Musings of a Composer

A message to developing musicians in the US...

2012-02-11T17:51:00.000-08:00

I am generally disappointed with the comprehension and appreciation in the United States. So by chance, I came across this article in the Washington Post that confirms my belief that developing musicians in the United States needs to leave the country for a prolonged period of time to learn about music anywhere else.

Famous Violinist, Joshua Bell, played some well known solo violin repertoire at a metro station in Washington D.C. during rush hour. Where very few people showed interest in staying and listening for a moment. Here is a link to the actual article, but I wanted to share some passages from the article anyway. Full credit for the writing goes to Gene Weingarten at the Washington Post.

"There are six moments in the video that Bell finds particularly painful to relive: 'The awkward times,' he calls them. It's what happens right after each piece ends: nothing. The music stops. The same people who hadn't noticed him playing don't notice that he has finished. No applause, no acknowledgment. So Bell just saws out a small, nervous chord -- the embarrassed musician's equivalent of, 'Er, okay, moving right along . . .' -- and begins the next piece."

"A couple of minutes into it, something revealing happens. A woman and her preschooler emerge from the escalator. The woman is walking briskly and, therefore, so is the child. She's got his hand.

'I had a time crunch,' recalls Sheron Parker, an IT director for a federal agency. 'I had an 8:30 training class, and first I had to rush Evvie off to his teacher, then rush back to work, then to the training facility in the basement.'

Evvie is her son, Evan. Evan is 3.

You can see Evan clearly on the video. He's the cute black kid in the parka who keeps twisting around to look at Joshua Bell, as he is being propelled toward the door.

'There was a musician,' Parker says, 'and my son was intrigued. He wanted to pull over and listen, but I was rushed for time.'

So Parker does what she has to do. She deftly moves her body between Evan's and Bell's, cutting off her son's line of sight. As they exit the arcade, Evan can still be seen craning to look. When Parker is told what she walked out on, she laughs.

'Evan is very smart!"

I'm generally just disappointed that people in the US have no appreciation really for the arts - being completely unaware of something that is REALLY good... So I guess what I'm trying to say to the rest of my colleagues in the music field in the US, get out of the US - experience music outside of the US. Learn why people in other countries appreciate the arts more than in the US and hopefully you can bring that back with you to the US in hopes that we can educate our audiences.

Here is the video of Joshua Bell playing at the metro station:

Fachme.com - Opera Singers find your roles!

2012-02-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

   For my fellow vocalist who are interested in discovering other possibilities for roles in their voice range, I provide you with a tool one of my good friends, Jordan Eldredge, created a while back.

   Though the tool's name, "Fachme," is questionable, it is a good pun based on a German system for classifying types of voices called the "Fach System."

    This tool, developed by Jordan's interest in opera and general programing, assists a vocalist in searching for other possible opera roles they would be able to sing based on the roles they have studied before.

I think Jordan's own words provide the most accurate description of how his tool works:
   "Fachme uses a database of the recording careers of over 15,000 actual singers to recommend roles which are statistically likely to suite the users voice. When the user arrives, they are prompted to supply a list of roles which they know suite their voice. We then search the database for other singers who have sung these guide roles and create a profile of the user. We can assume that the user's voice is somewhat similar to all the singers in their profile, so we pull all the roles that the singers in their profile have sung. We then sort this massive list of roles, which are at least tangentially related to the user, based on which roles appear most prominently. The results are a list of roles which are most similar to the roles input by the user."

   Based off my own search - I should be looking into some Billy Budd in an opera of the same name by Britten...

   Here is a link to Jordan's tool: fachme.com

   Here is a link to Jordan's blog.

The Metropolitan Opera and Wagner - The Ring Cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen)

2012-02-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

So for the past year or so, I've attended the previous three live broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera's production of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen). The production has been beyond amazing each time I go and I've enjoyed every second.

   The final opera is being put on this Saturday, Feb. 11th and will be streaming live at your local movie theater. Please go if you can to see the final installment of the production.

   For those who missed the first three, I'm trying to investigate if they will be broadcasted again since the FULL Ring Cycle will be performed again this April.

   More later...

   Until then, here are some videos featuring the ring cycle - starting with highlights from Götterdämmerung.

This one is from Siegfried.

This one is from Die Walkure.

Silk Road Project

2012-02-04T23:14:00.000-08:00

The Silk Road Project is an organization I came aware of a few years ago and essentially symbolizes what I would like to accomplish musically in my lifetime. Yo-Yo Ma, one of my favorite musicians, began this group to promote multicultural exchange through the arts. The group's focuses on music of cultures associated with the Silk Road - hence their name.

They have commissioned several new works for use in their performances and would definitely be a group I would potentially like to work with in the near future - if I ever become privileged to do so.

Their youtube channel is found here.

Yo-Yo Ma talks about the project and one of the group's core values of passion driven education:

Here is a series of videos on the Silk Road Ensemble that Yo-Yo Ma runs:

Here is a series of some of their pieces in performance:

Ravel - History, Biography, and his works

2012-02-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

After graduation, I made it a goal of mine to begin collecting the scores of all of the major works by Ravel and studying them. I decided to take it a step further and I ordered a book on Ravel by one of the leading scholars on nineteenth and twentieth century French music, Roger Nichols. His book, "Ravel," was published last June and I look forward to reading through the book and acquiring more knowledge on the life and compositional style of one of my absolute favorite composers.

You can check out the book here at Yale University Press.

Pano - 夕方 "Yuugata" - "Evening"

2012-02-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

   So I'd like to continue my series in talking about the construction and process of my music. The next piece on my list is, "Yuugata."

History:
   In Fall 2010, I decided to write another piece for a group of all similar instruments. I loved the homogenous sound of my brass quintet and I sought to do a string ensemble piece. It was my hope to something a little larger than five parts and perhaps something I might be able to transfer over into a large ensemble piece (i.e. orchestra). So I started sketches in the later part of the semester that brought mixed reviews from my teacher and my colleagues. Out of all of my pieces at my senior recital, I heard about this one the most.

Concept:
   So the previous composition I wrote was before working on, "Yuugata" was, "Kitsune" for a trio of oboe, clarinet, and viola. In the process of writing that piece, I was challenged about my consistent development and writing of programmatic music - which led me to write about programmatic music vs. absolute music here. So for this piece, I was determined to attempt a shot at absolute music.
   Furthermore, I was also challenged to compose a piece in a different way than I normally would have done. It was identified in my previous pieces that counterpoint served as a rather important aspect of my music. Counterpoint commanded the harmony and complexity of my pieces. What was viewed as a weak point in my writing was melody and harmony. As a result, I was challenged to make these the essential to this piece.
   Because this piece is absolute music, the piece is based on one motive which I wrote before scoring it for the ensemble and developing it into a piece. The motive is shown to the right in treble clef. This motive is heard throughout the entire piece in variation and in portions. However, the most important and perhaps the most distinguishable portion of this melody is the first three notes - starting on any pitch and moving up a half step and dropping a tritone down.
   After the completion of the piece, I named it "String Quintet No. 1" to maintain the fact that this piece was indeed composed without any programmatic ideas. However, my teacher and colleagues vehemently disagreed with me and I listened to the piece several times to determine a name. I finally landed on, "Yuugata," which means "Evening," in Japanese which fits the music in my head.

Writing Process:
   I struggled at first with determining how many parts and how many of each instrument I wanted. As I mentioned above, I ideally wanted eight parts. However, I wasn't never ideally pleased with the voicing of chords that I had as I felt I had enough on each desired pitch to cover my bases as far as voicing and volume. Also, due to the number of parts I had, chords became thicker and I didn't feel the items of interest would be able to come through in the texture I was writing in. I don't find doubling a melody at the unison or octave as interesting in a chamber setting when all the instruments I'm using are from the same family of instruments. So I reduced the octet to a quintet.
   After reducing the ensemble to five, I tossed around ideas of what combination of string instruments I would be using. The minimum of two violins, a viola, and cello were required. Violins were covered with two so it was really a call between viola and cello. Cello was an ideal choice so I could let the viola and the cello cross voice to fill in chord tones as I felt necessary. However, in my listening for pieces for string ensemble, I came across a video of the Mendelssohn String Octet in Eb major, op. 20 where the second cello part was covered by a string bass and I immediately began to toss the idea of having a string bass to have access to the lower register that cello didn't have. But this also posed a problem - I don't believe the string bass to be a very strong instrument in comparison to the cello. Another problem would be intonation - which is generally a problem with bass players (as I recalled from playing the instrument). Despite this, I opted to utilize the bass for the lower register - understanding completely the pitfalls that may happen for the ensemble. In order to accommodate the bass, I opted for mostly using softer dynamics and skillful doubling with the viola and cello.
   Before talking about the piece and the construction, here are some of the string ensembles/quartets I listened to drawn ideas for this piece: Debussy's String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (My post on the piece can be found here), Ravel's String Quartet in F major, Mendelssohn's String Octet in Eb major, Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, and perhaps the biggest influence came from Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night). Below is a video of Verklärte Nacht:

Schoenberg Verklarte Nacht from Arnaud on Vimeo.

There is no formal structure to the piece other than the fact piece ends very similarly to how it starts. The piece is episodic and utilizes portions of all the smaller sketches I created throughout the writing process. Form in previous pieces were valued highly in the organization of my musical ideas, but I decided to go against that for whatever reason - allowing the motive to take over and unify the piece as it went from idea to idea. For performers, it is extremely important to allow the melody line to pierce through the texture.

The piece is also tonal in flavor, as are most of my pieces, but I really wanted to grasp onto harmony and make sure that I really and truly understood how to use it effectively.

   The piece starts out with a pulsating drone between viola and bass with the a violin and cello entering with the main motive first in unison and then one more time in organum. The music then moves into a portion of this piece that I'm particularly proud of (shown to the right). All voices move in contrary motion building to the first major climax of the entire piece. The bass moves steadily downward while the others trade off a motive till the first violin takes a soaring line above the rest of the texture - the familiar three note motive is heard near the end of the line. After this, the ensemble cadences on a bright and openly voiced C major to mark the end of first section.
   The transition to the second section is done by the viola taking a variation on the melody using the three note motive to initiate. Here the cello serves as a low murmuring pedal point and the bass pizzicato an octave bellow providing a sort of a heart beat. For me this establishes a regular tempo for the listener to be thrown off by Second violin and viola take a pizzicato counter melody against the first violin with the main motive. My intention was to throw the listeners perception of the meter without actually changing the meter in the music however, this didn't succeed as well as I was hoping. During this section, the first violin goes through the melody three times, going higher in register with each repetition - the final being completely in harmonics. After the third repetition, the three upper parts play a slow ascent upwards till landing on a B minor triad and then jumping up an octave. The final chord was originally in harmonics, but I didn't care for how thin the sound was and opted for a strong sustained sound for the start of the third section. If there was one thing I'd like to change about this entire piece - it would be this section as it is the shortest in duration and could stand for more development as the tempo is faster in this section than any other section. In a way, perhaps this entire section is more of a transition to the third section. The current third section was originally going to be the second section but the transition from the first section to third section was not smooth due to where the first section cadences and where third section begins.
    The third section is started by a the cello playing the main motive in a very high register - tagging a small eighth note motive to the end and then passing the main motive to the first violin. Following these initial statements of the theme, there is a small chain of suspensions that then introduces the viola playing a modified version of the theme and then passing it to the string bass playing the actual motive in a very high register. The same eighth note motive that the cello added at the beginning of the section is added after the bass' rendition of the main motive by the second violin. After this starts a harmonic progression led by the lower three parts that ends this section that I'm proud of (shown to the left). The harmonic progress pushes toward a lower and more closely voiced C minor to contrast the first sections cadence.
   The transition the fourth section is once again led by the viola which starts a chordal section with the first violin playing a melody and reminding the listener of the three note motive. The melody, which is entirely in the first violin for the duration of this section, then brings about the first significant arrival of a passage in a major tonality as the piece shifts to F major. Shortly after establishing the F major tonality, the inner three parts cut out leaving the bass to accompany the first violin in a duet between the out parts. This thinning of the texture makes the entrance of the of the climax so much more significant as all parts thicken the texture with double stops. The climax comes to an end with the first violin taking a break and the remainder of the ensemble bringing the piece back to the darker and quiet texture that started the piece to begin the fifth and final section.
   This last section begins with the viola and bass returning to the pulsating drone with the cello taking over for the viola halfway through the section. The remaining parts recall small melodic figures from the first section and the main motive both in solos and in duets. The piece once again moves in contrary motion, much like the beginning of the piece, toward the final cadence. The final chord in the upper three parts used to be harmonics, but much like the thin quality I heard in the second section before when reading through this with my players, I opted to bring it down an octave and eliminating the harmonics. When the upper four strings have arrived at the final chord of E minor, the upper three strings holding a high triad and the cello holding a low E, the last notes are given to the bass in perhaps one of my favorite endings in my music so far with pizzicato E's - the final one being the low open E string.

   And with that, ends another deconstruction/behind the scenes of one of my pieces. In conclusion, I'd like to orchestrate this or make it a string orchestra piece. However, if it were to happen, I would probably improve upon certain sections and add material to round out the shorter sections.

   Here is the one and only recording of this piece that I have from my senior recital in spring 2011:

Happy listening!

Like me on Facebook! Click here!

Subscribe to my Youtube Channel! Click here!

2012-01-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

I feel like a kid with ADD near a bunch of shiny things with all these blogs. I'll start posting soon.

Ai Weiwei - Contemporary Chinese Artist

2012-01-22T00:51:00.000-08:00

While taking one of the most unique 20th century theory courses a few years ago, I learned the value of looking at world events, history, and other forms of art which contribute to the development of music or inspire composers.

One such individual, Ai Weiwei, has been someone I've kept an eye on. I was first drawn to him after learning he was involved in the construction of the Beijing National Stadium - otherwise known as the Bird's Nest, which was used in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Other than an architect, he is a contemporary artist, photographer, curator,and a social, political, and cultural critic - quite frankly, he does everything. A man who is truly fearless in his words and his art - so much that the Chinese government keep close watch over him.

I love seeing his works through the internet (for example, my favorite of his works, Sunflower Seeds, as shown in the picture above) and I hope to model how active he is on the internet as a composer - perhaps not his activities. I won't really bother with his history so much as it is contained mostly in this BBC documentary I watched late last year:

Jazz - Real Group

2012-01-20T23:22:00.000-08:00

   About six years ago, I was introduced to this Swedish vocal jazz group by my girlfriend at the time. At this point in my life, jazz was a genre of music I particularly cared for - probably due to the fact I knew very little about it. However, this group came across as revolutionary for me. I was really into choral music at the time (in fact, I think we were driving to a conference where we would be singing in a choir) and she put this one and I was amazed by the intonation, color, and texture that five people provided.

   Several days later, I started searching for their music and listening to videos of them performing live. I was even more amazed at the fact they sounded stronger and even more dynamic listening and watching them live in comparison to their sound on the CD. This group completely boggled my mind. It was then I took some time to learn a little more about vocal jazz by joining the WVC jazz choir. Really hard music to do... especially learning how to work balance and blend and sing with a microphone (speaking from the perspective of someone who is trained classically). So I completely respect to those who pursue this particular art.

   Here are some of my favorites by the group (mind you, there are several other pieces they have that I like, but I couldn't find a decent recording online):

Words
Gota
Walking Down the Street
It Don't Mean a Thing
Mister Father
Thousand Things

Where it all began...

2012-01-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

   So I was talking with someone I met for the first time a few nights ago and the thought of where and when music became a serious pursuit and what caused me to pursue it. I thought I would share it here...

   So before entering high school in fall of 1999, I had recently gotten into the Final Fantasy games starting with Final Fantasy VII. I loved the game so much I fully intended to purchase the next game in the series - Final Fantasy VIII, which was scheduled to come out in fall of 1999.

   So after purchasing FFVIII and started a new game, I watched one of the most life changing three minutes of my life in the opening sequence of the game...

Now for some, this might not seem that revolutionary. However, having played games since I was a kid, I was used to hearing the MIDI renditions of the music. To finally hear real instruments being utilized in games amazed me. Even the improved MIDI patches used in the music that you hear throughout the game amazed me.

So well over a decade ago, just as I was starting high school, I made the choice to pursue music seriously. The dream has been to compose music for video games ever since. Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of a vast amount of music in the Final Fantasy series, influenced me on that day and continues to do so as I pursue and refine my craft.

Graduate School Update

2012-01-18T12:44:00.001-08:00

So I woke up today and saw got an email from UCLA:

Dear JASON PANO:

Composition-vm, MA, MUSIC

Thank you for applying to the graduate program in composition at the UCLA Department of Music. I regret to say that you have not been selected to interview for our program. You will receive notice directly from the Graduate Division shortly via the "Decision Status" screen.

As you may be aware, the UCLA Department of Music receives many more applications than there are spaces available. In this extremely competitive environment, many talented and promising composers are not recommended for an in-person interview.

