Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Audience Description
This is a good characterization of a concert audience
from "Awkward Embraces, Assured Directors"
By MANOHLA DARGIS, NYTimes, March 27, 2011
One of the reliable pleasures of New Directors/New Films is that at one point in this annual festival — or, if it’s a good year, five or more points — a director will light up the screen with an unexpected burst of beauty, a swoop of the camera, a moment of grace. She may not revolutionize the art, but she will make you sit up, and focus your eyes and mind. The monologue running in your head that becomes louder in unmemorable movies (I’m thirsty, what’s for dinner?, that’s a nice lamp) doesn’t stand a chance against a film like “Attenberg,” a highlight of the second week of the festival, which ends Sunday.
from "Awkward Embraces, Assured Directors"
By MANOHLA DARGIS, NYTimes, March 27, 2011
WK2 homework :: Spring 2011
You will read the article "Reconceiving Theory" by Robert Cogan.
Write a one page response
These will be emailed to all members of the class who will print and comment on the printout and bring them all to class.
The responses will be .rtf or .txt docs formated as follows:
Your Name
Date
Addressing Reconceiving Theory
This is the content of your response etc...
As it came up and Milton Babbitt was one of teachers of Robert Cogan, who wrote this article. Please listen to this piece in the music library Milton Babbitt: Composition for Synthesizer (1961).
Here is some "Classic Bleep Blop Music"
also (again, here the real thing on CD)
Which was made on the RCA Mark 2 synthesizer. This a terrible video, but illustrates the sound in a different way.
and here is a 45 minute program on the RCA synth. This is good to wash your dishes by.
Write a one page response
These will be emailed to all members of the class who will print and comment on the printout and bring them all to class.
The responses will be .rtf or .txt docs formated as follows:
Your Name
Date
Addressing Reconceiving Theory
This is the content of your response etc...
As it came up and Milton Babbitt was one of teachers of Robert Cogan, who wrote this article. Please listen to this piece in the music library Milton Babbitt: Composition for Synthesizer (1961).
Here is some "Classic Bleep Blop Music"
also (again, here the real thing on CD)
Which was made on the RCA Mark 2 synthesizer. This a terrible video, but illustrates the sound in a different way.
and here is a 45 minute program on the RCA synth. This is good to wash your dishes by.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Concert Reports
Michelle Cohn
Primavera: Pianomatic Springs I
On Monday April 4th, I attended ‘Pianomatic Springs I’, a concert showcasing a number of works written for the player piano. In the first half, UCSB Professor Clarence Barlow introduced each of the pieces individually, pointing out what the audience should note. He reminded me a great deal of an art historian, describing the methods of composition and how to follow the resultant pieces both on the computer screen as well as on the piano itself. I found this to be considerably effective in augmenting my interest in understanding the pieces, regardless of my personal taste (which veers more toward the harmonic than the dissonant).
It was undoubtedly interesting to watch the keys move without anyone within ten feet of the piano and playing the most dissonant of note combinations; I really felt like there was an angry ghost haunting Geiringer Hall. If I am ever to work with a player piano, I think I would like to maintain the spookiness, but limit the discomfort that such discordant notes bring me. Just because a computer allows for many notes to be played simultaneously, it does not hold—at least for my ears---that they should. Perhaps I prefer simpler ghosts.
The second half of the show consisted of a number of works by Seth Horvitz, which I perceived to be quite a bit more graceful than those preceding them. Though he did not describe his method, he seemed to better understand the general aesthetics of the piano and often ran exceedingly quick scales up and down the keys; this was quite beautiful. Without a computer screen to follow the “score” in real-time, the audience’s attention was solely on the piano and it worked.
Though I am greatly interested by the inspiration and methods that lead to electronic music (as with Barlow’s and Horvitz’s), I generally find the input more beautiful than the output.
==============================================================
Paul Morgan
Music 8
Jette 4-2-11
Performance Critique
March twenty ninth, 20011 at UCSB's "The Hub" DJ Steve Aoki let loose a wall of sound on the ever-ready UCSB student body. Although the debate is still out on whether DJs are actually musicians, they are undeniably preforming artists and therefore should be subject to objective critiquing. I was lucky enough to be running the monitor board for the performance, giving me one amazing view for the exhibition that is Aoki. Steve is known for his high-energy techno/house mixes; with prevalent rock progressions and hip hop features, and that night he delivered accordingly.
