Sinfonietta at Ithaca College

When thinking about performers at the Ithaca College concerts, one would think it is just the music performance majors that are on stage. This concert is not just about music performance majors, rather, they are musicians majoring in other subjects but still want to keep playing the music they have done throughout their younger days. The Ithaca College Sinfonietta performed their concert Wednesday night at Ford Hall in Ithaca College. All compositions played were from the 19th century written by known composers throughout the world. Anyone at the concert could tell, these students gave up their time every Monday night for something special they could create.

For those who do not know what a Sinfonietta is, it is a smaller sized symphony orchestra but larger than an ensemble. The instruments played in the Sinfonietta are the Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass. Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba and the Percussion. The string instruments take up most of the company. As for the musician in the concert, the students come from all different majors. The majors range from TV-R to Occupational Therapy. Like the conductor Dr. James Mick said at the concert, "it is a campus wide orchestra." If one did not know what major the musicians where, one would have thought they where music performance majors. The performance these musicians displayed was impressive for those who are not majoring in music. One can tell these musicians have practiced every Monday for the past couple months and it truly paid off with this concert.

Even though all the songs played at the concert where 19th century compositions, there was one that truly stood out. Suite from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky was the composition. Having spoke about Stravinsky in class, I was looking forward to listening to another song by Stravinsky. Although the Berceuse and the Finale where the only parts of the composition played, one could here the magic Stravinsky could do in his composition. He made the bassoon and oboe reach notes on their instruments that are higher than what they should play. At the time Stravinsky wrote this composition, an oboe or a bassoon have never played notes so high in their register. When it got towards the end of the composition for the Finale, the sound of the instruments started to get intense and I started to hear weird harmonies. I thought some of the instruments were playing the wrong notes to the composition. Then again, it was Stravinsky who wrote the composition. Stravinsky used melodic minor harmonies throughout his piece. Stravinsky was known for making whole-tone scales throughout The Firebird. As it got closer to the end of the composition, the instruments start to play soft and them become louder in an instant. This is part of one of the aesthetics from the nineteenth century called stratification. An interesting instrument that was added to the composition was the harp which had a constant glissando throughout the Berceuse. This is also another part of the nineteenth aesthetics called fragmentation. The Sinfonietta was able to create a memorable rendition of Stravinsky's piece by using these aesthetics.

When I came into this concert, I did not know what I was going to expect. I only knew there was going to be a whole bunch of compositions played by a group of musicians. I know I did not expect to have non-music majors playing in a Sinfonietta. Not only did they play the music, they played the music with so much passion and joy, it seemed like they all should be music majors. One could only think they are professional performers. I enjoyed the concert very much and wish to see more of the Sinfonietta if they have more concerts in the future because they really blew my mind with the talent they showed on stage that night.

Popular Music

Stone in My Heart by Graffiti6

Moderization Through Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring

Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring

Thesis: Stravinsky expresses 20th century esthetics in The Rite of Spring.

1. Introduction
2. Fragmentation
1. Stravinsky uses two different rhythms in the piece
1. from 10:35min-10:56min the orchestra plays one part of the song and at the last second, the trombones have a glissando
3. Disjunction
1. The notes are not in a pleasing harmony
1. at 11:06min the long note that repeats sound like a dysfunctional composition.
2. The trombones play a drop.
1. 11:13-11:14 the trombone plays a new kind of style that the trombone didn’t normally play back in the 1800s
4. Stratification
1. Subtle change to all the instruments coming in
1. 10:35 the gong comes in and changes the setting of the song.
2. division of layers as the song intensifies
1. at 11:06min to 11:29min the song has different layers of music as different instruments play different lines.
5. Conclusion

In the twentieth century, a new movement in music started to appear in the world. The start of modernism started to grow in popularity amongst composers and amongst listeners of music. One of these composers who made modernism popular was Igor Stravinsky. His music is a great example of twentieth century aesthetics. From the tenth minute and thirty second mark to the eleventh minute and thirty second part of The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky expresses twentieth century aesthetics with fragmentation, disjunction, and stratification.