We wish you success in your future endeavors.

Composition Council

UCLA Department of Music

... and well, I'm fine with that =)

Bang on a Can - Summer Festival

2012-01-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

So as a result of a friend talking about a particular summer program. I've applied for the Bang on a Can Summer Festival to see if I can earn some experience with modern techniques and opportunities to network with other players and performers.

During my time as a college student, I wrote a fair amount of music, but what was written was not very "modern." I stuck to a more tonal sound to try and find the most idiomatic ways to write for each instrument I encountered. Now, that I'm free to do things that I've been wanting to do - perhaps now would be a reasonable time to go outside of my box a bit.

The program is held at a contemporary arts museum in Massachusetts where I will be able to work with contemporary artists and composers to hone my craft and the learn more about the music industry in regards to serious concert music.

While I certainly don't expect to get in, we'll see what happens. I DID get my application like five minutes before the actual deadline.

More information can be found at this article and the main website for the festival.

Zoltan Kodály and the Kodály Method

2012-01-12T16:56:00.000-08:00

Zoltan Kodály was a composer and ethnomusicologist from Hungary during the turn of the 20th century. During his lifetime, he managed to vastly improve Hungary's music literacy. He found music education to be poor in Hungary and developed a stronger method to teach children music over a period of ten years. In 1945, the government of Hungary implemented Kodály's methods to their primary schools - the first one opening in 1950. The school showed so much success that primary school all over Hungary also became music schools. This method eventually became known as: The Kodály Method.

I wouldn't say that my ear training and musicianship is amazing - if anything, it has waned from disuse over the past several years. However, I would say that my best experiences in developing my ear and musicianship was when I was at San Francisco State University. There I was taught by David Xiques who tempered students musicianship skills through the Kodály method.

Exercises were simple, but challenging enough to keep everyone, regardless of skill level, on their toes. Through simple exercises in singing and eurhythmics, I developed my own skills to what they are today. Some exercises I use when I teach or tutor. I believe we can use this method to improve music awareness or just general music appreciation anywhere - just as Hungary did some sixty years ago.

Now that I have earned a degree in Music Theory/Composition - I'm seeking ways to make myself more ideal for teaching in a university or community college setting. Coincidentally, the first symposium for the Kodály method was held in Oakland. Professor Xiques always spoke highly of Holy Names University in Oakland where one can get either a certificate in Kodály or become a Kodály specialist. I won't find out about graduate schools until around April, but for now, I'm seeking other possibilities to improve my skills should I not be accepted.

Here are some videos about the Kodály method:

Aretha Franklin searching for the next Opera Star?

2012-01-06T15:17:00.001-08:00

So I'm sitting on the train on my way to Sacramento, and I come across this article stating that Aretha Franklin, an iconic figure known as the "Queen of Soul," is now seeking to find the next star in the classical music world. She will be hosting a show (similar to popular shows like American Idol or The Voice) where she will be the only judge and provide contracts to one to three vocalists of her selection to her record label to help them launch their careers.

This entire article poses some conflicted thoughts in my head...

On one end, I'm thinking this is a really bad idea. I mean no disrespect to Franklin or her credentials, but as stated by Brian Carter, one of the people who were interviewed about the start of this competition, having Franklin select the next up and coming opera star is the same as me (someone with a degree relating to classical music) selecting the next and up coming pop star...

I'm not in favor of having another instance where classical music is mistaken for pop. Groups and artists like Il Divo, Andrea Bocelli, Paul Potts - winner of the show Britan's Got Talent with his rendition of the famous tenor aria, Nessun Dorma, (among others...) are examples of what I deem to be pop culture's rendition of what "classical" music is. I'm also not trying to put down the musical efforts of these groups and artists...

I also agree with Carter on the way the selection is made. I hope that Franklin has highly qualified assistance to help her make the right choices throughout the entire competition. Peer reviewed vs. pop reviewed... Yes, in this sense, I agree with the elitism that is within classical music. It is a craft that very few people can do well and many people do okay to very poorly.

ON THE OTHER HAND...

I do have to give credit to the artists I mentioned above that their pop interpretation of classical music became extremely popular throughout the world... In many ways, these interpretations make classical music much more accessible for people who are perhaps not as excited about it as I am. Other artists like Yanni and Bond are other prime examples which utilize classical music in their crossover genre that has reached high degrees of popularity.

In America, in particular, this might be a way to make classical music become much more accessible and break the walls that have made classical music an "elitist" art. I wouldn't say I'm poor, but going to an opera or the symphony was for a long time in my head a privilege of the rich. I'm not sure where I got that notion, but it is a notion that keeps the common man and woman from witnessing music at local symphonies, operas, and other performance venues.

So I ask you, reader, whether you are a proficient classical musician or an average joe, what is your opinion? I haven't quite figure it out for myself yet.

After I return to Sacramento and settle in, I'll post some videos comparing and contrasting my understanding of what classical music is and the crossover versions of the same pieces.

What does a Conductor do? - Through First-Hand Experience in the Eyes of a Critic

2012-01-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

This is wonderful little article by music critic, Justin Davidson, on his experience conducting in his adventure to figure out what the role of a conductor is. Truly, I think there is no other way to truly appreciate something by just doing it first-hand - and what better way to learn than with the Julliard School of Music's Conductor Program. He conducted the overture to Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni.

Just for some background, Justin Davidson, is a Pulitzer Prize winner in Criticism. I know of his writing mostly from his work with New York Magazine as a critic in music and architecture.

Some of the things said in the article really struck me. The first being from Alan Gilbert, whom is the Director of the Conducting Program at Julliard. He states that “A lot of great conductors are shy, even though you wouldn’t know that from how they handle large groups of people. That shyness can actually help in intimate music. You have to let people see what’s inside you, even if you don’t do that in the rest of your life.” I'm not sure quite yet how I feel about this as I search my memory for all the conductors that I have worked with and my own personal experiences conducting. Most all of the conductors I know and have worked with are all really extroverted - though I do know some quiet ones who are very good as well. My own experiences with large ensembles have been mixed. In front of a choir, I felt more comfortable because I'm dealing with instrument that I've acquired a degree of mastery in and a texture of music that I'm really quite familiar with. My one experience in front of an orchestra was... intimidating (I think that would be there first, and best, description I could think of). Perhaps shy from the environment of the rehearsal and definitely the performance, but overall intimidating even though I felt well prepared and studied for the minute arrangement I conducted for them.

I think this next quote speaks for itself. This was said by Jerry Grossman, Principal Cellist of the Metroplitan Opra, “It’s amazing how beautifully we play when we don’t know what the hell the guy on the podium is doing.”

I'll leave it at that. The link to the article is here. A listing of Davidson's other writing for NY Magazine is here. And finally, here is a short video with Davidson speaking personally of his experience:

Resolutions for 2012

2012-01-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

Goals for 2012

Continue to study the Japanese language and continue to get stronger with the language

I've come this far with it, I might as well keep going. It will be even more imparitive that I continue to study it on my own now that I'm no longer engulfed in an academic environment to help with that.

Eat healthy and eat less

Its time to start buckling down on my eating habits and my weight. I'm not interested in joining a gym and working out to the degree that my other family members do - and perhaps when I'm ready to, I will join them. But I think a better start to my efforts would be to target my food. Just try to realize and remember that your friends and family only give you grief about your health because they care. After food is stabilized - perhaps then you can work on exercising.

Write more music

Either back to the one minute worth of music a week or start really buckling down on it. I didn't write anything for the fall seasons in 2011. I need to get back in the good habit of writing. I probably didn't get into USC or UCLA for graduate school and I need to continue writing.

Make opportunities to see more live music

Get season tickets for SF Symphony... go to more MET Broadcasts... go see California Youth Symphony... Check out Choral Project or SJSU Choral Concerts... I spend more time listening to CDs... go check out some live music.

Keep performing here and there

You spent six years developing your voice - find ways to use it. It doesn't matter whether its for money or note - but it needs to be self-satisfying

Stay close to Uncle

He's 90 years old and you can see him grow old by the day. He is the one person in your family you respect more than anything else. Your past is flooded with memories of Grandpa and Uncle. Now that Grandpa is gone, the least you can do is be there with him till the very end.

If I don't accomplish all of these... at the very least, accomplish the ones in bold. We'll see how I do.

Kennedy Center Honors

2011-12-28T09:35:00.000-08:00

   The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual event which gives lifetime achievement awards to those in the field of performing arts for the American culture. About this time every year, the ceremony is aired on television where each recipient is honored with speeches, performances, and documentaries which highlight their achievements and lives.

   This award ceremony has generally been a high interest for me to see who former recipients and the Kennedy Center's national artist committee choose to nominate for the award.

    Over the years, I was very pleased to see many of my favorites in the entertainment venue recieve this award. For example, Morgan Freeman, Joan Sutherland, Itzhak Perlman, Victor Borge, Luciano Pavarotti, Bill Cosby, Frank Sinatra, and Placido Domingo - to name a few.  Here is a friendlier list of recipients - sorted by year.

   My topic for discussion is who do you think should be recieving this award? Are we leaving out those who have contributed so much to the American culture through their craft.

EDIT (1.5.12):
   Here are a few names I think are should be recipients of this award:

Actors:
Harrison Ford
Robin Williams

Musicians:
Seiji Ozawa

Sudden Changes to Life

2011-12-19T21:35:00.000-08:00

So there have been many really sudden changes that have happened recently.

For the past six or so months, I've been searching for a job in the Sacramento area with little to no luck of landing a job. Fortunately, I managed to contact a friend at the right time and landed a job at the company, Irdeto, a company who acquired a company I used to work for - BayTSP. So I'm back to doing anti-piracy on the internet except this time around, I'm working full time and receiving a wonderful benefits package.

Unfortunately, I'm leaving a bunch of wonderful music ensembles and enrichment opportunities in Sacramento...

Since last June, I've been a volunteer tutor for the Japanese department at CSUS. I've been very thankful to earn more teaching experience as a private and group tutor and as a teacher assistant. I have also been allowed to sit in and participate on one of the upper division classes The two teachers at CSUS have been extremely kind, helpful and accommodating in fueling my drive to further my skills with the Japanese language. I owe them both my thanks for everything.

Since graduating from CSUS, I've established myself in three different choral ensembles and I've enjoyed my experiences with them.

The first was with the church choir at St. Stephen's the first Martyr Parish where I was hired as choral scholar. It was in this environment, I got to learn how to read neums and work on my sight-reading which has waned after switching my focus more as an academic musician and not a performing musician. If I managed to have continued with them, I would have gotten an opportunity to work with the choir on repertoire I recommended to the choir master. Of all my church job experiences, both long and short term, St. Stephen's was the most fruitful and interesting for me as a musician.

The second was a start up group, Capella Antiqua, which I was invited to by some of my colleagues at CSUS. The goal of the group was to perform music from all eras (with perhaps an emphasis on early music) that has not really been exposed to the public. Despite my general lack of interest in early music, this was a group I where my enjoyment of being in the group rose very quickly over time. The group consists of people I know and trust as musicians and we were a chamber group. I love large works which require large ensembles to perform, but I still love the chamber setting for music. Aside from the enjoyment of singing in a chamber group, I had the opportunity to research pieces for a very specific program and set-up and run a pre-concert lecture - an experience I would love to try again and add to the skill set that I'm developing.

The third group would be a group I auditioned for on a whim, thanks to a dear friend of mine. The group is the Sacramento Master Singers. They are very close to being one of my favorite ensembles to sing with. The repertoire ranged from very simple to very difficult and in each piece I learned the value of combing through small details. I've been challenged vocally in this group as well as I learned to utilize the skills I learned as a solo vocalist in an ensemble setting where I sacrifice my solo sound for the group. And of course, I've gotten to meet some wonderful people and musicians in the group. I hope I can keep in contact with many of the members after I leave. I definitely intend on sending my choral works to this group.

I hope that this transition is smooth and I can continue to find things that that will continue to enrich my knowledge.

Pano - 三匹 "Sanbiki" - Three Animals

2011-12-14T22:46:00.000-08:00

So today, I'd like to talk about the construction of one of my pieces, "Sanbiki." This is an on-going series I hope to do with all of my music for two reasons:

1. This is a way for me to monitor how I constructed my ideas into music for later use and observation.
2. This is a way for future performers of this piece to gain insights on to how I might want this piece performed.

I want to talk about the history of the piece and where it lied in my development as a composer. Then I want to discuss the concept of each piece (i.e. what makes the piece programmatic or if the piece is not programmatic, what musical materials were used to construct the piece). And finally, I'd like to discuss the actual writing process and perhaps some of the rehearsal preparations of the piece.

History:
Originally, this piece was supposed to be either a solo guitar piece or a solo piano piece (both things I hope to do in the future) and it was to be the last thing I wrote before my senior recital.
Incidentally, I brought one of my random doodles of a solo violin piece to my lessons with Leo Eylar. On that day, I believe I didn't have any new music to present, but I did have some questions on possible double stops on the violin. Leo, being a veteran on the violin, played through the doodle of mine and suggested I create a solo violin piece out of what I had. So I set off to work on the second solo instrument piece that I have ever written (The first being, "The Snake Charmer's Lament" for solo clarinet - which also happened to be my very first composition ever). In my opinion, I think the first two movements are quite successful in what they are attempting to portray. I'd like to rework the third movement since it was a rushed movement. Leo received the final movement of the work four days before my recital. Furthermore, you'll see I have less to say about the third movement of this work than I do the previous two.

Concept
The concept comes from the a Japanese folk tale called, "Momotarou" (ももたろう／桃太郎) - "Peach Boy" (Also pictured in the statue above. The statue resides in Okayama, Japan). The story has several variants, which you can read about on various sites, but it was my hope to create character pieces based on the three characters that assist Momotarou during his story - A dog, a bird, and a monkey (Inu／いぬ／犬、Tori／とり／鳥、Saru／さる／猿 - respectively). Each of these characters had a distinct character in my mind to use as the premise of all the musical material. In my mind, dogs tend to be a symbol of loyalty and pride. For the bird, I felt a song bird like the nightingale would be good to depict. Finally, I felt the monkey would be more of a goof ball as a character. These characters would give me three different kinds of music to aim for when keeping these ideas in mind.
It should be noted that I have an interest in writing a larger work based on Momotarou and perhaps musical material from this solo piece will be utilized then. Here is a video cartoon of Momotarou (in Japanese, but perhaps you'll still pick up on somethings):

Writing Process

Before discussing the writing process of each movement, I would like to talk about the contents the doodles I had shown Leo and other colleagues of mine. The general impression of these doodles were that there was so much information that it was way too scatterbrained - and I agreed with this as they were doodles. I think a big problem with young composers, such as myself, is that we have millions and millions of good ideas, but no way of really expanding really efficiently upon them. So I separated all of the ideas I felt I could use for each character and used these ideas to construct my music.

As with all of my music, I listened to a fair amount string writing to develop some ideas on how I might choose to use the violin. Leo mentioned that Prokofiev wrote a solo violin sonata (in D major, Op. 115.) as well as Bartok (Sz. 117, BB 124). I really liked the tonal feel that Prokofiev used in his sonata, but I liked some of the more difficult passages in the Bartok. I also took to listening to Bartok string quartets to listen for use of folk tunes seeing as that is one of Bartok's strengths in utilizing musical material. These pieces were general pieces I used to model my writing for the violin, but not for the musical material for the piece.

For the first movement, Inu (dog), I wanted to start off with a noble and proud feeling. So the idea of a fanfare and/or march seemed ideal to me. The only other fanfare I had written at the time was for my brass quintet - where fanfares and marches seem a much more idiomatic than solo violin. When I thought of a fanfare, I think of thick chords so I opted to utilize double stops in the opening in triplets. The glissando going up was something I added late in the development of the movement to call attention to the triplets - like a dog's bark, if you will. Some of the more string instrument savvy individuals might suggest that I use triple or quadruple stops for the fanfare if I wanted a thicker harmony and more notes, but I opted to save the more complex stops to be used in the later portion of the piece as you will find out.

After the fanfare, the piece breaks out into the first A section of the ternary form (ABA) I use in this movement. The A section starts with a march denoted by double stop pizzicato. The A section melody is a simple, singable, bowed melody clearly in G major which is also embellished, mostly at the end, by double stops. I wanted the harmony to be simple and straightforward. I don't think I had any particular reason for choosing G major other than the fact that its was the lowest open string on the violin, which would make the dominant, D, to also be an open string. This allows me to make some of the double stop work in the piece much easier on the fingers of the player. The pizzicato returns in a the same march rhythm and function, but in the dominant harmony (D major) followed by the second half of the melody in the dominant. The second half of the melody is very similar in style to the first half of the melody and is also embellished by double stops. The melody returns the tonality to G major for the final iteration of the pizzicato march, but returns to D major briefly to modulate to the parallel key of G minor for the B section.