On stage was a table with his equipment (Pioneer CDJ 2000s, DJM 1000 mixer, Macbook Pro, and a pair of Dr Dre's Beats: Studio headphones), stacked on either side of the table but slightly upstage, surrounding him in sound were a pair of JBL subs and wedges. And in his hand was a wireless microphone, used solely to scream the digits 1,2…before the beat drops. He started his set with his almost trade mark ticking clock loop that signals the inevitable beginning of his career launching collaboration with the Bloody Beetroots, produced in mid 2009 titled: Warp. Although he did not actually get to the full song until much later in the set, and instead proceeded to build off the anticipation of it and mix in one of his newer singles titled: "I’m In The House" featuring Zuper Blahq, the alter ego of Will.I.Am. from the Black Eyed peas. The song stays true to house roots with a heavy kick on the beat and a syncopated snare coming in consistently between the open high hat hits. The song has Zuper Blahq singing a very repetitive hook, which is simply “I’m in the house” with a lot of added pitch changes and cuts that attempt maintain a feeling of movement throughout the piece. The genre is inherently cyclic and relies on dissonant chords, drum builds, and high pass filters to lead up to the drop, where the song comes in with a new fuller dynamic. The song has a noticeable amount of drum breaks in-between phrases, where the arrangement of instruments subtly but distinctively changes. ZB also provides the rest of the vocal parts for the song including a few “hook-like” verses with short lines, and energetic, self-proclaiming lyrics, again cut up and distorted.
The set averaged at a danceable low/mid one hundreds tempo and featured songs from artists such as Rage Against The Machine, along with a collection of Steve Aoki’s own remixes, notably Kid Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness, and Bloc Party’s Helicopter. The crowd responded exceedingly well to the mix of his taste in popular club music, accompanied by his wild and high-energy stage antics (which involved multiple stage dives from atop towering speakers into a mass of outstretched arms). Judging by the amount of sweat on the show-goers, and the lack of properly arranged clothing on them, it seemed that he was able to evoke a strong positive emotional response from the crowd, which adds up to a successful performance.
==============================================================
-Sean Malone
On February 17th, 2011 I was given the opportunity to play music in the singer/songwriter showcase featuring Lissie. The show began with five student performances, of which, I was the first to perform. I will briefly explain the student performances, but would like to focus on Lissie's, the featured artist's, performance.
The students were all solo performers with either a guitar or keyboard. I began the show with a sad, melancholic song (probably a bad idea) and ended it with an energetic, entertaining song. Most of the other performers followed the same pattern in order to express two reverse sides of their abilities as a songwriter. The music was written mostly for the social aspect, either to garnish a laugh or an emotion. So, in general, the music played by the student performers was focused on the lyrics. However, Lissie, was the opposite.
At the start, Lissie walked on stage with a guitar in her hand, an unkept appearance and two bearded men bearing a guitar and a bass (the bassist sat down at the half-drumset). The stage was immediately consumed in the warm and cool colors of stage-lighting and a powerful ring of a guitar chord--an attention grabber. Her first few songs were rather unmemorable, but by the time she played one of her more well-known songs, by the time her powerful, little voice rang out, and by the time the band was wet with sweat, that is when the music pulled me in. I was watching, but more importantly feeling the passion and raw emotion that went into her music. I couldn't understand a word she was singing, but I will never forget the sound of the voice she let fill the room. I can only describe it's sound as completely untamed, the voice that people keep buried inside of them for years, the voice begging to be heard. The band was nearly a background to the way she sang; one could say that they were merely bringing up the energy in the room up high enough to let Lissie loose. For example, a person sitting in a room with friends would unlikely stand up and dance, but a person at a party feels no problem with it, because the energy level is higher. In conclusion, what I got out of the concert was that when in the right opportunity, emotion can be translated nearly flawlessly through music, and lyrics need not be the focus of a song.
==============================================================
Danny Wester
Music 8
3/31/11
Music 8 Composition Concert
The Music 8 concert we held for our final went fairly smoothly considering the time we had and the resources available to us. All of our compositions were performed; and I believe that the audience was effectively intrigued and/or entertained. Our final concert, I'd say, went pretty well. It definitely had an amateur feel to it, but was still effective nonetheless.
Location makes for an ideal performing environment. The location of our concert was a bit small and non-professional. However, considering we performed at UCSB near friends and classmates, we were able to secure a larger audience than we otherwise would have. Performances themselves were held at the front of the room. The stage was kind of divided in half between the piano and instrumental side, and the tech/wired side. I believe that this stage setup was potentially better than that of a uniform stage setting.
