Concert Report #3

Hello Bloggers!

       So for my third and last concert report I went to the Contemporary Ensemble in Hockett Family Recital Hall on November 19th at 8:15pm. Due to the printer breaking there were no programs being handed out so I improvised and used the description on the Ithaca College website. For the third concert report I had to go to a type of concert I haven't attended before; I had already been to a jazz ensemble and a solo Bass concert, I knew going to this ensemble it was going to be very modernistic. The size of the performances varied with each composition; there were small compositions containing only three performers and there were also large performances with many of the same instruments.
       There were seven performances all embodying Modernism music characteristics. Varying in size, I will talk about two that I believe embodied the Modernism aesthetic the most. The first piece I choose was performed by a violin, cello and piano. The texture and melody started off soft, the rhythm seemed to stay together; the cello and piano frequently complimenting each other and harmonizing with one another. Then just like in 'Rite of Spring' there was an explosive part; each instrument playing their own melodies, the use of disjunction and fragmentation was used frequently in this piece. The texture during this time was deep, each instrument playing as loud and hard as they could, conveying a story of chaos. Then the melody and tempo slowed down again and all three instruments begin to compliment each other again but not playing the same melody. The cello was used in a nontraditional way at times, the cello player would pluck at the strings giving it a different sound and in return giving the song a different sound as well which we experienced in music we listened to in class, like 'Rite of Spring how string instruments could sound like drums at times. The second piece I'm going to talk about was the third piece performed. This piece contained a piano, small bongos, percussion, vocals as in chanting and a bit of opera, violin, cello, clarinet, flute and then an oboe was later added in. This piece was very different, to me it screamed Modernism. Every instrument was on its own melody only to come together occasionally to play a short chorus like piece. The flute played a melody frequently that was similar to a piece we listened to in class by Claude Debussy called "Faun" the melody was very dream like by using the whole tone scale and the texture was soft. It also helped convey the story of the piece as well. The parts that made this ensemble memorable was the performers odd use of instruments at time and the chanting and singing in some pieces.
       To be honest I did not enjoy this concert. The last two concerts I attended I enjoyed a lot but this concert was too modernistic for me. We had listened to "Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky in class and this ensemble reminded me of that piece. The aesthetics of modernism were very present, the fragmentations and starting and stopping of melodies on top of each other and some melodies fighting each other and trying to fit together. In general I don't like Modernism pieces, I enjoy the classic phrase structures and danceable and singable melodies, this was just not my kind of concert. I do however think that every performer that played was incredibly talented, I can't imagine how hard it is to follow this form of music and some performers were switching between multiple other instruments and still executing the melody which I thought was very impressive.
       As I've stated before I definitely compare every song performed at this ensemble to 'Rite of Spring' by Stravinsky because they are both embodying modernism characteristics. 'Rite of Spring' was a composition that changed music; people were used to classical music, they enjoyed to dance to string quartets at parties this was the polar opposite of that. 'Rite of Spring' was about telling a story, it was not a song to be danced to just like these songs performed at the ensemble. It was very much about the back story. To strengthen my point Patrice Pastore, who was a faculty performer at the ensemble, every time she was about to perform a piece she told a back story. One was about the struggle between light and dark, and the second was about heaven and earth and how the darkness of earth is balanced out by the light of heaven.
      This concert was a great example of Modernism aesthetics. The melodies, textures and rhythms were similar to those in Stravinsky's piece, 'Rite of Spring'.

-Kelsey

Coldplay- Viva La Vida

Rite of Spring essay

Kelsey Rebhan

Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

Right from the start of the piece, Rite of Spring was like nothing people had heard or experienced before in music. Igor Stravinsky was an innovator, creating something new filled with emotion and passion and giving off a sense of chaos, which were the aesthetics of Modernism. Modernism was a time of change, in all aspects of life especially music. Music became less about the structure and more about telling a story. Music became Pessimistic and a search for identity and values in the form of music. Stravinsky’s controversial piece, Rite of Spring embodies aesthetics from 20^th Century Modernism, like Fragmentation, Stratification and Disjunction with the use of texture, melody and rhythm.

