Music

A night at the opera was society’s entertainment long before radio, television, music players and streaming! Though the earliest recorded opera is Jacopo Peri’s Dafne, first performed in 1597, opera is still quite popular today. Consider why it has “staying power” (long-lasting) as you complete the assignment below:Listen to three (3) arias:Pavarotti “Che gelida manina Fiamma” Izzo d’Amico “Si mi Chiamano Mimi” from Puccini’s La BoehmeDiana Damrau Queen of the Night aria from Mozart’s Magic FluteBryn Terfel “Te Deum” from Puccini’s ToscaComplete the Opera table attached.Use Microsoft Word and run a spell check/grammar check (under the “Review” menu in Word).Correct grammar and spelling will be part of your grade.Then copy and paste your assignment into the Assignment Drop Box (not the “Comments” Box.)All written assignments will run through SafeAssign, Blackboard’s plagiarism checking tool. Be sure to pa

Answer the following questions in 3-5 paragraphs each.  Please review the rubric for this assignment before you begin (DIFFERENT than the rubric for weekly responses):  *Make sure to respond to ALL aspects of each question! Read each carefully!*  1. Compare the relationship between text and music in the following works: 1) Hildegard of Bingen’s “In Principio Omnes” from Ordo Virtutum, 2) Cruda Amarilli by Claudio Monteverdi and 3)  “Per quell vago boschetto” from L’Euridice by Jacopo Peri. (10 points)? For each piece discuss: 1) What is the nature of each composer’s approach to text-setting? 2) What is the musical texture (or textures)? 3) In what way does each composer use characteristics of the music to highlight certain aspects of the text (for example text-depiction or text-expression?) Cite two specific examples from each piece, using time-stamps.  (Check the class glossary on Canvas for a specific definition of the highlighted terms. Translations of the text for each work are available in the modules on Canvas.)  2. Compare the role of publishing in the life, career and legacy of the composers Barbara Strozzi and J.S. Bach. Draw from the assigned readings, as well as material discussion in lecture and your own ideas. Make sure to include parenthetical citations for any quotes or ideas drawn from the readings. (10 points)  3. Drawing on assigned readings, discuss the following: 1) the development of Gregorian chant as a codified style of chant in the Catholic church and the development of notation 2) the development of the printing press and the increased popularity of amateur music-making (ex: the madrigal). In your response, discuss two musical examples of each. Make sure to include parenthetical citations of any quotes or ideas drawn from the text. (10 points)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wccl7h3hMg&feature=youtu.be Write a report about the concert performance following guidelines in the “Guide to Writing a Concert Report” and standards listed in the Concert Report Rubric.Include the following:1.    Concert performer(s) and program content, including title and composer as performed in sequence (10%)2.    Details of the performance venue, including venue, arrangement of musicians and instruments, descriptions of instruments, and audience responses (20%)3.    Musical elements for each of the two movements following the “Guide to Writing a Concert Report” – use time marks (00:00) as a reference in the narrative (70%)Show that you’ve learned something in this course. Use your newly developed musical vocabulary. Don’t say, for example, “The instruments moved the melody around.” Rather, say specifically, “The violins convincingly effected a modulation of the theme through different keys from 0:45-1:24.” (Which keys doesn’t matter; you’d have to have perfect pitch to know that, and only 1 person in 10,000 has perfect pitch.)Use correct vocabulary. Please don’t call an overture or a set of instrumental variations a “song.” This will drive your instructor berserk. It is a piece, composition, work, symphonic movement, and so on. Unless there is a text and your piece is sung, it is not a song. 800 word count minimum required for credit.

The following URL is for a biography of the great Egyptian singer Um Kulthum.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZB19Wx1_BE&t=190s   If there is a problem clicking on this link, please copy and paste it directly into your internet browser. In a few paragraphs, please note important aspects of her life and career.  For instance, what was unusual about her upbringing?  How widely popular was she?

Write a report about the Beyonce concert performance following guidelines in the “Guide to Writing a Concert Report” for Pop Music and standards listed in the Concert Report Rubric.Include the following:800 Minimum Word Count1) All performers and program content, including titles as performed in sequence. How does the artist or group alternate pieces or arrange the sequence of the songs (and here they usually are songs) so as to build to a final climax and keep the audience with them at all times? (20%)(2) Details of the performance venue, including venue, arrangement of musicians and instruments, descriptions of instruments, and audience responses.  Does the singer or band perform many new pieces or please the fans by playing mostly the artist’s best-known songs? Does the audience sing along with the musicians? Is there dancing in the aisles or up front, in front of the musicians? If so, this is a sure sign that the performers have done a good job of literally “moving” the listeners. Analysis is yielding to emotion. (20%)(3) Musical elements for each of the pieces performed (listed below) following the “Guide to Writing a Concert Report” for Popular Music – use time marks (00:00) as a reference in the narrative. As you may have noticed, most classical music concerts consist of known pieces performed in a traditionally accepted way; spontaneous creativity is kept closely in check. How do the artists at your pop concert demonstrate creativity by doing the unexpected, by suddenly improvising, for example? (50%)(4) Do you sense that there is more of a sense of community and social bonding at your pop concert than at a typical concert of classical music? If so, why might that be? (10%)Again, show that you’ve learned something in this course. Use your newly developed musical vocabulary. Be specific, such as “The violins convincingly effected a modulation of the theme through different keys from 0:45-1:24 to heighten the anticipation of the ending.”  Use correct vocabulary! Use terminology in the Music Styles Guide.  There is not such thing as ‘upbeat’ in the music elements vocabulary.  If using the term “upbeat,” you must describe specific elements of melody, tempo, rhythm, etc. to receive credit.02:30 At Last07:15 If I Were a Boy11:35 Crazy in Love15:30 Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)19:36 Grown Woman25:00 I Will Always Love You26:30 Halo