The compositions were carried out without noticeable error. Eric's piece was a bit on the long side in my opinion. In contrast, my own piece was too short. I have no complaints on any other pieces that I can remember at this point in time.
Our presentations were carried out afterwards and were kind of tacked on as an afterthought. My own presentation/speech was a bunch of rambling. I find it hard to keep an organized, presentable train of thought in my head when I want to present it, even though I have some award winning speech prepared beforehand.
Overall, I give the Music 8 Final Concert seven stars out of ten considering the time we were given, resources available, fulfillment of the parameters/requirements, and the events that took place.
My Thoughts on the Upcoming Concert
If we are going to present one of the three final compositions during this concert, I would like to have as big of an audience and auditorium as possible. If we could secure a concert hall, that would be awesome, but I've heard that it will be near impossible since everything is so booked. I have a composition in mind, but the piece is playable by humans. However, there are not enough people to play it since the composition uses whole synthetic brass and string sections. It would be a mercy to allow the computer to play as classical instruments rather than tracking down a whole orchestra.
Location and times have yet to be set I'm guessing. I have several evening classes this quarter and I do hope that it does not overlap with any of them.
If we want it to be big, we can put up flyers and advertise a bit so that we get people other than friends, colleagues, family, etc?
(Other thoughts: I have five compositional ideas/pieces, three of which are new to this class, and one of which cannot be performed in the near future.)
==============================================================
Maria Vithayathil
4/5/2011
Class Composition (Jette)
Composers Concert Reflection
The overall delivery of the concert was mostly well presented except for certain lack of intrigue in individual presentations. Some of the pieces similarly had a disconnected flow. Social presentation was excellent. Given the small space and somewhat decent acoustics, seating was comfortable and most everyone was able to enjoy the concert. Set up for the most part was efficient and the programs looked very tasteful. Each composer delivered a good reflection of themselves and their music. During the performances, instrumentalists approached and exited efficiently and played with confidence. Songs were presented well but as for the critique of the quality of content, this is will be addressed to individual composers:
Kyle’s piece: Good transitions between distinct phrases, good but not great dynamic expression, Could’ve done more instrumental variation.
Sio: Smooth build up to a climax, cleanly performed, well written music, good stage presence, could have had more standing out phrases or instrumental variation.
Daniel Navas: Nice melodic construction and instrumental selection, could have used more complex phrases more dramatic turns and rhythmic variation
Danny: Not familiar with critiquing electron music but good phrases probably more dynamic distinctions
Eric: Original, repetitive and dragged out but that has nothing to do with the point of the performance. It was well thought out, creative, and revolved around a clever idea.
Jesse: Unique application of materials, good utilization of sound scape and organization of many small phrases.
Maria: Nice use of melodic effects, well thought up phrases but lacked connection and fluidity. Needs improvement of transitions, phrase expansion, more rehearsing, least clean presentation of piece.
==============================================================
Kyle Leone
MUS 8 Concert Report
At UCSB, Winter Quarter 2011, the student composers of the MUS 8 class were given the opportunity to put on a concert featuring their own original compositions. After three weeks of preparation, on March 16th, 2011, the composers presented their pieces in an organized, semi-formal concert setting to a decently sized audience.
Audience members had little difficulty finding the venue in Room 2230 in the Music Building. The composers had thoughtfully placed a music stand with printed programs just outside the door. The programs themselves had a professional quality to them and featured a program order with instrumentalists listed as well as self-written bios of each composer. This gave the audience members something to read while waiting for the performance to begin. The concert was scheduled to begin at 2:00, however, it did not officially begin until about 2:30 due to instrumentalist preparation. For future performances, scheduling the call-time earlier would provide the instrumentalists ample time to prepare themselves. An earlier call-time would also ensure a prompt concert.
Once the performers were prepared and the audience settled, the concert began. Most of the composers gave a short introduction to their pieces before each performance. This aspect cemented the bridge between composer and music for the audience by introducing to them the student who created the piece. There were a few minor technical difficulties that halted the concertÕs momentum. Particularly, the microphone confusion before Daniel NavasÕs piano and flute piece. The performers and concert as a whole would have benefited from perhaps rehearsing with the microphones beforehand or at least informing them that microphones were being used for recording purposes. Finally, after the concert had ended, the audience was invited to stay as each composer gave a short presentation about their pieces. Then, the audience was encouraged to give their response. This was a unique opportunity for the composers to receive immediate objective feedback while the audience had the privilege of learning the compositional process each composer when through to craft their individual pieces. Overall, the concert went better than anyone could have predicted.
