Music 185 - Autumn 2011

Just a heads up:

I will be submitting grades on Wednesday - if all goes well. After that, Jason and I will no longer be the people to contact about the class. I have not been told who is going to be receiving the class. As soon as I do, I will post their email here. Until then, please send any grade inquiries to bowties185@gmail.com. Any emails sent directly to Jason or I will be deleted b/c we are no longer involved in the class.

Have a great summer!

Jason and Nicole

UW Arts Ticket Office

Here is the contact info for the UW Arts Ticket Office:

Phone:	206-543-4880	Alt. Phone:	800-859-5342
Fax:	206-685-4141	Box:	351103
Off-Campus Address:	3901 University Way NE Seattle, WA 98195-1103 Here is the map:

Percussion Concert 2/22/2011

I was notified by someone in the music office that programs were unavailable for the percussion concert last night. If you went to the concert, the only way you will receive extra credit is to do the following:

1. On a separate sheet of paper write your name, student ID#, and "Percussion Concert 2/22/11"
2. Write 4 things you liked about the concert. These need to be complete sentences (you can number your statements 1 - 4 if you'd like).
3. Submit this sheet in place of a concert program with your other extra credit materials for the quarter.

Your statements about the concert need to be very specific. If all 4 of your statements are vague, we will assume you did not attend the concert and you will not receive credit. If you would like to have your responses checked, to make sure you will receive credit, bring a hard copy (a paper copy) to Jason's office hours or to class for Jason/Nicole to check before/after class. If you email us your statements to check or for final submission we will not check it, nor receive it as credit.

Unfortunately, these things sometimes happen and we all need to be flexible. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Hopefully these instructions are clear. If you have any questions please do NOT email them to us. Speak to us in person during office hours or before/after class on Tuesday.

Thank you,

Jason and Nicole

Office Hours

Nicole's office hours for the rest of quarter are going to be by appointment only due to scheduling conflicts. Please email her at bowties185@gmail.com to request a meeting time with "REQUEST FOR MEETING WITH NICOLE" in the subject line.

Lecture: 2/8/11

YOU WILL BE QUIZZED ON THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION!




Tom Collier – Percussion Ensemble 2/22/11, Meany Hall 7:30 p.m.

Percussion is probably the oldest known instrument.

It’s believed that the first percussion instruments were used in hunting.

Percussion is now entering its Golden Age.

Percussion is heard in almost every genre around the world.

Three major types/families of percussion instruments:

Membranophones – This type of drum has a skin or a membrane that is struck.  The material is stretched across a frame.  Plastic has replaced skin.

Metalophones – Made of metal: cymbals, gongs, triangles, vibraphone.

Idiophones – Made of wood: xylophone, marimba (largest of all mallet instruments), clave.

Types of repertoire that will be presented in the concert:

Avant garde/contemporary.

Gamelan style/eastern influence.

Jazz improvisation.

Marimba and electronics.

Example instruments:

Snare drum – A membranophone.  First used by Hadyn in a symphony, Drumroll Symphony.  The snare drum also played a roll in the military, where it was derived from.  Snare drummers would use different patterns to communicate to the soldiers in the field, amidst all of the war noises.

Sticking pattern – paradiddle, RLRR or LRLL

Rolls – RRLL or LLRR

Flam – A double strike on the drum when one strike occurs immediately after the other strike.

The aforementioned strokes were first used in the military, and eventually adapted by different styles from around the world.

The tightened strings underneath the snare give the drum its definitive sound.

Vibraphone - A metalophone.  Invented in the 1920s by an American drum company.  The company wanted to extend the range of the glockenspiel.  Lionel Hampton made the instrument popular in the 1930s.  Lewis Armstrong hired Lionel Hampton to play drums.  Lionel noticed the vibraphone in the recording studio at NBC and began to play it.  He picked up the instrument very quickly because it represented the piano.  The studio director said they use it for the famous NBC tune.

Improvisation exists in all musical cultures, however, it is most prominent in jazz.  You can even find improvisation in orchestral pieces, such as a concerto.

Example of improvisation - “Magic Fingers” by Frank Zappa

Different mallets produce different sounds: wood mallets, rubber mallets, yarn-wound mallets.

Office Hours Today (2/8/11)

Unfortunately, I will not be in my office hours today due to emergency. If you need to see me this week, please email me at bowties185@gmail.com to set up an appointment.

Thank you for understanding,

Professor Nicole Secula (Harreld)

Today's lecture

Today's lecture is going to be about a group that is performing on campus this quarter and off campus in Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall downtown. The off campus concert will count for extra credit - as reflected in the updated syllabus - and will be worth 4 extra credit points (the equivalent of 2 quiz questions)! The conductor has graciously offered 50 free tickets to our class! I will take down names at the end of class today for those that would like to attend. To find directions to the hall, click on the link in the syllabus. If you decide to go to the concert and are not on my 50 person list, you can buy tickets HERE (student tickets are only $10!)

The lecture today will be about the off campus concert which is this Saturday, January 15th, and will be brief in order to hand out concert coupons, which will not be good for admission to the off campus concert - just to be clear. Below are notes from the conductor about the concert this Saturday. See you in class!

Unlike Mozart, who died penniless and debt-ridden, Beethoven was always good at making money and his Symphony No. 1 is one of a great many compositions commissioned by wealthy aristocrats (in this case, Baron Gottfried van Swieten).  The piece remains a work of Classical style and is not as well-known as Beethoven's great Romantic symphonies - however, the ideas presented in this first symphony clearly look forward to similar ones in the later symphonies.  The third movement is entitled "Minuetto" despite moving at a much faster tempo than the Minuets of Beethoven's classical predecessors, and is essentially an early version of Beethoven's famous scherzos found in the later symphonies (especially the 9th).  The first and last movements begin with trickery meant to mislead the listener's ear, another hallmark of Beethoven's works.  As with many classical symphonies, it requires great virtuosity of string playing to perform.

The debilitating insanity that overcame Robert Schumann towards the end of his life is well known in music history.  His Cello Concerto comes near the end of his compositional output, and we can already hear the strains of his mind in this music.  The piece is restless and full of odd interjections that seeming come out of nowhere.  It nevertheless is full of exciting and beautifully romantic material, and moves through all three movements without any pause whatsoever - something that had become a bit of a custom for Schumann, especially in his orchestral works.  His wife Clara was immediately delighted upon seeing the concerto's score, but it was nevertheless premiered four years after his death in 1860.

The Serenade No. 1 is a monumental work, a piece that marks Schumann's friend Johannes Brhams' first foray into symphonic writing.  Always conscious of the shadow cast over him by the previous great German symphonic master, Ludwig van Beethoven, Brahms took over 21 years to complete his First Symphony, and was equally cautious in the completion of this orchestral serenade.  Originally scored for a nonet of strings and winds, the Serenade looks back to the classical serenade of Brahms' predecessors, which began and ended with a march.  The classical serenade was meant for a chamber venue, where the small ensemble would march in, play their performance, and march out.  The middle movements are explorations of other conventional classical movement styles (Minuet, Scherzo, etc.) that are given an appropriately forward-looking Brahmsian treatment of harmony and form.  A favorite of SMCO brass players, the great force of the musical phrases of Brahms' First Serenade are a stunning contribution to the German symphonic repertoire.