As this is my last passion post of the year I thought that it would be a good idea to throw it all back to where it all started for me and tell my whole music history and how it has impacted my life personally. When I was three years old I went to these music classes for toddlers, called Kindermusic. In those classes we pretty much just all sang and played together for an hour but as we got older we learned how to do actually things like read music, or play the recorder, or glockenspiel. Eventually I grew out of the classes and my parents decided that they wanted me to learn piano, since that was something that they themselves had always wished they could do. So I started taking piano lessons when I was seven years old, but I had already known how to read music by that point so I was already ahead of where most children my age would be. You can learn piano by ear, but my teacher refused to teach kids who had originally learned that way, so it was a good thing that I knew how to read music! I even remember the first book of piano music that I had ever gotten from my teacher, it comprised of such hits as On top of Old Smokey or Row Your Boat. One of the Schreyer short answer questions on the application was “what book has most impacted you and why?” and I wrote about this book and how it was what initially really got me started in music and how that has influenced my life. I continued to play piano and then fourth grade came. In my school district**, we started band instruments for school in Fourth grade. So I told my parents that I wanted to play another instrument. We went to the Instrument night at my school where you could pick out the instrument that we wanted to play. I ended up choosing the flute because it was “shiny and pretty.” Little did I know how much a part of my life it would become. I then played in our elementary school band from 4-6th and I played for our elementary school jazz band in 6th grade. In middle school I played in the concert band. In 7th grade I auditioned for both the jazz band and wind ensemble on flute, but only made the jazz band. In eighth grade I auditioned for both again and only made the jazz band, however I decided to overcome my stage fright and audition for an improv solo for jazz band, and I got it! I then won most outstanding soloist at the end of the year at our biggest jazz competition beating out. At the end of that year I started taking flute lessons, which was a lot later than most other people had started taking lessons. I then auditioned again the next year for both groups and made 1st chair for both! I won another soloist award in jazz band that year. Then it was time to audition for the high school wind ensemble, our top ensemble. I didn’t make the wind ensemble, and the director said that I need to work on my tone quality. However, when I came back in the fall for the start of school for concert band and did a chair seating for him he said “wow you have great tone! Why didn’t you audition for wind ensemble?” and I said “I did” and then he didn’t say anything else. So I played for the concert band that year and auditioned again for the wind ensemble and made 1st chair! That year we played at the Pennsylvania Music Education Association State Festival. We played a selection of songs for an hour and we also did a piece with Matt Gallagher, who is the lead trumpet for the Philly pops and the lead-sub for the Philadelphia Orchestra. We also were invited to do a clinic showcase with Dr. Threinen from, Temple University. Later that year we performed at the Kimmel Center for a USBands festival, which was really cool and got to do a clinic with the director of the Marine Band Corps who told us we were the highlight of the festival, and was extremely impressed with our band. Then senior year came and I was first chair again for the wind ensemble, and I also decided to join our high school choir and our marching band, the North Penn Marching Knights. That marching band season we were the Bands of America Class AAAA Regional Champions, the USBands Music in Motion Overall Champions, and the USBands Group V Open National Champions. Also that year I was in the District Honors and that was probably my favorite performance that I have ever done. All of the selections were awesome, especially my favorite, Aurora Awakes which our director cried during our performance. For wind ensemble that year I was still first chair. Also that year our program was the National Band Association Division Winner and was a National Finalist (one of eight high school programs in the country). That year the wind ensemble was lucky enough to perform at the National Associations of Music Education’s Eastern Division Conference. We played two selections, Niagara Falls and Hymn to a Blue Hour. I had a feature solo in Hymn to a Blue Hour which was pretty awesome. I remember my last concert, which was really sad since this was the end of an era and a way of life for me and I miss my band friends, the concerts, and most especially the music.
**Important aside about how my school district works that seems to confuse many people: My school district, North Penn, graduates over 1,000 students every year and they have a weird system for dealing with that many students. Elementary School is from K-6, Middle School is 7-9, and High School is 10-12. And hopefully that will resolve any confusion anyone may have!
Everyone has probably heard that “music makes you smarter”. However, is it actually true? Do children benefit from some forms of music education? Research has shown that music education can help children excel in all forms of their life and academics. Musical training and education helps to develop language skills and reasoning skills. Mary Luehrisen, the executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation, says “when you look at children age’s two to nine, one of the breakthroughs in that area is music’s benefit for language development, which is so important at that stage.” Language development is important for all children since it is how they learn to understand the world through the decoding of sounds and words. Music can often enrich a child’s language development and the effect of music on their development can be seen in the brain. According to the Children’s Music Workshop:
“Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language, and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. Linking familiar songs to new information can also help imprint information on young minds.”
Music’s effect on language development is also good for children on a social lev el too. Dr. Kyle Pruett, a clinical professor of child psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine says that:
“The development of language over time tends to enhance parts of the brain that help process music. Language competence is at the root of social competence. Musical experience strengthens the capacity to be verbally competent.”
Kids who have early exposure to musical training develop the areas of the brain that are related to language and reasoning. The left side of the brain can be better developed with music education and music. Kids and students who practice music and instruments can have increased coordination and improved hand-eye coordination since they can develop motor skills when playing music. Also when playing music students learn pattern recognition which can translate into the development of math pattern-recognition skills. This can mean things like better SAT and standardized test scores. On study reports that for students who were in music appreciation courses that those same students scored 63 points on average higher than others on the verbal section of the SAT and 44 points higher on math. Music also teaches students and kids’ creativity which can help them solve problems more creatively by thinking outside the box. Music can also help students in their development of spatial intelligence which helps in perception of the world, forming of mental images, and advanced mathematics. Also research has shown that the brains of musicians are different from nonmusicians. A study by Boston College found that there were changes in the brain images of kids who had 15 months of weekly music instruction and practice and had better sound distinction and were better at fine motor tasks. According to Dr, Rasmussen, who is the chair of the Early Childhood Music Department at the Peabody Preparatory of The Johns Hopkins University, “[there’s] some good neuroscience research that children involved in music have larger growth of neural activity than people not in music training. When you’re a musician and you’re playing an instrument, you have to be using more of your brain.”,
Our favorite movies wouldn’t be the same without him. Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones and more wouldn’t be what they are without the composing prowess of John Williams. John Williams is arguably one of the most popular and successful American composers that we have today. He has won “five Academy Awards, 17 Grammys, three Golden Globes, two Emmys and five BAFTA Awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts”. He has also been nominated for 50 Academy Awards, even though he has only won five. Williams has composed the music for almost eighty films some of which include:
Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Seven Years in Tibet, The Lost World, Rosewood, Sleepers, Nixon, Sabrina, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Home Alone, Far and Away, JFK, Hook, Presumed Innocent, Always, Born on the Fourth of July, the Indiana Jones trilogy, The Accidental Tourist, Empire of the Sun, The Witches of Eastwick, the Star Wars trilogy, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The Empire Strikes Back, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws and Goodbye Mr. Chips.
