Week 13: Music (2)

Each and every one of our music workshops have been so great, and today marked our final time together. We examined the musical concepts*, listening for appreciation.   

• Duration

What is the tempo? Does it change?

How many bars does the solo last?

How long or short are the sounds? Are there silences?

What rhythm patterns feature? Are the rhythms syncopated?

• Pitch

What is the pitch of the solo voice or instrument?

What is the melodic contour (shape) of the improvised solo? Does it move by steps or leaps, does it move up or down?

Is the tonality major, minor, modal? Is there a change of key?

• Dynamics and expressive techniques

How loud or soft is the music? Does the dynamic level change?

What techniques does the soloist use to add to the expressive quality of the music? For example, are notes played legato or staccato, or accented; does the music slow down or pause; is the melody line ornamented?

• Tone colour

Which instrument plays the solo and what other instruments are heard?

Does the soloist use techniques to modify the tone colour?

Are the sounds acoustic, electric or electronic?

• Texture

What other layers of sounds are heard during the solo and what role/s do they serve (for example, melody, countermelody, harmony, bass line)?

• Structure

How is the material of the solo organised?

What musical ideas or motifs feature?

Is there repetition and contrast within the solo?

Does the solo include riffs or ostinatos?

(NSW DET 2011)

We spent the duration of the workshop listening to various pieces and analysing them together according to the six concepts of music.  The first piece we listened to was Carnival of the Animals – The Swan, by Camille Saint Saens. I absolutely love this beautiful and tender song, which was originally written for two pianos and a cello back in 1886. Listening to this piece brought back a series of emotions and memories, took me back to when I first heard a student teacher perform this piece in my Year 8 class. Even back then I had been swept away at how delicate the piece was, and have dreamt of learning the cello one-day ever since. I was also reminded of the introductory piece to the musical suite – Royal March of the Lion, as I have taught this on piano to a number of my students. I find it so interesting how music, emotion and memory are strongly linked.

Listening to this piece a number of times over this week has reminded me of something that I recently read in “Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?”, where Eli Siegel asks:

“Is there a logic to be found in…every work of art, a design pleasurably acceptable to the intelligence, details gathered unerringly, in a coherent, rounded arrangement?—and is there that which moves a person, stirs him in no confined way, pervades him with the serenity and discontent of reality, brings emotion to him and causes it to be in him?”

Hearing this music, it is hard not to be stirred, and in “no confined way.” What we hear and what we see in our minds are made one: a swan (depicted by the cello) glides gracefully through water (represented by the piano), its long, elegant neck yearningly reaching for the sky, and bowing down with modesty.  It is both graceful and strong. Here is Saint-Saens’ stirring music.

The other pieces that we also analysed throughout the workshop included Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’, Elfman’s ‘The Ice Dance’ and Williams’ ‘Harry Potter – Hedwig’s Theme’. I really loved listening and analysing all these pieces; oh how appreciating music can be such a wonderful and emotional experience.   

To wrap up my music blog entries, I want to share my favourite classical piece, Pachelbel’s ‘Canon in D’. I learnt this piece on piano while in high school and absolutely adored it. Somehow, it is such an indescribable experience to play it, it is just so beautiful and full of emotion… Below is a video of ‘Canon in D’ using the original instruments that Pachelbel wrote it for.

And finally, below is a ‘modernised’ version of ‘Canon in D’ – it is very amusing but simultaneously reveals the incredible talent of these musicians!