In the B section, I aimed to get the feeling that the dog is now on the hunt for something. This section is mostly in triplets, but I break the motion up with duple rhythms as I do in the march sections of the A section to get that sometimes distracted instinct that a dog gets sometimes (Think of the dogs in the movie, "Up" when they hear a squirrel). The march also returns in this section, but in the minor. The fanfare returns once again playing toward D major to set up the return of G major for the final A section.

The final A section is virtually identical to the first A section as far as material, but it is much different now that it has become more saturated in triple and quadruple stops - making certain passages much harder as a result (in which case, I'm okay with taking a slightly slower tempo to navigate through all the stops). With the use of triple and quadruple stops, I get a much larger sound than before from the instrument. One alteration that I'd like to point out in the march is the use of left hand pizzicato to create more of a skipping feel to the march - as if to incite the dog was successful in his hunt in the B section. After the end of the final A section, I move into a coda to finish off the movement. For whatever reason, I think I had some huge tenor aria in my head and that might be the cause for the general nature of the piece.

The second movement, Tori (bird), is one of the hardest pieces to perform on violin (according to Leo Eylar, who premiered the piece). There is a lot of dexterous work in the upper register of the instrument which make the piece difficult to play. The rhythms are also really intricate even at a slow tempo. I gave the tempo marking of rubato to allow for some rhythmic liberties to be taken to navigate through the lines of music (though for performance practice - I would expect that the general idea of the rhythm be conserved). I also tried to place tenutos on longer notes to assist with some of the liberty of the rhythm. I also asked for a mute to be used to soften the sound of the instrument to differentiate this movement from the other two.

I start the movement with sweeping runs on the violin to give the sensation of flight. When coupled with a soft dynamic and the mute, the music perhaps incites the idea that this bird is very high into the sky. The feel of the music should feel somewhat like stop and go or ebb and flow - So tenutos should definitely be observed with a bit more of a push of tempo on the rhythmically faster passages. Though I establish a tonal center of Bb major, I do change the key when the first real melodic line comes in.

I use a minor anhemitonic pentatonic scale in the melodic figures following my "flight" motive. These lines were imitate the song of a birds. Lots of folk music in general utilize this particular pentatonic scale. Though, I wanted these lines to be in a more sung style (cantabile) - I'd be interested to see how it would sound if it was something like a recitative style.
The piece then moves back and forth between the flight motive and the more sung lines. I push the flight motive in the upper registers of the violin where accurate intonation can be difficult to achieve. I believe this is especially difficult at the end of the piece where I write high harmonics to give the idea that the bird has flown from sight into the sky.
For future performers of the piece, I'd like to emphasize that time can be taken in the piece and I want more ebb and flow to give more time to ensure intonation - or less time to get of the notes you know won't be in tune.

The final movement, Saru (monkey), is also in a ternary and is meant to be the fastest in tempo and rhythmic movement than the previous two movements. Because of the consistency of the rhythm, I emphasize dynamics more than anything in the movement to bring something interesting to the listener. I think the a specific image I had when writing this movement was a man with ADD and a severe case of hyperactivity. I tried to achieve this through meter and pitch more than anything. The previous movements and the beginning of this movement have provided time signatures in duple times. I wanted to provide complex time signatures to throw the ear off every so slightly. The previous movements also remain tonal for the most part and I decided to make this one much more chromatic in nature - which I believe I did successfully since I don't particularly feel that there is a point in time that any particular pitch seems to be more important that the other.
It should be noted that because I was in a hurry to finish this movement, I didn't get nearly as much time to truly get what I wanted into the piece. I think I could have developed the B section material much much more. Relatively happy with the A section material, but I'd like to reorder everything to make more concrete changes for sections. In general, I believe this movement is the most unsuccessful and ambiguous in material.
The first A section contains parallel double stops on a perfect 5th and double stops with a pedal note. The transition into the next sub-section features a two sixteenth note eighth note pattern that is similar to the well known Rossini theme of William Tell. Followed by the first significant portion of silence in the entire movement. This William Tell motive continues to be used to push toward the first major melodic line of the piece. Being the only real melodic material in the piece, I hope that listeners can latch on to this brief piece of music as it returns here and there through the chaos as if the character of the monkey is hiding it from them.
The B section implies a more mischievous character through the use of pizzicato and sparse rhythm, but still returns to the William Tell motive to remind the audience of the character in the A section. Volume wise, this section should be significantly quieter than the other two. The music transitions back to the A section.
The final A section is essentially similar to the first A section in construction, but the piece ends with a coda which I intended to be less virtuosic. I intended for the music to end with something strange, and potentially funny. So I finished with a Bartok pizzicato where the play snaps the string so it hits the finger board of the instrument which gives a pitch and a percussive effect. Personally, I think this is a humorous effect.

Here is the premiere of the piece. Of course, this technically isn't the premiere as it was performed a few hours before this particular performance, but it might as well be the premiere. The performer is one of my composition teachers, Leo Eylar.

Happy listening!

JP

Like me on Facebook! Click here!

Subscribe to my Youtube Channel! Click here!

Video Game Music: Bastion

2011-12-08T09:40:00.001-08:00

Since I've been pretty sick lately, I've gotten some time with some of the games I've been meaning to play. One of these games is Supergiant Games' "Bastion." The gameplay was very intriguing in the sense that while you do things, there was a narrator speaking out everything that you are doing and the story. This made the gaming experience very unique in comparison to other games that I've played. So I'm really interested to see what they come out next.

However, this blog is not about video games... While most of the music in the game brought about an interesting rural setting, almost Western at times, but the pieces only seem to set that mood. However, there were a two points in the game where I actually stopped playing just to listen to the music. Both pieces were guitar with voice and they definitely seem to be inspired by folk music.

I love the folk song sound and style due to its simplicity. The chords can be a bit more dissonant, but the harmonic progression are slow so the piece is simple for the ear to follow. The texture of the style is generally thinner and therefore things like the text of the music can be focused more by the listener. Sometimes when I'm listening to art songs and opera for the first time, I feel that some of the music can take away from the text. Sometimes I won't know what they are trying to say without seeing the text. With folk music, I don't think this is the case at all as I usually understand the text (if its in a language I understand).

So why am I featuring the music of this game specifically? First of all, I think its really beautiful.... here are the two pieces which are themes for two the supporting characters you encounter in the game, Zia and Zulf. I advise you listen to them and be a little familiar with them before I explain my next point:

Zia's Theme Zulf's Theme

Now here is the really cool thing about the relationship between these two pieces in this game (which relate the relationship between the two characters). These two folk tunes are juxtaposed on top of each other in the ending theme that is played during the ending credits. Its remixed, so it has a beat to it - but the resulting effect of the blend between the two pieces is really quite amazing.

I decided to share this since I thought this was really cool and I admit I geeked out a bit about this... My respects to Darren Korb, the composer of this game, for utilizing these two pieces really well. The trailer of the game is below for those who want to take a look. The game is on sale on steam only for today.

Bach - BWV 4 Christ lag in Todesbanden

2011-11-25T19:07:00.001-08:00

In my development as a musician, I came to dislike baroque music and to a degree - I still do. My problems with this era of music is usually the dry use of harmony (diatonic harmony) - I prefer the richer use harmony in the romantic era. Furthermore, the different use of musical keys is rather limited - despite the use of modes, it is still the use of the same notes. I prefer the bel canto style of voice production (perhaps because I was trained that way) and so the use of straight tone (and perhaps some people's insistance that it is the right way to sing) can go tiring on my ear.

Nevertheless, there are many things I can appreciate about music that I don't care much for or don't listen to much. For example, though I have a love-hate relationship sometimes with counterpoint, it is definitely something interesting that I keep an ear out for. I'm not religious, but I'm intrigued by how one uses text and it is a skill which can be learned in all eras of music. Knowing how a piece is constructed also raises my interest in a piece.

With that, I had an opportunity to take an upper division class on early music history, taught then by Stephen Lehning, which focused completely on the composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. Early on in the course, we were asked to write an paper discussing the construction and special features of Bach's BWV 4 Christ lag in Todesbanden "Christ lays in Death's Bonds." I thought it would be interesting to show what I've learned in my analysis of this early cantata.

Below is a full recording of the entire cantata in a playlist on youtube. Underneath the video is the entirety of my paper, but I will also provide passages in italics in order to denote things that I'm adding along with my paper.

Here is the score of the piece if you want to follow along. Text and translations can be found here.

Bach Cantata BWV 104: Christ lag in Todesbanden

The opening sinfonia is not something I’m going to include in the structural analysis of the entire work since the text actually starts after the sinfonia. However, what should be noted as highly important is the fact the material for this sinfonia is drawn from the chorale melody - particularly the opening, descending semitone of the melody. The texture is mostly homophonic in nature giving a chorale style, instrumental opening for the entire cantata. I think this sinfonia also sets a reasonable mood for the opening text of the first verse, “Christ lag in Todesbanden” (Christ lay in death’s bonds).

Its also worth noting that Bach doesn't normally start his cantatas with a sinfonia. However, being in his early twenties, Bach was taking some liberties with forms by using short preludes to keyboard works. However, for these pieces , these preludes didn't serve as contributor to the structure of the piece, but more as a way to call attention to what he was doing through keyboard virtuosity.

While I don't think this sinfonia has any particular significance to the overal structure of the entire cantata, I do believe that the introduction of the falling semitone melody to be one of the most important aspects of this sinfonia because you, as the listener, will know when the chorale melody is starting in such a polyphonic texture.

I would further emphasize that this falling semitone and the E minor tonality really sets that mood of the piece. "Christ lag in Todesbanden," is all about how Christ died died for people's sins and the sadness of the crucifixion. That half step truly brings that aching sensation into the music that can really bring the music and text to life.

It should also be pointed out that the chorale melody or the cantus firmus is referred to in this sinfonia. Get real used to it because you will hear this melody over and over again through the entire work - if not portions of it. Pictured to the right is the chorale melody of the 7th stanza of the piece.

The first verse presents the rhythmically slow chorale melody (cantus firmus) in the soprano voice with all other voices singing the current line of the verse in full imitative counterpoint. Just in the beginning few measures there seems to be a stretto maestrale. A stretto maestrale is a counterpoint compositional technique where voices enter in rapid succession with exact or imitative counterpoint. In this case, by the third measure the lower three voices and the individual accompanying instruments add to the counterpoint texture (voices first going highest to lowest and then instruments going highest to lowest with exception of the continuo). Each entrance starts with a variant on what I believe to be an important motive in this whole work: the descending semitone. This interval also happens to be the beginning melodic figure of the chorale. The counterpoint between the four vocal lines is truly free counterpoint where no two voices are in the same rhythm (if they are, they are only for at most a measure in duration). Even the sung text never lines up with all four voices except for the approach to the halfway point of the text with “Und hat uns bracht das Leben;” (and has brought us life).

In the second half of the first verse (“Des wir sollen Fröhlich…” For this we should be joyful…), the entrances happen in reverse order in comparison to the start of the movement.

The instruments begin a sixteen note figure that stagger their entrances followed by the voices who come in with a quarter note figured by a similar sixteenth note figure played by the instruments. I believe the sixteenth note figure is a musical word painting for word, “Fröhlich” which means “joyful.” After all these staggered entrances, the soprano comes in again with the chorale melody utilizing the words that were just sang previously by all other voices. The counterpoint is still imitative in nature and rhythmically independent of each other.

In the final phrase of the verse, “Und singen Hallelujah” (And sing Hallelujah), Bach slowly changes the lines and harmonies within the counterpoint to give off a different feeling. Many of the progressions in the first half have a feeling of sinking down to the cadences as shown in the bass voice line where Bach makes full use of notes below the bass staff. However, in this final hallelujah section, there are many ascending lines in contrast with the rest of piece. In fact, a few measures after the “Alla breve,” there is almost always a voice and/or instrument or two moving upwards in stepwise motion until the final hallelujah which is done by everyone. I believe this to be Bach’s musical way of praise. Even in this section, Bach still makes use of the descending semitone within the lines. There are moments where all voice and instrumental parts are hocketing this semitone motive between themselves. Furthermore, Bach is able to bring out entrances of each line mostly through rhythmic syncopation, but change of octave (usually an octave jump up) also tends to bring attention to a particular line.

Upon reading this mammoth of a paragraph, I've made interesting observations on how far my writing has come and how much more it still needs to be improved. I have divide the paragraph up into multiple as I feel necessary.

I can't even state in words how masterful Bach is with the use of stretto maestrale. It is such an nice musical device that so few composers can do as easily as Bach could. Many of Bach keyboard works make use of stretto maestrale.

On a compositional note, one may wonder why in the choruses of this work that the soprano voice has the simple cantus firmus melody in half notes. For those unfamiliar with the church choral tradition during the baroque era, choirs used young boys to sing the soprano part in the church. As such, many of these choristers probably lacked the musical training to take upon some of the more complex, and at times disjunct, lines of Bach. Therefore, Bach kept the ability of his ensemble in mind in giving the choristers an easier line to manage in so few rehearsals. Furthermore, assistance is also provided to the alto and tenor lines some of the movements by having the violas divided and playing the lines of the tenor and alto in assistance. The basses are provided with their lines from the basso continuo.

It should be worth pointing out the violin lines throughout the work might have some feeling of an early Italian violin concerto. It should be kept in mind that Bach managed to be influenced by Italian string writing (i.e. Vivaldi and Corelli).

One has to remember that Christ dying for your sins is both a sad and happy event. So instead of going from stanza to stanza, how does one create the feeling of both sadness and happiness within each movement? In order to mitigate the sadness of the text, each movement uses Hallelujahs to contrast with the sadness of the text.

The second verse once again utilizes this semitone motive in the continuo part and the entering two voices in a duet. I find it fitting that the semitone motive is used on “Den Tod” (the death) since I recall somewhere in my reading in the past that this motive is Bach’s “death” motive. The word “death” is also a rather important word within this verse in stating that power it had as a result of people’s sin. So it is repeated in this semitone motive and hocketed between the two voices at two points in this verse when it refers specifically to death.

The chorale melody (cantus firmus) is still used in the soprano voice (though with some slight variation to the original) with the alto voice in counterpoint against it. There is quite an effective use of suspensions throughout the entire piece. I’d like to think it is done for a reason, but based off the text, I can only really see one instance of text painting in the first line. The words, “niemand zwingen” (no one forcing) is the first to be subject to the chain of suspensions that Bach placed and I think that tensions and release refers to the forcing or overcome death.

The overall form of this piece seems to be somewhat similar to hymn or bar form (AAB). The two lines, “Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt bei allen menschenkindern,” utilize a set of music. The next two lines, “Das macht’ alles unsre sünd, kein unschuld war zu finden,” utilize the nearly the same set of music and presents the two iterations of the “A” section. The rest of the verse becomes the “B” section and utilizes different music while still drawing material from the “A.” For example, the two voices also hocket the words “der Tod” and utilize several of the kinds of suspensions that the “A” section used.

I think I got talked pretty thoroughly about this particular movement, but I would like to also point out that the continuo really has a whole lot of this semitone motive throughout. You can see the continuo playing with this motive by hocketting it in octaves. One might also interpret this as the overpowering death that is being referred to in the opening line of this stanza: "Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt" (No one could defeat death). The constant reminder that death is upon you is being reconfirmed in the basso continuo.

The third verse is a tenor aria with violins and continuo accompanying him. The tenor (cantus firmus) obviously has a variation of the chorale melody with his text. For the most part, the violins maintain a four to one note (species three) counterpoint against the tenor. The continuo however, maintains mostly a two to one note (species two) counterpoint against the tenor. The tenor maintains a rather steady line until he has some busier melismas on the word, “hallelujah.” I believe a tenor aria is used for this particular verse the verse speaks of how Christ has come and taken sin and the power of death mentioned in the previous verse away. I think the tenor sound depicts how heroic this feat is or perhaps even this may be a verse an evangelist would say (tenors depict evangelists). There is one point that paints the remains of death’s figure in the sixth line of the verse that goes to an adagio on the words “den Tod gestalt” (but death’s figure) which emphasizes these words with the time and duration given for these words. Other than that, the piece only really presents rather busy, strict counterpoint against the cantus firmus.

For those who have no idea what I mean by species counterpoint and wish to read more on it - click here.

I think what I missed in this paragraph is that this movement is about triumph over death - Christ died, but we win anyway because he took away our sins. So in that sense, the tenor voice is used well here to show triumph. Imagine this movement with a heldentenor singing =).

The fourth verse is the pinnacle piece for the entire cantata since Bach has structure the entire work around symmetry around this particular movement. The beginning is fugue-like, but I don’t think it quite classifies as a fugue. At first, I thought it might have been a double fugue, but then the soprano who enters second with a different subject would have an answer to follow. The tenor and bass voices definitely have a tonal canon at the fifth, but I find it strange that the tenor starts on with the bass coming in on the tonic after the tenor subject is stated. With these in mind, I think piece is just imitative counterpoint with all three voices against a cantus firms and continuo. So the voices except for the alto present a line of the verse in imitative counterpoint. The alto presents the same text after is has been sung with a variation of the chorale melody and acts as the cantus firmus for this movement. Entrances continue to highlight the descending semitone to maintain motive that ties the verses together. There are a few instances of stretto maestrale in the movement (rapid succession of entrances with a similar motive). For example, stretto maestrale happens with the entrance of “da Tod und Leben…” and “Die Schrift hat verkündiget…”. This movement’s text is quite appropriate for the climax of the entire piece since it speaks of the battle against life and death and that life prevailed in the battle. This movement is similar to that of the first verse’s second half as far as texture and compositional techniques used. This particular movement features only voices and continuo.

