February 2010
Hello and welcome back into the New Year. The first newsletter of this year begins by looking at endings!
In this newsletter we want to thank Jenny who asked the question, "What is a coda"
As ever we wish everyone well who is sitting an exam. Why do they call it sitting when you stand to play many instruments?
Hector Berlioz
Romantic composer, Emotional Musical Adventurer
Berlioz deep in thought
Hector Berlioz: more EMA than EMO – more of an Emotional Musical Adventurer than an Emotionally Motivated Outcast! He was certainly emotional. Even as a child, Berlioz had been deeply affected by his emotions, and had ended up in tears over a Latin epic poem by Virgil. He was interested in expressing extremes of emotion in his music. Also, like his contemporaries, he was very interested in literature, and financially supported himself by musical journalism. He was born just at the right time - in 1803 at the beginning of the Romantic period in music. He insisted his music was played with feeling and is quoted as saying, “To render my works properly requires a combination of extreme precision and irresistible verve, a regulated vehemence, a dreamy tenderness, and an almost morbid melancholy.” One of the most famous pieces he composed was his Symphonie Fantastique in which declared his love for the famous Shakesperian actress Harriet Smithson. It tells a lurid, autobiographical tale. The Paris audiences loved it. However it did not work its magic on Harriet. His overwhelming ardour frightened her away! Years later they got back together and married. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very unhappy marriage. Unlike other composers of the Romantic period, Berlioz was not a pianist, nor known as a virtuoso instrumentalist. But he was certainly very musical. He learnt to play the guitar and flute as a child, but his real genius was as a conductor. He also developed the art of conducting. He was determined that the orchestra played his music with understanding. Berlioz had had to teach himself by studying the scores during performances, and talking with other composers. His hearing was so acute that he could hear when two clarinets were slightly out of tune with each other even when they were playing with the whole orchestra! He had been sent to Paris to train in medicine by his father who was a doctor. But he spent a great deal of time going to concerts. He was too squeamish to cope with dissecting bodies and hated studying medicine, but when it came to understanding the anatomy of music, he studied every little detail that went into making the whole sound. Berlioz became famous as a conductor and toured widely through Europe conducting. This was a fairly new idea as conducting was not yet recognised or seen as a separate, musical discipline. Music academies did not have courses for conductors at that time. Both as a conductor and a composer he was a pioneer of new ways to make music. As a composer, he became very accomplished at creating new and exciting orchestral sounds. He also increased the size of the orchestra. Berlioz championed using the music to tell a story, a new direction that music took in the Romantic era. Sometime Berlioz insisted that his audience had to read the story before the performance, and sometimes he set to music existing works of literature. He increased the size of the orchestra and wrote a very influential book about orchestration which influenced other great composers. I don’t know what he would have made of today’s Emos but, in the style of the Romantics, he liked his emotions to be paraded in flamboyant music. For more information have a look at these sites
http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/composer/berlioz.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Berlioz
Anyone for conducting?
Honda recently made the news by developing a robot, called ASIMO to conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
You can see it here on Youtube
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf5szwz6Qzc
Asimo was very likeable and graciously welcomed the audience from the rostrum. He raised his arms and started the orchestra magnificently.But everything did not go like clockwork as the performance continued and the orchestra lost its place when the beat changed.
Here is a report of how well Asimo did from the Guardian's music critic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/15/robots.news
Conducting is more of an art than the technologists imagined.
Did you know...
It was only in the nineteenth century that conducting became a separate role in the performance. Before then the leader of the orchestra would conduct and play.
If a concerto was being performed, the soloist would lead from his instrument. Beethoven performed his piano concertos conducting from the piano.
Berlioz promoted the art of conducting and became a famous conductor touring Europe. He is considered the first virtuoso conductor.
Conductors of choral works generally use their hands, while conductors of bands and orchestras are more likely to use a baton in their right hand.