Right as the section of music starts at ten minute thirty-fifth second, the strings, winds, and the brass start playing an idea twice for two measures when the trombone start to have a glissando at the eleventh minute and fifty-fifth second. This part of the twentieth century aesthetics is called fragmentation. Fragmentation in the twentieth century is the concept of contradicting music working together in a section of a selection of music. When the trombone has that glissando it disrupts the orchestra’s music. The glissando make the rest of the orchestra start over again at the eleventh minute and fifty-seventh second mark playing the same measures at the ten minute thirty-fifth second. The percussion breaks up the disruption at the ten minute fifty-fifth minute. The song does not play symmetrically throughout this part of the song which makes it part of modernism.
Other than the fragmentation, disjunction happens often during Stravinsky’s music. Disjunction in music during the twentieth century means music is distorted and really wacked out. The music sounds unharmonized and unpleasant to the ears of humans. When the orchestra come in at the tenth minute and thirty-fifth second, the distortion starts between all instruments. The instruments start playing a nasty chord that sounds out of tune. Stravinsky keeps the orchestra hammering down the same note through this section until it starts to go up a whole tone scale in which the notes of the song keep going up every whole note. It become even more distorted once the music gets to the eleventh minute sixth second mark when the all the instruments in the orchestra has their own notes to play while the harmony becomes very confusing. It is no wonder that the people who listened to this song were ragging in distraught because of the harsh harmonic composition. The glissando that the trombone plays also is part of the disjunction in the song. It is something never heard by anyone else at the time. Stravinsky wanted to force the instruments in the orchestra to play notes or rhythms they have never played before. Before this composition, no one had ever heard the trombone play a glissando like that.
Besides disjunction and fragmentation, Stravinsky uses stratification during this minute of music. Stratification means a sudden change in the music that makes the piece of music change dramatically. Specifically, stratification happens at the tenth minute thirty-fifth second mark when the gong makes a crash that brings in the orchestra. Before the crash, at the tenth minute thirty second mark the woodwinds play a soft and mysterious sound. The audience almost can not hear the music being played. Once the gong is played, more instruments come in and intensifies the music. The music almost sounds too chaotic to listen. The meaning of stratification also incorporates a division of layers as the music progresses. At the eleventh minute sixth second mark, the instruments all begin to have their own part in the music. Each instrument has its own part in the melody but they all play the same rhythm. As the music slows down at the eleventh minute twenty-fifth second, the instruments play the same beat but in different notes. More and more instruments have their own part to the music and division of layers stop right at the eleventh minute twenty-ninth second when the instruments hold out the last note and the next part of the music begins to play.
Through the one minute part of The Rite of Spring, twentieth century aesthetics like fragmentation, disjunction, and stratification, are used by Stravinsky. There is a difference in rhythm, sound, and intensity shown throughout this minute of music. Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was one of the first compositions of music that led the way of modernism taking over music throughout the world and in the future.

Octubafest!!!!!

It is Halloween night and what is better to do on a Halloween night than to go see a Tuba and Euphonium concert by Ithaca College's finest players. It was Octubafest at Ithaca College with Ithaca College's Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble. A great turnout on a Halloween night, at the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the Whalen Center, with many of the audience dressed up in costumes and even the performers dressed up as well. The concert consisted of 11 songs from a variety of geners. Besides the ensemble, a couple students did their own quartets. From freshmen to graduate students, they all played their instruments accordingly.

At the start of the concert, the song "Brink" brings a big jolt. The song starts out with much intensity. Some notes are accented to makes the phrases of the song to be intense. After the first segment, the tempo slows down and the song become legato. For this short period, the song mellows out and a new build up begins to show up. The notes start to crescendo and the tempo starts to get faster and faster until it gets back to how it sounded like in the beginning. It then keeps the intensity going all the way to the end of the song. "Brink" keeps a person waiting for what is to come next but it abruptly stops before anyone figures out what has happened. "Brink" also reminds me of the Romantic ideals. The term "yearning" comes to mind because the audience keeps waiting for the solution to the song. The song keeps repeating the basic idea over and over again but the finale never comes. The composer of this song really did a great job making a song that keeps the listener waiting for more and never giving all of what the listener wanted to here.

Aaron Tindall had been conducting throughout the show but decided to lend the conducting over to one of the tuba players in the ensemble. This man is a graduate student here at Ithaca College with a major in Conducting. His choice of songs were excellent. These songs could be ones that I would dance and sing along to. One of the songs many people could recognize was "What is Love" by Haddaway. Everyone, including the tuba and euphonium players, started to bob their heads back and forth at the beginning of the song. What was so interesting about the performance of Haddaway's piece was how the beat of the song was played. Another tuba player grabbed a microphone, started beatboxing and did the drumming part to the song.  I was able to understand "What is Love" much better because I could here the other parts to the music besides the lyrics. I was able to listen to all the parts covered through the song and the harmony. Another song I was really fond of was "September" by Earth, Wind,  & Fire. "September" is one of my favorite Earth, Wind, & Fire songs ever and I was amazed at how great the rendition of the song was played. Even though there was no trumpet played with the tubas and the euphoniums, all harmony parts were covered. It is amazing how high the euphonium is able to reach the high notes that many would never think it could reach.

