adding more complex and humorous lyrics. The interaction with the audience was usually a call and response initiated by the MC saying something like, “can I get a ‘hey yo’?” and the audience responding “hey yo.” This call and response form originates from the black church in which the preacher would say, “Can I get an ‘Amen, Halleluiah’?” and the congregation answered, “Amen! Halleluiah!” This call and response was also influenced with the Blues where the soloists would improvise solos and trade back and forth. This lead rappers to Battle each other on stage by improvising rhymes and putting the other down and competing to see who could make the best rhyme. One of the more recent influences on Hip Hop lyrics was they spoken sections in soul and funk music, such as Isaac Hayes and James Brown. As MCs became rappers, the lyrics were no longer a way to excite the audience or a competition of slamming the other MC. The lyrics took on a new reason of telling a personal story and expressing your feelings. The lyrics are very important, but the Hip Hop music behind the lyrics was just as important in conveying the story.
In 1967, Jamaican immigrants brought Dub to New York City and played it at roller domes, parties, in a park or on a street. Dub is a subgenre of Reggae music of the 1960’s made of instrumental versions of popular Reggae records with words spoken over the music, heavy bass lines, intense percussion and percussion breaks. The Reggae music didn’t really catch on in New York City, but the people really enjoyed the percussion breaks because it gave them something to dance to. DJ Kool Herc, who is said to have started Hip Hop music, quickly realized he could find these percussion breaks in contemporary music, like that of James Brown who had groovin’ funk drumming and drum breaks. Herc used this to his advantage and began using instrumental records of the latest hits in funk, rock and disco. Along with Herc, DJs began mixing the drum breaks together to make them longer so the audience could dance longer. Mixing became highly competitive to the point where in 1977 DJ Kraftwerk began creating computerized drumbeats with synthesizers, which created a new trend of using technology to produce complex beats. Hip Hop music was performed for a while before it was actually recorded during the 1980s. This major artistic force is said to have been completed in 1992, but it continues to grow and take on new shape.

Groups to Listen To:
DJ Kool Herc – Use of funk, soul and disco beats
Fresh Prince – Use of synthesized beats
Afrika Bambaataa – Use of synthesized beats

http://co.essortment.com/historyhiphop_rwcv.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music

Music Appreciation: Brass Instruments: Trombone

2005-11-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

Trombone

Derived from the Italian word tromba, meaning trumpet, with the addition of the suffix -one, meaning large, the trombone's literal definition is "large trumpet." The trombone is a lip-reed aerophone, characterized by it's slide which the player uses in varying lengthes to create differing pitches. The trombone is a member of the brass family, having a bell, and plays an important part of any brass quintet. Some other names for the trombone are Posaune, trombon, Pasuuna, and Basun.
Although there are eight diffent types of trombones, the most common are the tenor and bass. The tenor trombone has a range from E2 to F5 and the bass trombone ranges from C1 to C5. There are numerous other trombones including the contrabass, atlo soprano, soprano/piccalo, and valve. Each of these differing trombones vary in shape, size, and therefore range.
As with all brass instruments, the sound of the trombone is created by the tightening or loosening of a players lips along with the constant flow of air from into the reed of the instrument. This action is often referred to as "buzzing" your lips even though the actual action does not necessarily create a buzzing sound. On a slide trombone, different pitches are created depending on the position of the slide. A beginnger might reason that the farther out the slide is the lower the pitch will be. This is a very good thought and is true in some cases like when lowering a pitch a half step, but is not factual when dealing with most notes of the scale. Additionally, notes in the lower ranges are played in the slide positions farther from the bell and vary in position much more than the pitches in the higher range which can be played with a few positions.
Trombone parts are typically notated in bass clef but it is also common for trombone music to be written in tenor or alto clef. For instance, the first trombone part in an orchestra is normally confined to the alto clef.

(Wikipedia.org for picture and work cited)

Music Appreciation Text

2005-11-11T18:31:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Music Appreciation and Enjoyment!
Expression is arguably the biggest component of the human experience. Expression could be used as one of the factors that define why music is so important to people around the world. Music can be shared anytime and anywhere and it is readily accessible to all who wish to partake. Because of music’s versatility, people across the world participate in the appreciation of music as an art form. The question then becomes how do people appreciate music? This text is designed to answer those questions and help you get in touch with your own mode of appreciation.

Music and Humanity
Emotion and expression go hand in hand with humanity. How does one connect the all three factors: emotion, expression, and humanity? It is often said that music makes the three factors mentioned above connect and often completes a persons being. In this chapter, we will explore the affects of music on emotion, expression, and humanity as a whole.

Emotions and Music
Take a moment to think about your favorite pieces, composers, and artists. Then think about how their musical works affect you. What comes to the minds for most individuals can hardly be described in words. Often times one can find that they cannot answer the question without describing some sort of emotion. Many describe emotions that range from jubilation to the most simplistic of words like happy and sad. Have you ever noticed how many songs are connected to different events or parts in your life? Some say that songs make them feel like they are back in another place and time. When others describe these places and times that are tied to music, it is often found that they relate the music back to an emotion. Some examples of music being tied to events include weddings, first dances, and first kisses. Even movies enhance themselves by adding music that makes ones emotions move in one direction or another. Whether happy, scared, angry, or distressed, music is used as a descriptor for the audience to decode into a feeling or emotion of their own.

Expression and Music
Music is often times used as an tool of expression. The very meaning of the verb, to express, exemplifies the intention of music. Expression means to communicate ones feelings or opinions in a tangible format. Often times musician do not think about their own feeling and expressions as it relates to the music that has been written. How can one begin to articulate their own emotions while also maintaining the expressive factor of the composer or artist? One suggestion would be to think past the music. Music is great but one can only get so much from the melody line or underlying chords. Learn a little about the composer and that will help to maintain the integrity of the original emotions that the writer was trying to portray. Once you have figured out what the writer was saying, then you can tie everything together with your own emotions and experiences. Then you can effectively express. Although there are many ways to express, often individuals find that the above mentioned strategy seems to work for them.

So now that we have discussed the music and the human spirit, the application of such uses is pivotal to the enjoyment of the performer and the audience. In the next chapter, we will explore the application of such tactics through trial and error, and through listening to what some artists and composers have said about their own expressive factors.

No, They Didn't Forget the Words: The Art of Scat

2005-11-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

You go to your first jazz concert, expecting a night of loud brass and confusing solos without any apparent melody. But, happily, midway through the first set a singer struts across the stage. “Great!” you think. “Finally, some lyrics I can sing along with!” The first few minutes of the song are familiar, and you joyously tap your foot and mouth along with the words. However, suddenly the band cuts off, and the singer spouts out a string of random nonsense syllables. Has she forgotten the words? It is in another language? No on both accounts. The singer is performing scat.

Scat singing is a type of vocal soloing used it jazz. Singers improvise using nonsense syllables to imitate the sounds of the instruments behind them. They use these syllables to produce a rhythmic, melodic line, just as instrumental soloists. Examples of scat lyrics are “Oop-Pop-a-Da,” sung by Babs Gonzales, or “Shulie-abop,” by Sarah Vaughan.

The most popular story told to explain the creation of scat singing is that one night, in the 1920’s, Louis Armstrong was in a recording studio and dropped the lyrics sheet he was reading from. Unable to remember the words, he simply made up new ones and began to improvise on them. However, this story is most likely false. The first instances of scat can be found in recordings of Ragtime bands from as early as 1911. There are also a few jazz musicians from the pre-Armstrong era who could be said to have utilized scat, including Don Redman, Cliff Edwards, and Red Nichols.

Another important figure in scat was Ella Fitzgerald. While Armstrong is largely associated with the creation and popularization of scat singing, no one made it as accessible to the American public as Ella.

Click on the highlighted names for more information on the artists themselves.

For great examples of scat singing, check out some of these musicians:
Louis Armstrong
Ella Fitzgerald
Cab Calloway
Dizzy Gillespie
Clark Terry
Dennis DiBlasio
Chet Baker
Sarah Vaughan

Modal Jazz

2005-11-09T20:19:00.000-05:00

(This post is supposed to be a section of a textbook entitled "Jazz: History, Analysis, and Appreciation." After a general knowledge of jazz from reading the book has been formed, this section takes place in an overview of the different styles of jazz based in chronological order.)

MODAL JAZZ

HISTORY

As a part of an era reacting to the fast-paced rhythms and numerous, quickly changing harmonic changes attributed to bebop, modal jazz arose, culminating simpler melodic and harmonic structures to create a style of jazz based on a weaker functionality and ambiguous tonality. Modal jazz was first implemented by Miles Davis in the mid-1950's in a jazz piece entitled Milestones, a title track to Davis's album Milestones. Miles Davis, when introducing modal jazz to his group, explained "There will be fewer chords, but infinite possibilities as to what do do with them."

Modal jazz's premiere album is also a work of Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. Kind of Blue has also been the best selling album in jazz history. In this album, Davis's song So What is featured as the premiere work in modal jazz. Utilizing the same harmonic chord changes in So What, John Coltrane wrote Impressions, a faster, more upbeat piece that still featured the simpler chord changes based on the diatonic modes found in modal jazz.

UNDERSTANDING MODAL JAZZ

In order to understand modal jazz, one must understand what the diatonic modes are. A mode is an ordered series of musical intervals used to define the pitches of the diatonic scale. A mode is generally based of the tonic of a major scale. For example, the C major scale is as follows: C D E F G A B C, covering all eight tones of the diatonic scale. The mode of this scale is known as the Ionian mode. The next mode, based off of the 2nd pitch of the scale (the D), is called the Dorian mode. Its pitches are shown in the diagram below, as well as the pitches of the Phrygian (3rd scale degree), Lydian (4th scale degree), and Mixolydian (5th scale degree) modes.

In jazz, two other modes based off of the 6th and 7th scale degrees, the Aeolian and Phrygian modes, are used commonly. In modal jazz, these modes based off of the major scale are used when soloing. Usually they are written as a series of chord symbols known as lead sheet notation.

Modes:
Ionian : C
Dorian: D-7
Phrygian: Esusb9
Lydian: Fmaj7#4
Mixolydian: G7
Aeolian: Am7
Locrian: Bm7b5

In modal jazz, these modes are the basis for the harmonic chord changes used to create the piece. For example, in Miles Davis's So What, only two chords compose the entire harmonic structure of the piece. So What utilizes an aaba form, using the D dorian scale in the a section, and the Eb dorian scale in the b section. These chord changes are also the basis of John Coltrane's Impressions.

FUNCTIONS OF MODAL JAZZ

Since there are less chords to use in modal jazz, the harmonic structure becomes less complex. This, after a period of very complex harmonic structures, allowed for a more lenient use of notes, allowing musicians to extend out of their general structures in soloing. Because of the static nature of the accompaniment, soloists are forced to become stronger artistically, creating an interesting melody over such little to work with. Also, the harmonies in modal jazz emphasize intervals other than thirds, which were common in other previous styles of jazz.

LISTENING LIST

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue

Miles Davis, Milestones

John Coltrane, Impressions

Bill Evans, Everybody Digs Bill Evans

Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain

John Coltrane, Giant Steps

John Coltrane, A Love Supreme

Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage

WORKS CITED

Kernfield, Barry. "The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz." 2nd ed. Macmillan Publishers Limited:2002. 2: 784-785.

"Musical Modes." Wikipedia: 2005. injazz>

Serralheiro, Paul. "What is Modal Jazz? A Layman's Guide." La Scena Musicale. scena.org/lsm/sm8-3/Modal_jazz.htm>

Liner Notes: Jacques Loussier Plays Bach

2005-11-05T23:35:00.000-05:00

Liner Notes: Jacques Loussier Plays Bach
Jacques Loussier first brought jazz and Bach together with his original Play Bach Trio in 1959. Throughout the years, many players have tried their best at “swinging the classics,” but none have done it as well as Loussier. Loussier was the first artist to really master the art and no one since him has surpassed his jazzy but classical ingenuity. The modern Play Bach Trio, formed in 1985, is in fact a recreation of the original group who got together back in 1959. Today, Loussier is accompanied by virtuoso bassist Vincent Charbonnier and Andre Arpino on drums.
Many listeners, who hear today’s trio after witnessing the original group, comment on the difference in sound of Loussier’s keyboard action. His playing is much softer and more flexible but still capable of all of his old volume. Today, Loussier’s playing is more laid back and appropriate to modern jazz versus the jazz sounds of the 60s and 70s. Arpino and Charbonnier are so talented that you won’t hear any changes to the first movement of the Italian Concerto from the original group’s rendition because the group intended to play it very similarly to the previous version. As far as the rest of the album is concerned, you may hear a few subtle differences in the remaining songs based on the new players and their individual technique, improvisational preferences, and personal tone quality. The new Play Bach Trio is tight and creative, exemplified by the updated version of Pastorale in C Minor and Air on a G String. Both modified versions make use of Charbonnier’s genius playing.
Most importantly, the new Play Bach Trio keeps it simple and classy. None of the works are overdone or too far from the original to make conservative listeners cringe. Loussier would not let that happen because he only works with the best in order to preserve the new style that he worked so hard to produce and perform.

