The Violin Monologue

I found this piece very interesting; it tells a clear story, and has a dissonant accompanist which makes it sound stylistically similar to the music of musical theatre.

The pearl, in my opinion, was not evil, it was bait. It lured bystanders in as a test. It reminds be of the trails to get to heaven; it was made to entice the greedy and selfish so they may be punished. Those who can keep away the destructive thinking of power and riches get rewarded. It was a standard to leech out the sinners.

The melody in the first movement opens with the violins and they are then accompany by the violas and the cello. As you keep listening you notice that French horn, clarinets, flutes, and oboes contribute to the harmony. The first movement is also in the key signature of G minor. As you move through the first movement you enter into the second section which is in a different key. The key signature of the second movement is in B flat major. The instruments that have the melody this time are the violins along with the clarinets and bassoons.

Then, it comes out of nowhere. The biggest climax, suddenly brought on like a wave crashing against a cliff’s edge. The oboe melody recurs again, this time less sorrowful than inviting. Come back, it sings. And the flute comes skipping over the sound, the sun rising from behind black clouds. But the melody it plays sounds out of place, lower than and not as bright as what it could be. My fingers twitch, following the flute countermelody as if I were up there playing with them—as I should be.

The concert started off at a quick and stimulating pace with Brahms’s Sonata for Two Pianos in F Minor. The piece starts with descending arpeggios echoing a sensation of distress or confusion. There are frequent slight pauses, creating a sense of suspense for what is to follow and building on the emotions

No longer are the people’s eyes wet with tears but instead are dry and red. This illustrates how the family is anticipating and holding their breath as the speaker slowly leaves the land of the living. While the speaker is ready to witness the glorious beginning of ascending into the afterlife, they also see a King who is witnessing the speaker’s journey, “For that last Onset- when the King Be Witnesses- in the Room-“(6-7). The king that is also witnessing the journey that the speaker is embarking on might be what the speaker believes is God watching everything

Piano trills are just a small part of the great work developed by Chadsey, who cleverly infuses a sort of spirituality in the harmonic sequences in order to exalt and stun. Vocals take over the second section, uttering Bly’s words - ‘I would rather go in dead and successful than alive and behind time’. This melody is intermittently repeated by the organist behind Fleenor’s passionate solo. For the triumphant finale, the first section is retrieved and intensified by fluttering horn stamps and decisive percussion maneuvers.

First we hear beautiful traditional classical music, then the fragment is recorded and sent back to the hall and re-recorded, which generates an amplifying sound effect. This makes the orchestra sound like organs playing for a mass in a church. When the recordings are replayed and repeated, the music become percussive echoes, and looping echoes soon outstand the meaningful score, leaving resonant frequencies physically fill the space. When one fragment ends in frequencies, another fragment launches with clear notes. In this piece, the fading of meaning and reappearance of it reminds of me ocean waves. A wave rises high as a wall so that we can see water in an identifiable form, just like we can understand sound through scores; as the wave hits the shore, breaks and disappears, ripples and bubbles become evidences of the wave’s existence, just like we can tell that music once was there through the frequencies. When the music lost its meaning, the audience subjectivity also vanishes. Personal preference over music genre no longer exists, all we share is the same space and same frequencies translated through air and the material that reflected the

Both movements in this sonata began with slow introduction played by cellist, and later accompanied by the piano. The first movement, Andante, was first gentle and soft, giving me a sense of serenity and peace. However, the tempo suddenly increased after the abrupt shift to Allegro vivace. The sudden change in tempo, rhythm, and dynamic surprised me like a ringing alarm suddenly wake me up from a sweet and placid dream, bringing me back to the cruel reality. The second movement, Adagio, also started with a slow introduction but both performers played together instead of just the cellist. As the second movement progressed the tempo became faster and the melody became more playful and animated, along with unexpected pauses. The second movement reminded me of the story of Alice in Wonderland. I could imagine a little girl experiencing a wonderful adventure in the wonderland and encountering and playing mysterious characters and objects. I enjoyed all three sonatas performed by Anton Nel and Bion Tsang, but I especially loved the Sonata in C major, Op.102, No. 1, by Ludwig Van

I’ve played viola for since I was eleven. My freshman year I decided to join a youth orchestra in the area. I auditioned and got first chair; this was completely different from anything I had done before because I was expected to lead my section, not just play the music. It was stressful, I wasn’t used to talking with my section as a leader and telling them how to do things. At the beginning I was confused, but some of the things that helped me were having a positive attitude, being committed to the orchestra, and communicating well with others. I found out first hand that having a bad attitude rubs off on everyone in the orchestra. Many people only play in high school, then when they graduate they don’t touch their instruments, so by

The use of soft sad music throughout her journey in the hidden room is an element that also provides an understanding of a hardship and sadness recently faced, as she reflects upon the items in there and the meaning they place on her. Personality

beginning of the piece almost sounded like music that would be played in a classic horror/haunted house movie - the part where the piano plays itself! My emotions were mixed up throughout the entire piece and I tried very hard to paint a picture in my mind to what the composer was actually expressing and what kind of story was he trying to tell. “Could it be a tragic love story?”, “Could it be a story about a miserable life, a horrible death and/or the transfiguration to the afterlife?”. These were the questions I was asking myself when I listened to this classical piece. Although I could not understand the complexity of it, I still enjoyed listening to it very much. The only thing I knew was that the nickname of this classical piece was called “The Moonlight Sonata” and that the piece written by the great Ludwig van

Next, "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain" creates an illusion of a mind becoming unstable by describing the speaker's irrationality. The speaker's irrationality is represented in the third stanza and fourth stanza. It is evident that the speaker is beginning to hear voices, which is why she states "And then I heard them lift a Box" (line 9). The voices that the speaker is hearing are beginning to take over her mind as she expresses "And creak across my Soul," which gives the reader's the illusion of the speaker losing all control. All the problems that the speaker is experiencing as a result of her mental stability are beginning to take their toll, which is evident through the statement "Boots of Lead, again, Then Space - began to toll" (line 11-12). The speaker has now fallen into a state of irrationality, and her mind has suffered enough, and consequently thoughts of suicide plague the speaker. The statement "As all the Heavens were a Bell" represents the speaker's feelings that her mind has a chance of being at peace again if she ends her existing insanity, and she must therefore act upon her suicide thoughts (line 13). The speaker is trying to convince herself to follow through with her thoughts of suicide, as clearly indicated in her statement "Wrecked, solitary, here-." The speaker

The last two lines act as a slap in the face. Every element works toward death, and the speaker almost slips into eternal rest. One can see him, putting the

Stanza four introduces the "Bell" as a metaphor for the heavens, and goes on to say that "Being (is), but an Ear". The bell is representative of a church bell, and all the mourners (Beings) are listening to its ring. The use of the word bell in the poem’s context forms a vision of a slow ringing church bell, characteristic to a funeral. The next line, of the fourth stanza, pairs up the poet and silence as castaways. They are strangers in a foreign place, and are all alone. One could infer from the poem that "here" represents purgatory. This