Musical Musing

Stein me away

2008-12-13T17:11:00.001-08:00

As the end of the year draws to a close and juries, music theory finals and end of the semester recitals loom, I have been spending more and more of my time locked in the lovely practice rooms of Lewis and Clark College. As a college junior I have mastered the art of procrastinating, and thus, most of this time is spent not practicing for these very important examinations. This morning, as I was sitting in a practice room, wishing I were somewhere else, I began to stare at the Steinway & Son's logo, printed right above the keys on the rickety Steinway I had been practicing on.
The logo, which looks like this:

Baffled me for some reason. It may have been the many hours of practicing, but why is the logo a harp? Why isn't it some kind of pianoy thing? So I went in search of where this random logo came from.

Unfortunately, despite my finely tuned (pun intended) musicological research skills, I could not find the source of the logo. I did however find out many interesting facts about Steinway and Son's pianos. Such as:

-Each Steinway piano is completely handcrafted from start to finish, the strings are hand strung, and each hammer is calibrated by hand.
- All of the wood for one Steinway comes from the same tree (to guarantee continuity and sound)
- All the felt on a Steinway's dampers comes from a single long piece, each piece of felt is hand fitted to a damper by a trained Steinway technician.
- Each key is individually calibrated for a consistent feel

Find out more! Watch it happen!

http://www.steinway.com/factory/

Rockapella

2008-12-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

Yay for LC acapella groups. Here were some of my favorites from the concert last night:

Iveseenit!

2008-12-09T16:06:00.000-08:00

Not just a paltry insurance salesman, Charles Ives spent most of his life chastising the American political system through his penetrating prose and extraordinary works of music. His leider—like most of his compositions— walk a fine line between traditional tonality and untamed dissonance, while curiously mixing and manipulating meter. Often featuring Ives’ own lyrics, these songs flaunt Ives’ knack for text. Vote For Names, a work written for Soprano and three pianos, encompasses all of Ives’ brilliantly unorthodox leider style in under a minute.

Ives’ was a politically minded, progressive individual, but had a distaste for politicians themselves and the political parties they represented. He found the candidates in the 1912 election to be particularly irksome. This election was at the height of the progressive movement; a movement far too tame for Ives’ taste. Vote for Names was Ives’ commentary on the campaigns of Woodrow Wilson, running under the democratic nomination, William Howard Taft, for the republican party and Theodore Roosevelt representing his own “progressive party.” Ives felt there was little difference between these candidates’ platforms; they were all simply gushing crowd-please political rhetoric.

While the original manuscript of Vote for Names is fairly ambiguous, and the few published versions of the song vary greatly , the manic dissonance and hasty harmonic rhythm prevail in all. The three pianos represent the three candidates—all spewing “the same hot air election slogan hit hard over and over,” as Charles noted as the dynamic marking on the score. In this case, the slogan is mainly one polytonal chord, present in the second piano part, an E minor chord in the left hand and a D augmented chord with a flat nine in the right, theoretically, a meaningless chord . According to Ives, this chord was sadly devoid of meaning, representing the way he felt listening to politicians speak and voting at the polling office. This melancholy chord is drummed out in a meter of nine-sixteen, repeated in a constant rhythmic sequence of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The first piano part consists of a strange chain of minor ninths, and the third piano part consists of three chords of just minor ninths followed by one consisting of minor seconds. The vocal line is similarly unique. Written without a meter, the vocal line sails up and down from the top of a sopranos range to the bottom. This represents the individuality and independence of the voter, possibly Charles Ives himself. When the text is combined with the dissonance of the pianos and idiosyncratic vocal line, Ives’ message is clearly pounded home:
Vote for names, names, names!
All nice men!
Three nice Men!
Teddy, Woodrow, and Bill!
After trying hard, to think whats the best way to vote,
I say,
Just walk right in,
And grab a ballot,
With the eyes shut and walk right out again.

Losing faith in the future of music

2008-11-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

This is supposed to be high art? It makes my ears bleed! Why can't modern composers create music that is innovative and beautiful? ARGH!

Sex, Drugs and Romanticism

2008-11-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most angst-filled era in the history of western music is the Romantic period. For the romantics, composition was not an occupational calling or intellectual paradox, but an innate passion. These emotional rebels idealized every aspect in life and believed music should reflect their principles. Theoretically, they laughed in the faces of traditional tonic-dominant relationships and revered secondary dominants and foreign key modulations. Berlioz’s (b. 1803- d. 1869) Symphonie Fantastique and Liszt’s (b. 1811-1866) Liebestraum are two pieces that demonstrate the fervor and drama of the Romantic Movement.