"Matrimony-Inspired Harmony"

2005-11-05T23:11:00.000-05:00

Edvard Grieg's prolific output of songs was due in very large part to his wife, Nina. Around the time that he fell in love with his first cousin, he began to experience a major burst of inspiration for his vocal music. A noted soprano, Nina Grieg became the vocal model for all of the rest of his songs, and he considered her his finest interpreter. Grieg also drew a lot of inspiration from his homeland's folksongs.
Edvard Grieg was born on June 15, 1843, in Bergen, Norway. He received his first piano lessons from his mother, a professional pianist. Instead of putting self-conscious attention into his scales and etudes, he found a great interest and love in harmonies, and found amusement and pleasure at improvising as he played the piano. By the age of nine, Edvard had already begun to write his own compositions.
Upon entering the Leipzig Conservatory with a focus in piano, Grieg began to apply himself assiduously at his art and technique, excelling in almost all of his music classes. He moved to Copenhagen after finishing his studies at the conservatory, and stayed there for three years, until 1966. While there, he formed a close knit of friends with fellow Scandinavian composers. Together, they decided to rebel against the popular, conservative trends in music, and to promote and write modern, Scandinavian music. His desire for composing in the style of his nationality was further kindled when he became close friends with Norwegian composer, Rikard Nordraak, the writer of the Norwegian national anthem.
When he met Nina and began to collaborate with her, Grieg discovered the vast expressive potential of the human voice. His love for her acted as a huge catalyst for his creativity. They became engaged around the same time that he completed one of his most admired and accomplished works, Hjertets Melodier (Melodies of the Heart), Opus 5. From this work on, he would write all of his songs with her expressive, lyrical voice in mind.
Opus 5 was definitely written with amorous intentions in mind. Its four songs are half of a collection of poems which Grieg chose that Hans Christian Andersen wrote to a woman whom he wished to court. Their musical settings, composed by a newly engaged Grieg, bring out the inherent passion within the texts. The work is also significant in that it marks Grieg's beginnings in finding his individual style as a composer.
The first song's, "To brune Oyne" (Two brown eyes), bouncy rhythmic motif creates a blithe atmosphere when contrasted with the legato vocal line. The simplicity of the song parallels the loving, child-like nature which the singer finds within his lover's eyes. This song shows Grieg's nascent departure from the German romantic style into a more Norwegian nationalist style by the folksong-like melody and the lack of a Shumannesque piano postlude at the end of the song. It also features a popular Norwegian motif that Grieg frequently employed, a skip upwards followed by two steps down.
In "En Digters Bryst" (A Poet's Heart), Grieg uses tonal-coloring in the piano and voice to full effect in correspondence with Andersen's beautiful, rhapsodic text. The accompaniment builds and swells as waves, mirroring Andersen's words. Grieg was very extensive as well in placing deliberate dynamic markings throughout the piece as to best interpret the poetry. The effects are a wonderfully emotive musical setting in synch with its text's Romantic sentiments.
"Jeg elsker Dig" ( I Love You), the penultimate song in this sett, was ostensibly written by Grieg to Nina as a profession of love. As usual, he employs subtle, beautiful chromatics to sett the atmosphere of the songs in correlation to the words. Many back-to-back crescendi and diminuendi are written in- especially on the phrase "jeg elsker dig"- to emphasize his passionate declarations of love and eternity. The song intensifies with this repeated phrase intesified by its repeated rhythmic motif of a dotted eight followed by a sixteenth note. The piece tapers off and ends in a pianissimo after a heart-felt climax of transcending love.
The last poem in this work, "Min Tanke er et maegtigt Fjeld" ( My Thought is a Mighty Mountain), uses commendable hyperbole to laud the greatness of nature, the mind, and the human heart. The marking of Allegro molto agitato in conjunction with the persistent, ceaseless triplets alludes to the inherent intensity and tumult within these things. The song is mostly set in a minor key, except in the second stanza of the poem where it modulates into its relative major. This is done in as the singer begins to extol his lover, only to return to the agitato minor setting upon the repeating of the first verse.
As mentioned before, Nina Grieg was not only the Muse to most of all Grieg's songs, but was also his favorite interpreter of them. Critics who heard her sing often mentioned the soulfull expression with which she imbued her art. She was also known as a singer with natural instincts and exceptional intonation. What was particularly special about her singing was her unshakable devotion to text. She always managed to glean the subtle nuances to the poems she sang, always clearly communicating the interpretation of the poetry. Tchaikovsky even admired her so much that he dedicated a set of songs to her.
When Henrik Ibsen heard Nina Grieg perform her husband's musical settings of Ibsen poems, he was so impressed and captivated that he whispered to Grieg,"Understood!"

Works Cited

Jarrett, Sandra. Edvard Grieg and his Songs. Burlington: Ashgate, 2003.

Grove Music Online. 2005. 5 November 2005 http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/print.html?section=music.11757.5.

MSN Encarta. 2005. 5 November 2005 http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761573693/Grieg_Edvard_Hagerup.html.

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2005. 5 November 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Grieg.

Contemporary Classical Program Notes

2005-11-05T23:09:00.000-05:00

Many know of Yo Yo Ma as a world famous cellist. Yo Yo Ma has been very succesful in the classical music realm an recently has crossed over to a more contemporary classical style that suites him well. Ma often likes to combine with other artists and collaborate artistic styles and tectures. Yo Yo Ma has become known all over the world as an artist that exudes creativity and a strong sense of musicianship.

Bobby McFerrin is also a world class artist. Although Mc Ferrin is most know for his pop hit "Don't Worry Be Happy," he is also a world class classical crossover artist. McFerrin imitates instruments and makes sound productions that create an awesome tecture just as the if the instrument itself were being played. Not only can McFerrin imitate, but he can also sing classically and do quite well.

Tonight's program brings together these artists collaborative efforts with some bold choices of literature and performance based pieces from their latest cd Hush.

Several pieces that will be performed are contemporary classical written by Bobby McFerrin himself. Arranged specifically for McFerrin and Yo Yo Ma.

"Stars" is one of those pieces. It is comprised of very basic harmonic progressions and does not consist of actual instrumentation impressions on the part of McFerrin.

Also performed will be "Rachmaninov: Vocalise, Op. 34/14." McFerrin will be maintaining an open vowel to express the line of the music and accent the beauty of the cello line.

Lastly performed will be "Grace." This McFerrin composed piece hold an attractive melody line while maintaining interesting and fortifying cello phrases. Listen carfully to the open fifths and octaves.

Please turn of all cell phones, beepers, and etc. Also, photography is prohibited.

The new cd Hush is available after the show.

MiXeS

2005-11-05T22:13:00.002-05:00

Summer Jamz 2005

brought by

Dj Babbz

featuring Dj Marski, Dj Infinity, and Dj Sammy

This album is for people who would roll their windows open and let loose. These are a couple of song that get you up and make you dance.

1. Heaven - Dj Sammy

"Baby you're all that I want, when you're lying here in my arms. I'm finding it hard to believe, we're in heaven."

original lyrics by Bryan Adams

This first song was an orginial song sung by Bryan Adams. Dj Sammy made a remix and had a girl sing this song. This is a famous dance song in clubs.

2. Look at Us- Sarina Paris- Dj Marski

" Everybody beileved that we would never be. Look at us above , we are so in love."

- Sarina Paris

First came out in Eruope, but Dj Marski made his own remix with it by adding beats. I'm loving it because this song came out on my CD.

3. Castles 2005 - Dj Infinity

" Oooo why, do we build castles in the sky."

This is one of the progressive songs that came out in the late 1990s. This here is what Dj Infinity comes in adding more Techno beats. Although he leaves the lyrics in.

4. Heart Beats like a Drum - ATC

" My heart beats like a drum, a drum, dum dum dum."

I added this song just beacuase ATC came out as pop artists, and quickly their music turned into remixes. They selled their catchy album "Pop Planet" in February of 2001. This is a one of their popluar songs.

http://www.seekstores.com/

5. Kisses of the Sun - ATC

"The kisses of the sun are sweet - I didn't blink"

Going back to back, this is another popular song that ATC came out with. I added this one just because it still has a catchy sound to it.

6. Slowa - Dj Marski

Slowa is a Polish song that Dj Marski made a great remix out of. From time to time, he would add unique beats to the song in order for the lyrics to come out.

7. Naj Naj Naj - Dj Marski

Mainly this song only has the words naj, and the beats in the background. Although it's really awsome for the sounds that Marski adds. The good ending to this album because the ending fades out.

2005-11-05T22:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, wow. I thought we were supposed to create and post our own notes with the help of previously read notes!!! Well, I'll post MY notes, and give y'all the sites as works cited.

An Intro to Rob Thomas

Rob Thomas is an incredible musician. Aside from writing and composing continuous chart topping hits such as “3 A.M.”, “Push”, “Bent”, and most recently “Downfall” for record smashing contemporary group Matchbox Twenty, Thomas has been asked to co-write and perform songs with such superstars as Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, Marc Anthony, and John Mayer; to name a few. With all of his combined works up until last year, his music had sold more than 75 million copies worldwide. Along with these accomplishments, he has received such awards as Billboard’s Songwriter of the Year for two years in a row, and 13 BMI awards, such as Songwriter and Song of the year… There’s no doubt that Mr. Thomas has been an incredibly successful individual since 1996, when Matchbox Twenty took flight.
Rob was born on a military base in Germany on February 14, 1972. He then moved back to America with his mother, where he spent his teenage years in South Carolina and Florida. He dropped out of high school at age 17, when he decided to try and find a band to join. After several band ins and outs up and down the east coast, he ended up in Orlando in 1993. There, he and two other members of future M20 formed a band named Tabitha’s Secret. After nothing but regional success was found, the three left to form Matchbox Twenty, a fusion of 60's smoothness and 90's post grunginess, held together by amazing hitches. By 1998, the group’s first album had gone platinum five times. The rest is history, as cliché as it sounds. In ’99, Thomas met up with Carlos Santana and produced “Smooth”, probably his most astoundingly successful song. Afterwards, M20’s fame and popularity were set.
By 2003, the members of M20 had all decided that they needed a ‘break’; for family, friends, personal time… that sort. Rob saw this as the perfect opportunity to realize a dream; record a solo album. In April 2005, Thomas released his first solo album, “Lonely No More”, which has been described as closer to Justin Timberlake than Matchbox Twenty. (I dissagree thoroughly, but that doesn't really matter)
Thomas, 33, received the first Starlight Award in 2004. This award is presented by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is presented to individuals who in the early years of their careers are already making major and lasting impacts on their musical genre. Rob has obviously changed the Adult/Contemporary music genre for the better, and will keep doing so throughout the coming years. From a 17 year old hitchhiking and crashing where he could to a record breaking, multimillion dollar artist, Rob has shown how a love for music can do wonders.

Works Cited

http://robthomasmusic.com/

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/thomas_rob/bio.jhtml

Music for a Darkened Theatre, a Danny Elfman Performance

2005-11-05T21:50:00.000-05:00

1) "Forbidden Zone"—Forbidden Zone
2) "Jack's Lament"—The Nightmare Before Christmas
3) "Main Titles"—Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
4) "Roxie's Suite"—Chicago
5) "Main Titles"—Corpse Bride
6) "Victor's Piano Solo"—Corpse Bride
7) "Remains of the Day"[Combo Version]—Corpse Bride
8) "Veruca Salt"—Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
9) "Mike Teevee"—Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
10) "The Simpsons"—The Simpsons
11) "Hot to Trot"—Hot to Trot
12) "Tales from the Crypt"—Tales from the Crypt

Encore 1: "The Willy Wonka Welcome Song"—Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Encore 2: "Batman"—Batman

Daniel Robert Elfman was born in Amarillo, Texas, in May of 1953 to two teachers, Milton and Blossom Elfman. Growing up in Los Angeles, Elfman spent lots of time at the local theatre, idolizing the music of Bernard Hermann and Franz Waxman. At 18, he dropped out of high school and moved to France with his brother. There, he played his violin on the streets for cash. Later, he joined his brother in Le Gran Magic Circus, an experimental musical theatre group.
After this experience, he moved to Africa to learn new styles and instruments. He contracted malaria and moved back to the U. S. Richard Elfman, brother and director, was in the process of making the film The Forbidden Zone. He had formed a band, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, to play music for the film. Danny was then charged with composing the score, and even performed in the film as Satan. "A wonderful vehicle to try out a of few 'wacky' ideas that had been floating around in my head," says Elfman about his first film music experience. "Ode to Mr. Satie on this, my first love theme."
Elfman went on to perform in the group Oingo Boingo, a shortened name for the Mystic Knights. There were never any set parts, and the band at one point in time consisted of 15 people playing more that 30 instruments. This was the group that performed much of Elfman's music for much of his early films, including Forbidden Zone and Weird Science.
Elfman has gone on to write music for Edward Scissor Hands, Beetlegeuse, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Back to School, Scrooged, themes for Chicago, and even the themes songs for such shows as The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives, and Tales from the Crypt.
The greatest aspect of Danny Elfman's music is that it differs so much from itself. One of the biggest complaints about Danny Elfman is that his music all sounds the same: dark and foreboding. However, Elfman has a way of playing with styles. In the first piece, "Forbidden Zone," we are treated to an eerie piano sound, showing classical Elfman. After all, this was his first film piece. Next, we are treated to Elfman's voice, as he is the guest vocalist for "Jack's Lament," a piece that mourns the monotony of life and strives for something new. To go back to Elfman's apparent favored style, we hear "Main Titles" from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which gives the impression of a machine working. This is represented in the film well, because the opening sequence follows the progression of the creation of Wonka's finest candy. There will be a moment before the work begins because a screen will be pulled down to show the sequence.
To liven the mood a little, Elfman becomes the conductor of a jazz band, playing "Roxie's Suite," from the motion picture Chicago. We move on to three pieces from Elfman's latest work with director Tim Burton, his twelfth in fact, Corpse Bride. The first two are "Main Titles" and "Victor's Piano Solo," both eerie and entertaining, with memorable melodies. The third is another jazz tune, performed by a small combo, called "Remains of the Day."
More vocal selections are performed by Elfman, "Veruca Salt" and "Mike Teevee," incorporate various styles into the two pieces. They include the original lyrics from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the chocolate Factory, with popular influence from Elfman. Again, the screen will be pulled down to show the sequences from the motion picture.
The next piece is familiar tune to all, "The Simpsons" from the popular TV show. This differs from Elfman's "classic" style by being upbeat and fun. "Hot to Trot" follows closely, with a western feel and a cool walking bass section following the fast and furious opening.
The true concert closes with the theme from "Tales from the Crypt," with a special appearance from everyone's favorite Crypt Keeper, giving a monologue and his favorite quote: "Who's next? Perhaps…you?"
Finally, Elfman will be returning to stage for the performance of two more songs: "Wonka's Welcome Song" from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the theme from Batman, possibly his greatest composition.
Now sit back and enjoy some music for a darkened theater.

http://www.filmtracks.com/composers/elfman_bio.html
http://halloweentown.org/!/etc/danny_elfman/
Elfman, Danny. Music for a Darkened Theatre CD insert. MCA Records. 1990.

