My Philosophy of Music Education

Philosophy of Music Education - Christopher Grapis

I define my philosophy of music education in terms of how the student will benefit from the invaluable and universal language of music. A student will receive benefits from physical, social, emotional, and mental development through the process of learning and applying musical language.

Music education offers students the development of fine motor skills through the precision of manipulating the body to sing specific pitches with specific tone, articulate specific diction, strike specific parts of the instrument, and finger over specific tone holes, valves, and slides. Where some students fail to find safety and comfort at home or in other areas of school, music contains calming physiological components, no matter what proficiency level the student may be. Music provides a direction and a loving family to a plethora of otherwise lost persons, absent in the majority of harsh academia.

Socially, young musicians will develop necessary teamwork and communication when learning from each other when playing and singing in large and chamber ensembles. They will develop sincere empathy and fierce connectedness through striving for a common goal. Students will be placed into leadership roles to lead their peers in developing and exhibiting confidence in performance, accountability in preparation of pieces, organization in planning practice sessions, sectionals, and rehearsals, and responsibility in having the proper materials necessary for participation. The discipline required to balance and maintain these life-skill properties parallels or surpasses any other activity.

Students will be able to develop an intense emotional experience not only working as a team for a common goal, but also through defining themselves at the most crucial developmental stages of their life, where non-artists often go their entire lives without finding themselves in this way. As the great philosopher Plato said, “Music purifies the soul.” Young artists must experience complex creativity through the highly personal opportunities to improvise as soloists their own melodies, harmonies, variations, and accompaniment to others. Musicians, through the careful study of music theory, learn to compose music that they can connect to and call their very own, something that instills great pride in themselves and their work.

Academically, students with a background in music receive a rich cultural education in terms of performing, studying, and identifying diverse repertoire from all areas of the world. In the study of music history, music is related to the history of all art forms and also the history of world events, as they are all inseparable due to their mutually profound influence. The aural analysis of listening to excellent music develops both the analytical left hemisphere of the brain, extracting individual elements of experience, and the creative right hemisphere of the brain, identifying aspects as part of the whole, and drawing parallels to other knowledge and the reception of emotional communication. Abstract and analytical critical thinking are developed to study the music theory of a written piece, priceless skills to have in any profession. Studying music theory bears all of the benefits studying a new language, because musical notation is its own dynamic language.

Finally, aside from the countless physical, social, emotional, and mental developments that musicians experience, music holds one final aspect rare in most activities: students can always become more outstanding musicians, regardless of age or life situation. They never stop learning, networking, and becoming more aware of their enriched experience wherever they may go.

Listening Guide 2 - Beethoven Op 2. No. 1

Beethoven Op 2. No. 1 in F Minor -

Ludvig Von Beethoven was baptized on December 17th, 1770, which is the date we use as the beginning of Beethoven's life. Beethoven's father, Johannes Beethoven, wanted Ludvig to be like Mozart, a child prodigy. Because of his father's motivation and Beethoven's great skill, had his first known performance in Cologne, at the young age of 7 ½.

Beethoven also did not waste any time becoming a great composer. In 1782, before the age of 12, Beethoven published his first work, 9 variations, in C Minor, for Piano, on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler. Later, Beethoven went to Vienna in 1787 to meet Mozart, who evidently approved saying, “Don't forget his name - you will hear it spoken often.” The death of Beethoven's mother struck a devastating loss to the family, forcing him back to home to help take care of the family, as his father in his alcoholism did not suffice as a family head.

In 1792 Beethoven returns to Vienna to further his education by Haydn, then with Albrechtsberger and Salieri. Here, Haydn becomes an extremely important teacher and style-basis for Beethovens compositions. Tragically, in 1801, Beethoven admits his concern for becoming deaf, something that acted as a grave source of depression. Admirably, this great, driven musician continued to compose, conduct, and perform although completely deaf by the time his career ended. He died March 26th 1827.

Beethoven is a composer who fits between the Classical composers like Mozart and Haydn, and Romantic Composers like Schubert and Mendelssohn. He is known as a transitional composer between these two eras.

