2 more ways to study for the test

1. Login to WebCT. Click on the Romantic link - you can go through the powerpoint that was included with the instructor materials. It will help you organize the material (but remember my organization was different).

2. Fire up iTunes. Swing over to the iTunes store, select podcasts. Do a search for "music appreciation". There's a podcast done by Charles Laux, who teaches at a California community college, that is interesting. He's a violin player, and he tells a few stories as well. You can always fast forward through the pieces if you don't want to listen to them - he plays several of teh same pieces we've heard.

See you Wednesday!

Studying for the Romantic test

Listening: 11 selections. You need to be able to ID the piece AND tell whether its a Character piece, Opera, Program symphony, Absolute symphony, Lied/Art song, or Concerto.


Notes:
Lots of definitions, because there were a lot of new genres played around with in this period. Remember, the period didn't reject the music of the previous era, it BUILT on it. (This is different).

See the previous Romantic era notes & study sheet for more details.

Wednesday, in the Library computer room (same one we were in last time).

Question: Would it be useful for me to play the listening TWICE? Give me an opinion, if you have one, Wednesday before we start.

Why Classical Music?

Yes, this is a bit off-topic, but I ran across this article today and wanted to send you a quote from it.

This is from the New Republic, and is discussing all the angst that has erupted lately online about "classical music is dying" - it stems from a thing the Washington Post did in a subway station with Joshua Bell, a world-class violinist. The original article:

http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=f3839c75-3724-4154-adc4-e0638e30448a

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As a team of Texas researchers have recently announced, there are exactly 237 known reasons why people have sex. There are at least as many reasons why they listen to classical music, of which to sit in solemn silence on a dull dark dock is only one. There will always be social reasons as well as purely aesthetic ones, and thank God for that. There will always be people who make money from it--and why not?--as well as those who starve for the love of it. Classical music is not dying; it is changing. (My favorite example right now is Gabriel Prokofiev, the British-born grandson of the Russian composer, who studied electronic music in school, has headed a successful disco-punk band, and is now writing string quartets.) Change can be opposed, and it can be slowed down, but it cannot be stopped.

I stand corrected!

From Wikipedia, regarding the piece by Holtz (The Planets):

The suite has seven movements, each of them named after a planet and its corresponding Roman deity (see also Planets in astrology):

1. Mars, the Bringer of War
2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace
3. Mercury, the Winged Messenger
4. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
5. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
6. Uranus, the Magician
7. Neptune, the Mystic

Another tidbit:
"Neptune" was the first piece of music to have a fade-out ending. Holst stipulates that the women's choruses are "to be placed in an adjoining room, the door of which is to be left open until the last bar of the piece, when it is to be slowly and silently closed", and that the final bar (scored for choruses alone) is "to be repeated until the sound is lost in the distance"^[10].

Although commonplace today, the effect bewitched audiences in the era before widespread recorded sound - after the initial 1918 run-through, Holst's daughter Imogen (in addition to watching the charwomen dancing in the aisles during "Jupiter") remarked that the ending was "unforgettable, with its hidden chorus of women's voices growing fainter and fainter... until the imagination knew no difference between sound and silence"^[5].

Well, maybe I **sit** corrected.

Have a good week. See you Wednesday!

Re: Comment from "some random person dude"

I love the pseudonym - made me laugh!

Yes, you need to have a handle on each movement separately. Remember, though, that the symphonies follow that sonata cycle pattern - that should make it easier.

Bonus info for those of you who keep tabs on the blog:


Some of the listening examples will have the period identified for you (i.e. "listening #1 is from the Renaissance"). Some will not.

Study tips for test

I didn't think to mention this in class today - Log into WebCT. Click on a link relating to a period (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical). There you can go through the powerpoint that is directly tied to the text. It'll help you organize the material & see what points are important.

Don't forget to check out the links to the area-specific study ideas on the right sidebar of the blog.


