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Freeland – But Is It Art

With any subject or genre, I think people tend to look to certain “experts” to help them discern between what is good and what is bad. Film, music, literature are all areas where the opinion of a well thought of critic or organization can sway public opinion. The same is true in the art world, for both older and new works. (How many people discovered the works of da Vinci on their own, without any direction from outside forces?) While this is an effective time saving measure, that can help us focus our attention on the greatest works; relying solely on the opinions of critics can leave you with a warped view of what speaks most to you. As Freeland points out, “…the critics of modern art are nostalgic for beautiful and uplifting art like the Sistine Chapel,” and there’s a good chance that any prejudices they have are being projected into the critic’s words and therefore being absorbed by you. Therefore, we must have the courage to ignore what the public is saying and thinking about a work long enough to form our own opinion. Consider what about the piece pleases you and what doesn’t. Then take the next step to consider why you’re having these feelings.

Another important thought Freeland left me with was the importance of looking beyond the technique, especially the “I could do that mentality” to try and understand what the artist/piece is trying to express. A layman may look at a piece of art and only see technique, the wonderment of what humans were able to create hundreds of years ago under what was likely much harsher conditions than we experience today. There’s a romantic quality to the artwork of the great masters that can be harder to feel with modern art. Some artists have replaced oils and canvas with fluids and prints but it’s important to remember that the mastery of the materials does not make the art. The lasting value is what those materials come to represent through the mind and technique of the artist. Modern artists are still striving to represent ideas through visual space, they’ve just moved on to different mediums.

Along the same line, I think there are times when it’s appropriate to ignore the title of a work. The title is important and can help us understand what the artist is trying to express but it can also lead to an immediate rejection of something before we have the chance to try and understand it. Serrano’s Piss Christ is a perfect example of this. Hearing the title and then looking at the work caused me to immediately question even considering the piece as art. If instead, I had seen the work without the title and had a chance to consider its wonderful color, lighting, and beauty, I might have been able to approach the work with a more open mind. Again, the medium of the art is just the vehicle. We as the audience needs to see beyond that to what the artist wants to say.

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Thoughts on David Maslanka

I never had the opportunity to meet David Maslanka but I have been fortunate to be around several performances of his music; most recently the Frost Wind Ensemble performing Hosannas and my collaboration last year with Ellie Parker on the first movement of his saxophone concerto.

The only interaction I had with David was a short email exchange that I shared in an earlier post.

I came across this quote of David’s a few days ago and wanted to share it here.

“A fully developed human being cannot be thought of as an isolated creature. His or her potential attributes become fully realized only when he or she functions within a social matrix, on which he or she depends, against which he or she reacts, and to which he or she contributes. From microbe to human society, life is an expression of the mutual interdependence of parts.”

“It may well turn out that the creativeness of life depends in large part, or perhaps entirely, for individual organisms to form with others, intimate associations which generate new structures and properties…. This concept applies also to man, whose spiritual development is the outcome of highly integrated social relationships.”

Music performance is not possible without the cooperation of performers, and performers with audience. Performance taps into a deep spiritual creative power. It is conscious dream time and renewal shared by all.

Music performance is one of the antidotes to the evils rampant in today’s world. It is the antithesis of modern man’s dissociation and isolation. It is the antithesis of the human capacity for killing and environmental destruction. You can’t make good music without love, which means that you accept the people with whom you are making music. This knitting together of the human community at this local point is remembered, and spreads over and beyond a lifetime. Music making is one of the true models for world peace, and ought to be the basis for all education.”

-David Maslanka

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B.P. Herrington – Verses From The Thicket

Admittedly, I’ve been pretty spoiled with conducting opportunities at SHSU. Last month I led the SHSU Wind Ensemble in the premiere performance of B.P. Herrington’s new piece for wind ensemble, Verses from the Thicket.

Brian’s new piece is written for two antiphonal groups of winds, both including woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Group 1 also includes piano and celeste and Group 2 includes a harp.

This is how he describes the piece:

Verses from the Thicket is a fantasia on two Piney Woods folk songs that run through the piece, “Poor Widow Woman” and “Lovely William.” The presentation of these tunes ranges from relatively realist (using the ornamentation and heterophony of folk music) to post-tonal refractions of material. Throughout the piece, these materials come sharply into focus and then dissolve away. The texture alternates between lean chamber textures and large forces. The antiphonal orchestration was initially inspired by the “Fantasia for Double Orchestra” by my teacher Simon Bainbridge and also “Voci” for viola and two orchestras by Luciano Berio. The work is dedicated to Dr. Barry Johnson, who was director of bands for many years at Lamar University. I also wish to express my full gratitude to Dr. McInturf for allowing me to workshop this piece with his ensemble as I developed it.”