==============================================================
==============================================================
Zach McGee
Assignment #1: Concert Review
The last concert of interest that I attended was actually a masterclass with Phillip Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet. The pieces performed where a selection movements from a Schumann string quartet, a Beethoven violin and piano sonata, a Clarke viola and piano sonata, and a Beethoven rhapsody.
The one thing that really stood out to me was a certain sense of similarity between two pieces, the Beethoven pieces. I remember sitting in the room listening to the students play these pieces and wondering whether I’d heard this same exact piece only a few minutes ago. I remember thinking that one Beethoven piece had the same thematic material as the other, and they were just way too similar for there to be any random explanation of this. For me the take home value from that concert was just the impact that a composer has on a piece, that even if Bach and Beethoven had been contemporaries of say Barber, and received the same musical training, its still vastly unlikely they would have produced anything that could ever be called the same. For all anybody knows they might not even have produced anything similar.
Something else that stuck with me, not quite as strongly though, was that these pieces probably weren’t being performed anywhere near the situation that they had been written for. I only remember this because I remember having never ever thought of the impact a performance venue has on a piece and how it could be an adverse effect in some cases, and that it was really weird that I should even care at that point. But it was interesting to at least have something new to think about.
==============================================================
==============================================================
Marittza Padilla
Music 8
04/06/2011
Assignment #1: Concert Critique
I attended and participated in last Friday's (April 1) Composers' Concert. Since I am in an accapella choir group here at UCSB called “New Century Voices”, the pieces we performed were all vocal and without accompaniment. I enjoyed these pieces because of their rich harmonies, though in many instances there was dissonance, which brought out a unique quality to the music. I would even say because the instrumentation was purely vocal, the timbre was even more pleasant.
I am an alto, and I really enjoyed these two pieces, especially because we did not get too boring of a line but, instead, played a relatively important part. This was especially true for the piece arranged only for women. Two other girls besides me had the lowest voice, Alto 2; we kind of invaded a tenor's range, but it was still fun to experiment the limits of my voice.
Talking about the concert in its totality, I did not enjoy all the pieces. Unlike other Composer's Concerts that I've attended, this one had a surprising number of piano pieces, which I really liked since I am a pianist. Though I respect all efforts and tastes in music, I do not necessarily like them. This was the case for a piece arranged for a prepared piano. I must say I felt way more comfortable listening to a piano piece inspired by Chopin's preludes.
Similarly, though I am starting to get more into it, electronic music is not my cup of tea. There were 2 electronic pieces, and I enjoyed one more than the other. At one point, the one I less liked got too loud and the audience has to cover their ears because the music simply got too loud.
It was not the best concert I've attended, since there was a small turnout of people and, in my opinion, it was a very weird blend of styles, not too coherent. However, in terms of performance, I know we (the choir) did well, though we didn't expect to do too well since we had not rehearsed too much because of Spring Break. I think our pieces really made the concert enjoyable.
==============================================================
==============================================================
Daniel Navas
MUS 8 Composition
4/1/11
Concert critique
As a first concert experience, the MUS 8 concert that was held last quarter went fairly well for everyone involved. Most were just starting to compose (including me), and the concert served as a good way for us to experience what it was like putting together a concert.
From an organizational standpoint, our concert was organized at what seemed like the last possible minute, with only two meetings held before the performance. Several of the pieces had players who were uncomfortable with their parts, or had only a few rehearsals before the performance. Some of the composers did not have their performers until a week before the concert, giving them less time to rehearse. The program was the best part from an organizational view, as it was made with input from all the composers, and showed insight to what the composers aimed for in their piece.
As for the pieces themselves, many of them had a lot of content and depth to them, and there is a lot to be said about the musicianship and ideas of some of the composers, as they created pieces that showed what a composition means to them, and all the pieces had a certain atmosphere that showed it came from the composer, that it was their piece.
As an experience for a first time composer( I realize this does not include everyone in MUS 8), the concert was a great learning experience. I am looking forward to more of these concerts and am especially looking forward to creating more compositions that define what composition is to me(which i still don’t know, but will find out soon).