I had somebody ask me which pieces were what era on the CD. I could be mean and make you look it up, but I didn't wear my mean professor socks today, so here's an idea:

Renaissance:
CD 1:
Tracks 56, 59, 62
Josquin, Palestrina, Weelkes

Baroque:
First one is Bach CD 1 track 63
Last piece is Handel CD 2 track 17

Classical:
First one is Mozart CD 2 track 23
Last one is Beethoven CD 2 track 63 (on back cover).
There are a couple of Classical era pieces on CD 3 as well - they are listed on the inside FRONT cover, there at the bottom.

Study Sheets updated

I just updated the study sheets on the blog for the 3 eras that will be on the test: Renaissance, Baroque, Classical

Surf to the blog and click on the links on the right sidebar: Renaissance, Baroque, Classical. DO NOT select the one marked Ren/Bar/Class - it's old, but I'm keeping it there to repurpose it later.


There WILL be more listening on this test than the last one. I will be asking you to identify what piece it is, AND which era its from. Remember that each era sounds completely different, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Baroque Study Sheet (2/08 update)

This is more of an outline of major points than a real detailed list.... so there are probably some things in the text that aren't mentioned here.

Dates: 1600-1720
Elements of Baroque music: unity of mood, constant rhythm, characteristics of melodies, terraced dynamics, , predominant texture, continuo/figured bass.

Orchestra makeup. Instrumental becomes more important in later part - opera invented and vocal predominant in first half of era.
Place of music in society. How musicians could make a living.

Types of pieces:
opera - choral - cantata - oratorio - concerto (solo concerto vs. concerto grosso) - fugue - sonata - Suite (aka Dance Suite)

A-list composers:
JS Bach - Handel

Notes for Mon 10/1

Apologies for the late notice about class being cancelled. I came in this morning to teach a piano lesson - and was about brought to my knees by my shoulder. I headed home to redose, but apparently my body is telling me to shut down for a day or else..... and I really don't want to know what "or else" means!
Couple of housekeeping things first:
The recital that was supposed to be tonight has been moved to Thursday night. I changed to previous post about it to reflect the new reality - check it for details.

Whoever was supposed to present today - can you do it Wednesday? We'll double up.

Baroque:

Today was supposed to be Baroque instrumental day - and I'm here without my text (so I'm working off my admittedly faulty memory!)

Remember at the beginning of the semester when I said the majority of the learning was going to take place outside the classroom?

Things to check out:
Place of composer in society - how'd they make a living?
2 A-level composers: Bach, Handel
A few B-level composers covered: Vivaldi, Corelli, etc.

Types of instrumental pieces (these all have separate chapters):
Fugue - a fugue always begins with the subject by itself (i.e. MONOPHONIC texture), and then adds in additional voices (all of which ALSO begin with the subject) - i.e. it bocomes POLYPHONIC. After everybody is in, then we get "stuff" - still polyphonic. Eventually, the subject comes back in - could be in one voice, could be in all. The piece alternates subject and "stuff" until it's time to quit. (The book uses other terminology - more official.)

Concerto - piece for solo (solo concerto) or small group (concerto grosso) and orchestra. Vivaldi's 4 seasons is an example - you have a couple of tracks on your CDs. You also have a solo concerto by Corelli - but I may be mistaken there.

Sonata - in the Baroque, it's a piece for a soloist OR a small ensemble. It is generally a multi-movement work. (The definition changes a bit during the Classical era).

There is a 4th genre - but I can't bring it to mind at the moment.

Composers also wrote "Sinfonia"s - which were pieces that served as a prelude to an opera. They generally included themes (melodies) from the opera itself (similar to what you hear at the beginning of a modern American musical).

Remember that vocal was the big thing at the beginning of the Baroque - but by the end instrumental was king.

In the "Hello" category:
I found a youtube video of the aria "Dido's Lament" we listened to. Check it out here, and let me know if it's better to LISTEN to an opera, or SEE it.

Here is a company in Germany (I think) that has done a version of Monterverdi's Orfeo. Does this match your conception of opera?