The Symphonie Fantastique is the ultimate example of program music. The work was written in 1830, when Berlioz was just discovering his infatuation for the British actress Harriet Smithson. Many cite her along with Berlioz’s experimentation with Opium as the muses for the symphony. However Berlioz’s memoirs allude to Goethe’s Faust—an epic poem about one man’s deal with the devil—for inspiration for the work. Berlioz supplied his own program notes for his “instrumental drama,” which relate the story of the music. The story is of a young artist who meets a woman so beautiful he becomes obsessed with her (first movement). He cannot shake her image even at the most exciting ball or peaceful countryside (second and third movements) and he becomes increasingly lonely. Finally decides to kill himself with Opium, but it is only strong enough to knock him into a deep coma (fourth movement). While he sleeps he dreams he has been sentenced to death for the murder of his love and the procession to his death and funeral are filled with and orgy of terrible beings (fifth movement). An extravagantly large orchestration and inventive techniques create a new whimsical sound that narrates this fantastic story, while the constant presence of an idée fixe unites the movements.

Liszt was interested and inspired by the Symphonie Fantastique, but the passion in his works is slightly more refined. Liebestraum are a set of three pieces that ooze sensuality. Though he composed many original works, Liszt was also inspired by transcriptions. He often transcribed his own work as well as the work of others (including Berlioz’s Symphony Fantasitque). Liszt completed the transcription of Liebestraum in 1850. Originally three separate lieder, the three pieces illustrate poems that tell of three very different types of love. The first poem Hohe Liebe describes saintly and religious love, while the second, Gestorben war ich divulges a description of erotic love. Finally, O liebe so Lang du lieben kannst imparts the truest love of all, a mature, lifelong love. The works are reminiscent of vocal works written in the romantic style, featuring sweeping cadenzas in both hands and solid melodic lines, but the pieces are more than simple lieder. They ebb and flow, leading you on harmonically before quickly changing directions all the while dramatically swelling and then quickly becoming hushed. Together these pieces band together to create a marvelous drug of sensational emotions, better than the most surreal dramas or bodice ripping novels.

Ranty Ranty Rant Rant

2008-11-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

Why is it that an assignment with limited guidelines and infinite possibilities causes stress instead of joy? Why is it so challenging to be creative? Because we have been socialized to be terrified of making mistakes and, consequesntly afraid of becoming individuals. The American education system, created by a society that commodifies everything from iPods to a college education, has socialized us to believe that an impressive transcript and resume are the secret to Nirvana. The story goes that if you don't get good grades, you wont get into a goof college. Withought a good college you can't get into a decent Masters program, which is the only way you will be able to land a job lucritive enought to pay off your masses of student loan dept. However, in order to be successful in this quest for grades and first-class educations at exellent institutions of higher education, very few slip-ups can be made. Society has stamped mistakes with a big red X, a color and symbol that we have been taught to fear within the depths of our souls. This fear of error has kept our one-track minds in queue, quelling any shred of inspiration, innovation, or imagination.

We have also been trained to dread idle hands and loneliness. Because of this dread, any time that is not spent in class--or studying to boost those puny B pluses-- is spent hammering away at socially approved extra-curricular activitied (see: nationally recoginzed philantrhropy clubs and varsity sports). These activities don't just look good on transcripts, but also serve a deeper purpose. A full plate of extra-curricular activites keeps you in line, making you too busy for any personal exploration or experimentation, whether it be hallucinogenic, sexual or in artistic creation. Also keep in mind that those who are a little too fidgety from sitting in a desk all day are doped up with Ritalin or another pharmaceutical wonder.

I'm not saying there isn't merit in good grades, working hard or having extra-curricular activities, but there is something wrong with the obsession that surrounds them and what they give us-- a little mark on a trasncript or a note on a resume. A student shouldn't take a class because it will grant them the coveted, "easy A," but because they find the subjects interesting. Community service done soley for the purpose of how it looks on a college or graduate school application is meaningless to the individual and harmful to the community. Slogging away at sixty-hour-a-week jobs and studying for hours on end does not make us better people, it only makes us forget the things we once loved, bringing us further and further from our creativity. A creative life is a passionate and fulfilling one and limiting our addiction to work and our obsession with success will help us succeed in living one.

A La Gertrude Stein....

2008-11-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

a white house on a white hill.
sitting like white on rice.
white as a ghost waiting for a white Christmas
but stuck, on ash wednesday.
and other shades of gray.
where this white bread is not as tasty as
the blue-plate special,
is a green room.
not green with envy.
living a white lie.
sitting at the beginning of the yellow-brick road,
wishing for more blue blood than white trash.
waiting for a red letter day,
where purple rain falls like agent orange, painting the town red.
perhaps once in a blue moon.
red rover.
red rover.
send that pink slip right over.
force that yellow belly out of its mellow yellow,
into some rose- colored glasses.
or maybe.
that’s just the pot calling the kettle .

Mozart can be cool too

2008-11-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

Even though Mozart was a genius and he wrote scathes of beautiful music, I thought that he was a little bit to conventional to satisfy my modern musical palates. Or so I thought, then I learned of his compositions for glass harmonica! This instrument was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761 after he saw a professional wine glass player. Check it out!

Woe is me!