John Williams was born in New York in 1932 and later with his family moved to Los Angeles. He attended UCLA to study composition and after served in the Air Force. After completing his time in service he went to New York and attended Juilliard, where he studied piano. He then returned to Los Angeles, where he began his career in the film industry after working as a jazz pianist in New York. He went on to write music for many television programs in the 1960s and won two Emmy Awards for that work. He has also composed the NBC News theme “The Mission,” along with, “We’re Lookin’ Good!,” which was for the Special Olympics, and the themes for the 1984, 1988, and 1996 Summer Olympic games.
In 1980, he became the next Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. John Williams has also gone on many tours with the Boston Pops in 1985, 1989 and 1992 and on a tour of Japan in 1987 and more tours of Japan in 1990 and 1993. Williams has written many concert pieces, even though he is more well-known and loved for his film composition. His concert pieces have been premiered by the elite in the field including Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Sachs, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. He has also been a guest conductor for a lot of prominent and well known orchestras including, the London Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Also because of his wide success throughout the arts he has fourteen honorary degrees from various universities such as Berklee College of Music in Boston, Boston College, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Boston University, the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
Harry Potter
John Williams capture the wonder and magic in his score for Harry Potter. The well-loved series would not be the same without its recognizable themes, especially Hedwig’s Theme, or better known as the Harry Potter theme song. Williams only wrote music for the first three movies but you can hear the re-occurrence of his melodies in the later music too.
Star Wars
The Star Wars universe wouldn’t be the same without John Williams behind the scenes. The Imperial March, Cantina Band jazz rag, or the opening theme, “Binary Sunset”, which instills everyone with a sense of adventure and hope, while also convey a hint of tragedy.
Music and Sports. Nothing could be more unrelated. Right? Maybe at first glance the connection between music and athletics could seem farfetched because the typical stereotypes of the band nerd and varsity jock couldn’t be farther from the opposite side of the spectrum from each other. However, while taking a longer glance at the situation one can increasingly recognize their connection and interrelatedness. It is normal to see people at the gym or running with headphones jammed in their ears. Besides the pleasure derived from enjoying and listening to music, many athletes can see an enhancement to their performance.
To many people who regularly exercise or are part of a sports team, music is an integral part of their workout. Many people love to run with music on and before sporting events many athletes and teams will have a warm-up playlist that they will listen to in preparation for the event. For them music is a distraction method for the physical activity they are currently or about to endure in order to “lessen their consciousness of fatigue” (Bryn Marr). It has been a relatively recent trend, past 20 years, to use music as a way to increase athletic performance. This is mainly due to the fact that “advancements in technology have allowed music to grow into being an effective intervention to achieve a range of desirable psychological and performance effects among athletes”(believe perform). Even though most people think of music as “just a distraction”, music can provide even greater physiological and physiological effects.
Synchronous music refers to up-tempo songs with a strong beat that coincide with the repetitive movements of a sport. It has been proven that this type of music increases performance in athletes, especially in athletics that involve endurance with repetitive movements, such as rowing or running. A study conducted by Burnel University, in West London, tested the effects of synchronous music on 400-Metre sprint performance. The study concluded that synchronous music can be used to increase performance in an anaerobic endurance performance. Some of the results and conclusions from the study are summarized below.
“A RM ANOVA on the 400-metre times showed a significant effect (F1.24, 42.19 = 10.54, P < 0.001, (n^2) = .24) and follow-up pairwise comparisons revealed differences between the synchronous music conditions and the control condition. This finding supported the first research hypothesis, that synchronous music would yield superior performance to a no-music control…”
Haile Gebrselassie
In fact, Haile Gebrselassie is a perfect example of athletes at the highest levels using music to enhance their performance. Gebrselassie is famous for having the song Scatman playing when he ran and beat the 10,000m record at the Sydney Olympics. However, now there have been changes to the sport of track with regards to portable music devices. In 2007, the United States of America Track and Field Association, USATF, banned the use of portable music devices in its events. This was in order to reduce communication between athletes and coaches throughout the event and also because some consider music to be a “performance enhancing drug” of sorts because of the positive effects of music on the individual’s athletic performance.
I was interested in the association and effect of music on athletics because being an athlete and musician myself I have had a lot of personal experience with the effect of music on athletic performance. I ran cross country and track in high school for 3 years, swam for 8 years, and have been rowing for Penn State Club Crew. Using music as a stimulus and a distraction is usually used in sports such as these because of the endurance aspect and the repetitive and rhythmic that mirrors the music. Before lacrosse games at my high school we always had a warm-up playlist that we played for an hour before each game. Year-to-year the playlist changed but there was always one song, Remember the Name, that was always on the playlist. To this day whenever I hear this song I get a rush of adrenaline and energy. I have found that that I have strange music habits in regard to working out. When I run, I do not like listening to music since I find it distracting and hard to pace myself with. However, when I row it is almost painful to erg(indoor rowing) without listening to music. Here are three of my favorite workout songs.
Like always there are always two sides of the story. There has been much controversy lately over Spotify and whether it is the destroyer of art and music along with compromising artist’s compensation and rights or whether it has been the savior of the industry and has done much to improve the share value of the music industry and work to produce new art. At least in more mainstream media, the issue over Spotify’s artist compensation policy was thrust into the spotlight when pop-artist, Taylor Swift, pulled her music from Spotify back in 2014 and again when she highlighted Apple’s failure to pay artists in the first three months of their free streaming service. Apple recanted and took Swift’s criticism to heart, but there was still some bad blood between the pop-star and Spotify. In an interview in late summer with Vanity Fair Swift spoke out about her feelings about the two music giants.
