Sprechstimme and Electronic Music

Ok... Yikes! I tried and tried to listen to Moonstruck Pierrot all the way through and only made it 3 times. I felt like I was on a psycho drug and spinning in circles. Her pitch and rhythm sliding all over the place like a lunatic was not appealing to me at all. Alright... on to Poeme electronique. Herbie Hancock on crack would be an easy description. The squawks and rattles and chirps and siren.. must I go on. I did enjoy Concert Grosso by Zwilch. Its melody was easy to listen to, taking me back to our Baroque listening. The violins and the harpsichord are a good thing, no rattles or chips or sirens :) just easy listening.

Impressionism and Exoticism

For this listening blog, I just listened to the first couple of songs and did not follow along with the book. I wanted to try and figure things out on my own first. This is what I have gotten so far... The Afternoon of a Faun reminds me of the Disney movie "Jungle Book" when the snake is trying to charm Mogli. The flute and the harp are so dreamy, putting the victim into a trance. People of Peking started out a little scary, like "Cinderella" with the clock chiming at the ball. The Aria sung by the woman made me feel sad and then it busts into what seems like a bustling downtown chinese city, (this part also reminds me of the cats in "Lady and the Tramp"). After re-reading this I see that I have watched too many movies with my children :) Bolero... starts quiet and as more instruments come in, it gets louder. It was like everyone was frozen, except one person and that person tapped someone and they unfroze and started playing and that person tapped another person and they started playing and so on and so on... until everyone was unfrozen and playing the same music with different instruments. Now I am going to go back and read the book and compare my thoughts.

Fairies, Witches and Hunting Calls

Ok, how cool is it when an instrument can make you invision fairies flying around? Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream really feels like you are transported to an enchanted world. The rapid staccato notes of the violins sound like little fairies flying quickly and then when the music changes, and it is more melodic, I invision them slowing down and gliding. I like how Berlioz used the wood to hit the strings to make it seem like crackling fire in Symphonic fantastique. I enjoy the Romantic period because if you close your eyes you can invision what the music is playing. Witches dancing, fairies flying (quick violins), evil villans, horses running at breakneck speed (the piano playing constantly through the song) and the full brasses in The Great Gate of Kiev really does give the impression of a parade passing proudly beneath the gate.

Romanticism

The world of the imagination and the world of dreams. I am excited to hear the instruments make the sound of rivers, storms, horses running and so much more. I think this just may be the music I like the most... so let the listening begin. The first song has really impacted me. Erlking by Franz Schuber is very dramatic to listen to. The sound of the constant pounding piano makes it easy to invision the horse running. Listening to it over and over and following along with the breakdown in the listening guide helped me understand the story. Now when I listen to it, I can tell the differences between all of the voices (sung by the same person). The Narrator is serious, the Erlking is sweet and alluring, the Fathers voice is calm, and the Sons voice is loud, scared and confused. At the end when the father reaches the inn and the piano slows down, you can feel the despair he feels with the death of his child.

Haydn Mozart Beethoven

All of the different movements are making me crazy... how do I tell them apart. Take a breath and ask yourself "what am I hearing". Are you hearing instruments only, voices... this has to be the best advice of this whole class. So today I asked myself... what are you hearing... I heard questions and answers, high instruments playing a part and low instruments repeating it back. I heard the change in movements... fast-slow-fast. I heard piano only, no orchestra and knew that it was Beethoven's Pathetique. I heard the harpsichord and recitative voices talking back and forth and knew that it was La ci darem la mano I am getting better at listening, little by little. I notice when patterns repeat and when the music grows louder and gets softer, I can hear the soloist play against the orchestra. You know what, I heard a Jethro Tull song on the radio the other day and it sounded just like the music from Baroque period... how weird is that?

Music as Sweet as Love

Music as sweet as love was the theme of todays concert at the Nixon Library. Antoinette Brosius, Soprano and Micheal Sanders, Piano. Ok, I have been listening to the Baroque period music and I follow along with the listening guide to help me understand it better. So, this is what I got out of todays performance with no listening guide and remembering the instructions from the listening tips. I heard a soprano singing with passion, expressing what is really happening and I felt that this was Aria. She used a lot of hand motions and facial expressions while she sang. The long notes she sang were full of vibrato. Could this performance be called a chamber cantata... it was not a mini opera because it had pieces from different composers but it was accompanied solo singing, no costumes or scenery?!? There were a few songs that I thought were sung Arioso because they were not as slow as Recitative or as passionate as Aria. One was a song about everything reminding the singer about being a bird and flying around (Frank Schubert). Impromptu No. 4 in C-sharp minor, Op. 66, by Frederic Chopin was a piano piece that had a lot of repeat patterns in it. It started out with the low notes playing very slow while the high notes were quick. The speed picked up in the middle and then got louder and louder until he was pounding the low notes and quickly playing the high notes at the end. One of the last songs was Gospel Blues and it was slow and dramatic but not spoken, more like Arioso than Aria. Her voice was beautiful and the pianist was great. I think that I would enjoy a comic opera because even though the singing is not my favorite, the comedy and humor would make it more enjoyable.

Early and Middle Baroque

We have moved on from the music of the Renaissance to Early and Middle Baroque. The term Baroque is taken from the Portuguese word barroco, which means a pearl of irregular shape. The music of Early and Middle Baroque has been enjoyable. Operas have never tickled my fancy because they have never been explained to me. Reading about Monteverdi's Orfeo and following along with the listening guide was great. I wish everything was written in English so it didn't have to be translated. I love the music of the toccata because it really does feel like the action is about to begin. Act II was hard to tell recitative apart from arioso because they sound so close; recitative was more spoken, but it was still hard to tell the difference. In Act III it was easier to distinguish aria because it had more vibrato and passion. I could feel the pain in Orfeo as he pleaded for his love. I really have enjoyed listening so far and am excited to listen to the next song The Secret Lover.