Listening Assignment

In case you misplace your questions, here they are. I can't reproduce the actual music here unfortunately. I hope you enjoy experiencing this new music!

EDHS Orchestra Listening Assignment

Often when I ask if anyone has heard music by various composers the answer is no. Playing orchestral music without this background knowledge is like being asked to write a high school essay with 2^nd grade vocabulary. This assignment will increase your knowledge of classical repertoire and develop your critical listening skills. Use musical terms (relating to rhythm, dynamics, tempo, etc.) and descriptive adjectives (peaceful, angry, exciting, chaotic, etc.) in your answers.

This is your written assignment for the first semester. It is worth 100 points. It is due Monday, January 7 during zero period. For every day that the assignment is late I will deduct 10 points. You may email this assignment to me (mnowak@pylusd.org) or answer on a separate sheet of paper. NUMBER YOUR ANSWERS.

Baroque Period

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), The Four Seasons, “Spring”

The Four Seasons is a violin concerto. Listen for the soloistic sections versus the full orchestra sections.

1) What dynamic levels do you hear?

2) The title of this movement is “Spring”. What spring-type sounds do you hear?

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), The Four Seasons, “Winter”

3) What musical elements are different in this movement, “Winter”, than in “Spring”?

4) Describe the winter scene that you picture when listening to this.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Allegro

5) How does this concerto sound different from The Four Seasons, in musical terms?

6) How do the rhythms of this piece create the mood of the piece?

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), The Art of the Fugue, Contrapunctus 13A

This is a string quartet – 2 violins, viola, cello. A fugue is a composition where each instrument enters separately and plays distinct yet interlocking lines.

7) How would you describe the mood of this piece compared to Brandenburg Concerto?

8) What musical elements contribute to this difference in mood?

Classical Period

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91), String Quartet No. 14, Molto Allegro

This is a string quartet of the classical period and it is also a fugue.

9) How does it sound different than Bach’s string quartet?

10) How would you describe the mood of this piece?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91), Symphony No. 40, 1^st movement

This piece has two main themes, or melodies, to begin. Identify where the first theme ends and where the second begins. During the middle of the piece there is a development section.

11) How would you describe the differences between the first two themes?

12) How does Mozart use the melodies you’ve already heard in the development section? Why do you think this section is called “the development”?

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Symphony No. 5, 4^th movement

You have all heard the famous opening of this symphony. This is the final section, or movement.

13) How would you describe the feeling of this music?

14) Imagine this as a movie soundtrack. What kind of movie would this be the soundtrack to? What in the music makes you think so?

Romantic Period

Richard Wagner (1813-83), Lohengrin, Prelude to Act 3

15) What is your first reaction when this Prelude starts?

16) What instrument has the melody after the opening, and what do the strings do while the melody is being played?

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Symphony No. 1, 3^rd movement

Brahms and Wagner are often described as the opposite ends of the spectrum in Romantic music. In addition, they really didn’t like each other.

17) How is this piece by Brahms different than the Wagner you just heard?

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93), Symphony No. 5, 3^rd movement

18) What instruments do you hear playing the melody that Vivaldi and Bach did not use?

19) What do the violins do, especially in the middle of the piece, to contrast the main melody?

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Symphony No. 5, 4^th movement

This is one of Mahler’s most famous pieces. It occurs in the middle of his Symphony No. 5, but uses no winds or percussion, only strings.

20) Why do you think Mahler wrote this particular part of the symphony only for strings?

21) Based on this music, what do you think Mahler’s personality was like?

Modern Period

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Petrushka, Russian Dance

22) What is the most important musical element here – melody, harmony, or rhythm? Why do you think so?

23) What section of the orchestra are we hearing much more of than in the previous songs? What new instruments do you hear?

Steve Reich (born 1936), The Desert Music, 2^nd movement

24) Steve Reich writes minimalist music. Why do you think it is called minimalist?

25) How does this expand on the music of Stravinsky that you just heard?