“Apple treated me like I was a voice of a creative community that they actually cared about… And I found it really ironic that the multi-billion-dollar company reacted to criticism with humility, and the start-up with no cash flow reacted to criticism like a corporate machine.”
Others in the music community feel the same way. People on this side of the issue feel that the royalties from streaming are too low and that this is creating a hardship on artists. However first it is important to understand the system and different methods of compensation. There are two main online ways to access music. One is a download, and the other is streaming. With downloads, you are being paid in advance for all subsequent listens to that track. With a streaming service, you get paid over time for each listen of that track. So, the debate is that the royalties from streaming are too low, but others say that you will eventually make up that initial money or more over time. However, the problem with this model lies in three different things: the rates are extremely low so due to the value of money overtime the value decreases; the system favors the already popular artists who can afford not to be compensated correctly. Each time a song streams, the artist gets paid between one-hundredth to one-thousandth of a cent. Therefore the amount of money they get paid is contingent upon the amount of plays. This system tends to favor established artists since their music gets played more they get paid proportionally, so lesser known artists or startups get paid less, and therefore it is harder to make up the gap between what they would have been paid for a download. This is where many of the issues come up. People feel that this stifles new music and new art since it favors established artists. They also feel that up and coming artists don’t get enough money for their songs and therefore don’t have enough money to continue.
However, there are some possible benefits of Spotify. Many millions of people enjoy using Spotify since it is easy to use and easy to access. The easy access promotes exploration of different music by different people since they don’t have to directly pay for access to that specific content. Lots of people also like how all the music is in the same place and it is easy to use. Rob B. says that “[Spotify] could have sweatshops and illegal activity and [he] still would think that they would be great”. Many people also enjoy the amount of music that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise, since it would be too expensive to purchase through downloading or other methods. Others argue that using online streaming services such as Spotify could potentially cut down on pirating and illegally downloading music since it is available free(with commercials), and would actually benefit the artists because they would be getting paid for it instead of it being stolen from them.
As you may have already know from some of my previous passion blog posts, my instrument of choice is the flute. I have played the flute since I was in fourth grade, so this fall will be ten years. How you may ask, did I end up playing the flute out of all instruments I could have chosen instead? Well, I picked it because it was silver and shiny. Wow, good job young me, you literally had no reason. Literally everyone plays the flute, you could have saved yourself a lot of stress. But as much as I complain, I still love playing and would pick the same again if I could go back. I have played flute for many years and for many different types of ensembles and bands, so now I will impart my extensive (and useless) knowledge on the subject on to all of you!
Flute: A General Overview
The flute is one of the smallest and highest pitched instruments of the woodwind family, which includes clarinets, oboes, saxophones, and bassoons. However, the piccolo, which is related to the flute, is the smallest, highest pitched instrument in standard instrumentation, and therefore the most annoying. It is literally the bane of all flute players existence. It seems to exist to torment everyone else in the band. It is a common joke in the band world that the only way to get two piccolos to play in tune is to shoot one.
Different Types of Flutes
The flute has been around for a long time, 40,000 years long! However, there are many different types of flutes, which people may not know since when they think of a flute they typically picture the Western Concert Flute. There are so many different types of flutes that they are broken up into three main divisions: transverse flutes, end-blown flutes, and fipple flutes. A transverse flute or side-blown flute is held horizontally when played. The person blows across the embouchure hole, perpendicular to the flute’s length. The end-blown flute is a keyless and played by directing an airstream against a sharp edge of the upper end of a tube. Fipple flutes are a sort of extension of end-blown flutes, since a fipple is a constricted mouthpiece that directs the air across the opening (instead of the player directing it) and it attached to the top of end-blow flutes.
Performers and Music:
Now, I would like to show you all some of my favorite pieces for flute and my favorite flutists. However for you to appreciate these pieces and players you need to understand what a typical flute player is capable of. A normal flute player has a range of about two and a half octaves, while a good player has an additional one, rounding them in at three and a half octaves. Also, the fastest they can typically play is 16th notes at 105 bpm. Some of my favorite flutists are James Galway, Jean Pierre Rampal, and Emmanuel Pahud. Some of my favorite pieces for flute include: Syrinx, by Debussy; Fantasie , by Faure; and Flute Concerto in D, by Mozart.
James Galway:
Here you can listen to James Galway, one of the premiere flutists of the 20th and 21st
James Galway
centuries playing Flight of the Bumblebee. Galway does a wonderful job from the technical side. He doesn’t slam down on the keys or tense his hands throughout the execution, but rather keeps them light and loose. His performance of the piece doesn’t seem strained, but rather easy because of the fluidity of his fingers and the 87998 of his phrasing. He phases the piece so well you can hardly tell where he his breathing so it gives the illusion of a long connected string of notes. Instead of using deep drawn out breaths to get his air supply, he takes short small intakes intermittently as to not interrupt the flow of the piece. He also has great command over his range, where with less experienced flutist you get inconsistency in tone quality, pitch, and support, his is the same wherever he is playing.
How to Play:
1: Grab your flute! But wait, it’s in three pieces?? What?
2: Assemble it! Do this by attaching the head joint to the body, and then the foot joint.
3: Breath in and blow across the opening. It’s kinda hard when you first get started, tomake a sound but just think about it like how you would blow into a bottle to make a sound. It takes a lot of air to produce a sound so many people get dizzy when they first start to play since they are not used to producing so much air.
4: Now Play! You want to keep you embouchure as loose as possible.
5: Annoy everyone else around you by playing your highest notes possible and being way out of tune with the rest of your section!
In a previous passion post of mine I talked about Mozart, one of the greatest composers ever, and one of his most famous choir pieces, the Requiem in D Minor. This peice is about an hour long and tells of death, the wrath of God, and the judgement day. Last time, I talked about the section Dies Irae, if you would like to read my previous post on this section of the work then click here. Quick recap of my last post on the subject: the piece was commissioned in the last year of his life, and Mozart didn’t write the whole thing.
This time I will be talking about the section Lacrimosa. The Lacrimosa translates to “on that day there will be tears”, or “there will be crying” depending on which translation you use and how strict you keep to the exact translation. It is widely believed that up until the first eight bars of the Lacrimosa were all of Mozart’s original work. After that, the line is a bit hazier as to whether Mozart actually wrote them or whether his student wrote them in his style.