2008-11-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

Urinetown (the musical) has finally reached its opening. After a record two, very hefty tech weeks we are apparently ready for opening night, scheduled for Thursday. Unfortunately I seem to be missing an essential part of musical theater (and, in my case, life), that is, my voice. Because of this lack of sound production in the vocal folds, I have been sentenced to a day of complete vocal rest, and thus, I am sitting restlessly at home today. For those unfamiliar with this dreaded condemnation, vocal rest is exactly what it sounds like, not using your voice at all, no singing, no talking to whispering, no humming. It is much more terrible than it sounds. My voice is not only my primaty means of communication to the world, it is also my instrument and basic key to artistic happiness. Being voiceless today is frustrating me on so many levels. Primarily, I am worried about the show, as ridiculous and trivial as musicals can be, I have spent so much time this semester on it that it has become basically the center of my universe. I am also worried about the health of my vocal chords (strange that this comes second), but I am in pain! Pain like i've never felt before, not just the emotional pain of not being able to communicate and share my art with the world or whatever, but PHYSICAL PAIN. This is not a bronchitis or laryngitisy pain this is something completely different. I've heard terrible stories of vocal injuries and it really really scares me that this could be one. BUT at the same time I know that stressing out about this and other things is only going to make it more difficult to get my voice back, something that HAS to happen by Thursday. So I am stressed out about trying to relax. Basically. Oh well, at least I have something to blog about.

Music and the Economic Crisis

2008-11-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

Though I am by no means a "grown up" (I don't even pay my own rent), I am following the financial crisis with a growing sense of trepidation. As if I wasn't worried enough about getting a job when a graduate, now unemployment in Oregon is at an unemployment rate of 7.3%! As the market plummets further, I wonder how it will affect music in our country, how its recorded and distributed, and how it is performed. According to a report I heard on NPR the other morning, the sports industry is most likely to be hurt by a blip in financial stability. The reasoning is, the only way to see a film is to go see it in the theater (or wait months for it to come out on DVD....or pirate it illegally from the internet, this wasn't in the report, but I think NPR underestimates the poverty and technical abilities of the modern college student), a play can only be viewed in real time. NPR neglected, however, to mention the music industry.

The Oregon Symphony is reportedly failing miserably, sinking into a massive amount of debt. All this, despite a recent endorsement from the headman of Pink Martini, Thomas Lauderdale, who recently headlined a rare sold out concert with the Oregon Symphony. The question is, how can we help save institutions like this? Is it their fault for not having enough fresh, inventive programs (this has been a major argument, as OSO rarely programs new music)? Or is it ours for not supporting them? Should the government bail them out with the auto companies? I think it is the fault of our educations system and our society, for not teaching our children, who grow up to be college students who go to many concerts and young adults who have money to spend on them. Why are all the classical music lovers dying off? Probably because of a major lack of education. Many of my friends aren't uneducated or uncultured but many of them think that Mozart wrote the Moonlight Sonata.I think if our society understood music better as a whole then the financial crisis wouldn't be such a burden on my mind.

Bernstein, Sondheim and Hammerstein.... (oh my)

2008-10-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

We're three weeks to curtain on Urinetown (the musical), and I've pretty much had about all I can take of the sticky sweet, tonal, score. This musical is particularly bad for ear worms because it is completely post-modern. That is, it is a musical that mocks other musicals. Every song (and element of the plot) in Urinetown (the musical) draws musical inspiration from another popular musical (West Side Story, Les Miserables, etc). Pretty cleaver eh? I think so, or at least I thought so before a month of "Follow Your Heart" running through my head over and over and over, not to mention my cheesy lines--"Don't you see? The river is inside of you, it always has been!" (insert retching noises here)---. When I finish rehearsal I feel like my brain has been force fed candy for four hours. To prevent overall brain rot I've been on a quest for music with a little more substance. Here are a few you tube videos I've found savory enough to chase away the musical theater blues:

The Loan

2008-10-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

John Vanderbeek was a simple man. His life was uncomplicated but comfortable. John worked as a personal banker at a Wells Fargo branch downtown, he helped people manage their bank accounts and apply for loans. He was good at his job. The straightforwardness of banking suited him well and he liked to think he was making a difference in others’ lives. People sometimes worry too much about money, and having someone like John in charge of theirs put them at ease.

Everyday, John awoke alone in his modest apartment. He washed, dressed, and made himself a breakfast consisting of exactly two slices of toast spread with margarine and a half of a grapefruit. He walked to work instead of taking the bus. Walking was better for the environment and John liked the fresh air, besides, he didn’t like to get to be too near other people. He arrived at work promptly at seven forty-five—slightly earlier than the other bankers—to set up his cubicle for the day. He sharpened his pencils, restocked his store of account forms, and straightened his three “Personal Banker of the Month” certificates in their plastic frames. At nine o’clock the bank opened and John began his work. He quietly handed out brand new checkbooks and patiently explained mortgage rates to his customers. At one o’clock John ate a dry turkey sandwich at his desk and at five-thirty he checked to make sure everything was in order before heading home. Every night, John prepared supper for himself and ate it while reading The Wall Street Journal. He washed his dishes while watching the news. At ten o’clock every night, John went to sleep. This was his life. It was consistent and uniform. One day, something unusual happened to John.