Beauty & the Beast

2005-11-05T20:22:00.000-05:00

Disney’s Beauty & the Beast: the Musical
Album Liner Notes

Act 1

Prologue
The Narrator describes the outline of the story and the history of one of the main characters, the Beast. It is important to note that the story takes place in 17th century French countryside.

Belle
Belle, the heroine, is first introduced while on a routine visit to town. We quickly learn that Belle is kind, beautiful, and smart. However, she is considered an outcast among the townspeople, and this frustrates her. We also learn that she is not satisfied with her life – she feels it is too predictable, too boring. She turns to her love of books for friendship. The villain, Gaston, is also introduced. Gaston is strong, handsome, and beloved by everyone in town (especially the women), but is also selfish and vain. He confesses to his sidekick Lefue that he is in love with Belle simply because she is “the most beautiful girl in town” and plans on marrying her. Belle doesn’t feel the same way towards Gaston. Rather, she despises him.

No Matter What
Belle has returned to her home from her errands in town. She lives with her loving father Maurice, a peculiar inventor. Belle approaches Maurice and asks if she is “odd”. Maurice comforts her, telling her that he is also considered an outcast among the townspeople and that she is not odd but unique. Belle and Maurice then realize that all they have is each other.

No Matter What (Reprise)/Wolf Chase
Maurice has just invented a machine that chops wood and is off to the fair to enter it in a contest. On the way, though, he gets lost in the woods. Wolves scare his horse away and chase him to an abandoned castle that happens to belong to the Beast, unbeknownst to Maurice. Once inside, Maurice comes in contact with the enchanted objects: Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and her son Chip, among others. They were once servants to the Beast, and they show Maurice kindness and hospitality. The Beast however does not. Feeling that Maurice has only come to torment him, the Beast locks him up in a dungeon and leaves him there to die.

Me
Belle is now home alone, and Gaston has decided that this is the perfect time to ask for her hand in marriage. While he is proposing, he degrades women, talks more about himself than he does Belle, and describes what the future would hold for them if they married. All the while, Belle listens to him and tries to be polite about the whole situation, but she is appalled and finally turns him down as she throws him out of the house. Outraged at being dumped, Gaston vows that he will marry Belle, one way or another.

Belle (Reprise)
Belle is still disgusted with Gaston’s proposal. She pines for a different life than what people plan or expect of her; she wants a life with adventure and wishes someone would understand.

Home
After Belle (Reprise), Belle finds her father’s scarf and realizes he must be lost. She immediately leaves to look for him and eventually finds the castle. She finds Maurice inside, who is now very ill. The Beast finds her as well, and despite her begging, the Beast refuses to let Maurice go. Belle offers to switch places with her father. The Beast approves, but makes her promise that she must stay at the castle forever. Just like Maurice, Belle is unaware that there is any spell.

Belle has just been left alone for the first time since becoming a prisoner of the Beast. She realizes that home is not where you live but where your heart lies. She is scared, angry, depressed, and overwhelmed, all at once. She hates the Beast for what he did to her father and what he has done to her. However, she finally decides that she is determined to survive.

Home (Reprise)
Belle has just met the enchanted objects, including Mrs. Potts and Chip. They are already fond of her for being brave enough to switch places with her father. They try to console her by offering her their friendship and hope for whatever lies ahead.

Gaston
Gaston, still fuming over being dumped by Belle, sulks in the corner at the town pub. Lefue, along with the rest of the pub, tries to put Gaston in a good mood by praising him and telling him that he is the most admired and popular man in town.

Gaston (Reprise)
Maurice, who has just returned from the castle, storms into the pub. He tells everyone inside about the Beast and how Belle is locked in the castle. He demands help to go save her, but nobody believes him. They dismiss him as a harmless eccentric and throw him into the street. Maurice vows that he will save her himself. Maurice’s antics inspire Gaston to form a plan that will force Belle to marry him. He whispers the plan to Lefue. Feeling that the plan is fool-proof, the two celebrate and admire at how smart Gaston is.

How Long Must This Go On?
The Beast has demanded that Belle join him for dinner. Belle refuses, which leaves the Beast in an angry outrage; he responds by declaring that Belle will receive no food unless it is in his company. The Beast then hides in the West Wing, his own room that is forbidden to everyone else. He curses the witch for turning him into a beast and wonders if anyone will take the time and patience to help him change himself into a better man.

Be Our Guest
Belle has snuck out of her room and enters the kitchen. She tells Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts that she is hungry. They all feel sorry for her and decide to give her food despite what the Beast said. Instead of just giving her food, though, they give her a dinner show with all the enchanted objects singing and dancing.

If I Can’t Love Her
After the dinner, Lumiere and Cogsworth give Belle a tour of the castle. As they pass the Forbidden West Wing, Belle becomes curious and sneaks away to see what lies inside. The Beast discovers her and in a rage yells at her and destroys things. Belle is frightened and breaks her promise by leaving the castle.

The Beast regrets for reacting the way he did and feels tormented for the way he is, inside and out. He hates who and what he is and realizes that if he can’t learn to love Belle then he won’t be able to learn to love anyone. In the end he feels that he is hopeless and that no one can save him.

Act II

Entr’acte/Wolf Chase
Belle is riding away from the castle as a pack of wolves start to chase her. They finally catch up and completely surround her. Just as they are about to attack, the Beast shows up and defends her. He wins the fight, but passes out because of wounds and exhaustion. Belle thinks about running away, but she realizes the Beast has just saved her life and takes the Beast back to the castle where she mends his wounds. She decides to keep her promise after all and stays at the castle.

Something There
Belle and the Beast are on better terms. They are not only getting along, they are showing kindness to each other.

Belle and the Beast are outside in the snow, enjoying the winter weather together. Belle suddenly realizes that the Beast is more than he appears to be; she sees kindness and innocence and wonders why she hasn’t seen it before. The Beast slowly starts to realize that Belle no longer hates him and wonders if there may be something more to their newfound friendship. Overwhelmed with the kindness Belle is showing him, the Beast decides to surprise Belle by giving her his huge library. Belle is overjoyed with the gift, yet at the same time is scared and excited at what may develop between her and the Beast. As Belle shows the Beast one of her favorite books, she discovers that the Beast doesn’t know how to read and teaches him to read. Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts are delighted at the progress Belle and the Beast are showing. Although Belle and the Beast are unsure, the three objects realize that there may be love in Belle and the Beast’s future. Belle reads to the Beast and is tickled at his enthusiasm towards books. Belle admits to the Beast that she was considered odd in her hometown and that she understands how it feels to be different and lonely. She then continues to read to him.

Human Again
The enchanted objects grow anxious at the prospect of Belle breaking the spell. They start to dream about what they would do if they were human again. Belle finishes reading the book to the Beast and asks the Beast for a second chance by asking him to dinner. The Beast excitedly agrees.

Maison Des Lunes
Gaston and Lefue are alone with the owner of the town asylum. They finally reveal their plan, which is to pay the owner to lock up Maurice unless Belle agrees to marry Gaston.

Beauty and the Beast
Belle and the Beast are at the dinner, which has become a romantic affair with candlelight and dancing, thanks to the enchanted objects. The Beast looks handsome in a French suit and Belle looks more beautiful than ever in a yellow ball gown.

If I Can’t Love Her (Reprise)
After dancing, the Beast asks Belle if she likes living in the castle. Belle says that she does but that she worries about her father; she wishes to see him just one more time. The Beast grants her request by letting her see Maurice in a magical hand mirror that lets you see what is happening anywhere. The mirror shows Maurice sick and alone in the woods. Belle is upset and wishes she could go to him. The Beast sympathizes with her and no longer holds her as a prisoner. Belle thanks the Beast for his understanding and leaves. Before she goes, the Beast gives Belle the magical mirror as a way for her to always see and remember him.

The Beast now realizes that he truly loves Belle, but feels that she does not feel the same way. He sees that there is no hope in breaking the spell, but knows that he doesn’t want to live a normal life anyway if he can’t love her.

The Mob Song
Belle has found her father and is taking care of him back at their home. She is not home for long before a crowd surrounds the house. When Belle and Maurice go outside to see what is going on, men from the asylum grab Maurice and start to drag him away. Belle becomes frantic and begs Gaston to stop them. He agrees, but only if she will marry him. Belle, shocked and appalled, refuses. In order to prove to the crowd that her father is not crazy she grabs the magical mirror and shows everyone the Beast. The crowd is scared and feels that he is dangerous. Belle tries to reassure them that he is not dangerous, but kind and gentle instead. When she tells everyone that he is her friend, Gaston claims that Belle has feelings for the Beast. Belle denies it and calls Gaston a monster. Gaston, his ego now bruised, convinces the crowd that the Beast is dangerous and a threat to their town. The crowd soon turns into a mob and, with Gaston leading the way, forget about Maurice and storm off to the castle to kill the Beast. Belle and Maurice rush to the castle to warn the Beast and the enchanted objects of the mob.

The Battle
The enchanted objects see the mob in the distance and prepare for battle by using their appearance as real objects to their advantage: by standing still in order to surprise the mob.

The mob is now inside the castle, and the enchanted objects surprise them and attack. As they are fighting, Lumiere asks the Beast what they should do. The Beast, no longer having any desire to live, tells him to let them come. The enchanted objects ignore the Beast’s orders and continue to fight. The enchanted objects win and chase away the mob, but Gaston manages to sneak off to look for the Beast.

End Duet/Transformation
Gaston finds the Beast and starts to torment him and fight him. The Beast does nothing to defend himself. When he sees Belle returning to the castle, though, he fights back. Gaston and the Beast fight on the roof and in the end, the Beast wins. Instead of killing him, he lets him go and tells him to get out. Belle is on the roof as well and as the Beast joins her Gaston stabs him in the side with a knife. Both the Beast and Gaston lose balance, but Belle grabs the Beast and pulls him to safety as Gaston plummets to his death. The Beast is severely wounded and looks as though he is not going to live.

In his dying breaths, the Beast tells Belle that he is glad he got to see her one last time. Belle tries to encourage him by telling him that he’s not going to die and that everything’s going to be ok. She finally realizes that the castle and the Beast, not the town, is her home. She begs the Beast not to die, and as the last rose petal falls she tells him she loves him, thus breaking the spell. Suddenly, the Beast starts to rise and is transformed in mid-air before Belle’s own eyes. The Beast is now the Prince. Everything else is changed back as well, including the enchanted objects and the castle. Belle does not recognize the Beast as the Prince, and the Prince tells her to look into his eyes to prove that he is still the same man she fell in love with. Belle recognizes him and they celebrate their love.

Beauty and the Beast (Reprise)
Everyone is celebrating the breaking of the spell and the love between Belle and the Prince.

Annie's Top Ten Favorite Songs, Vol. I

2005-11-05T18:56:00.000-05:00

I thought this would be an easy task, but once I started going through my CDs, I realized it was going to be quite difficult. With as many songs I have on CDs, there are many songs I don’t have on records. And with the CDs I do have, I realized I love almost every song on it. Eventually, I ended up making sure I had different groups and genres to show my broad likening. Also, please note, the songs are listed in alphabetical order, not in an order based on my favorite.

“Bounce” from System of a Down’s Toxicity
System of a Down is an alternative metal band known for their lyrics of outspoken social and political views. With all four being born of Armenian ancestry, their East Asian influences come through in their music with their use of many East Asian instruments including the electric mandolin, sitar, 12-string classical guitar, along with the electric guitar, and drums. They have been influenced mainly by earlier alternative rock bands, but also from Armenian folk music, blues, classic rock, fusion, heavy metal, jazz, punk rock as well as other industrial genres.

Basically, I like this song strictly because of the lyrics. I think they are hilarious! The song is slightly loud and heavy rock, which means it’s only good listening when I’m in a slightly angry mood, hyper mood, or I’ve gone through my other typical CDs, but back to the lyrics. It’s about a pogo stick. And how this guy is going out on a date with this popular girl and wants to show her the tricks he can do on his pogo stick. But it turns out all of her friends have tricks too, but they only have on pogo stick. It’s pretty funny, at least I think so.

“Chemical Party” from Gavin DeGraw’s Chariot
Gavin DeGraw’s Chariot is an eclectic collection of 11 of his original songs that are emotionally forthright melodies with lyrics that reflect about life and love with thoughts beyond his age, sung with a raspy voice that conveys the pain of heartache as well as the joy of love, equally as well.

This song basically is a story of this guy at a party watching a girl he likes become completely indulged in these drugs to the point where she is so incoherent that she thinks her “name is pass the joint.” I like this song because it reminds me of my second relationship in High School in which my boyfriend, at the time, got to a point where he believed “chemicals” were more important than me and I couldn’t get through to him. It really just let me get out some frustration about his stupidity. I also like it because it opens with an acoustic sound of a guitar, breaking out into a chorus with a rock-beat to it, along with the slightest bit of a country guitar in the background.

“Come Fly With Me” from Frank Sinatra’s Classic Sinatra: His Greatest Performances 1953-1960
Frank Sinatra’s Classic Sinatra album shows the very many sides of Sinatra. It has jazzy ballads set with a late night isolation feel, hip jazz numbers, and swingin’ big band tunes.

I like this because of its big band sound with an upbeat swing. The use of the horns in the opening just grabs your attention right away, the steady beat of the bass drives the song till the very end, the nice swing on the drums, and the use of the strings when Sinatra talks about angels cheering is magnificent. One of my favorite parts in the song is the instrumental break in the middle when the horns, woodwinds and percussion section all let loose and build up to the key change. And of course, it’s sung by Frank Sinatra, and you’ve got to love Frank!

