Opera Workshop

School of Music Presents: 

The Opera Workshop

The Opera Workshop was held at the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the School of Music, November 20th. The workshop was about an hour and a half long and contained 16 arias, a long accompanied song for a solo voice, taken from operas such as Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and Faust. At the beginning of the workshop the director, Brian DeMaris, explained to the audience about how students will be portraying these operas. He explained that body language, scenery and costumes was important to understanding the opera because those aspects help with telling the story. Two performers demonstrated what it looked like to use aggressive body language while still being able to beautifully sing the piece. DeMaris also touched on the point that opera singers sometimes use gibberish to get the point across rather than focusing on the words that are being sung. 

The first aria was a piece from Romeo et Juliette, sung by a soprano, Kelly Timko. Accompanied by the pianist, Timko actively used body language to portray the romance between her and Romeo. She sang beautifully. Even though I had no idea what she was singing I knew what it was about from her gestures she made towards Romeo. The second piece was from the opera Don Giovanni, which is a piece I am familiar with because we studied it in class. The singer, Eliodoro Castillo was humorous and seductive. He effectively played the role of Don Giovanni and he represented him well by using licentious gestures. "Ding! Ding! Ding!" performed by Michael Palmer was an aria that stuck with me. The song was fast and aggressive. Palmer had clock numbers drawn on his face that made the piece more interesting to listen to because he was playing a grandfather clock. 

I thought operas were mostly about romances but after watching and listening to the workshop I noticed that there are a variety of different operas. The operas that were performed were all from different time periods that we have studied in class. There were countless arias from the classical time period by Mozart. There was an aria by Maurice Ravel, who is comparable to Claude Debussy, that contributed to impressionist music. There was also an aria from the romantic period by Giacomo Puccini. 

Opera singers are incredible and I don't understand how they can sing that high and that loud with their voice. The piano pieces from Mozart stood out to me because they were fast and his style was recognizable because we studied him in class. I love that the pianist accompanies the opera singer but isn't overlooked. 

Personally I thought I wouldn't be a huge fan of these performances but surprisingly I enjoyed them. The humor that most of the performances contained kept it entertaining. I loved that each aria was set up as a different scene, rather than having the singer stand on stage and sing to the audience. They did a wonderful job with telling the stories of the operas. I probably won't go to an opera in the future because it frustrates me that I can't tell what they are singing but I liked this workshop because it wasn't only focused on one opera. I didn't get bored because each aria was different and told a different story. I like that there was a variety of music and arias performed. I highly recommend this workshop to people who can't just sit through one opera.

Popular Music

Arctic Monkeys

Mardy Bum

Modernism: Impressionistic Dream

Modernism: Impressionistic Dreams

            The age of modernism began in the 20^th century and was a huge movement of cultural and artistic ideas. A contrast to the Romantic period, 20^th century ideas were pessimistic instead of optimistic and fluctuating instead of stable. This period gave rise to artistic movements including cubism, surrealism, expressionism, and impressionism. Impressionism was an important movement of art in the 20^th century as it provided a significant contribution of chaotic and fragmented ideas that were then infused into the music of the time. Musicians of the 20^th century began to use a variety of specific scales, including the pentatonic scale and the whole tone scale. Musicians aimed to upend conventional music ideas such as symmetry and the use of tonic, or do. In The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky represents these 20^th century modernism ideals through his use of fragmented phrase structures and the whole tone scale, which incorporates the disjunction of melodies and rhythm. 

            Stravinsky embodies modernistic ideals through the use of fragmented phrases structures in his pieces to depict a single story. The minute long excerpt of The Rite of Spring consists of four different ideas; this can be described as block form. The first idea, prominently played by the bassoon, lies within the time of 2:00-2:20. The clarinet and bassoon then present a new idea between 2:21-2:33 ending with a different idea combining the first idea with the second. In the 20^th century, phrases were longer because, unlike the music of the Romantic period, it wasn’t traditional. Generally, phrase structures had been smoothed, balanced and predictable. Modernistic music presented no sense of “home” or tonic and was unpredictable. These ideals mimicked the culture of the 20^th century, which had no center or values. The chaotic and fragmented phrase structures related to the period’s depressed and disorganized society, which was caused in part by the Russian Revolution, WWI and The Great Depression. Stravinsky also uses a fragmented and unrecognizable phrase structure that incorporates the whole tone scale to portray a dreamy state of consciousness, or a single story.

            The whole tone scale is a unique scale initially used in the age of modernism to portray a dreamy sensation to the listener, using complex rhythms and unpredictable melodies. During the 20^th century, musicians usually alternated between different meters in a piece while using a more complex rhythm. Melodies before modern music were usually predictable and balanced, but these were soon replaced by irregular rhythms and erratic leaps of notes. The whole tone scale divides the octave into six whole steps that can only be played two ways. This is unlike the pentatonic scale, which allows one to play it up and down multiple ways. Stravinsky’s disjunction of melody, rhythm and the use of the whole tone scale are exceptionally noted by the bassoon and clarinet that play up and down the scale at different times, creating a dreamy sound texture. The disjunction of melody and rhythm that was expressed in 20^th century music can also be seen in the art movement of impressionism. The artwork from this movement is without details and left to the imagination of the viewer, much like the sound color and texture were to the listener. The visionary sounds of the melodies and rhythms in The Rite of Spring clearly portray 20^th century ideals, as they represent vague, and imaginative ideas created by one’s own stream of consciousness.