They day commenced like any other. The alarm beeped, the toast lightly margarined and the grapefruit sliced. John left his apartment right on time. On his normal path to work, he collided with an obstruction. The street he consistently took—a tranquil one—had transformed into a barricaded mess, swarming with boisterous orange-clad, construction workers. They were laying a line for a new light-rail and the noise was inconceivable. John grew uncomfortable and agitated in the noise and commotion. His head pounded and his palms became greasy with sweat. He panicked as his mind processed the ramifications of this construction. He could not take this route to work. Not today, not ever? This is the route he always took to work. How would he get to work? He was going to be late for work. In his panic, John made a rash right turn down an alley, thinking only of escaping the terrible racket. The further he got away from the jarring clamor of the drill, the more relaxed he became. Finally John escaped the din of the drill, but just as he was breathing a sigh of relief, he realized with a start that he had become completely lost in a maze of narrow side streets. Trying to wrap his mind around this problem when he heard something else. It was as smooth and soulful as the drill was clamoring and metallic. John followed the velvety melody down the street directly in front of him and pinpointed the source: an old man playing a violin on his fire escape. Or was it a Viola? John wasn’t sure what the difference was, or if there was a difference for that matter. He didn’t know very much about music, but he knew that if this music were to stop something would go terribly wrong inside him. He sat down on the dusty curb and listened eagerly as the old man swept the bow delicately and purposefully across the strings. As the mournful tune drew to an end, the old man melted into another. John listened as the man played through song after song, some sweet and cheerful, others full of sorrow. The tragedy that had befallen him earlier this morning seemed like a distant memory, as did his job, his dreary apartment. When the old man was finished John sat on the curb, evaluating this experience. He finally came to the conclusion that—for the first time in his life—he should take the day off.

Commodification of knowledge

2008-10-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Probably one of the most common questions asked college students is "what are you going to do when you graduate?" This is an annoying and potentially hazardous question, because we should not plan our academic careers (or our lives) in reference to money. In this video Ken Robinson, a "creativity expert," talks about how our education systems are training us out of creativity, how our system has commodified a certain type of knowledge, and ignored the rest. Is this healthy for our society?

I think not.

reeeeemix (ode to evans)

2008-10-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

a beautiful day
sun shining outside
but a room with no windows
is where i'm confined
they say that practice makes perfecttion
but right no i can't corers
my fingers to rehearse
these scales in ascending or descending directions
my voice wont do it either
today its acting funny too
phlegm is chocking up my vocal chords
like something caught in a chimney's flue
these pitches just aren't sounding right
somethings wrong with my intonation
maybe theres some correlation
to the room on my left
where the tenant is jamming with mozart in tenor cleft
or, "hey guy next door,"
haven't your practiced those three measures a hundred times before?
and you down the hall
with your pesky bugle calls
can you not hear
your sound waves tearing through these walls?
i want to send you all my hate
why can't you understand
i just can't concentrate
on this bel canto aria i'm singing
with your blaring chopin's endless ringing
until i put myself in your shoes
and deep down I understand
if we started up a band
we would be practicing in these same small rooms
able to commiserate on this terrible fate
of studying music in a building
built far too out of date

Yum

2008-10-17T14:38:00.001-07:00

ARGH!

2008-10-16T15:02:00.001-07:00

This has been a terrible week. I have become as a terrible student. Life in general is terrible. I decided not to go home for fall break (even though my parents offered to buy me a ticket) because I knew I had a lot of work to do. So I worked. I practiced aural skills and spent an hour a day on the dreaded Mac Gamut--an ear training software we use in our theory course. I also slept a lot, because the unfortunate fact about being a singer is you CAN'T just stay up all night practicing, (or out all night partying) because it will ruin your instrument. So I was relaxed I felt ready for the week and prepared for the big, scary things that were coming. A hearing (something that strikes fear in the hearts of music students everywhere). The Rogers concert (probably the biggest deal concert the music department has...also the only one the president of the college attends, for some reason I have agreed to sing an ridiculously hard avant garde Ives piece---why? I have no idea) . Also...the musical? Supposedly we're supposed to be off book because now is the time for serious polishing. Um, wait a second, how can we polish scenes we haven't blocked? Apperantly the director is a kind of fly-by-the-seat-of his pants type. This can be fun, its fun improvising sometimes....but every scene? Four hours a night? This is not fun. I hate when professors aren't prepared for class because I AM, and they are getting paid to do this! This is incredibly frustrating. I have no idea what I am doing acting-wise (because hey, I'm a musician). Also I fell like I am failing all of my classes, I keep on making silly mistakes on theory homework and I failed a math test. This is very unlike me and I don't know what to do! ARGH!