It is true that this is the climax of the this cantata. The text completes what the tenor started in stating that life prevailed over death: "Das Leben behielt den Sieg, Es hat den Tod verschlungen" (Life claimed victory, it devoured death.).

Another interesting point to bring up that wasn't brought up in my paper was the fact that there is text painting on "Ein Spott" (A Mockery) by repeating it several times in the accompanying parts. As if life was mocking death.

Due to the mirrored construction of this cantata, the fifth verse is a bass aria with instrumental accompaniment and continuo. The continuo almost sounds like it is going to be a ground bass but immediately goes into a running eighth note pattern.

The bass presents the chorale melody in his singing with an added melisma or held note on select text of the verse in order to either illustrate or emphasize their importance. For example, Bach has placed a short melisma on “rechte” meaning “right” as in the “true.” Bach also places long held notes on “Tode” which means, “death” and “Würger” which means, “strangler.” “Tode” is even held on a low E# to bring attention to the note due to where it is in the bass’s vocal register. “Würger” is held at a high D, which also bring attention to the note because where it is placed in the register. The high D is also within the bass voice’s passaggio or where the change in the register happens for the voice. The high D might sound uncomfortable to sing for the bass, but the quality of the voice would be appropriate for the word, “strangler.” The word, “nicht” in the last line (meaning, “not”) is also repeated to emphasize “nicht mehr schaden” or “not be harmed.”

The hallelujah passages are somewhat virtuosic as they jump rather quickly through triadic leaps to the extreme notes of the bass’s range. The instrumental accompaniment plays an interesting role by entering after the bass and responding to the bass’s melodic lines in almost a chorale fashion with the first violin imitating the bass line. Though the second violin and violas aren’t always being utilized in a chorale function as they are shown to also imitate some of the basses melodic figures at the introduction of the text, “das Blut zeichnet unser Thür” (The blood marks our door).

Nothing much else to say... other than this movement seems pretty taxing on the vocalist in utilizing the extreme ends of the bass range. Good use for the text painting.

To continue the symmetrical structure of the overall work, the sixth verse is a duet. The duet is between soprano and tenor with continuo accompaniment. The accompaniment is light and bouncy as it maintains a dotted eighth note plus a sixteenth note rhythm. This gives perhaps a dance feel to it based on the text, which is celebrating a feast. The duet continues to feature a variation of the chorale tune and the descending semitone motive in the melodic lines of the two voices. The soprano and tenor take turns in an invertible counterpoint starting as one voice starts a phrase with the second coming in with imitative counterpoint. It feels much like a canon since the counterpoint is practically identical to start excerpt for the counterpoint starts at the fifth or third. Triplet melismas bring attention to important words such as “Wonne” meaning “bliss” or “Sonne” meaning “sun” (in referring to god is the sun). This particular movement is certainly the most lighthearted of the verses both in text and music.

I recall from my studies that the dotted eighth note + sixteenth note rhythm was used primarily within French music - specifically in overtures. In this sense, it is subtly implying some sort of celebration. The opening line of the text certainly confirms that, "So feiern wir das hohe Fest" (So we celebrate the high festival).

To sum the entire piece together, the piece ends with a chorus in order to maintain the symmetry of the structure. To further sum the work together, all parts, both voice and instrumental, perform the chorale tune as it was written in its bar form. By now, the listener is already quite familiar with the melody as it is performed in all the top voice and instruments of the ensemble. So this finale iteration of the chorale in its original form sums up the whole piece musically and structurally.

Sinfonia

Verse 1 – Chorus

Verse 2 – Duet

Verse 3 – Aria

Verse 4 – Chorus  Point of symmetry and high point of the piece

Verse 5 – Aria

Verse 6 – Duet

Verse 7 - Chorus

I want to further describe the symmetry of this entire work with the diagram above. Excluding the symphony, the outer movements contain choruses, with duets sandwiching between the choruses, which sandwich arias, with the chorus being the pinnacle of the work. Everything is completely symmetrical from that middle chorus. Bach was obsessed with maintaining this idea of 3+3+3 that is trinity and the idea of the cross.

To be thankful...

2011-11-24T20:44:00.001-08:00

My Thanksgiving has been rather uneventful due to sickness keeping me from my family and the awesome food that they've cooked. I'm taking a moment to count my blessings to keep my mind off of the lung I'm currently hacking up...

Despite being sick, I'm thankful for my health. I'm aware of my health and what I'd like to improve upon, though I'm trying to figure out a way to motivate myself to follow through with plans for my health. Though I'm especially thankful for the drugs that are suppressing these symptoms.

I'm thankful for all my friends - my friends who enlighten and enrich my life, who make me smile and laugh, who support me in stressful or troubling times, who listen and watch me with little to no judgement on my words or actions.

I'm thankful for my family - my great uncle's health, my grandmother's nagging, my mom's support, my brother's attitude, my dog's company. There is nothing more comfortable than home.

I'm thankful for my teachers for molding and guiding me into the person I strive to be - the teachers who have taught me about life. I have met many wonderful teachers in my time and I hope I can be as amazing as they are.

I'm thankful for music - the music I listen to, the music I study, the music I have yet to discover, the music I write.

I'm thankful that my life has gone as well as it has and that I will continue to be as fortunate in the future.

Zander - Unlocking People's Love and Understanding for Classical Music

2011-11-21T00:20:00.001-08:00

Benjamin Zander is a conductor and most a few years back he was a speaker on the TED talks - an organization which takes on the mission of spreading ideas that will change the world. I'm fortunate to have stumbled upon this talk a few years back.

This particular TED talk is about how everyone can have a love, appreciation, and understanding for classical music. This is truly one of the best lectures I've seen in music that I felt the need to share it here.

Here is the video and the transcript of the lecture is below:

Probably a lot of you know the story of the two salesmen who went down to Africa in the 1900s.They were sent down to find if there was any opportunity for selling shoes, and they wrote telegrams back to Manchester. And one of them wrote, "Situation hopeless. Stop. They don't wear shoes." And the other one wrote, "Glorious opportunity. They don't have any shoes yet."(Laughter)

Now, there's a similar situation in the classical music world, because there are some people who think that classical music is dying. And there are some of us who think you ain't seen nothing yet.And rather than go into statistics and trends, and tell you about all the orchestras that are closing, and the record companies that are folding, I thought we should do an experiment tonight -- an experiment.Actually, it's not really an experiment, because I know the outcome.

But it's like an experiment. Now, before we --(Laughter) -- before we start, I need to do two things. One is I want to remind you of what a seven-year-old child sounds like when he plays the piano.Maybe you have this child at home. He sounds something like this. (Piano) I see some of you recognize this child. Now, if he practices for a year and takes lessons, he's now eight and he sounds like this. (Piano) Then he practices for another year and takes lessons -- now he's nine. (Piano) Then he practices for another and takes lessons -- now he's 10. (Piano) At that point, they usually give up.(Laughter) (Applause) Now, if you'd waited, if you'd waited for one more year, you would have heard this. (Piano)

Now, what happened was not maybe what you thought, which is, he suddenly became passionate, engaged, involved, got a new teacher, he hit puberty, or whatever it is. What actually happened was the impulses were reduced. You see, the first time, he was playing with an impulse on every note.(Piano) And the second, with an impulse every other note. (Piano) You can see it by looking at my head. (Laughter) The nine-year-old put an impulse on every four notes. (Piano) And the 10-year-old, on every eight notes. (Piano) And the 11-year-old, one impulse on the whole phrase. (Piano)

I know -- I don't know how we got into this position.(Laughter) I didn't say, "I'm going to move my shoulder over, move my body." No, the music pushed me over, which is why I call it one-buttock playing. (Piano) It can be the other buttock. (Piano)You know, a gentleman was once watching a presentation I was doing, when I was working with a young pianist. He was the president of a corporation in Ohio. And I was working with this young pianist and I said, "The trouble with you is you're a two-buttock player. You should be a one-buttock player." And I moved his body like that, while he was playing. And suddenly, the music took off. It took flight. There was a gasp in the audience when they heard the difference. And then I got a letter from this gentleman. He said, "I was so moved. I went back and I transformed my entire company into a one-buttock company." (Laughter)

Now, the other thing I wanted to do is to tell you about you. There are 1,600 people, I believe. My estimation is that probably 45 of you are absolutely passionate about classical music. You adore classical music. Your FM is always on that classical dial. And you have CDs in your car, and you go to the symphony. And your children are playing instruments. You can't imagine your life without classical music. That's the first group; it's quite a small group. Then there's another group, bigger group. These are the people who don't mind classical music. (Laughter) You know, you've come home from a long day, and you take a glass of wine, and you put your feet up. A little Vivaldi in the background doesn't do any harm. (Laughter) That's the second group. Now comes the third group.These are the people who never listen to classical music. It's just simply not part of your life. You might hear it like second-hand smoke at the airport, but --(Laughter) -- and maybe a little bit of a march from "Aida" when you come into the hall. But otherwise, you never hear it. That's probably the largest group of all.

And then there's a very small group. These are the people who think they're tone-deaf. Amazing number of people think they're tone-deaf. Actually, I hear a lot, "My husband is tone-deaf." (Laughter)Actually, you cannot be tone-deaf. Nobody is tone-deaf. If you were tone-deaf, you couldn't change the gears on your car, in a stick shift car. You couldn't tell the difference between somebody from Texas and somebody from Rome. And the telephone. The telephone. If your mother calls on the miserable telephone, she calls and says, "Hello," you not only know who it is, you know what mood she's in. You have a fantastic ear. Everybody has a fantastic ear.So nobody is tone-deaf.

But I tell you what. It doesn't work for me to go on with this thing, with such a wide gulf between those who understand, love and [are] passionate about classical music, and those who have no relationship to it at all. The tone-deaf people, they're no longer here. But even between those three categories, it's too wide a gulf. So I'm not going to go on until every single person in this room,downstairs and in Aspen, and everybody else looking, will come to love and understand classical music. So that's what we're going to do.

Now, you notice that there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that this is going to work if you look at my face, right? It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading to realize whatever he's dreaming. Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, "I have a dream. Of course, I'm not sure they'll be up to it." (Laughter)

All right. So I'm going to take a piece of Chopin. This is a beautiful prelude by Chopin. Some of you will know it. (Music) Do you know what I think probably happened in this room? When I started, you thought, "How beautiful that sounds." (Music) "I don't think we should go to the same place for our summer holidays next year." (Laughter) It's funny, isn't it? It's funny how those thoughts kind of waft into your head. And of course -- (Applause) -- and of course, if the piece is long and you've had a long day, you might actually drift off. Then your companion will dig you in the ribs and say, "Wake up! It's culture!" And then you feel even worse.

But has it ever occurred to you that the reason you feel sleepy in classical music is not because of you, but because of us? Did anybody think while I was playing, "Why is he using so many impulses?" If I'd done this with my head you certainly would have thought it. (Music) And for the rest of your life, every time you hear classical music, you'll always be able to know if you hear those impulses.

So let's see what's really going on here. We have a B. This is a B. The next note is a C. And the job of the C is to make the B sad. And it does, doesn't it?(Laughter) Composers know that. If they want sad music, they just play those two notes. (Music) But basically, it's just a B, with four sads. (Laughter)Now, it goes down to A. Now to G. And then to F. So we have B, A, G, F. And if we have B, A, G, F, what do we expect next? Oh, that might have been a fluke. Let's try it again. Ooh, the TED choir.(Laughter) And you notice nobody is tone-deaf, right? Nobody is. You know, every village in Bangladesh and every hamlet in China -- everybody knows: da, da, da, da -- da. Everybody knows, who's expecting that E.

Now, Chopin didn't want to reach the E there,because what will have happened? It will be over, like Hamlet. Do you remember Hamlet? Act one, scene three, he finds out that his uncle killed his father. You remember, he keeps on going up to his uncle and almost killing him. And then he backs away, and he goes up to him again and almost kills him. And the critics, all of whom are sitting in the back row there, they have to have an opinion, so they say, "Hamlet is a procrastinator." (Laughter) Or they say, "Hamlet has an Oedipus complex." No, otherwise the play would be over, stupid. That's why Shakespeare puts all that stuff in Hamlet -- you know, Ophelia going mad and the play within the play, and Yorick's skull, and the gravediggers.That's in order to delay -- until act five, he can kill him.

It's the same with the Chopin. He's just about to reach the E, and he says, "Oops, better go back up and do it again." So he does it again. Now, he gets excited. (Piano) That's excitement, you don't have to worry about it. Now, he gets to F-sharp, and finally he goes down to E, but it's the wrong chord -- because the chord he's looking for is this one, (Piano) and instead he does ... (Piano) Now, we call that a deceptive cadence, because it deceives us. I always tell my students, "If you have a deceptive cadence, be sure to raise your eyebrows. Then everybody will know." (Laughter) (Applause) Right. So, he gets to E, but it's the wrong chord. Now, he tries E again. That chord doesn't work. Now, he tries the E again. That chord doesn't work. Now, he tries E again, and that doesn't work. And then finally ... (Piano) There was a gentleman in the front row who went, "Mmm." It's the same gesture he makes when he comes home after a long day, turns off the key in his car and says, "Aah, I'm home." Because we all know where home is.

So this is a piece which goes from away to home.And I'm going to play it all the way through and you're going to follow. B, C, B, C, B, C, B -- down to A, down to G, down to F. Almost goes to E, but otherwise the play would be over. He goes back up to B. He gets very excited. Goes to F-sharp. Goes to E. It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord. And finally goes to E, and it's home.And what you're going to see is one-buttock playing. (Laughter) Because for me, to join the B to the E, I have to stop thinking about every single note along the way, and start thinking about the long, long line from B to E.

You know, we were just in South Africa, and you can't go to South Africa without thinking of Mandela in jail for 27 years. What was he thinking about? Lunch? No, he was thinking about the vision for South Africa and for human beings. That's what kept -- this is about vision. This is about the long line.Like the bird who flies over the field and doesn't care about the fences underneath, all right? So now, you're going to follow the line all the way from B to E. And I've one last request before I play this piece all the way through. Would you think of somebody who you adore, who's no longer there?A beloved grandmother, a lover -- somebody in your life who you love with all your heart, but that person is no longer with you. Bring that person into your mind, and at the same time follow the line all the way from B to E, and you'll hear everything that Chopin had to say. (Music) (Applause)

Now, you may be wondering, you may be wondering why I'm clapping. Well, I did this at a school in Boston with about 70 seventh graders, 12-year-olds. And I did exactly what I did with you, and I told them and explained them and the whole thing.And at the end, they went crazy, clapping. They were clapping. I was clapping. They were clapping.Finally, I said, "Why am I clapping?" And one of the little kids said, "Because we were listening."(Laughter) Think of it. 1,600 people, busy people,involved in all sorts of different things, listening, understanding and being moved by a piece by Chopin. Now that is something. Now, am I sure that every single person followed that, understood it, was moved by it? Of course, I can't be sure. But I tell you what happened to me.

I was in Ireland during the Troubles, 10 years ago,and I was working with some Catholic and Protestant kids on conflict resolution. And I did this with them -- a risky thing to do, because they were street kids. And one of them came to me the next morning and he said, "You know, I've never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece ... " (Laughter) He said, "My brother was shot last year and I didn't cry for him.But last night, when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And you know, it felt really good to cry for my brother." So I made up my mind at that moment that classical music is for everybody. Everybody.

Now, how would you walk -- because you know, my profession, the music profession doesn't see it that way. They say three percent of the population likes classical music. If only we could move it to four percent, our problems would be over. I say, "How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be? If you thought, three percent of the population likes classical music, if only we could move it to four percent. How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be? If you thought, everybody loves classical music -- they just haven't found out about it yet." (Laughter) See, these are totally different worlds.

Now, I had an amazing experience. I was 45 years old, I'd been conducting for 20 years, and I suddenly had a realization. The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound. My picture appears on the front of the CD -- (Laughter) -- but the conductor doesn't make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful. And that changed everything for me. It was totally life changing. People in my orchestra came up to me and said, "Ben, what happened?" That's what happened. I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people. And of course, I wanted to know whether I was doing that. And you know how you find out? You look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it.You could light up a village with this guy's eyes.(Laughter) Right. So if the eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question. And this is the question: who am I being, that my players' eyes are not shining?We can do that with our children, too. Who am I being, that my children's eyes are not shining?That's a totally different world.

