Baylor Symphony Orchestra Performance

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I attended the last performance of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra on April 27, 2017 at 7:30pm. The concert was held in Baylor University’s Jones Concert Hall. The environment of the concert was pleasant. The concert hall was cavernous but lacked any balcony seating. Nevertheless, there was plenty of room for attendees to sit. The clothing of people attending the concert varied greatly. Younger people, presumably students of the university, wore causal clothing while older people wore formal to semi-formal attire. I myself came in casual clothing. Of course, proper etiquette for a symphony concert was expected. After reviewing the concert program, the list of compositions played by the orchestra is as follows: Suite to Ma mère l'Oye (Mother Goose): …show more content…

A guest featured in the program notes was Ms. Isabelle Demers. She is a seasoned organ player who has played around the world and is currently an assistant professor at Baylor University. Further remarks about the concert simply stated that this particular concert was the last one of the fall semester. A few items about the concert mildly surprised me. First, the fact that the concert hall had no balcony was a little strange to me, I have never been to a concert where there was no upstairs seating. Second, there were a few different conductors. Two official conductors who each conducted the orchestra on separate compositions, but also a third conductor who assisted one of the official conductors while a piece was being played. I had never seen this before so it was very intriguing to see. All the conductors’ styles varied slightly in the forcefulness of their beats and ques for the orchestra to come in. Overall, they had they simply moved only their hands to direct the orchestra. Finally, the last item that surprised me happened during the performance of the last …show more content…

2 “Island of Innocence” by Kevin Puts. The melody of this piece is lyrical and switches between having dissonance and consonance. The piece starts out with a duple meter but turns to a triple meter later on. The dynamics for the first half of the composition are at a mezzo piano but keep a forte for the first part of the second half of the piece. The tempo was at an adagio for the first half and goes up to an andante for the first part of the second half. The texture is homophonic. The timbre of the strings, drums, percussion, and horns all combine to give first, mood of innocence and second, a mood of disillusionment. The piece does end on a hopeful note though. The program notes on this piece stated the composer was inspired by the 2001 September 11 attacks. I was four years old when that happened. This composition showed me the raw emotion concerning that event in such a way that I can imagine the horror and fear felt by so many people during and after the incident. It was quite

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