Op 2. No. 1, Sonata fur Pianoforte, or Sonata for Piano, was written in 1795. It is dedicated to Franz Joseph Haydn, one of his teachers in Vienna, whose style he adopted for quite some time. Beethoven is known to have been a revolutionary of the “Third relation” technique, where in the tonal plan of the form, one modulates to a key region a third away (i-III-i), rather than the usual I-V-I, which is evident throughout the piece.

Beethoven is said to have three main writing styles. The first, before 1805 where, as mentioned before, sees heavy influence by Haydn and Mozart. Two famous examples are Moonlight Sonata (1801), and Pathétique(1797). It is in this first style that this piece, Op 2. No. 1 Sonata for Piano is written. The second of Beethoven's styles, 1805 – 1816 represents an entirely different section of his life. His deafness starts to significantly sink in. Beethoven becomes noticibly more political. A famous example of this is Eroica(originally for Napoleon) which he later scratched out, and rededicated to Prince Ferdinand Lobkowitz, once Napoleon was no longer a hero of his. Two other extrordinary works of this period are the outstanding Coriolan(1807), and Fur Elise(1810). Finally, Beethoven's final style, After 1816 comes into play. Elsewhere in the world, the Conference of Vienna 1815 (downfall of Napoleon) was taking place in world news. This revolutionary event set the stage for Beethoven's final, most intense, and dramatic stage. Trials of conflict within the family, ends his cycle of ‘Lieders' or songs, and leads to his elaborate and passionate, Ninth Symphony in D Minor, finally finished after seven years in 1824.

You may follow along in the following section as you listen to this great work. To see direct musical examples from the score better, click them to enlarge the excerpt.

The piece opens with the first movement in the spirit of Haydn, with an “ascending rocket” as its principal theme, and the second theme, in the relative major (III) consists of a more lyrical passage, accompanied by eighth notes. This movement has the form of a Sonatina as follows:

First Theme:

Second Theme:


The second movement Adagio calls for that singing style of performance for which Beethoven is well known, as the principal theme, starting in F Major, is elaborated and embellished. This Adagio is adapted from the slow movement of a piano quartet from 1785, one of Beethoven’s first compositions.
Second Movement Principal Theme:

The Third movement, called the Minuet in F minor, with his contrasting F major Trio, presages later Scherzo movements, meaning what would be the normal trio section instead being a little faster and more fierce, but still in 3/4 time. Beethoven also does something special here, going from F Minor to F Major, called using parallel keys, where you use two different key signatures, but with the same tonic, in this case, F.
Minuet theme:

Trio (Scherzo) theme:

The final Prestissimo, in F Major, brings a touch of fire to the slower, tamer other three movements. The eighth-note triplets drive the piece as a rhythmic ostinato, leading to a more peaceful, but still ‘agitato’ section in the minor-five relation, C Minor. Next, a new idea occurs in Ab Major (again, a third relation), while developing the rhythm of the first theme as well as the driven eighth-note triplets from the first theme. After an extended retransition back to the original key, F Minor, Beethoven Recapitulates the first in F Minor to conclude the piece.
First Theme:

Second Theme:

Development:

First theme Recapitulated in F Minor:


Works Cited For Further Research:

Prevot, Dominique. "Biography: Beethoven's life - Ludwig van Beethoven's website - Dominique PR." Ludwig van Beethoven : le site - Ludwig van Beethoven's Website - Ludwig van Beethoven in immagini ed in musica. Dominique PREVOT. Dec. 2001. Web. 08 Feb. 2010. ..

"Work Information." Naxos Music Library. Web. 08 Feb. 2010. . .

Listening Guide 1 - Mozart K.550

Mozart’s Symphony in G Minor, No. 40 (K550) was completed on July 25, 1788 in Vienna. Mozart has 626 pieces cataloged in total, and Mozart died on December 5, 1791, so Symphony No. 40 was composed near the end of Mozart’s life. Mozart's music falls into the Classical Period.