“The Dummy Song” by Louis Armstrong from the Original You’ve Got Mail Soundtrack
Louis Armstrong, a trumpet and cornet player, is one of the most influential jazz players of the 20th century with a unique tone, way of playing, and daring improvisation skills. He is also known for his gravely voice which has been said to create jazz singing and helped popularize scat singing. With is constant practice on the trumpet, Armstrong was able to widen the range he was able to play which made way for large leaps and joyous improvised melodies. His improvisation skills almost single handedly created the title of a jazz soloist.

This song is one that just jumps out and grabs you right away with it’s loud, muted horn beginning with muted trumpets. Then it slips into a soft, upbeat jazz piece with a rag-time feel to it, while Armstrong sings with a soft melody of a clarinet behind him. The instrumental break is very exciting with a more upbeat feel from the drums with improvisation of Armstrong beginning with high staccato notes on the off beat then to a more melodious high sound. Then it’s traded off to another trumpeter with a lower sound, then back to Armstrong to finish it off. Through out the entire solo, a clarinet is running wildly up and down the scales with the trombones and horns lightly playing through the chorus which adds such a rich sound to the solos. Then it goes back into the chorus with what feels to be even more upbeat than before, with variations of the chorus. It has a question answer feel with Armstrong singing the lyrics, answered loudly by the band which then quietly accompanies Armstrong while he sings the next phrase. The musicianship and fast tempo of the song is very enjoyable and makes you want to dance!

“If I Ain’t Got You” from Alicia Keys’ The Diary of Alicia Keys
Alicia Key’s is an American R&B/Soul composer, pianist, producer and singer-songwriter,. At the age of 5 she began playing pieces by Beethoven, Chopin, and Mozart and composed her first piece at the age of 14. The Diary of Alicia Keys has more of a pop style feel to it than her debut album Songs In A-Minor, showing the many sides of Keys’ talent.

I like this song mainly because of the music. It opens with a just the piano playing arpeggio like notes then once Keys starts singing, the drums enter and then the arpeggios turn into chords with a soulful feel, and once the chorus starts, the bass comes in as well. At the end of the chorus, the horns begin to double the piano which gives it a 70’s funk and soul feel to it. After the second chorus, it fades into just the arpeggios like the being of the song and fades out. I really get into the 70’s funk and soul feel. It’s really rich in sound.

“I Want To Hold Your Hand” from The Beatles’ One
The Beatles had a huge musical influence on the UK as well as the US with the pop and rock styles. They were influenced by Britain rock-and-rollers, Cliff Richard, The Shadows, Rory Strom and the Hurricanes, as well as American Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, early Motown artists, Little Richard, and those with more of the pop feel rather than the blues. The music they played varied from dance albums to more intricate and harmonically driven albums as well as simplistic songs for animated films. They’re lyrics ranged from boy meets girl stories to nonsense and some defying that caused a stir in the public.

It was hard to choose one Beatle song because they are all just great, but I came to this conclusion merely because I’m connected to it through my best friend, Brittany. We’re crazy when we’re together and this, I guess you could say, is our theme song. We listened to the entire One album for the entire summer, singing it as we drove, or just randomly. This song was just really funny because we pulled up to a group of our friends blaring the music and doing choreography, so now it’s just our song! It just makes me happy. I think that’s all I can say...

“More Than Words” from Extreme’s The Best Of Extreme
Extreme, popular during the late1980s and early 1990s, categorized them self as “Funky Metal” but is technically classified under American funk metal, hair metal, hard rock band. With their multi-part vocal harmonies along with acoustic and electric guitar use, it is easy to see that they were influenced by Van Halen and Queen.

I like this song for it’s words as well as it’s music. The words talk about how saying “I love you” doesn’t always fix things, and saying it repeatedly doesn’t mean you actually mean it; that actions show how you actually feel so much more than those three words and if you weren’t able to say “I love you,” would you be able to show that you truly cared for this person. The words are set with a complete acoustic back up with a guitar as well as a set of congas used during the chorus which also sets it apart from their typical songs. The lyrics are completely true and the way it is sung with the acoustic music is not only relaxing but also conveys how the simplest things can be all you need to convey what you want.

“One Flight Down” from Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me
Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me is mainly filled with jazz tunes, but also with some soul and folk/country. With a diverse feeling in each song, the warmness that comes through with her soft voice is enough to relax anyone.

I like this song mainly because of the way the melody fits with the soulful jazz playing of the piano. I don’t really have an attachment to the words. I tend to like soulful, gospel piano numbers and you can definitely hear it in the opening measures. Also, during the choruses when she goes down to the middle 1 range and plays the chords going up the scale, it really gives you the soul feel. Overall, the song has a slight jazz feel, but I really feel it has a lot more soul in it than some of the others on the CD.

“Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder from The Original You’ve Got Mail Soundtrack
Stevie Wonder is one of Motown’s most successful singer-songwriter, producer and musician. Blind from infancy, Wonder moved along to become thought of as a musical genius because of his many talents with different instruments. He plays the drums, guitar, congas, harmonica, keyboard, piano and synthesizers. He’s a legend in rock and pop music, making music since the age of 13 in 1963, and just recently released a new album at the age of 55, in October of 2005.

I love this song because of it’s music. It’s got a great Motown, 70’s funk groove to it. It’s got the bass guitar and the drums driving the beat, the horns blowing some funky harmonies, the tambourine giving it that extra kick, and Wonderlove, the back up singers, harmonizing with Stevie Wonder! This type of music is always just fun to listen to and puts me in a great mood! Sometimes I feel I’ve been born in the wrong era, because I dig the 70’s, 20’s, 50’s, 90’s, the OT’s, just about everything! But this 70’s, Motown funk is great!!

“Sunday Morning” from Maroon 5’s Songs About Jane
Maroon 5’s Songs About Jane are original songs written by the lead vocalist, Adam Lavigne, about his troubles with his girlfriend, Jane. The songs range from pop songs about the hope of getting back together and of how much happiness she gives him, to pop-rock songs saying that he’s done with her games and he’s not coming back.

I mainly like this song due to its music. It opens with just a simple beat for two measures, then the piano comes in with a few simple chords, then the guitar joins in along with the lyrics, then the bass joins in and with each instrument the lyrics build up to the hope of being able to see this girl again, and then the chorus just grows into a louder sound with a more complex beat behind it, driven by the bass guitar and the drums. Then, after another verse and chorus it comes to the instrumental break with a sax , bass guitar, electric guitar and the key board doubling the sound of a bass, all playing in unison this jazz beat up against the drums which grows into the final chorus. The song just puts me in a good mood and the way the music builds up since the beginning is just awesome.

www.gavindegraw.com - www.lyrics.com - www.norahjones.com - www.wikipedia.org

A Love Supreme

2005-11-05T17:50:00.000-05:00

"A Love Supreme"
I will do all I can to be worthy of Thee, O Lord. It all has to do with it. Thank You God. Peace. There is none other. God is. It is so beautiful. Thank You God. God is all. Help us to resolve our fears and weaknesses. In you all things are possible. Thank you God. We know. God made us so. Keep your eye on God. God is. He always was. He always will be. No matter what... it is God. He is gracious and merciful. It is most important that I know Thee. Words, sounds, speech, men, memory, thoughts,fears and emotions--time--all related...all made from one... all made in one.Blessed be his name. Thought waves--heat waves--all vibrations--all paths lead to God. Thank you God. His way... it is so lovely... it is gracious.It is merciful--Thank you God. One thought can produce millions of vibrationsand they all go back to God... everything does. Thank you God. Have no fear... believe... Thank you God. The universe has many wonders. God is all. His way... it is so wonderful. Thoughts--deeds--vibrations, all go back to God and He cleanses all. He is gracious and merciful... Thank you God. Glory to God... God is so alive. God is. God loves. May I be acceptable in Thy sight. We are all one in His grace. The fact that we do exist is acknowledgementof Thee, O Lord. Thank you God. God will wash away all our tears...He always has...He always will. Seek him everyday. In all ways seek God everyday. Let us sing all songs to God. To whom all praise is due... praise God. No road is an easy one, but they allgo back to God. With all we share God. It is all with God. It is all with Thee. Obey the Lord. Blessed is He. We were all from one thing... the will of God...Thank you God. I have seen ungodly--none can be greater--none can compare. Thank you God. He will remake... He always has and Healways will. It's true--blessed be His name--Thank you God. God breathes through us so completely...so gently we hardly feel it... yet, it is our everything. Thank you God. ELATION--ELEGANCE--EXALTATION--All from God. Thank you God. Amen.

-John Coltrane

A Love Supreme is John Coltrane’s plea for self-correction. He has suffered so much pain, he needed to justify his revelation through his music. This album expresses Coltrane’s drug sufferings and revelation with God, making it a life-changing album inspiring other artists’ creativity.

“During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace.”[1]

John Coltrane is not the greatest saxophone player of all time because of his physical technique, but because of his ability to express his life/emotions through music. He felt things deeply, such as his drug addiction, his first wife Naima (who inspired Coltrane to revere God), his respect for God, and especially his supreme love for jazz and the tenor saxophone.

A Love Supreme is divided into four parts, although the last two, “pursuance” and “Psalm” are connected. Part 1, "Acknowledgment," has a bossa-nova feel, famous for the album's classic bass line. Later in that track Coltrane chants the phrase "a love supreme; a love supreme" repeatedly to the pitches and rhythm of the bass line. This unorthodox use of lyrics in a Coltrane album immediately sets it apart from all the others.

Part 2 is called "Resolution." It is a medium-up swing that shows off Coltrane's and Tyner’s abilities in soloing. Although this can be considered the most “straight-ahead” tracks on the album, Coltrane takes continues to take his solo to another level, keeping the album’s theme alive by exploring the world of dissonance.

Part 3, "Pursuance," is a high energy song, probably the most “free” in its improvisations. Keeping the main focus on solos, it leads directly to the final portion of the album: Part 4, "Psalm." This is a quiet track built on the long, reflective poem by Coltrane also titled “A Love Supreme.” This completes the album summing up his feelings for God, pain and love.

Although A Love Supreme was created seven years after his spiritual awakening, it is clear that John Coltrane has experienced suffering. This album is Coltrane’s representation of the transformation from being unhappy to feeling fulfilled; capturing and setting free his emotions through this poem and especially through his music. Instead of artificially stimulating his life and desires by drugs, he starts to use this raw angst he left over from his heroin addiction, as well as his exaltation of God, to fuel his supreme passion for jazz and the tenor saxophone.

[1] Jazzitude, Marshall Bowden. 2001. Sponsored by amazon.com. 5 Nov., 2005. http://www.jazzitude.com/trane2.htm

Umphrey's McGee

2005-11-05T17:05:00.000-05:00

Umphrey's McGee
IU Auditorium, November 4, 2005

Set 1: Jimmy Stewart> 40's Theme> Front Porch> Jimmy Stewart> Front Porch> Plunger>
Higgins> Mulche's Odyssey
Set 2: The Bottom Half> Utopian Fir> War Pigs> Utopian Fir> Walletsworth> Percussion solo>
Rosana> Honkytonk Blues> Robots World
Encore: Hey 19 (Steely Dan)

About the Band:
The band, Umphrey's McGee, first began in 1997 although not entirely in the form as it appears now. Umphrey's was started in South Bend by Joel Cummins (keyboards, vocals; studied in Julliard), Brendan Bayliss (guitar, vocals) and Ryan Stasik (bass), and Mike Mirro (drums, vocals)--their first album was Greatest Hits Part 3. Soon after, they invited Andy Farag to join them on percussion (mostly hand drums and other "toys"). A year later and along with their new percussionist, they released Songs for Older Women. In 2000 they were joined by guitarist Jake Cinninger who helped with the making of their third album, One Fat Sucka. But it wasn't until their fourth release of Local Band Does OK in 2002 did they become nationally recognized for their musical talents (and the rest of us had to start buying tickets early). In 2003, Mike Mirro decided to head off to medical school which allowed Kris Myers to replace him as Umphrey's kit drummer. With their new drummer, Umphrey's released in 2004 their best album, Anchor Drops which appeals to listeners even outside of the jam band scene. With their great energy, talent, and creativity, Umphrey's McGee has drawn a crowd of loyal fans and is headed towards the top of the music industry.

A Study In Brown

2005-11-05T14:16:00.000-05:00

Clifford Brown was an anomaly, and not just in his playing. In an age characterized by the vagrant, drug-induced lifestyles of many of jazz music’s biggest stars, he was able to avoid such debilitating influences and just play music. He owned a house, had insurance, was known for his incredible work ethic, visited his parents when travel schedules allowed, was educated, married, and had a son. He also happened to be one of the greatest trumpet players in the history of the music. Discovered by Dizzy Gillespie as a young college student, “Brownie,” as he was affectionately known, soon became a regular on Philadelphia bandstands alongside the likes of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. At a time when trumpet players aimed for more and more notes at the expense of great sound, Brown had both. His improvisation included dazzling technique and clever melodic excerpts served on a clear, unblemished sound.

At the tender age of 23, Brown paired with legendary drummer Max Roach, and the two never looked back. They co-lead a group that included Harold Land, and eventually Sonny Rollins, on tenor saxophone, George Morrow on bass, and Richie Powell on piano. Individually, they were some of the biggest names in jazz. Together, they would change the face of the music they had dedicated their lives to. Recordings featured very ordered, but still exciting and unusual arrangements and some of the greatest improvisation to come out of the bebop age.

Now, just in time for the original recording’s 50th anniversary, EmArcy Records has re-released the duo’s classic album A Study In Brown.

The first cut on the record is Ray Noble’s Cherokee, taken at a tempo that would make most jazz masters cringe. Clifford’s solo on this track is considered one of his signature works. Mind-boggling technique is on display broken up only by clever melodic statements. Harold Land and Richie Powell also demonstrate why they were some of the best sidemen in the business on their respective solos.