Zoe Keating (born 1972), Optimist

Zoe Keating is a solo cellist who uses a laptop and sound editing software to layer live loops into full compositions. What you are hearing was recorded live. No questions, just enjoy!

New bass rack!

The bass rack is assembled! With a minimum of naughty words! I am overly proud of this achievement!

We just gained a lot of space - 4 basses now fit where one used to lay down on the ground. And NO MORE BASS BOWS STORED IN THE F HOLES, YAY!

Concert thoughts

I received many, many compliments on both our concert and Faculty Breakfast. The electric violins and Sinfonia's Silent Night were the standouts. A retired music teacher particularly thought our intonation and balance were excellent. Thank you everyone for all of your support in making these events great successes!

I felt that we represented ourselves well at both performances. I was pleasantly surprised by the applause we received after Orchestra's set last night. It was loud, long, and appreciative, and you can't ask for much more than that!* One thing that I forgot to mention ahead of time, and Kaila noticed during the concert, was how different everything sounded in the gym. She said from her perspective sitting in the fourth row that it felt as if she and Thy were playing by themselves. The gym is a huge room compared to what we are used to and the sound does not bounce off the walls and come back to our ears like in our room. I noticed that our dynamics did not sound nearly as distinct in the bigger room. This will happen in every venue that we play. No two auditoriums every sound alike.
I felt our hard work fixing notes, working on tuning, using full bows, and bringing out the expressive qualities of the music all came through. This is what happens when everyone does their job by playing their part, watching, and listening. Because every single one of you is an important part of the ensemble sound and everyone's part is important. And you proved it this morning when I forgot to conduct the first ending of The Christmas Song. The ritardando, fermata, and following entrance went just fine without me. Unfortunately that makes me look a little superfluous to the administrators in the audience...

*Of course, starting in January, I will be asking you for more, starting with our new method books and continuing into Festival music. But you knew I was going to say that.

From our audience's point of view

I've been talking a lot in class about the perspective of our audience. They don't see the dynamics, or the notes going "up" and "down", or the hard work that we put in to our concert performance. What they do, if we do our jobs as performers correctly, is experience the emotion and expression of our performance. This video is a really interesting way to view music from their point of view - linear and moving forward through time. From vimeo:

Visualization of the 1st violin of the 2nd symphony, 4th movement by Ferdinand Ries in the shape of a rollercoaster. The camera starts by showing a close-up of the score, then focuses on the notes of the first violin turning the staves into the winding rail tracks of the rollercoaster. The notes and bars were exactly synchronised with the progression in the animation so that the typical movements of a rollercoaster ride match the dramatic composition of the music.

ZKO Rollercoaster // GREAT EMOTIONS from virtual republic on Vimeo.

EDHS Compliment Wall

I put this up on Friday, i think they are taking it down next week, so I wanted to make sure you saw it.

Concert Preparation

We have two weeks to prepare for our Winter Concert on Monday, December 17 (7 pm in the EDHS Gym, concert dress, call time TBA). For these two weeks we will be back on our regular rehearsal schedule. On Monday morning, December 3, we will record ourselves! We will listen and fix things during the afternoon rehearsal. Be in your seat, music and pencils out, bows rosined, at 7:53 when the bell rings. During the 3 or 4 days between rehearsals, your homework is to practice.

Practice List for Monday, December 3

We Need a Little Christmas

• Goal tempo is half note = 132
• Measures with a lot of accidentals, including
• 4 measures before 25
• 4 measures before 41
• 57 (for cello and bass)

• 4 measures before 69

The Christmas Song (Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire)

• Practice at a slow tempo – quarter note = 76
• Practice with vibrato on any note longer than an eighth note

Holly vs. Ivy vs. Godzilla

• Goal tempo is quarter note = 96
• The best way to practice this piece is one section at a time
• Measures 19-27, 27-35, etc.
• Look for repeated notes and rhythms from section to section
• Then put sections together
• Pay close attention to measures where you have an entrance NOT on beat one

The Bells of Christmas

• Measure 49 – first two notes are on beats one and two; last note is on the AND of three
• Cellos measure 76-91
• 2^nd violin and viola measure 114 – starts on the AND of 1
• All violins – measures 130-134
• Everyone measures 174-178
• 2^nd  violin, viola, cello, bass measure 178-185 – some of these entrances are on 1, but others are on 2
• Everyone cross off measure 186 (5 from the end) – just an empty measure of rest where the audience will start clapping
• Everyone last two measures – first quarter note short so there is space before the final four notes.

