On January 10, 2016, I attended the W.D. Packard Band concert at W.D. Packard Music Hall. The atmosphere was comfortable and relaxing. I have attended other performances and concerts at this venue. The performers vary in age difference and level of experience, but are all extremely talented. The conductor for the band is Dr. Stephen L. Gage. He is a well-known professor at Youngstown State University. This is the second concert I have attended with Dr. Gage conducting. The theme for the show was “New Year Around the World”. Each song focused on a different country, some including Russia, France, Ireland, and even the United States. The first piece that was performed really caught my attention. The piece was “Gavorkna Fanfare” by Jack Stamp. …show more content…
Packard Concert Band was “An Irish Rhapsody” by Clare Grundman. I have never heard this piece before this performance. At the beginning, the dynamic levels are about a mezzo-forte. The woodwinds are playing legato while the snare is significantly noticeable in the background. The piece then slows down and there are no percussion parts noticeable, until later when the flutes and clarinets bring in the main English-themed melody. The brass add a fuller sound to the main melody by using imitative polyphony. The suspension builds until the piece slows down again. This composition reminds me of the march by Holst that we are learning to play in Symphonic band. The saxophones also have an English-themed scoop that sounds extremely similar to their part in Holst. The melody continues to go from andante to legato to vivace. The variety of tempos helped to keep my attention the whole performance. There wasn’t a huge climax in my opinion. The only climax that seemed to be apparent was only during the English-themed melody. The piece ended by many percussion parts and a simplified version of the English-themed melody and the legato sections mixed together. If I had to describe the ending, I would say it was very suspenseful in the fact that there was a retard and everyone continued to crescendo until the very last release. I really liked this piece because of its’ unique sound. The different tempos and dynamic levels really helped this piece to flow …show more content…
However, it was absolutely beautiful and I’m extremely happy they played it last. It is definitely a powerful piece. To summarize this piece, I would have to start with the tempo and style. The beginning starts out extremely slow and legato. The chimes are softly ringing in the background and the band starts to crescendo. They slowly decrescendos as the flutes come in softly and hold a fermata. Once everyone decrescendos away, a sudden change in tempo occurs. The low brass comes in fast, then the original tempo returns. The band then crescendos into an even faster tempo and louder dynamic level. The clarinets help to build a newfound suspension, and at the climax the percussion crash the cymbals to signify the importance. There is again another short break. The bass clarinets and low clarinets come in and play at a piano dynamic level. A brief oboe solo is interrupted when quick staccato notes are played by the high woodwinds. The oboe completes the solo and is joined once again by the full band. They slowly crescendo together while a light, crisp sound comes from the bells. The legato style continues for a while longer until the chimes and low brass start to crescendo. The rest of the band slowly enters and each section uses imitative polyphony to imitate the low brass rhythms. The bells, gong, cymbals, tympani, and brass slowly retard and build the suspense as the climax is being reached. A short
On February 17th, I attended the “UIC Jazz Ensemble” at 7 in the evening. The concert was located at the Illinois room in Student Center East. The concert director was Mr. Andy Baker, and he is one of the music professors at UIC. Besides, he is a lead trombonist of the Chicago Jaz Ensemble, co-leader of the sextet BakerzMillion. He is also a first-call theatre and studio musician. The lights in the room were pretty dim, and the room was filled with audiences. I noticed that there were a total of nineteen musicians performing that evening, and a lady jazz singer accompanied the musicians throughout the concert. There were sixteen members playing the wind instruments, including the trumpet, trombone, saxophone, flute, and French horn. Some of them were standing, and some were sitting. Besides wind instrument, the concert also included a guitar, drum and piano into the performance. They were played by Edwin Garcia, Aaron Gorden, James Wenzel and Will Gingrich respectively.
“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.
On Friday November 15, 2013, I attended a concert that I found very interesting. It took place at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The group performing was the Erie Chamber Orchestra but as a special the Slippery Rock University Concert Choir was also there.
I thoroughly enjoyed this concert from beginning to end. The opening piece, “String Quartet in F Major, K 590”, was both soothing and moving with an engaging theme that followed through the piece. The sudden stops and starts with changes in theme built the suspense and pulled the listener in to a jaunty gallop through the second section. Also the bass tones in the back ground seem to be slightly off kilter with the violins, providing a complex texture and harmony that provides depth and poignancy to the music.
The final piece that was in the concert was a solo done by Julia Fischer. She performed Niccolo Paganini’s “Caprice NR. 2.” This piece sounded like Vivaldi’s which may be why I didn’t notice it was a different piece until I noticed the pause between pieces. It was also very amazing to see her handwork as she played the violin in the close-up it gave. I think what made me like this piece the most, and this entire concert was because of the violin. They’re naturally a quiet instrument but they’re also a very powerful instrument when played with
I attended the Missouri Western Jazz Ensemble concert on February 3. I can thoroughly say I enjoyed the performance. For being a rather small band, less than twenty members, they certainly packed a very large sound. To me the band sounded as though it was very well rehearsed. There seemed no lack of confidence in there playing; you could tell they knew and enjoyed playing the songs. All of these factors made it very entertaining to watch this ensemble.
