Musical Perceptions

Breaking up is hard to do

2011-09-30T11:27:00.002-04:00

One of the difficulties in exploring musical timbre is combating the scriptist-inspired view of music. This view assumes that the script, in this case the musical score, contains all of the information about the music. A result of this perspective is the assumption that the smallest musical unit is the note, music's version of the atom. But just as physicists discovered that the atom was indeed divisible into smaller and smaller sections, musical notes can also be divided into smaller sections.

The best-known division of musical notes comes from the world of synthesizers, giving us the ADSR. This system breaks up the note into the Attack, the Decay, the Sustain, and the Release. The Attack is defined as the beginning of the note, up to the point that the amplitude has reached its maximum. The Decay marks the drop-off in amplitude after the Attack, followed by the Sustain's consistent volume level. Finally, the Release marks how quickly the volume drops to nothing after the Sustain portion. Simple synthesizers could control the timbre of a sound by specifying how long each of these sound portions lasted, with a linear increase or decrease of amplitude for the transient sections. These sections are determined solely by amplitude, with no consideration of frequency whatsoever. Fancier synthesizers do allow curves to the amplitude changes, for more subtle changes in timbre. Any of these synthesizers apply the ADSR amplitude envelope to a specified spectral pattern, either from an analog filter or a digital filter.

This system was never intended to analyze sounds, so its usefulness is limited. Acoustic instruments can increase in volume after the attack, or shift in spectral color without changing volume. In the next post I'll look at a different segmentation system that is better suited to analysis.

The Speed of Timbre

2011-09-28T13:03:00.003-04:00

Last week I was listening to an interview with guitarist Taylor Levine on My Ears Are Open. In the interview Taylor talks about how quickly rock musicians adopted technological innovations that created new timbres. From the electric guitar of Les Paul, to innovations in speakers and pedals, to synthesizers of all different generations, as soon as a new device was invented, it was embraced by some popular musician and loved by audiences. Why is it that these musical explorations are so quickly accepted in the popular music world, and yet innovations in timbre in the art music world don't find a foothold, either with the musicians or the audience?

I think there may be a complexity issue that hampers exploration in the art music scene. Berlyne's inverted U theory of complexity and arousal states that the complexity or novelty of a piece directly affects the arousal, with the optimal amount of arousal created at a midlevel of complexity, the arousal dropping off in either direction as the complexity increases or decreases. I posit that popular music tends to be on the low side of the complexity curve, when considering rhythm, melody, and harmony. Thus any experimentation with timbre will only aid in reaching the apex of arousal. On the other hand, a string quartet by Webern already has very complex form, harmony, and melodic structure. I always felt that throwing in extra timbral effects like col legno was like too much spice, pushing me well over the hump of the inverted U curve, reducing my arousal. Musical works that introduce new timbres successfully will be conservative in other aspects of structure. Thus popular music, minimalist music, and non-pitched percussion music tends to be the most successful. A Stockhausen piece that serializes timbre along with rhythm, pitch, and dynamics will have to rely on things other than arousal, at least until audiences are more familiar with the structures, reducing the perceived complexity.

The journey

2011-03-22T15:38:00.001-04:00

I was listening to the Adagio from Schubert's String Quintet in C Major* today, telling Eldest Child that this was one of my favorite works. She shares a love of classical music, unlike the rest of the Bieber-loving bunch. It made me think about my experiences with this movement. One time I found myself singing the second cello part with four friends in the upper hall of Eastman as we worked on a Schenkerian analysis for class. The first time I really listened to it I was driving from Wisconsin to Ohio. When the minor dominant appeared in the b section of the first part, I nearly drove off of the road, thinking it was a mistake. Now I know to expect it, and to recognize that it is part of a transition to a new key. And today I realized that when the same minor dominant occurs in the third part, it feels very different. Rather than sounding disruptive, the chord is welcomed even as it transitions in a different way than the first part. Because of the repetitions - the journey I had been on - the modulation was a perfect balance of familiar and novel that led me comfortingly to the new key. If I had listened to the third part without hearing the first and second parts, the minor dominant chord wouldn't have had nearly the same effect. And if I hadn't had the experiences studying and hearing the quintet, I wouldn't have realized this effect at all. The journey may not always be the point, but it is always necessary.