I really enjoy the underlying orchestral part in the Lacrimosa because the long high pitched strokes on the bow of the violin and viola mimic the crying and tears of the morning. Also, this crying can be heard in the vocal part too; there are many rests between syllables which mimics sobbing and the voices (especially soprano) take on the same quality as the strings. Furthermore, the whole section has a sorta of impending doom feel to it since it was written in a minor chord. However, there is some slight hesitation and uncertainty (about death) in this section which is conveyed through crescendos into decrescendos, but, it is also presents it through the arrangement of the chord progressions. This is because each “step” in the
How Mozart felt writing the last bar of the Lacrimosa #dealwithit
progression allows the ear to follow it both up and down towards the next which is both a conflict AND resolution. Also, Mozart was not a very religious person so the fact the he was commissioned to write this in the first place was very ironic, but then he goes on to tell us of all of the awful things that shall happen to you at the judgement day and underlays this with minor and conflicting chords to convey the weight and awfulness of the situation, but then ends the section on a major chord with the words Amen, so its kind of like a punch in the face to the religious people there because of its almost mocking nature of it.
The Latin lyrics to this section are below and you can follow along with this video of a my high school’s performance of Lacrimosa (7:30) followed by the Dies Irea (10:30).
You may not know his name but I guarantee that you have heard his music. The mastermind behind the Frozen soundtrack in none other than Robert Lopez. He is probably one of the most successful people in Broadway, TV, and film that you have never heard of. Robert Lopez co-wrote the satirical Broadway musicals Avenue Qand The Book of Mormon. He has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. Only twelve people have ever claimed this honor, and he has been the fastest to complete it. He co-writes with his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
Book Of Mormon:
In 2005 Lopez worked with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park, to develop a new comedic musical. Ironically, South Park was a show which Lopez had in part used as inspiration for his musical Avenue Q. The Book of Mormon premiered on Broadway in March of 2011. Despite the touchy subject content and forward humor, the show received various awards, including the 2011 Tony for Best Musical, as well as Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical. This musical added two more Tony’s to Lopez’s ever growing stash of accolades. The Book of Mormon’s original cast recording also earned Lopez the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Also, one of the leads in the original cast of Book of Mormon was none other than Josh Gad, better know as the voice of Olaf the snowman in Frozen.
Frozen:
In 2013, Lopez and his wife Kristen wrote songs for Disney’s film Frozen. The song “Let It Go” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. “Let It Go” was sung by Idina Menzel who I talked about in last week’s passion post. “Let It Go” was the win that ended up carrying Lopez to the coveted EGOT, which means that the person won all four major annual American entertainment awards. In February 2015, the duo won another Grammy for their work on Frozen with Best Song Written for Visual Media for “Let It Go”.
Idina Menzel has been skirting the edges of super stardom since the start of her career on Broadway in her breakout role as Maureen Johnson in the Broadway musical Rent. She ended up earning a Tony for this performance in 1996, but she still was not a common household name. She ended up doing more work for Rent when she reprised her role as Maureen for the film adaptation, which many theatre and choir kids have been forced to watch when there is nothing else to do in class. One of her biggest roles on Broadway she played Elphaba as part of the original cast of Wicked and won a Tony for her role in that also. After falling through a trap door and cracking a rib during Wicked, Menzel took a break from Broadway. She became famous all throughout the world not for her Broadway roles, but for her role as Elsa in the Disney movie Frozen. The song “Let it Go” which Menzel’s character sings, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Some of Menzel’s lesser known roles include Nancy in the Disney Film Enchanted, Amneris in the Broadway production Aida, as well as a recurring role as Shelby Corcoran in the TV series Glee. Menzel returned to Broadway in the 2014 production of If/Then, earning her a Tony nomination.
Menzel voiced Elsa in Disney’s Frozen
From a musical perspective, Idina Menzel is very technical and is able to navigate her range with great precision and control, which provides supported and projected notes. She is capable of holding sustained notes with or without vibrato, however her vibrato is very thin compared to others. She has a strong midrange, but as her range climbs she gets a rougher sound as she enters her belting range since she doesn’t always combine her head voice and chest voice during this. Because she has such a large vocal range, she doesn’t use her head voice as often.Though as she dives into the basement of her range the quality of her notes become rounded and softer.
Idina Menzel as Elphaba in the West End’s production of Wicked
Idina Menzel is best known for her impressive belting range, which is usually on display in her most well know songs such as “Let it Go”, “No Day but Today“, “My Strongest Suit“, and “Defying Gravity“. The belting range is clear and sometimes has an almost unmusical quality to it because it is so steady and loud. Because the voice is already light in the upper belting range, when it’s mixed with the head voice, to hit higher notes, the voice retains much of its character, making the belting range sound endless and effortless.
Mozart is highly regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. One of his most well known pieces is the Requiem in D Minor. It is about an hour long and tells of death, the wrath of God, and the judgement day. There’s much mystery surrounding this piece since it was commissioned in the last year of his life. It is known that up to the first eight bars of Lacrimosa is his own work. However, it is widely believed that his student Süssmayr completed it for him, since at the time of Mozart’s death, the Requiem was not completed, but rather existed in sections.
Dies Irae is one of the sections in the Requiem. It is part of the Sequencia, a text, which in Church is sung before the Gospel. The Dies Irae describes the Day of Judgment along with the wrath of God. It states, “The day of wrath, that day/ Will dissolve the world in ashes!” It is performed in Latin, since that is the language of the Church. It takes a lot of stamina to be able to perform this section, because it is angry music with a multitude off-beat rhythms accompanied by running strings all performed at a very high tempo. When you listen to this below, around 0:07 of the video you can audibly hear the whole choir draw in a breath together before starting, this is because they need a good starting breath since the song is very challenging and the beginning sets the tone for the rest of the performance.
The Latin lyrics to this section are below and you can follow along with this video of a performance of Dies Irae. I included the lyrics because the high register and rapidity of the section may make it is hard to understand the pronunciation.
Dies iræ, dies illa The day of wrath, that day
Solvet sæclum in favilla, Will dissolve the world in ashes
Teste David cum Sibylla. As foretold by David and the Sibyl!
Quantus tremor est futurus, How much tremor there will be,
Quando Judex est venturus, when the Judge will come,
Cuncta stricte discussurus! investigating everything strictly!