The part of the piece I chose was from 3:40 to 5:00. It is a very chaotic part of the piece and it embodies 20^th Century Modernism aesthetics, it was like nothing anyone had ever heard before. The piece all together fluctuates frequently; some parts don’t even sound like they’re in the same song as another part. Fragmentation is used in Rite of Spring frequently; the aesthetics of modernism take control of texture and melody to make it change frequently using instruments differently. Fragmentation is when the music in a piece is separated into segments, like phrases and sentences in a nontraditional way, this was used in the Modernism time period to separate itself from the music that was made in the Enlightenment and Romanticism era, it was unconventional and different causing a wave of controversy. In Rite of Spring it is hard to find where and when some phrases are. The sudden bursts of notes and changing of instruments makes some moments feel like it is a completely different song. For example from 3:40- 4:00 there are sudden and fast paced notes, quickly changing to different melodies and textures causing a very atonal section which means that it didn’t use the traditional scale that was used in the time of the Enlightenment.  The song is not for dancing; songs from the time of Modernism were about telling a story and conveying emotion and passion.

Stratification is the texture and layers of the piece. In Modernism the use of Stratification was applied often; it helped tell the composer’s story that he was trying to convey, it added levels of emotion, passion and intensity. In Rite of Spring stratification is used frequently with the changing melody. The texture of the melody changes frequently for example from 3:40 to 3:49 a very heavy section of the song plays. The texture is deep many string instruments playing in unison loudly but then suddenly from 3:49-3:52 the texture turns into many woodwind instruments playing a melody softly only to be followed by the same melody that played from 3:40- 3:49. The many layers of instruments playing in the orchestra creates an intense and chaotic melody. At times there are different melodies trying to coexist with each other in the melody making the texture even more complex and chaotic than it already was.

Disjunction is prominent in Rite of Spring. It is the use of leaps across the scale and unconventional use of the scale; it is very much a Modernism ideal, the sense of language through the notes to tell a story instead of the piece being composed to be danced to. At 3:57to 4:16 there are random bursts of different melodies on top of the basic melody and it give you a sense of a scene, as though you can imagine a chaotic scene in spring and movement around the scene. The rhythm is constantly changing making it hard to dance to and having it be more of a Modernism composition. The different melodies seem to resemble different characters interacting with one another. Rite of Spring was to tell a story and bring out the viewer's emotions and thoughts.

Fragmentation, Stratification and Disjunction are Modernism ideals that used texture, melody and rhythm to convey Modernism aesthetics in Stravinsky’s composition, Rite of Spring.

Out Line

            Intro: Talk about Modernism aesthetics and how Rite of spring embodies those aesthetics in its piece.

            Thesis: Stravinsky’s controversial piece, Rite of Spring embodies aesthetics from 20^th Century Modernism, like Fragmentation, Stratification and Disjunction with the use of texture, melody and rhythm

            Body #1: Fragmentation- talk about fragmentation and how it is an aesthetic of 20^th Century Modernism and the use of texture, melody and rhythm in it to make Rite of Spring the way it is by using examples from the song like 3:40-4:00 and all together using a section of the song from 3:40-5:00.

            Body #2: Stratification- Talk about what stratification is and how it was an aesthetic of Modernism and where it is in the piece and how texture, melody and rhythm work with it to make Rite of Spring by using and example of 3:40-3:52.

Body #3: Disjunction- Talk about what Disjunction is and how it is an aesthetic of Modernism. Talk about how it applies to the song where it is as an example and how texture, melody and rhythm work with it in Rite of Spring by using examples like 3:57to 4:16.

Conclusion: Recap on what was talked about in essay and restate thesis.