Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave is a piece of music that requires a lot of musicianship and emotion to play. Even though the piece should be played like a march, which is said literally in the title, it does not mean loud and metronomic. The Stony Brook Wind Ensemble appears to be made up of talented musicians. However, this was not the best performance of this piece for multiple reasons. I think the piece should be played in more of a largo-style, because it is a Slavonic Marche. When the bass voices play the opening passage, I imagine slaves in shackles moving slowly in unison. The opening from the musical, Les Miserables, is the same kind of feel and pulse. The conductor interpreted this piece as a fast march starting from the beginning, which was not the way I hear this piece, or Tchaikovsky, I’m guessing. …show more content…
At parts, the Tubas were not together pitch-wise, it almost sounded like they were dissonant between quarter tones. The trumpets were super loud and not together. This may be because the ensemble had at least 12 trumpets. Still, the trumpets should aware of the instrumentation. The French Horns were also mediocre. They were a bit loud and cracked high notes too much, as well as the trumpets. Articulation was not together for the entire band. In a piece like this, staccato and legato are in two separate worlds. So, the players should have emphasized when they should play staccato vs. legato. Percussion was too loud and heavy sounding. I could tell that the stick heights from the snare drummer and timpanist were really high from the video. Finally, there was little to no dynamic contrasts. Everyone seemed to just play loudly, the entire time. Even if there is literally no mp crescendo to ff written, for example, the development of the melody and orchestration should be helped with natural dynamics. This should have been mentioned by the conductor during a
The first movement felt as though it was the beginning of a riddle sure to be solved later in the symphony. It began with a sense of suspense with all basic elements of music: tonality, melody, and rhythm. The entire first movement was of an established sonata, between all instruments. However, what caught my attention was the mumble of the low strings which erupted into violins. I was on the edge of my seat for what was to come.
The production had many elements which for the most part formed a coalition to further the plot. The characters, the three part scenery and costumes represented well the period of time these people were going through. As far as the performers entering and exiting the stage, it could have been more organized. There were a few times when the performers exited at the wrong times or it seemed so due to the echo of the music. At certain moments the music was slightly loud and drowned the performers. Many of the songs dragged on, so the pacing could have been more effectively executed. Though the music was off at times, the director's decision to have most of the songs performed center sage was a wise one. Also the implementation of actual white characters that were competent in their roles came as a great surprise to the audience and heightened the realism.
First, the entire band had good and bad moments of its performance of Second Suite in F. First, the intonation of the piece fluctuated. During the parts of the music when the entire band played, like in measures 11 through 18, the intonation was impeccable considering the high temperature of the stage. However, parts of the work where most instruments dropped out, like measures 19 to 26, were not quite in tune. Next, the balance and blend was perfect except for a few specific parts. During measures 79 to 109, the trumpets stuck out too much and did not blend in w...
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.
Each individual player in this orchestra is a soloist of sorts, playing a completely different piece than the musician seated directly next to them or across the stage. Rather than being written as a concerto, this piece, written in three movements, allows for each of the accomplished musicians to display their skill individually though each solo is not brought to the forefront of the piece, creating a what sounds like a disgruntled compilation of individual pieces that come together. This piece both begins ends with the Funeral March of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony directly tied into the basses, at first it is quiet and difficult to recognize but as the third movement is introduced it becomes more pronounced and evident. Those who were present for this pieces introduction to society were able to see its emotional effect on its composer who had obvious emotional ties to the music. Strauss never showed up to see his work debut instead he attended the dress rehearsal, asked Sacher if he could conduct this work. Strauss was said to have given a beautiful reading of the score that many view as his most...
The rest of the trumpet section was also very lively; I felt they carried the main theme in almost every song which certainly kept me interested in the performance. The conductor kept the band on time, and to me they never missed a beat. One could tell they were certainly well rehearsed and truly knew how to use their instruments. A lot of music these days has become focused on generating the catchiest lyrics or chorus, so seeing this jazz ensemble was very refreshing. I was delightfully surprised to see such remarkable music talent at a performance of that size and caliper.
The first song played was from a genre that I had previously taken a test on, Sonata. The musicians played the song by the book. There were three movements and polyphonic texture. It was even fast and jerky. Nonetheless, this is the part where my rollercoaster was going down. In my opinion it was boring. Although very well played, the song itself did not interest me. I did not like the roadrunner, coyote essence of the song. The piano accompaniment would sometimes play the melody and let the clarinet follow and then they would switch. This to me seemed force instead of like the Sonatas that I listened to in class. However, apart from the musical aspect of the first piece there was a certain intensity expressed by the performers. I had never seen a
...ked throughout the concert. The pacing of the selections seemed appropriate. No piece sounded like the one before it. There was a great variety of songs played. There were songs played that were written by famous jazz composers and songs played that were written by some of the performers themselves. This added to the excitement of the show.