The next six tracks are all group originals. Powell’s Jacqui features an extraordinary, if brief, melodic solo by Clifford, as well as work by Land, Powell, and Roach, sandwiched between a brilliant light-hearted melody featuring the two horns.

Next is a fast paced Clifford original, Swingin’, followed by Harold Land’s laid back Lands End. Another Brown original, George’s Dilemma, follows; a piece described by Roach as “a romance between Afro-Cuban and jazz rhythms.”

The third and fourth Brown originals, both blues, follow in succession. Sandu is a lighthearted work featuring another simple, but brilliant solo by Clifford, as well as Harold Land. Roach also has solo space, as well as bassist George Morrow. Gerkin for Perkin is a much faster tempo, and a completely different, almost humorous mood.

The last two selections for this record are both familiar to most music lovers. If I Love Again, an old pop tune, is taken at a faster, more jazz-like tempo. Clifford’s solo on this cut has often been described as “Miles Davis-like.” The final selection is Billy Strayhorn’s standard Take the A-Train. It is this landmark recording that is the first to feature the train-like sound effects that are now so popular. Land takes a few courses, followed by Clifford and Powell. Next is a brief shout section featuring Roach on the drum set. The piece, as well as the record comes to a close with the dying out of the train whistle as it pulls into station.

This recording project was one of the last before Brownie’s life came to a tragic end. On the way to meet Max Roach in Chicago, the vehicle carrying both Brown and Richie Powell slid off of the Pennsylvania turnpike, killing them both. He was just 25 years old. That night saw the death of not just a great man, but someone many have decided would have become the greatest jazz musician of all time. In a recording career that spanned barely 3 years, Clifford Brown had managed to impact the jazz world forever, and this record is the only evidence needed to back such a statement up.

A Trumpet Recital

2005-11-05T11:46:00.000-05:00

Concerto for Trumpet/ Alexander Arutunian (b. 1920)

Alexander Arutunian, born on September 23, 1920 in Yerevan, Armenia, attended the Komitas Conservatory in Yerevan. Since his graduation from the Komitas Conservatory, he has established himself as a world renowned composer. One of his most high-rated works is his Concerto for Trumpet, which ranks among Franz Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Trumpet Concerto and Paul Hindemith's Sonata for Trumpet as the most played trumpet pieces in the world. The idea for this concerto, like many of Arutunian's other pieces, came to him while he was asleep. His fondness for brass instruments, established by his memories of brass ensembles in Armenian cities from his childhood, could explain why he chose the trumpet to go along with this romantic piece of work. This concerto features four sections: Andante, Allegro energico, Meno mosso, and Allegro. Completed in 1950, this piece was originally written for the principal trumpet player of the Yerevan Opera Orchestra, Zolak Vartasarian. Instead, it was premiered by Timofei Dokshizer, a virtuoso trumpet player from Moscow.

Concert Etude/ Alexander Goedicke (1877-1957)

Although Alexander Goedicke is a Russian composer, this piece has become quite popular among trumpeters of the United States. Very often this will be used as piece for contest by high school trumpet players. This piece takes on an encore-like feeling, although encapsulating all the characteristics of a romantic piece of music. This piece takes on a difficulty that is slightly above moderate difficulty due to its double-tounging and arpeggio passages, although not demanding for the trumpet player in terms of range.

Sonata for Trumpet and Piano/ Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

Paul Hindemith, born in Frankfurt, Germany on November 16, 1895, is considered the foremost German composer of his generation. This piece, written in 1939, was one of a series of many sonatas made to supply pieces with substance and and challenge for amateur trumpet players. Although, this piece transcended its companion Sonatas for other instruments, taking on a great depth of emotion and personality. In fact, it is one of Hindemith's most personal expressions in music taken on while he was living in exile in Switzerland from the Nazi party of his home country, Germany. For these reasons, This sonata could be described a a musical work of protest and extreme sadness. The first movement is entitled Mit Kraft, or with strength. This movement is characterized by a bold, yet brooding trumpet part with outbursts of expression from the piano. The second movement is entitled Massig bewegt, showing great tension along a quieter trumpet part and a march-like feel. The third movement of this masterwork is named Trauermarsch, or funeral-march. Essentially a funeral march is what it is, performed in its entire sense of grievance at an incredibly slow tempo. At the end of the third movement, the piece ends with a chorale entitled Alle Menshen mussen Sterben, or All men must die. This chorale is performed at a painstakingly slow tempo (the quarter note is equal to 40) with a restless piano part underlying the trumpets playing of the melody.

Trumpet Concerto in Eb/ Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Franz Joseph Haydn, born on March 31, 1732 in Rohrau, Austria, is considered one of the great composers of his age. His Concerto for the trumpet is considered one of the two great pieces written for trumpet. It, along with Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Trumpet Concerto (the other of the two great pieces) were written for a man named Anton Weidinger, a trumpeter in the Viennese court who had just created a trumpet with keys that could play the chromatic scale in contrast to the baroque trumpet that did not have valves to play on. Weidinger performed this concerto after it was written in 1796 at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. A piece of three movements, the first movement contains two expositions, the performed by the accompanist. The second movement, entitled Andante is a very lyrical movement showing the romantic sound of a trumpet. The third movement combines sonata and rondo forms, utilizing them in a highly climactic manner.

Works Cited

"About the Composition: Sonata for Trumpet and Piano." Web page. Richard Freed. The John
F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Carnovale, Norbert A. and Doerksen, Paul F. Twentieth Century Music for Trumpet and
Orchestra. Brass Press: 1975. 11, 24.

Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. Macmillan
Publishers Limited: 2001. 11: 523-538.

Smith, Norman E. Program Notes for Band. Program Note Press: 2002, 2000. 21, 273-274.

"Thoroughly Connected"

2005-10-30T19:44:00.000-05:00

Professors Barbara Paré, soprano, and John Clodfelter, piano, delivered a consummate recital on Wednesday night. Having collaborated musically for the past five years, they have developed a constant visceral connection that is very evident while watching them perform with precise synchronization. Throughout the entire evening, they represented themselves as complete artists, thoroughly connected to the various facets of their field.

The evening began with a cogent performance of "Alma Grande e nobil core". Paré sang Mozart's concert aria with poised nobility that carried itself quite convincingly from her head tones down to solid chest tones. The chest tones here and throughout the performance were used very intelligently for dramatic emphasis without losing the brightness and focus of the top. Paré's huge, bright lyric was also well-focused, a commendable feat for a voice of that size. The Mozart was followed by excerpts from Berlioz's song cycle, Les Nuits d'Ete. Pare made good dramatic use of the beautiful French poetry, as when she seemed to vocally kiss the word "baiser" in "La spectre de la rose". She also sang very expressively on the recurring phrase," Si je parfois," gingerly caressing the notes, yet increasing the intensity at each occurence. "Sur la langunes" gave our soprano's voice a wonderful setting to display its top, blooming as a flower to the light of the sun. The same held true in "L'absence" when she filled the hall with bright, dilectible color at the opening phrase," Reviens, ma bien-aime." In "L'ile inconnue" she caressed the notes from the bottom to the gorgeous top of her voice, intelligently emphasizing the phrase,"Ou voulez-vous aller?".

Throughout the performance, I continued to feel that the artists had a constant connection to each other, their technique and their musicality . Clodfelter was always with Paré, artistically shaping phrases with con dolcezza and at other times with intensity. Despite the context of the song, he and Paré always shared emotions with a loving passion for their art. I also felt the consistent connection of Paré to her body as her technique let her body do the work for her voice; I always felt that her voice was flying free without strain.

The artists' strong connection to their text became significantly evident as they began the German half of their program with selections from Mignon Lieder, Hugo Wolf's musical setting to Goethe's poetry. Paré and Clodfelter assumed a plaintive, dolorous mien. Paré was very much in character in this piece, exposing a heart-breaking, fragile sorrow. This was yet another work in which her top was showed off; it moved as a comet, a big, solid, bright force of hot passion.

The dynamic duo capped the selection with a powerfully emotive "Kennst du das Land". After a surging section of musical and dramatic intensity, Clodfelter definitely had no inhibitions as he reached a fortissimo with the piano and showered the hall with intense, yet precise scales. After the piece diminished to a soft, special ending, Paré reached for and took Clodfelter's hand for their bow in mutual understanding of how truly special their performance was. Their performance of this piece probably showed the audience their perpetual connection to each other, the music and the text more than any other work on the recital. This became self-evident when a captivated, moved, and exstatic audience brought the duo back on stage for a second round of bowing.

Our artists' final piece was "Nin eilt herbei" from Otto Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor. In this piece, Paré's soprano was at its brightest and most focused. She was very much in character, taking advantage of the declamatory nature of her one operatic aria in the recital. As usual, her German diction was precise and clear-cut as she played up her character's sarcasm to full comic effect. She again made good, intelligent, dramatic use of her chest voice without making sacrifices upon her technique. This piece was truly a gem; there were so many great musical and dramatic things done that I was forced to stop scribbling down notes and to just sit back and enjoy the performance. Her huge, gorgeous top was once again shown off at the end of the aria, capping the performance as icing on a rich, well-flavored cake.

This recital was educational in so many ways. Ultimately, it showed the audience how well singers and pianists can be connected on stage, working as a unit rather than a soloist and an accompanist. It also show the deep connections that the artists had to their technique, text and musicality. As our artists showed us, these qualities harmoniously connected and working together culminate in one of the most beautiful things of all: a vibrant, sympathetic connection between the performers and their audience. Paré and Clodfelter's performance definitely reached this peak, and their audience was greatly appreciative for it.

The Duck and Jazz?

2005-10-29T22:17:00.000-05:00

When students have a long week, and just want to chill out with their meal card, they can come to this restaurant. Not only does The Fluttering Duck accept DePauw University’s meal cards, but they have live music every Thursday from 9 P.M. to 11 P.M. On some instances this restaurant features some musicians from DePauw’s own School of Music.
On October 27, I sit in the front section, closer to the music then the TV, and smoking section which is further in the back. I enjoy a dessert called “Lava Cake” while I listen to the music playing. The instruments that were playing to night were a saxophone, bass, keyboard, and a drum set. Randy Salman who plays the saxophone is the Jazz Band professor in DePauw University. John DiCenso plays the drums, Paul Musser plays the bass, and Jim Connerly plays the keyboard. Jim Connerly was Professor Salman’s and graduated in 1985. When playing together, they sounded so good that the whole restaurant fell silent, at first. After listening to the beginning of the piece of music, everyone started getting use to the music and went back to the conversations. As I look around I saw some heads stare at the musicians while other was into their own conversations.
I asked a couple of customers told me the food is “great and fulfilling.” All I can say with the food is that the “Lava Cake” is great when heated well. This is my third lava cake I’ve ever tried. I wasn’t very satisfied with this one because my chocolate was not melted, but I did enjoy the berries that were satisfying.
Right at this point the Jazz ensemble is having their solos. The solos are whatever the musicians want it to be. In other words, it’s improving music. My favorite solo is Mr. Connerly’s as I call it a drum roll. It is beats going one after another. When looking at my clock, this one piece is about seven minuets long, but without realizing it. I say without realizing that the piece is so long because I enjoyed it so much that I didn’t want it to end. After the piece was done, the people who were listening started to clap, which then brought the rest of the crowd clapping.
I recommend this restaurant, especially on Thursdays, to anyone who wants to relax, and listen to some Jazz. Also, the people who are chocolate lovers, I recommend the Lava Cake. But tell your server to make sure that it is heated well enough to be melted.

Pare and Clodfelter: A Wonderful Duo!

2005-10-29T20:57:00.000-05:00

As I’m waiting for the lights to dim, I read through the biographies of the singer, Barbara Paré, soprano, and the pianist, John Clodfelter. Ms. Paré has performed at many opera houses including the Cincinnati Opera Summer Festival, the Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera Iowa, the Ensemble Company of Cincinnati Opera, and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has also recorded Bernard Gilmore’s Five Folksongs for Soprano and Band under the Klavier Label, with the Cincinnati Wind Symphony. I then moved on to read about John Clodfelter. Mr. Clodfelter is a DePauw Alum who has been working at DPU for the past ten years as a staff accompanist and vocal coach. This last summer he studied in Vienna, Austria, with a grant to study under Carolyne Hague and Walter Moore at the Univerität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wein. What I found to be strikingly interesting is that Ms. Paré and Mr. Clodfelter have been working together for the past 5 years. So far, the recitals I have attended at DePauw, the vocalist rehearses with an accompanist for a few weeks before the recital, or in some cases, the day of. It has never seemed to cause a problem during the performance, but this relationship between Ms. Paré and Mr. Clodfelter was easy to see through out the entire performance.
As they entered the stage, immediately you could sense the comfortableness between them. They opened with an Italian piece, Alma grande e nobil core, a powerful song about a lady upset at her lover because he has upset her and basically she is saying she doesn’t really need him, and that she wishes to seek revenge. I was immediately taken back by the sound that was filling up the Thompson Recital Hall, as well as the expressions she had while telling the story. Even though it was obviously sung in Italian and many of the audience don’t know Italian, by reading the translation before hand, one would be able to know what she was saying by her facial expressions as well has her hand motions. The best display of their silent communication was during the V-IX pieces from Gedichte von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe of Hugo Wolf. During the introductions you could see the expressions of Mr. Clodfelter coming through the music as well as his body language. His body would sway back and forth while his fingers would run across the keys. There was even one time he was so expressive that the piano was literally bouncing up and down because of the intensity behind his playing. Then, once Ms. Paré would begin to sing, you could continue to watch Mr. Clodfelter and not only could you see the expressions he was putting into the piano, you could see how he was singing along with Ms. Paré because his head would sway with the runs she was singing, and he would almost mimic the facials she was making. It was truly amazing to see such communication. The bond between Ms. Paré and Mr. Clodfelter was also shown after the recital and not only did Ms. Paré acknowledge Mr. Clodfelter, but brought him back out, hand in hand, for a final bow which one doesn’t see very often. If you don’t like Opera music very well, it would still be very entertaining to see just for the pure communication and relationship between the two musicians.

