Minnesota Orchestra Lockout Has Alex Ross in Dismay

"Veering Toward Catastrophe"

New Yorker Magazine critic Alex Ross posted last week on his blog that the Minnesota Orchestra is "veering toward catastrophe", mostly because of poor management.  Check out his full post here, and visit the orchestra's Facebook Page for more information.

Practice Tracks for Graduation

--UPDATE 5/14/13--
Here are links for sheet music printouts:

Prince of Denmark's March
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Stuart Hall's Alma Mater

We've got a few weeks until Stuart Hall's 170th graduation!  Here are some tracks hot off the music notation software to mp3 conversion to grooveshark upload...enjoy.

Horn Nerds Rejoice!

Great Scott!  It's like 12 horns (and some auxiliary percussion) playing the Back to the Future Theme.  Gotta love it.

Strings Techniques

An explanation on the differences between staccato and spiccato.

Need some pizzicato help?  Check it out here!

Music Literacy Notes 1

Music Literacy I

Musical Opposites

High and Low (pitches)

Do Re Mi  Fa    Sol    La Ti Do’

C D E   F    G   A      B  C

F G A   Bb    C   D      E  F

G A B   C    D   E      F# G

These notes create something called the diatonic scale.  It is made of a series of pitches arranged in whole steps and half steps.  The half steps are highlighted in yellow.

Loud and Quiet (Dynamics)

pppp ppp pp p mp mf f ff fff ffff

pianissimo (pp) - very quiet

piano (p) - quiet

mezzo piano(mp) - medium quiet

mezzo forte (mf) - medium loud

forte (f) - loud

fortissimo (ff) - very loud

crescendo decrescendo (diminuendo)

Short and Long Sounds (rhythm)

Choppy and Smooth (phrasing and articulation)

staccato- short and separated

legato- smooth and connected

phrase- a musical sentence; a section of music that is considered to be a complete musical idea

Fast and Slow (tempo)

In music, fast and slow beat is determined by something called tempo.  Tempo is a number that indicates how many beats per minute (BPM/mm) a musical composition is to be performed.  

• Larghissimo – very, very slow (19 BPM and under)
• Grave – slow and solemn (20–40 BPM)
• Lento – slowly (40–45 BPM)
• Largo – broadly (45–50 BPM)
• Larghetto – rather broadly (50–55 BPM)
• Adagio – slow and stately (literally, "at ease") (55–65 BPM)
• Adagietto – rather slow (65–69 BPM)
• Andante moderato – a bit slower than andante (69-72 BPM)
• Andante – at a walking pace (73–77 BPM)
• Andantino – slightly faster than andante (although in some cases it can be taken to mean slightly slower than andante) (78-83 BPM)
• Marcia moderato – moderately, in the manner of a march (83-85 BPM)
• Moderato – moderately (86–97 BPM)
• Allegretto – moderately quick (98–109 BPM)
• Allegro – fast, quickly and bright (109–132 BPM)
• Vivace – lively and fast (132-140 BPM) (quicker than allegro)
• Vivacissimo – very fast and lively (140-150 BPM)
• Allegrissimo – very fast (150-167 BPM)
• Presto – very fast (168–177 BPM)
• Prestissimo – extremely fast (178 BPM and over)

A metronome is a mechanical or digital device used to demonstrate tempo via a series of clicks or taps.

Performing: Together and Alone

solo- singing/playing by yourself

duet- two performers

trio- three

quartet- four

quintet- five

Unison- every performer performs the same material together at the same time, also known as monophony:

Homophony- singing or playing the same rhythms, but different pitches in a chord, like a church hymn:

Polyphony- many voices or instruments playing different material at the same time, still creating chordal harmony:

More on pitches...

Tonal Center and Key Signatures

Most music has a tonal center.  This is where the music comes from and goes to.  It is the pitch at which the music starts and stops (most of the time) and is focused on.  This concept is identified in the music as a KEY SIGNATURE.

The key signature identifies where the diatonic major (ionian) tonal center is.  Sharps (#) and flats (b) need to be added to maintain the relationships (spaces) between the diatonic pitches illustrated in the “High and Low” section of the notes.

