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.