In summary, the enjoyment of the concert was felt throughout the audience. It was pleasing to see many instrumentalists perform songs differently and precisely. I really enjoyed the concert because it brought back memories from personal times to fun times. I was able to sing and tap my feet along to many songs and also have an amusing time. I really look forward to more tuba-euphonium ensemble concerts in the near future so I can enjoy great music once more.

The Romantic Aesthetics Through Art

Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist by Caspar David Friedrich depicts Romantic Aesthetics. One of these Roman Aesthetics shown in this painting is nature.  The waves characterizes how nature is strong in power and in fury. The waves are crashing into the rocks with such violence that it makes the painting look intense. Not only do the waves portray the power and fury but the wind blowing in the man’s hair shows this power as well. These violent waves can also tie into another aesthetic from the Romantic era called emotional intensity. When looking at the color of the painting, there is a contrast of color from the top of the painting to the bottom. The top part of the painting show a clear and bright color and the bottom show a dark and gloomy color. As the man stands on the rocks, he has a special stance. He is showing a strong firm stance that signifies the power he has. Along with his stance, the man is able to show individualism which is another Romantic Aesthetic. In many paintings during the Romantic era, the person in the painting usually was looking away which is clearly shown in this picture as well. The viewer of the painting never sees the man’s face because the person in the picture is on their own and does not need anyone else. The picture shows that it is about the man and his action away from the audience. As one can tell, Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist by Caspar David Friedrich illustrates Romantic Aesthetics. In the painting, nature, emotional intensity, and Individualism are some of the aesthetics interpreted. These Aesthetics portray what the Romantic era displayed by art.

Mozart's Enlightenment Music

Mozart has composed many songs throughout his lifetime. When examining his songs I thought very well what song I wanted to pick. I remembered I played this song in high school on my clarinet with a group of my friends. The song was called the Clarinet Quintet. The song that is played in the video is the fourth movement of the piece. The sentence I chose occurs from the 0:00 to 0:55. The song starts out with the clarinets playing in harmony and having a smooth texture. Harmonic tension then goes on throughout the first phrase. Little by little more and more clarinets come in and completes the quintet. The first phrase ends on a perfect authentic cadence. The second phrase of the song repeats exactly like the first phrase. The feeling of joy and happiness is heard during this phrase. As the song moves along, the allegro becomes common. The third phrase becomes completely different as the song seems to become more mellow and long. There is less staccato as the clarinets take their own parts during the song. As this phrase ends on the half cadence, the songs goes back to the first phrase of the song and plays the same phrase again. When the phrase ends on the perfect authentic cadence, it goes back to the third phrase and is completely the same. Finally to the sixth phrase, it is exactly the same as the first phrase. Finally the whole period comes to an end and is the finish to the final part of the song, which is also called a parallel interrupted period. During the whole phrase there is much repetition. In fact, there is much repetition throughout the whole song. If a person continues to listen to the rest of the song, the next period has a different sentence but still much repetition.

This song clearly shows the enlightenment by the perfection of the music. Mozart's staccatos bring his perfection to reality. In the enlightenment, perfection was key to making houses and making gardens. Everything had to be symmetrical and well placed so the people visiting these house would be impressed. When Mozart leads the clarinets to their own parts, those clarinets are able to come back and complete a phrase. The melody of the sentence is simple but still has an importance. Just as the inventions made throughout the enlightenment, they were also simple but still were important to the enlightenment. It is amazing that one instrument can make up many different orchestrational sounds. The clarinet has the capacity to sound beautifully by having the ability to play different notes up and down the register. Mozart has been able to expand the clarinets ability to perform in music in way that the enlightenment was able to also expand. The enlightenment was the time when ideas expanded and made a big influence in the world for the future.

The Enlightenment Times

During the Enlightenment times, music influenced much of what happened socially throughout Europe. The art designed by many artist were made to perfection and everything had to be precise. The men controlled everything and the women were limited to do certain things. Most of the composers were men and the most famous were men. These men created music that was advanced in many ways that one could not imagine. The Enlightenment changed the way life was run through music and art for a turn for the better.

When looking at the art during the enlightenment, one could see power in buildings and sculptures. The building constructed at this time period were developed with considerably large pilars that towards over people walking by. The entrances to these building had precision shown all over them. The gardens surrounding the homes had grass growing inside of other grass. The gardens all seem to squared up and  accurately done. The upper class wanted to have the biggest everything and beat everyone else at it. The paintings during the enlightenment time showed the difference between upper class and the incoming middle class. Before the enlightenment, there was no middle class. When the merchants starts to achieve money by selling goods, the upper class was losing money. The upper class had to figure out  what the merchants were doing that was right. The merchants made deals with the upper class and were able to become one of them. If one is compare painting of an upper class picture and a painting of a middle class picture one would say the middle class like to take risks. The upper class did not want to loose anything they treasured. The middle class was asking for more. The children of the middle class were able to come up with ideas that leaded to inventions or discovering more towards discovering science. Some pictures were able to show how science appeared and thought the world to think outside the box.