            The modernist movement impacted many musicians, such as Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky uniquely uses modernistic ideals in his piece The Rite of Spring, when he emphasizes block form and unpredicted melodies and rhythms to create a dreamy sensation to the listener. The structure of this piece is individual and abstract, a style that is also seen in the artwork of the time, including the painting of Rouen Cathedral by Monet and The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí. Music had broken all the old rules in the age of modernism, upending traditional, classical styles of music. Modernistic music was drastically different than the periods preceding it, and the ideals have influenced music that young adults listen to today, including techno and dubstep.

Outline

Thesis: In the Rite of Spring, Stravinsky represents 20^th century modernism ideals through the use of fragmented phrase structures and the whole tone scale that incorporates the disjunction of melodies and rhythm.

Intro

Topic Sentence: The age of Modernism began in the 20^th century and was a huge movement of cultural and artistic ideas.

Main Ideas

·    Art movement: cubism, surrealism, abstract & expressionism

·    Comparing to music of the time: stream of consciousness, single story, fragmented, juxtaposition

·    Whole tone scale: dreams

Transition: Thesis

Paragraph 2

Topic Sentence: Stravinsky portrays modernism ideals through the use of fragmented phrases structures in his pieces.

Main Ideas:

·    2:00-3:04

      ·    Unrecognizable phrase structures: portrays a stream of consciousness, or a single story

      ·    Presents new stories: 2:00-2:20 (A), 2:21-2:33 (B), 2:34-2:53 (A&B combined), 2:54-3:03 (goes      back to the beginning of the piece ending in a new idea/story) block form

      ·    In the 20^th century phrases were longer: not traditional

      ·    No clear sense of tonic “home”: culture having no values or center

      ·    Chaos: all of the revolutions happening at the time (Russian, Scientific, WWI)

Transition: The fragmented phrase structures used by Stravinsky incorporated whole tone scales that helped create the state of consciousness.

Paragraph 3

Topic Sentence: The whole tone scale is a unique scale used in the age of modernism to portray a dreamy sensation to the listener.

Main Ideas

·      The bassoon in the excerpt using whole tone scale (up and down): dreamy sound

·      Rhythm in 20^th century: musicians usually changed meter within pieces, more complex

·      Melody: wide leaps of notes, irregular rhythm

·      Impressionism and abstract art: dreamy, different, no absolute truth, it portrays something different     to each viewer (disjunction of melodies and rhythms)

Transition: The visionary sounds of the melodies and rhythms in The Rite of Spring clearly portray 20^th century ideals by representing vague, and imaginative ideas created by one’s stream of consciousness.

Conclusion

Topic Sentence: Stravinsky uniquely used modernistic ideals in The Rite of Spring through the use of block form and the dreamy sensation represented by his unpredicted melodies and rhythms.

Caspar David Friedrich

Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist

By Caspar David Friedrich

The Romanticism period started in the early nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. In this period there was a growth in nationalism, a rise of the individual, and an emphasis on a powerful and uncontrollable presence that is nature. 

Artists were the true philosophers of the time and unlike the Enlightenment period, their works were separated from society. Art of the romantic period was very different from the Enlightenment period because artists were considered as the "dreamer". Art was also more organic and less symmetric. The lighting is different in romantic pieces because it is brought to the background instead of the foreground. Mystical skies and powerful nature scenes were starting to be the focus of artist's work. 

This piece by Friedrich represents the romantic era in many different ways. The lighting of this painting focuses on the background which pulls attention to the sky and nature of the valley the individual is looking at. This painting also depicts the concept of the individual as a dreamer because the place where this individual is painted, is a mystery. You don't know what lies beyond this valley and you can't tell if he is standing in the clouds or looking at a patch of fog. This piece is very asymmetric which represents the concept of breaking away from Enlightenment ideals. The only attention pulled to the foreground is the shadow of the individual. 

I think that romantic artwork is mysterious and beautiful. Artist's depict nature as if you were in the picture itself. I think that's why this period focused on the emotions of an individual and these dramatic emotions are shown in the artwork of this time.

Joseph Haydn

Recognizing Phrases Through Haydn's Symphony

When we first started learning about Haydn in class, I had no idea who he was and that he composed classical music. Some would say Mozart is more known than Haydn but in fact Haydn had composed many more pieces of music than Mozart. Haydn had composed over 100 symphonies! Mozart had only composed around 40 symphonies. 

I used Haydn's Symphony No 91 in E-flat major to point out a phrase structure. You don't have to listen to the entire 25 minutes because I only used the first 17 seconds!

