For this prompt, I chose to listen to Charles Ives’s piece, The Unanswered Question. To fully understand the narrative that this music is trying to portray, it is important to first envision the manner in which it would be performed, as listening to a recording of this piece is much different than seeing a faithful live performance of it. The work itself is comprised of three main instrumental groups: a string ensemble, a solo trumpet, and a woodwind ensemble. The string ensemble is placed off-stage, serving as a backdrop to the trumpet and woodwinds, which pose and attempt to answer the “unanswered question”, respectively (Ford 17). Without this context, a lot of valuable insight would be lost in an attempt to analyze the work. The string ensemble accompaniment is incredibly slow and quiet. In fact, in the score itself, in the score …show more content…
At first, the “Fighting Answerers”, as Ives calls the quartet, answers slowly and calmly, though not without forming a dissonant chord structure, showing signs of their “fighting” nature. As the piece progresses, it becomes clearer that these “answerers” are getting no closer to solving the question of existence, and their agitation shows as their phrases become increasingly faster and dissonant. Towards the end of the piece, it becomes clear that the “answerers” are fed up with the question, and Ives describes them as holding a “secret conference”, represented in the music as the quartet holding their notes in the section before the second-to-last question is posed. After this conference, the “answerers” in their annoyance, “mock” the question by borrowing the melodic material from the motif and extending it in a state of cacophony until the ending of shrill high notes. At this point, the “answerers” leave, and the trumpet asks the question one more time, only for it to fade away into the
The beat and resonance of the music is very slow and soothing. It immediately sets up a sad mood. The music also manages to create a lonely and sympathetic atmosphere, which carries on throughout the play. The music only plays at significant times in the monologue as the tone of music needs to fit the mood and subject of which Doris is talking about at that moment, i.e. when Doris reminisces on the good times the music becomes lighter; but when she talks about the death of John the pace of the music slows and becomes duller. The use of music alone can form an overwhelming sympathy if appropriately used.
“You gotta play this piece like an English military band would,” said Jules during band one day while rehearsing the first movement of Gustav Holst’s Second Suite in F. “1. March” begins with four notes played by the low brass which is then echoed by the upper woodwinds. The trumpets have a noble melody which broadens when the entire ensemble joins in. Next, the piece lightens up with an upper woodwind melody. Later on there is a euphonium solo, and following that is a grand theme with an extremely distinguished style. After, there is a change in style and time signature. One simple theme repeats with different dynamics and instrumentations every repetition. The Wind Ensemble played this piece at the Winter Band Concert on December 11, 2013. This work, though easy looking at first glance, was genuinely difficult to put together. It had few layers, so mistakes or intonation problems were extremely noticeable. Furthermore, the style of the piece was extremely intricate and hard to master. Therefore, “1. March” had positives and negatives regarding intonation, balance and blend, articulation, style, and dynamics throughout the entire ensemble and the low instrument section.
A Bedouin is a nomad and a nomad a wanderer. Nathaniel Mackey seems to wander far and away in his Bedouin Hornbook, a series of fictional letters addressed to an “Angel of Dust” and signed by the ambiguous “N.” N. interprets passages of improvisation, analyzing others’ musical expression in surprising detail to the point that his unquestioning sincerity and self-assurance are almost laughable. That N. can glean meaning from music in such a direct and certain manner is problematic because his tone implies that there is only one correct interpretation of music. In addressing the issue of how music conveys meaning, Mackey seems to wander in two disparate directions. After asserting each seemingly contradictory view, first that music and speech are simply ends in themselves and second that they are means to a separate end, Mackey reconciles the question through his motivic discussion of absence and essence.
Instructor Mendoza English 1B 22 July 2015. Robert Frost: Annotated Bibliography. Research Question: What are the common themes in Robert Frost's work? Robert Frost is a very successful poet from the 20th century, as well as a four time Pulitzer Prize winner.