Judgement Day
The Dies Iraesection is an incredible example of Mozart’s command of language and orchestration. On the words dies irae (Day of Wrath), a timpani rolls under the words, which resembles thunder and the wrath of God. On the words “Quantus tremor est futurus” (How much tremor there will be) there are a series of up and down scale steps in the voice to mimic “trembling”. Further more the answer to this call is “dies irae, dies illa”, but on this phrase the vocalists press into the word “dies” which creates a natural crescendo to decrescendo, which helps to show the fear and uncertainty of the people. Also on “Cuncta stricte discussurus” (Investigating everything strictly) is slower, deliberate, more pointed, or even “strict”, which helps to aurally illustrate and communicate the message.
What most people think of when they hear music theory is “that class in high school that band kids somehow got AP credit for”. But in reality music theory is much more than that. Music theory studies how we practice or perform music, listen to music, why we like the music we hear, and the different possibilities that music creates. Music theory tries to give a concrete answer to why music makes us feel a certain way by analyzing the fundamental elements of music such as rhythm, harmony, or pitch. Music theory has expanded from just music to encompass all types of sound, including silence, and how that contributes to and relates to music.
I have already talked about some important aspects of music theory such as pitch, tone, and others in passing in some of my earlier blogs. The basis of music theory hinges upon these things and most importantly, in my opinion, notes and scales. Notes or tones or pitches can be arranged in a variety ways to create different scales and modes. Western music theory generally divides the octave into a series of twelve tones with the interval between adjacent tones is called a half step or semitone. This is the called a chromatic scale. In this method each semitone is equidistant to the next, but this then creates a problem for tuning since, for
Chromatic Scale
example, the perfect fifth is not where there fifth is given in this method but rather a few cents off. Scales can be created by selecting and choosing sets of tones from this chromatic scale and arranging them together in patterns. For example, major scales follow the pattern of whole step-whole step-half step-whole step-whole step-whole step-half step starting from any given note in the chromatic scale.
What’s the difference between a piano and a fish? You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish! In music, tuning is the process of adjusting the pitch tones from musical instruments in order to establish typical intervals between the tones. Tuning is usually based on a fixed reference pitch, such as A = 440 Hz. Being out of tune means that the tone is either high(sharp) or low(flat) in relation to the given reference pitch. An instrument can be in tune within its own range, however, it may not be in tune if it doesn’t match A = 440 Hz, or whichever reference pitch was given. Over time instruments can become out of tune due to damage or typical wear and tear so they must be repaired or readjusted.
Tuning Fork
Tuning may be done by playing two pitches and adjusting one of them to match the other. A tuning fork or electronic tuning device may be used as a reference pitch, or a player(if it is an group) may give a pitch for everyone else to match. When playing in an ensemble, the piano is often used as a reference since it can’t be adjusted for each rehearsal. In symphony orchestras and concert bands A or B♭ is typically used as the reference pitch and is given by the principal oboist or clarinetist. A clarinet or an oboe is chosen to give the reference because they have the least fluctuation in pitch as time goes on due to the tight embouchure required for the instrument.
To tune to a specific pitch, the instrumentalist tries to match the given pitch as best as possible by either adjusting how they are producing the pitch( breath support, or posture can have a huge effect) or by adjusting the instrument, if they are using one. The different methods for controlling pitch vary depending on the instrument and the situation. Matching pitch is used with voices and is a basic skill used in ear training. For stringed instruments, such as the harp, violin, or piano, use turning pegs to increase or decrease the tension on strings so as to control the pitch. In the case of wind instruments, modifying the length of width of the tube adjusts the pitch.
Interference beats is a method that a lot of musicians use in order to match pitch, however it is typically more subjective than other methods, like electronic tuners which tell how many cents and in which direction the pitch is off. When tuning instruments using sustained tones and when the two tones are close in pitch but not identical, the difference in frequency generates beating. As the two tones approach the same pitch or frequency, the beating slows down and stops. Since the two pitches produce different periods, when they are both added together(bottom diagram) they produce a beat. The beat is produced when the crest of one occurs at the same time as the trough of the other since then they effectively “cancel” each other out.
If you’ve been following my passion blog you may remember that my favorite DCI show of all time is the Cadets performance of Between Angels and Demons. The music in Between Angels and Demons is from Frank Ticheli’s piece for band, Angels in the Architecture. For my high school wind ensemble we got to play Angels in the Architecture, which was a grueling but awesome 15 minute piece. Ticheli got his inspiration for the piece from his travels around the world to different cathedrals by looking at the different gargoyles that are all around these large structures. He was struck by the fact that some were very innocent looking while others very demonic, so he decided to write Angels in the Architecture based off of his observations and how he felt about the world. Ticheli incorporates hymns from all different religions, such as Christianity and Judaism, to make the theme of the work more universal.
The piece portrays the battle between dark and light and good and evil in two reoccurring themes. The alternation of these opposing forces creates a sort of five-part rondo form by starting off with light and then eventually ending with light again. The piece ends in the same fashion as it began with the angel singing the same comforting words, however after during the last word distantly and ominously a final shadow reappears below it all in the form of a dark and dissonant chord played by the bells and low woodwinds. In the Cadet’s performance you don’t get this slow down towards the end or the darkness to reappear but rather just the light and happiness. This was strategic since ending quietly and with uncertainty isn’t a very good way to go for marching corps because their forte(mind the pun) is loud, controlled, and flashy, which is exactly how the Cadets ended their show. Also, for closers you want to show the judges all that you’ve got and leave them without a doubt in their mind about your ability.
The Cadets used the music from Ticheli’s work to create a show that would please the audience and still portray the battle between good and evil. Most of Ticheli’s original work remains intact in for their show, however they did take out the section drawn from a traditional Hebrew song of peace (“Hevenu Shalom Aleichem”) in the middle because it has a very different sound and feel to it compared to the rest of the piece and would be difficult to incorporate marching elements around( go to 6:38 video above to listen to this section). Even though Angels in the Architecture is an amazing piece of music and the Cadets play it with amazing execution, that is not what allowed them to take first place at DCI world finals, it was their portrayal of this fight between good and evil along with their impeccable marching skills. The Cadets uniform is typically white pants and shoes with a maroon top and a yellow sash, however for this show half of the corps dressed in all maroon and the other in all white. This helped immensely with the visual effects because it allowed the audience to visually see that battle happening between good and evil. Furthermore, their emotional investment in the performance can be see on their faces in the close up views provided, because they are so engaged in the performance in makes the audience’s experience that much better and fuller. The Cadets ended up winning DCI with a record score of 98.350 out of 100.
