Concert Report

900-1,000+ words 

Under normal circumstances, each member of the class would be expected to attend a concert presented in a theatre or concert hall this month and produce a brief critical essay of that concert; however, since there are no concerts happening, this assignment will be done over YouTube. I have provided a list of concerts below you may watch, but if you want to watch another one, send me a link for approval and watch away! As long as it has something to do with our class, it’s fair game.

Reports will be graded mainly on thorough reporting of the event and appropriate use of musical terminology as well as creativity and appropriate college-level writing style, grammar/syntax, etc.

When going to the concert, remember to:

1. Take notes during the concert (you can write on the program). If you don’t do this immediately, it will be hard to remember the details later. It’s probably not possible to comment on every element of each musical work, but note at least one or two musical characteristics of each work that you find most interesting. Please also highlight good and poor moments of individual pieces/movements of works where applicable. You must mention the final piece of the concert in your report.
2. You must watch the whole thing!

Suggested outline:

1. In your first paragraph, pay attention to the “five Ws” (who, what, where, when, and why). Note the environment, the performers, and the audience. Would it be neat to be there in person? Be a good reporter and add any detail relevant to your overall experience. Do not include a plot summary (if applicable). This is about your experience.
2. Provide some in-depth historical background in your review about at least one composer/piece performed on the concert of your choice. In what era was the piece written? What were the composer’s objectives in writing this music? Can you hear evidence of the composer’s place in the historical pendulum? Was there a political motivation that you know of?
   1. This will require a bibliography with at least two sources. Warning: you will have to do background research into the music itself and the composer! There are numerous internet sources – some accurate, and some not, depending on exactly what you’re looking for. Wikipedia MAY NOT be a source, but your textbook can.
   2. You will need to footnote and cite these sources correctly with inline citations. (You may use any format you are familiar with.) Use the following to help:
      1. http://www.citationmachine.net/, http://www.easybib.com/, http://www.bibme.org/
      2. http://qcc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=170032&sid=1566844
3. In your last paragraph(s), write about your overall feelings after having attended the concert. Was it worth your time? Did you learn something new about the music played? Did the concert give you new ideas about music or performance? Be honest!

NB: If you are required to submit the paper again and do so without making appropriate revisions, you will automatically lose 20 points from your first grade.

Verdi, La traviata (or another complete version):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0co8HH0G0xI

• Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro: (or another complete version)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OYtlGpApc0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVLkHgvHfI
• Puccini, La bohème (or another complete version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXB7FxK_d8E (subtitles in Spanish)
• The Met is streaming one opera a day. You can see the list here:
  https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/
• Harry Potter concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFbwPzACEWw
• Lord of the Ringssoundtrack concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxB5AHoTalA
• Jazz concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxUu8ZjH8H8
• Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk5Uturacx8
• Beethoven 9th Symphony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOjHhS5MtvA
• Rimsky-Korsakov Sheherezade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4w4_W30aQ
• Solo cello concert with orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g91kQyy4G7E
• Mozart, Mass in C Minor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez0kqVShFEs
• Mozart and Chopin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n050RT8Ad-s
• Piano recital: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYL37nanimw
• Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyeR-gPakWo
• Berlin Phil Chamber orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGRcjN4PMm4

Grading:

1. Content/Substance (50%):              An “A” paper gives a complete and thoughtful description of the event and of the music performed during the concert, supported by specific examples.

2. Terminology (20%):                         An “A” paper uses musical terminology correctly.

3. Organization (15%):                         An “A” paper has an introduction, main body and a conclusion. It groups related ideas into paragraphs. Each paragraph contains at least three sentences.

4. Clarity of language (15%):               In an ”A” paper, words are spelled correctly and capitalized where necessary; each sentence has a subject and a verb that agree with one another; there are no run-on sentences; and necessary punctuation marks are in the right places.

Bibi Atiya

Queensborough Community College

Music 101

Dr. Jennifer Gliere

November 17, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Critical analysis

 