*Emerson String Quartet with Mstislov Rostropovich

Talkin' To God

2011-03-15T15:09:00.002-04:00

I found out today that Mark Gould is a very weird man. He has put up a series of videos on some famous trumpet excerpts (and one commentary on historically informed performances), with "interesting" takes on them. See for yourself.

Motivation

2011-03-14T15:03:00.002-04:00

Today I was prompting my students to think of reasons why the subdominant chord (IV) is more common than the supertonic chord (II) as a predominant within the standard phrase model. As part of this, we talked about what motivates people in the creation of systems and languages. I was aiming at ease of use, pointing out that IV chords are the same quality as tonic chords, and therefore will be easy to play with the same hand shape for most chord-based instruments. But students also brought up the desire for stability brought about by redundancy of information. So the repeated chord quality will emphasize and stabilize the major or minor mode of the tonic more than the II chord. This redundancy is also seen in the tonic note shared between the tonic and subdominant chords.

But all of these stabilizing features also give the IV chord a less effective predominant function. The IV chord shares so much in common with the tonic chord (I) that it can easily move back to the tonic with no real disappointment of unrealized expectation. Thus it doesn't have as strong of a push to move to the dominant chord (V) as the II chord. Thus the choice of predominant is really a choice of motivation. Easiness and stability vs. tension and movement.

Go Badgers

2011-03-12T00:02:00.000-05:00

Today we went to a Wisconsin Huddle in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament. Our presence was recorded on YouTube, in the second video on the Huddle on this page: http://www.bigten.org/blog/mens-basketball/tournament/ I am in the upper right corner, bouncing with the youngest sitting on my shoulders. Alas, the Badgers lost, but the pep band sounded great.

To shut up the crickets

2011-03-10T09:49:00.003-05:00

I was finding I had many more interesting things to do rather than write this blog last summer, so I stopped. Every once in a while I would feel a twinge to start blogging again. One major guilt trip came during the annual conference of the Society for Music Theory. The meeting of the Music Cognition Interest Group was spent celebrating 25 years of existence, with remembrances of the state of music cognition research back then and comparing it with today. In doing so, Helen Brown of Purdue University was listing all the places music cognition research can be found nowadays, and passed around copies of the last few posts of this blog! This was awkward/funny for four reasons: 1) She didn't know it was my blog. 2) I was sitting right next to her. 3) I wasn't really paying attention to her speech at that point until halfway through her description of my blog, when I looked up in horrifying realization.* 4) My last post before this one is called Sexy Theory, which Helen relished in announcing to all of our colleagues. The awkwardness factor collapsed with Leigh Van Handel's (Michigan State) reminder to everyone that it was indeed my blog. Thanks, Leigh!

The second time came with the Grammy's, and an offer by my fiancée to help live-blog the event again. Yes, I have a fiancée now, along with three more children in a lovely Brady Bunch home. We even have our own Alice, except her name isn't Alice. Our schedules made watching the Grammy's impossible, much less live-blogging about them.

But finally, I got an itch to start writing the blog again. I've been stimulated by enthusiastic students, the prospects of my sabbatical, my upcoming wedding, and a friend who just e-published her first book. Speaking of which, my** first book came out last October. So, I plan to post about times a week. Lock up your interwebs and hide your backlinks, Musical Perceptions is back!

*Leigh, who was sitting right across from me, says the transition in my face was priceless.
**Mine, and nine other authors.

Sexy Theory!

2010-06-21T21:03:00.003-04:00

I've been listening to Dave Matthews lately, thanks to my nephew and my girlfriend. I even went to a live concert last Friday, which was actually my first authentic rock concert. I've been to blues festivals that have included some rock acts, seen plenty of small rock groups, and even played in two rock bands. But I had never been to a venue where I had to be patted down, carded, and exposed to that much pot smoke.

