Monday, March 29, 2010
Opera
Madama Butterfly (1904) is created by Giacomo Puccini about a Japanese woman and her American lover. Opera showcases performers interacting with orchestral music. The relationship of the two creates of almost being able to understand music visually. In this particular performance both performers are female with the portrayal of the American lover taking precedence the entire YouTube clip.
Performer
The lead performer showcases interaction with her onstage companion, who demonstrates almost little movement while sitting on her legs, and also demonstrates gestures towards the audience. The gesture, while it points at the audience, the performers are looking into empty space.
Music
The music coincides with the singing, as the singer raises her pitch so does the orchestra. The embellishment appears in the music and the singing in some parts. The texture of the music is polyphony with the instruments featuring a standard orchestra. The tempo of the music will speed up or slow down according to the singer though it is probably rehearsed in a way that both of them are done at the same time. The cadence is found near the end where the singer raises her pitch and slowly the music goes on as the performers leave the stage.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thoughts on Avatar
Avatar's music features a blend from the world, quite literally. While the article that interviews Wanda Bryant states the method of music selection, they weren't exaggerating on how the otherworldly sounds came to be. The music culture for the Na'vi was convincing with the help of a ethnomusicologist, and was really different to listen to. The film score and the Na'vi music is new and original, I find it hard to separate their differences but I only got to watch the film twice. First time for entertainment, and second time to listen to complete my objectives.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Orchestral Jazz and here I thought it was DSO
Introduction
My music ethnography will be based around the Lincoln Center Orchestra, but however I will not be focusing just on the orchestra alone as Wynton Marsalis was present during the performance. This includes jazz music which will complicate my analysis though it shouldn’t be too big of an issue since all my research is done, hopefully. What I hope to cover in this music ethnography is how jazz backed by an orchestra creates an interesting research topic.
Methodology
My method of research at first was vague as I expected to deal only with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra alone. In my ignorance, I ignored concert dates and what went on in those concerts until the week before the music ethnography report was due. Thinking quickly and getting back up to speed I purchased a ticket for a Friday show and conducted my field work at the Grand Tier seat which is possibly the farthest seat away from the stage, on the third floor, which made the performers look like ants. So this brings the conflict of my original research, since I did not expect to include the presence of jazz music combined with the Lincoln Center Orchestra. This seems dire but I can work with it because now it is not just about an orchestra, this is an orchestra with jazz. After the concert I had to take a look and see who Wynton Marsalis was, and what he did besides play a trumpet on stage. Overall he is pretty much what I witnessed him on stage; he plays a trumpet and deals with jazz. Though that does not give him justice since according to his official website he also composes music, is an educator, and finally a music director. The biography on his website goes in depth with his personal life and tracks down all his major accomplishments. While this covers only Wynton Marsalis I have yet to cover the Lincoln Center Orchestra since this is after all two music categories smashed into one ethnography report. The Lincoln Center Orchestra also has their own website with a history and numerous biographies. The Lincoln Center Orchestra does not specifically deal with classical music, as their orchestra is comprised of trombones, saxophones, trumpet, bass, drums, clarinet, and piano. This group of instruments can be categorized into membranophones, aerophones, and a chordophone. My understanding of an orchestra was woodwinds, brass, percussions, maybe a keyboard, and string instruments. These categories list too many instruments and are not relevant.
Aspects of this Music-Culture
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is mainly a culture of music catered towards jazz. While the group also performs some classical pieces, their main focus is dedicated to jazz using their soloists and ensemble players (JALC Biography). The orchestra is versatile in their performances, as they are focused on jazz appreciation to the point that the orchestra will perform arrangements from other orchestral jazz composers such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and several others. The orchestra music playing style is standard. They have not done anything that appears to be special and research seems to indicate this. Although the orchestra has their very own composer, Wynton Marsalis, he has released several albums as he seeks to draw his audience in with his jazz composition. The orchestra spends a third of the year on tour, and I have been a witness to their concert in the Meyerson Symphony Center, which houses the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performances.