The environment of the orchestra gives a very atmospheric and gripping effect. The orchestra, which starts with a very similar soundtrack from the movie (Hedwig's theme), begins with a very high pitched melody that creates a mythical aura in the video. The orchestra uses string instruments to play the harmony of the Harry Potter theme. Through the performance, the harmony has been played a ruff, while the orchestra has also used relatively high pitched instruments like the violin. The fast pace of the violin (played by Canso Ozzyyurek, Gery Kerkezou, and Hanni Chen) gives an effect of rushing; the melody is playing at a fast pace and creates a fast pace mood for the performance. The orchestra has different themes from different parts of the Harry Potter series (Daniel, 2018). The use of Hedwig's theme during the music reflects the idea of going back in time and a sense of nostalgia. Hedwig's theme was used in the very first movie of the Harry Potter theme. During the orchestra, the artists used a nostalgic theme to show the past time[footnoteRef:1]. There was also a use of ticking sound as Hermoine and Harry were traveling back, and it built up the potters' atmosphere on the orchestra. The scene of a good metronome started when the ticking got louder. The orchestra has used the John Williams sound to create a real-life experience of the movie. The real-life experience is that the orchestra sounds resonated with the mysterious Harry Potter feels, making it better than the traditional sound of an electric guitar. The orchestra gives a really thicker texture to the movie. The orchestra did not use the significant theme of a guitar as Harry Potter is not rock "n" roll. During the less tense scenario of the orchestras, the artist used a high-pitched sound to give it a feeling of ease. This part of the orchestra provides a thinner texture to the atmosphere. By using this type of theme, the artists presented the idea that there is something significant going to happen soon (Jamie, 2008). They do this by having a silent pose between the notes. During thicker texture, the artists used an increase in tempo with clashing chords to increase the dramatic volume in the environment. Sound effects are also used to emphasize the tiniest actions of the instruments. For example, the time where the artists played a swift melody signifies the scene where Harry was fighting against dementors to save Sirius, the artists in the orchestra supported this fast melody with loud Harmony either by playing a bunch of notes or by playing a riff that sounds mysterious when used in the right sequence. Comment by Jennifer Gliere: It’s the same one! Comment by Jennifer Gliere: fix Comment by Jennifer Gliere: set off all titles correctly. Comment by Jennifer Gliere: ? Comment by Jennifer Gliere: Fix all spelling errors Comment by Jennifer Gliere: ? Comment by Jennifer Gliere: He composed the music Comment by Jennifer Gliere: Fix all underlines like this [1: Nisha. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Music]

The magic of the instrumental score lines shows how the artists were able to create music that fits the themes in a perfect way, and that makes a catchy remembrance of the movie scenes. The artists did this job by adding music and by exaggerating the notes. The most distinctive part of the orchestra is when the theme used the synthesized and real sound from Celeste. It used the keyboard instrument keys that tricked the keys bars to produce a sound like small bells. Celeste is not used in everyday instruments, so it has an ethereal sound (played by Peter Xiong and Sara cook); however, the sound was slightly manipulated using different electronics. It can be said that Hedwig's theme is the most prominent part of E minor, but chord progression is not just a typical minor key. In the following example, the first two bars show the E minor chord, and the base is extended to E into the bar "5", all of these combined to form a single key. While bar 6 produces a strange cord. Comment by Jennifer Gliere: Who is Celeste? Oh, the instrument – use direct article and don’t capitalize. Comment by Jennifer Gliere: This doesn’t make sense.

 Comment by Jennifer Gliere: This sort if thing isn’t necessary, but well done on embedding a musical example! It doesn’t make sense to put it there since you don’t know what it means. This whole paragraph is relatively superfluous since it doesn’t mean anything to you and doesn’t relate to your experience. You haven’t given me any background on the composer yet, who is John Williams. That is the background the paper requests.

Taken everything together, the note in bar 6 of the chord are F-A#-B-D#; this is similar to E minor that is dominant in the seventh chord. If the artists had used the dominant seventh, it would have created a realm of the ordinary, but he used the substitute of A# with A, and F# with F, the use of these chords can not really be explained because it worked like a wizards magic of Harry Potter. There has been a pitched loop at 24:45 and a very short loop at 29:36. The sudden ups and downs in the melody gives a feeling of a wave coming towards the listeners. The artists have used different sets of minor chords to create similar mysterious circumstances of the movie: that resembled the opening scene of the secret of chambers (from time-lapse 49:50-56:00). In the picture below, bars 10 and 9 of the returning theme use the E minor chord along with the opening melody of "the face of Voldemort[footnoteRef:2]." But during the video 44:00-45:00, the music fools a new direction that sounded like a combination of different minor chords that have no relation to each other. This resulted in an unusual sound. [2: Catherine, P. 2017. Good Vs. Evil: The Role of the Soundtrack in Developing a Dichotomy in" Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". University of North Carolina at Greensboro. ]

In conclusion, I would say that the progression of the music is unpredictable, and the movie is flowing like a wave of music in the instruments of the orchestra. The orchestra has used a perfect musical accompaniment for a work of mystery and magic. Comment by Jennifer Gliere: Read the directions for what else to put in your conclusion.

References:

Daniel, W., 2018. The Music of Fantasy Film: On the Creation, Evolution, and Inhabitation of Musical Worlds. PQDT-Global.

Jamie, L., 2009. The music of Harry Potter: Continuity and change in the first five films. The University of Oregon.

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