It is no mystery that many of DMB's songs are about sex, with lyrics like "You come crash into me/
And I come into you /I come into you /In a boys dream /In a boys dream" or " Sour as my fingers /Dirty pick pocket /I can still taste you /I won’t wash my hands." But I noticed that those songs seemed to share particular musical features, so I've been starting to catalog those features. Things like hypermeter, melodic contour, syncopation, these all tie together to mimic the sexual experience in subtle ways, or sometimes not so subtle ways. This research will take some time, as I haven't done much with popular music before, so I need to familiarize myself with the current state of research.

Virtuosity as Vice

2010-06-17T21:53:00.001-04:00

This weekend I went to a Folk Music Festival, and got into a
discussion about amateur vs professional attitudes about music. At
first we talked about musicians on the stage who were clearly non
pros, but then it shifted to the observation that even the pros (those
who perform/teach folk music as their main source of income) had a
certain roughness or plainness to their singing and playing. I came to
the conclusion that in at least some genres of folk music there was a
disdain for polish or virtuosity. Authenticity in these circles was
shown by knowing lots of songs in the canon, and through communal
performances. Time spent by oneself working on performance craft is
less time spent performing with others. I wonder what would happen if
classical music took more of that attitude, valuing community over
individuality and broader knowledge over specific virtuosity. Jazz has
more of that balance, respecting individual skill but also valuing
communal improvisation and memorization of the canon.

The Great Art/Pop Divide

2010-05-05T10:03:00.003-04:00

Finally catching up on some blogs the other day, I was reading 8bb's blog and came across an interesting idea in the comments, written by composer Stephen Hartke. Stephen writes,

And, guys, I’m sorry, but the art music experience is not the same as the pop music experience. Art music is about a one-on-one communication between the creator of the music via the performers to individual members of the audience. (Stravinsky said that he didn’t care about the audience, but that he did care about the individual souls that made up the audience.) Pop music is much more about a group dynamic — and I don’t say this as a criticism but rather as an acknowledgment of a fundamental aesthetic and cultural reality — in which the continuous and active participation of the audience is an intrinsic element of the art form itself.

This is an interesting definition of the difference between art music and popular music that I hadn't really considered before. I can see where he is coming from, with our desire to have absolute silence during an artistic performance so we can be totally immersed in the music. But that itself seems to be a group experience, one based on mass silent devotion rather than mass dancing or mass singing. Just as people gathered in silent prayer at a church, temple or mosque are a very different experience than praying alone, the idea of listening silently in an audience is not the same as sitting alone in front of the stereo or with earbuds in. Our behavior is different when we are in a group, thus any musical work will affect people differently in a live group situation rather than a recorded individual setting.

I've listened to rock music very carefully on my iPod, getting totally immersed in the experience of the music rather than in any audience participation (including my own physical reactions). I've sung along to classical music, and danced madly to opera. I've been distracted by the music enough to forget to clap at the end of an improvised solo at a jazz concert, and felt the strong desire to whoop and clap at the end of an inner movement of an orchestra concert.

Looking at Stephen's definitions more carefully, I think he is suggesting the intent of the composer rather than the actual behavior of the listener. When a composer is creating an artistic work, s/he is intending the listener to react on an individual basis. When a composer creates a popular work, s/he intends the listeners to react in a group way. With that definition, we can find some symphonic works that would be labeled as popular, and some rock songs that would be labeled as art, thus providing some informative worth. This creates some interesting questions, like how the original intention of a composer might be superseded by shifts in cultural behavior. Waltzes that were originally intended to be group dances are now performed in the concert hall. Concert works are mashed-up at raves. Does the current state of cultural behavior redefine the pop/art aspect of the work, or is it still dependent fully on the composer's original intention? If we cannot find any direct evidence of the composer's original intention, what indirect evidence is considered most reasonable?

Does anyone know of any musicological work in this area? It seems likely that someone has already addressed this issue.

SatPod: May

2010-05-01T16:11:00.002-04:00

Happy May Day, everyone!

1. "But Who May Abide" from the Messiah by George Friedrich Handel, performed by Samuel Ramey and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra led by Andrew Davis.