Music throughout the enlightenment brought new instruments that have never been heard of before. The harpsichord had already been invented but a softer instrument took over. The piano was introduced with a softer pattern for everyone's ears to listen to. Mozart was able to take the piano and compose music scripted magically. He was able to make more delicate sound yet still using the string instruments and woodwind instruments. One could differentiate the bass notes and the melody more clearer during the pieces of music created by Mozart. The sonata theme was form through the enlightenment. The sonata form starts out with a lively moving music then turns to a slower tense music and finishes off with a fast tempo song. The sonata was used mostly in the opera and symphonic music.

As one could tell, the enlightenment times was a time of people thinking in a broader. People were able to come up with ideas that benefited life for the future. The ideas and inventions made during this time period were able to help out many countries in the future. Many countries were able to develop democracy and bureaucracy. The enlightenment was one of the greatest moments in music and artistic history.

Is Folk Music Just One Small Thing or One Huge Connection of Every Music Put Together?

This is the question I asked myself while reading Nettl's take on what folk music is. For many years of my life I've said folk music is just a whole bunch of people coming together and just playing their guitars just for fun. Little did I realize that folk music is more than that. I have come to realize that every kind of folk music. In my opinion, Folk music is music that sounds differently from other music that everyone knows about. It does not have to be simple like Nettl says in his essay.

How did music start? There had to be an origin somewhere. At the music started, there was no term for what music was but it was played by the people for religious reasons or just to have fun. If there was a term for what that kind of music it was, it would have been folk music. One can absolutely say the primitive music is folk music. Many people at the time when music started had only been not to entertain an audience but it was to bring people together to enjoy life. They found natural things that could make sound and where able to make it into music. When Nettl talks about cultivated music he believes that their is a distinction between it and folk music. As I think of it, I believe if a person wants to make music, then it should be able to be called folk music. What if a person did not make it for everyone to hear? That person may have wanted to show only a couple people, say for instance a church, a song that expresses something about that religion. Not everyone would want to hear that music. Folk music is not simple. There are many instruments that go into folk music. Whether it is a guitar, drums, synthesizer or the voice, it all has a factor into the music. Even if it the same beat played over and over in the song, the lyrics usually have a meaning of some sort that grabs the attention of people. Music has expanded to many different roots. Throughout history we have seen many different instruments add on to music and have changed what people listen too. Why can new music not be folk music? People like to listen to different kind of music but then becomes to mainstream in an instant. Everyday there is new music appearing out of nowhere and there is at least one person that can enjoy that kind of music. I understand what Nettl is trying to say how folk music is "changing through communal recreation" but there is always something different in every song that one produces or makes. In general, music does tell a story in song there is. In every kind of music, either the lyrics or the instruments that are playing seems to tell people a narrative. Folk music is also a participatory since everyone joins and helps each other make music. Sometimes Folk music can not just be made by one person. There are other instruments that are needed to be played. Especially when one is trying to get their message out in their song, they need help from other to make it "perfect." Nettl also points out that some "school songs and religious songs are passed on by oral tradition" is not a folklore. I fully agree with what Nettl says. When one person learns a song, and likes it, they want to teach others what they have learned. When people have children, they want to sing songs the children would like and be happy. This does not mean that it is folk because it is from a different generation, it means that it is  music that one can enjoy. 

Folk music is everyone's music. Everyone has their definition of folk music but my definition of folk music consist of every music ever made. Every music is different which makes it by the people and for the people. Everyone wants to create different music and they can with composing and producing different music. In this way one can say that folk music is every music created that has been ever made and is still being created.

Faculty Showcase Recital!