Orchestral Jazz was developed in the 1920s and will mainly be played by an orchestra specifically designed for it. What this means is the selection of instruments is vastly different from a classical music orchestra. These performers are professionals and to find the origins of Orchestral Jazz is to look at the jazz genre itself. The origin of jazz is subject to most controversy though through research the birthplace of jazz was agreed upon to be in New Orleans. The controversy is the culture of people that specifically created this but jazz is a genre that has many elements from blues music. However this doesn’t create a barrier from anyone playing it specifically. As long as the performer themselves loves jazz music they’re more than encouraged to try.
Orchestral Jazz fits into a general category of jazz but specifically the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is specifically orchestral jazz. Orchestral jazz features some lyrics although there wasn’t any during the performance last weekend. Orchestral jazz is composed by many people but in particular for the Lincoln Center Orchestra, the music director Wynton Marsalis, has done many compositions for the group and also performs them alongside the orchestra. The compositions created by Wynton have received awards and they were influenced by the 1920 jazz artists in the JALC biography.
Fieldwork
The information on my fieldwork and its majority can be found in the methodology section. This section will list the interview that accompanies the concert. A music enthusiast friend of mine who has a solid background in music studies attended many concerts before and he also attended the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra concert. My first question to start conversation was about the music culture behind jazz. He tells me that the overall performance had elements of blues, ragtime, and improvisations. My follow up was to talk about the impact of the performance on the audience. The answer was really detailed with the focus of the performance on Wynton Marsalis. Wynton had many soloist moments in each piece of music and he draws the audience in with his techniques on the trumpet. Just as you think he will continue to lead on the orchestra starts up again to harmonize with Wynton and the orchestra supports him.
Conclusion
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis is something completely unexpected. I thought I was going to see some classical music and to give an analysis over that but instead I’m doing one about Orchestral Jazz which turned out to be a new experience.
Works Cited
Marsalis, Wynton. "Jazz at Lincoln Center". Jazz at Lincoln Center. 3-10-2010 . http://www.jalc.org/about/apdf/2009%20General%20JLCO%20Press%20Kit.pdf
Marsalis, Wynton. "Biography - Wynton Marsalis official website". 3-10-2010 . http://www.wyntonmarsalis.org/biography/
Weinstock, Len. "The Origins of Jazz". 3-10-2010 .http://www.redhotjazz.com/originsarticle.html
My music ethnography will be based around the Lincoln Center Orchestra, but however I will not be focusing just on the orchestra alone as Wynton Marsalis was present during the performance. This includes jazz music which will complicate my analysis though it shouldn’t be too big of an issue since all my research is done, hopefully. What I hope to cover in this music ethnography is how jazz backed by an orchestra creates an interesting research topic.
Methodology
My method of research at first was vague as I expected to deal only with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra alone. In my ignorance, I ignored concert dates and what went on in those concerts until the week before the music ethnography report was due. Thinking quickly and getting back up to speed I purchased a ticket for a Friday show and conducted my field work at the Grand Tier seat which is possibly the farthest seat away from the stage, on the third floor, which made the performers look like ants. So this brings the conflict of my original research, since I did not expect to include the presence of jazz music combined with the Lincoln Center Orchestra. This seems dire but I can work with it because now it is not just about an orchestra, this is an orchestra with jazz. After the concert I had to take a look and see who Wynton Marsalis was, and what he did besides play a trumpet on stage. Overall he is pretty much what I witnessed him on stage; he plays a trumpet and deals with jazz. Though that does not give him justice since according to his official website he also composes music, is an educator, and finally a music director. The biography on his website goes in depth with his personal life and tracks down all his major accomplishments. While this covers only Wynton Marsalis I have yet to cover the Lincoln Center Orchestra since this is after all two music categories smashed into one ethnography report. The Lincoln Center Orchestra also has their own website with a history and numerous biographies. The Lincoln Center Orchestra does not specifically deal with classical music, as their orchestra is comprised of trombones, saxophones, trumpet, bass, drums, clarinet, and piano. This group of instruments can be categorized into membranophones, aerophones, and a chordophone. My understanding of an orchestra was woodwinds, brass, percussions, maybe a keyboard, and string instruments. These categories list too many instruments and are not relevant.