Greencastle High School works toward a fun-filled rendition of Godspell.

2005-10-29T20:03:00.000-05:00

Steven Schwartz, the writer of several hit musicals such as Godspell, Wicked, and The Baker's Wife studied piano and composition at Juliard School of Music while in high school and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1968 with a B. F. A. in Drama. Not only did he write shows for Broadway, which at one point in time had three of his musicals running simultaneously (Pippin, Godspell, and The Baker's Wife), but he also wrote lyrics for existing pieces. Such works include the English translation for Bernstein's Mass, lyrics to Strouse's Rags, and children's books, one-act plays, and off-Broadway musicals.
Godspell has become one of Schwartz's best known works, especially for high school performers. This is because it is energetic, fun, and involves the audience, drawing them into the show. However, this is not his work at all. John Michael Tebelak wrote the script, and the original libretto, and the music consisted of Episcopal Hymns. However, once entering the hands of Schwartz, the music became entertaining rock-inspired music to words from the gospel of St. Matthew.
Productions include outrageous makeup, costumes in a 70s or even "clown-like" style, pantomime, and vaudeville-esque performances. However, a message of love, happiness, and the avoidance of what is commonly seen as the story of Jesus are prevalent throughout the show. And Greencastle High School in Greencastle, Indiana has taken up this adventure.
At a recent rehearsal, I was able to see performances of a few of the songs in the first act of this wonderfully energetic musical. They started their warm-ups with "Day by Day," now an international hit. This featured one of the members of the cast. Notice that I do not use a character name. This is because Godspell is not meant to have characters. The cast list includes Jesus, Judas/John (played by the same actor), and the rest of the cast is supposed to be listed by their names and credited as such. However, Greencastle was early in the rehearsal process and did not yet have cast lists.
That being said, the cast had lots of fun even while warming up. Then, the "show" started. There were fits and starts, of course, because there were still kinks to work out and details to add. The first song in the musical is "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord," which has a member of the company baptizing all of the others. This began by a parade of characters marching up the aisles of the audience singing, breaking Stanislavski's idea of the audience being the imaginary fourth "wall," and not involving them in the performance. There is an apparent lack of interest from the player in charge of this task. He sang quietly, not nearly filling up the stage, even with a microphone. In fact, most of the vocalists were quiet. This may be explained by the fact that it merely was a rehearsal, but it is a common idea to "practice like you perform," making a lack on interest and volume unacceptable.
On the other side of the coin, a certain feeling of fun and entertainment came from the body language of the performers. This was especially evident in the performance of "Bless the Lord." The show choir-like choreography made the 25-30 performers on stage march, roll their bodies back in forth away from each other, and turn around while saying, "Ooooooohhhhhhh yeah," with a heavy feel in two from the bass.
This was one of the better pieces in the rehearsal, with the climax, and our soon departure after, coming at "Learn Your Lessons Well." This is a very short song, but there is lots of fun to be had while performing and watching. Two men in the company start the song at the beginning of Act Two as the rest of the company is still entering. Traditionally, this is done by one character accompanying himself on the piano. However, this is done by two characters who will eventually have guitars, or at least strummed instruments. They spot a few "sinners settin' yonder," who are a few more members of the cast, who shamefully enter the stage and sit with the rest of the cast. The two actors use cheesy "country" accents and strum guitars, ending their last note in vaudeville style, holding out their arms and belting the last "well!"
The show will be a very pleasurable, exciting experience, especially when the cast finally clicks into a "community," feeding off of each other's energy and paying attention to how the others move on stage. The huge cast fills the stage with warmth and love, and the opening performance will be energetic, exciting, and full of fun.

Note from the editor: There are those who feel that the idea of Godspell to be innapropriate and even blasphemous. Click here for an interesting view of this side.

Friendship is Better than Partnership

2005-10-29T15:18:00.000-05:00

This review is going to be somewhat of a challenge for me to write subjectively. Seeing as how I briefly studied under the performers being reviewed, my own opinions and emotions want to come into play. Rest assured, however, that this will not be the case.

The above-mentioned performers are Barbara Pare, soprano, and John Clodfelter, piano. The actual performance was a faculty recital given on Wednesday, October 26, at the DePauw University School of Music. Barbara teaches voice and John is a vocal coach. They share something in common other than the fact that they are both faculty members at DePauw; they share friendship. Barbara and John have been working together as a singer/pianist team for five years, performing in symposiums and master classes as well as concerts and recitals. It is important for the pianist and singer to have a connection and understanding of each other in order to produce a good performance, and friendship can only enhance this. It is evident of Barbara and John’s close friendship in not just the music, but their actions. After one of the pieces, as Barbara was bowing she reached across the piano to hold hands with John in order to accept the applause together, as a team. This type of friendship isn’t seen very often onstage, and it was very refreshing and uplifting to see it.

In this recital, Barbara shows her full range and control as an exceptional, extremely-talented vocalist. Her voice was always well-supported. She never had to struggle with the notes, especially the low ones. A common mistake of inexperienced or unprofessional singers is to always sing the high notes loud and the low notes soft, regardless of the dynamic markings in the music. This was not the case with Barbara as her low notes were as audible as her high notes. Unless of course the music called for dynamic change, which Barbara achieved with skill and ease; her dynamics were well-controlled and contextually made sense. However, as great a singer Barbara is there is something she may be better at: acting. Her expression for each piece was extraordinary. It was very realistic and believable, and it was realistically expressive, never over-the-top. An example of her skill of communication was with the song Sur les lagunes (On the lagoons). The first words of the song is “My beautiful beloved is dead, I shall weep forever;”, and as Barbara raised her head at the start of the song, before she even began singing, her face showed sadness and dark depression. Another reason Barbara is so good at expressing true emotions is the fact that she is not afraid to express the necessary emotions physically. Instead of standing in one spot and becoming statuesque, Barbara moves about the stage and uses hand gestures. Movement is very important because it makes the song even more believable and acceptable to the audience.

Although the recital mainly featured Barbara, that does not mean that John was left in the shadows. On the contrary: John proved to be a true accompanist genius. He was always attentive, watching Barbara in order to get the timings and tempos just right. In one particular piece the piano would stop and go as Barbara continuously sang. Instead of watching the music and trying to count on his own, John’s eyes never left Barbara, letting the entries and exits of the piano reach their full musical potential. One could argue that John and Barbara are equally talented in their own rights; whether this is true or not, John never over-powered Barbara. He showed his job as an accompanist and therefore showed his understanding of a good musician.

The highlight of the show was undoubtedly the final piece, Nun eilt herbei from the opera Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor. The piece is a humorous recitative and aria, and Barbara displayed it perfectly. The piece was very funny and humorous because of her expressions and emotions. In fact, she was so expressive that she seemed as if she were belting out a solo number in a musical on Broadway instead of singing an aria from an opera.

The only thing I didn’t like about the recital was due to, ironically, Barbara’s skill of dynamics. There were times when she was too loud, and seeing as how the recital hall was fairly small, it was sometimes painful for the ears. But the recital was ultimately a huge success, and what made it so was the passion exuded from both Barbara and John. Both were willing to trust and rely on each other. Both were willing to completely submerge themselves in the music. And both were willing to work together as a team once more, and for that the audience, including myself, was ever grateful, as evident of encore applause and small standing ovation they both received.

Jazz at the "Diminishing" Duck

2005-10-29T14:44:00.000-05:00

Thursday evening, Jim Connerly joined the Randy Salman Quartet featured as a guest pianist. Jim Connerly, once a student of Salman, is a DePauw University alumnus of the class of 1985. Connerly accomplished a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies at the Indiana School of Music. Connerly returned to DePauw from 1991 to 2001, directing the jazz ensemble and giving life to the jazz combo program. While at back at DePauw, he also taught jazz history, jazz piano and the history of rock and popular music. “Oh, it was a lot of fun because I love playing with Randy,” Connerly claimed, “yeah, it was fun!”

The band sounded very thight, as if they have been playing for endless years before this show. The opening tune was the strongest of the night, not to say that the rest of the show was not great. 'In Walked Bud' is the name of the first tune, by the renowned Thelonious Monk [not theloniousfunk]. It was a great tune to open with: a bright, well-known song, really got the band in the swing of things. Throughout the show the members of the band were looking at each other communicating, except for one (Jim) who just heard what to do and where to go in the music. Connerly was basically always playing with his eyes closed, appearing very intense and engulfed in the music he was creating. From the audience's point of view, his body language and expressions were fantastic.

Despite the “fun” time the quartet had playing together on Thursday, the two sets of music were less than an hour each, ending the music at eleven o’clock. Apparently the management of the entire Walden Inn, which includes two restaurants The Fluttering Duck and The Different Drummer, a Starbucks Coffee Shop and the hotel itself, decided to terminate the music at eleven o’clock instead of midnight because the music was disturbing the people staying in the hotel, all the way on the other side of the Walden. Since early October, the bands have been ending earlier and earlier. Being a consistent Jazz at the Duck frequenter myself, diminishing [do not mind the pun] the amount of time the bands play Thursday night is very distressing. But I’m not the only one upset about the length, or lack there of, of Jazz at the Duck.

Another alumnus Kevin James, who throughout this past week has given lectures, master classes, and performances at the University, was also an attendee at The Duck on Thursday. "The only thing wrong with the band was that the set ended too soon" declared James while the band was packing up. Salman, clearly worried about the Thursday night Jazz said “I hope they keep this place going. It’s great for the area and especially for the students; givem’ a place to go!”

Although many are noticeably unhappy with the brevity of the concerts each Thursday at the Duck, the bright side of the situation is that the bands that play each night have a great time and so does the audience. At the end of the show, the Randy Salman Quartet were giving each other hugs, as old friends would, each saying, “thank you” to each other, and “it’s been a pleasure.” Hopefully Jazz at the Duck will continue to keep having these wonderful groups come to play, regardless of how brief the show may be; it is better to have great jazz only for a little while than to not have jazz at all.

Expression is Key

2005-10-29T11:22:00.000-05:00

Without facial expression and dramatic body language, vocal performance would be extremely boring and not worth presenting. I came to this important realization while watching Wednesday night’s faculty recital, given by soprano Barbara Pare, accompanied by pianist John Clodfelter. Pare performed three songs in German from Mozart, Wolf, and Nicolai, the latter two being from operas, and the first a French piece by Berloiz. The most mesmerizing aspect of her performance was her constant attention to facial expression and her strong stage presence. On most occasions, I find myself very bored during classical soprano voice performances because the songs always begin to run together. I seem to lose interest by the end of the first song in a set and am never able to regain my interest during the performance. Pare’s recital was my first experience attending a recital where I did not get, for lack of a better description, bored or felt sleepy. I was excited the entire time as to what her character would experience next or what emotions she would express in her following song. Before even reading the translations of the lyrics, I already had a very good idea of what was going on in the story of the songs and what emotions her characters were feeling. Her emotions ranged from sad, happy, confused, devastated, courageous, excited, frisky, and the list goes on. While noticing her wonderful drama I realized something else. The only way that a musician is able to be passionate and expressive about what they are performing is when they know the material very well. Before a person, especially singers, can add their own interpretation of a piece they should know the music so well that they are completely comfortable with the piece forward and backward. Plus, they must understand the meaning of their story, setting, and character that they are conveying. They should have no questions in their mind about any of these aspects. Pare was obviously confident and very sure of her music, making it possible for her to have fun with the music and really use drama to capture the audiences’ attention. The audience seemed very attentive throughout the whole performance. I often found myself very entertained and much more enraptured in each song than I would normally be. Sometimes I found myself feeling very sad or laughing out loud because of her marvelous acting, as if I was watching a movie. Pare’s performance made a great impression on me and also changed my feelings about vocal performance. Now I have a much better understanding of how facial expression and dramatic body language are vital aspects of singing that trombonists and pianists and most other instrumentalists do not have to consider. Lyrics set singers aside from other performers and add a special dimension to their skill.

A Big Band in a Small Town

2005-10-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, October 27, the Woody Herman Orchestra provided nearly two hours of musical genius in the small town of Anderson, Indiana. Since its inception in 1936, the orchestra has been known for discovering young talent, and continues to attract some of the biggest names on the jazz scene today. Over the course of his 50-year career, band leader Woody Herman hired more than 2,000 musicians, often launching them into successful careers. Although most the musicians of Thursday night were already well-established in their own right, hearing so many of them together, performing at such a high level, was well worth the price of admission. Such performers included John Fedchock, one of the premier trombonists and composer/arrangers in the country today, and Grammy-winning saxophonist Chip McNeil. The outstanding trumpet section featured Bob Lark of DePaul University, Joey Tartell of Indiana University, and DePauw’s own, Professor Lennie Foy. The band was led by Herman’s hand-picked successor, Frank Tiberi, a saxophonist with the band since 1969.

The musical selections ranged from the classic to the somewhat bizarre. Standard jazz repertoire, such as April in Paris, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, and Satin Doll were all performed masterfully. Also on display were tunes made famous by the Woody Herman Orchestra, such as Apple Honey and Woodchopper’s Ball. The “bizarre” of the night came with the Gary Anderson arrangement of Aaron Copland’s masterpiece, Fanfare for the Common Man. This arrangement stayed true to the original only in voicing, as the brass sections of the group carried the melody in a forceful, precise fashion. Backing up the brilliant melody, however, was a rock beat featuring extra percussion, such as cow bell and sand shaker. While well played, and just unusual enough to be enjoyable, the selection was not quite what was expected of the evening.

To me, the highlight of the performance came in John Fedchock’s arrangement of the classic jazz ballad, Laura. The piece feature Fedchock himself, whose rich, mellow trombone sound resonated beautifully throughout the hall. Each section also did its part to support the soloist, making a great arrangement all the more superb.