Now, we're all about to end this magical, on-the-mountain week, and we're going back into the world. And I say, it's appropriate for us to ask the question, who are we being as we go back out into the world? And you know, I have a definition of success. For me, it's very simple. It's not about wealth and fame and power. It's about how many shining eyes I have around me.

So now, I have one last thought, which is that it really makes a difference what we say -- the words that come out of our mouth. I learned this from a woman who survived Auschwitz, one of the rare survivors. She went to Auschwitz when she was 15 years old, and her brother was eight, and the parents were lost. And she told me this, she said,"We were in the train going to Auschwitz, and I looked down and saw my brother's shoes were missing. And I said, 'Why are you so stupid, can't you keep your things together for goodness' sake?' " The way an elder sister might speak to a younger brother. Unfortunately, it was the last thing she ever said to him, because she never saw him again. He did not survive. And so when she came out of Auschwitz, she made a vow. She told me this. She said, "I walked out of Auschwitz into life and I made a vow. And the vow was, I will never say anythingthat couldn't stand as the last thing I ever say." Now, can we do that? No. And we'll make ourselves wrong and others wrong. But it is a possibility to live into. Thank you. (Applause) Shining eyes, shining eyes. Thank you, thank you. (Music)

Schubart - Characteristics of Musical Keys

2011-11-19T23:24:00.001-08:00

Pictured to the left is Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart - a German poet. He wrote a particular book called, "Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst" (Ideas on the Aesthetic of Music). This book contains his opinion on musical key characteristics and I found his descriptions of the keys rather intriguing. Though I questions whether these descriptions of keys hold true throughout the entirety of music or at least through the life of Schubart. Here is the listing of each key and the characteristics they hold as translated by Musicologist Rita Steblin.

Edit (11.21.11): I'll be looking exclusively at Schubert's art songs first. Schubart is also the poet who wrote the text for the famous, "Die Forelle." I also realized there was no description for E minor???

Pieces in bold are pieces that I think represent the key as it is described. Though, when listening to these pieces, one should keep in mind the key centers at are closely related to these keys as well. For example in C major - you should keep the IV, V and VI harmonies in mind as they are common key centers to modulate to. I also realize that some of these pieces maybe the transposed form of the pieces, but it was due to the fact that there was no good recording of the original key on youtube.

Text Translations for Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin.
Text Translations for Schubert's Winterreise
Text Translations for Schubert's Schwanengesang

Edit (12.20.11): Noticed I was missing more keys... C#/Db minor, and E minor (already mentioned)...

C major - Completely pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity, naïvety, children's talk.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 3. Halt!
- 8. Morgengruß
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 12. Am Meer
- Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel
- 8. Bright is the Ring of Words

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 846
- Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 870
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 1 Prelude in C major

C minor - Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. All languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 14. Der Jäger
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 4. Erstarrung
- 10. Rast
- 13. Der Greise Kopf
- 14. Die Krähe
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 2. Kriegers Ahnung
- 11. Die Stadt
- Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel
- 1. The Vagabond
- 5. In Dreams

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847
- Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 871
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 20: Prelude in C minor

C#?/Db major - A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot laugh, but it can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its crying.--Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought out in this key.

Examples:
- Fauré's 2 Songs, Op. 83
- 2. Soir
- Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel
- 3. The Roadside Fire

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C# major, BWV 848
- Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C# minor, BWV 872

D major - The key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 11. Mein!
- 17. Im Dorfe

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D major, BWV 850
- Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D major, BWV 874
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 5: Prelude in D major

D minor - Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humours brood.

Examples:
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 1. Gute Nacht
- 18. Der Stürmiche Morgen
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 4. Ständchen
- Vaughan Williams' Song of Travel
- 6. The Infinite Shining Heaven
- 9. I have Trod the Upward and Downward Slope

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 6 in D minor, BWV 851
- Prelude and Fugue No. 6 in D minor, BWV 875
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 24: Prelude in D minor

D#/Eb minor - Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depression, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key.

Examples:
- Fauré's 2 Songs, Op. 83
- Prison

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in Eb minor, BWV 853
- Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in D# minor, BWV 877
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 14: Prelude in Eb minor

Eb major - The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God.

Examples:
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 13. Die Post
- 16. Letzte Hoffnung
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 7. Abschied
- Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel
- 7. Wither must I Wander

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 7 in Eb major, BWV 852
- Prelude and Fugue No. 7 in Eb major, BWV 876
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 19: Prelude in Eb major

E major - Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight lies in E Major.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 20. Des Baches Wiegenlied
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 5. Der Lindenbaum

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 9 in E major, BWV 854 - Especially the Fugue
- Prelude and Fugue No. 9 in E major, BWV 878
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 9: Prelude in E major

F major - Complaisance & calm.

Examples:
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 20. Das Wirthaus

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 11 in F major, BWV 856
- Prelude and Fugue No. 11 in F major, BWV 880

- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 23: Prelude in F major

F minor - Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave.

Examples:
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 3. Gefror'ne Tränen

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 12 in F minor, BWV 857
- Prelude and Fugue No. 12 in F minor, BWV 881 - Mostly the prelude
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 18: Prelude in F minor

F# major - Triumph over difficulty, free sigh of relief uttered when hurdles are surmounted; echo of a soul which has fiercely struggled and finally conquered lies in all uses of this key.

Examples:

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F# major, BWV 858
- Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F# major, BWV 882

F# minor - A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language.

Examples:
- Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel
- 2. Let Beauty Awake (F# Dorian)

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 14 in F# minor, BWV 859
- Prelude and Fugue No. 14 in F# minor, BWV 883
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 8: Prelude in F# minor

G major - Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by this key.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 2. Wohin?
- 4. Danksagung an den Bach
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 1. Liebesbotschaft
- 14. Taubenpost
- Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel
- 4. Youth and Love

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in G major, BWV 860
- Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in G major, BWV 884
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 3: Prelude in G major

G minor - Discontent, uneasiness, worry about a failed scheme; bad-tempered gnashing of teeth; in a word: resentment and dislike.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 15. Eifersucht und Stolz
- 19. Der Müller und der Bach
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 8. Rückblick
- 20. Der Wegweiser
- 22. Mut
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 8. Der Atlas

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 16 in G minor, BWV 861
- Prelude and Fugue No. 16 in G minor, BWV 885
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 22: Prelude in G minor

Ab major - Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius.

Examples:
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 10. Das Fischermädchen

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 17 in Ab major, BWV 862
- Prelude and Fugue No. 17 in Ab major, BWV 886
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 17: Prelude in Ab major

G#?/Ab minor - Grumbler, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament, difficult struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything struggling with difficulty.

Examples:

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in G# minor, BWV 863
- Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in G# minor, BWV 887
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 12: Predlue in G# minor

A major - This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 7. Ungeduld
- 9. Des Müllers Blumen
- 10. Tränenregen
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 11. Frühlingstraum
- 19. Täuschung
- 23. Die Nebensonnen

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 19 in A major, BWV 864
- Prelude and Fugue No. 19 in A major, BWV 888
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 7: Prelude in A major

A minor - Pious womanliness and tenderness of character.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 5. Am Feierabend
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 2. Die Wetterfahne
- 24. Der Leiermann

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
  - Prelude and Fugue No. 20 in A minor, BWV 865
  - Prelude and Fugue No. 20 in A minor, BWV 889
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
   - No. 2: Prelude in A minor

Bb major - Cheerful love, clear conscience, hope aspiration for a better world.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 1. Das Wandern
- 12. Pause
- 13. Mit dem grünen Lautenbande
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 3. Das Fischermädchen

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 21 in Bb major, BWV 866
- Prelude and Fugue No. 21 in Bb major, BWV 890

- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 21: Prelude in Bb major

Bb minor - A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide sounds in this key.

Examples:
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 9. Irrlicht
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 9. Ihr Bild

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
  - Prelude and Fugue No. 22 in Bb minor, BWV 867
  - Prelude No. 22 in Bb minor, BWV 891
  - Fugue No. 22 in Bb minor, BWV 891
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 16: Prelude in Bb minor

B major - Strongly coloured, announcing wild passions, composed from the most glaring coulors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every burden of the heart lies in its sphere.

Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 6. Der Neugierige
- 17. Die böse Farbe

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
- Prelude and Fugue No. 23 in B major, BWV 868
- Prelude and Fugue No. 23 in B major, BWV 892
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 11: Prelude in B major

B minor - This is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting ones's fate and of submission to divine dispensation.
Examples:
- Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin
- 16. Die Liebe Farbe
- Schubert's Winterreise
- 12. Einsamkeit
- Schubert's Schwanengesang
- 6. In der Ferne
- 13. Der Doppelgänger

- Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
  - Prelude No. 23 in B minor, BWV 869
  - Fugue No. 23 in B minor, BWV 869
  - Prelude and Fugue No. 24 in B minor, BWV 893
- Chopin's Op. 28, 24 Preludes
- No. 6: Prelude in B minor

So I pose a question to you, informed musicians. What do you think of these descriptions. I will be investigating these over the course of the next several days and will be updating this post as I go...

Edit (11.21.11): Added all pieces of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin under their appropriate keys.

Edit (11.25.11): Added all pieces of Schubert's Winterreise and Schwanengesang, Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel, and Fauré's Two Songs, Op. 83

Edit (12.20.11): Added Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 & 2

Final Fantasy Suite for Guitar and Violin

2011-11-17T11:36:00.001-08:00

So in my final semester at Sac State, a friend and fellow guitarist, Mike Silva, asked me to make an arrangement of "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy X for guitar. I instead wanted to make a small suite out of the piece for small ensemble which included guitar. I only wish I had more time to prepare and transcribe all the music I wanted to put into the piece. I'm going to take some time to talk about the compositional choices I made in arranging this music for guitar and violin.

In arranging for a suite with all Final Fantasy music, I had to keep in mind what pieces I wanted to use and what their instrumentations were. I was hoping to do a trio or quartet so I could include more color, but due to time and ease of rehearsing, I limited the ensemble to a duet. I decided on violin with guitar due to two of the pieces I selected to potentially use which I'll explain later.

Mike obviously wanted "To Zanarkand" which is originally for piano. So transcribing that for guitar violin would be relatively easy. I felt including a battle theme would be most appropriate because you spend most of your time in battles in these games so the music is familiar to most final fantasy fans. I had a preference toward Final Fantasy VII's battle theme, but I felt I need more instrumental color to pull off an arrangement of that battle theme - though quite frankly, any of the battle themes would have called for more instrumental color. So instead I decided to choose either FFVIII or X's battle themes since I had piano arrangements of the pieces already. After much deliberation, there was only one spot in VIII's battle theme that I felt I'd be missing one of the lines off of what I was envisioning in comparison to the several different colors I would be missing from various parts of FF X's battle theme. So I selected FF VIII's battle theme "Don't Be Afraid."

I felt two more pieces would be good to add and I wanted them to feel more idiomatic for both instruments. So an obvious choice that came to mind was FF X's "Sight of Spira" which is for two guitars and at a more upbeat tempo. So with going for a overall structure of slow-fast-slow-fast piece, I needed a slower piece. I felt this format would be good for the overal flow to prevent the piece from feeling slow all the time and fast on certain occasions.

There were a few options to select for slower pieces, but I ended up choosing "Fragments of Memories" from FF VIII and I decided to use it as an opportunity to thin out the texture with chords on the guitar and pizzicato violin.

At the end of the blog, I'll put all the pieces I almost decided to use for the arrangement.

In the arranging of "To Zanarkand," I the underlying harmonies to be one of the more important aspects in the piece as it has some of the richer harmonies and progressions in the four pieces I selected. So I wanted to utilize those harmonies between strummed harmonies on the guitar and double stops on the violin. If I had another shot at rearranging this particular movement, I would try to voice some of the richer harmonies with wider spacing to give more emphasis since most of the harmonies are much closer in voicing. In this arrangement, the harmony seems sparse and the counterpoint is more prominent. Perhaps a better improvement would be strumming the chord on the chord changes and then arpeggiate the harmony. Also in the recorded performance on youtube, no double stops were done by the violin even though I had some written in. I actually liked the thin texture, but if I were put in repeat signs to return back to the beginning of the main theme, I would then require the improvements I listed above.

In arranging, "Don't Be Afraid," I felt the driving rhythm in the bass keeps the piece together and I felt in the only recording of this piece that Mike did a good job of keeping the tempo moving forward. My only changes would probably be more articulation in order to bring out the bass rhythm in the guitar. Also in the original piece, the beginning has a bunch of fast melodic lines that I should have had the violin do instead of having the violin contribute to the bass movement. In general, I was the most pleased with my arrangement of this piece.

For "Fragments of Memories," I believed the simple counterpoint between the bass and melody line to be the most important as it was the sharpest contrast between the rhythmic, "Don't Be Afraid." However, Mike brought the idea from his teacher of adding in strummed harmonies and I thought that added quite a bit. So in general, I wish I ornamented the counterpoint a bit for the guitar especially since this is the piece the guitar actually has the melody over the violin which maintains the bass line. I did however like the the guitar over the pizzicato of the violin.

When arranging, "Sight of Spira," I deemed the the general groove of the piece to be the most important since it is significantly different in style from the previous three. I really liked the start of the pizzicato for violin and guitar, but I ended up switching the violin to be bowing the melody which I is where I thought the whole feel that I thought I established for the piece was lost. So if I did get a chance to have this played again, I would definitely ask for more sections to be pizzicato if not the whole thing to get the feeling that two guitars are playing even though its guitar and violin. Perhaps in the B section of the piece I would switch the violin to bowing the melody because its is much more lyrical there. Unfortunately, this was the least pleased with this arrangement.

With my long analysis of my compositional process, here is the final product of the first performance of this arrangement. Mike Silva is the guitarist and Paolo Reyes is the violinist.

Here is a listing of the pieces that almost made it to the final cut for this arrangement and a playlist of the pieces in order:

FFVI - Terra's Theme
FFVI - Celes's Theme

FFVII - Aerith's Theme
FFVII - Fighting - Normal Battle Theme
FFVII - Still More Fighting - Boss Battle Theme
FFVII - J-E-N-O-V-A
FFVII - Overworld Theme
FFVII - Gold Saucer
FFVII - Interrupted by Fireworks
FFVII - Prelude
FFVII - Ahead on our Way

FFVIII - Ami
FFVIII - Balamb Garden
FFVIII - Breezy
FFVIII - Drifting
FFVIII - Fisherman's Horizon
FFVIII - Man with a Machine Gun
FFVIII - The Oath
FFVIII - Roses and Wine

FFIX - Aloha de Chocobo
FFIX - Beatrix & Steiner Battle Theme
FFIX - Los of Me - Beatrix's Theme
FFIX - Eiko's Theme
FFIX - Freya's Theme
FFIX - Border Village Dali
FFIX - The Place I'll Return to Someday
FFIX - The Secret Library Daguerreo
FFIX - Vamo' Alla Flamenco

FFX - Besaid Island
FFX - Lulu's Theme
FFX - Normal Battle Theme
FFX - Rikku's Theme
FFX - Suteki da ne

Current plans

2011-11-12T01:40:00.001-08:00

So I thought I would update on my current situation and plans to come since I've been gone for such a long time.

I did manage to complete my degree at California State University: Sacramento. So I finally have a degree in music theory/composition and as a result I'm looking into graduate schools for further enrichment in composition.

The only two schools on my radar at the moment are University of California: Los Angeles and University of Southern California. I didn't have any concrete plans to go outside of California, but perhaps if I do not get into these school by next fall, I will start looking out of state. I'm making a trip down to Los Angeles next week to visit both universities and meet with as many teachers as I can to get an idea of the schools. I suppose meeting the faculty before turning in my application would do me some good too in order to distinguish me from people they have never met before.

Many of my friends and colleagues have poked the idea at obtaining my masters degree in a different area in music. One such area would be conducting, since I have distinguished myself at school as a student conductor - albeit only in chamber works. However, I'm skeptical of my actual ability since conducting is so much more than just waving your hands around in pattern and occasionally pointing to someone to come in. Some of the requirements for the masters conducting application seemed beyond my resources. Schools want videos of me conducting large ensembles (preferably the one I'm the most interested in conducting) in performance and in rehearsal. Which is understandable, but I don't think everyone knows or respects me enough to offer assistance to me in recording a rehearsal. I also have several instances of me conducting chamber works at Sacramento State, but these wouldn't count.

So lets say, I manage to get a video in and complete the application in and by chance, I get through the pre-screen and at the audition. I would have to stand up in front of the ensemble of my choosing (probably orchestra since that is the most interesting to me) and conduct them on pieces that I may or may not know. Upon talking with a teacher of mine about obtaining a degree in conducting, I was informed that those who wanted to be conductors knew they wanted to be a conductor long before they entered college. I realize that there may be some rare instances that might defy that statement, but I generally think that is true. I became a conductor by sheer coincidence that I was willing to do it and I had some experience prior to entering college. If I knew I wanted to be a conductor, I probably would have been score studying every single day and vigorously finding my own opportunities to conduct.