Aspects of this Music-Culture
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is mainly a culture of music catered towards jazz. While the group also performs some classical pieces, their main focus is dedicated to jazz using their soloists and ensemble players (JALC Biography). The orchestra is versatile in their performances, as they are focused on jazz appreciation to the point that the orchestra will perform arrangements from other orchestral jazz composers such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and several others. The orchestra music playing style is standard. They have not done anything that appears to be special and research seems to indicate this. Although the orchestra has their very own composer, Wynton Marsalis, he has released several albums as he seeks to draw his audience in with his jazz composition. The orchestra spends a third of the year on tour, and I have been a witness to their concert in the Meyerson Symphony Center, which houses the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performances.
Orchestral Jazz was developed in the 1920s and will mainly be played by an orchestra specifically designed for it. What this means is the selection of instruments is vastly different from a classical music orchestra. These performers are professionals and to find the origins of Orchestral Jazz is to look at the jazz genre itself. The origin of jazz is subject to most controversy though through research the birthplace of jazz was agreed upon to be in New Orleans. The controversy is the culture of people that specifically created this but jazz is a genre that has many elements from blues music. However this doesn’t create a barrier from anyone playing it specifically. As long as the performer themselves loves jazz music they’re more than encouraged to try.
Orchestral Jazz fits into a general category of jazz but specifically the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is specifically orchestral jazz. Orchestral jazz features some lyrics although there wasn’t any during the performance last weekend. Orchestral jazz is composed by many people but in particular for the Lincoln Center Orchestra, the music director Wynton Marsalis, has done many compositions for the group and also performs them alongside the orchestra. The compositions created by Wynton have received awards and they were influenced by the 1920 jazz artists in the JALC biography.
Fieldwork
The information on my fieldwork and its majority can be found in the methodology section. This section will list the interview that accompanies the concert. A music enthusiast friend of mine who has a solid background in music studies attended many concerts before and he also attended the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra concert. My first question to start conversation was about the music culture behind jazz. He tells me that the overall performance had elements of blues, ragtime, and improvisations. My follow up was to talk about the impact of the performance on the audience. The answer was really detailed with the focus of the performance on Wynton Marsalis. Wynton had many soloist moments in each piece of music and he draws the audience in with his techniques on the trumpet. Just as you think he will continue to lead on the orchestra starts up again to harmonize with Wynton and the orchestra supports him.
Conclusion
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis is something completely unexpected. I thought I was going to see some classical music and to give an analysis over that but instead I’m doing one about Orchestral Jazz which turned out to be a new experience.
Works Cited
Marsalis, Wynton. "Jazz at Lincoln Center". Jazz at Lincoln Center. 3-10-2010 . http://www.jalc.org/about/apdf/2009%20General%20JLCO%20Press%20Kit.pdf
Marsalis, Wynton. "Biography - Wynton Marsalis official website". 3-10-2010 . http://www.wyntonmarsalis.org/biography/
Weinstock, Len. "The Origins of Jazz". 3-10-2010 .http://www.redhotjazz.com/originsarticle.html
Monday, March 8, 2010
Concert Tickets blah
I was completely new to listening to music from an orchestra let alone one that features Wynton Marsalis jazz music as well. There wasn't a difficulty in understanding his music but to analyze it to describe his harmony with the orchestra behind him would be the challenge. At first I thought the concert ticket would be a problem but it wasn't hard to come up with $38 and get in. After witnessing and hearing the concert I'm in doubt of delivering a decent ethnography report on jazz with an orchestra but I'll try to get some of the terminology right at least and the time and space of the music.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Wynton Marsalis
My ethnography research will be based off jazz music by Wynton Marsalis. He'll be performing with at the DSO for this weekend. Jazz music began in the southern parts of the US. The term jazz is a west coast slang with musical qualities that include: swing, improvisation, and group interaction. Jazz can go back to the time of the roaring 20s during prohibition and it was ridiculed for being an irritation of the word music. Not many people liked it to the point that even the media defamed it.
Wynton Marsalis is a jazz musician that uses a trumpet. He is also a composer and has many jazz recordings that have earned him a grammy award. While his style of music is subject to controversy because its considered regressive, nobody can really deny that he is a wonderful performer.
http://www.wyntonmarsalis.org/
Wynton Marsalis is a jazz musician that uses a trumpet. He is also a composer and has many jazz recordings that have earned him a grammy award. While his style of music is subject to controversy because its considered regressive, nobody can really deny that he is a wonderful performer.
http://www.wyntonmarsalis.org/
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