2. "First of May" by Jonathan Coulton on Best. Concert. Ever.

3. "May It Be" by Enya on the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack.

4. "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry.

5. Mayn Yingele by Frederic Rzewski on Rzewski Plays Rzewski.

6. "Now is the Month of Maying" by Thomas Morley, performed by the King's Singers on Madrigal History Tour.

7. "Sheep May Safely Graze" by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Rolf Smedvig and Michael Murray.

8. "You May Be Right" by Billy Joel on Glass Houses.

All Aboard the Zug!

2010-04-29T00:40:00.002-04:00

John Adams is making the funny. With theory jokes! (I have a friend whose been working on a Schenker Sensor.) I can't possibly excerpt it, just go visit his blog.

I am hereby resolved!

2010-04-27T22:15:00.003-04:00

This weekend I was listening to Terri Gross's interview with Steven Sondheim, and was struck by a very amazing claim that the musical master made: harmonies can resolve, but melodies cannot. He really said that. Gross was asking about the ending of a song in Sweeny Todd, and asked how Sondheim had picked the final note to sound so unresolved. Sondheim replied that the note couldn't sound unresolved by itself, it was because the harmony was unresolved that the note stuck out. This should be of immense surprise not only to the countless theory text authors who have distinguished between Perfect Authentic Cadences and Imperfect Authentic Cadences, or to every theorist who is an advocate of voice-leading, but also to Carole Krumhansl and her followers who showed through probe-tone experiments that melodies do indeed create expected resolutions. I think Sondheim is relying too much on his piano background, and not enough on the things he learned from Milton Babbitt.

Earlier in the interview he told Gross that "discordant" meant "incorrect" and was not synonymous with "dissonant." Not according to my dictionaries and thesaurus! I got the feeling that Sondheim was really making these statements to act as a high priest of music, creating barriers to the sacred mysteries of melody and harmony through insistence on idiosyncratic jargon. He was putting the layperson in her place, making clear that only a trained adept could comprehend how "Send In the Clowns" was structured.

Try the Thlon!

2010-04-26T23:46:00.002-04:00

I completed my first triathlon yesterday, a sprint distance - 400m swim, 20k bike, 5k run - held at Purdue University. I had a lot of fun, and didn't complete embarrass myself, with an overall time of 1:29:32.40. Swimming was okay at 8:44.65, biking a little worse at 46:45.60, running was pretty bad at 31:17.95, and my first transition was awful at 2:44.20. To put it in perspective the first-place winner did his transition in 23.15 seconds. I look forward to doing more of these throughout the summer and into the fall, and will be sure to bore all of you dear readers with my stats that will hopefully improve.

FriPod: Cleveland Orchestra

2010-04-23T11:15:00.002-04:00

Continuing the theme of orchestras for TAFTO month, this week's FriPod features the Cleveland Orchestra. As you could see from last week's posting, I've got tons of Chicago Symphony Orchestra recordings. When I was growing up and while at Lawrence University, Chicago was THE orchestra to go to. Yes, we had to travel over three hours, and Milwaukee was closer, but Bud Herseth was the man! When I went to the University of Akron for my first master's degree, we often made the trip up to Cleveland to listen to the Cleveland Orchestra. Severance Hall is beautiful, and I loved the sounds of the woodwinds, principal trumpet Michael Sachs, and principal trombone Joe DeSano. Plus I felt smug because I knew how to pronounce "Dohnanyi" from listening to the commercial classical radio station, WCLV.

1. Symphony No. 1 in C minor by Johannes Brahms, conducted by George Szell.
2. Symphony No. 5 in Bb major by Anton Bruckner, conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi.
3. Symphony No. 6 "Tragic" in A minor by Gustav Mahler, conducted by Dohnanyi.
4. Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, conducted by Dohnanyi.
5. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart, conducted by Dohnanyi.
6. Le Poème de l'extase by Alexander Scriabin, conducted by Lorin Maazel.
7. Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring) by Igor Stravinsky, conducted by Pierre Boulez.
8. Petrushka by Stravinsky, conducted by Boulez.