Today I went to see the Faculty Showcase Recital at the Hockett Family Recital Hall at Ithaca College. I came with low expectations when I went to see the Recital. Of course my mind changed quickly when I heard the first number. Mr. Charis Dimaras started out with a stupendous rendition of Piano Sonata with 4 selections of that piece of music. You could tell that he was into the music as he was playing it with so much passion. The next performance was from 2 gentlemen and a woman. One gentlemen, named Aaron Tindall played the tuba and the other gentlemen, named Alex Shuhan played the french horn. The woman, named Carolyn Grossmann, played the piano. Together they played a Suite for French Horn, Tuba, and Piano which involved 5 selections of music. Every instrument had a significant part to the selections of music no matter what tempo it had. They were able to not be on top of each other when the other had a solo part in them which I really enjoyed hearing. The Jazz quintet followed featuring the professors of jazz music, played two songs that they picked out for their students to study over the semester. They picked out Out of Nowhere and I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me. I do enjoy jazz when I hear, which I don't do often, but in this case I enjoyed both songs. The voice of Catherine Gale was amazing. She has the perfect voice for Jazz and she smashed both songs like it was nothing. I was really impressed with Nick Weiser who really felt the music in his fingers, he didn't even have to look at the piano to know what to play at all times. Afterwards, Nicholas DiEugenio and Nathan Hess played a couple preludes for the Violin and Piano from Dmitri Shostakovich and his friend who arranged the piece, Dmitri Tsyganov. At first I did not believe a violin and a piano could work together but they actually collaborated well. My favorite selection was the 15th Allegretto. I really do like music that moves quickly because you can feel the intensity that goes on between the violin and the piano. To finish the concert, or to be "The Desert" as John White put it, he and Conrad Alexander played children songs from Chick Corea. At first I thought it was going to be a whole bunch of nursery rhymes. In reality, it was a whole bunch of different beats and different notes that made the music interesting. The notes seemed to be played wrong but it worked out in the end of the song. I did recognize No. 9 Children Song but I could not remember were I have heard that song before and I've been cracking my head trying to figure out where that is from. Overall, I have an amazing experience listening to music played by the faculty of Ithaca College. I came out with a great impression of all the faculty and I hope I get to here them again in the future.

Porchfest 2012!

Amazing people, amazing weather, and not mention amazing music all were apart of this year's Porchfest in Ithaca. Porchfest was filled with people from the young to the old. There were different kind of bands all over the city. People went on their porches or on their lawns and played their kind of music. There were a distinction of alternative, bluegrass, folk, jazz and 80's soft rock. Some of the songs were mellow and some of the songs you can tap your feet to the beat. There were not that many folk music but there were a couple. One could easily tell the AAA cadence in most of the folk songs. There was one band named Five Mile Drive, who played many songs that I knew of and I could sing along too. One of the songs was Black Horse & the Cherry Tree. This singer was belting out her voice to the song and it raised the hair on my back. The guitarist would also add harmony parts to song, usually the harmony would be higher. I could really feel the guitars and the bass coming together as one. I was able to sing the harmony part as well but at the same I also forgot to pay attention to the cadences. But in all fairness I was having a lot of fun listening to music. Many people were enjoying the music as much as I was and many were having their time of their lives. What was great about the folk music, there were old people dancing to the rhythm of the music. It was really cute to see something like that. Overall I did enjoy my day at Porchfest with my friends. I am glad I was able to see the other side of Ithaca and celebrate what Ithaca can offer. 

Half Cadence, Imperfect Authentic Cadence, and Perfect Authentic Cadence all in one Song!

With its classic introduction, and change in song pattern Bibio creates a masterpiece of a work with synthesizers. This song has two songs in one. It bring modern music and classic european music together. The beginning takes us through old European times and makes me think I'm strolling down the streets of France on a Sunday afternoon. There are 3 beats per measure during the first half of the song. While listening to this part of the song, you will be able to tell the IAC is very continuous throughout but there are times when you will be able to hear the PAC. The melody is pretty continuous throughout this section. This could be also said for the second part of the song. The song then changes to 4 beats a measure and has an upbeat sound to it. The song now makes me feel that it is now modern France, yet you are still strolling down the streets on a Sunday afternoon. The IAC then changes to HC through the phrases. The PAC is still there as well. It was difficult to find what "sol" and "re" since I did not know what the key singnature was but I tried my best to find where "do." It is an interesting combination but Bibio makes perfectly in this song.

Jack Johnson-Better Together

One of my all time favorite songs is Better Together by Jack Johnson. It is such a mellow and upbeat song that creates a message of one person loving another person. It is actually a love song created by Jack Johnson for his wife. Not only using the 4/4 time, but the triplets are what makes the song live and healthy. Homophony is used throughout the song as Jack Johnson is singing the melody and guitar is playing chords behind him. There is a bass part and also a harmony part that brings the song together. The beginning starts out with a guitar solo and then brings in the vocals. There is no drum beat at the beginning of the song but once the chorus comes in, the drum starts, and it gives the song a whole new meaning. The song then goes through a bridge and then comes back for the ending to end off in a guitar solo. For me this song makes me joyful and makes me enjoy acoustic songs more than I actually do.