Music is magical: it soothes you when you are upset and cheers you up when you are down. To me, it is a communication with souls. I listen to different genres of music. When appreciating each form of music, with its unique rhythm and melody, I expect to differentiate each other by the feelings and emotions that it brings to me. However, I would definitely never call myself “a fan of jazz” until I witnessed Cécile McLorin Salvant’s performance last Friday at Mondavi Center. Through the interpretations and illustrations from Cécile’s performance, I realized that the cultural significance and individual identity are the building blocks of jazz music that create its unique musical features and support its development.
The trumpets were the major prominent players in the over tune and supported by continuous drum beating and clanging of the cymbals. Soon the strings replaced the trumpets at that time the brass instruments receded to the background. The mood in the hall was colourful and everybody was like enjoying every bit of it. At this point, the ensemble continued with the setting of “E-flat”.
The clarinets in the last beat of bar 25 and bar 26 play the "sight" motive which then is played by the bassoon and immediately after by the horn. What follows in bar 29 is a massive unexpected climatic gesture coming from nowhere.
Throughout this piece there was stop time breaks which tended to last for about four beats, while the bass player continued to play along to the beat. Every musician had a solo throughout this piece of art. The pianist played on the beat to where his left hand was giving the ‘oom-pah’ and his right hand doing the comping. There was not much of and expression in the pianist compared to the Josh Holland playing trumpet, Andrew Venet playing bass, and Ryan McDaniel playing drums. There were no blue notes being played, this song was just playing behind the beat. Lastly, this piece tends to have a long vibrato throughout this piece of work.
Charles Ives is known in our day as the “Father of American Music,” but in his day, he was known just like everyone else- an ordinary man living his life. He was born in Danbury, Connecticut on October 20, 1894 (Stanley 1) to his mother, Sarah Hotchkiss Wilcox Ives and father, George White Ives (A Life With Music, Swafford 4). His father was renowned for being the Union’s youngest bandmaster and having the best band in the Army (The Man His Life, Swafford 1). Little Charles was influenced early in his life by his father who had libertarian ideas about music (Stanley 1). Although Danbury prided itself as “the most musical town in Connecticut”, the people did not give the musical profession respect or understanding (The Man His Life, Swafford 1). One day, his father commented on a stonemason’s off-key singing by saying, “Look into his face and hear the music of the ages. Do not pay too much attention to the sounds—for if you do you may miss the music. You won’t get a wild, heroic ride to heaven on pretty little sounds” (The Man His Life, Swafford 2). Thus was young Charles’ introduction to music.
the world was immeasurable, leaving more than two thousand compositions. Ellington left behind a legend, all which started the day he stepped into the Cotton Club. If it
Hence the title of the book. This starts the play with a question and all further events are in response to it. This shows what it is meant to be.... ... middle of paper ... ...
middle of paper ... ... The multiplicity of visions found within Morrison’s novel mirrors the multi-instrumentation of combo jazz and various solo ‘viewpoints’ from which a tune is played by different band members (Pici). Such a non-omniscient and non-omnipotent narrator makes storytelling an ongoing development, just like it is with the jazz music.
Thus, the questions it poses intersects and changes as they are stated. The artistic practice allows the observation of the characters
“You can’t touch music—it exists only at the moment it is being apprehended—and yet it can profoundly alter how we view the world and our place in it” (“Preface” 7).1 Music is a form of art enjoyed by millions of people each day. It is an art that has continued through decades and can be seen in many different ways. That is why Ellison chooses to illustrate his novel with jazz. Jazz music in Invisible Man gives feelings that Ellison could never explain in words. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the narrator’s search for his identity can be compared to the structure of a jazz composition.
Robert Frost is known for his poems about nature, he writes about trees, flowers, and animals. This is a common misconception, Robert Frost is more than someone who writes a happy poem about nature. The elements of nature he uses are symbolic of something more, something darker, and something that needs close attention to be discovered. Flowers might not always represent beauty in Robert Frost’s poetry. Symbolism is present in every line of the nature’s poet’s poems. The everyday objects present in his poems provide the reader an alternative perspective of the world. Robert Frost uses all the elements of poetry to describe the darker side of nature. After analyzing the Poem Mending Wall and After Apple Picking it is clear that nature plays a dark and destructive role for Robert Frost. This dark side of Frost’s poetry could have been inspired from the hard life he lived.