Orchestra Concert Comparison Essay

On Friday night, November 13, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. I attended the Manhattan School of Music for the Jazz Orchestra that performed by Jazz vocalists and MSM alumni Jane Monheit and many other musicians. That place is unlikely the ordinary place, people have appropriate dress on and have nicely etiquette toward the performers, unlike me, many of audiences seem like that they come to this concert with certain knowledge of Jazz orchestra. And its musical venue was the ideal spot for the concert, so I sat in a decent spot spot that located at midst of the concert hall where I can view all the performers and hear performers’ music clearly. And the conductor informally began the show was quite nicely and politely which made me feel really comfortable

The concert performed by the Allen High School Symphony Orchestra, which combines the Chamber and Sinfonia Orchestras, was an amazing concert but was not a flawless one. The pieces all sounded quite wonderful on the outside, but by diving deeper into the music and truly listening to and observing the performance with a sharper eye, there were some problems that appeared in a couple different areas, and those problems came mainly from three distinct areas: tone, technique, and musicianship.

On Thursday, May 18th, 2017 I attended a concert at Pierce College Performing Arts Center. This concert as wells as the others at Peirce College Performing Arts Center were sponsored by the Associated Student Organization (ASO). The concert began at one o’clock. The performers were students of the Pierce College Applied Music Program. The Host walked out and briefly talked about how dedicated and talented each student is. The pieces performed varied from time period and style of music. It contained music from Bach to Jojo.

On April 11th, 2017 in the Louis Armstrong Theatre, I attended the GVSU “University Band”. This up-beat ensemble lasted about 90 minutes; the talented students of GVSU’s university band joined together to perform multiple different songs ranging from a Waltz to a Dixieland Jamboree. All of the songs that the band played for the audience were all well-known, popular songs that they all enjoyed. Having the opportunity to attend this concert has opened new musical paths for myself and has allowed me to enjoy and kindly critique something that I perhaps would have never had the chance to otherwise.

Considering that the concert consisted of more classical music the stage and the musicians was divided depending on instruments. Although it was not singing each, instrument held its own dynamic but still maintained a perfect polyphonic feel as the song progressed. After each song, the Director effortless began to explain the songs and continue a personable connection with the audience. While viewing the concert, I came to the understanding that the Directors are very important to the show. They are the leader, voice, and connector to the musicians

When the concert first began, the three instrumentalists walked with energy despite their age. The first song, “Sonata I in G-Major Op. 2, Nr. 1” by Michel Blavet, was a Baroque Sonata. There were five movements and was played by the harpsichord, flute, and cello. All movements of the song were polyphonic because of the three instruments that had different parts and equal importance. In the first movement, I noticed that the flute tended to rise in pitch. In the second movement, I noticed that the melodies often repeated. Throughout the rest of the song the tempo changed from fast to slow and the flute would usually take the lead. On the last movement, the cello and the harpsichord

Before the concert began, the atmosphere felt causal and comforting. The non-ticketed nature of the concert seemed to create a diversity within the audience. There appeared to no unreasonable dress code policy and the ages of the audience ranged from infants to elderly adults. Something I took note of was that the instruments that made up the ensemble were all wind instruments, except for the string bassist and pianist. I had never attended a performance primarily consisting of wind instruments, so I was curious to hear whether the themes of the pieces were going to be betrayed similarly to string instruments.

On the evening of Tuesday, November 28 at 7:30, I attended the UNG Instrumental Honors Recital. To be quite frank, I was entirely unsure of what to expect as I had never attended an instrumental concert before. The entire evening had a semi-formal air about it, despite the casual t-shirts and jeans many people were wearing. Each musician would step on stage to a completely silent audience, settle on the provided chair if necessary, take a deep breath, and then finally let the music sweep them away as they played for the audience. The passion and emotion each musician had was clear from the intensity of their respective facial expressions, which changed depending on what piece they were playing.

On Friday, July 10th, I chose virtually to attend an online YouTube Symphony Orchestra Concert-2011. Many beautiful pieces were performed by a magnificent orchestra that included more than sixty participants and consisted of instruments such as: flutes, oboes, horn, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, percussions and strings. Concert’s selections varied in length, temperament, mood and dynamics. Orchestra Symphony gave an overpowering, extraordinary presentation and delivery.