It was exciting (and a bit terrifying) rehearsing a piece that had never been performed before. (The piece had been workshopped the earlier in the school year but this was the first time any meaningful time had been devoted to its preparation.) We quickly learned the importance of emphasizing the various musical gestures that were in the score and the need to be very precise with the rhythms. Brian’s writing gives the music a free, improvisatorial feeling that must be communicated by multiple musicians at the same time, sometimes while being seated on opposite sides of the stage.

From a conducting standpoint, the various tempi (ranging from 54-144 and often switching every few bars) creates an extra challenge of focus and internalization of musical elements. Also difficult was managing eye contact with an ensemble that was split on different sides of the stage and with musicians sitting in chairs/rows that they don’t normally occupy.

The premiere took place on April 7, 2017 as part of the 2017 SHSU Contemporary Music Festival and then again on April 20, 2017.

I strongly believe this piece deserves consideration for programming by ensembles across the country and I hope this piece leads to additional interest in Brian’s music in the wind band field.

Below is the recording from our second performance of Verses that took place on April 20th.

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Arrival and Departure Moments in the Development Section of Beethoven’s Op. 14, No. 2: Making Sense of Modulation

Following an exposition that ends in the key of D Major, the development section begins in the parallel minor of the original key, g minor. The opening theme of the exposition, with its six-note motive is presented again, this time in a minor mode. Beethoven uses the same phrase structure in m. 64-67 as he did to start the piece but in m. 68 deviates from the original design. Instead of the continuation material from m. 5-8, Beethoven writes a brief sequence in the left hand that moves downward from G – F# – F. This first true development of the material also serves to foreshadow the overall design of the development section which moves down, stepwise, through salient and fleeting key centers. Adding to the ambiguity created in the left hand in m. 67-69, Beethoven uses a canonic texture in m. 69-72 which serves to further disorient the listener and, with a harmonic language centered around A, helps take the music towards the first arrival and departure point in m. 74. 

This next section of the development section begins in m. 74 and continues through m. 85. Centered in the key of Bb Major, Beethoven reuses material found in the 2nd Thematic Area of the exposition. It’s worth noting that while the first section of the development was based on material that was in a major key during the exposition and then moved to a minor mode in the development, the music of this second section retains it’s original major key quality from the exposition. In addition to increasing the harmonic variance of the development, this sudden shock of a major key helps to reestablish order and helps the listener reorient themselves with familiar material. Once again, Beethoven uses the same phrase structure of the exposition (m. 26-29) for the first few measures of this section; beginning in m. 74 and ending with a half cadence in m. 77. Beethoven then starts to restate the second phrase in m. 78 but rather than moving to the authentic cadence as in the exposition (m. 30-33) the music in the right hand repeats the dotted-eighth sixteenth figure while the left hand reuses the G – F# – F motion from earlier, this time in reverse. This section (m. 78-80) continues to soften until a subito forte ushers in the next arrival and departure point in m. 81. It is only then that the right hand material in m. 78-80 was actually presenting the new key center of Ab Major with the repetitions of the dotted-eight C/Eb; a function not used in the exposition (m. 30-31). 

Once again, Beethoven uses a new key and a sudden shift in dynamics to reorient the listener. The arrival and departure point in m. 81 (and it’s subsequent section from m. 81-97) is in Ab Major and is again based on the material from the opening theme. This time, however, Beethoven moves the melody to the left hand and introduces arpeggiated chords in the right hand. Rather than working to establish single key center in this section, Beethoven uses a series of sequences and fleeting key centers to slowly move the harmonic center downward by step. Beginning in Ab Major and then moving through g minor and f minor before arriving on a dominant-seven chord in Eb Major. By examining a larger section of the material it’s noticeable that Beethoven has been continuing to use the idea of downward, stepwise motion in the soprano voice as well. Beginning in m. 74 and continuing through m. 94 the top voice of the right hand has slowly been working its way downward. 