The band played together in such harmony and joy, and they exchanged looks as if they're talking to each other and understood by looks. As it turns out the guest go the nigh George Gazone was the professor who taught the band members music. Garzone Played the Saxophone like no other, he’s solos were magical it was fascinating watching him and the admiration his student have for him. The music sounded beautiful, yet seems the band are not well prepared for the evening. There was a lot of improvisation and as if every band member wanted to show off his skills which was really good. Improvisation is an element of jazz I was looking for, also, there were a lot of call and response between the band members different ones at each piece they played.
Every performance was presented with charm. The flashing, changing colors seem to go along with the performances. The director was humorous. The performers outfits were on point too. I liked the color coding of the vocalists, Jeremy, Jordan, and Rowan. Also, Julie wore a pretty suede dress and had a great voice. It was nice to see her come out for the 2nd time to sing. When Spencer kept playing his saxophone in some of the performances, it was just amazing. Some of my favorite performances were Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, Ain’t too Proud to Beg, In a Sentimental Mood, and more. It really made me feel like I was in New Orleans all over again. I absolutely love Otis Redding and The Temptations music, so I wasn’t new to these songs they played. I was sitting in the back (R-125) where I felt comfortable to bob my head to the music. If I ever come back to see another concert, I will make sure to get a seat in the back again. I adore Jordan that did sung the Temptations song. I thought it was exciting to see his enthusiasm while on stage keeping us engaged, but everyone did great in their own way. The song by Duke Ellington made me feel melancholy, the piece was soft. I just couldn’t believe how well everyone contributed and gave an outstanding
This piece was filled with improvisation and you could feel the creativity following from the musicians. The combo didn’t have a conductor like the big band and was significantly smaller. Although, the combo was smaller and less formal it wasn’t any less of a performance. The piece started out with a phenomenal alto sax solo by Kevin Clements of Lamar, Missouri. Kevin is a talented musician, with his dark, rich sounding solo, he hit it out of the park. Ivan Vazquez of Garden City, Kansas performed another great solo on the trombone. Maddy Beasley, Kearney, Missouri followed Ivan with a tenor saxophone
African-American music is a vibrant art form that describes the difficult lives of African American people. This can be proven by examining slave music, which shows its listeners how the slaves felt when they were working, and gives us insight into the problems of slavery; the blues, which expresses the significant connection with American history, discusses what the American spirit looks like and teaches a great deal from the stories it tells; and hip-hop, which started on the streets and includes topics such as misogyny, sex, and black-on-black violence to reveal the reactions to the circumstances faced by modern African Americans.
...re was very interesting transitions between the variation, for example, string section plays the variation from low to high, when they reach the highest note, the brass family takes over and continue with the scale and make it more higher. Tremolo style was used in this piece, which is a quick ups and downs stroke mode. The music were very soothing and attracted the audience. Lastly, they end the piece with the same variations that was played at the beginning.
I noticed he constantly switched from the synthesizer to the keyboard, and this was to change the tune and make it sound layered as I mentioned before. I also noticed that at times he played the keyboard slowly and other times he would play extremely fast. So rapidly that I even questioned how a man can first not only move his arms so fast but also play so beautifully at such high speeds. A tune he played even sounded like a swish-swashing sound, and I was amazed by how a synthesizer and keyboard can possibly make such sounds. I also noticed that for this song that both Lionel Loueke and Dave Holland played the guitar, and I think this was to match the fusion electric instrument style. Overall, the entire band did a great opening for their performance; everyone looked like they were doing their own thing and were very content.
The final and twelfth piece was made up of excerpts from a longer work called Five Short Pieces for Clarinet and Bassoon. To me, maybe because the concert was beginning to get long or maybe because I did not have many notes over it, the last piece seems fairly similar throughout its movements, or “Short Pieces.” The first was an up-beat piece with a distinct melody. The clarinet and bassoon alternated, with the clarinet playing the higher notes. The second movement had a have complete feel to it. The two instruments played at the same time, close to it. The third movement was an impressive sounding mix of ups and downs. It seemed that the performers were working very hard and it sounded very complex.