How would you like to build your own orchestra?

More information about what you just saw here.

Taken from Diego Stocco's website:

Diego Stocco was born in Rovigo, Italy in 1976. He discovered music at the age of 6 when his parents, hoping to calm him down, gave him his first electronic keyboard. That might have backfired!

Diego is a composer, music sound designer and performer. He creates eclectic compositions using custom built instruments, elements of nature and experimental recording techniques.

Most recently, he composed the score for the feature film “Chernobyl Diaries”. Diego is also a featured soloist on many films and video games, including “Sherlock Holmes”, “Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood” and “Assassin’s Creed Revelations”. He has also worked as a music sound designer on numerous projects, including the films “Immortals”, “Takers”, “Into the Blue”, “Crank”, tv shows “The Tudors” and “Moonlight”. Diego also created the score for the video game “The Conduit”.

His music has been licensed for dozens of film and video game trailers including “TRON: Legacy”, “Terminator Salvation”, “2012”, “Transformers”, “Spider Man Shattered Universe”, Call of Duty, World at War”, “Soulcalibur IV” and numerous tv shows and promos.

Diego creates a series of viral video performances where he explores unique ways of making music, his “Music from a Tree”, “Music from Sand”, “Music from a Dry Cleaner” have been featured on tv and radio shows like NBC’s “Today”, Discovery Channel’s “Daily Planet”, CBS News, NPR’s “Living on Earth” and “All Things Considered”.

Diego also lectures at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston and FIDM in Los Angeles, sharing his unique approach and techniques with their students.

Vitamin String Quartet

I'm probably late to the party on this one, but the Vitamin String Quartet is an incredibly prolific group that arranges contemporary music for strings - from Adele to Metallica, Twilight and Hunger Games to Skrillex. AND they are having a 50% off sale this weekend for physical CD's! Check it out here.

Sinfonia Winterfest Concert

For all Sinfonia members, our concert at Valencia High School is the Thursday after break! The flyer is posted below.

• Rehearsal is Tuesday, 11/27, from 4-5 pm at the Valencia High School Auditorium
• Concert is Thursday, 11/29, 6:15 pm call, 7 pm concert at the VHS Auditorium
• Concert dress
• I have tickets available for $2 each, first come first served. Money from all the tickets bought from me goes straight to our program! Tickets will also be available at the door for $3 each.
• Recordings of Troika and A Christmas Festival are on the right sidebar.

Thanksgiving break

Hey everyone, we've done a lot of great work so far this year. Our biggest events yet are coming up! I have heard from multiple people that they are looking forward to hearing our groups perform. Please practice over break, keep checking the blog for announcements and cool videos, and remember that Monday morning after break is Sinfonia, Monday afternoon are our regular rehearsals.

And at this time of the year -
I am thankful for working with such great students. I nominated Jose and Faith for Character Counts awards this month, but I had a really difficult time narrowing it down. Character Counts awards are a big deal to me -  I am very proud of my daughter for receiving one in preschool and one this year in kindergarten, the first one in her class each year to get one - so as a teacher I wanted to make sure I participated as well. But as I sat down to fill out the forms my first thought was "I could nominate every single one of my students".

I am thankful for Mr. and Mrs. Lovering's donation of 10 (!) new folding music stands on Friday.

I am thankful for not having to spend so much time in the car this week!

And for Faith...Big Bang Theory Flash Mob!