Dreams, etc.

2008-10-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

I cringe every time someone asks me what my major is, because I know what question is coming next....what are you going to do with that? The truth is I have absolutely no idea what I want to do when I graduate. Choosing a major was hard enough, I bounced through a lot of departments at Lewis and Clark before I came crawling back to music. At first I wanted to change the world, the best way to do this seemed to be politics, then I quickly realized how boring it was to read hundreds of pages of convoluted legal doctrine. Then I thought Sociology might fit me better, but while sociologists tend to be better writers than political scientist, they tend to be extremely pessimistic. All this time I was in and out of the music building, masquerading as a music minor while jealously eying the theory textbooks and conducting patterns of the majors.

It seems like music should have been the easiest choice from the get-go, but declaring music as your major, your calling, is something that was very scary for me. By my sophomore year I had outgrown my obsession with musical theater, but I hadn't had enough classical training to take myself seriously as a classical singer (see: opera diva). I was afraid of making music my major, declaring it my passion and then not doing anything with it...

Obviously I have declared this major, passion, live goal etc, what now? I practice basic skills and repertoire for hours a day and have absolutely no idea what I am preparing for. When I think about this, it scares the crap out of me, so instead of thinking about specifics I came up with a few basic things I want out of life, and what I am willing to do for them. Here they are:

1) I want to have an intellectually and creatively stimulating career, but I am willing to do other crappy jobs before I get this

2) I want to be somewhat financially stable, but not necessarily wealthy

3) I want to have a life outside of work, but I am willing to try to make my work as productive as possible in order to achieve this

4) I want to travel and experience other artistic passions besides music BUT

5) I also want to become the best musician (see: artist) that I can be

Ok, I know these are vague, but they're all I've got right now. Maybe in a year (come graduation) I'll have a real plan.

MacGamut, Oh MacGamut

2008-10-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

MacGamut, Oh MacGamut

How you make me feel like a twit

Though software to train my ear,

seems to be ideal

I cannot do it, not one bit

Each time I sit and try,

Melodic, harmonic or rhythmic dictation

I fail, I cry

Until, with hesitation

I hear the notes, I enter the beats

And you give me a green box of congratulations!

MacGamut, Oh MacGamut

How I love you so.

After hours of practice with you,

Aural skills no longer brings me woe!

Projections, Poetry and Pre-teens.... Oh My!

2008-10-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Case of the Waltz

2008-10-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

Though my main instrument is voice, I consider myself to have a fairly decent sense of rhythm. I can sight read most things in compound meter and I basically eat pieces written in common time for breakfast. Unfortunately I have always had a certain awkwardness towards three-four. I don't know where it comes from but I always fumble with only accenting beat one. Luckily as a vocalist, I have been able to avoid most waltzes, but somehow this semester fate realized I was doing this. Waltzes have been haunting me. It began innocently enough. At my first piano lesson my teacher assigned me two waltzes: one Schumann, one Shostakovitch. Apparently butchering a piece at the first sight reading is the universal sign to music teachers everywhere that it will be "good for you." Impossibly, I found out later that day that there is one thing worse than than having to play a waltz.... having to dance one.

I went to musical rehearsal with my head hanging low after an hour of counting to three. I'm also not the most graceful human, so I wasn't looking forward to a rehearsal with the choreographer. Since the song we would be blocking, "Follow your heart" is a fairly slow duet, I figured we would just be basically standing there singing to each other....nope. Our director is Czech and has never directed a musical before. I can tell this from his ambition and optimism about every number in the show,

"Now, this song I want to be a beautiful viennese WALTZ"

I confusedly looked at him, then suddenly panicked realizing that "Follow Your Heart" was written in three-four. Then I looked at my knees, which I had not-so-suavely skinned that morning running for the bus. I finally gazed down with horror at my poor dance partner's toes, painfully obvious in his flip-flops.

Lets just say I don't think he'll be wearing those flip flops to rehearsal again.

But by the end of the semester, I'll probably understand the ins and outs of triple meter.

