Knowing Music
Oh geez, if you could see what I see right now, Dan is playing Rayman on the Wii, and dancing to "Girls just want to have fun" sung in chipmunk voices. It is absolutely hilarious.
Well, today was interesting. Lots of lesson time today, talking about Ravel's left hand concerto and Schoenberg five pieces for orchestra. Talked about living American women composers, briefly went over Stravinsky's three periods, and cadences and post-tonal music. After lunch, went back for more, and we looked at Britten's War Requiem.
I thought I knew that piece relatively well. ok. Better than most things. At least I've listened to it more than once. My fuzziness on the piece got me thinking: what does it mean to really know a piece of music? What does that entail? How do I go about it? I know I don't study enough scores. I thought I had the War Requiem in my ears, but it's been a while since I listened to it. I think I've got the Tallis Fantasia and some other pieces in my ears, I'm rather convinced I can sing through the whole thing in my head, but I couldn't tell you exactly what's going on, important motivic devices and such. I mean, I could I suppose in a surface, superficial way. But not really get into the music. I don't know why I won't just sit down and study a score. Maybe I haven't found something yet that really really intrigues me? although a lot of the stuff hdez shows me is pretty damn cool. I dunno. Maybe this is just a case of sitting down and doing it.
In the past, I've had some composer that I latch onto and become obsessed with. For a while, it was Philip Glass, and then I got pissed off that his stuff never changed, and then I discovered Vaughan Williams, and again with the obsession thing, and while I still like Vaughan Williams, I've realized that I can't try to be another VW, because that would just be stupid. And now? I don't know. I guess I've developed more of an interest in Ravel (certainly in orchestration), but it's not of that same obsessive nature.
Totally freaked out about teaching class on Monday, which is just stupid because I know I can do it. The topic is still a little fuzzy in terms of me remembering it, but that should get better as I go over it during the weekend. Also not sure how I can do this over an hour and a half, the concept doesn't seem that difficult to me.
And I got another rejection, this time from Rice. That makes the score 3 no's, 1 maybe, and 1 unknown. Discouraging, went to eat ice cream to make myself feel better, and now I have a tummy ache. boo.
Maybe I'll start digging into the War Requiem. Because I like requiems. And tritones. And irony.
Well, today was interesting. Lots of lesson time today, talking about Ravel's left hand concerto and Schoenberg five pieces for orchestra. Talked about living American women composers, briefly went over Stravinsky's three periods, and cadences and post-tonal music. After lunch, went back for more, and we looked at Britten's War Requiem.
I thought I knew that piece relatively well. ok. Better than most things. At least I've listened to it more than once. My fuzziness on the piece got me thinking: what does it mean to really know a piece of music? What does that entail? How do I go about it? I know I don't study enough scores. I thought I had the War Requiem in my ears, but it's been a while since I listened to it. I think I've got the Tallis Fantasia and some other pieces in my ears, I'm rather convinced I can sing through the whole thing in my head, but I couldn't tell you exactly what's going on, important motivic devices and such. I mean, I could I suppose in a surface, superficial way. But not really get into the music. I don't know why I won't just sit down and study a score. Maybe I haven't found something yet that really really intrigues me? although a lot of the stuff hdez shows me is pretty damn cool. I dunno. Maybe this is just a case of sitting down and doing it.
In the past, I've had some composer that I latch onto and become obsessed with. For a while, it was Philip Glass, and then I got pissed off that his stuff never changed, and then I discovered Vaughan Williams, and again with the obsession thing, and while I still like Vaughan Williams, I've realized that I can't try to be another VW, because that would just be stupid. And now? I don't know. I guess I've developed more of an interest in Ravel (certainly in orchestration), but it's not of that same obsessive nature.
Totally freaked out about teaching class on Monday, which is just stupid because I know I can do it. The topic is still a little fuzzy in terms of me remembering it, but that should get better as I go over it during the weekend. Also not sure how I can do this over an hour and a half, the concept doesn't seem that difficult to me.
And I got another rejection, this time from Rice. That makes the score 3 no's, 1 maybe, and 1 unknown. Discouraging, went to eat ice cream to make myself feel better, and now I have a tummy ache. boo.
Maybe I'll start digging into the War Requiem. Because I like requiems. And tritones. And irony.
posted by Jessica at
11:49 PM
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