*My videos used to be links but then I found out how to incorporate them into my post so that is why there is now only one link.
Homecoming is a time to go back to your Alma mater and reminisce with old friends of the past and see what the new generation is bringing to the table. This past Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of traveling back to my hometown and my old high school to take part in the unofficial homecoming for the music program at North Penn High School. The North Penn Marching Knights hosted their annual “Knight of Sound” at Crawford Stadium as alumni, parents, friends, and family filled the stadium to watch their beloved Knights take the field. “Knight of Sound” has always been a very exciting night for the music community of North Penn since many former Knights get to come out to see the fall show for the first time. This year the Knight’s fall show is “The Calling”, which depicts Joan of Arc’s call to lead the French to freedom. “Knight of Sound” acts as an independent marching band competition, where seven of the best bands from the region came to perform.
North Penn Marching Knights performing in exhibition
The home stands were packed Saturday night ranging from veteran parents to first-timers. It was easy to a seasoned eye to spot the music directors and techs dispersed through the spectators as they observed with expert eyes, watching every step, every line, and every flag toss to assess the performance. The judges that mattered, however, were out on the field, rushing in and out of formations with their handheld recorders, critiquing and awarding points. It has always been a dream of every marcher to run over a judge in the midst of competition, and senior Alex Brady almost got his wish on his last “Knight of Sound.” It was right before the full band front and the end of the first movement, “he was looking at the drumline and wasn’t expecting a line to come bursting in right behind, and I was just inches short before he jumped out of the way.”
Drum Majors and Directors presenting the awards
The Knights were only allowed to compete in exhibition since it was their home show, but there was still plenty of excitement to go around when the results came out. Quakertown high school ended up unseating the reigning champs, Springford High School, and former North Penn rival. Most importantly, Knight of Sound is a time for everyone in the North Penn Music community to reflect on their time and experience with the program. Seniors mark it as “the beginning of the end” since there’s nothing like playing in front of your home crowd and having the stands leap to their feet. Performing with your friends give you a rush like no other and watching my high school friends at their own senior “Knight of Sound” made me want to go back and do it over again, but unfortunately my time as a Marching Knight has already passed just as fast as the light glints off of our the helmets in the dark.
You don’t need to know how to read music in order to make music, but learning how to read it can definitely improve you skill and ability as a musician especially if you play in an orchestra or band. I mean, who wants to memorize minutes to even hours of music when you’ve got the cheat sheet right in front of you? The very basics to learning how to read music is based upon the staff, or really awkwardly spaced lined paper. The staff (or the stave) is the foundation upon which notes are drawn. Most commonly you see the staff with five lines and four spaces. Every line and space in the staff represents a “note” or if you are familiar with a keyboard, every line and space represents a white key. Now to be able to interpret which note goes with what line or space you need a clef. A clef assigns individual notes to certain lines or spaces. The most commonly used clefs are Treble and Bass clef. Or you can think of them as a line with a spiral in the middle and half of a heart someone was too lazy to finish drawing.
Now in music the alphabet only goes to G, but it typically starts on C but encompasses the notes A to G. To the right you can see where each of the notes are placed on the treble clef. Now because there are only so many lines to put our notes on what happens when we go off of the staff? Well add our own lines, called ledger lines. Now you may think, ledger lines aren’t so bad, and you’d be right! If you don’t play flute. But sadly, I play flute and these are just a pain to deal with. Oh we’re going at quarter note=164 (for you nonmusic folks that’s
Normal Versus FLUTE!!
about 4 notes a second) and you want me to read this? Yea not happening.
Now to be able to read the music, you need to know how to interpret the length of notes. The longest note that there is in modern music is the whole note, or semibreve, which if you are in standard 4/4 that is equivalent to 4 beats. Now a half note, or minim, is equal to two beats, a quarter note, or crotchet, is equal to one and so on. The chart shows you what each of these notes looks like drawn out and their relationships to each other.
Now when you put those notes on a staff you can interpret the music. So for example, if I were to put a whole note( looks like a circle) on the first line of the staff in treble clef then you would play an E on your respective instrument for four counts. Now you are on your way to being able to read and interpret music!
Many people wonder why marching bands practice for such long and ridiculous hours. For my high school band, sometimes we would have practice at 6am on the day of competition and even leave after the first round of competition to go practice again. To be able to make the formations and alignments you need a way to get there, and that is marching! Proper marching technique is important and takes time since there is a lot more to marching than just walking to your dot by a certain time, but hopefully it becomes so ingrained that you just naturally march amazing.
If you watch the Blue Devil’s visual warmup, you will get a better idea of the precision and care that even the best groups in the world give to basic marching technique. Also, it is a
Santa Clara Vanguard during Visual Warmup
good close up visual of the parts of marching people normally miss. The initiation for both forward and backward movement in marching comes from the center of the body. This means that the performer’s weight will move evenly through space and not be left behind or ahead.
One count before the step-off, the right platform will press into the ground, and the left leg begins its motion forward, allowing the center of the body to move forward. The left leg should already be straight, having been set there at the standstill attention position(incase you forgot your drill commands). Swing the straight left leg forward fromm the hip, allow the heel to travel as close to the ground as possible without scuffing, and strike the ground on the downbeat with the heel. As you do this keep pushing off with the right platform. Your weight will move move forward from the center of the body, causing the right heel to leave the ground. Having completed the first downbeat of the forward movement, you will notice that the weight will be centered evenly between the edge of heel of the left foot and the platform of the right foot. Both legs will be straight at this point. Keep your weight centered both feet as you move. As always, posuture, alignment, centering, and balance do not change.
