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.

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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.