For this assignment, you will be attending the Stony Brook Symphony concert on November 4th and will write a short paper examining what you hear. At this concert, the orchestra will   perform the following three pieces:

- Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Ballade in A minor

- Louis Spohr, Concerto No. 1for Clarinet and Orchestra with Chao-Chih

- Dimitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 9

To help familiarize yourselves with the repertoire you’ll be hearing, please listen to the following recordings of these works. Since some of the questions you’ll be answering refer to time points    in these recordings, it will be most productive for you to listen to these specific recordings.  The   more familiar you are with the music before you attend the concert, the more you will enjoy it, as you’ll hear and appreciate a great deal that you might not on a first listen.

Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Ballade in A minor

Minnesota Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIJ2HYoM9-Q

Louis Spohr, Concerto No. 1for Violin and Orchestra

Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdLCL57pt6M

Dimitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 9

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfZ3PGLD2YA

This will be covered in class, but in order to write knowledgeably about the orchestra we need to know that it is composed of four main sections:

●    Strings  (violin,viola, cello, bass and harp)

●    Woodwinds (flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon)

●    Brass (trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba)

●    Percussion (timpani,bass drum, triangle, other assorted percussion; anything that is struck is a percussion instrument)

The Paper

You will write a 3-4 page paper (double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 font, acceptable

margins, etc.) reporting on what you heard in the concert. Please include concrete information

about the performance,such as instrumentations, lengths, etc., as well as a description of each of the pieces in the concert using musical terminology from the Elements of Music handout. You     are welcome and encouraged to report your opinions on the music, but please make sure

description is primary. This paper should be in grammatically correct English, written to a

collegiate standard. It should also be free of information drawn from elsewhere, unless you are    citing an outside academic or musical source to make a point. (If so, please use quotation marks  and identify the source to avoid plagiarism.) If you need assistance with the writing, please go to the Writing Center.

As suggested above,please do the bulk ofyour work before you go to the concert.  At the

concert, it will be helpful to take a few notes while attending. However, the audience is also

expected to be silent during the performance, so you’ll need to take notes extremely quietly or     time your writing during pauses between pieces and movements. (Note that the audience is also  expected to clap only after a piece is completed, not between movements. A good way to not get caught out if you’re unsure is to wait and follow the rest of the audience’s lead.)

When you submit your paper, you must include proof of attendance, which you can do by attaching your ticket stub.

There are three pieces on the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra concert for which you will be writing a report.  They are Ballade in A Minor by British-Sierra Leonean composer Samuel     Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912); Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra by German composer Louis Spohr (1784-1859); and Symphony No. 9 by Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich    (1906-1975).

The main focus ofyour paper will be Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade. The “roadmap” below will direct you to particular places in the movement on which to comment.  Answer in full

sentences (not with one-word answers).  In some cases (for example, whether the music is in a  major or minor key), you may not be sure of the answer.  Hazard an educated guess even if you are not sure.  It will take multiple listenings and toggling back and forth between different

sections of the piece to adequately address the questions.  The time markings are for minutes and seconds; for example 4’12” indicates the four minute and twelve second mark in the YouTube recording.

When you are finished discussing the Ballade, write more generally about the other two pieces. What are their characteristics?  You may cover anything you like.  For example, in the Spohr

Concerto, what is the relationship between the clarinet soloist and the orchestra?  Do the

movements have the same character, defined by tempo and other considerations?  Is there variety in the piece?  How is that variety achieved?  You may answer the same general questions about    Shokstakovich’s Symphony No. 9.  For example, how would you describe the character of the first movement?  Is it like the second movement in character?  How about the other movements?

What gives each movement its particular character?  Back up your impressions with some

description of what produces the effect on you that it does.  You should devote one paragraph to the Clarinet Concerto and one to Symphony No. 9, but you are going to go into the most depth   about the Ballade.  Your subjective response is welcome, for example, whether you enjoyed the pieces.  But your primary focus will be on musical aspects of the music that you can describe,    using concepts and terms you’ve learned in class this semester.

