The first concert that I experienced this quarter had the largest impact on me. I experienced two performances at Benaroya hall witnessing the magic that the Seattle Symphony can produce. However, the first concert was all instrumentals. Don't get me wrong, listening to Rodgers and Hammerstein's collaborations was great, but to me the singing detracted from what I thought was so great about the symphony. The music loses its boldness when it has to take a backseat to a singer. I was in absolute awe while listening to Mozart's piano concerto No. 22 during that first concert. All the moving pieces working together in unison. It was a true sight to behold and to my surprise rather exciting. Who would have thought that a classical performance could put you on the edge of your seat. I experienced a very surreal moment during this performance. It was as if I entered a trance like state. At these performances, you cannot occupy yourself with anything but the music and your own thoughts. I felt that the music spurred the most creative thoughts. It was almost like a form of meditation. I became very relaxed, as sitting for such an amount of time can have that effect, but I was constantly coming up with interesting solutions to problems I had been tackling that week at work. I don't know if it is just some wives tail that listening to classical music can make you more intelligent, but I feel like it can benefit anyone just as a stress reliever and maybe acting as a bit of a muse while providing an opportunity for your brain to concentrate on particular problems. I feel like there are a lot of other outlets that can provide such a stimuli to invoke such a reaction, but I would argue that there isn't one that comes close to providing such an amazing auditory experience.

When you sit and watch a symphony or similar musical group it is not like a rock concert. You are quite, content, and focused on the music and the musicians. While in this state it is a good opportunity to find an appreciation for artists and music in general. You notice the little things and begin to understand the level of depth that goes into creating and performing a piece of music. I have definitely found an appreciation for classical music because of this class. I am looking forward to the next time I find myself in Seattle's Benaroya hall watching the symphony perform the great works of great composers. I was surprised to find myself slightly moving to the music. You really lose yourself in the music and it is interesting to see where your mind goes during this time. I have begun to really focus on how people play their instruments. I've never really played an instrument before, but I have begun to long for such an opportunity. Right now I'm in the process of hunting down a drum set. But I digress. The beginning of this class focused on a lot of different vocabulary associated with music. During musical performances I'm always thinking of how to explain things based off of such vocabulary. It makes me want to know more about the different pieces I'm listening to and further breakdown what each section is doing that allows for the overall performance to come to life. 

The final concert I attended was on March 15th and it was located at Pierce College Puyallup. It was different than what I had been getting used to with the symphonic bands because it was a choir concert.

The auditorium at Pierce College Puyallup was actually amazing. The lighting created a great ambiance and you could tell a lot of work went into creating that space. The School campus itself was very aesthetic and provided a great atmosphere while I waited for the concert to begin.

This performance was similar to the last because there were so many different pieces from many different composers. There was Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and several others. I don't have the space to cover them all so I'm going to concentrate on Mendelssohn since I have not covered him before and he actually had the most pieces performed during the concert, so I feel he deserves the extra attention. Felix Mendelssohn, born 1809, was a German composer of the Romantic period. Having the ability to play the piano and the organ was a skilled musician. During the first portion of his career Mendelssohn was well received in Germany. It was also during this period that Mendelssohn helped revive interest in Johann Sebastian Bach. Mendelssohn was certainly a multifaceted individual having composed chamber music, piano music, oratorios, concerti, and symphonies. It is no wonder that Felix Mendelssohn is one of the most renown composers of the Romantic era.

 

The audience was better than the TCC performance, but the number of people taking video and pictures was astounding. There were signs posted everywhere asking the audience not to do so. They were completely ignored. One audience member set up his tripod right in front of one of those signs. It really isn't a big deal. A free concert where most of the people there are parents watching their son or daughter perform in a college choir. I'm just glad there is respite in Benaroya hall. Meaning if I had to deal with this kind of thing at a large professional venue, I would probably cast off classical music altogether. I've tried listening to classical music in my free time, but speakers really do not do it justice. At least not my cheap speakers and headphones.

One aspect that I have begun to notice is that these type of concerts love the idea of soloists. Three of the four concerts I have attended for this class have had at least one soloist. It's a really interesting aspect that throws a curveball into the mix and keeps the performances fresh. Almost giving a performance an extra little treat. The soloist creates an opportunity for everyone to help accentuate one individual. This can heighten an already great ability of a soloist and make the experience even more.