On Tuesday, October 17, 2017, I attended a musical concert. This was the first time I had ever been to a concert and did not play. The concert was not what I expected. I assumed I was going to a symphony that featured a soloist clarinet; however, upon arrival I quickly realized that my previous assumptions were false. My experience was sort of a rollercoaster. One minute I was down and almost asleep; next I was laughing; then I was up and intrigued.
To start with, American Fanfare was created in the year 2006 and was embraced by a Lieutenant Colonel is a wonderful experiences. It was created by the conductor Jim Stephenson, with the rest of the performers, and they should give themselves a pat on the back for creating a new aura around the concert with such an amazing melody in so many ranges of ascending. Yet, the music was able to lead in the making of rhythms to be in a constant motion between adagio, andante, and allegro. Making the audience feel as if they are on the edge of their seats and feeling the homophonic texture. It adds dynamic qualities to the music by having the brass instrument and the woodwind instrument playing the same piece over and over one another as if challenging
My final winter concert has come and gone quicker than I could have possibly imagined. It was certainly one I will never forget because it was my very first time performing in every band and choir group. It was a very stressful night but having it perfectly planned and having help from many of my fellow performers definitely made me feel a lot more at ease. This concert definitely had it’s ups and downs and there are somethings that I wish went a lot better. However in the end, I did enjoyed performing and gave it a lot of effort.
On Monday, October 3, 2016 I was privileged to attend the fabulous performance by the Pittsburg State University Jazz Band at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts in Pittsburg Kansas. It was a beautiful evening filled with fantastic music. The concert featured many well-rehearsed songs, talented solos, and enjoyable evening for everyone who attended.
This performance was somewhat of a duet between the second and third clarinet players. The entire piece was performed in the dark, with lights on the musicians’ foreheads that got turned on and off during the performance. I am not sure whether to call this a piece or just a performance, because it included a lot of screaming, stomping, growling, etc. Instead of a sweet classical piece, it was really a performance. I got very mixed feelings about this performance, and I am still not quite sure what the message or story of it is, but parts of it included a sort of fighting and arguing between the performers that included dramatic licks on the clarinet, growls on the clarinet, and several mean noises. Other parts of this performance included them holding out notes as they were hugging, and later on it even showed a choreographed kiss like things between the two musicians. It seemed as if maybe it portrayed an argument at the beginning and then making up at the end. This “piece” confused me a lot and I feel like, if someone that has no experience what performances in the area are like saw that, they would probably think the place is filled with crazy people. Even though I am not quite sure how to feel about this piece, it really stood out to me, and there is a part of me that really enjoyed it, especially being a clarinet player myself, I enjoyed getting to see what some of the crazier
The brass plays an ascending sequence, followed by pizzicato notes played by the strings, and an ascending and descending scale on the harp. Strings and oboe play the rhythmic melody, whilst the trumpet plays fanfares in syncopation. The oboe is then replaced by the flute. There is an ascending scale played by the strings, then the brass section repeats the string and oboe melody with cymbal crashes at cadence points. The orchestra then plays a loud melody with cymbal crashes and drum rolls. There is an interrupted cadence, followed by crescendo with cymbal crashes and a brass ostinato. The piece ends with a perfect cadence.
The first piece on the program was Polonaise from Eugene Onegin (1878). This piece is from the Romantic period composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikavosky (1840-1893). Very short piece probably around six minutes. The variations and the interesting theme made this piece the most interesting among the other compositions despite the length of this piece, but it was amusing. The piece started with trumpets playing short high notes as an introductory, with the accompaniment of violins playing quick short notes. It sounds like if it was played in a major key, very cheerful and very fast like if the tempo is Vivace. Moreover, trumpets throughout the piece reinforce the harmony. Throughout the piece varies styles were used such as legato (smooth connected style).The texture of this piece is homophonic ( one line of real interest with accompaniment). The rhythm of the piece is really catchy, pretty much predictable; most of the piece variations are centered on the main theme, but it is very pleasing to the ears (consonant).
... then plays allegro passages of semi quavers, accompanied by timpani and descending scales in the woodwind. The clarinet, takes over the main melody whilst the cello accompanies with sequences. The French horn takes over the melody, accompanied by the strings. The flute briefly plays the melody before the cello plays octaves, accompanying the woodwind as they play a reprise of the DSCH theme and the timpani crashes. Repeating the themes in the first movement, the cello plays the DSCH motif followed by the "tate ta, tate ta" rhythm in the strings. The horn then plays the theme in augmentation, whilst the cello plays passages of ascending and descending scales, and the theme is heard again in the strings. The movement builds up with the motif appearing increasingly often in the woodwind and strings and climaxes with octaves by the soloist and a boom from the timpani.
For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at the Kimball Recital Hall. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because I usually work at night. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the composers and/or performers. I went with three friends, who I convinced by telling it would be interesting to see student composers.