This is the moment that Beethoven plays on the expectations of the listener. He has, up to this point, always introduced new sections with a change in key and dynamic. Beethoven also knows that listeners expect the end of the development to coincide with a dominant chord which helps set up the recapitulation and the return of the opening key. Using these expectations, Beethoven creates a false recapitulation in m. 99. Instead of a return to G Major, this section from m. 99-106 is in Eb Major. Since Beethoven uses the same phrase structure found at the beginning of the piece it’s possible the listener isn’t even aware of the trick until the sentential structure fails to reach a cadence and instead arrives at the dominant harmony of D Major in m. 107. By examining closely the right hand in m. 103-106, a brilliant piece of Beethoven’s composition can be discovered. Beethoven essentially moves the music band in time through the key centers of the development. The first note of each measure moves F – G – A(flat) – Bb and then finally D Major where the exposition ended. An extensive dominant prolongation (m. 107-124) uses a three-note motive based on the original six-note motive of the exposition and builds towards a fermata in m. 124 that finally brings the music back to G Major and the recapitulation. 

As a conductor or performer it is important to study music not only for notes and rhythms but for the musical structure inherent in the work. Especially in music of the Classical Era which is so strongly built on phrases and overarching harmonic goals, it is the role of the musician to articulate the musical design to the audience. Thinking specifically about development sections: knowing where arrival and departure points take place, how material is related and developed from the exposition, and what (if any) deviations the composer takes from the traditional form and expectations are all important things to consider. Knowing the composers intent and technique is the only way to effectively share music with an audience. 

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Structural Design of Beethoven’s Bagatelle, op. 119, no. 1

Beethoven’s op. 113, no. 1 begins in the key of g minor. Examining first the periodic design, the first six bars work to establish the key with a series of prolongations of both the tonic and the dominant. Measure 7 moves us harmonically to the ending of the first phrase, which ends with a half cadence. The second phrase works very much the same way as the first. Measures 9-13 have the same melody and harmonic prolongations followed by a brief harmonic motion to a cadence in measure 16. Unlike the first phrase, the music returns to the tonic with a perfect authentic cadence. The similarities of these two phrases, both melodically and harmonically, give the music a parallel interrupted period (Example 1.) Parallel because of the repetition of the material in the right hand and interrupted because of the half cadence in measure 8 followed by the stronger perfect authentic cadence in measure 16.

Looking now at the sentential design of the first phrase, Beethoven presents the basic idea in the first two measures. Following an anacrusis the melody has a simple, downward stepwise motion. The bass line also moves in this manner, made possible by the prolongation of the tonic chord discussed above. The next two measures (mm. 3-4) is the re-statement of this basic idea. Beethoven slightly alters the restatement by lowering the material and by adding a moving alto line, which provides a stronger harmonic motion with the use of the It+6 chord. Together, the first four measures make up the presentation material. Beginning in measure 5, Beethoven begins the continuation section of the sentential structure. Measures 5-6 is a brief developmental section with increased motion in the right hand, contrary motion in the bass, and a crescendo that give shape to the phrase. The first two beats of each of these measures are dominant chords which move to tonic on beat three. While not cadiental, these dominant to tonic relationships help increase the musical drama. The music comes to a close in measures 7-8 with the move to the cadence. The left hand expands with large leaps to help achieve a strong sense of harmonic motion and eventually the resolution to tonic in measure 8. The sentential structure of 2-bar basic idea, 2-bar restatement (together making the presentation) combined with a 4-bar development/cadence gives the music a simple sentence structure.

Moving ahead to measures 37-52, Beethoven reuses much of the material. Both the periodic design (Example 2) and the sentential design are the same. The new music that is present is made using variation technique.

In measure 45, the start of the second phrase, Beethoven has taken the simple stepwise melody and introduces an appoggiatura on every beat that originally had a quarter note. Also, he takes the left hand quarter-note block chords from earlier and separates them into and 8th-note motive that is similar to an Alberti bass.

Writing this analysis has allowed me to apply the topics we’ve discussed in class on a real piece of music. Moving ahead, being able to write (and therefore discuss) phrases, periods, variation technique, etc. will allow be to better understand how the composer is constructing their music and will help me make more informed decisions of phrase shape and direction which will lead to move informed performances with the ensembles I conduct. Also, the process of writing a paper on an academic level with constrictions on the length of the paper will continue to push me to make my arguments clearer and more precise.