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ3ASbqVmAc&feature=youtu.be) is from a speech originally given in November of 1963, but it conveys a timeless message that seems perhaps even more important today.In this video, you will hear an actress read an address that the great American Composer, Performer, and conductor gave just days after the murder of President John F. Kennedy1.    summarize the speech in your own words,2.    respond to the information it includes (tell me what you agree or disagree with, and why), and3.    describe how watching the video makes you feel about the power of music to help/soothe us in moments of despair.800 minimum word count

The assignment is for the 20th-century classical piece of your choice.  In other words, a piece that is written for orchestra, choir, or a chamber ensemble.  Jazz music or rock music does not fit for this assignment – Jazz is the focus for assignment #7, and rock music between 1950-1970 is assignment #8.   Please do not use the following Modern pieces from the textbook for your listening assignment: Debussy,  Clouds Stravinsky,  Rite of Spring Schoenberg,  Pierrot Lunaire Berg, Wozzeck Ives,  Second Orchestral Suite Ravel,  Piano Concerto in G Bartók,  Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Crawford,  Prelude for Piano No. 6 Still,  Afro-American Symphony Copland,  Appalachian Spring Prokofiev,  Alexander Nevsky Weberm,  Five Orchestral Pieces Varèse,  Poème Electronique Ligeti,  Lux Aeterna Cage,  4’ 33” Reich,  Music for 18 Musicians León,  Indigena Adams,  Doctor Atomic Shaw, Partita for 8 voices