Roll the foot towards the ground
Contiuning from the downbeat of the step off, the performer will roll through the center of the left foot, bringing the centered weight forward. The right leg will swing through with the right heel passing the left heel as close to the ground as possible on the “and” count(1/8 note). At this point, the left leg should be straight and the right leg should be nearly straight as it swings in transit past the left ankle “and” count. Begin pressing the left platform into the ground and continue to swing the right leg forward from the hip, allow the heel to travel as close to the ground as possible without scuffing, and strike the ground on the following downbeat with the right heel. As you do this, keep pushing off with the left platform. Your weight will move toward the center of the body, causing the left heel to leave the ground. Having completed the second downbeat of forward movement, you will notice that the weight will be centered evenly between the edge of heel of the right foot and the platform of the left foot. Both legs will be straight at this point.
The most mainstream publicity marching band and drum and bugle corps have probably ever gotten was on New Year’s, when Jim Rome tweeted about “those dorks running around” the field. Shortly after that tweet appeared, the “twittervese” rushed to the defense of these nerds. Even though all of us have been to high school or college football games where marching band entertains the crowd during downtime, not many of us have gotten to truly know the ins and outs of this art. And trust me, it’s a lot more complicated than just walking around the field. I will attempt to enlighten everyone with the complexities of this activity.
Ohio State Marching Band
Most people just see the big picture in marching band, like literally. They see the dinosaur or the starship, but they often miss the intricacies that make a band great. You need to be close to field to experience and appreciate it. I would recommend watching Between Angels and Demons, The Cadets’ 2011 show, because one, it’s just an awesome show, and two, the video brings you down onto the field level to highlight the detail everyone misses. If you aren’t a fan of marching after watching this video, I don’t think that you’ll ever be. By placing the camera at different places on the field, The Cadets’ perfect marching technique and impeccable posture are on display in ways they wouldn’t be from further away. But before a marcher can even dream of attaining that level of greatness and perfection, they must start with the basics. And the basics aren’t music, marching, or even walking. They are posture, balance, alignment, and breathing. Go figure.
North Penn Marching Knights
Before even beginning to step of and march there are a variety of things that need to be taken in to account such as posture, balance, alignment, and breathing, among others. Posture and alignment center and balance are some of the most important aspects of these “movement principles.” To start off with, the marcher has to understand that the pelvis is considered the center of the body and both the lower and upper halves of the body. The understanding of this is critical since the placement of the pelvis will impact alignment and balance, as well as all movement, since this is where the movement is initiated. Good posture hinges on this concept. Also, consistency in technique is vital to proper movement.
At my high school we would spend hours working on just these aspects alone. You would stand still with your instrument and do various body awareness exercises and then at the end return to the proper poster. While executing these drills, the techs would walk around and observe, with an extremely critical eye, I might add. The techs might move your shoulder back just slightly, or tilt you chin down just a fraction of an inch, or they would push your chest back so little that you didn’t even notice the difference. They felt that these principles are so crucial to good and proper marching that we would spend hours just working on this and being corrected by just millimeters.
This strict attention to posture and alignment is so critical to having a good band that some judges say that they know whether a band will be good or not even before they step onto the field. Do you know how they know? Posture and balance. One judge was so impressed with our band that he came up to compliment us after a competition. He said that he had never seen a band stand so still or with such good posture. He couldn’t even see the glint of the instruments moving.
Also, before you can begin to move you have to understand the various commands a major or director could issue and the positions that you should assume. Posture and alignment build up to the various stationary positions you must assumer as a marcher. Check out this video for a good visual.
POSITIONS:
1) Ready Position: used to establish immediate focus; Standing with feet together and instrument in carry position and chin down to chest.
2) Attention Position:
A) Carry position: primary attention positions; instrument 5-6 inches from front of chest
B) Playing Position: most frequent position while performing; Instrument set onto embouchure
C) Trail position: used in warmups and standstills; carry instrument with right hand with both arms straight down to sides.
3) Parade Rest: Standing with feet shoulder width apart, feet forward, and instrument held in front of chest with arms folded
4) Standby: Often used in rehearsal situations; standing with feet together and instrument in front of waist
COMMANDS:
READY: “Band to the Ready” (no cadence) band assumes ready position
ATTENTION: “Band-Ten-Hut-(execute)” snap to attention and or Carry Position
PARADE REST: “Band-Parade-Rest-(rest execute)” snap to parade rest after two counts of rest after command is given
DRESS CENTER: “Dress-Center-Dress-and-look” snap heads to center of form to check their dress (left and right alignment with others) and their cover (front to back)
READY FRONT: “Band-Ready-Front-(rest-execute)” snap head to front
HORNS UP: “Band-Horns-Up-(rest-execute)” snap instruments to playing position
HORNS DOWN: “Band-Horns-Down-(rest-execute)” snap instruments back to carry position
STANDBY: “standby” (no cadence) assume standby position
As eloquently said by the classic rock artist Bob Seger, “music just soothes the soul.” I firmly believe that music is integral to our nature as human beings as it gives us expression for things that cannot be put into word. Music is prevalent in countries and cultures through all time periods and has been in my life ever since I can remember. I feel that music is so important that I have dedicated my passion blog to it.
Over the next ten weeks I will be talking about an array of music topics, whether it be marching band, classic rock, a look into the life of a theatre student, a review of music theory, etc. However, today I want to tell a story about one of my own experiences with music as this was a turning point in my career as a musician.
Picture of me and my friends after a concert; taken by my mom, Cathy Pearson
From left to right: Morgan Murphy, Rebecca Marshall, Nicolette Statuti, Me, Abby Mohr
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As I scanned the simple piece of paper tacked to the door, my stomach plummeted. My eyes painstakingly scanned it again, trying to cling to the desperate possibility that I had misread something. After what felt like an eternity, my mind registered that it was not, in fact, a mistake, but that my name was not included on the list I had so desperately hoped and yearned to be on.
This was supposed to be my year, my second chance. I had not made the Penndale Middle School Wind Ensemble on flute, again. I was heartbroken and completely torn apart, but somehow I felt that it was coming before it happened. The stage fright and the pre-audition nerves, that invariably carried over to the audition itself, combined to produce an unsettling feeling that I had chosen to ignore up to that point. However, no longer could I ignore that fear, because it just became my reality.
I was so upset I skipped soccer practice that day and went home crying. My mom tried to comfort me as I hid my face underneath my blankets and the weight of my depression. “As you get older, you’ll see that this doesn’t matter in the scheme of life,” she stated affirmatively in attempt to relieve me of my burden of failure. However music was my life, it had been since I could remember. Music classes for toddlers, piano at seven, flute at ten. Some kids learned to speak Spanish, Hindi, or Korean at a young age, but I learned how to transverse in a different kind of language, that of music. This hit so hard with me because it seemed that I was the failure and not that I had simply failed at something.