==============================================================
==============================================================
==============================================================
Cameron Hannah-Bick
I was part of the last concert I attended. It was an UCSB orchestral concert-in, which I played 3 concertos on oboe (Monte Carlo, Don Quixote, and a Renalde Flute Concerto). Concertos are interesting because the repertoire features one instrument or voice while the orchestra accompanies. The Don Quixote piece featured a bass vocalist who had a really deep rich voice. The orchestral score had a Spanish feel and was triumphant like the bold character Don Quixote. This was my favorite piece because it told a story through musical emotion that had a very obviously tragic ending. The Monte Carlo piece also had a lot of emotion in the music. The woman in the song is reminiscing on her days at the Monte Carlo: but during the piece she erratically changes her moods ranging from loving to completely crazy. At the end of the piece the orchestra plops the last note to illustrate her decision to jump off the cliff into the waves below…the plop signals the end of her fall. The concert went very well: the orchestral repertoire was fairly easy and the soloists were trained professionals.
Primavera: Pianomatic Springs I
On Monday April 4th, I attended ‘Pianomatic Springs I’, a concert showcasing a number of works written for the player piano. In the first half, UCSB Professor Clarence Barlow introduced each of the pieces individually, pointing out what the audience should note. He reminded me a great deal of an art historian, describing the methods of composition and how to follow the resultant pieces both on the computer screen as well as on the piano itself. I found this to be considerably effective in augmenting my interest in understanding the pieces, regardless of my personal taste (which veers more toward the harmonic than the dissonant).
It was undoubtedly interesting to watch the keys move without anyone within ten feet of the piano and playing the most dissonant of note combinations; I really felt like there was an angry ghost haunting Geiringer Hall. If I am ever to work with a player piano, I think I would like to maintain the spookiness, but limit the discomfort that such discordant notes bring me. Just because a computer allows for many notes to be played simultaneously, it does not hold—at least for my ears---that they should. Perhaps I prefer simpler ghosts.
The second half of the show consisted of a number of works by Seth Horvitz, which I perceived to be quite a bit more graceful than those preceding them. Though he did not describe his method, he seemed to better understand the general aesthetics of the piano and often ran exceedingly quick scales up and down the keys; this was quite beautiful. Without a computer screen to follow the “score” in real-time, the audience’s attention was solely on the piano and it worked.
Though I am greatly interested by the inspiration and methods that lead to electronic music (as with Barlow’s and Horvitz’s), I generally find the input more beautiful than the output.
==============================================================
Paul Morgan
Music 8
Jette 4-2-11
Performance Critique
March twenty ninth, 20011 at UCSB's "The Hub" DJ Steve Aoki let loose a wall of sound on the ever-ready UCSB student body. Although the debate is still out on whether DJs are actually musicians, they are undeniably preforming artists and therefore should be subject to objective critiquing. I was lucky enough to be running the monitor board for the performance, giving me one amazing view for the exhibition that is Aoki. Steve is known for his high-energy techno/house mixes; with prevalent rock progressions and hip hop features, and that night he delivered accordingly.
On stage was a table with his equipment (Pioneer CDJ 2000s, DJM 1000 mixer, Macbook Pro, and a pair of Dr Dre's Beats: Studio headphones), stacked on either side of the table but slightly upstage, surrounding him in sound were a pair of JBL subs and wedges. And in his hand was a wireless microphone, used solely to scream the digits 1,2…before the beat drops. He started his set with his almost trade mark ticking clock loop that signals the inevitable beginning of his career launching collaboration with the Bloody Beetroots, produced in mid 2009 titled: Warp. Although he did not actually get to the full song until much later in the set, and instead proceeded to build off the anticipation of it and mix in one of his newer singles titled: "I’m In The House" featuring Zuper Blahq, the alter ego of Will.I.Am. from the Black Eyed peas. The song stays true to house roots with a heavy kick on the beat and a syncopated snare coming in consistently between the open high hat hits. The song has Zuper Blahq singing a very repetitive hook, which is simply “I’m in the house” with a lot of added pitch changes and cuts that attempt maintain a feeling of movement throughout the piece. The genre is inherently cyclic and relies on dissonant chords, drum builds, and high pass filters to lead up to the drop, where the song comes in with a new fuller dynamic. The song has a noticeable amount of drum breaks in-between phrases, where the arrangement of instruments subtly but distinctively changes. ZB also provides the rest of the vocal parts for the song including a few “hook-like” verses with short lines, and energetic, self-proclaiming lyrics, again cut up and distorted.