https://youtu.be/9WDYa8T83A4 Patriotism has been an essential part of national identity since democracies began to replace authoritarian states in the late 1700s. As a nation founded explicitly on ideals of democracy, the United States has rightly fostered pride in the principles that distinguish it from other countries. But as a nation of immigrants and diverse cultural heritages, in a large continent that can equally legitimately claim the label of “America,” we have also struggled to define the shifting nature of American identity (understood as a quality that all citizens of th United States have in common). Music has always played a part in that definition, and some of the most compelling “American sounds” have emerged from attempts to integrate the vernacular musical traditions of the American people with an approach to music that aims at a higher quality of the spirit. SOUSA AND THE WIND BAND TRADITION We explored one early representative of American vernacular music, the parlor ballads of Stephen Foster. The country’s various vernacular traditions also included music for brass bands. By the Civil War era (1861-65), both Northern and Southern regiments marched to the sounds of wind bands, which also provided “down time” entertainment for the troops. The most famous North American bandmaster was John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), who conducted the U.S. Marine Band from 1880 to 1892, after which he formed his own ensemble. Known as the March King, Sousa wrote over 130 marches for band, as well as dance music and operettas. He toured North America and Europe extensively with his group, delighting audiences with such pieces as The Stars and Stripes Forever (1897), as well as band arrangements of Joplin rags, the newest rage. Nearly single-handedly, Sousa created a national music for the United States that continues to resonate in its concert halls, on its streets, in its sports stadiums and in the hearts of its people. But most composers in the art-music tradition considered this particular strand of vernacular music too raw and commercially driven to serve as a resource for artistic development. Rural folk traditions were thought to be more closely linked to the American spirit, and the composer who most successfully transformed these traditions into a national sound was Aaron Copland. COPLAND AND THE AMERICAN ORCHESTRAL SOUNDSCAPE Copland is one of America’s greatest twentieth-century composers. Few have been able to capture the spirit of this country so successfully-his well-crafted and classically proportioned works have an immediate appeal. His ballet suites are quintessentially American in their portrayal of rural life (Appalachian Spring) and the Far West (Rodeo and Billy the Kid). Copland came self-consciously to an American sound: born in New York of Jewish immigrant parents, he trained in Europe with proponents of early twentieth-century modernism, then returned to the United States during the Great Depression of the 1930’s and embraced a growing ideal that art should “serve the American people” during times of economic and social struggle. His new American modernist” style was designed to have wide appeal and be “‘useful” in a variety contexts (radio, film, etc.). In keeping with this ideal, Copland wrote incidental music for plays, and scores tor significant films that spoke to the American condition during the Depression, such as Of Mice and Men (1939) and Our Town (1940). While Copland admired jazz, and drew on it in his works, his American style was rooted primarily in Euro-American vernacular traditions, using elements of Appalachian and other Anglo-American folk melodies (as well as Mexican folk melodies). He also cited Stravinsky’s nuanced approach to rhythm and orchestration as an essential influence. Like Stravinsky’s early ballets, some of Copland’s most successful compositions involved a collaboration with prominent dancers and choreographers, who were also seeking to establish a genuinely American tradition of modern dance. Copland’s Appalachian Spring Among Copland’s ballets, Appalachian Spring is perhaps his best known, written in collaboration with the celebrated choreographer Martha Graham (1894-1991). who also danced the lead. Copland noted that when he wrote the music, he considered Graham’s unique choreographic style: “She’s unquestionably very American: there’s something prim and restrained, simple yet strong, about her, which one tends to think of as American.” The ballet portrays “a pioneer celebration in spring around a newly built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills in the early part of the nineteenth century. The bride-to-be and tho young farmer-husband enact the emotions, joyful and apprehensive, their new partnership invites.” The ballet, which premiered in 1944 in Washington, D.C., was the basis for his popular 1945 orchestral suite, set in seven sections. The opening section of the suite introduces the characters in the ballet with a serene, ascending motive that evokes the first hint of daybreak over the vast horizon. In the most famous part of the work, we hear the well-known early American song Simple Gifts (“*”Tis the gift to be simple”), a tune associated with the Shaker religious sect, known for its spiritual rituals that included spinning around and dancing. This simple, folk like tune is designed to provide a quintessential American sound; Copland sets it in a clear-cut theme and variations, with a colorful orchestration tinged with gentle dissonance. The flowing tune takes on several guises, shaded by changing timbres, keys, and tempos Copland’s music was quickly embraced as a truly “American orchestral sound. It continues to be widely heard at events (or even in commercials!) that aim to emphasize national pride, as well as incorporated (and imitated) in movie scenes that illustrate the grandeur of the West. The America that his music envisions is a rural one, connected to the land and its traditions; it is also mostly an Anglo America, since the Appalachian tunes he employs have their roots in English folk traditions. Copland’s goal was to create an inclusive soundscape for the United States his music, like Sousa’s, is still a powerful presence in the cultural life of the nation. Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring original orchestration with 13 instrument, but later arrange for full orchestra by Copland himself. https://youtu.be/CJYVH_kZkOk https://youtu.be/pgj7_DmgDqs After you have read/study module 15.1 to 15.3, then answer the following 2 questions, which represents each of the topical areas within the topic of American music. Write no more than 2 paragraphs for each questions in this exercise in order to explain the concept: What qualities in Copland’s music have been understood as particularly American, and why? In what ways was West Side Story significant? What issues of race and ethnicity does it raise in ways that are similar to, and different from Porgy and Bess?

In view of the recent coronavirus influenced changes, it is unlikely I will be able to witness a live jazz performance this semester. So, This essay requires you to view the video and write a review. Viedo Link : https://youtu.be/oQgOcuqoQGM I will upload the short note of the review paper and Guide for Concert Review. Your reviews must include some information about the musical style, musical forms, instruments used and in general, what you thought about the music you heard. The object of this assignment is for you to apply what you learn in class to the music you hear in the performance. In order to receive a satisfactory grade your critique must be well-written; in other words, good grammar, good spelling and complete sentences. Please Mircrosoft Word.

The Final Paper will be relaying the “story of western music”. The objective is for you to summarize in four pages about two thousand years of music history. Again, standard rules apply: 12 point type, 1 inch margins, and double-spaced. While this is no small feat, you are basically to summarize each of the chapters ranging from Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary Music (this includes both ‘popular’ styles and classical idioms.) This is not a research paper!!! Obviously because this paper is so short and the material so vast it is crucial to be very concise. Before writing the actual paper, it is very beneficial to both your writing and the readers’ reading experience to outline your major points complete with subheadings with a few important details and examples. Here are some other tips for success: A: Discuss the stylistic conventions of each period (ie: ornamentation, use of harmony, treatment of melody etc.) B. Role of music in society in this era. C. Popular philosophies that change both society and the arts. D. Major music figures within each period. E. And almost most important illustrate how music evolves, revolts against old conventions, and how some things remain at the core unchanged. By the time you write this you will have observed the basic concepts that make up the history of western music. Now that you have this information your goal is to form it into your own words and truly internalize the concepts. As with any course the material itself has a very limited worth on its own: what you do with it in forming ideas, opinions, the ability to see a subject at various planes of understanding, and how you creatively use the material to learn and appreciate new perspectives virtually multiplies any subject’s usefulness. Good luck.