As to the music itself, experiencing a choir was an excellent opportunity. I'm glad I was able to catch this performance. I was constantly surprised at the abilities of the human voice. I've never really gotten to hear that style of singing. To be honest a lot of the music I listen to has a lot of growling in it. So you can imagine the contrast from a grungy growl to the pitch perfect harmonies created by all the pieces of a choir.

I have a feeling that Pierce College is a religious school. The conductor had no qualms with talking about god between each piece. Although a lot of the pieces were directly related to religion, however he was always ready to share his opinion about the "right god". It was a little odd to me as I have not heard anyone talk like that in a long time, but to each his own I suppose.

On March 13th, it was my privilege to attend a symphonic concert at Tacoma Community College(TCC). TCC's symphonic band played their concert, titled: Joys and Sorrows, at 7:30 in the evening. This took place in the building 2 auditorium on the TCC campus.

The venue was pretty small, especially compared to Benaroya hall, but it accommodated everyone that wished to attend. It was a free concert so you really can't worry about it too much.

There were a wide variety of pieces played. There was just about everything that you could think of. There was classical piece from Bach's works, a current piece from a Japanese composer made it into the nights festivities. The very first thing that the symphony played was an interesting piece that had the whole symphony clapping at different time. The title to the concert, Joys and Sorrows, really came into play from the range of different pieces. Some were upbeat and others much more somber. It's hard to talk about the history of every piece since there were so many from many different composers. The first piece titled Fa Una Canzona by Orazio Vecchi who was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance; second was My Jesus, Oh What Anguish by J.S. Bach who was a German composer and musician in the Baroque period; the third piece, Eine Kleine Waltzermusik, was by a composer that is still among us, Adam Gorb born 1958; The piece that the soloist played was composed by Claude T. Smith in 1984 and the name of the piece is Fantasia for Alto Saxophone; next was Lament for Wind Orchestra by Change Su Koh, who happens to be the youngest composer among the pieces by being born in 1970; the final piece, Suite Francaise, had five movements to the piece and was composed by Darius Milhaud a French composer of the early 20th century.

This performance was such a contrast to what I was initially introduced to in Seattle at Benaroya hall. I would say that the biggest difference is the audience. At Benaroya hall they won't let attends into the venue while the symphony is playing. On top of that, people are generally more consciences of those around them. Waiting to cough in between movements and pieces, among other things. The audience at TCC was quite the opposite. Little kids moving around during the performance, people getting up and leaving and entering again during the same piece, noisy babies, and people taking photographs. There was barely a time where something in the audience was not distracting me from the performance.  If I were to try and experience something like this again at a college level, I would try to sit as close to the front as possible. Which solves most of the distractions, but prevents an advantaged view at trying to view all pieces of the symphony.

There was an excellent piece that featured a soloist, Erik Steighner. Erik played, what I felt, was the complete range of the saxophone. Each section of the piece sounded a little different, from the high pitch wails to the sad heartfelt tones. It was really quite excellent and looked rather difficult due to the complexity of his finger movements on stage. It was a pretty long piece where the symphony helped back up Erik as he played the heck out of his saxophone. There were times when just the symphony took the forefront as well as time where just Erik was playing.

One thing that I was not used to was that the conductor would take a very long time to talk about an upcoming piece. The Seattle Symphony never did this. It made sense that he did this. Just because it was more of an academic setting.

Rodgers and Hammerstein Celebration

The second concert I attended was again at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The Seattle Symphony was performing collaborations from Rodgers and Hammerstein. The concert took place on March 7th.

This time I was seated on the third tier and as close to the stage as possible. During the first performance I attended in Seattle the angle provided from certain seats in the second tier allowed for other attendees' heads to be in the way and blocking as much as a quarter of the symphony. So, that being said, the angle provided on the top tier prevented such an occurrence. The show offered that night was a bit of a treat. The University of Washington's choir was on stage performing along with three Broadway soloists to sing portions of the musical pieces.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein worked together to create Broadway musicals. Some of these works included: The Sound of Music, The King and I, and Oklahoma. Rodgers and Hammerstein first began working with one another in the 1940s. Rodgers composed the music while Hammerstein wrote the lyrics. This time in history was known as the golden age of musical theater. I would give credit to both Rodgers and Hammerstein for providing such excellent works that their contributions helped this time in history to be given such a title.

