Houston Symphony Concert Report

It had been utter silence for what felt like an eternity as the inhuman Santa Anna’s forces prepared for an all out attack. That was when the music started. It’s eeriness echoes through the land even now as it slowly gets more intense. One of the Tejanos looked extremely shaken and shared how it was known as El Deguello and it was played to let the enemy know they were about to be slaughtered. Everything is chaos now as my fellow defenders panic and pray to their gods.

This song is celebratory and full of rejoice. Crescendos are often used. This song is song in harmony. The Brass and orchestra instruments really add to the piece. This song is also religious.

I attended the concert in Punta Gorda on October 19th at The Charlotte Performing Arts Center. The concert presented the Port Charlotte High School Wind Orchestra followed by Florida Gulf Coast University Wind Orchestra. FGCU’s wind orchestra was conducted by Dr. Rod Chesnutt. The first piece they played was Danse Bacchanale (1877) by Camille Saint-Sales from “Samson and Deliliah”. The final piece performed was Jug Blues and Fat Pickin (1986) by Don Freund.

When I walked into the theatre I saw several stations on the stage where the musicians would be located. I had brought my mom to the show with me and we talked about the different instruments that were going to be played in the show. The instruments played consisted of Matt Nguyen and Frank Keyser on keyboards, Miguel Rojas and Tommy Orquiz on Drums & Percussions (with the assistance from Professor Giammario on Drums), Jacob King on bass, Brian Perez and Davon Tart on Saxophone, Daniel Mellerson on Trumpet and Ryan Caster on vocals. We cannot forget the very energetic Professor Boyle as the conductor. There was a full audience in attendance when the show was ready to begin.

The music is slow, he is really taking in every word that she says, fascinated. Violins softly play when she discusses the way her family treats her, he can see their is pain but she is understanding of them. She reflects all the ideals he wishes to have when he becomes king. Their moment is broken suddenly by the trump call of the hunting party, Cinderella remembers why she is talking to this man and convinces him to leave the stag alone, the thumping of hooves add a urgency to her words and as he comes to agree with her the sound of a violin swells, pulling them together emotionally.

A slow timpani beat set the pulse, and the rest of the orchestra entered instrument by instrument to build the melody. La Valse lived up to its translated name of “The Waltz”, as the melody weaved a dance from the music. The upper registers swirled, with the melody rising and falling in volume with each measure. The lower voices pulsed the steady dance beat, keeping the other instruments in line. Just like a dancer passing from person to person, the melody was passed from instrument to instrument, each getting their turn to be the center of the ball.

This soundtrack became one of his more unique works, due to its emotional and developmental, yet simplistic structure. I found this entire score to be incredible and interesting, but I noticed the main theme, entitled “The Last of Us”, to be particularly stirring. This work is the first track on the record and truly sets the tone for the emotion, mood, and feeling of the game that the player will experience. The piece is divided into two main sections: the first part being the main theme, which is played in a slow, contemplative way, and the second part being the variation, which is faster and more intense.

The Lovell High School Concert Band had an amazing concert on the 30th of November. The songs included Celebration and Tribute, Sleigh Ride, Spirit of the Highlands, with a bonus of the combined band on Jinge, Jinge, Jingle. While all the songs were good, they were not spectacular. One that stands out to me is Celebration and Tribute. While Celebration and Tribute is not an extremely a technical piece, it still has its moments of fast notes and rhythms.

During the first part when the chamber singers were singing carols it is understandable that they had to be static, the singing that they did was good but hard to understand at the same time, might have been caused since its British Carols. When it came to the second part of the concert where they had to move and do like movement that when they were more static. Even in one part they tried to get the audience involved into the dance but since the chorus was static during that part it was hard to get into the grove since the chorus wasn’t. The chamber and chorus singers were professional when they came to sing. The chamber especially since they all came in with matching clothes on, and the clothes that they were supposed to wear.

This piece started off in major and it continued that way with the only relief of a minor key by the violin soloist. This piece sounded rather depressing all the way through. The third movement of the concerto was titled Allegro. This piece was the most enjoyable to me and I noticed that between the violin soloist and the rest of the orchestra, there was call and response taking place starting with the violin soloist. It was almost like a conversation between the two and you could visually see the soloist make different facial expressions, almost as if he was challenging them to do better than what he was doing.

Title: Adagio for Strings (1936) Composer: Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Summary: Short orchestral work taken from the second movement of his String Quartet, Opus. 11. Perhaps Barber’s greatest composition, leaving a significant impact on audiences around the world after its debut.   Background information: This piece was composed in 1936 during Barber’s vacation in Europe.

The entire show lasted about two hours, there were two acts. Big stage, spoken theater acting ,scenery ,costumes ,and dance dipped into the Opera atmosphere. The style of this performance brought me to the Romantica Era and made aesthetically pleasing.

The orchestra maintained the musical score and provided ornamentation and emphasized the melodic contour of the singer’s vocal line. Without reading the subtitles, there is such emotion and energy in the male singer’s performance that it is easy to see, along with the physical positioning and facial expressions of the female performer, that there is an impassioned dialogue being given from him to

I had been in band from fifth grade through high school so even just hearing an ensemble sound again was amazing as I miss band very much. I also really enjoyed The Swan Lake Suite as it has been one of my favorite pieces since I was little, so it was also really nice to hear something that I already knew a little of how it would go. The orchestra sounded amazing and I am also good friends with one of the bassoon players so it was neat that one of our concerts to choose from had someone I knew in it. It was so interesting to hear all of the elements we have been discussing in class, actually in person and it was helpful that I was in band throughout school

First of all, the piece is quite interesting as a prelude – an introductory piece of music as it start off with dynamic and vibrant sounds that include the whole ensemble. This piece is structured as a three-part or ternary form which consists of ABA’ form. The idea of this piece is mainly act as an introductory of a story because this piece is only an excerpt from a bigger orchestral performance. From what I have heard, the solo performance is mainly comprise of the woodwind instruments in part B that indicated the slight sign of relief and calmness. The piece has a lot of variation where the composer include different timbres and dynamics such as the high dynamic structure during the first and the last part with the associating crashes of cymbals.