This is what I found listening to this piece over and over again:

The phrase diagram is labeled as a contrasting sectional period because both ideas start off differently making them contrasting ideas. The antecedent (opening phrase) ends on an interrupted authentic cadence (mi). This makes the period sectional because the harmony is resolved but the melody is not. The consequent (second phrase) ends on a perfect authentic cadence, or the tonic chord: do. This makes the two phrases a period because the antecedent ends on an "IAC" and the consequent ends on a "PAC".

The antecedent starts off strong and each three notes that are being played go up in scale, raising in pitch. The texture is smooth and you can clearly hear a flute, oboe, violin and cello. I'd like to describe the consequent the opposite of the antecedent because it starts high in scale and goes down in scale with each note being played, ending on the tonic chord. 

This phrase diagram can clearly represent the Enlightenment period we've been studying in class. It represents conversions thinkers would have in the salons. It brings together two different ideas that thinkers would argue over. At the end though the problem gets resolved and they come to a the best conclusion together. Two ideas are always better than one and that is what this phrase diagram represents. 

Ithacappella

Ithacappella Block I Concert

When I think of acapella I think of the movie "Pitch Perfect". I think of the extreme acapella battles that the different groups have. When I went to go watch the Ithacappella's Block I concert I had expected it to be something to what I've seen in that movie. Although there was no "cup song" or puking on stage from nervousness, it was such an awesome event to watch. I have never been to an acapella concert before so I didn't know what to expect. 

I anxiously sat in the dark, crowded, Emerson Suites this past Friday night and when the singers emerged from the side doors, the audience went wild. They started off by singing the Ithaca College anthem and it was done so beautifully, way better than Convocation. You could hear all of the different melodies and harmonies because of how in sync everyone's voices were. After the opening the group made their way to the stage and the stage lights emerged from the background. The group came in with Sing by Ed Sheeran and proceeded with the songs, Working for the Weekend, Mr. Brightside, September, Bang Bang, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. 

During intermission I had entered a raffle and I so badly wanted to be serenaded by Ithacappella but sadly my darn raffle tickets weren't chosen. Anyways, besides that tragic news, I could clearly hear the different textures of the songs because I could recognize the different sounds being made from each singer (since they are making every sound of the song from their mouths and no instruments). I could hear the beat from the beat boxers, the bass from the bass singer and so on. 

I gained appreciation for the acapella singers when I listened to them sing. I couldn't imagine picking out each sound of a song and trying to re-create the sound with your voice. That's hard work! The coolest thing about listening to acapella singers is that even though the voices blend well together to create the song, you can still clearly pick out the different textures. The music that was sung at the concert wasn't exactly related to what we've been learning in class but I would consider the song Sitting on the Dock of the Bay a folk song. The lyrics of the song are memorable and the music doesn't contain leaps which makes it easy to sing.  

There wasn't a song that stood out to me because every song was performed so well! I did love the freshman introductions though. I love that they didn't just sing the songs, they performed them as actors too which made the show interesting to watch and not just something to hear. This was such a great event and I'm so happy I got to see it. I most definitely will be going to the other events they put on to see how they improve as a group. By the end of the year they are going to be "on point" and I can't wait to hear that progression!

If you want to hear Ithacappella perform, check out their YouTube! 

youtube.com/ithacappella

The Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment

As we started the unit, the Age of Enlightenment or The Age of Reason, I honestly wasn't sure what we were going to learn about. I didn't learn much about this era in high school so I was excited to learn about it's history. In our recent class our professor put up some pictures on the projector and asked us how they related to the Age of Enlightenment. At first when I was looking at the pictures I had no idea how they related to the Age of Enlightenment and I wasn't sure why we were being asked to do this, then I realized that these extremely detailed paintings and landscapes have so much to do with this era.

The picture below looks like one of the pictures showed in class:

In class we were asked to describe how this picture represents the Enlightenment era. After we started listing off commonalities, this is what we came up with:

• symmetry: music of this era was known to have balanced symmetry in its melodic phrases
• simple: music of this era is classified as simple classic music because of the harmonies
• overhead view
• swirls: spiraling of education, technology, music and science

We were going through pictures and paintings like these and it really made me think about this era and how art from this age represented the time beautifully and clearly. I believe that this age is so important because it was a time of change and a time of education. There were so many changes that had shaped life after this time and changed lifestyles afterwards. My favorite part of this era is the beautiful and simple music that came out of it. The Age of Enlightenment was the beginning of classical music. This time produced so many performers, writers, and composers who were among the greatest artists of all time. (I think that is so cool!!)

Some of us might hate classical music but I have a lot of respect for it. There is a lot of time and work that is put into composing and playing it. When I first applied to Ithaca, I applied to the music school. I had to do pre-screening auditions and I realized after those auditions I was supposed to have pieces ready in classical style. Let's just say I'm not classically trained on the guitar. I thought that maybe if I had learned the style for about a year I could re-audition to try and get in but once I started learning it, it was probably the hardest style I've ever had to play. So, for that reason I have a lot of respect of the genre. 

Can't wait to learn more about this topic!