Music Responding - Essay Example

Music Responding Guided Listening 1. The three main orchestral instruments creating this effect are: i. Flute ii. Clarinet and iii. Violins 2. The violins being played in two different ways in the 90 seconds The first approach is the plucking (pizzicato) of the violin with the right hand and the second option is arco where the instrumentalist draws the bow across the violin. When the violin is played used the bow (arco) it produces different sound compared to when it is plucked (pizzicato). The two approaches does change the sound because a shift from pizzicato to arco changes the frequency of the sound since the tension in the string is changed by shifting from pizzicato to arco. Again, we have a change in contrast of the tone. The aim of these methods is to create different musical sounds and themes that align to that of the traveling waters or river. 3. The video time code for each of these stages of the journey a. Two springs beginning in the forest and bubbling over rocks: 0:26 - 1:16 b. The streams have grown and become a gliding river: 1:26 - 2:16 c. The river passes through dark forests where hunters’ horns can be heard: 2:27 - 3:18 d. The river passes through pastures and lowlands where a wedding feast is being held: 2:30 – 2:35 e. Night falls and visions of castles and fortresses under the moonlight create a haunting reminder of past glories: 6:20 – 7:36 f. Day comes and the river continues on. Suddenly the river becomes turbulent it strikes the rapids and chasms. The turbulent passage of music: 6:50 – 7:03 g. Past the turbulence, the river widens again and flows majestically through the city of Prague and on into the distance. The majestic river passage of music: 8:31 – 8:54 4. At what time code/s does this occur again? 5:22 – 6:41 5. What is the time code? What do the French horns represent in the musical story? 3:22 – 6:41 The French horns represent the theme of the poem that allows the message to flow with the journey of the river. 6. Aim to identify how the composer has worked with the elements of music to create the effects that bring to life the changing nature of the river. Ways in which the composer has worked with the elements of the music in creating the effects that bring to life the changing nature of the river remains multifaceted. From the one hand, the music has been used to indicate how river flows past the group of hunters. To provide this scene musically, the poet uses trumpets and horns on the orchestra in what seems to be a fanfare-approach motive. Besides the brass instruments the music is created beautifully through the strings that continue to play to conform to the rapid water-motive. However, the brass instruments fade with time as the river passes the hunting party. The next aspect of the poem is the process by which the river passes a fairy tale. This time it is depicted as night where the wood and water nymphs are indeed revel in what seems to be sparkling waves. The instrumentations in this case do not disappoint as the flutes and violin beautifully depict simmering notes in the poem. This process is further enhanced by a harp and muted strings. Generally, every stage of the journey represents a might river that flows through the countryside of Czech into the Prague. The music makes every stage of the river journey smooth as depicted by a musical motive that creates a vivid image of the scene. Background Research 1. Composer’s Biographical Information: Name: Bedřich Smetana Nationality: Austrian Born: March 2, 1824 Died: May 12, 1884 (age 60) 2. Cultural context of the musical composition: The cultural and political significance of the Moldau is tied to the general understanding of life of people of Czech. To begin with, the artist brings series of orchestral instruments and topic that are drawn from the landscapes and legends of his homeland to represent the cultural settings of Czech defeats and glories in wars. As a matter of fact, political wars that the song illustrates are exhibited through the movement of the suite which is itself remains to be symphonic poem that has its own storyline. Putting this point different, the violin and movement of rivers are indications of cultural and political movements of aspects such as chivalrous deeds that took place during the medieval journey with images and scenes of rural life (Aldridge and Fachner, 2006). In particular, the song represents the legendary revenge concerning a spurned Šárka through the fields and woods along River Eibe. From the other hand, this poem is not only the artist’s most enduring composition, but its cultural and political significance starts with the lights that manage to ripple figures thus creating Moldau River as two mountain springs. The culture in the music is the representation of the Germanic character. Since the musical language of the period was above all the Germanic with regard to the character, the poem and music in it helps in the presentation of traditional cultural backgrounds of Haydn, Bachs, Mozart, Wagner, and Brahms (Espinosa, 2007). According to Emoto (2012), the entrance of the river to a gorge that brings about serene and mysterious melodies works against political and cultural orientation of Germany, as a matter of fact, against German traditions that the nationalist composers strongly rebelled. Beyond these cultural and political significance is the point where the river reaches its lowest point, Prague. The turn it makes and flows past the castle Vyšehrad brings smooth ending to the fights that have been witnessed before. Observations 1. The first lesson learnt from the case of the Moldau is that natural scenes as rivers in this case remains significant elements of political and cultural presentations as the Moldau emerges to present these area in a way that popular cultural orientations are clearly defined through issues of race and ethnicity. One can easily learn through the Moldau that poem and music when fused are tools that create meaning to socio-political orientation of people, thus playing an essential role in the process of contextualising and shaping the way one can understand culture and medieval history. This point is essentially understood where beyond the white water, the river finally reaches Prague. 2. The second observation and indeed a lesson learnt from the Moldau is the instrumentation. This is actually what Dinham (2013) discusses in Delivering Authentic Arts Education by capturing aspects such as foundation of music literacy’s guiding principles. The musical composition produces different levels of music that engages on aspects of life such as war, ethnicity, and economic background through hunting among others. The ability of the poet to engage classical instruments such as violin and flutes helps in the understanding that there is relationship between the piece of music to the racial and cultural composition of the people from Prague and the classification of individuals or groups on the basis of their places of origin. 3. Thirdly, through the music one is able to understand that ethnicity, culture, politics and race delineate the poet’s place of origin and nationality’s core values and cultural ancestry. Despite the physical and sometimes geographical roots connected to the flow of the river, one can learn that the music reinforces traditional settings in the ancient poetic compositions especially when it the river flows past the castle Vyšehrad. As Emoto (2012) puts it, the poet writes the poem making arrangements for classical violin and strings to go along the heavy flutes that reflect the racial, cultural and ethnic stereotype of the region. 4. It can be argued that the Moldau has succeeded in capturing Smetana’s love for his homeland. It is essential to note that cultural and political orientations in the Moldau are ideologies or ways of understanding the world around us. This is the point where we argue that poem when bonded with music can be ground-breaking and that in the actual sense, ancient melodies as hastened by musical instruments such as violin create a blend to music. We can take a case of the Moldau music where there are series of orchestral pieces to see how they challenge the notions of culture and politics and at the same time reinforce different aspects of race and ethnicity. References Aldridge, D., & Fachner, J. (2006). Music and altered states: consciousness, transcendence, therapy and addiction. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Dinham, J. (2013). Delivering Authentic Arts Education PDF. Cengage Learning Australia. Emoto, M. (2012). Water crystal healing: Music and images to restore your well-being. Simon and Schuster. Espinosa, A. (2007, June). Music: a bridge between two cultures. In Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table. Forum on Public Policy. Read More