The set averaged at a danceable low/mid one hundreds tempo and featured songs from artists such as Rage Against The Machine, along with a collection of Steve Aoki’s own remixes, notably Kid Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness, and Bloc Party’s Helicopter. The crowd responded exceedingly well to the mix of his taste in popular club music, accompanied by his wild and high-energy stage antics (which involved multiple stage dives from atop towering speakers into a mass of outstretched arms). Judging by the amount of sweat on the show-goers, and the lack of properly arranged clothing on them, it seemed that he was able to evoke a strong positive emotional response from the crowd, which adds up to a successful performance.
==============================================================
-Sean Malone
On February 17th, 2011 I was given the opportunity to play music in the singer/songwriter showcase featuring Lissie. The show began with five student performances, of which, I was the first to perform. I will briefly explain the student performances, but would like to focus on Lissie's, the featured artist's, performance.
The students were all solo performers with either a guitar or keyboard. I began the show with a sad, melancholic song (probably a bad idea) and ended it with an energetic, entertaining song. Most of the other performers followed the same pattern in order to express two reverse sides of their abilities as a songwriter. The music was written mostly for the social aspect, either to garnish a laugh or an emotion. So, in general, the music played by the student performers was focused on the lyrics. However, Lissie, was the opposite.
At the start, Lissie walked on stage with a guitar in her hand, an unkept appearance and two bearded men bearing a guitar and a bass (the bassist sat down at the half-drumset). The stage was immediately consumed in the warm and cool colors of stage-lighting and a powerful ring of a guitar chord--an attention grabber. Her first few songs were rather unmemorable, but by the time she played one of her more well-known songs, by the time her powerful, little voice rang out, and by the time the band was wet with sweat, that is when the music pulled me in. I was watching, but more importantly feeling the passion and raw emotion that went into her music. I couldn't understand a word she was singing, but I will never forget the sound of the voice she let fill the room. I can only describe it's sound as completely untamed, the voice that people keep buried inside of them for years, the voice begging to be heard. The band was nearly a background to the way she sang; one could say that they were merely bringing up the energy in the room up high enough to let Lissie loose. For example, a person sitting in a room with friends would unlikely stand up and dance, but a person at a party feels no problem with it, because the energy level is higher. In conclusion, what I got out of the concert was that when in the right opportunity, emotion can be translated nearly flawlessly through music, and lyrics need not be the focus of a song.
==============================================================
Danny Wester
Music 8
3/31/11
Music 8 Composition Concert
The Music 8 concert we held for our final went fairly smoothly considering the time we had and the resources available to us. All of our compositions were performed; and I believe that the audience was effectively intrigued and/or entertained. Our final concert, I'd say, went pretty well. It definitely had an amateur feel to it, but was still effective nonetheless.
Location makes for an ideal performing environment. The location of our concert was a bit small and non-professional. However, considering we performed at UCSB near friends and classmates, we were able to secure a larger audience than we otherwise would have. Performances themselves were held at the front of the room. The stage was kind of divided in half between the piano and instrumental side, and the tech/wired side. I believe that this stage setup was potentially better than that of a uniform stage setting.
The compositions were carried out without noticeable error. Eric's piece was a bit on the long side in my opinion. In contrast, my own piece was too short. I have no complaints on any other pieces that I can remember at this point in time.
Our presentations were carried out afterwards and were kind of tacked on as an afterthought. My own presentation/speech was a bunch of rambling. I find it hard to keep an organized, presentable train of thought in my head when I want to present it, even though I have some award winning speech prepared beforehand.
Overall, I give the Music 8 Final Concert seven stars out of ten considering the time we were given, resources available, fulfillment of the parameters/requirements, and the events that took place.
My Thoughts on the Upcoming Concert
If we are going to present one of the three final compositions during this concert, I would like to have as big of an audience and auditorium as possible. If we could secure a concert hall, that would be awesome, but I've heard that it will be near impossible since everything is so booked. I have a composition in mind, but the piece is playable by humans. However, there are not enough people to play it since the composition uses whole synthetic brass and string sections. It would be a mercy to allow the computer to play as classical instruments rather than tracking down a whole orchestra.
Location and times have yet to be set I'm guessing. I have several evening classes this quarter and I do hope that it does not overlap with any of them.