There are 12 pitches- the tonal center could be any of the 12.

Think of the pitches as characters in a movie or TV show.  Different episodes focus on different characters.  The same is true for music- different pieces focus on different notes in the scale.  This affects how HIGH or LOW the piece is (this is known as the KEY of the piece)  or if piece focuses on a different pitch other than what is indicated by the key signature, the MODE changes.  There are seven modes based on the seven diatonic pitches:

Do- Ionian (Major tonic or natural major)

Re- Dorian (minor supertonic)

Mi- Phrygian (minor mediant)

Fa- Lydian (Major subdominant)

Sol- Mixolydian (Major dominant)

La- Aeolian (minor submediant or natural/relative minor)

Ti- Locrian (diminished leading tone) - this one is infrequently used and not considered a proper mode.

In Western music, these scale degrees could be on any absolute pitch, so “do” could be on A, B, C, D, E, F, G, or any sharp or flat derivation therein.  

Key signatures are often represented as a diagram known as the circle of fifths (or the circle of pain).  The circle starts at C and moves up by a fifth (first to G) or down by a fourth (first to F).  It is represented using a circle because it is a continuum, if you progress all the way through, you will eventually come back to where you started from, so to speak:

Romantic Period

The Romantic Period (1820 - 1910)

Beethoven is considered to be a “crossover” composer, a bridge between the classical and the romantic.

The term ‘romantic’ comes from the revived interest in the Romans, not from romance.

Emotion is now injected into the music in a less subtle way, more expressive and passionate.

Music now, more than ever, draws its inspiration from literature, art, nature, and historical events.

From Wikipedia:

• A freedom in form and design; a more intense personal expression of emotion in which fantasy, imagination and a quest for adventure play an important part.
• Emphasis on lyrical, songlike melodies; adventurous modulation; richer harmonies, often chromatic, with striking use of discords.
• Greater sense of ambiguity: especially in tonality or harmonic function, but also in rhythm or meter.
• Denser, weightier textures with bold dramatic contrasts, exploring a wider range of pitch, dynamics and tone-colours.
• Expansion of the orchestra, sometimes to gigantic proportions; the invention of the valve system leads to development of the brass section whose weight and power often dominate the texture.
• Rich variety of types of piece, ranging from songs and fairly short piano pieces to huge musical canvasses with lengthy time-span structures with spectacular, dramatic, and dynamic climaxes.
• Closer links with other arts lead to a keener interest in programme music (programme symphony, symphonic poem, concert overture).
• Shape and unity brought to lengthy works by use of recurring themes (sometimes transformed/developed): idée fixe (Berlioz), thematic transformations (Liszt), Leitmotif (Wagner), motto theme.
  
  

Franz Liszt is considered to be the rockstar of Romantic Music.  Fans used to mob him after  performances and try to cut off locks of his hair!

During the Romantic period, individual performers were widely revered and instrumental virtuosity was admired, as demonstrated through performers such as Liszt and Paganini

Romantic period music used chromaticism, which means that instead of just using the 7 tones of the diatonic scale, composers would write using some tones in between the diatonic scale as well.

Listen to some diatonic music here and compare it with more chromatic music from the romantic period.

The advances of the Industrial Revolution helped instrument manufacturers develop better manufacturing techniques resulting in higher quality instruments and instruments with valves that allowed more notes to be played.

A valveless trumpet.  One could only blow

faster or slower to produce different tones.

An early valve trumpet.  Each valve opened

a different set of tubing, allowing a greater

variety of tones to be played.

European Romanticism coordinates and shares characteristics with American Transcendentalism:

-Nature-centered

-Spiritual

-Self-centered (i.e. self improvement)

-Observe the world

Famous Romantic Period Composers

Ludwig von Beethoven (crossover from classical)

Franz Liszt

Frederick Chopin

Niccolo Paganini

Johann Strauss

Robert Schumann

Franz Schubert

Guiseppe Verdi

Felix Mendelssohn

Concert Orchestra 4th Quarter Playing Assessment

Here you can find the folders containing the final quarter assessment.  Choose the level and the voicing that is right for you.

Level One (beginner)
Level Two (intermediate)
Level Three (intermediate +)