Beethoven's Pathalogical Jump-Start

2008-10-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Ludwig Van Beethoven is widely recognized by musicologists as being an incredibly temperamental, bitter, socially awkward slob. Basically, he was the portrait of a creative genius. Beethoven began composing and performing at a very young age and though all of his work was influential, important, and incredibly beautiful; his most significant works were done at the end of his life. In his article, Beethoven and his Nephew, Maynard Solomon argues that it was not Beethoven’s impending death or the loss of his hearing that brought on this intensely creative period in his life, but rather a conflict with his sister-in-law, Johanna, over the custody and care of his nephew, Karl.
Beethoven’s life was that of a tortured artist, a man whose life was tragic from the very start. At the young age of sixteen, Beethoven suffered from both the death of his beloved mother and baby sister. Since his father was an abusive alcoholic, Beethoven was left as the sole caregiver of two younger brothers. Already a budding artist on the brink of stardom, he was forced to leave them in order to travel for his career. This brought him to feel a great amount of guilt that he was forced to carry for the rest of his life. Solomon argues that this painful childhood stunted Beethoven’s creativity for most of his life, and that he subconsciously used Karl to fulfill the duties neglected not only by his father, but also by himself. Unfortunately this subconscious paternal need manifested itself in a deranged manner.
As a musicologist who has also studied psychology, Solomon studies the situation from an artistic and a scientific perspective. Solomon’s three psychological theories on Beethoven’s pathology at this time in his life are: the “rescue fantasy,” the “Family Romance”, and Beethoven’s sexual desire for his sister-in-law. In the theory of the complex, “rescue fantasy,” Solomon claims that Beethoven believed he had an intense need to “rescue” Karl from his mother, based on the historical evidence that Beethoven fought Johanna for custody in court many times, each accusing her of another outrageous offense. Solomon suggests that this need to rescue Karl Beethoven subconsciously attempting to rescue himself and his brothers from his own abusive father. The theory of the “Family Romance” is similar to this in that Beethoven was acting as a father figure, but different as it was based more on Beethoven’s fantasies of nobility than his relationship with his own child. The theory of the “Family Romance” is the idea of a person of noble blood choosing to raise a common child. Finally, the third and most fascinating theory is that of Beethoven’s sexual desire for Johanna. Based on historical rumor and on primary documentation by Johanna herself, Solomon argues Beethoven was using Karl as a means to keep in constant contact with Johanna.
All of these theories are exciting and relevant, as Solomon also describes the music being created before, during, and after this period in Beethoven’s life possibly proving that this conflict could have brought on the famed late period. Altogether Solomon understands each character’s motivation and significance in the plot as well as the historical and musical significance of the events. It is an excellent read for someone interested in music, history, psychology, or scandal.

Projections, Poetry and Pre-teens.... Oh My!

2008-10-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Ages young and old gathered at Reed College on Saturday night to hear the Portland Chamber Orchestra open their 62^nd season. Self described as “the intimate symphony with infinite imagination,” the Portland Chamber Orchestra is one of the few classical groups thriving in Portland, announcing Saturday the creation of a newly endowed chair as well as the recent hire of their very first general manager. The concert that followed justified this announcement with something fresh and original,featuring the works of Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, Saint- Saëns and Beethoven.

The program began with Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus Op 61. Concerto for Birds and Orchestra. At first I was skeptical of the orchestration “birds”, but the recordings harmonized seamlessly with the orchestra (Rautavaara collected the recordings himself while hiking around the arctic circle). The first movement, Suo or “the bog” began with two flutes fluttering about and is slowly built up by pastoral woodwinds and twittering birds. The second movement, Melankolia, or “Melancholy,” perfectly embodied the feelings of a foggy autumn day. In this piece, the strings were slow but intense, building on top of the bird chorus. The final movement, Joutsenet Muutavat, “Swans Migrating” began with the stings playing uncoordinated chaos with a recording of swans, but the chaos slowly calmed to a proud melody accompanied by a glistening harp. As a whole this piece was reminiscent of the hearty, warm, style of Aaron Copland, who Rautavaara studied with. It was executed perfectly by the PCO, although I could have done without the animation that was projected on a screen over the orchestra, it distracted more from the music than it added to the work as a whole.

Following Cantus Arcitcus was Camille Saint- Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, a comedic piece featuring two pianos and spoken poem in twelve short movements. This work was originally written to entertain Saint- Saëns’ personal friends—he never intended it to be played publicly— thank goodness it was! The piece was, at very the very least, a spectacle. Local actor Tobias Anderson narrated in a safari outfit, while the dueling piano parts were played by twelve-year old Megan Yip and her thirteen-year old sister Megan. The twelve movements musically illustrate all of the animals fit for a zoo. The Camille Saint- Saëns’ Zoo includes everything from the commonplace lion or kangaroo to the more exotic “pianists” and “people with long ears.” The movements hop from a beautiful undulating cello solo in The Swan to silly, keyboard-wide scales in The Pianists, sampling various tunes—including Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Rossini’s Una Voce Poco Fa—along the way.

The concert closed with Beethoven’s slightly more conservative Symphony No. 6 in F Major: The Pastoral. Though slightly more elegant than the rustic sound of Rautavaara or the charm of Saint- Saëns,’ the pastoral is still something you can sink your teeth into. The first movement has a cheerful pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps motif played mainly on the strings, but accented by robust woodwinds. The second, slow movement is much dreamier, imitating the sounds of a peaceful, babbling brook. The highlight of the piece, however, is the last three movements. Played without a break between them, these movements sequentially depict through music: a rousing party of peasants (dancing jigs to catchy triple and duple meter dances), an earth-shaking thunderstorm, and a shepherd’s feelings of joy after the storm has passed. The Portland Chamber Orchestra moved seamlessly through each piece, playing them each with the appropriate amount of vigor. Overall, the programming was spot-on and the execution flawless. My only complaint would be the venue. Reed College’s campus is beautiful, but Kaul Auditorium’s vinyl floors and padded folding chairs are not. Next time I see the Portland Chamber Orchestra I would like it to be at a venue that reflects their superb artistry, not one that reminds me of a middle school’s cafetorium.

