Concert Report 2 - African Drumming and Dancing

On October 21, 2014 at 8:15 pm, I attended an African Drumming and Dancing concert with my RA and some other friends. During the concert there were two groups of students who performed during the two hour concert. One class was the African Drumming and Dancing seminar consisting of about 20 freshman students. The other class that went up on stage and performed was an elective class I believe, consisting of about 40 students. Each group would perform one song and then switch with the other class who would then go up on stage and perform. Overall, each group performed about 5 songs, but the total time the concert went on was about 2 hours. As one can probably tell from the title, the music that each group was performing was African music. In fact, all of the music that I heard was made up on stage from either the students with drums or from those who were making sounds with their voices. In addition to the singing and dancing, all of the students were wearing African costumes which consisted of "dresses" with cool, intricate patterns (see picture above).

Since we have not learned too much about African style music, it was challenging to try to find music that we have studied to compare it to. It was challenging because there was usually only one melody that was sung. In the songs that we listen to in class, there is always several melodies that we follow and analyze the cadences and the phrase structures of. In the songs that were performed at the concert, the melody was repeated over and over again, mimicking a chant. The reason that the concert was so entertaining was because the students had different dances to go along with the melody. If the concert had only been the students repeating the melody over and over again with the drums in the background, it would have been very boring.

I was personally very impressed with the seminar class. At first, it seemed like they were very nervous and doubtful up on stage together, but once they started, they took off. I remember in the first song that the seminar class sung, all of the boys lined up at the back of the stage and played a basic drum beat. All of the girls in the class sat in a semi circle with what seemed like big bowls in front of them. One by one, they would beat on the bowls a specific rhythm. Once all of the percussion was set, the girls started to sing a specific African melody. Then, several girls had solos and sang their own parts. Once they were done, everyone would join back into the “chorus”. Although the beat was repetitive, the song was still very interesting because of the differing dynamics including the different solo verses.

Though this type of music is very different from what we have been studying in class, especially the classical music from the Romantic era, there are still some similarities between this music and the music we have studied since the first day of class. In the classical music that we have been studying recently, I notice that the lower part of the piano’s role is to provide a sort of “beat”. Although this “beat” is extremely different from the actual beats played in this concert, it is still used as a background and something that the melody is built off of. The “beat” in the classical music is normally a specific melodious phrase, it is often repeated throughout the song, just like the beat in the concert did.

Overall, I loved the concert. At first, I was doubtful and thought that the concert was going to be very amateur, but I was pleasantly surprised. The seminar class impressed me the most and it was so enjoyable not only because of the catchy beats but also because of how much fun each student seemed to be having. This made a world of a difference and made me want to get up on stage to join them!

“The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog”

Caspar David Friedrich’s “The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” embodies lots of romantic period qualities. When I take a glance at this artwork, the first thing I think is that this man in the painting is taking in this beautiful view and just feeling the power of life. All around him is beauty, wonder, and mystery. I can almost completely insert myself into this painting and feel all of my senses working as I try to make sense of all of the magnificence around me.

One Romanticism ideal that seems to be portrayed in this photo is alienation; the thought of an “artist apart from society”. Now, this may not be a self-portrait of Caspar David Friedrich, but this man is definitely alienated from society at the moment of this painting. Maybe Friedrich wanted to portray his feelings about society and by having this man be the only person in the painting, it symbolized his want or even role in society.

Similar to “The Dreamer”, also by Friedrich, this painting embodies lots of emotions, another ideal of Romanticism. I can put myself in the main character’s shoes and look out into the mystifying landscape before me. How can one not think when they are put into a situation like this? Even now, in modern day, if one was to come across a landscape like this, after taking their pictures with their smart phones, I would hope that there would be at least a couple of seconds of silence to just take it all in. And in that moment of silence, there has got to be thoughts bouncing around, stirring emotions throughout the body, engaging all senses. Being so high up, as well, must create a sense of power (not necessarily over anyone), but just power in oneself as well as satisfaction with life. These emotions can lead to another Romanticism theory: the sense of self-realization in the world.

During this period, the yearning for the “unknown and unknowable” was prominent. What is out there? This man must be thinking. Maybe not only is he (or me, in that case) wondering what is underneath all of that fog, but it also brings me to a larger question overall. What is out there…in the entire world? Again, the mystery of this painting can create feelings within a viewer.

The use of a foreign land is something that was classified in the Romantic period. Relative to being “unknown and unknowable”, this foreign land creates a sense of there being new ideals. What is out there that I have yet to discover that is being hidden by all of this fog? Do I leave and wait for the fog to clear or appreciate the beauty of mystery while it is still here?