The beginning: Mozart was born in 1756. W.A. Mozart mastered his first piece before his fifth birthday. His father, Leopold Mozart jotted down in a journal that it took less than 30 minutes for Mozart to learn it. Leopold had immediate aims of continuing the musical education of W.A. Mozart, and his older sister, Anna Marie Mozart, who he took on their first tour to Munich in 1762. From the earliest stages, W.A. Mozart was celebrated as a prodigy of music.

Around the time of the composition: One of Mozart’s most famous compositions, Eine kleine Nachtmusik (K. 525) was composed in 1787, just one year before. Another of Mozart’s famous compositions, Don Giovanni (K. 527) premiered in the same year as Symphony No. 40, which ran for 15 performances at the National Court Theater. In the world during this time, the United States Constitution was being ratified.

About the composition: The form of the fourth movement of Symphony No. 40, and one of the most significant forms in the history of music, is the Sonata form. Starting in the late Baroque period, Sonata form has been widely used by composers and appreciated by theorists for now, hundreds of years. Some composers that frequently used Sonata form are Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Sonata form usually consists of an introduction, exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda.

The exposition introduces the main theme, transitions to a closely related key, introduces a secondary theme, and closes in a codetta, or short closing music, ending in a perfect authentic cadence in the new key, as to set up the development section.
First theme: (click on any picture to enlarge)

Second theme:


The development section contains sections of the first and second theme, altering them by modulating through new key regions, introducing or modifying motives, and occasionally juxtaposing, or melding themes together, creating a section of interesting and less stable rhythm and tonality, returning or ‘retransitioning’ to the original key of the piece, setting up for the recapitulation.
Developing the first theme at the beginning of the development:

The most beautiful feature of this famous work, is that the development section movies through three key regions and then comes a rapid spurt of fifteen keys and key regions (including borrowed keys and remote keys) over the course of 50 measures (m.151-201) before finally cadencing in the home key, g minor.

The recapitulation ‘recaps’ or restates the first theme, and transitions to the secondary theme, now in the ‘home’ key rather than a closely related key regaining stability to the piece, and thus setting the piece up for a closing.
Second Theme 'recapped' in the home key:


Although Symphony No.40 does not, a sonata can optionally end in a coda, which is an extension of the piece, usually to elaborate on past themes and motives, occasionally introducing new thematic material, called terminal development, and cadences in the original key of the piece.
Symphony No. 40 is written in G Minor, which according to studies of key meanings, is associated with seriousness and magnificence, combined with spirited loveliness, which you may listen for in the beautiful harmonies and textures of this piece.

Lastly, as you listen, you may use these guidelines to follow the form:
Exposition:
m.1 - Exposition begins in g minor(i = tonic), primary theme is introudced in a repeated period binary design.
m.32 - begin transition to secondary theme
m.70 - Secondary theme begins in Bb Major, (relative-major key(III) to home key, g minor(i))
m. 101 - the exposition comes to a close, cadencing in Bb Major in m. 124.
Development:
m.125 - Development begins developing the primary theme, then movies through 18 different keys and key regions before landing on tonic.
m.206 - Recapitulation begins, introducing the Primary theme, transition, and secondary theme in the home key, creating stability through the end of the piece.


Further research can be done here:
Boerner, Steve. "Biography." The Mozart Project. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. .
Boerner, Steve. "Symphonies, Symphony Movements." The Mozart Project. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. .
"A little history of the Sonata." Music history and timeline at Classical Works. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. .

Organ Recital

Tonight, I went to Erica Kerr's Organ Recital in Pease. As I flipped through the program about halfway through, I realized that all of these compositions were from before 1750.

She opened with Prelude and Fugue in B minor and three Bach Chorale Preludes:
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich
Lobt Gott, ihr Christen

The Fugue was very light and dance like. Throughought this whole concert, I noticed heavy amounts of imitation. I am not a critical enough listener to trace key changes throughout the concert, but sometimes the program notes will help. The prelude of the Fugue is in b-minor, as the title suggests, but the fugue concludes in a huge B-Major chord.
B-Major is strongly colored, announcing wild passions, composed from the most glaring colors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every burden of the heart lies in its sphere. Because there are no words to this composition, I cannot completely verify that this is true, but I hear (and even the program notes depict) a "moody" scalar subject.

(Unfortunately, the program does not give the key of each of the prelude pieces.)

