The Music Literature OR the Musical Language of:
Aaron Copland
Paul Hindemith
Jean Sibelius--Tabitha Livingston (music)
Howard Hanson
Igor Stravinsky--Kris Redus (music)
Samuel Barber--Caitlan Coffey (music)
Benjamin Britten--Charles Skipping (language)
Bela Bartok
Dmitri Shostakovitch
Maurice Ravel--Rebekah Sherrod (music)
Sergei Prokofiev--Sara Dean (music)
Oliver Messiaen
Sergei Rachmaninoff--Cara Craggett (music)
Richard Strauss
Milton Babbitt
Libby Larsen
Charles Ives--Matt Ramirez (language)
http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/home.asp
We finished up Leonard Bernstein and jumped quickly back to the Renaissance where we will stay for another day. Question: Did Bernstein achieve the "bridging the gap" between the popular masses and the intellectual musical elite?
Answer please.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Day Seven and Eight
Today is musical theater day with emphasis placed on the music, influence, and significance of Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein's music is understood better by an understanding of his worldview and his genius. As a first-class pianist, conductor, author, speaker, and composer, Leonard Bernstein's complete brilliance including originality, creativity, and personal charisma found an audience that reached an entire world. While his legacy may be the Overture to Candide, which happens to be the most played orchestral work in the world, and the music from West Side Story, it is in the areas of music theater, symphonies, choral music, and chamber music that he excelled.
But the music cannot be understood without addressing Bernstein's worldview and the philosophy that led to his eclecticism. His commitment to writing music that could relate to all age groups, religions, cultures, and nationalities gave him a type of universal religion not far from a variation of pantheism. This unusual collectivism gave his music a blend of sophistication mixed with popular culture. Musicians embracing music primarily for entertainment often find Bernstein's music to be overly-complicated, academic, and unusual. Cultivated musicians, conversely, often believe Bernstein's music is geared for a wide audience and therefore leans on the simplistic side and is given to cultural idioms of the time period.
Ironically, in a way, these criticisms are justified particularly when one studies only pockets of Bernstein's output. Yet taken as a whole, Bernstein's music is extraordinary in its complexity, beauty, energy, and creativity. It is perhaps his Mass, written for the opening of the Kennedy Center, that demonstrates his eclectic spirit as well as his controversial originality. We listened to several part of this engaging work, and I pointed out the usage of mixed meter, rock inflections, jazz idioms, and the religious qualities of the work. I encourage you to acquire a recording and listen to it; yet I also must qualify that it contains some inappropriate language. The work is guaranteed to make someone upset! But it also contains beautiful and shimmering music that exemplifies his style and his philosophy.
We listened to Chichester Psalms, part of Symphony No. 2, and a few measures of Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs. These selections demonstrate mastery of harmony, counterpoint, melody, and orchestra. They further show Bernstein's eclectic incorporation of jazz idioms, religious worldview, and dramatic emotional content. We concluded our Bernstein discussion with a brief look at West Side Story and his love of music theater.
The next few minutes we discussed Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Frederick Lowe, Andrew Loyd Webber, and Cole Porter. Obviously many others contributed to American music theater, which may be a form of opera, and Broadway continues to be a vital part of American culture today. We spent a few minutes discussing the role of harmony in music theater with the reminder that songs containing rich harmony tend to "rise" to the top as music and withstand the test of time for excellence.
What do you think? Did Leonard Bernstein achieve the "bridging" of the gap between academic elites and popular masses? Is this a good thing? What other composers have attempted to do similar things?
We now jump backwards to the Renaissance for a couple of days of discussion of polyphony and development. It promises to be fun for all!
But the music cannot be understood without addressing Bernstein's worldview and the philosophy that led to his eclecticism. His commitment to writing music that could relate to all age groups, religions, cultures, and nationalities gave him a type of universal religion not far from a variation of pantheism. This unusual collectivism gave his music a blend of sophistication mixed with popular culture. Musicians embracing music primarily for entertainment often find Bernstein's music to be overly-complicated, academic, and unusual. Cultivated musicians, conversely, often believe Bernstein's music is geared for a wide audience and therefore leans on the simplistic side and is given to cultural idioms of the time period.
Ironically, in a way, these criticisms are justified particularly when one studies only pockets of Bernstein's output. Yet taken as a whole, Bernstein's music is extraordinary in its complexity, beauty, energy, and creativity. It is perhaps his Mass, written for the opening of the Kennedy Center, that demonstrates his eclectic spirit as well as his controversial originality. We listened to several part of this engaging work, and I pointed out the usage of mixed meter, rock inflections, jazz idioms, and the religious qualities of the work. I encourage you to acquire a recording and listen to it; yet I also must qualify that it contains some inappropriate language. The work is guaranteed to make someone upset! But it also contains beautiful and shimmering music that exemplifies his style and his philosophy.