Perhaps the only drawback to the evening was a factor out of the ensemble’s control. The microphones placed at the front of the stage were a bit “live,” making it difficult to enjoy the soloists with already large sounds. However, overall, I am sure that the Anderson, Indiana stop on the Woody Herman Orchestra tour was enough to make its namesake proud. Each selection was performed with masterful precision and incredible energy, making the night one I will not soon forget.

2005-10-29T09:47:00.000-05:00

The auditorium was teeming in anticipation for what was to be more than just a fun concert, a memory into times of old when swing bands were prevalent in America's cultural society. Although the majority of the audience had seen their fair share of days, they still showed the same excitement that they would have shown when they were younger. As the band entered the stage, the audience clapped wholeheartedly, excited to see the performers that would dazzle us this evening. The majority of the performers were collegiate jazz professors who were also very active in the performance scene: Joey Tartell, trumpet, Indiana University; Lennie Foy, trumpet, DePauw University; Bob Lark, trumpet, DePaul University; Tom Garling, trombone, Northern Illinois University; Chip McNeill, tenor saxophone and Grammy winner, University of Illinois; and Roger "Muscle Man" Ingram, screaming high trumpet, Roosevelt University. Whereas there are others, such as John Fedchock, a phenomonal trombone player working in New York that started his career with Woody Herman's "Thundering Herd," dazzled us with their amazing playing. The performers began with a bang- swinging like there is no tomorrow from the first note of the concert. The auditorium emanated "stank" from end to end, one solo followed by the next.

The Woody Herman Orchestra has been a mainstay in the jazz world for endless years. Although as times change, faces change, and sounds do too. Most notably, with the death of Woody Herman several years ago, Frank Tiberi has become the new bandleader, doubling on saxophone. The band, although playing favorites such as "Woodchopper's Ball" or "Blue Flame" to remind everyone of the classic Woody Herman sound, experimented with different types of swing and jazz as to play to different delights of the audience. A newer piece, "Apple Honey" was announced by Frank Tiberi as simple "craziness" allowing for performers such as Chip McNeill to bust out those fast-playing, audience dazzling chops that won him the Grammy in the first place. Another abstract piece was a version of "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland written for jazz band. This piece began with the standard opening as Copland had originally written but spanned into both latin and fusion styles throughout the course of the piece.

Most of the rest of the concert featured classic swing/jazz charts that the audience can relate to and feel happy about. At one point, Frank Tiberi announced that they would play "April in Paris," a classic Count Basie chart that is common knowledge throughout the jazz world as being on the classic Basie recording simply entitled "April in Paris." The audience give mixed reactions for all the same purpose. There were sighs, ooos, and aahs, all to describe the excitement of getting to hear a jazz classic. Other classics such as Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" were played, evoking the same response.

Ultimately, the performance highlighted the performers though. Whether it was Frank Tiberi, Chip McNeill, John Fedchock and Tom Garling duelling it out, Lennie Foy and Bob Lark battling for soloistic supremacy, or Joey Tartell and "Muscle Man" having a high note competition after every other song, all added to the overall dazzling nature of this performance. In fact the awe produced left the audience laughing in merriment as the concert ended, signaling large agreement through the audience and the performers that the concert had went well. Only few bands could match the playing ability and love of music that this band presented to the audience.

Real Music and Real Musicians

2005-10-28T11:11:00.000-05:00

Barbara Paré and John Clodfelter

Extensive work has been done by Barbara Paré and John Clodfelter separately. Paré has extensive Opera experience and it shows in her performances while Clodfelter has grown a love for accompanying other musicians and is evident in the way that he accompanies on the piano.

Barbara Paré is a Soprano and each song she did seem to fit her voice nicely but as with many performers, there were one or two songs that seemed to really accent her vocals. The first song, Alma grande e nobil core, K. 578 by Mozart, was the opening of the show. In this song, Pare and Clodfelter absolutely shined. The communication between the performers was magnificent and instantly drew in the listener and the on looker. Paré’s opera roots really pulled through in her performance making her presence absolutely magnificent. As the night progressed, the characters that Paré expressed were evident and the program started out with vigor and increased anticipation of the next event. Through out the entire night, the phrasing was superb. Each line seemed o have an expressive factor from not only the vocalist but also the pianist. Throughout the performance, John Clodfelter was consistent and reliable. While during the second half of the performance things seemed to slump a bit for Barbara Paré. There was a false start on a phrase during the second to last song of the evening which was Kennst du das Land from Gedichte von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Hugo Wolf. The character that seemed to draw in the on looker became a little repetitive but was revived throughout the evening with some twists and turns. The technique of both the vocalist and the pianist appeared to be quite sound and refined. Although at times the Paré seemed a little closed mouth in the upper register for my tastes. Overall communication, phrasing, dynamic contrasts, and all of the fine details that one enjoys from top notch performers were there and set in stone. Ms. Paré had a beautiful contrast between loud and soft in her upper register that many seasoned sopranos lack in the classical music scene. The ending piece was simply wonderful. Paré really took the character to the next level when she took that the beautiful Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor by Otto Nicolai. This song most certainly encapsulated Paré and Clodfelter’s intense communication skills and willingness to really dig in and enjoy the music. I felt that the recital was not only good but great and definitely quenched my thirst for a good live performance and good fun.

Jazz at The Duck

2005-10-28T10:59:00.000-05:00

"It was amazing. The painist (Jim Connerly) was incredible. The contact between the drummer and Jim was very awe inspiring."--Stephanie Gurga
"The only thing wrong with the band was that the set ended too soon."--Kevin James
"I really enjoyed playing with all the other three people..We listened very well to each other which made the experience even more enjoyable." Paul Musser
I've never missed a week at The Duck but last night, the music was especially good--and less crowded than usual (however, the food arrived just as slowly but delicious nonetheless). The Duck always seems to be very "homey" and warm and full of relaxing (or freaking out over classes) friends to talk to. Thursday nights are a time when everyone is ready for a weekend, but not quite there yet. The Duck offers a glimpse of the weekend, an escape from our hectic schedules. And what better way to relax than to listen to talented musicians play well-written music?
The contact between the performers was very strong and created a nice sound and steady beat. The rhythm section (bass: Paul Musser, drummer: John DiCenso) was always in sync despite fluctuations in the speed within the pieces. The pianist played the melodic lines in such a way that it enhanced what the rhythm section was doing--this made the music sound "funky" and active. Randy Salman, on saxaphone, had very intelligent solos and had an interesting individual sound that meshed well with the other musicians.
The night at the Duck was thoroughly enjoyable because the musicians put on such a unified and entertaining show. And I agree with Mr. James, the set was much (an hour, to be exact) short.

Matt's Hardcore Review

2005-10-27T22:54:00.000-05:00

On a Soprano and Pianist

Sounds of famous writers such as Mozart, Berlioz, and Wolf filled the air this past Wednesday evening, as duo Barbara Pare and John Clodfelter performed a faculty recital in Thompson Recital Hall. Works ranged from Mozart’s proper and affirmative “Alma Grande e Nobil Core” to the somewhat light, but definitely playful “Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor” written by Otto Nicolai.

After a strong, incontrovertible beginning, the program took an amorous turn. Songs from Hector Berloiz’ ‘Les Nuits d’Ete’ were almost flawlessly performed by both John and Barbara. These songs, derived from Theophile Gautier’s poetry in 1840 and 1841 were portrayed in such a way that I felt like I wase conversing with Barbara. And for a person who doesn’t fluently speak foreign languages, I felt I knew exactly what she was talking about.

The songs performed by the duo tended to all be heavy; pseudo-dramatic, gaudy even. I was overwhelmed with ornate, typical soprano arias and other art songs. The farther along the recital got, though, the burden of cumbrous music was lifted with a more delicate singing style. Words were more comprehendible. The overall performance was excelled.

John, who worked in Vienna this past summer with Famed Walter Moore, really began to shine after the first set of songs. Hugo Wolf’s Mignon set was portrayed extremely well by Barbara, yet the songs seemed to show off more of John’s abilities; more so than the previous set of songs (rightfully so, seeing as it was his recital as well as Barbara’s).

These songs seemed to display the close partnership between Pare and Clodfelter. Five years of partnership were well represented as neither seemed to make a slip up; never one slight indiscretion, which is why it’s easy to imagine the pair excelling at such performances as the Symposium of Nineteenth Century German Song at Westminister Choir College.

Overall, I was pleased with the Wednesday recital. Yet two more astounding DePauw University School of Music faculty members showcased decently. The star of the performance; the one that really took the stage well and kept me wanting more even after the recital was over, was Nathan Cross. He turned pages like there was no tomorrow. Impeccably done, sir.

Not so painful...

2005-10-15T13:54:00.000-05:00

The second week of the MITC Lab was not as painful as I had anticipated--Prof. Edwards broke up the tasks to make it easy enough for a person as bad at computers as I am.
One of my favorite days this week, however, was the library day on Thursday. I had no idea that so many things dealing with copyright stuff was illegal. As a musician, I of course understand the significance of needing money for all the work that you do (and since we don't exactly make a lot of money to begin with...) but as a consumer, having a cd and dvd burner on my computer (and programs such as itunes) certainly makes it easy to "steal" information. I'm guilty of doing it on quite a regular basis but I understand the importance of buying cds because having several record labels that hold a monopoly on the industry is bad news for me as a pianist. On the other hand, I think it's ridiculous that there are people that go around schools and try to find people that have photocopies of music. I don't have the funds to buy every single book that contains a piece that Claude wants me to play--although I'd love to becuase having music is a great thing...but I simply can't afford it. This is really a hard topic to talk about because there are so many factors that go into it....

I Liked It!!

2005-10-15T12:54:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed this rotation. It was really fun and not too difficult. At times it was frustrating because I picked up on things fairly quick, so having to sit through the instructions was a little tedious, but then of course there were times when I would have a brain-fart and not remember how to do something so simple! The finale part was really interesting. I like the idea of Hyperscribe because I find it hard to play something, then have to remember how to notate it. So it's nice to be able to have something do that for you. I also enjoyed the Dreamweaver section. It was just a lot of fun. The whole craze with Facebook and MySpace these days, it's great to learn how to make your OWN website that's not pre-formatted!

MITC is ok with me

2005-10-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

The MITC unit was a good unit for me. I thought that it made alot of since and that it was relevant for life as a student and a musician. Not to mention that I enjoy technology to some extent. It has always been sort of a hobby/fascination for me. So how about that library day this time around though. That was kind of scary. I can just see some guy in a hat walking on to the stage after your performance and fining you $100,000 for making a copy of someones music. I thought that was probably the most useful library day we've had since we got here. For me, I had thought about the fact that taking a cd and ripping it onto your computer was illegal and of course downloading music from the internet without paying was illegal but I had never really thought about written music up until that point. Anyways, I thought that those were some good facts for the future of a performer.

2005-10-15T00:30:00.000-05:00

Well, now that the rotational half of our first year seminar is over, it is now time to enter into the world of persuasive analysis of music- Professor Spiegelberg's Writing about Music class. Personally, I'm excited. I've always wanted to be able to take music and work on translating my feelings and emotions about music that I hear. This hopefully will give me the ability to better describe and argue points about music, and become more fluent in music terminology and its use.

In the MITC Module of our First Year Seminar, I was also able to explore my creative writing in our personal biographies. Enough said. You get my drift.

Finale! I mean...finally!

2005-10-14T23:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, that was intersting...I did all of that at work. We are supposed to write about what we learned, right? Well, quite honestly, all of this was old news. If only I could have tested out of that. Sorry if I'm being blunt or insensitive, but in my opinion that was really pointless. I'm glad it did helop some of you, but there are those of you who are stuck in theory asking, "Why am I even here? I've been doing this since I could read music?" That's the same thing I have felt this entire rotation. Well, now that I've been hars, everybody enjoy the break!

AN AWESOME POST THAT YOU ALL MUST READ

2005-10-14T17:27:00.000-05:00

Here I am; at home-at last!
Smiling cause I am not in class.
What a week, it sucked so bad,
'cept for the tight b-day I had!
I turned 19 on Tuesday morning,
The FYS class was rather boring.
While the lady was nice and helped us learn,
The Finale program I wanted to burn.
And Dreamweaver thing was cool but pointless,
Like seeing my icon Bob Marley Jointless.
Yet more rewriting in class; I was gritting my teeth,
I told myself, "dude, by the end of the week,
You'll either be crazy, running about,
or blind by gouging your own eyes out!"
I made my own web page, it was real tight,
But I have no clue how to get to the site.
The test was today, it was not real hard;
like seeing Peter Griffin sucking on lard
In the Family Guy episode I saw last night;
It was really cool; it was the SHIITE!!!
The word I used wasn't a bad word; no...
it's used to describe certain muslims, ya know?
Anyway, I'm out to Edgewood Lake;
I HOPE THAT YOU ALL HAVE A TIGHT FALL BREAK!!!

Spice

2005-10-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

I've really liked all the rotations we've been doing! This last one we did was good because I learned the basics to creating a homepage, which is really cool because I've never done that before! I have to admit, I really like this whole rotation thing. At first I wasn't sure if I would end up liking it, but I realized that I do because it really offers a little bit of everything, which is nice. Variety is the spice of Life!

Well...

2005-10-14T10:29:00.000-05:00

The MITC rotation was so informative. We learned loads of information in a short time and became familiar with such technologies as Dreamweaver and Finale. It is so important as musicians to be very well-rounded; we should not only learn instuments, but technology and other aspects of the business. As musicians in this century, knowing as many skills as we can is not only favorable in the market, but expected. So, I hope that everyone learned and had fun, because I sure did. I especially loved the fact that I could just play the piano line on the keyboard and Finale would notate it. Well, I hope that everyone has a good Fall Break; I know that I really need it. Right now I'm beginning it by listening to Pavarotti and Freni's Boheme, and it is awesome!