Quick thoughts

2010-04-22T11:01:00.003-04:00

I've been swamped with a variety of work that has kept me from the blog, and am still swamped so consider this a quick drive-by.

1) Some students excel at melodic dictations, but are horrible at identifying musical forms. Others have the opposite problem. What cognitive strengths/deficits differentiate these two skills?

2) How can the written word "sound" sincere or insincere? I've read things that I just know I don't trust, but can't point to a particular aspect of the writing that would clue me in. Likewise with reading things that seem very sincere, but again I can't tell why I trust that author.

SunPod: Chicago Symphony Orchestra

2010-04-18T22:13:00.002-04:00

It would've been perfect to put this up on Friday, as on the same day that my TAFTO essay was published, I took a friend to see the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. I only have one recording of the ISO, so I couldn't do that for a FriPod, but it still would've been good to feature another orchestra. As it was, after getting my new bike fitted, grading exams, and then going to the concert, I didn't have time to blog. Same thing yesterday, so we have SunPod instead. All of the pieces are performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, so I will only mention the composer, conductor and any soloists.

1) Correspondences by Milton Babbitt, conducted by James Levine.
2) Cantata No. 202 "The Wedding" by J.S. Bach, conducted by Levine with Kathleen Battle.
3) Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 by Bach, conducted by Levine with Adolph Herseth et al.
4) Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 by Bach, conducted by Levine with Donald Peck and Samuel Magad.
5) Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók, conducted by a) Fritz Reiner, b) Georg Solti.
6) Music for String, Percussion and Celesta by Bartók, conducted by Reiner.
7) Hungarian Sketches by Bartók, conducted by Reiner.
8) Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by Solti.
9) Symphony No. 1 by Johannes Brahms, conducted by Solti.
10) Symphony No. 2 by Brahms, conducted by Solti.
11) Symphony No. 3 by Brahms, conducted by Solti.
12) Symphony No. 4 by Brahms, conducted by Solti.
13) Academic Festival Overture by Brahms, conducted by Solti.
14) Tragic Overture by Brahms, conducted by Solti.
15) Atlas Eclipticalis by John Cage, conducted by Levine.
16) Variations for Orchestra by Elliott Carter, conducted by Levine.
17) Nocturnes by Claude Debussy, conducted by Solti (1990 and 1992).
18) La Mer by Debussy, conducted by Solti.
19) Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Debussy, conducted by Solti.
20) The Planets by Gustav Holst, conducted by Levine.
21) A Faust Symphony by Franz Liszt, conducted by Solti.
22) Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler, conducted by Levine.
23) Symphony No. 5 by Mahler, conducted by Solti.
24) Symphony No. 7 by Mahler, conducted by Solti.
25) Symphony No. 9 in D major by Mahler, conducted by Pierre Boulez.
26) Pictures At An Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky, conducted by Solti.
27) Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, conducted by Levine with June Anderson, Bernd Weikl, and Philip Creech.
28) Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninov, conducted by Reiner with Artur Rubinstein.
29) Rhapsody On a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninov, conducted by Reiner with Rubinstein.
30) Spectra for Orchestra by Gunther Schuller, conducted by Levine.
31) Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss, conducted by Daniel Berenboim.
32) Till Eulenspiegel's lustige Streiche by Strauss, conducted by Berenboim.
33) Fireworks by Igor Stravinsky, conducted by Boulez.
34) Quatre Etudes by Stravinsky, conducted by Boulez.
35) Romeo And Juliet Overture by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, conducted by Berenboim.
36) Francesca Da Rimini by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Berenboim.
37) Capriccio Italien by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Berenboim.
38) 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Berenboim.
39) Symphony No. 4 by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Solti.
40) Symphony No. 5 by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Claudio Abbado.
41) Symphony No. 6 by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Claudio Abbado.
42) Marche Slave by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Abbado.
43) Voyevoda by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Abbado.
44) Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner, conducted by Solti.

Because it's about ME!