Antonio de Cabezon (1510-1566)
El Cavallero
This was extremely beautiful and light. It was not nearly as much of a big sound as the other pieces. There is a bunch of sustained notes, and the entire piece is registered very much in the higher range. The accompaniment is absolutely secondary to the beautiful melody. It's hardly there at all. There (surprisingly) is a ton of suspension-resolution in this piece. The program notes suggest that Cabezon was "ahead of his time" because of this composition. I might suggest that the reason for the registry being so soft and high is that it is a woman's voice singing to a messenger:
"Tell the gentleman
Not to complain,
That I give him my faith
That I love him.

Tell the gentleman
Of graceful body,
Not to complain
Secretly."

I suppose it is highly characteristic of the text to match the tone of the piece because of all of the tone painting in the Renaissance. I don't recall listening to any other Spanish Renaissance composers, so I don't have that much in my mental bank to draw on.


Francisco Correa de Arauxo (1584 - 1654)
XXXVI - Eieneo de Medio Rezistro
This composer is also Spanish. This piece was contrasting in sound to the Cabezon piece. This was much louder and more moving. I believe I'm seeing a correlation between loudness and complexity with how late the composer is. I'm also afraid that all organ sounds are starting to sound the same, and It's much more difficult to be critical with listening. There isn't much dynamic contrast, which I believe to be true to the period organ, which until recently I didn't even know existed in the Baroque, much less Renaissance.


Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
Fantasia
Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr

I scrambled my notes, so I don't know which notes apply to which piece, but at times the piece was so exactly imitative, it was antiphonal. The only change was which stops were pulled, where the pitch, rhythm, and register were all the same. This was exciting to me. It was the first antiphonal piece I've heard on the organ. It makes sense because the piece is known as the "Echo Fantasia". He's dutch. Because of this program note, I learned that a "manual" is one of the layers of keys on the organ, usually consisting of 66 notes.

Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Danket dem Herrn

This is a theme and variations (very baroque).
Apparently J.S.Bach would travel behind Buxtehude around Arnstadt and Lubeck in 1705 just to hear Buxtehude play. He obviously was a big influence on Bach.


The next two pieces, Ten Pieces for an Organ Clock by C.P.E.Bach and Sonata in D Major by Felix Mendelssohn are from after 1750, but were very nice to listen to.

I can appreciate how she programmed her concert to move chronologically (with an exception of opening with Bach) by composer. It was nice to sit back and enjoy observing the development of organ music.





Holy cow my listening logs are getting too long...

From L'Orfeo Listening

This is one of the listenings that I wrote down instead of blogging because my computer was broken for quite some time.
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I see they have period instruments: Recorder, plucked instruments, perhaps a thorobough. I cannot tell if the violins and trumpets are from the period or modern. They have sackbuts for sure.

"Let us sing in sweet accounts so that our strains may be worthy of Orpheus" seems to be a refrain of that short scene in the beginning

There is a "charming nymphs" refrain between soliloques in the beginning.

Oh, Harpsichord!

I could be wrong, but when Sylvia comes in, she seems to be singing the same music with different words. This is right before she tells Orpheus that his love was bitten by a snake and is dead.

Baroque begins with Opera!!!
Le Nuove Musica!
... and lasts through Bach's death in 1750.






(Much like Elvis and King Arthur, I don't believe that Bach is actually dead, but is simply biding his time before he sees fit to reveal his majesty once again.)

b minor Mass - Take two.

Gloria - Cum Sancto Spiritu - D Major
This was very melismatic, fast, and light.
It sounded like it was starting like a concerto form, but then turned into a vocal fugue. "With the Holy Spirit"

Credo - Credo in unum Deum - A Major
The style is like Stile Antiquo (from Renaissance)
A little big of gregorian chant is infused.
I like how the instruments inmitate the vocal line. I think this is like what they do in Da Chiesa style.
(Dr. Pierce's "Add-in": Bach used contrapuctal and ostinato figures when text meant "keeping the faith." It was one of Bach's tools.