We listened to Chichester Psalms, part of Symphony No. 2, and a few measures of Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs. These selections demonstrate mastery of harmony, counterpoint, melody, and orchestra. They further show Bernstein's eclectic incorporation of jazz idioms, religious worldview, and dramatic emotional content. We concluded our Bernstein discussion with a brief look at West Side Story and his love of music theater.
The next few minutes we discussed Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Frederick Lowe, Andrew Loyd Webber, and Cole Porter. Obviously many others contributed to American music theater, which may be a form of opera, and Broadway continues to be a vital part of American culture today. We spent a few minutes discussing the role of harmony in music theater with the reminder that songs containing rich harmony tend to "rise" to the top as music and withstand the test of time for excellence.
What do you think? Did Leonard Bernstein achieve the "bridging" of the gap between academic elites and popular masses? Is this a good thing? What other composers have attempted to do similar things?
We now jump backwards to the Renaissance for a couple of days of discussion of polyphony and development. It promises to be fun for all!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Day Six
Today began with a lively discussion of the college music curriculum. Should we be teaching film music, popular music, rock, contemporary Christian? Several opinions later, we jumped into the experimental art music of the last 50 years. Any discussion of experimental music cannot be made without an understanding of two things: music of John Cage and a broad definition of music. A good video of John Cage helps articulate his view of music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y. Cage's experiments in sound including prepared piano led the way to the "happenings" movement of the 1960s. Happenings were musical and extra-musical experimental events that qualify as sound or aural events in time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happening). Happenings have led to performance art of today which seems to be reserved for nightclubs or college activities on certain campuses. But there is no denying the influence of the various musical experiments of the 60s.
If music is sound, regardless of its system or organization, and regardless of man's attempt to compartmentalize its role and purpose, then it stands to reason that music is only limited by man's creative spirit. With that in mind, we jumped into some sounds and music that are being performed today. The influence of John Cage cannot be overemphasized, but equal to Cage, although in a more traditional framework, is the music of Edgar Varese. We listened to Arcana and a little bit of Ameriques and discussed the sounds and approach of Varese. A bit strident at times, shocking, yet oddly sensitive, Varese's music opened the door to new sounds and textures for future composers.
The composers Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Babbit, Xenakis, and Stockhausen to name just a few have all been involved with experimentation and searching for new sounds and aural expression. A riveting recording of Kontakte by Stockhausen led us to a wide variety of opinions and discussion. Some students are uncomfortable with music that cannot be performed live. Others enjoyed the complexity of sound but tended to associate that with particular images. Kontakte then took us to a different kind of piece called Helicopter String Quartet by Stockhausen. Each member of the string quartet plays inside a flying helicopter where the sound is heard on the ground by the audience. We listened to approximately 6 minutes of the lengthy piece and all of us were pretty taken with the concept and the resulting sound. Perhaps this is due to the direct imagery of 4 helicopters, not sure though.
A quick shift of thought took us back to minimalism, landing on the music of Phillip Glass. We listened to a few examples and discussed his remarkable career in film music. Historically, minimalism grew out of the tension of the 1960s with a pulsating, process-oriented style exemplified by Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Eastern mysticism and subtle development in increments characterize minimalism. Beginning with early efforts including Einstein on the Beach, Philip Glass has had a tremendous influence on music. In an almost unprecedented rise, Philip Glass's career took a meteoric rise several years and he became one of the most sought after film composers of our time.
We concluded with comments about minimalism and other kind of music of today. It was not quite an earth-shattering day, but we did cover some modern material, leaving all us feeling both enriched and maybe a little confused. What is music? Is there a place for experimentalism in today's world? Do you like Minimalism in music?
If music is sound, regardless of its system or organization, and regardless of man's attempt to compartmentalize its role and purpose, then it stands to reason that music is only limited by man's creative spirit. With that in mind, we jumped into some sounds and music that are being performed today. The influence of John Cage cannot be overemphasized, but equal to Cage, although in a more traditional framework, is the music of Edgar Varese. We listened to Arcana and a little bit of Ameriques and discussed the sounds and approach of Varese. A bit strident at times, shocking, yet oddly sensitive, Varese's music opened the door to new sounds and textures for future composers.
The composers Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Babbit, Xenakis, and Stockhausen to name just a few have all been involved with experimentation and searching for new sounds and aural expression. A riveting recording of Kontakte by Stockhausen led us to a wide variety of opinions and discussion. Some students are uncomfortable with music that cannot be performed live. Others enjoyed the complexity of sound but tended to associate that with particular images. Kontakte then took us to a different kind of piece called Helicopter String Quartet by Stockhausen. Each member of the string quartet plays inside a flying helicopter where the sound is heard on the ground by the audience. We listened to approximately 6 minutes of the lengthy piece and all of us were pretty taken with the concept and the resulting sound. Perhaps this is due to the direct imagery of 4 helicopters, not sure though.
