Saturday, August 8, 2009

Major Concepts of Music

If one is to be honest, this has been a class that has had quite a significant impact on me! My academic prowess during this course may not reflect appropriately truth be told I have had to take it twice. However, with this being the second to last course before graduating, It comes at a time, where appreciation of and for music has been heightened due to the fact that much goes into the process of making glorious sounds that can sooth the soul. It is given an opportunity to enjoy The Pacific Symphony. Also, we plan other events that would be nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of our regular lives, taking a moment to enjoy life! I never have played and instrument but I am learning slowly to play the guitar so that music can be played when we praise the Lord at the correctional facilities in Southern California once a month and also have joined the church choir, so with all these things revolving around music I would say it has made a significant impact on me!

Now let me tell you what I have learned. Music is meaningful, and the examples are endless touching the lives of so many at various periods of time. I have come to understand quite a bit about the history of music and a means to appreciate classical music. How you do this is read the history of the particular pieces that you are planning to hear and learn some of the key instruments that will bring the composition alive. Try to understand what the composer was trying to convey through his composition. The ideas played out in the melody came from much sweat and tears and that is something you learn to appreciate.

Let me add, that Pop music that is listen to on a daily basis on the radio is not truly art but just popular songs that last only two to five minutes normally they become popular because they are heard over again. Artistic music last for ours and after repeated listening you appreciates the nuisances of each piece. And the depth that has went into the compilation of the composers work. Thru the ages as pieces became more intense the pitch, duration, loudness and tone increased thus increasing the amount of pieces needed to produce the sounds increase thru the various orchestra periods such as the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic period orchestra each time incorporating more strings, wind, brass, harpsichord and eventually the piano that is used in our modern era and it is still evolving with the incorporations of Asian instruments, though it is not set in stone for the Western culture yet.

The instrumental forms such as dance that was music with no voice it was merely for merriment and has had a major effect on cultures from the period called Allemande to Siciliana which possess different meters to the style of dance. Large scale works called movements are that are twenty minutes in length and broken down into five minute increments set for dance but routinely this is when the audience gives applause to the particular movement. Baroque in my opinion is synonymous with a major part of European history but when you think of classical music the dances truly comes into play during this period and the harpsichord is an intricate part of the this dance period.

The voice is represented by Fugue which is the best way to describe polyphonic imitations of music through voice and the ranges that you here are the soprano, alto, tenor and bass and they replicate or mimic the music that is composed and when this is done correctly you have a beautiful piece of work that has come together. Now in order for this to be done you need a conductor or maestro to bring the instruments and vocals and style of music together to create what the composer wrote and this is not something that it taken lightly much skill is placed in this endeavor to bring harmony together, hence the name maestro!

I have taken this course twice, due to my schedule and lack of preparedness, but I will say that it has been well worth it, for you see it is not just about a grade, but it has profoundly taught me various themes, the concept of hard work and dedication along with inspiration to create something of worth if very important, it seems that my culture at time have forgotten this on certain matters and just taking the time to relax and enjoy something that someone took the time and effort to produce this lesson is a major take away. One that I never shall forget we must combine all aspects of these concepts into our lives so that we too can inspire others to do great things as well and there is no short cut to creating a masterpiece!

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