Musical Mocking

2008-09-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

Satire and Musical Theater Combine!

Build it! Play it!

2008-09-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Making instruments out of unexpected things is pretty cool. Especially if these instruments make cool sounds and/ or music. David Byrne's playable building doesn't really do this, and it is sort of the obnoxious art that screams huge grant, lots of time, not a huge amount of creative genius. But its still pretty cool.

Musicological Mysteries.... Mozart's death

2008-09-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Possibly the greatest composer of the eighteenth century, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s life and death have spurred debate among experts of many disciplines. A child prodigy, Mozart was touring Europe by the age of seven and composed more than one hundred and fifty complex, original works before his death at the age of thirty-five. While the life and work of Mozart was fascinating, his death maybe even more so. Despite the popularity of Mozart’s work, he died in debt and was buried in an unmarked grave. Over the years a number of theories to his cause of death have circulated including murder, suicide and mass conspiracy. This paper will outline a few of the various theories surrounding Mozart’s death and the realities of each.
The most exciting explanation for Mozart’s death is that he was murdered. This suspicion first arose in 1791 because of an article in an issue of Musikalisches Wochenblatt, a Berlin newspaper, which stated, “Mozart is…dead. He returned home from Prague a sick man, and continued to get worse; he was said to be dropsical , and he died in Vienna at the end of last week. Because his body swelled up after death, some people believe that he was poisoned.” There are also reports that Mozart expressed suspicions to his wife Constanze towards the end of his life that he was being poisoned.
The most popular suspect of Mozart’s murder is Antonio Salieri, a fellow Viennese composer. Though many of Mozart’s letters suggest that they were friendly , musical historians have suggested that Salieri was extremely jealous of Mozart and used his position as court composer to limit Mozart’s career opportunities. The idea that Salieri “poisoned” Mozart’s career (and possibly Mozart himself) has appeared in many biographic works on Mozart and has inspired a number of dramatic pieces including the opera, Mozart and Salieri as well as the film Amadeus . The evidence which pins Salieri to Mozart’s death the confession which he gave in 1823 when he was admitted to Vienna General Hospital after committing to this and other terrible crimes and attempting suicide by cutting his own throat. As weak as this evidence is, the evidence against Mozart’s other “murderers” is weaker. Both Franz Hofdemel and Franz Xaver Sussmayr are suspected merely on the basis that they had reason to be jealous of Mozart . With even less evidence is the conspiracy that Mozart was poisoned in a great conspiracy by his fellow freemasons for revealing their secrets in his opera, The Magic Flute. While this theory is scintillatingly scandalous and explains why Mozart was buried in a mass grave when he died with many wealthy and well-connected friends, it is missing many important details, such as why the librettist of The Magic Flute, Emanuel Schikaneder, lived to the ripe old age of sixty-one . Another almost far-fetched theory is that Mozart poisoned himself with an overdose of Mercury, which he administered in an attempt to cure himself of Syphilis. Again, this is a very entertaining theory with little evidence to support it, aside from the fact that the swelling of Mozart’s body could possibly be a symptom of Mercury poisoning.
The most popular and most credible explanation for Mozart’s death, mentioned in every Mozart biography as well as the official report of death, is that of natural causes. Kidney failure caused by scarlet or rheumatic fever both illnesses suffered by Mozart in his lifetime, though this is not very exciting, and will never be entirely proved without an autopsy, it remains to be the most likely explanation.

This place is called what?!

2008-09-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

When I first learned that the Music and Theater departments at Lewis & Clark were talking about doing a musical I was strangely uninterested. Strange because I was raised on a steady diet of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim. In high school I had big dreams of Tisch's Musical Theater program, but when financial aid fell trough I ended up coming to LC as an International Affairs major instead. Of course when I came to LC I had no idea they didn't "believe" in musicals, but the "purity" of the theater. It seems ridiculous now, but if I had known this I probably wouldn't have come here. Luckily the lack of Sondheim allowed me to be introduced to the great wide world of classical music. For two years I sang Menotti, Ives and Faure and fall so much in love with them that Andrew Lloyd Webber seemed like a distant memory. But now, my old love has come back to haunt me. I have been cast as one of the leading roles in Urinetown. Yes, URINEtown. Talk about purity of theater. I am apprehensively looking forward to a few months of very long rehearsals and a steady stream of obnoxious ear worms....

Brahms and Clara Schumann... Too Hot to Handle?