2010-04-15T22:41:00.004-04:00

My article is being featured tomorrow at Drew's place, but it is already up at the dedicated TAFTO site. I've been enjoying the other entries, especially seeing all of the sites in Robert Birman's video that my kids and I visited during Spring Break in Louisville. But seriously, read my contribution, because it will BLOW. YOUR. MIND. Though I may have gone a little too far in suggesting that all conductors should wear wet suits...

Music Theory Apologetics

2010-04-14T09:53:00.005-04:00

I can understand why professional musicians sometimes develop a hatred of "music theory." They were forced to take tests on part-writing, chord labeling, non-chord tone labeling, and other hyper-focused details that killed a little part of their souls each time they took those tests. I'm killing some souls right now as I write this post, with a classroom of sophomores busily creating a form diagram of Beethoven's Bagatelle No. 8 in G minor, Op. 119, No. 1 and realizing figured bass progressions with lovely augmented sixth chords. But any good music theory teacher would emphasize that music theory doesn't stop with labeling. The analysis begins after the labeling is done. Knowing what the chords are, what the form is, what the contour of the melody is, these are the musical facts that are used to shape and defend an interpretation of the music. And it is that interpretation that is the analysis. Knowing this, I am frustrated when I read Jeremy Denk providing an excellent analysis of Bach's Violin Sonata BWV 1017, and come to this statement:

That’s why it sometimes seems to me that music theory is one of the most despicable disciplines there is, because you’d probably label the bass of that magical chord a “passing tone,” and once you’ve labeled it a passing tone it’s a bit deflating … doink!, it goes in the bin with all the other passing tones. Somewhat like passing through Trenton on your way to Philadelphia: unremarkable. In the same way, once you call something Spaghetti and Meatballs, it doesn’t necessarily follow that you’ve understood anything about pasta, or that you should serve it to paying customers, or why a pianist might eat such a ridiculous thing before a concert, or any of the related questions that might come up. But Bach had that way of using passing tones so that you could meditate on the passing-ness of things, what it is to pass, to move on, to leave beauties behind … of labeling the labels with meaning, breathing life back into the most basic, even the most unassuming, words.

Notice that right after Jeremy criticizes music theory for labeling a note, he uses that exact label to explain his interpretation of the beauty of that note. It is indeed a lovely passing-ness, and yes it is different from other passing tones. But it is still a passing tone, and that identification of the context is what helps to figure out why the previous chord can be interpreted as existing in two worlds, or two time-lines.

My guess is that Jeremy would correct himself that he meant "bad" music theory, the kind that does indeed stop at labels without providing any interpretation. I know those kinds of music theory classes exist, for two reasons: 1) The classes are so huge that the teacher has no time to get beyond the basics, as the prospect of grading 100 analytical papers for a single class is very daunting. 2) The bad theory class is taught by a studio professor whose only theory training was another bad undergraduate theory program. The teacher finds him/herself teaching a subject s/he hates because s/he didn't recruit enough bagpipers to fill the studio. However, too many people read these statements, or make them themselves, and start forgetting the crucial "bad", blaming the discipline instead of bad teachers.

So, don't hate the game, hate the bad playas.

The enemy of the good

2010-04-12T23:17:00.003-04:00

I just found out about a new blog and book, The Musicians' Way. I'll
explore the book and author more later, but one of the posts resonated
with me. Contrasting perfection and precision, the author talks about how impossible it is to create a truly perfect performance. This goes along with my previous post about allowing students to take chances, that it is good to risk a bad performance, and that beauty often lies in imperfection. An emotionally charged cracked note, a rushed and uneven tempo due to
excitement, or a hushed sound that stops too early because the player lost the vibration, these imperfect performances can inspire and elevate our own imperfect selves. And trying to get rid of these imperfections can squash some beautiful sounds due to paralysis of analysis. So let good performances reign, and may you never be cursed with perfection.

FriPod: New York

2010-04-09T14:25:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd try something different today, featuring a specific group: The New York Philharmonic. I'll list the piece, composer, and conductor/soloists.

