Concert Report #3

On November 20^th, 2013 at 8:15. I attended a Jazz concert that was really good. The conductor’s name is Greg Evans.

The first tune that was played was “This could be the start of something big”. I asked myself noticing the name of the song; how come is it named this way if it only has music and no lyrics. I noticed though that they were playing something familiar, only the different instruments were playing the melody. So in my mind, I figured that this song indeed has lyrics to it, only that the wind instruments and a little bit of the piano carried the melody. The trumpets, saxophones and trombones alternated different parts of the melody; in addition they included some improvisations to it while playing somewhat of the melody.

            Something that really stood out to me was the conductor. Unlike a conductor of an orchestra, this conductor for some reason seemed more free and flexible. I am not sure if there is a difference between an orchestra conductor and a jazz conductor. I mean they are both conductors regardless. However the things that stood out from this conductor, is how Greg pointed out different instruments to come in and improvise when he wanted to, in addition to when a particular player wanted a turn to improvise. As a matter a fact, that made the songs even more fun and entertaining to listen.

My favorite song that was played that night was the last piece called “ The Kid From Red Bank”. As soon as I heard the conductor snap his fingers in a fast meter, I knew this song was going to be a fun one. This song featured the piano playing more of the melody than the rest of the instruments. This piece actually reminded me so much of the track “ Hey Pachuco” by Royal Crown Revenue, from the movie “The Mask”. It’s a really up moving song to dance to. I almost felt like dancing when I heard this song. My favorite part of that song was the ending because there was a lot of crescendo in the end that just sounded incredible! In addition, after the audience started clapping, I noticed that the conductor gave a sign to the band with his hands that looked like the letter C. I already assumed that he gave that sign to state a coda, and I was right! This would not happen in an orchestra band, not that I know of. This is why I liked this song.

I really liked this concert that I will definitely go to another one. I was actually nearly in front of all the rows, that no one was in front of me or beside me. It was as if this concert was for me! There is nothing that I did not like about the concert, if anything, I wish more people went to this concert to appreciate it as I did.        

Popular music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njx9YrhA7Jo

Part I of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

Part I of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring Outline

Intro/Thesis-

·      Stravinsky musically expresses 20th-century aesthetics by alternating instruments of different sounds in the “Right of Spring” that expresses modernism.

·      Intro to modernism

Body Paragraph 1- Fragmentation-

·      Broken into smaller parts

·      The mood of sound and color of the instruments separated

Body Paragraph 2- Disjunction

·      Alternating instruments-

·      Decreasing Intensity to focus on other instruments

·      Rhythmic change

Body Paragraph 3- Stratification

·      Building up instruments

·      Creates drama & increase intensity

·      Harmonic Function between the different instruments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf0e_n49dcQ

In the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century, modernism was the time for new traditional aspects, such as art, culture, literature and more.  For example, Salvador Dali in modern art, created some interesting combinations of paintings that looked bizarre and unnatural. For instance, his best work created which is called “ The Persistence of Memory”. This is an example of Surrealism. In the Right of Spring, Stravinsky musically expresses 20th-century aesthetics by alternating instruments of different sounds expressing modernism.

In the Right of Spring, Stravinsky expresses modernism such as fragmentation. Since there is really no time signature in this piece, fragmentation is breaking the music into smaller parts than usual. I believe that there is some fragmentation on 3:44, because during this time the string instruments and wind instruments lasted a bit shorted amount of time than at 3:31 minutes. The hammers that the different instruments do in 3:31 were more powerful than the second one.     

Another modernism aesthetic that Stravinsky expresses is disjunction. In the video during 4:34, the bassoons first play the melody. The melody and rhythm was then alternated between the people playing the clarinets, then the flutes further more the trombones carrying the same rhythm and melody. All of a sudden stop by the timpani’s that ended the melody for a couple of seconds, and returned back to that repeated melody by a wind instrument I cannot name. This is evidence that Stravinsky used disjunction as a modern aesthetic.     