2008-09-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

The nineteenth century saw a rise in the transcription of music by many of the great composers. In 1877, Johannes Brahms transcribed Bach’s Chaconne from the Partia No. 2 in D minor for solo violin into a piano piece (Edel, 47). This work exemplifies an interesting transcription as well as a work that is written solely for the left hand. Brahms sent this transcription to Clara Schumann, and correspondence between the two shows their close artistic relationship as well as his feelings towards the piece. In this paper I will examine the piece in terms of Brahms’ interest in Bach’s music and the function of a piano work written for one hand. The correspondence of Brahms and Clara Schumann will illustrate both the meaning of the piece and the nature of their relationship.
While Brahms created many new ideas with his music, he also loved to study the work of his predecessors; this allowed him to redefine and recreate old genres (Burkholder, 78). Brahms was particularly enthralled with Bach’s Chaconne and transcribed the piece for his dear friend and lifelong correspondent, Clara Schumann. In a letter included with the piece, Brahms refers to Bach’s original as “one of the most wonderful, incomprehensible pieces of music.” Brahms was interested in the effect of the voice produced by a solo violin. “On a single staff, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and the most powerful feelings” (Avins, 515). In order to maintain these powerful feelings in his transcription, Brahms confined the piece to one hand. Brahms also left the harmonic structure implied, as it would be on a violin, this is in contrast with the transcription done of the Chaconne done by Ferruccio Busoni which fills out the harmonies (Edel, 7). When describing the act of playing the piece, he stated, “the similar difficulties, the type of technique, the arpeggios, they all combine—to make me feel like a violinist! (Avins, 516)” Brahms concluded his letter with a few useful tips to Clara for performing the piece, stating that the left hand should not be strained and it should be played “mezza voce ” with “easy and convenient” fingering (Avins, 516). The transcription stays loyal to Bach’s original piece, although there are additions in reference to phrasing and dynamics.
Brahms transcription of this piece arose out of a desire to play like a violinist, though works for one hand only also serve more practical purposes. In the Romantic period, composers began to write and transcribe pieces for one hand only to accommodate pianists who had lost the use of one of their hands (Edel, 7). Coincidentally, the day Clara Schumann received the work; she had strained her right hand. In her response to Brahms, she states that the Chaconne was a “glorious refuge” from her injured state (Edel, 47). She also acknowledges the difficulty the piece; pianist’s right hands are normally much stronger than their left and pieces like these are often used as a technical devise to strengthen the left hand.

Works Cited

Johannes Brahms to Clara Schumann, 1877, in Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters, trans.
Eisinger and Avins. ed. Styra Avins, 515. New York: Oxford University
Press,1997.

Burkholder, Peter J. “Brahms and 20th Century Classical Music,” 19th Century Music,
vol. 8, no. 1. (Summer, 1984), pp. 75-83)

Edel, Theodore , Piano Music For One Hand. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
2001, p. 7-48.

Meredith Monk's "Dolmen Music"--Review

2008-09-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

Simple layers of music merge together to create a unique sound on Meredith Monk's 1980 album Dolmen Music. A dolmen is a small, plain tomb built with huge boulders. Monk's album, similarly, is hugely powerful music built with small, plain parts. The tracks on the album range from the meditative "Gotham Lullaby," to the rousing piece "The Tale." The tracks are harmonically sparse and rhythmically frank, made great by Monk's stunning voice. With the ability to emulate everything from an indigenous flute to a robot, Monk has no need for words in her pieces. When she does use them in "The Tale," they are strange and thought provoking-- "I still have my allergies"-- Who was trying to take them away? The Album comes to a climax on the last track, when other voices join Monk, imitating her original sound. This eleven-minute piece is an Opera without words; further illustrating Monk’s ability to make music from sound.

John Zorn, "Cat o' Nine Tails (Tex Avery Directs the Marqis de Sade)"-- General Thoughts

2008-09-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

John Zorn’s, “Cat o’ Nine Tails (Tex Avery Directs the Marquis de Sade),” is a thirteen minute post-modern masterpiece on speed. Cut to pieces by San Francisco’s renowned Kronos Quartet, the piece begins with sawing scales that suddenly break into a perfect cartoon soundtrack—tentative hopping notes and sliding pratfalls. This comedic break, however, is suddenly interjected by strange brute sounds accompanied atonally. This luckily also only last a few seconds it is replaced by a quick foot-tapping bluegrass melody which again into something else. This cycle continues on for another 10 minutes, bouncing between the angriest, ear-wrenching noises to the most pleasing and elegant harmonies, then transforming into a slow waltz or a sultry jazz tune. Zorn’s ability to connect so many different sounds is admirable—as is the Kronos Quartet’s ability to create so many noises that sound so far from any kind of music on their instruments—unfortunately these things also make this piece grating, irritating and impossible to listen to.

Overture...

2008-09-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my blog? This sounds strange. Probably because I am not someone who should be allowed to have a blog. I am a performer, a listener, a thinker, a musician, an observer and a reader--but I am not a writer. Unfortunately for you, blogs are free to anyone who knows how to use the internet. This blog is an attempt to awaken my inner scribbler and possibly share with you some of my thoughts on my favorite subject (Music) along the way. You have been warned...