"Forces of Nature" Faculty Recital

On November 4th, I had the opportunity to see another After Dinner Mint Faculty Showcase in Hockett Family Recital Hall. The program, which features songs about the "Forces of Nature," featured such professors as Michael Galvan, Susan Waterbury, Frank Campos, Nathan Hess, John White, Marc Webster, Jenny Stockdale, Blaise Bryski, and Paige Morgan. The instruments that were featured were oboe, vocals, piano, clarinet, violin, and flugelhorn. The recital, which took about two hours, played without an intermission.

As I was walking into Hockett, waiting for the recital to begin, I was surrounded by the sounds of nature. While the audience was waiting for a performance to begin, the surrounding speakers would play the sounds of nature (wind, animal noises, etc.) as the projector would show pictures of natural landscapes which further adding to this experience. It was easy to see the connection to nature through each performance. Every performer chose a piece that differed from the rest, making the musical journey through nature very enjoyable.

A piece that was memorable from this recital was "Ferdinand the Bull for Speaker and Violin (1936)" performed by Susan Waterbury (violin) and Paige Morgan (speaker). I thought this piece was very interesting because it told the story with music and through a speaker. The way the song is composed is that the speaker would start off by telling a small section of Ferdinand's life and the troubles that come upon him. Once a small section of text is spoken, the violin would enter, playing a melody that the audience can connect to the emotions that Ferdinand is feeling. The song, which started off very happy, soon became very dark as Ferdinand was finding himself in a lot of trouble and not doing what he wanted to do.

I found this recital to be very enjoyable! I loved how the faculty would talk to the audience before beginning the piece, explaining the detail in the song and what they hope the audience will pick out. I think it is outstanding how the faculty in the music school want the audience to walk away with new ideas of performing, as well as understanding the song and it's importance to the overall recital. I would suggest for every student to see a faculty recital because of the wonderful work the faculty puts into every second of the performance.

The songs that were played in the recital were very modern. No song was played that was before 1900. It was great to see songs that focused on the individual and what the composer thought would be the best way to represent their ideas. Like we talked about in class, the cadences took a long time to appear, which gave the audience a sense of incompletion. The audience had to wait before an idea can be considered complete with a PAC.

"Rite of Spring"

           

            

            Modernism was the time during the 20^th Century where artists were expanding on the artistic tradition that was set forth already. The art that was created during this time was abstract and unexpected. Composers, such as Igor Stravinsky, were challenging art and forcing it to live up to it’s potential. In Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” he is able to express himself by using modern aesthetics, such as fragmentation, disjunction, and stratification.

            Stravinsky uses fragmentation to help divide the melody of the piece among multiple instruments, adding to unexpected turns throughout the song. Fragmentation is best described as the division of parts of the song into sections, which will make the songs sound like it is unfinished. For example, at 2:00 marks the ending of the string section playing. Suddenly, a lot of instruments start playing such as the clarinet, oboe, flute, and piccolo. When one instrument would begin, another would be about to play. Until this section stops at 3:00, it seems like every instrument is adding their own ideas to the song but it is unfortunately being layered on top multiple instruments with their own ideas.

            Disjunction is used in the “Rite of Spring” to had harmony between two instruments to add unexpected sounds. Disjunction is the harmony between two instruments that is more than a major second, which can sound unpleasing to the ear. At 2:26, the oboe starts playing; setting it up at the instrument that is playing the melody. At 2: 38, the clarinet enters, playing the same melody that the oboe was playing but at a much higher pitch, adding harmony between the two instruments. What is interesting about this specially is that the clarinet, which can have a low song, is playing higher than the oboe, which normally plays at a higher pitch. This harmonization is extremely unexpected.

            Stravinsky adds stratification to build different layers of sound to the song, making the song seem very abstract. The interpretation of stratification could very much be considered chaotic because of the amount of layers a composer can add to the song. Looking at 2:26, many instruments are playing their own ideas, which to the audience can be very overwhelming and abstract. As an audience member, you don’t know what to listen to and how to interpret it. It isn’t until 3:00 when all the chaos ends and the audience is able to hear one idea again.

            The use of modernistic characters help Stravinsky add more abstract and unexpected turns in the “Rite of Spring.” The way he is able to interpret the idea of spring and have all these ideas playing all at once shows how music was transformed during the 20^th Century. Everyone can take something different away from the song every time they listen to it.

OUTLINE

Paragraph 1 – Introduction

Paragraph 2 – Fragmentation; 2:00-3:00

Paragraph 3 – Disjunction; 2:26-2:38

Paragraph 4 – Stratification; 2:26-3:00

Paragraph 5 – Conclusion