I've had some friends say, "You should conduct wind ensembles." Unfortunately, I have little interest in the repertoire for wind ensembles. Though I would like to clarify that I do not hate wind ensembles, I did spend my high school music career in wind bands so I can't hate them. There was just a lot of repertoire that I didn't care for at all and very few things that I thought were great pieces of music. Other friends say, "Why not conduct choirs?" Sure, as far as ensembles are concerned, I have had the most experience in choirs - both small and large. Also, as far as repertoire is concerned, I know the choral repertoire the best. Though, I run in the same problem as I stated - there is still lots of repertoire I don't know. In this sense, I don't feel I'm suited for this "level." I haven't been studying music to know repertoire - my focus as a composer was to understand techniques, style, and idiomatic writing.

So I'm aiming for composition for graduate school, but the dream has always to compose for video games. Though I would say that in recent years, I have developed an interest for film scoring. So what about applying for the film scoring programs at UCLA or USC? My problem is once again with the requirements. If there is one thing as a composer that I lack knowledge of - it is the use of electronic music in the composition process. There are so many MIDI programs that people can use that I have limited knowledge of. I suppose I could treat them similarly to Finale where I actually got the program and used it for years and years until I learned it, but I don't think I have that kind of time before graduate school if I were to get in.

So for now, I'm applying as a composition major. Its easier this way as it is what I feel the most comfortable with. So we'll see about these visits on Tuesday.

Right now, I'm working on getting my facebook composer page up to speed and a youtube channel up and running as well. Both links to these locations can be found right above the blog archive on the right side of the page. Please check them out if you get a chance.

Furthermore, I'm thinking of doing blogs on each one of my pieces and talk about construction and difficulties I had with the composition itself. I'll still be doing as much as I can on this blog and hopefully I won't run out of steam like I have the previous few times.

DubFX - Electronic Music and Looping

2011-11-10T00:37:00.000-08:00

Today, I wanted to post some music up, but I didn't feel like doing anything classical in particular... So I'll give this a shot.

So one of the things that I wish I had a stronger grasp of throughout my academic career is the use of electronic in music ranging from the composition of music using electronic mediums or the use of of electronic music in a live setting.

For this post, I'm just going to focus one particular aspect of electronic music that interests me highly - looping. Looping is recording a sound or phrase to be looped over and over again as an ostinato or repeating figure. These sounds or phrases are called, "samples." You can record several of these samples and place them on top of each other and then place music on top of that. You can also alter the sounds of these samples through altering MIDI data or altering the sample through other devices. DJs use looping to create music genres like hip hop, drum and bass, and techno.

Despite a DJ being able to prep these samples beforehand, there are some artists out there who actually make, alter, and loop samples in front of live audiences. There are several musicians who do this and amaze me at what they can do in so little time with the equipment they have, thus earning my respect as a composer who spends weeks or months trying to complete several minutes of music.

One such artist is DubFX, an Australian who I first found a few years ago on youtube performing in the streets of Europe. DubFX creates his original works by singing samples to loop and alter with electronics. A fair amount of his music is quite attractive to my ear.

Below, I've created a playlist of some of his works that he recorded himself doing live a few years back:

There are other really famous musicians who also do live looping such as Beardyman and Zoë Keating, but perhaps I will get to them at some point in another post.

Here is DubFX's main site should you choose to take look further into his music.

The Uncertainty of a Poet

2011-11-09T00:52:00.000-08:00

So I've been brewing with ideas for compositions for a while since I haven't been writing a whole lot lately. Vincent Antolini, a bass player at Sac State, asked me about writing him a piece for bass for his recital. I'm pretty open to the idea of writing for bass though there are some things that come to mind when I think about writing for the instrument:

- Some of the bass concerti I have listened to before, have lines that could also be easily done on cello (yes, I know up and octave and perhaps some changes here and there - but in general, this is true). But arguably, some of these lines are sometimes amazing feats of ability.
- I fear featuring it in a chamber setting since it lacks the volume to carry over some instruments (though, it really depends on how well you write for the ensemble to bring out the instruments you want)
- The upper registers of the bass are thin and weak in sound and intonation can be sketchy from player to player.

Which leads me to the thoughts of perhaps trying out much more modern techniques on the bass than just the pizzicato and bowing... yes, I'm talking about tapping, using a timpani mallet, maybe some col legno battuto, vocals, electronics, et al. I'm thinking of pairing the bass up with a percussionist and trying that out... its all still int he brainstorm phase, but I thought I might show a concept I might try out.

As perhaps an attempt to try something else, I decided to try a more unusual text to perhaps fuel the music for a piece for bass. I've run into this text a few times, usually through choral settings that I have heard. The poet is Wendy Cope and she is a contemporary English poet. The title of the poem is "The Uncertainty of a Poet" which plays with two sentences by changing the word order each time. I believe this poems is based of the picture shown in this post by Giorgio de Chirico. Here is the poem:

I am a poet.
I am very fond of bananas.

I am bananas.
I am very fond of a poet.

I am a poet of bananas.
I am very fond.

A fond poet of 'I am, I am'-
Very bananas.

Fond of 'Am I bananas?
Am I?'-a very poet.

Bananas of a poet!
Am I fond? Am I very?

Poet bananas! I'am.
I am fond of a 'very.'

I am of very fond bananas.
Am I a poet?

Of course, perhaps a video might make more sense of it?

Wendy Cope - The Uncertainty Of The Poet by poetictouch

Wagner's Siegfried with the Metropolitan Opera

2011-11-07T23:51:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of watching a live broadcast of Wagner's Siegfried. It was truly an amazing experience to watch this production of the Ring Cycle. I've also had the pleasure of seeing their productions of first and second operas of the series: Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. Truly amazing pieces of work.

Perhaps at some point, I'll talk about some of my favorite portions of the music and opera, but I'd like to encourage those who haven't seen a a portion of the Ring Cycle to try it out if you think you have stamina to last the entire opera. Particularly the Met's production. You'll have one final chance to see the final chapter of the Ring in this production on Feb. 11, 2012. The cast is amazing and stage was produced by someone who has worked with Cirque du Soleil.

I am definitely going to buying this series on DVD when it is released... despite it going to cost me lots and lots of money.

If you haven't seen it yet, PLEASE DO!

Here are some highlights:

My return

2011-11-07T23:36:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'm back again... hopefully this time I'll be a bit more consistent, but I'm applying for graduate schools, looking into the JET program, and studying Japanese pretty exclusively these days...

Perhaps I'll get some stuff up here soon. I'm working on my recital recordings and uploading them on youtube. Perhaps soon I'll have a more developed youtube channel.

Till later...

Richard Wagner - The Ring Cycle

2010-10-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

So, I have the privilege to be attending a "class" on the entirety of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle). In his attempts to remain organized, the instructor running the whole class, Leo Eylar, has set up a website (Click here to go to it) with any and all information on this monumental combination of works.

I'm posting this for those who may be interested in attending or for those who aren't able to attend, but are still interested in checking out the material. Everything will probably be posted online. I may also do my own posts on this work as I'm learning, but for the moment, I'll let those interested to go to the site themselves.

Happy reading!

Link to the site is here!

Programmatic Music vs. Absolute Music

2010-09-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

There are pretty much two styles of music that we encounter in our studies and performance practice throughout our entire collection of musical repertoire. These two styles are known as Programmatic Music and Absolute Music.

Programmatic music is a style of music that needs some sort of extra, non-musical material to give information to the audience that will enhance their listening experience. This information could be in the form of the title of the music work or in the program notes of the musical performance. Programmatic music tends to be based on poems, paintings, or events and the music is sometimes accompanied by pictures, text, and dancing. Program music is also a term used for instrumental music with the absence of a vocalist or text (which leaves things like art songs and opera out).

Though there are early examples of programmatic music, this style flourished most in the romantic era in the form of tone poems. Examples of program music are pieces like "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi, "Symphonie Fantastique" by Hector Berlioz, "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saëns, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas, and "Don Quixote" by Richard Strauss

Absolute Music, in contrast, is music that is able to stand on its own without any outside sources because it makes sense without the non-musical ideas. In some opinions, the extra ideas which are thought to enhance the listeners' experience actually detract from the listening experience. In a sense, absolute music is "pure music." Examples of this style are most symphonies and piano sonatas of the classical era and several symphonies in the romantic era.

The reason I'm discussing these two styles is because I've been only composing programmatic music. I'm not sure whether I would say that I've done it intentionally, but I've certainly found it much easier to write. When I have a concept to depict, I find that the music tends to write itself and I'm able to pour out works (whether they are of high quality for my skills as a composer or not) at a reasonable rate. I'm proven to myself that I can write or expand a musical idea till it runs dry and switch to a different idea to continue my piece. However, this has also proven to be a rather dangerous approach to writing music for myself after seeing the results in duration for my wind quintet, Godai (20-25 minutes in duration) and my brass quintet, Mimi-nashi Hoichi (15-20 minutes in duration).

I'm now being challenged to write absolute music and the music I'm working on now (Viola, Oboe, and Clarinet) is being assessed as absolute music even though I've started it with a programmatic concept. I'm not sure how this piece I'm working on or the pieces to follow will work out. Though I have established for myself that I agree that any musical work should be able to stand on its own without extra material.

So I open these questions to the reader: Programmatic Music or Absolute Music? Should all music be able to stand on its own? Does non-musical material detract from music?

Facebook

2010-09-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how I probably spend more time on Facebook than I do on here, I figured I would post state that I'm working on my own Facebook page. So you might be able to follow me on Facebook instead if you so choose.

Though, much like this - I might be horrible at updating the Facebook page. BUT I'm trying!

Just type "Jason Pano" in the search function and you should find me...

Rhythm

2010-09-23T16:32:00.001-07:00

So the past two years, I've been receiving wonderful feedback on my own compositional process from Dr. Stephen Blumberg, Leo Eylar, my fellow composers, and various classes at CSUS. At the moment, I find that I have managed to develop strong skills in instrumental scoring (and perhaps vocal writing as well) and harmonic writing. My melodic writing is reasonable.

However I'm beginning to question certain aspects of my compositions that are now in need of improvement. I've narrowed down one that I have decided to dedicate time to based on my analysis of my recent brass quintet and wind quintet and my recent comments in my composition lesson. The aspect of my writing I'm referring to is my rhythmic writing.

My rhythmic writing is quite lacking and I don't know how I plan on working to improve this particular skill. Personally, I believe that I can build complex music with simple units of of music - using harmony and counterpoint to create a thicker sound. However, because of this belief, I give little attention toward my rhythmic writing.

So, with that in mind, I open a question to my fellow musicians (and non-musicians, if you feel so inclined). What about rhythm makes music? What about rhythm attracts the ear? What kind of music should I be listening to? I feel the answers to these questions might assist me in developing a skill that I need to devote time to.

My return to the blog

2010-09-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

I'm absolutely horrible at maintaining a blog or a period of time. I hope to start working on this and maintaining it again.

I am currently back in full swing on the fall semester and I find myself with a whole slew of projects that I want to do.

My newest and most current work is on a proposal presented to me the previous semester by one of the school's viola players. This particular player was participating in a chamber music ensemble with a clarinetist and oboist and prospected me for the possibility for a composition. So I'm currently working on another programatic piece for that trio that I hope to have done in the very near future.

I'm also re-working my brass quintet, "Mimi-nashi Hoichi" which was mentioned in my last post in April. I'm studying with composition with Leo Eylar and I'm getting wonderful comments on how I can improve my piece. I hope to enter this quintet in this Fall's Festival of New American Music Student Composer Competition. So I hope to improve the effectiveness of the music in the work within the next few weeks so that my players can work on the new parts.

I hope in the near future to reduce my wind quintet, "Godai" down to half it's duration (maybe not possible, but at the very least shorten the piece) as I feel that the duration takes much from what I've done musically. That will be a very hard process, but I feel its going to be necessary to improve the work.

As far as future works, I'm definitely not writing any multi-movement works for the remainder of my undergraduate studies. I don't want my senior composition recital to be an hour in duration, but only three or four works. I want to write a string piece whether that be for string quartet or quintet or even orchestra, but we shall see the results of that.

Though I generally write programatic music by choice as I find it easier to write when I have a concept backing my creative mind, I 'm being challenged to write absolute music. Absolute music is music which is able to make sense standing alone without words or pictures to help you understand. In essence, absolute music is the complete opposite from programatic music.

Another piece that I'm prospecting a choral piece to work on this winter break. The piece is intended for West Valley Community College Singers directed by one of my good friends and former teacher Lou De La Rosa (West Valley Community College's Choral Program Website is here). I'm looking forward to the possibility of having my old community college perform one of my pieces. The concept and text has yet to be figured out.

On a non-musical note, I am on track to graduate this upcoming spring so I'm beginning to prepare for my senior recital. I'm quite excited for the completion of my degree.

More to come soon... hopefully.

Update

2010-04-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

So once again, I've spent some time away from this blog to make sure I got work for school and my compositions. So I'm back to update a bit about what has happened since the last time I've posted.

Currently, CSU: Sacramento's Liberace Quintet is rehearsing my wind quintet, "Godai." (五大) and they will be performing it twice at the end of this semester on May 6th and May 13th at 4 PM at CSUS in Room 151 of Capistrano Hall. I've been sitting in on rehearsals and listening in and I'm really excited for this piece. I'll write a blog on this piece when the performance date gets closer.

I mentioned in a previous post that I entered my wind quintet into the Morton Gould Young Composer's Competition. I got my piece back in the mail with a letter stating that I did not wind earlier this month. Perhaps next year - though I'll definitely be trying for whatever other competitions that ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) have to offer as long as I continue to qualify for them.

Last Monday, my brass quintet, "Mimi-nashi Hoichi" (耳なし芳) premiered on Robert Murray's Senior Tuba Recital. Performers that night were Vinnie Giarruso and Joel Ducore on trumpet, Steve Bingen on Horn, Will Fihaki on Trombone, Robert Murray on Tuba, and myself conducting. I was very pleased with the performance and I hope to have a recording in my possession soon. I will post a blog very soon (and by very soon, I mean in a while) about Mimi-nashi Hoichi.

Earlier this month, I performed a minor role in CSUS's opera production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (or otherwise known as "The Magic Flute"). Though it was a very stressful and sometimes frustrating rehearsal process, we managed to pull off the opera. I'm pleased to say that production is off my back.

More excerpts came in from Ruth Friedberg's book. So I'm hoping to finish off the last of the excerpts this weekend so I can finally say I'm done with the whole project. For those wondering about the project - click here for the blog on that.

My next piece is going to be a solo voice, piano and another instrument that I have yet to determine. It will utilize a Robert Graves' poem "Lift Boy." I'm still sketching it out still so there isn't much to talk about this piece yet.

In other non-music related news, I've filed my petition to graduate and next semester I'll be meeting up with a degree evaluator to see if I'm indeed still on track to graduate in the spring of 2011. I'm definitely excited for that, as I'm sure many of my friends and family are.

This summer, I'll also be looking into the application process for JET (Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme). This program is sponsored by the Japanese government and they pay for foreigners to come and teach their language in Japan for a year - up to five years. If I'm informed correctly, next year, Japan will be requiring schools to teach English - therefore making this job highly stable. I'm looking forward to this experience if I manage to get in.

Until whenever I post again...

Debussy - String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10

2010-03-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

Claude Debussy - Composer
1862 - 1918

Debussy is a French Symbolist composer who changed approaches to composition for later generations. (I don't plan on going into the history of Debussy much in this post, but if you want to read about it - click here to read the post on Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun where I go further into his history).

As promised, I plan on chatting a bit about Debussy's String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10. (composed in 1893).

This quartet arose during a time shortly after the Franco-Prussian War which gave birth to a love-hate relationship with German music. There were some who were fully embracing Germanic forms (such as the sonata) or traditional ensembles. So Debussy wrote for one of the several small groups of string quartet societies that specialized in the quartets of Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn.

The title was, "First Quartet, in G minor, Op. 10"

Two things should be pointed out about this title - First, none of Debussy's works has an indication of the key of the piece int he title. I find this strange since this goes against Debussy's ideals of conventions. Furthermore, none of Debussy's works have an opus number attached to it either. One might say that a composer with nine other opuses under their belt might be a reasonably developed quartet composer, but I'm not sure if this is what Debussy was intending by adding an opus number.

The quartet was written for and premiered by the Ysaÿe Quartet in 1893 and received mixed reviews.

Some things to keep in mind before listening to the quartet:

Javanese Gamelan Influence - There are times, specifically in the second movement, where multiple levels of rhythmic activity occur. Furthermore, there are times where the harmony is quite static and does move for a while.
The prominent theme stated in the very beginning of the first movement and its development throughout the entire piece and its emphasis on the second beat which messes with any sense of regular harmonic rhythm.
Modal harmonies
Shifting melody and accompaniment with other instruments
Contrasting textures between each movement
Virtuosic pizzicato passages in the second movement
Russian melodic flavor in the third movement (Borodin inspired, maybe?)