When you have finished your discussion of the three pieces, discuss whether you think these pieces went together well on this program and why.  If not, why not?  Conclude with any

additional comments you care to make about your experience of this concert.  Are you likely to go hear a symphony orchestra again?

Here is a suggested format for the paper.

. Introduction: details about the event you saw (day, time, place, name of conductor and orchestra, general comments).

. Your comments about Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade. Answer many of the questions below (in     prose form—no one word answers or bullet points) and make sure that much of what you write centers on verifiable aspects like mode (major/minor), meter, tempo, dynamics, texture,

orchestration, use of motives and themes, musical character, etc.  You should also comment on your own reaction to the music.

. Discuss briefly the two other pieces on the program and make comparisons between the pieces. Did the pieces go together well?  If so, why?  If not, why not?

. Conclude your paper with further general observations. You may wish to consider the concert as an event (Why do orchestra members wear dress clothes and what is the effect?  What about the  custom of quiet in the audience?), the level of performance, the difference between the live and    recorded experience, and/or your own experience of and reaction to the concert.  Do you see

yourself returning to another orchestral concert?  Why or why not?

“Roadmap Questions” for Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A minor

Questions:

1.   After trills (fast alternation of notes) in the winds to begin the Ballade, we hear a little motive—three notes up and down—presented two times.  What group in the orchestra (strings, winds, brass, or percussion) plays this opening motive?  What is the dynamic level?  Does it sound conjunct (notes close together) or disjunct (notes leaping)?

2.   At the 8 second mark (8”), the motive is played again.  What happens to it?  How many  times is the same music presented?  Why do you think the composer presents the motive so many times?

3.   The chords that accompany the opening section are C major and A minor.  Why do you think the composer chooses those two chords?  What is the relationship between those   two chords (or keys)?

4.   The opening is ambiguous with regard to key, but at 15”, we hear a cadence (the end of a   phrase with a concluding harmony) that tells us what the key is.  Does the music cadence   in a major key (C major) or a minor key (A minor)?  For confirmation, listen to the key of the melody beginning at 18”.

5.   At the 18”, we hear a theme.  Is it in a major or minor key?  What is the meter (duple or triple)?  How would you describe the melody, and what family of instruments (strings,   winds, brass, or percussion) plays it?  What is the dynamic level at which it is played?

6.   Describe what you hear at 32”, Have you heard this music before? If so, where?

Compare the melody at 47” with the melody at 18”.  Are they the same?  Are they played by the same instrument both times?  How does the orchestration affect the character of     the music?

7.   There is a cadence at 1’09”. Does it sound major or minor to you?  At the 1’11” mark, what instrument takes the lead?  Does it sound major or minor to you?

8.   Compare what you hear at the 8” mark to what you hear at 1’21 mark. It is similar, but     not exactly the same.  Is it played by the strings at a higher octave than the strings played it earlier in the work?  Has the character changed at all?  Is it much changed as you

continue to listen?  Is it played more than once?  When it is re-played, does it start at a different pitch level?

9.   Listen to the music at 1’11”.  It is similar to the music played at 1’44”.  The camera

doesn’t show the instrument, but what do you think it is?  Is the character different than at 1’11”?

10. At the 1’56” mark, the tempo starts to change.  Is itslower or faster?  Use the term you know to indicate this change oftempo.

11. At 2’11”, the character of the music changes.  Is the music in a major or minor key?  Is it  in duple or triple meter? How would you describe the character and mood of the music in comparison to what happened before?  Who is playing the melody?  Does this sound like a new melody to you?  Is this theme heard more than once between the 2”11 and 4’31”.    (You don’t have to count the times.)

12. Throughout the section beginning at 2’11 and continuing until 4’25”, look at the

conductor’s gestures when he is onscreen.  Are his gestures different than in the first two minutes of the piece?  Compare them.

13. There is another cadence at the 4’25” mark.  Does this sound like it is in a major key or a minor key?  Is it serene or agitated?