For the next week or so I couldn’t even look at my flute, let alone touch it or play it without feeling sick to my stomach. I could barely look my friends in the face when I went back to school; I thought they would think less of me because of this, that they would pity me, and that I was no longer worthy of their attention. However, I slowly came to realize that this was not the case. We joked the same way, we walked to classes together, we hung out. I came to see that my life does not just stop as a result of a failure, no matter how important it may be to me.
I began playing and practicing my flute with a new vigor. I was still in the Jazz Band, so I might as well make the most of it. I doubled my time playing and tried to become more comfortable playing in front of people by volunteering more frequently to play by myself during rehearsal. I know it sounds cliché, but my hard work did pay off. At the end of that year at our biggest Jazz competition I won “Most Outstanding Soloist” and when it was time to audition for the Wind Ensemble again the next year I not only made the group but I made first chair. My failure had given me the motivation to work harder and more diligently because I realized that I could become even better than I was before.
(Picture of the Penndale Jazz Band; taken by my mom, Cathy Pearson)
Citations:
“Bob Seger – Old Time Rock N Roll – The Distance Tour 1983.” YouTube. YouTube. Web. 4 Sept. 2015.
the year I thought that it would be a good idea to throw it all back to where it all started for me and tell my whole music history and how it has impacted my life personally. When I was three years old I went to these music classes for toddlers, called Kindermusic. In those classes we pretty much just all sang and played together for an hour but as we got older we learned how to do actually things like read music, or play the recorder, or glockenspiel. Eventually I grew out of the classes and my parents decided that they wanted me to learn piano, since that was something that they themselves had always wished they could do. So I started taking piano lessons when I was seven years old, but I had already known how to read music by that point so I was already ahead of where most children my age would be. You can learn piano by ear, but my teacher refused to teach kids who had originally learned that way, so it was a good thing that I knew how to read music! I even remember the first book of piano music that I had ever gotten from my teacher, it comprised of such hits as On top of Old Smokey or Row Your Boat. One of the Schreyer short answer questions on the application was “what book has most impacted you and why?” and I wrote about this book and how it was what initially really got me started in music and how that has influenced my life. I continued to play piano and then fourth grade came. In my school district**, we started band instruments for school in Fourth grade. So I told my parents that I wanted to play another instrument. We went to the Instrument night at my school where you could pick out the instrument that we wanted to play. I ended up c
hoosing the flute because it was “shiny and pretty.” Little did I know how much a part of my life it would become. I then played in our elementary school band from 4-6th and I played for our elementary school jazz band in 6th grade. In middle school I played in the concert band. In 7th grade I auditioned for both the jazz band and wind ensemble on flute, but only made the jazz band. In eighth grade I auditioned for both again and only made the jazz band, however I decided to overcome my stage fright and audition for an improv solo for jazz band, and I got it! I then won most outstanding soloist at the end of the year at our biggest jazz competition beating out. At the end of that year I started taking flute lessons, which was a lot later than most other people had started taking lessons. I then auditioned again the next year for both groups and made 1st chair for both! I won another soloist award in jazz band that year. Then it was time to audition for the high school wind ensemble, our top ensemble. I didn’t make the wind ensemble, and the director said that I need to work on my tone quality. However, when I came back in the fall for the start of school for concert band and did a chair seating for him he said “wow you have great tone! Why didn’t you audition for wind ensemble?
” and I said “I did” and then he didn’t say anything else. So I played for the concert band that year and auditioned again for the wind ensemble and made 1st chair! That year we played at the Pennsylvania Music Education Association State Festival. We played a selection of songs for an hour and we also did a piece with Matt Gallagher, who is the lead trumpet for the Philly pops and the lead-sub for the Philadelphia Orchestra. We also were invited to do a clinic showcase with Dr. Threinen from, Temple University. Later that year we performed at the Kimmel Center for a USBands festival, which was really cool and got to do a clinic with the director of the Marine Band Corps who told us we were the highlight of the festival, and was extremely impressed with our band. Then senior year came and I was first chair again for the wind ensemble, and I also decided to join our high school choir and our marching band, the North Penn Marching Knights. That marching band season we were the Bands of America Class AAAA Regional Champions, the USBands Music in Motion Overall Champions, and the USBands Group V Open National Champions. Also that year I was in the District Honors and that was probably my favorite performance that I have ever done. All of the selections were awesome, especially my favorite, Aurora Awakes which our director cried during our performance. 
For wind ensemble that year I was still first chair. Also that year our program was the National Band Association Division Winner and was a National Finalist (one of eight high school programs in the country). That year the wind ensemble was lucky enough to perform at the National Associations of Music Education’s Eastern Division Conference. We played two selections, Niagara Falls and Hymn to a Blue Hour. I had a feature solo in Hymn to a Blue Hour which was pretty awesome. I remember my last concert, which was really sad since this was the end of an era and a way of life for me and I miss my band friends, the concerts, and most especially the music.
Everyone has probably heard that “music makes you smarter”. However, is it actually true? Do children benefit from some forms of music education? Research has shown that music education can help children excel in all forms of their life and academics. Musical training and education helps to develop language skills and reasoning skills. Mary Luehrisen, the executive director of the 
Like always there are always two sides of the story. There has been much controversy lately over 
y, and then the foot joint.
You may not know his name but I guarantee that you have heard his music. The mastermind behind the Frozen soundtrack in none other than Robert Lopez. He is probably one of the most successful people in Broadway, TV, and film that you have never heard of. Robert Lopez co-wrote the satirical Broadway musicals 
What most people think of when they hear music theory is “that class in high school that band kids somehow got AP credit for”. But in reality music theory is much more than that. Music theory studies how we practice or perform music, listen to music, why we like the music we hear, and the different possibilities that music creates. Music theory tries to give a concrete answer to why music makes us feel a certain way by analyzing the fundamental elements of music such as rhythm, harmony, or pitch. Music theory has expanded from just music to encompass all types of sound, including silence, and how that contributes to and relates to music.
(Picture of the Penndale Jazz Band; taken by my mom, Cathy Pearson)