Done and over with

2005-10-11T20:53:00.000-05:00

~I also want to get this done and over with because I have other things on my mind right now~

When I heard that I'm creating a webpage, it brought back memories of high school. In my senior year, I created a webpage for my English class. It was pretty interesting for the first time. Now this week, when I found out that we're creating a webpage, I thought it was going to be the same thing. Creating a webpage in the lab gives me more opportunities to be more creative. So, my first impression on this week being boring changed because I like to be creative with my webpage :). Guys don't forget to check mine out when it's done.

2005-10-11T12:09:00.000-05:00

Since the excitment over fall break is mounting (along with the stress levels), I decided to go ahead and get my blog done early...before I forget.

I am finding this week a little easier than last week. I don't know if I'm getting used to using the technology, or if the web pages are actually easier than Finale. Unlike Finale, where I know it'll be useful, I'm not sure when I'll ever have to create a web page, but it's still interesting information to have. I'm excited to be able to read everyone's bios! While we found out a little about each other in Professor Foy's rotation, we didn't find out much personal information. I hope more of our personalities will come out in the web pages- if it's only our favorite color combinations.

I think that's all for now. I hope everyone's musicianship hearing went well!!

De ja Vu

2005-10-08T21:33:00.000-05:00

I like what we're doing in the MITC. It's really neat how we are learning to notate music on Finale. The program is so nice - the quality of a finished project is professional and the program is user-friendly. My only problem with all of this is that we are learning the exact same thing in my Intro to Music Technology class! Only we are doing it slower!! I have it right after our seminar, so I have to sit in the same seat for two hours doing pretty much the exact same thing. Oh well. Extra practice, right? Overall, I think this is a practical thing for us to do and I am enjoying it!

My head is spinning

2005-10-08T17:55:00.000-05:00

This past week has been amazingly interesting. Starting to learn how to use more and more things in Finale is great; well at least that is what I think. I know for a fact that in the rest of my four years in DePauw, I will be using Finale frequently. Now, I would only use this when I need to because sometimes I do get frustrated not knowing where to get something I need for a piece (an example is where is the slur tool). Once again, it will be useful in the future. Better to learn it now then to struggle later, and I really don't need anything else to struggle on.

computers

2005-10-08T14:50:00.000-05:00

I have never been very excited about computers but as I have been at Depauw I have definitly learned to love my laptop and many aspects of computers. While I really enjoy creating music with Finale, I really prefer composing by hand. Keep in mind that most composing I have done has been for piano and has not been very complex. Nonetheless, I still feel that I prefer to begin pieces my hand. I think that Finale isn't so useful in my own personal brainstorming. This first week has been very easy, probably because I was already somewhat familiar with the program. I am interested in what we will be working on next week.

techNOlogy

2005-10-08T12:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I have to say I do love finale; it's such a great program and I love writing my tunes out on it. However, there are some tasks (especially the tricks with the keyboard) that I can just not handle. Back in my day, I wrote out everything by hand :), so this is kinda weird for me. But I like the simple entry tool, and that's still the fastest method for writining out music. The real amazing part to me, is when you can save a any midi file you find on the internet, and then open it in finale, and it will transcribe each of the parts of the tune you downloaded. Crazy stuff man.

The week from, well, you know...

2005-10-08T12:11:00.000-05:00

So there i was sitting in this cold dark room... No pencil, no paper, no problem, right? Wrong. This has to be the worst week for me. I don't like the fact that we don't do much of anything except rewrite something that's already been written. Re-inventing the wheel? Yes, all over again...

This week and next, we are in the MITC lab. We are learning to write music with a fairly expensive computer program called Finale 2005. This past week, we have rewritten pieces ranging from "Ode to Joy" to a piece from the Magic Flute. Fun. To accompany this joyous technically "fun filled" week, we had to buy a piece of equipment which, outside of this particular class, is completely useless unless you're trying to use your headphones with an amplifier.

The only cool part about this class so far is learning to import midi files and rearrange them to your liking, as well as inputing your Finale file into a web site (in my case, as soon as I actually learn to do it, Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" will be blaring from my Xanga site). Other than that, this whole class is over my head, along with pretty much everything else in the world.

I hope that this week has gone well for the rest of you all, and see you on Monday for yet another exciting, technically fun week! See you next week; same bat time, same bat channel (same bat channel, at least!).

O where, O where have the pencil and paper gone?

2005-10-08T11:08:00.000-05:00

It is official...I HATE TECHNOLOGY! While I agree that Finale is useful, and something I should definitely learn how to use, it has served only to aggravate me this past week! I miss the "old" days of pencil and manuscript paper, although computer generated parts will undoubtedly be easier to read than some of the hand-copied chicken scratch I've had to wade through in the past. What's really sad is that I've nearly resorted to calling my brother (my LITTLE brother) for help with my homework!! He's been using Finale for quite a while is able to copy and print parts in mere minutes. How I wish I'd let him teach me when he offered! This week would have been much less stressful. There are just too many little nuances and shortcuts for me to master in one week. I'm not too much a fan of the hyper-script either; it only serves to multiply my mistakes, thereby taking up more time for me when I have to fix them. I'm pretty partial to the point and click "slow" method!

I guess I should restate that I think it's great that we're having to learn this technology. It's something that's only going to grow in the coming years. Prof. Edwards is a very patient person; I'm really impressed with all she knows, not just about Finale, but about to many music software programs. I'm just lamenting my own technological awkwardness!!

OPPORTUNITY!!!

2005-10-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

This module (MITC) within our First Year Seminar is an amazing opportunity. Since my junior year of high school, I have been composing and arranging jazz charts, but I've never had the means for putting my arrangements on to programs such as Finale or Sibelius to make them legible. In fact, when I tried to get parts out to people, the copies that I made ended up eliminating notes due to the fact that I used pencil to write my scores. But now, I have the means for using Finale so all parts will be clear and easy to read. Plus, with Finale's amazing playback option, I can listen to all the parts and the chords to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. Although this option's playback, stylistically, is somewhat hokey (like that word?), I would listen to it for just the chord structures, not much else.

MITC Lab

2005-10-07T18:18:00.000-05:00

I thought that it was really cool that today we could go online, find a midi file of a song, and then have the computer write the music out for us. It was a bit screwy in terms for notation, but I found it fascinating that computer can actually do this nowadays. Of course, I don't know anything about them--as far as I can tell, they are somewhat mystical little boxes that hold huge amounts of data stored on tiny metal and plastic disks...and break on a fairly regular basis. I'm exaggerating..but not that much.
I'm glad that we are learning how to use Finale because it's pretty accessible and very handy. As a pianist, I was dissapointed in my first attempt at recording a piece in HyperScript (real time), but I got the hang of it after a little while.
I want to get real Finale on my computer so that I don't have to use NotePad for musicianship--simple entry is painstakingly slow.
Webpages are I think will be hard but Prof. Edwards is a good teacher--I'm sure it can't be that bad...

The good, the bad, and the... Well- that's it...

2005-10-07T16:01:00.000-05:00

This week has been pretty exciting so far. I've always been interested in composing music and being able to learn how to use a program that helps you create music is great!! Sometimes I find that "speedy" scribing is easier than hyper scribing because my piano skills aren't exactly that great yet, but hyperscribe is definitely useful when having to enter chords that are spanning more than an octave! I think next week will be very interesting as well because I don't know how to make web pages or anything- so it all should be VERY helpful for setting up my personal web pages in the future!!

Hey...don't I work here?

2005-10-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, this session would really be useful if I didn't work here. The only thing that I have learned is how to use the little nuances in Finale that can sometimes be hard to find. It is nice, however, to have even more experience because I am currently working on a musical. However, I have already written music in Finale, saved and exported it as a graphics file, and used it as a MIDI file, converted it to an MP3, and used it in a Podcast. It may become interesting when we work with DreamWeaver, but I've already made a webpage in my first rotation...so I don't know. I guess what I'm trying to say is haven't learned much.

MITC

2005-10-06T18:16:00.000-05:00

Music technology is great and shows music in the new age. What is cool about it is that you can see that eventually music will evolve into an even more computer based art as time goes along. Of course preserving the old tactics and moving towards new things. This week we have done some transcribing, hyper-scribing and every other kind of scribing you can think of :-). Like I said it is new age and cutting edge but on the other side of the coin it is kind of annoying trying to figure out how to get the note to go on the line you want to. I mean really does it have to blur them together like that. Once you get the hang of it though it is definently worth your energy and efforts. All though, pianists have an unfair advantage I guess I can overlook that as well :-).

John Adams and Technology

2005-10-05T15:22:00.000-05:00

I've long been a big fan of John Adams. I've only been able to play his once so far, my sophomore year of high school, when my orchestra did The Chairman Dances from his opera Nixon in China. Because Adam's style is so unpredictable, organized into tiny repeated units that are never quite consistent, the was piece hard as all heck as was really a lesson in counting for your life as an orchestra musician. But it wasn't just the difficulty of the piece that stayed with me, afterwards; something about its essence really spoke to me, though at the time I could never have named it.
I've also long been an enemy of technology. It's not that I don't know how to use it, or don't see it's usefulness. I just don't like it, or, more accurately, I don't like how it is often used. When my family first got the internet, my sister used to spend hours and hours online, talking to her friends or whatever else she did, and was always holed up in her room with her computer. Other members of my family and friends are often very similar. To me, it seems that technology has crept past the line of its usefullness and has started taking too much away from life in the "real" world, and real connections between real people. The conflict between things mechanized and things creative is not a new topic, either. Working in the technology lab this week has made me wonder where the line is between technology being helpful to musicians and it being harmful. Also, how do we, living in a highly mechanized, technological world percieve music differently than generations past? I've read about studies that show that technology-use actually changes the brain, that scientists are seeing the human mind working in completely new ways as a result of learning to work within the framework of technology.
One of the functions of art is to represent what we know, and by getting it outside of our minds in some tangible form being better able to understand it, and therefore, ourselves. I think the reason John Adam's music resonates so deeply with me, and with many, is that it is so reflective of a technological world, in which we deal with mechanical repetitiveness almost constantly. Even in classical and romantic music, repetitiveness often has the function of communicating a kind of desperation, since our ears expect and usually want music to develop harmonically and melodically in certain ways. I think the genius of Adams is his ability to create music almost entirely from small scale repetition, and yet still retain and quality of unpredictability and randomness.
If you're interested in John Adams, I recommend listening to The Chairman Dances from Nixon in China, as well as his piece for piano and orchestra entitled Century Roles. It may also be worthwhile to read some reviews of his newest opera, Doctor Atomic, which opened only last week in California.
>Emily

fun stuff

2005-10-02T01:17:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed hearing everyone perform this week. I enjoyed being able to witness so much talent in such a small group of people. The resume ended up being much easier of a task than I had forseen so that was nice as well. I think that creating this resume will help me a lot for when I create resumes in the future. I can't wait to hear everyone perform at different times throughout the year and our next years at DePauw.

Performances, etc...

2005-10-01T23:49:00.000-05:00

Wow! I came WAY too close to missing the deadline!

First of all, I would just like to say that I had a great time listening to everyone perform!! You were all amazing. Secondly, I think the resume thing was really helpful, if a little bit frustrating. For those of us who don't quite know what we want to do, it's really hard to come up with a career objective and to decide what information is relevant for the resume itself. But, again, it was really interesting to read about all that you guys have accomplished! I'm so proud to be part of your group!

Friday

2005-10-01T20:31:00.000-05:00

I was so happy that Alex was willing to devote her time to practicing the piano part to my song and rehearsing with me. She is such a sensitive musician, and is ever ready to learn. We worked really well together and were sensitive to each other's comments. I was also happy that she didn't play louder than I; we were more of a team. It is so much more gratifying to work with another musician, because we are more connected and can give spontaneous artistic feedback. It is so much better that working with the CD, because as a singer, I should be working with my accompanist and be followed, not follow the CD. Brava, Alex!

After the two week Hiatus

2005-10-01T19:06:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been awhile since I've blogged, but I only had good things to say about the past two weeks with Leneord C Foy. Music is more than notes and rhythms, and even more than emotion. I have learned that music is about creativity. Making a rainstorm in 152 was one of the most fun musical experiences. I'm sure the rest of the class enjoyed it as much as I did.

As for the resume, which is still in progress...hmm, how should I say this? It was kind of annoying putting it together, and it really stressed me out trying to identify exactly what it is I want to do (and I still don't know). However, making a resume is a vital part of creating employment opportunities and I'm glad I did it.

Performing

2005-10-01T15:01:00.000-05:00

Performing in class this week was the first formal performace I've done since my senior recital at the end of may. It was interesting to see how much I've grown as a musician even in that small amount of time, as well as find out what parts of my technique still don't hold up as much as I would like under preasure. I say "under preasure" not because I think seminar is a competative or unfriendly environment--quite the opposite, as a matter of fact, it was easy-going and supportive. Nevertheless, I always put myself under preasure in performance situations. Part of it of course springs from the desire to "be good"; excellence, rather than perfection, is inherently demanded in all music. But achieving (or at least striving for) personal excellence isn't the most important aspect of musicial performane, or at least, I think, it shouldn't be. It should be thought of as a tool for getting out of the way of the music you're playing and letting it be its own artistic expression. Basically, I think playing a piece well isn't important because of how your audience judges you, but because it shows respect for what we do as musicians, as well as for the music itself.

The Resume...

2005-10-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

So really, when writing a resume, the hardest thing is the job objective and choosing a format. Knowing where you have worked, awards you've earned, your experiences is pretty easy because you've been there! The format I pretty much figured out in no time, but of course, the job objective was quite difficult. I think professor Foy has read my resume about 3 times by now, if not more!! Other than the job objective, I've been having troubles trying to "brag" about what I've done during my life. I had mentioned to Professor Foy something I had been involved in over the summer and he looked at me, slightly irritated, and told me I was being to modest! So once again, I'm working on my resume trying to be less modest.

Overall- the experience in this "Performing" rotation, I've had a really good time! Making rainstorms, being able to see everyone perform, and laughing along with Professor Foy has been quite a blast! I hope everyone has enjoyed this rotation as much as I have!!