A quick shift of thought took us back to minimalism, landing on the music of Phillip Glass. We listened to a few examples and discussed his remarkable career in film music. Historically, minimalism grew out of the tension of the 1960s with a pulsating, process-oriented style exemplified by Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Eastern mysticism and subtle development in increments characterize minimalism. Beginning with early efforts including Einstein on the Beach, Philip Glass has had a tremendous influence on music. In an almost unprecedented rise, Philip Glass's career took a meteoric rise several years and he became one of the most sought after film composers of our time.
We concluded with comments about minimalism and other kind of music of today. It was not quite an earth-shattering day, but we did cover some modern material, leaving all us feeling both enriched and maybe a little confused. What is music? Is there a place for experimentalism in today's world? Do you like Minimalism in music?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Day Five
Starting with a heavy discussion about the role of emotion in music, and referencing the Wagner piece, we moved around to why an understanding of music history is essential for understanding the gamut of music's purpose in the world today.
Jumping in the deep water of early music, our talk was rather superficial and general, skipping through a few hundred years fairly quickly, but still informative. Becoming too detailed would prevent further necessary discussions of other great topics! We discussed monody, plainchant, plainsong, early notation, Gregorian chant, and church modes. We recited 7 of the modes in order: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and Locrian, deliberately avoiding much discussion of the hypo varieties.
A brief talk of tropes, sequences, and conductus explained how music came to be added to the Mass and how composers were needed to develop these additions. Much of the additions were born out of practical necessity to have music during the Mass. Since text was also needed with the music, eventually the motet was developed.
Spending some time on meter and rhythm, we alluded to the rhythmic modes used in sacred and secular music and then looked at how meter signatures developed. It really is a fascinating study and explains where we get the C that most people call "common" time. For an indepth understanding, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensural_notation
Organum is an early type of polyphony that likely resulted from the overtones in a Cathedral. There are different kinds of organum and different approaches to organum including melismatic organum and free organum with varying types of motion used, syllabic, oblique, and contrary. Eventually the voices became more independent, resulting in what we know of as polyphony. Passing through French Ars Nova, the Italian Ars Nova, Trouveres, Troubadours and host of other terms related to early music, we landed on Machaut where we discussed Isorhythm. An understanding of Talea and Color is central to knowing what Isorhythm means and how it is used in music. We looked at an example of this, referencing the amazingly clever piece My end is my beginning by Machaut. I will send a pdf of this piece to you by email.
You may ask what is the value of this kind of clever approach to music? It has to do with unifying the elements of a piece. A piece of music becomes consistent within itself through its unifying elements. Otherwise we simply have a gushing of complex emotions without any consistency. Isorhythm is simply one way, albeit an excellent way, of giving a piece unity.
Another "exciting" day in music 4000. Please read the early music articles in www.lcsproductions.net. We will discuss the reading on Thursday and then jump into some recent developments of music.
Comment Question: What is the purpose of knowing something about music history?
Jumping in the deep water of early music, our talk was rather superficial and general, skipping through a few hundred years fairly quickly, but still informative. Becoming too detailed would prevent further necessary discussions of other great topics! We discussed monody, plainchant, plainsong, early notation, Gregorian chant, and church modes. We recited 7 of the modes in order: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and Locrian, deliberately avoiding much discussion of the hypo varieties.
A brief talk of tropes, sequences, and conductus explained how music came to be added to the Mass and how composers were needed to develop these additions. Much of the additions were born out of practical necessity to have music during the Mass. Since text was also needed with the music, eventually the motet was developed.
Spending some time on meter and rhythm, we alluded to the rhythmic modes used in sacred and secular music and then looked at how meter signatures developed. It really is a fascinating study and explains where we get the C that most people call "common" time. For an indepth understanding, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensural_notation
Organum is an early type of polyphony that likely resulted from the overtones in a Cathedral. There are different kinds of organum and different approaches to organum including melismatic organum and free organum with varying types of motion used, syllabic, oblique, and contrary. Eventually the voices became more independent, resulting in what we know of as polyphony. Passing through French Ars Nova, the Italian Ars Nova, Trouveres, Troubadours and host of other terms related to early music, we landed on Machaut where we discussed Isorhythm. An understanding of Talea and Color is central to knowing what Isorhythm means and how it is used in music. We looked at an example of this, referencing the amazingly clever piece My end is my beginning by Machaut. I will send a pdf of this piece to you by email.
You may ask what is the value of this kind of clever approach to music? It has to do with unifying the elements of a piece. A piece of music becomes consistent within itself through its unifying elements. Otherwise we simply have a gushing of complex emotions without any consistency. Isorhythm is simply one way, albeit an excellent way, of giving a piece unity.
Another "exciting" day in music 4000. Please read the early music articles in www.lcsproductions.net. We will discuss the reading on Thursday and then jump into some recent developments of music.
Comment Question: What is the purpose of knowing something about music history?
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