It seemed to me that musicals tend to be more centered around singing. Most of the pieces included some singing, although there were a couple that were instrumental only. It is surprising how much the instruments took a background role for this performance. Comparing it to the concert I had seen the weekend prior, where I watched the Seattle Symphony perform Mozart's piano concerto No. 22, it was a complete contrast. Most often the instruments were working to accentuate the singer's performance.

A lot of the musical numbers usually had a fairly good introduction. The singers would not make their way past the conductor to the front of the stage until it was nearly time for them to sing. So they were often sitting for the first portion of the piece. This gave the instruments an opportunity to shine and set the mood for the number. The music tended to end in a big fashion. What I mean by this is, the singer would be holding some big note really bringing up the energy of the performance and the instruments would mirror that and all the while the conductor is staring directly at the singer so he can time the end of the music perfectly. You can imagine the singer getting red in the face using up every ounce of air in their lungs while the conductor's head is no more than a foot away from their own and as soon as the singer nods during his final attempts of holding out the conductor signals to end the music and they both stop simultaneously.

It was great to experience the choir as well. The range of voices and the harmonies produced by the University's choir was outstanding. There was a piece that was featured that allowed the choir to take center stage and really show what they've got. They were passing around a microphone under their booklets containing their sheet music. This was done so that certain individuals in the choir could perform solos throughout the piece. So they were having to concentrate on passing this baton like object while still maintaining harmony with one another.

All in all it was a great opportunity to experience some newer compositions while getting a feel for the origins of the film adaptations of the Broadway musicals that Rodgers and Hammerstein helped make a success.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22

On the 28th of February, I attended the Seattle Symphony's performance of Mozart's piano concerto No. 22. The performance was at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle.

I was up on the second tier and being up so high gave me a good vantage point of the orchestra. I also had a very good vantage point to look down on the people on the main floor. It's surprising to me that people can fall asleep during such a wonderful performance.

 Providing some historical context, I will talk about Mozart. Mozart is considered one of the greatest composers. I'm sure that some would try to argue that he is the best. He produced over 600 works. This is an astonishing feat as he only lived to be thirty-five. Mozart is known to have composed many different types of music. Some of these included operas, choirs, and symphonies. Being a child prodigy Mozart was composing music when he was five years old. Mozart learned from his father, Leopold, and later toured with him where Mozart and his sister performed as child prodigies together. As someone that showed such great promise he did not disappoint. Even up until his untimely death at thirty-five he was still creating  great  works of art. One of his more famous works, The Magic Flute, was composed during his last year alive. We can only guess at what may have been yet to come if his life was not stolen from him at such an early age.

Benaroya Hall

 I really enjoyed the performance. It was amazing. Benaroya Hall is a great venue. When you initially enter the building you are confronted with a long corridor and at either end of the corridor are two wonderful Chihuly chandeliers all in white, one at each end. Being on the second tier there was a bit of a climb to get where we needed to be, but it was well worth the travel.

  

Chihuly Chandelier

It was really interesting watching some of the little things that you can hardly hear, but still make up a piece. During the performance I was fixated on this cellist at one point. He was the only cellist playing at the time and at first I thought he might be tuning his instrument or something of the like. But upon closer inspection he was lightly strumming his cello to the beat of the current movement. It seems really interesting that certain players will end up playing different roles. You would think that when they need a cello's sound all of the cellists would play, but it appears to have more depth than that. I'm unaware if this instance was a choice of Mozart's or an interpretation of the Seattle Symphony's.

While watching the performance I noticed another interesting thing about the orchestra. All the men were in matching clothes while the women players all varied in slight ways. It seemed to me that the dress code for the men might be a little more strict compared to the women. The common factor for the women was that they all were wearing black. I can only speculate to reasons why there is additional leniency in dress code for the female players. For the men it was fairly evident there was a strict dress code, since they were matching all the way down to the bow tie and shoes.

As to the music itself, I have never consciously gone out of my way to experience classical music, but as I was sitting there I would constantly recognize pieces of the music. It really goes to show how celebrated some of these composers are. Over two-hundred years after Mozart was alive and initially wrote this piece and people are still listening to it and recognizing him for his achievements in the musical arts.