Here is a performance of the quartet by the resident string quartet of North Illinois University (NIU), the Avalon Quartet.

Updating

2010-03-01T21:38:00.000-08:00

Greetings those who bother reading =)

So this semester is proving to be much more hectic than last semester so I'll try to get back into blogging. Perhaps smaller blogs this time around but more often?

I recently finished my five movement wind quintet and I'm very proud to say that CSUS's Liberace Quintet will be premiering it at their last concert this semester. The piece is titled, Godai (五大) which means "Five Great" in Japanese. It refers to the philosophy of elements in Japanese Buddhism (more information here, if you are interested). The concept refers to the five elements in this philosophy. Each instrument (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon) represents each one of these elements and has a movement dedicated to each instrument. The element to instrument pairings is as follows -

Wind - 風 (Fuu or Kaze) - Flute
Water - 水 (Sui or Mizu) - Clarinet
Earth - 地 (Chi) - Bassoon
Fire - 火 (Ka) - Horn
Heaven - 天 (Ten) - Oboe

Aside from writing this challenging piece (for myself and the players), I've entered it into the Morton Gould Young Composer's Competition. I don't expect to win, but I've stressed over it and edited the piece enough that I would hope that my piece gets some exposure. I'm looking forward to hearing results.

I've begun writing a brass quintet for Robert Murray's Senior Recital and I hope to be done as soon as possible with it. I've unfortunately begun working on it much later than I think I wanted to, but that is how the cards were dealt for me unfortunately. Nevertheless, I'm hoping to produce quality work.

I'm in the CSUS's production of Die Zauberflöte aka "The Magic Flute." I'll be performing in the chorus and as one of the priests.

I have plans to write another art song for bass voice after the brass quintet. I'll release more information on it later.

I have a few Debussy posts I want to release after I'm done working on them. Expect Debussy's String Quartet in G minor to be up first.

I'm Back!

2009-12-29T23:56:00.000-08:00

Holy smokes! I disappeared for a long time!

Let me give you an update of how thing are doin'.

The Festival of New American Music was pretty good. I didn't get to go to a single composer forum, but I went to several performances. I suppose that makes up for the fact I didn't go to a single performance, but to almost every composer forum last year. Highlights of the festival for me was seeing the Meridian Arts Ensemble. They were a fantastic group and I managed to see what a brass quintet could do with extended techniques.

I didn't win the Student Composer Competition with White Nocturne - and quite frankly, I wasn't expecting to win it. However, it was received well. I look forward to perhaps putting my new works in for the next festival. I did however conduct one of the winning pieces - my friend, Kate Janzen's The Final Hour of Henry Cromwell for Violin, Viola, Cello, Piano, and Percussion (which shared first place with another friend, David Paterson's English Horn Sonata). Needless to say, everything went quite well.

In early November, I ask the conductor of the CSUS Symphony Orchestra, Leo Eylar, if I could conduct my arrangement of Prokofiev's Sarcasms and he allowed me to do so. So I rehearsed with the orchestra once a week for about 15 minutes throughout November and conducted the performance of it in early December.

Also in December, I managed to do well on my performance for the Baroque Opera Scenes for Opera Theatre. I was Aeneas for a brief scene in the second act of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

I managed to land my first paid gig out in Sacramento with the Academy at All Hallows singing in the chorus and a solo in Handel's Messiah. I sang No. 40 - Why Do the Nations so Furiously Rage Together. The performance went well, but as usual, I wanted another shot at it. I reckon I'll be performing with them again in the future.

I also auditioned for CSUS's spring production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. I auditioned with the intention of getting the role of Papageno, but I don't have any particular high hopes for it. Regardless, we'll see what happens.

In the world of composition, I have completed three movements out of five of my wind quintet. I'm pleased to say that CSUS's Liberace Quintet will be reading through it. So I'll be finishing the final two movements before school starts so they have the whole work.

Next semester, I have a brass piece lined up for Robert Murray, a tuba player at CSUS. I hope to pull at least a 10 minute piece or so. We'll see what happens. I'm still deciding on whether I want the ensemble to be a brass quintet or tuba with perhaps a saxophone quartet. Either way, I expect the piece to be done by mid-March and premiered in mid-April at Robert's Senior Recital.

Though it has yet to be confirmed whether I will be doing it or not, I may be doing a video game medley for Violin and Piano for another friend, Paolo Reyes' Senior Recital. We'll see what happens here.

Afterwards, I hope to set a poem by Robert Graves. I'll talk about it more when I'm done with all my other work.

By next fall, I hope to start and perhaps complete my first orchestra piece.

Don't worry, I have lots of music I want to talk about! I haven't forgotten!

Current work and the Festival of New American Music

2009-10-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

Thought I would do one more final blog before October ends.

First off, the world premiere of my White Nocturne was quite successful on the 23rd. I would like to thank Sara Haugland and Dr. John Cozza for rehearsing and performing it. It is extremely pleasing to hear one's music performed by human expression and real instruments rather than the midi stuff that I listen to through Finale. I'm proud to say that I'll be sending this composition into the student composer competition during the Festival of New American Music, so I look forward to hearing it performed again.

I've done my final editing on my arrangement of Prokofiev's Sarcasm No. 1. The score and parts have been turned in and now I'm preparing to rehearse and conduct this piece - perhaps starting on this upcoming Thursday. So I'm excited to see this all pan out.

The last thing I want to leave you with is the schedule for the Festival of New American Musc (FeNAM) that happens here every November at CSUS. These time around I'll be much more involved and active at attending concerts and I thought I would post the happenings here since not everything is up on the web quite yet. The festival happens from Thursday, November 5th to Sunday, November 15th.

Thursday, November 5th
Noon - Keynote Address: David Rakowski, composer, "Plus ça change" - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
Noon - In-School Performance: Meridian Arts Ensemble - American River College
8 PM - Gala Performance, broadcast live on Capitol Public Radio - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
Featuring:
- Meridian Arts Ensemble
- Marilyn Nonken - Piano
- E. Michael Richards, Clarinet and Michelle Ko, Flute
- Composers David Rakowski, Richard Festinger, Andrew Rindfleisch, Asha Srinivasan, and Stephen Blumberg
- Works by Stephen Blumberg, Richard Festinger, David MacBride, David Rakowski, Andrew Rindfleisch, David Sanford, Asha Srinivasan

Friday, November 6th
10 AM - In-Class Performance: E. Michael Richards, Clarinet and Michelle Ko, Flute - Capistrano Hall 209, CSUS
10 AM - Composer's Forum: David Rakowski - Capistrano Hall 205, CSUS
11 AM - Composer's Forum: Andrew Rindfleisch - Capistrano Hall 205, CSUS
Noon - Composer's Forum: Asha Srinivasan - Capistrano Hall 205, CSUS
Noon - Master-Class: John Ferrari, Percussion - Capistrano Hall 329, CSUS
Noon - Master-Class: E. Michael Richards, Clarinet - Capistrano Hall 209, CSUS
1 PM - Master-Class: Meridian Arts Ensemble, Brass - Capistrano Hall 143, CSUS
3 PM - Sacramento State New Music Ensemble - University Library Gallery, CSUS
- Works by Mike Crain, George Crumb, Paul Dresher, John Harbison, Sunny Knable, Frederic Rzewski
3:30 PM - In-School performance: Marilyn Nonken, Piano - Rosemont High School
7 PM - Pre-Concert Talk: Composer Andrew Rindfleisch with Stephen Blumberg, Host - Capistrano Hall 151, CSUS
8 PM - Meridian Arts Ensemble - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
Works by Mark Applebaum, Lei Liang, Andrew Rindfleisch, David Sanford

Saturday, November 7th
3 PM - Greg Williams, Guitar and Live Electronic Looping - Capistrano Hall 151, CSUS
Works by Greg Williams
7 PM - Pre-Concert Talk: Composer Asha Srinivasan with Stephen Blumberg, Host - Saint Paul's Episcopal Church
8 PM - Michelle Ko, Flute and E. Michael Richards, Clarinet - Saint Paul's Episcopal Church
Works by Stephen Blumberg, Jane Brockman, Liza Lim, David Macbride, Robert Muczynski, Asha Srinivasan

Sunday, November 8th
7 PM - Pre-Concert Talk: Composer Ross Bauer, with Stephen Blumberg, Host - Capistrano Hall 151, CSUS
8 PM - Empyrean Ensemble - Main Recital Hall
Works by Ross Bauer, Stephen Blumberg, Aaron Copland, Ed Jacobs, Seung-Ah Oh

Monday, November 9th
9:15 AM - In-School Performance: Keith Bohm, Saxophone - Buljan Middle School
10 AM - Composer's Forum: Elizabeth Hoffman - Capistrano Hall 205, CSUS
10:30 AM - In-School Performance: Citywater - Cosumnes River College
11 AM - Composer's Forum: Richard Festinger - Capistrano Hall 205, CSUS
2:30 PM - In-School Performance: Sacramento State Jazz Combo - McClatchy High School
4 PM - Young Festival Performers Master-Class: Marilyn Nonken, Piano - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
7 PM - Pre-Concert Talk: Composers Richard Festinger, Elizabeth Hoffman, David Rakowski, with Stephen Blumberg, Host - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
8 PM - Marilyn Nonken, Piano - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
Works by Drew Baker, Richard Beaudoin, Richard Festinger, Elizabeth Hoffman, David Rakowski, Laurie San Martin

Tuesday, November 10
9 AM - In-School Performance: Greg Williams, Guitar - Sacramento City College
9:15 AM - In-School Performance: Chris Froh, Percussion - Natomas Charter School
10:30 AM - In-Class Performance: Keith Bohm, Saxophone - Capistrano Hall 223, CSUS
Noon - In-School Performance: Citywater - Folsom Lake College
3 PM - Sacramento State Percussion Group, Daniel Kennedy, Director; Percussion Group Davis, Chris Froh, Director - Capistrano Hall 143, CSUS
Works by Steve Reich
8 PM - Citywater - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
Works by Bill Clark, Jefferson Friedman, Sunny Knable

Wednesday, November 11
Veterans Day Holiday No Events

Thursday, November 12
8:30 AM - In-School Performance: Mike Crain, Percussion/Electronics - Del Oro High School
11:30 AM - In-School Perofrmance: Mike Crain, Percussion/Electronics - Sierra College
Noon - Composer's Forum: Stephen Blumberg - Capistrano Hall 209, CSUS
4 PM - Student Artists Performance Competition - Capistrano Hall 151, CSUS
8 PM - Sacramento State Festival Ensemble - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
Works by Stan Beckler, George Crumb, Paul Hayden

Friday November 13
10 AM - In-School Performance: PRISM Quartet - Rio Americano High School
10 AM - In-Class Performance: ETHEL - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
11 AM - Composer Forum: Larry Karush, Piano - Capistrano Hall 151, CSUS
Noon - Composer's Forum: Ross Bauer - Capistrano Hall 205, CSUS
1 PM - Master-Class: Cornelius Dufallo and Mary Rowell, Violin - Capistrano Hall 321, CSUS
1 PM - Master-Class: Dorothy Lawson, Cello - Capistrano Hall 205, CSUS
1 PM Master-Class: Farris, Viola - Capistrano Hall 207, CSUS
1:30 PM - Master-Class: PRISM Quartet - Capistrano Hall 319, CSUS
3 PM - Student Composers Performance Competition - Capistrano Hall 151, CSUS
8 PM - ETHEL - Main Recital Hall
Works by Rick Bates, Don Byron, Anne Clyne, Cornelius Dufallo, Ralph Farris, Daniel Felsenfeld, John King, Dorothy Lawson, Mary Rowell, Julia Wolfe, John Zorn

Saturday, November 14
Noon - Young Festival Performers' Recital - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
3 PM - Larry Karush, Piano - Capistrano Hall 151, CSUS
Works by Larry Karush
8 PM - PRISM Quartet - Main Recital Hall, CSUS
Works by William Albright, William Bolcolm, Martin Bresnick, Donnacha Dennehy, Nick Didkovsky, Roshanne Etezady, Jennifer Higdon, Matthew Levy, Keith Moore, Frank Oteri, Bernard Rands, Tim Ries, Ken Ueno, Gregory Wannamaker

Sunday, November 15
8 PM - Sacramento State Jazz Ensemble, Steve Roach, Director and Sacramento State Jazz Singers, Kerry Marsh, Director, with guest artists Nancy King, Vocals and Steve Christofferson, Piano - Main Recital Hall, CSUS

Drop by if you can, lots of cool stuff going on during these days.

Premiere of "White Nocturne" - Friday, October 23, 2009

2009-10-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

"White Nocturne" Premiered Tomorrow

Beauty in Cacophony Press

2009-10-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was informed that my score and parts for my orchestral arrangement of Prokofiev's Piano piece: Sarcasms Op. 17 No. 1 was completed. The picture to the right features a score and the parts.

I've been featured on Beauty in Cacophony Press's (BCP) Facebook Page and my blog along with it. So I'm placing a blurb on my blog about this new company.

Noah Luna is a relative of mine who is currently finishing up his MM in Composition at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He started this company with the intention of providing a printing company that could provide for the needs of musicians.

As a composer who has had to resort to places like Fedex/Kinkos to print parts and scores, many of these companies don't necessarily understand what is being asked and how it needs to be done. It took me two trips to try and get my score bound correctly at one of these companies and even then they still messed up my scores somehow. However, I have full confidence that BCP is able to get the quality I'm looking for in a reasonable amount of time at a reasonable price.

BCP offers a series of services for the musician ranging from printing, engraving, networking, and graphic design - all at competitive prices.

The website is found here or go to http://www.bcpmusic.org/index.php. I urge you to check it out.

As for the Prokofiev Sarcasms No. 1, it is the hope of myself and the conductor of the CSUS Symphony Orchestra to perform this in December. I will blog the date when it approaches.

However, there is an important date coming up! On Friday, October 23rd at 7 PM in the Music Recital Hall at CSUS - Soprano Sara Haugland with be premiering my "White Nocturne" for voice and piano. She'll be accompanied by Dr. John Cozza. It should be a great performance!

Debussy - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

2009-09-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

Claude Debussy - Composer
1862 - 1918

Debussy was French symbolist composer who changed composition for future 20th century composers.

Now that I'm in yet another 20th century theory class and sitting in on a graduate level 20th century music class, you will probably find me talking about more of these composers and their works.

Debussy is the first composer that I got to study up on this semester in these courses. I'm familiar with several of his works, but have never really delved into the music much.

Debussy was a child prodigy on the piano and in 1872 at age 10, entered the Paris Conservatoire. At the conservatoire, he was able to study under some significant music figures of the era. In comparison to many other composers, Debussy was lucky enough to have an education as rich and fulfilling as he had. Clearly a genius of sorts - but he was argumentative and rebellious.

His attitude was probably set off by several things that happened in his early life. In 1871, his father was imprisoned for his involvement in the Paris Commune. He had a general distant relationship with his mother - who was very severe and cold to him. As a result, he has a general dislike for conventions, procedures, and systems of any kind. In one of his theory classes, he was asked to complete an exercise in 4 part writing and he had to modulate. His response was, "Why should I modulate if I'm perfectly content with the key I'm in." Instances like these cause him to clash with all his teachers.

In 1884, Debussy won the Prix de Rome - which is a competition in several fields (painting, architecture, and music to name a few) that was established in 1803. Every year a winner in each category is selected and is given one to two years of study in Rome, cash stipend for 5 years, fame, and further study in German if desired. Notable composers who have won this prize before include Hector Berlioz, Charles Gounod, Georges Bizet, and Jules Massenet. Debussy's winning piece was his Cantata - L'Enfant Prodigue (The Prodigal Child).

During Debussy's stay in Rome, he became acquainted with pianist and composer, Franz Liszt, who was also in Rome. It was here that Debussy was introduced to early music of composers like Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. As a result, Debussy gained an interest in modal music which became a large part of his music. Much of Liszt's late works influenced Debussy's piano writing and style.

In 1888, Debussy made his first trip to Bayreuth, Germany where got to hear the music of Richard Wagner which began Debussy on a life long fascination with Wagner's music.

In 1889, Debussy was in Paris for the great World Expo (here for information on the 1889 expo). The World Expo is basically a world fair of sorts where countries all around the world are represented in exposing their culture to others. It was here that Debussy was first introduced to the music of Javanese gamelan and where Debussy got his idea of static harmony (where only one harmony is utilized a long period of time, if not the entire time), planar writing (multiple planes of activity at the same time), complex rhythms, non-western scales (pentatonic), and circular form for his compositions. It was also here that Debussy got to hear music of Russian composer, Modest Mussorgsky and his tritone relationships.

Though we consider Debussy to be a impressionist composer, he considered himself to be a symbolist composer. Symbolism was a late 19th century literary movement in which the sound of words were emphasized more than the meaning. Symbolist writers were fond of things like alliteration, onomatopoeia, obscuration, and symbols. As one of my teachers said, "Symbolists dream of a world devoid of time."