If we want it to be big, we can put up flyers and advertise a bit so that we get people other than friends, colleagues, family, etc?
(Other thoughts: I have five compositional ideas/pieces, three of which are new to this class, and one of which cannot be performed in the near future.)
==============================================================
Maria Vithayathil
4/5/2011
Class Composition (Jette)
Composers Concert Reflection
The overall delivery of the concert was mostly well presented except for certain lack of intrigue in individual presentations. Some of the pieces similarly had a disconnected flow. Social presentation was excellent. Given the small space and somewhat decent acoustics, seating was comfortable and most everyone was able to enjoy the concert. Set up for the most part was efficient and the programs looked very tasteful. Each composer delivered a good reflection of themselves and their music. During the performances, instrumentalists approached and exited efficiently and played with confidence. Songs were presented well but as for the critique of the quality of content, this is will be addressed to individual composers:
Kyle’s piece: Good transitions between distinct phrases, good but not great dynamic expression, Could’ve done more instrumental variation.
Sio: Smooth build up to a climax, cleanly performed, well written music, good stage presence, could have had more standing out phrases or instrumental variation.
Daniel Navas: Nice melodic construction and instrumental selection, could have used more complex phrases more dramatic turns and rhythmic variation
Danny: Not familiar with critiquing electron music but good phrases probably more dynamic distinctions
Eric: Original, repetitive and dragged out but that has nothing to do with the point of the performance. It was well thought out, creative, and revolved around a clever idea.
Jesse: Unique application of materials, good utilization of sound scape and organization of many small phrases.
Maria: Nice use of melodic effects, well thought up phrases but lacked connection and fluidity. Needs improvement of transitions, phrase expansion, more rehearsing, least clean presentation of piece.
==============================================================
Kyle Leone
MUS 8 Concert Report
At UCSB, Winter Quarter 2011, the student composers of the MUS 8 class were given the opportunity to put on a concert featuring their own original compositions. After three weeks of preparation, on March 16th, 2011, the composers presented their pieces in an organized, semi-formal concert setting to a decently sized audience.
Audience members had little difficulty finding the venue in Room 2230 in the Music Building. The composers had thoughtfully placed a music stand with printed programs just outside the door. The programs themselves had a professional quality to them and featured a program order with instrumentalists listed as well as self-written bios of each composer. This gave the audience members something to read while waiting for the performance to begin. The concert was scheduled to begin at 2:00, however, it did not officially begin until about 2:30 due to instrumentalist preparation. For future performances, scheduling the call-time earlier would provide the instrumentalists ample time to prepare themselves. An earlier call-time would also ensure a prompt concert.
Once the performers were prepared and the audience settled, the concert began. Most of the composers gave a short introduction to their pieces before each performance. This aspect cemented the bridge between composer and music for the audience by introducing to them the student who created the piece. There were a few minor technical difficulties that halted the concertÕs momentum. Particularly, the microphone confusion before Daniel NavasÕs piano and flute piece. The performers and concert as a whole would have benefited from perhaps rehearsing with the microphones beforehand or at least informing them that microphones were being used for recording purposes. Finally, after the concert had ended, the audience was invited to stay as each composer gave a short presentation about their pieces. Then, the audience was encouraged to give their response. This was a unique opportunity for the composers to receive immediate objective feedback while the audience had the privilege of learning the compositional process each composer when through to craft their individual pieces. Overall, the concert went better than anyone could have predicted.
==============================================================
==============================================================
Zach McGee
Assignment #1: Concert Review
The last concert of interest that I attended was actually a masterclass with Phillip Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet. The pieces performed where a selection movements from a Schumann string quartet, a Beethoven violin and piano sonata, a Clarke viola and piano sonata, and a Beethoven rhapsody.
The one thing that really stood out to me was a certain sense of similarity between two pieces, the Beethoven pieces. I remember sitting in the room listening to the students play these pieces and wondering whether I’d heard this same exact piece only a few minutes ago. I remember thinking that one Beethoven piece had the same thematic material as the other, and they were just way too similar for there to be any random explanation of this. For me the take home value from that concert was just the impact that a composer has on a piece, that even if Bach and Beethoven had been contemporaries of say Barber, and received the same musical training, its still vastly unlikely they would have produced anything that could ever be called the same. For all anybody knows they might not even have produced anything similar.