If you're keeping score, that's "Call Me Maybe" 2, Mozart 0 on this "orchestra" blog

New page for videos

I created a new page for videos, click here or find it in the page listing above. All the Sinfonia tunes are there, plus Geometric Dances with full orchestra. Leave a comment to let me know what you think of our performance!

First Concert

Hey everyone, our spaghetti dinner/concert/fundraiser was a great night. It was wonderful to see everyone come together for the cause of music. I really enjoyed meeting and talking to family and friends.

I thought we played great and looked great doing so! See for yourself on the photos page with pictures that my wife took. She really enjoyed the night despite the long drive and despite Clare going berserk from drinking the punch. She never drinks juice, especially the Hummingbird Food that is Kool Aid.

I really want to thank everyone, students and parents alike, for going beyond the playing and the food preparation to make our first event so successful. Ryan, Brady, Michael, Kathleen all did a tremendous job setting up, David moved out all the water bottles afterwards, Faith's mom manned the donation table and Andrew's mom vacuumed the WHOLE room afterwards! I know I'm forgetting people but that's just who is coming to mind right now.

Happy Halloween, everybody

Found on Tumblr.

Also, the bass section of the Cleveland Orchestra dressed as The Avengers

Spaghetti Dinner/Concert

What: Spaghetti Dinner/Concert

Who: All orchestra members

When: Next Monday, November 5, 6-8 pm

·        Dinner starts at 6

·        Concert starts at 7

o       Orchestra will play at 7 – Allegro in D, Gypsy Tale, Geometric Dances

o       Sinfonia will follow – Mozart, Mahler, Telemann 3 pieces

Where: ESC, 4999 Casa Loma Ave in Yorba Linda

Concert dress – consult the handbook

Bring everything you need to play

Upcoming events

We have several events coming up in October and November.
Monday, October 29 will be our first restaurant fundraiser at Rubio's! The event will run from 2 - 9 pm at the Placentia location, 127 East Yorba Linda Blvd. We will get flyers out for you to present to the cashier. Rinny, make sure you're hungry after rehearsal!

Mmmm, fish tacos...

Monday, November 5 will be our annual Spaghetti Dinner/Concert/Fundraiser at the ESC, 4999 Casa Loma Ave. Orchestra and Sinfonia (and Mr. Nowak) will play for parents, relatives, and friends. That's sure to be a fun and relaxed social gathering, and maybe I'll even get Mrs. Nowak and Daughter Nowak to come. That will be from 6-8 pm, but I'm sure volunteers will be helpful for set-up before and tear down after.

Sinfonia will play for the District Winter Choir Concert the last week in November. Rehearsal is on Tuesday, November 27 at Valencia HS from 4:15 - 5 pm. The concert is on Thursday, November 29 at Valencia HS; call time 6:30, concert begins at 7. Orchestra members are welcome to come cheer us on! Tickets are a measly $2 (which goes right to us) for an awesome night of music.

Finally, the San Francisco trip is happening! April 4-7, Thursday through Sunday, during our spring break. Start saving your pennies for chocolate!

Playing test next week

Your first playing test will be next week starting Monday, October 22.
Orchestra members will test on any 2 of A/D/G/C scales, played in quarter notes at 112 beats per minute.
Sinfonia members will test on all 4 of A/D/G/C scales, played in eighth notes at 120 beats per minute.

You will receive a copy of your scoring sheet to keep in your black music binder. Use this as a reference for what to focus on in your practicing. To see how you will be scored, go here.

Internet famous

Better late than never, here I am with the Pacific Sound Brass Quintet playing the National Anthem at Petco Park in September. I was trying to figure out how I could show this to you despite the lack of technology in our classroom (which I am working to improve) and I finally realized today that I can put it here. Again, better late than never.
I am the second blob from the left, and the second trumpet player to come in on the melody. All the trumpet fracks are the other guy. No, really, they actually are!

 

I am thinking about ice cream

Have you made it to class everyday?

Then you deserve this! Congratulations!

Play this maybe?

While sucked into the time vortex that is Tumblr, found this little gem. What do you think?