Usually the right hand beats the time, and there are traditional patterns for the different number of beats in a bar.
Conductors use their left hand to indicate other aspects of the music, for example, accelerando and ritardando, crescendo and diminuendo, and to cue in new groups of players.Some professional players find it rude if the conductor points at them to bring them in. They would rather they 'looked' them in.
Conductors are very particular about the way the baton balances in their hands.
The world's largest orchestra was conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in Vancouver, Canada in May 2000 - there were 6400 musicians, from 160 schools.
The biggest part of a conductor's work is before the performance, studying and interpreting the music and rehearsing the musicians.
Music of the Romantic Period
Music in the Romantic Period
In the second half of the18th Century (the Classical period), composers had developed forms of music on which younger composers in the 19th Century based their own compositions. At the beginning of the Romantic era (about 1810 onwards), performers and composers were pushing the boundaries. Virtuoso performers were wanting to play music which demonstrated their great skill, and composers were creating exciting new sounds.
One of the most skilled and famous performers and composers was Franz Liszt. His playing sounded as if there were two people playing the piano at once. His compositions were among the most exciting and new-sounding pieces written in the 19th Century.
Composers wanted to find ways of making music more adventurous and able to express feeling. Their music became more passionate and expressive, and used new composing techniques. Musicians were also influenced by ideas in the literature, painting and theatre of the time. Inspiration came from folklore, theatre and poetry and nature; and music was made to tell stories and describe scenes and feelings.
During the 19th century new advances also changed and improved the way instruments were constructed and composers were keen to explore the new possibilities.
Another big influence was the rise of the middle classes. Now musicians could earn a living from performances rather than having to rely on dukes, princes and archbishops for jobs at court, under the old patronage system. The trouble was, though, that audiences didn't always like their new ideas very much, and wanted to hear music they were more comfortable with. Composers dug their heels in, though, and insisted on developing their ideas. This situation carried on until very late in the 20th Century. It's fair to say, however, that lots of music was written that people really enjoyed, and many composers became well-liked and famous.
Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin were amongst those who earned a living from performing as well as teaching. The piano became the most important solo instrument, and these two composers in particular wrote more and more spectacular music for it.
The language of music was expanded with previously unheard combinations of chords. Music was being used to tell or illustrate stories. You can see this in ballet music and operas, as well as piano music and orchestral music of the time. The emphasis was on melody, rich harmonies and adventurous changes of key.
The composition of Romantic style music did not entirely disappear in the Twentieth Century with the rise of modern music. One area where music is still being composed in this style is film music. Perhaps one of the best examples is the music for Star Wars, which uses the composing techniques of the 19th Century in a futuristic setting.
FREE to help you prepare for your music exams
Lester has published a set of aural guides to the Associate Board exam aural tests.
http://www.auralguide.co.uk
There is an e-booklet for each grade wich expalins what each test is and how you can prepare for it.
Better than a printed booklet, this one also contains music clips.
Use it yourself or send it to others.
We hope it helps.
Putting you on the rostrum
Here is a game which puts you on the rostrum brought to you by Hofnote
http://www.coolconductor.co.uk
You can use the four coloured buttons to see the hand movments a conductor traditionally makes for the different time signatures.
Enjoy!!
Help towards rising fuel bills in England, Scotland and Wales
This one is for adults and parents of students who have been landed with increasing fuel bills.
Hofnote transferred their heating and telephone services last August and have since saved more than we expected. It has worked out so well that we have decided to bring this to Hofnote members.
Christine has teamed up with the Utility Warehouse Discount Club so we can bring these savings to Hofnote members across England, Scotland and Wales. Utility Warehouse guarantee savings for many customers with their triple guarantee.
If you would like to save go to the website below where you can enter your usage to see what savings you could make.
http://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/store/index.taf?exref=596302
And if you are involved with a community which would like to raise funds then drop me an email as there is a great scheme for generating a monthly income for the community fund. The best I have seen.