So how does this effect music? Debussy utilized several texts of symbolist writers for his works. Maurice Maeterlinck's text was used for his only opera, Pelleas and Melisande. Stéphane Mallarmé's text was used for Afternoon of a Faun - which I will post music and videos of later. Paul Verlaine's text was used in several of Debussy's art songs. Tonal Symbolism where certain keys represent certain ideas were used in Debussy's opera along with a more natural pattern of speech in the recit. I quote from a conversation Debussy was having with one of his instructors on opera: "Music in opera is far too predominant. Too much singing and the musical settings are too cumbersome... singing should be reserved for certain points."

Debussy was not being fond of being labeled or his music be labeled - and did a good job at making it really hard to analyze harmonic progression, motives, and form (not purposely of course). "Music cannot be learned" he states.

So Debussy is important to us as musicians in the 21st century and to me as a composer for some of the following:

Diatonic Saturation or Pandiatonicism - The use of other diatonic scale degrees in chords or extended harmonies.
Tritone relationships - Mussorgsky
Modal Scales - introduced by Liszt
Non-western scales - Whole tone and Pentatonic
Static Harmony - Javanese Gamelan
Chromatic mediants - Wagner
Harmony utilized as pure color -Traditional Western music is heard as emotion toward a directed goal (start somewhere, go somewhere and arrive). Tonality gives that sense of direction to music. However Debussy treats tonality as stationary blocks of static harmony.

Okay how about enough of me talking about history and perhaps move on to some music, hmmmm?

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) - 1894

Afternoon of a Faun is one of Debussy's most famous pieces. The piece is based by a poem with the same name by Stéphane Mallarmé. It was formed into a ballet which was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. The piece is for orchestra, but the instrumentation is rather slim in comparison to most others - 3 Flutes, 2 Oboes, English Horn, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 2 Harps, 2 Crotales, and Strings.

PDF score of the piece can be found here.

The opening flute line is one of the more famous lines and is one of the "motifs" in the piece. The line spans a tritone. If you look at m. 4, where the harp gliss comes in, youll see the E-Bb tritone relationship from m. 4 to the downbeat of m. 5. Tritone relationships are abundant in the piece both in melody and harmony.

Debussy explores shading and color in the orchestration passing the flute motif from instrument to instrument. Debussy uses leitmotifs like Wagner uses in his ring cycle. However, unlike Wagner, Debussy's leitmotifs do not transform.

Array of dynamics are limited - mostly very quiet.

The form, in my opinion, is relatively impossible to figure out.

Debussy used the term Arabesque to describe his music. Arabesque for Debussy describes his ornamentation and complex melodic figuration.

Anyway, thats about all I have to say about this particular piece. Here are some recordings:

This one is a little more fun. One of my professors showed this in class. A little cartoon based on the music.

This recording is another one show to me by the same professor. This is a ballet performance of the piece and is apparently how Vaslav Nijinsky performed it. Debussy apparently went ballistic upon seeing this.

Barber - Summer Music

2009-09-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

Samuel Barber - Composer
1910 - 1981

Samuel Barber is an American composer whose work spans over work includes orchestral, operatic, piano, and vocal works.

Since I'm working on a wind quintet, I decided to start looking for random quintets to hear how other composers utilized the different timbres provided in the ensemble. So far one of the ones I enjoyed was Barber's Summer Music for wind quintet. Though thanks to several resources, I now have lots of quintets to listen to by a variety of composers.

But first, I want to talk to talk about Summer Music.

Summer Music (1956)

Summer Music started out as a commission from the Chamber Music Society of Detroit for Barber to write a piece for strings and woodwinds. This was in 1953. Barber pulled material from previous works for the piece as well as researching with members of the New York Wind Quintet.

For me, the writing for each instrument is fantastic - in every texture and tempo. I do particularly like the fast homo-rhythmic sections. My favorite blend is the horn and bassoon - brass and bassoon tend to blend really well. There was a little of everything used in the piece - trills, double tounging, long phrasing, and counterpoint.

Anyway, here is a recording of the piece by the Ensemble Wien-Berlin with the score.

More good stuff to come - working on more posts.

Update and Future Projects

2009-09-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Goodness, nearly a month since I last posted. I got caught up in several things.

Shortly after my Joe Hisaishi post, I started watching several of the Studio Ghibli films I had yet to see. So I watched several of them and acquired the soundtracks. If you haven't seen many, if any, of their films, you should because they are all quite wonderful.

First of all, school started and its looking to be a very busy semester. I've already shown "White Nocturne" to my composition professor and we will be making minor adjustments as necessary for it to work out. Assuming all goes well, Sara Haugland (Soprano) will be premiering the piece in her senior recital in October and perhaps another performance at the Festival of New American Music in November.

As for new and upcoming projects, after showing my work to one of my former composition instructors at West Valley Community College, it was recommended to me that I should write something fast or faster. Most everything I've written so far as been variations of slow and a change of pace should do me good.

So for my immediate project as of now will be a woodwind quintet. I decided on a woodwind quintet for several reason:

I hope at some point (in the very near future rather) to write an orchestral piece since coming out of my scoring and arranging class. In all areas of the orchestral sections, I'm lacking in experience in writing for and I would deemed it premature to start writing something for orchestra now. I know the least of the woodwind family, so I figure this will be a good place to start.
I like generally playing with timbre. One of the difficulties of writing for a woodwind quintet is the different timbres or combination thereof.
For a fast piece, this ensemble would be good since each instrument is versatile.
There is already a set woodwind quintet on the Sac State campus - The Liberace Quintet

So this is my current work in progress. I think I may have a concept that I will run with, but I won't reveal that quite yet since I'm still mildly unsure.

Hopefully after finishing the quintet, I will work on a tuba piece for Robert Murray, one of the tuba performance majors at Sac State. We talked during the CSUS Chamber Singers' tour to Canada since he was seeking out a piece for his senior recital. So I'm thinking maybe a brass quintet or something. I was going to write the fast piece for tuba and decided against it since it is not the most agile of instruments.

On other news, I think I will be signing on to do more excerpt work for some more money for Ruth Friedberg's book (the old post describing this project is here).

My vocal repertoire this semester includes a modern piece by Dr. James Primosch called, "Bedtime" for voice and piano or voice, flute, and harp. I'll be doing the former if I can manage it. There was no recording on youtube or iTunes that I could get my hands on so I actually had to email Dr. Primosch for a recording. I'm pretty excited for the piece and I may see if I can put it together for the Festival of New American Music and perform it at the Student Artists Competition.

I will endeavor to try and get some of the blog entries that are near completion up so you can see what I've been listening to as of late, but no promises - this is going to be a busy semester.

Joe Hisaishi

2009-08-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

Mamoru Fujisawa
Otherwise known as Joe Hisaishi
1950-
His personal website can be found here.

A Japanese composer and arranger known for his films scores and work with animator, Hayao Miyazaki and Director Takeshi Kitano.

His compositions and arrangements includes genres and sounds which could be described as minimalist, experimental, classical European and Japanese. I have also seen some of his chamber music to utilize traditional Japanese instruments along with the usual Western musical instruments.

He has composed for films created by Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli such as:

風の谷のナウシカ, Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) - 1984
天空の城ラピュタ, Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta (Laputa: Castle in the Sky) - 1986
となりのトトロ, Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) - 1988
魔女の宅急便, Majo no Takkyūbin (Kiki's Delivery Service) - 1989
紅の豚, Kurenai no Buta (Crimson Pig) - 1992
耳をすませば Mimi o Sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart) - 1995
もののけ姫, Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke) - 1997
千と千尋の神隠し, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) - 2001
ハウルの動く城, Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl's Moving Castle) - 2004
崖の上のポニョ, Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Ponyo) - 2008

I personally have yet to listen to his early works where his flavors in minimalism and electronic music are present in his style. I'm much more familiar with his film scores and chamber music. I like his style of music very much and he definitely has a job I wouldn't mind having in the future.

His orchestral writing is pretty good. Its a sort of block arranging and mass sound that I like, but it does take color and timbre into consideration - especially when including non-Western instruments.

Hisaishi studied at the Kunitachi School of Music in Japan - a place I would love to study if I can afford it and be accepted in.

A little fun fact about Hisaishi is how he formulated his alias. He created the name from Quincy Jones. Retranscribed in Japanese, "Quincy Jones" became "Joe Hisaishi." ("Quincy," pronounced "Kuishi" in Japanese, can be written using the same kanji in "Hisaishi"; "Joe" comes from "Jones.")

Anyway, here is some of his solo/chamber music:

Here is a concert which features select pieces from various films scores he has composed for Studio Ghibli. Might I mention that the orchestra/choir is HUGE!

EDIT 8/20: So I've never watched some of the earlier films from Studio Ghibli, but I just got done watching Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind and Laputa: The Castle in the Sky and I definitely see the influence of electronic and minimalism. Though it was not minimalism throughout. More later... maybe...

Recent News

2009-08-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to state that my composition, "White Nocturne" was completed five days ago. The piece is currently for voice and piano with the possibility of adding another instrument into the mix in the near future.

My hope is that it premiers this upcoming semester at the senior recital of friend and fellow colleague, Sara Haugland - date and time will come.

The remaining work I have to do on the piece, aside from adding proper dynamics and articulations as I see fit, is working with the two performers who will probably be premiering the piece.

Needless to say, I'm very pleased with the work.

I'm trying to figure out how to play a MP3 file at request in a blog. I will probably be asking a friend of mine to help me with this. Sheet music and actual music to come on the site, but if you're DYING to hear it, I suppose you can contact me. Very few people have heard the composition so far.

So now that I have a composition all set up and ready for the start of the school. I'm now seeking possibilities for the next composition.

During a trip to Montreal and Ottowa with the CSUS Chamber Choir, I spoke with one of the other musician in the group who is a tuba performance major and was interested in performing a composition. So once I find him, I may be writing for tuba in the near future. In preparation, I've been listening to random brass stuff on youtube.

Having taken the scoring and arranging class, I've now set my sights on an orchestral piece as well. Not sure what I'll do yet, but I have an interest in making an orchestral setting of the Japanese story, Urashima Taro - which this may end up being more of a suite than a symphony, but we'll see.

Nothing has been dead set, but I'll definitely write the tuba piece first if there is still interest.

I'll write about another piece of music/artist/composer soon.

Bruce Lee

2009-08-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Okay so... totally not related to music, but I thought it would be awesome to post.

I'm a huge martial arts buff and I had enjoyed practicing and watching it both live and in film. We all know the Bruce Lee as he is virtually a house hold name, but a friend posted a video I had never seen before of him playing ping pong against someone with nunchaku. My jaw practically dropped after seeing this so I have to post it for funzies.

Anyway, I have one line of poetry left to set in "White Nocturne". I promise I'll have something up soon on it.

White Nocturne

2009-08-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

This post is in reference to the composition I'm working on - which I'm proud to say that within the week of being completely finished with nearly all the excerpts in Ruth Friedberg's book - I roughly half way done with it.

I did indeed decide to run with the poetry by Conrad Aiken. So now that I'm halfway done I thought I would talk a little bit about it and address the things that I was working on in the previous post I made about this particular composition.

As for the statements and questions I had in the previous post.

"While poems already have a format, I can add music where the vocalist doesn't sing at all or (in my case as I may be adding another instrument) where another instrument can play instead."

For the sake of finishing this composition before school starts and perhaps making it easier to rehearse before its first potential performance on Sara's Senior Recital in October, I decided to keep the instrumentation to voice and piano. However, once school starts and I have solidified the piano and voice part - I may look into adding a clarinet line to the composition for submission and performance at the Festival of New American Music's (FENAM) composition competition.

I may choose "Yozora" (My first composition at Sac State) instead for submission and performance at FENAM instead - it all depends on how "White Nocturne" goes.

"The line, 'I would like to touch this snow with a wind of a dream,' is punctuated differently which I'm trying to figure out why it was done that way as to figure out what I want to do with that idea musically. That line, since it is repeated, is of significant importance."

I read parts of the section on this particular piece in Ruth Friedberg's piece. I agree with her in her statement that the poet - not being able to show a crescendo due to the lack of musical device - but uses the punctuation to create change for this refrain.

I also decided on that sentence being a refrain of sorts and will probably assign a different dynamic marking to it to create a different feel each time it is stated.

"If I choose to add an instrument, what instrument do I want to add? I'm torn between cello and clarinet. I like the warm, mellow sound of cello to compliment the soprano voice, but I also like the idea of using niente attacks with the clarinet."

Though I've stated clarinet above, I'm still somewhat torn on this... Both instruments have great control of their volumne in both high and low registers and I think both would compliment the soprano voice in this setting. However, as a student - I've done much more work on strings than I have on woodwinds, despite having already written a solo clarinet piece (my first composition). So for now its clarinet... until I have come up with something else.

"It doesn't look like Paul Nordoff used the entire poem in his rendition, so I'd like to see what he did and how he decided to work with it."

This is very true. According to Friedberg, Nordoff took the fourth poem out of a set of poems in Aiken's "Nocturne of Remembered Spring and Other Poems." Even then, Nordoff took bits and pieces out of the poem to shape it to his format and used that.

The intended performer of "White Nocturne", Sara Haugland, being ever so resourceful, found a copy of the score and sent me a pdf copy of it for me to study how Nordoff uses the poetry musically and whatnot.

However, I've always been an advocate of giving justice to a piece of art. In musical case, performing a piece as it was intended to be performed. So despite the formatt that Nordoff created for himself, I decided to use the entirety of the poem in my own setting.

As for the constrution of the piece itself:

So far I've selected to make it chordal in taste - utilizing harmonies such as quintal, quartal, extend harmonies, and combinations thereof. Chords a usually appegiated in 8th notes.

Though there are some V-I relationships, I move primarily in thirds or chromatic mediants. My goal was to create an atmosphere that has no strong pull to any particular tonality - but it is not atonal by any means.

The refrain uses the same music with perhaps some mild alterations each time and there is what I suppose you would call an "episode" of sorts inbetween each refrain - which still uses the appegiation of the harmonies listed above, but breaks off from it temporarily only to return to the refrain.

Anyway, thats all I really have on my mind about this piece so far.

On a completely side note - Harpist, Motoshi Kosako posted some more videos a while ago and I decided to add them into another playlist and they can be found here at the original post that I made on him. He seems to be performing on an electric harp this time around rather on his concert harp.

Update

2009-08-04T22:00:00.001-07:00

I just moved and recently settled into my new apartment - hence the reason there hasn't been a blog for a while due to lack of reasonable internet and time. I'm happy that I'm living on my own now.

During my time away from the computer, I managed to muscle out the last several chapters of the third book of Ruth Friedberg's book (click here to see the entry on my work on that). So with the exception of a few excerpts that I don't have physically in my had to do, I'm virtually done writing excerpts for the project. The remainder of my work for the book project in general includes formatting and revisions on the project as Mrs. Friedberg and Dr. Fisher see fit. So I'm pleased that I no longer have this huge project lingering over my head.

Now I have the rest of my summer to compose this piece for a friend which I have made progress on and I'll discuss in detail in a later blog - perhaps tomorrow.

For now, its good to have a change of pace for once!

Choral - Anúna

2009-08-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

Anúna
Click here to go to their website

Anúna is a choral group that is based in Ireland and run by composer, Michael McGlynn. The group has performed internationally and performs music that is primarily composed or arranged for the group by McGlynn.

I was first exposed to this group when looking for recordings of a piece by McGlynn called, "Incantations." At the time, I was with the SFSU Chamber Singers and we were performing the piece for our ACDA tour and it needed to be memorized. I wanted to hear someone else performing it to get an idea of what it sounds like and how fast it went before the next rehearsal. I came across Anúna's CD, "Cynara," and bought the whole album soon after listening to previews of a few pieces. To date, I have two albums and select songs from other albums of theirs.

I suppose you can say this was the first time I was actually exposed celtic music of sorts and have since taken a liking to the sound. Without getting too composer-like on people - it definitely has a different world flavor in the sound and is easy to listen to.

As a up and coming composer, I listen to them for inspiration in modal and chordal flavors - as well as a general inspiration for choral music. I hope to go more into Anúna's style and music when I perhaps talk about Michael McGlynn in a later blog. For now, here is some music:

Nora the Piano Cat & The Catcerto

2009-07-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

So today, I thought I'd post something of high amusement for me. I enjoy spending some occasional free time browsing topics of interest on youtube and I came across Nora the piano cat.

Nora the piano cat is feline that has stormed youtube with her piano playing skills. I've known about this cat and the videos associated with her for about a year and a half now. Here's a few videos of her at work:

Now here is the awesome part. A Lithuanian conductor, composer and artist - Mindaugas Piečaitis has gone and made a piece which he calls a CATcerto. This piece is a strings, flute, clarinent, and percussion accompiment to Nora playing on video. Here is the website of the project. The piece premired on June 9th, 2009 and this is the video of the performance. It is quite well done and highly amusing to me.

In general, this totally a win.