Credo - Et in unum Dominum - G Major
"And in One Lord (Jesus Christ)"
Da Capo Aria love text
Soprano and Alto Duet, first introduced by two oboes.
Neapolitan Opera (from Naples) - Oboe D'Amore
Bach never wrote an Opera, but his text and music are very dramatic at times, and this piece was an example of that

Credo - Crucifixus - e minor
"The Crucifix"
I hear the low pulsating basso ostinato. The heavy minor tone really reflects the suffering of Jesus. I hear soprano sustane on a high pitch, which I interpret as the wailing of Mary and Mary Magdaline.

---
"weeping wailing breathing"
There is a long desent of tone and pitch until it reaches its lowest point. Then, as in the angels in heaven, there is an explosion of sound from everybody: Brass, strings, woodwinds, chorus... at a happy fortissimo. Again, Bach is very dramatic with his tone painting. Great job, Bach.

Bach B minor Mass

A component of the baroque era that is new and exciting to me is the idea of different keys being chosen for their "affective characteristics" of their individual sound, and each key having an entirely different feel. Not only does the text match the music, as in tone painting, first taken to the extreme by some Ars Nova composers, but even the very key that it is placed in has a special meaning.
I researched "Affective Key Characteristics" and pulled up a chart from a music theory class website at Western Michigan University. http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/courses/keys.html


1 a) Kyrie Eleison is in b minor.
b minor is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting one's fate and of submission to divine dispensation.
This is obviously an appropriate key, as the soprano is pleading, "God have Mercy" on us, our souls.

b) Christe Eleison is in D Major.
D Major is "the key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key."
This is also an appropriate key. First, it's the relative Major of b minor, but also, "Chrise Eleison," Christ have mercy, is a happier thought, as he was sent to earth to sacrifice himself on our behalf, so he is the "good guy" in the equation, thus inviting a happier feeling, and thus a happier key.

c) Kyrie Eleison is in f# minor.
f# minor is "a gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language."
Bach doesn't seem to make this piece feel gloomy, but rather has a beautiful and different flow to it. It is different from the first Kyrie Eleison because it's in the style of Palestrina.

Gloria
a) Gloria In Excelsis is in D Major
Obviously, "Gloria in the highest" is going to be in a much happier key of victory rejoicing. The singers are singing along with the orchestra.

Ah. I see they are not using period instruments, (except for the vocalists) because i see a piccolo trumpet. This is an excellent performance by the brass section. I also like the cinematography. When the trumpets have a feature, they camera sometimes goes to them, and when the sopranos have a hit, they show them on camera. Sometimes I wish the choir were more in tune, especially during big choruses, but overall this is an pleasant performance to listen to.

c) Laudamus Te is in A Major.
It is with a soprano solo that is heavily melismatic. "And on Earth, peace." Bach probably used this texture because it's as if an an angel is singing to us from the heavens. A Major is b minor's Major Dominant relation.
A Major "includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God."

d) Gratias agimus tibi is in D Major
This is a highly fanfare-sounding piece, indicative of D Major. "We give thee thanks."

e) Domine Deus is in G Major
G Major is a related key to D Major, which is a related to b minor. So, G Major is the Major Subdominant of b minor. This part starts with a flute solo (how unfortunate) and features a tenor-soprano duet. This and the other soprano solo are Da Capo Arias. Cool. This is very Baroque.

f) Qui tollis peccata mundi is back to b minor.
"Who takes away the sins of the world," again "submission to divine dispensation"

g) Qui sedes ad dextram Patris - b minor.
"Who sits at the right hand of the father," with alto solo and oboe interlude. The outline says oboe, but the video seems to show an English Horn instead. Oh. Dr. Reed said that it's the Oboe d'Amore... Oboe of love? I would be curious to learn more about this. Ok. I did research. It is larger and more serene than the oboe. Great!

g) Quoniam tu solus sanctus in D Major.
HECK YES! BASS-HORN DUET! "For you alone are Holy." I see that Bach recognizes that the horn alone is worthy of holiness. Ah. This is excellent. It's very challenging to play horn that high so quietly and lightly, I can respect that.

Well, the Bach mass in b minor was wonderful to listen to. I approve. As have millions of others, I'm sure.