Something else that stuck with me, not quite as strongly though, was that these pieces probably weren’t being performed anywhere near the situation that they had been written for. I only remember this because I remember having never ever thought of the impact a performance venue has on a piece and how it could be an adverse effect in some cases, and that it was really weird that I should even care at that point. But it was interesting to at least have something new to think about.
==============================================================
==============================================================
Marittza Padilla
Music 8
04/06/2011
Assignment #1: Concert Critique
I attended and participated in last Friday's (April 1) Composers' Concert. Since I am in an accapella choir group here at UCSB called “New Century Voices”, the pieces we performed were all vocal and without accompaniment. I enjoyed these pieces because of their rich harmonies, though in many instances there was dissonance, which brought out a unique quality to the music. I would even say because the instrumentation was purely vocal, the timbre was even more pleasant.
I am an alto, and I really enjoyed these two pieces, especially because we did not get too boring of a line but, instead, played a relatively important part. This was especially true for the piece arranged only for women. Two other girls besides me had the lowest voice, Alto 2; we kind of invaded a tenor's range, but it was still fun to experiment the limits of my voice.
Talking about the concert in its totality, I did not enjoy all the pieces. Unlike other Composer's Concerts that I've attended, this one had a surprising number of piano pieces, which I really liked since I am a pianist. Though I respect all efforts and tastes in music, I do not necessarily like them. This was the case for a piece arranged for a prepared piano. I must say I felt way more comfortable listening to a piano piece inspired by Chopin's preludes.
Similarly, though I am starting to get more into it, electronic music is not my cup of tea. There were 2 electronic pieces, and I enjoyed one more than the other. At one point, the one I less liked got too loud and the audience has to cover their ears because the music simply got too loud.
It was not the best concert I've attended, since there was a small turnout of people and, in my opinion, it was a very weird blend of styles, not too coherent. However, in terms of performance, I know we (the choir) did well, though we didn't expect to do too well since we had not rehearsed too much because of Spring Break. I think our pieces really made the concert enjoyable.
==============================================================
==============================================================
Daniel Navas
MUS 8 Composition
4/1/11
Concert critique
As a first concert experience, the MUS 8 concert that was held last quarter went fairly well for everyone involved. Most were just starting to compose (including me), and the concert served as a good way for us to experience what it was like putting together a concert.
From an organizational standpoint, our concert was organized at what seemed like the last possible minute, with only two meetings held before the performance. Several of the pieces had players who were uncomfortable with their parts, or had only a few rehearsals before the performance. Some of the composers did not have their performers until a week before the concert, giving them less time to rehearse. The program was the best part from an organizational view, as it was made with input from all the composers, and showed insight to what the composers aimed for in their piece.
As for the pieces themselves, many of them had a lot of content and depth to them, and there is a lot to be said about the musicianship and ideas of some of the composers, as they created pieces that showed what a composition means to them, and all the pieces had a certain atmosphere that showed it came from the composer, that it was their piece.
As an experience for a first time composer( I realize this does not include everyone in MUS 8), the concert was a great learning experience. I am looking forward to more of these concerts and am especially looking forward to creating more compositions that define what composition is to me(which i still don’t know, but will find out soon).
==============================================================
==============================================================
==============================================================
Cameron Hannah-Bick
I was part of the last concert I attended. It was an UCSB orchestral concert-in, which I played 3 concertos on oboe (Monte Carlo, Don Quixote, and a Renalde Flute Concerto). Concertos are interesting because the repertoire features one instrument or voice while the orchestra accompanies. The Don Quixote piece featured a bass vocalist who had a really deep rich voice. The orchestral score had a Spanish feel and was triumphant like the bold character Don Quixote. This was my favorite piece because it told a story through musical emotion that had a very obviously tragic ending. The Monte Carlo piece also had a lot of emotion in the music. The woman in the song is reminiscing on her days at the Monte Carlo: but during the piece she erratically changes her moods ranging from loving to completely crazy. At the end of the piece the orchestra plops the last note to illustrate her decision to jump off the cliff into the waves below…the plop signals the end of her fall. The concert went very well: the orchestral repertoire was fairly easy and the soloists were trained professionals.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Syllabus Spring 2011
Here is the syllabus for Spring 2011 in pdf format.
If you tell me about this post in the first class, you will receive extra credit!
If you tell me about this post in the first class, you will receive extra credit!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Creativity
An interesting read by Cory Doctorow. This is a thought experiment that analyzes the practice of human creativity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)