Even though I am not looking at the actual painting, I am still able to use my senses to appreciate the glory and wonder of this scene. In my mind, Caspar David Friedrich does a great job in creating a piece that can pull the viewer into the painting so that they can feel what the main character in this piece is feeling. 

Mozart's Musical Phrases

As I have said earlier in my blog, my honest initial reaction to studying classical music was not too thrilling, but I have been pleasantly surprised lately. The music we have been studying (Haydn, Mozart, etc.) is very beautiful and catches my attention. Although to me it is still the “stereotypical” classical music with the orchestra, I have developed a new appreciation for the music. Even with no words, I feel the emotions of the song by analyzing how it makes me feel.

The piece that I have chosen for this assignment is one that I have once had a connection to but have since forgotten about. I used to play piano as a child and I was pretty good (for what I could tell). At home, we had a kind of cheap but also very cool keyboard that could play some songs. One of them was “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart. My sister and I made up our own little dance to it and whenever we “practiced” piano at home, we would always somehow end up playing the symphony and dancing around the living room, making my mom not too happy about our priorities. After my sister and I stopped playing piano for several reasons, I forgot about the song and our lovely memories that went along with it, but when I set out to search for a piece that I could analyze, my face lit up when I saw the familiar title on the internet, underneath Mozart’s name. So…here it is. Here is my attempt to analyze a phrase of this wonderful masterpiece.

“Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSL5-wxgvFY

To start off, the overall texture of the piece is homophonic. There seems to be one melodic line that is backed up by different chords and sounds. Also, the rhythm seems to be allegro overall. Most of the song is upbeat, jumpy, and fast-paced, but sometimes the allegro melody is slowed down and played with a more passionate, elongated string of notes played by what seems to be the violin. (For example, 1:55 in the video). The melody is one that is easily recognizable. As soon as I started playing the song, I started to sing with the melody. The  dynamics within this piece help it to be a memorable one. Like the pieces we have studied in class, Mozart has cleverly added crescendo, decrescendos, pace-changing parts, and others to make the piece unique, and not boring. Overall, the piece sounds upbeat and joyful, giving the audience something to smile about.

I have decided to try to analyze the first 21 seconds of the piece. At first, I thought that the phrase within the first 9 seconds would be some type of parallel period, but when I sang the notes of the cadences, they seemed to be the same one, but in a different octave, making it impossible for it to be any parallel period because there are no half or imperfect authentic cadences. I also thought that the section from 0:09 – 0:21 would be its own sentence. It may be, but I started to doubt myself and therefore have determined that I believe that the entire first section that I am analyzing (0:00 – 0:21) is one sentence. With the section from 0:00 – 0:06 being a basic idea, then repeating itself until 0:09, where it then kicks off into the continuation, ending in a cadential idea. Granted, this may be wrong and probably is wrong, but to me it seems like that is pretty reasonable, other than the fact that if this is true, then the continuation of the sentence seems pretty long. But, hey, who knows. Maybe the continuation of this phrase was meant to be longer than usual. Mozart did break some musical rules along the way, didn’t he?

Here is what I imagine the diagram of the phrase is: A sentence

        

To be honest, I’m not sure if this is exactly what the phrase structure is, but from what I’ve learned, this is best I could analyze it.

Being music from the Enlightenment period, this piece is bound to have Enlightenment qualities found within the music. Mozart mimics a salon with this piece by changing up the melodies and intensity/loudness that the instruments are playing. Listening to this song makes me think that there is a conversation going on between the different instruments in the orchestra, similar to a salon where there would be conversations between philosophers about theories and ideas of the time period.

The changing of keys can also represent the Enlightenment. During this era, lots of changes to society were being made and the countries that were involved with the Enlightenment (most European countries) were advancing with respect to science, music, art, and more. The changing of keys symbolize these changes within society.  As soon as you think that you know all of the parts of this song, Mozart changes the key and it surprises you, just like those involved and living in the Enlightened world would probably feel whenever a new idea was contributed to society.

In this piece, I also found sounds that reminded me of ornamentation. For example, at 2:50, the instrument playing does not simply just play one note, but makes a sort of frilly sound and dances around the main note of the melody. To me, these notes are flirty and are used to provide extra flare to the piece. Just like Versailles, a magnificent structure of beauty created in the Enlightenment period, this piece has ornamentation to make it more appealing.

Almost everyone knows of Mozart. He will (hopefully) always be a recognizable name. Saying that, though, I have never truly dove into his music and really listened before this class. Thanks to this seminar, I realize now how much beauty can be presented through classical music like Mozart’s. It is simply amazing!