I believe that throughout the whole 1^st part of this song, the major aesthetic that really stood out was stratification. It is really hard to focus on the different instruments that are being played at the same time, especially when they are constantly being switched and alternated. In addition, I really like how the video was edited to the times that the different instruments come in, and help the listener see what instruments play. However, it is a bit easier to see in the video at 5:06 the different layers of instruments playing at the same time. The violins with the base playing soft enough to hear the wind instruments playing on top of the violins. Stratification was definitely an aesthetic that Stravinsky used to express modernism.

In conclusion, throughout modernism there were many changes against tradition. The Right of Spring, Stravinsky musically expressed 20th-century aesthetics by alternating instruments of different sounds expressing modernism.

Jazz Concert Report #2

Jesus Ramos

On October 11 2013, there was a jazz concert that I thought was really good. Unfortunately I could not attend the concert due to other reasons, however I watched the concert on the IC website.

The first piece that was played was by Duke Ellington, called “Flaming Sword”. My guess is that they wanted to start off with something groovy to put people in a happy mood.  In addition to that, I like how they had time for most of the musicians to have a little solo improvisation. I say that because even though they had guest artists, they still had the wind instruments and the piano player participate and improvise their solos. In classical music, I do not believe that happens. Well of course that does not happen because classical music is more strictly organized, unless there is a specific part where one instrument plays on the music.

There was one piece that was really memorable to me. I just absolutely loved this song. I do believe this song is called Trixie’s little girl, written by a former student of Jack. His name is Pete McGinnis. This song starts off really smooth and soft. To me this is a very romantic song, like an oldie. I can even see myself dancing to this song. Its like everything is black and white, but this song brings out the colors to present some romance. I am so impressed that that by not looking at the video and just listening to the song, it sounds like an mp3 recording. I actually never really knew that a trombone could take the melody to the song and just make the song sound so beautiful.

The jazz concert was great as I mentioned. However, there were things that I also did not like about the concert. Little minor things, like I do not understand why the guitar player did not solo, or could even barely hear him play. There were parts on different songs where I could listen to him play a little bit, but if I just really concentrated. I could see that he is a good player, but there was no solo part for him. I also did not like that the composer Pete McGinnis did not performed as much as Jack Gail did. Sure Jack Gail was great at playing and improvising, but I thought it would have been nicer if Pete also played more than he did, especially because I really loved that song “Trixie’s little girl”.  Now I really want to attend another jazz concert in person.     

The Romantic Period,Caspar David Friedrich's painting, Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist (1818)

Jesus Ramos               

            

By looking at this image, the man is the main focus standing on the rocks looking like the king of the hill. However the sky and mountains is what this man is looking at. This man can be imagining many things in his head, like building a town or even coming up with a poem just by looking at nature. There can be many different things that can be going through his little noodle, but the thing that mostly makes sense is this man appreciating the beauty of nature. The sky is the limit could be something he might be saying. Comparing these paintings to other paintings, the sky is what always represents the mood of the painting. For example, if the color of the sky is red, this can represent hatred, war or death. For this painting, the man standing is dressed decent, also holding a cane, like an explorer. Back to the sky, the man seems interested to know what is out there. As if the sky also symbolizes a greater meaning.

            That is where I want to expand my thought. The meaning of something is important to the human being. As we discussed in class, the characteristics traits is the triumph of the individual by the rejection of society. Now this man is isolated and completely alone. Most people would jump to conclusion that being alone is a negative thing because no one is around for that support. However, what if this painting represents the triumph of one individual. Another question might be, what stands between the man and the mountains on the other side. Maybe the answer is opportunity.

There are many questions to this painting, which is why this painting is so relevant to the romantic period, because nothing is certain until one explores the pathways and mountains that one seeks. This is relevant to the painting we saw with the three soldiers, the three swords, the father and the three women. The father did not know where his three sons would end up because of the three different sides in war. One has to explore and seek for opportunity. Probably this painting requires emotion to describe the image. Sounds like the Enlightenment has expanded. Well this was my interpretation to this awesome painting. The one man standing I mean.