1. Symphony No. 3 by Aaron Copland, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
2. Quiet City by Copland, conducted by Bernstein, with Philip Smith (trumpet).
3. Symphony No. 8 by Antonín Dvořák, conducted by Kurt Masur.
4. Symphony No. 9 by Dvořák, conducted by Masur.
5. Slavonic Dances, op. 46 by Dvořák, conducted by Masur.
6. Slavonic Dances, op. 72 by Dvořák, conducted by Masur.
7. Symphony in D minor by César Franck, conducted by Masur.
8. Les Eolides by Franck, conducted by Masur.
9. Symphony No. 5 in D minor by Dmitri Shostakovich, conducted by Bernstein.
10. On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams, conducted by Lorin Maazel, with the New York Choral Artists and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
11. Sinfonietta by Leoš Janáček, conducted by Masur.
12. Symphony No. 1 in C major by Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by Bernstein.
13. Symphony No. 3 in Eb major "Eroica" by Beethoven, conducted by Bernstein.
14. Symphony No. 6 in F major "Pastoral" by Beethoven, conducted by Bernstein.
15. Consecration of the House Overture by Beethoven, conducted by Bernstein.
16. Leonore Overture No. 2 by Beethoven, conducted by Bernstein.
17. Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
18. Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky-Korsakov, conducted by Bernstein.
19. "Dance of the Tumblers" from The Snow Maiden by Rimsky-Korsakov, conducted by Bernstein.
20. Capriccio Italien by Piotr Tchaikovsky, conducted by Bernstein.
21. Polonaise by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Bernstein.
22. Waltz from Eugen Onegin by Tchaikovsky, conducted by Bernstein.

So That's What He Meant!

2010-04-08T09:52:00.004-04:00

A colleague passed along these "helpful" translations of Mahler's performance directions. Apparently they made the round of blogs last year, but what the hey. I did change the order of words, to increase the funny.

GERMAN - ENGLISH

Langsam - Slowly

Schleppend - Slowly

Dämpfer auf - Slowly

Mit Dämpfer - Slowly

Haupttempo - Slowly

Hier ist ein frisches belebtes Zeitmass eingetreten - Slowly

Sehr einfach und schlicht, wie eine Volksweise - Slowly

Im Anfang sehr gemächlich - In intense inner torment

Alle Betonungen sehr zart - With more intense inner torment

Alle Betonungen sehr zart - With smallish quantities of fairly mild inner torment

Sehr gemächlich - With indescribably horrific inner torment

Etwas gemächlicher als zuvor - Slowly

Gemächlich - Intermission

Am Griffbrett - As if in tune

Getheilt (geth.) - Out of tune

Noch ein wenig beschleunigend - Slowing down but with a sense of speeding up

Etwas bewegter, aber immer noch sehr ruhig - Somewhat louder, though still inaudible as before

Von hier ab unmerklich breiter werden - As if wild animals were gnawing on your liver

Ohne cresc. - Without toothpaste

Ohne Nachschl(age) - Without milk (sugar)

Mit dem Holze zu streichen - Like a hole in the head

Mit Parodie - Viola solo

Dämpfer ab - Eyes closed

Nicht eilen - No eels

Ploetzlich viel schneller - Even more ploddingly

Den ersten Ton scharf herausgehoben - Do not play until the buzzer sounds

Aeusserst zart, aber ausdrucksvoll - Radiantly joyful, despite the itching

Noch breiter als vorher - Better late than never

Lang gestrichen - Heads up

Lang gezogen - Heads back down

Immer noch zurueckhaltend - With steadily decreasing competence

Wieder zurueckhaltend - Increasingly decreasing

Ganz unmerklich etwas zurueckhaltend - Slowly

Allmählich (unmerklich) etwas zurueckhaltend - Much faster (slower) than conductor

Allmählich in das Hauptzeitmass ubergehen - Do not look at the conductor

Allmählich etwas lebhafter - Screaming in agony

Von hier an in sehr allmählicher aber stetiger Steigerung bis zum Zeichen - From this point on, the spit valves should be emptied with ever-increasing emotion

Die werden allmählich stärker und stärker bis zum (fp) - In the event of a water landing, your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device

What is good?