I attended the Chaffey College Music Department Benefit Concert on February 7 at the Chaffey College theatre. The visual and performance arts presents in concert Los Angeles Philharmonic String Quartet. The concert was lead by Vijay Gupta, LA Philharmonic first violins with Tao Ni on cello, and Michael Larco on violas. The theater was filled up with audience coming from all over the place waiting for the performance to start. The concert had become a trio because one of the performers could not make it to the concert. Brandon Bernstein, music theory instructor, introduced the trio, which has toured internationally and is one of the most renowned orchestra groups in the world. The lights dimmed and the trio came out, bowed, and began to play. This orchestra played all string instruments. They performed three songs that are “Hungarian String Trio”, “String Serenade”, and “Chaconne”.

Michael Mauskapf explores the changes within concert audience in recent years and how the orchestra is plays both innovative and archaic roles within the community. Has formality surpassed the needs of modern audiences? Mauskapf notes that the orchestra is catering to a culture that is soon to die out and that being an “elite” organization with lead to its demise.

During the performance there were many overtones and one fundamental tone, which deals with the timbre and tone quality. “The overtones produce additional sounds that enable us to distinguish between different instruments even when they are sounding the same pitch”(Kaemmer:60). The tone quality of the performance was very good. The music sounded evenly distributed and it was very easy to hear the sounds of the various instruments. The band played two songs and one song had a slow rhythm and the other had a faster rhythm. Rhythm means more than a basic beat (Kaemmer:65). During the performance there was a steady rhythm. Also during the performance there was a section of the song that sounded different and after about ten seconds the song goes back to its previous sound. That sound was a melody. Melodies are combination of pitches and rhythm patterns that produce a distinctive line of sound (Kaemmer:62). When the band first began to play the song started in a low tone and the music began to escalate and it reached a climax where the loudness of the performance was at its peak. Once at its peak the music began to get softer and lower. This is an example of a linear form of the performance. Linear form means a performance having a definite beginning and ending. The overall musical sound of the performance was delightful and pleasing to the ears.

Many people came dressed in formal attire and the largest groups were older listeners and families. As being a Symphony Orchestra from the Ukraine, there was a large number of Ukrainian people in the audience. Before the concert began, I spoke to an older gentleman in front of me. He was Ukrainian, and was excited to hear the concert. Many other people came up to him to greet him before the show. Seemingly, there was a close community of Ukrainian people in the surrounding area, that all came to see the concert. As America has so many different nationalities within such a large country, it is evident how a concert like this may affect communities and help Americans honor their ancestors. There was a large number of female musicians in the orchestra. Although mostly string, it is important to note this and many seemed very young, while other players seemed older. The orchestra was widely diverse in terms of age and gender. Putting aside the newer suite, two of the compositions played were played historically accurate to what could've been played in the nineteenth century. It was an Eastern European orchestra, but the famous compositions played have meaning in American music as well. Mostly being introduced in the twentieth century, classical concert European concert music like those played, are still played today by American symphonies. One of the compositions played, was a suite from “The Night Before

I enjoy listening to a variety of all kinds of music. However, interestingly, through whole my life, I have never attended many classical concerts before; especially classical saxophone ones. Compared to all the other concerts that I have gone to, the saxophone studio recital was a definite change in atmosphere. The Dana Concert Series presented the YSU saxophone studio recital in the Butler Institute of American Art. The students of Dr. James C. Umble performed at 12:15 in the prepossessing building. The room filled with many loved ones, students, faculty, and bystanders. Everyone remained very quiet waiting for the show to begin as the performers warmed up for a little while off to the side of the stage.

My initial response to the concert was of much surprise. First, when I walked in I didn’t expect to see such a formal event. Thank goodness I showed up in my work clothes! My initial reaction to the music however was one of great surprise. I didn’t really know what to expect from the Lee’s Summit Symphony because honestly I didn’t even know they existed. Once the symphony began to play “Don Giovanni” my mood instantly changed. The symphony was incredible, and the music was not what I had expected at all. I was surprised by how much of the music I had actually heard before and just not realized it.