2010-04-07T21:14:00.002-04:00

Clearly I have not been a good blogger, letting this poor site linger untended for so long. I have been busy, writing an essay for Drew McManus' TAFTO project that will be published next week, finishing my contributions for the Daily Book of Classical Music, working on a phenomenology of musical time project, and traveling to Louisville with the kids for Spring Break. I've also been training to do my first triathlon in a few weeks. But now I've got stuff to blog about, so hold onto your pixels.

I've been thinking about the goals for student performances. Twice recently I've heard criticisms of student efforts to tackle musical projects that were very difficult, perhaps too much for the current level of these students to perform to levels expected by these critics. I can understand that it isn't always pleasant to be in the audience for a performance that is very rough in implementation. However, these kinds of experiences can be very rewarding for the students. First of all, the path taken to develop these projects provides many opportunities for learning. Whether it is discovering the challenges in acquiring scores or broadcast rights, or figuring out how to tune chords which you have never heard of before, these are valuable lessons. Second, realizing that you gave a rough performance is a humbling and embarrassing experience, but this realization is also a window into personal growth. The embarrassed student can learn that success is not guaranteed, despite one's best efforts. This student will also learn that failure does not mean the end of the world. Third, the students who are encouraged to take musical chances in the safety of high school or college will be more comfortable taking chances when they are in the less forgiving adult world. And whether those new adults are professional musicians or avid music enthusiasts, the willingness to take risks can only help take music to new levels of awesomeness.

Top of the YouTube Charts

2010-03-04T11:22:00.002-05:00

Okay, not at Ahmed the Dead Terrorist levels, but the music program at a New Jersey Episcopal Church has reached 1.4 million hits with its YouTube videos of the pieces performed during services. Bravo to Wayne Burcham-Gulotta for putting these videos up in an effort to educate and serve his parish. It is a model that all music programs should consider, though ticket-selling groups may have to consider how best to navigate rights and dilution of product. Give audiences the opportunity to rehear a work so they can understand it better. Provide an analysis so they can appreciate some of the nuances. Spark a desire to learn more about the piece, the composer, the ensemble, the genre, or the time period. In the case of religious groups, combine musicology and theology in the education process, or provide musical sources of pastoral care. I've been thinking about the mission of musical groups lately, and the clear rightness of these videos (simple, no splashy production values but with good information added) really speaks to me.

SatPod: House

2010-02-27T14:24:00.002-05:00

A friend just bought a new house, so this is dedicated to her.

1. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants on Flood.
2. "Consecration of the House" Overture by Ludwig von Beethoven, performed by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.
3. "Dovehouse Pavan" by Alfonso Ferrabosco, performed by the American Brass Quintet on Music of Renaissance, Baroque.
4. "Oh How I Wish That I Was In My House" from The Greater Good by Stephen Hartke, performed by Christine Abraham and the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra with Stewart Robinson.
5. "Hawkins' Barrel House" by Coleman Hawkins on Classic Tenors.
6. "The House I Live In" by Earl Robinson, performed by Paul Robeson Jr. on Songs of Free Men.
7. "The House On the Hill" by Aaron Copland, performed by Camerata Singers and Timothy Mount.
8. "If I Leave the House" by D'arc on Woman On Fire.
9. "In the Jailhouse Now" by Jimmie Rogers, performed by the Soggy Bottom Boys on the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack.
10. "Invading Elliott's House" by John Williams on the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial soundtrack.
11. "Jailhouse Rock" by Lieber and Stoller, performed by Elvis Presley.
12. "Life In a Glasshouse" by Radiohead on Amnesiac.
13. "Master Of the House" from Les Miserables by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, performed by the Broadway Cast.
14. "Pent-Up House" by Sonny Rollins, performed by the Guy Baker Ensemble on The Talented Mr. Ripley soundtrack.
15. "The Housewife's Lament" by Frederic Rzewski on Rzewski Plays Rzewski.
16. "Swing House" by Gerry Mulligan, performed by Stan Kenton on New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm.
17. "This Is No Longer Your House" by James Horner from the House of Sand and Fog soundtrack.
18. "Warehouse" by the Dave Matthews Band on Under the Table and Dreaming.