Monthly Archives: April 2019

The UBC Balinese gamelan concert was the third installation of the world music week programs. This student ensemble was made possible by the course Music 165/565. This was my first introduction to any music from the Indonesian regions, and it was a great one at that.

The ensemble was immediately striking in that they were wearing traditional pants and head scarves, along with their variety of bronze instruments which also looked traditional. I immediately recognized similar instruments that were used by the Oral Compositions ensemble earlier in the week, namely the bonang. There was a row of players with metallophones, and a few others with various drums and gongs.

The ensemble performed 6 pieces: Sinom Ladrang, Lengker, Sekatian I: Selisir, Sekatian I: Sunaren, Sekar Gendot, and Tabuh Pisan Bebarongan. Most of these compositions featured constant rhythms, thanks in part to the fact that most of the instruments in such an ensemble are percussive. There was an apparent use of monophony, with multiple voices playing the same melody to deliver a full range of frequencies in each pitch. Arpeggiation was also the melodic technique that was most widely used in the compositions, which makes sense since arpeggiated melodies have a more noticeable rhythm. The heavy emphasis on the constant rhythm of the melodic instruments sometimes brought the non-melodic percussion to the foreground due to the juxtaposition.

Although there were no instruments that acted like a bass or baritone, one of the two gongs was often played as a single pitched bass instrument, marking the transition from one section of a song to another. The sections of each composition tended to seamlessly change the tempo of a song. In general, the ensemble made tempo changes very effortless for the listeners to follow, which is a difficult task in itself. For example, in Sekatian I: Sunaren, the song is played at a fast tempo for most of the progression, until it comes to a slowed down pace using a natural transition.

In Sekatian I: Selisir, the first woodwind instrument is introduced and used by the ensemble. The flute in this piece was a very refreshing and welcome addition, as I felt that at times the heavily repeated rhythms of the music bordered on sounding chaotic. The flute however added sustained pitches that really stood out among the percussive hits of the other instruments.

Overall, the Balinese gamelan student ensemble opened another world of music to me that I had no previous knowledge of. The entire world music week programme was a refreshing experience that I really enjoyed. I plan to attend more of these events in the future as I feel that they are a great opportunity to learn about new genres of music.

As I walked into UBC Barnett Hall, my eyes immediately drew to the unusual, unfamiliar instruments I saw set up on stage. A quick Google search on Balinese instruments taught me what the variety of instruments were on stage. First was the bonang, which were a collection of small gongs, kettles or pots placed horizontally onto strings in a wooden frame. I recognized a few xylophones and a large gong in the back, however majority of the UBC students performing were sitting next to metallophones. These looked quite similar to a xylophone, as they had metal bars which would be struck with a mallet. Another instrument, which was situated in the middle of all the instruments, was the Kendang, which to me, just looked like a large hand drum. All the instruments on stage were filled with rich, intricate detailing with an overarching colour scheme of gold and red. Coming from an Asian background myself, I recognize these colours to be of importance, symbolizing luck and royalty.

The students appeared on stage, all matching and wearing white tops and red bottoms. Once they seated next to their respective instruments, they all sat on the floor, or on a low bench. This was fitting, as it was as if they were playing at a royal courts. In this way, it makes sense that they sit lower, almost bowing and at a ‘lower stance’ than those in royalty. In general, I truly appreciated the culture that was brought to this concert right from the start with their uniform dressing, the details of the instruments, the decorations and overall set up of the concert.

The first piece, Sinom Ladrang, began with the Bonang, introducing the melody and theme of the song. The player on this amazing instrument seemed very advanced and knowledgeable, so I can only assume she was one of the teachers or a senior student in the class. The melody was repeated over and over again, until the rest of the instruments joined all at once. The concert hall filled with a variety of sounds as the tunes bounced off the walls. It was unfortunate that the weather was poor that day, or else I would’ve appreciated having this concert outdoors where the sound can carry outward.

The “basso continuo” that was keeping the beat was the Kendang and cymbals situated in the middle of the instrument set up. I think these instruments controlled the speed and really led the rest of the class.

The second piece continued, the “Lengker”, and it took me awhile to adjust and appreciate the harsh smorgeshboard of sounds in the hall. I was able to follow around 2 melodies throughout the song – one was played with the bonang then echoed repeatedly throughout the piece by the Metallophones. I also noted that almost with every tune played throughout the concert, the signal to a piece end was a hit on the gong, then a fast repeated hits on the metallophones.

The texture for this piece was very polyphonic, as it was hard for me to put my ear to what was going on. The environment was vibrant, exciting and I could tell the students were having tons of fun.

Although I was able to pick out the repeated melody, I wasn’t able to find the tonic. As we learned in class in terms of Debussy’s Clouds, it focused a lot on pentatonic scale, with no clearly defined tonic. However instead of drifting in a light environment like Debussy’s piece, it was a loud rupture of vibrant, fast moving sounds.

Overall I really enjoyed watching this concert as it was clear the students had tons of fun performing it, and I’d never heard that type of music live before. I’d definitely consider taking that course in the future.

At the end of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Day of Music was a performance by 45th Avenue band. I was the most excited for this concert as one of my closest high school friends was performing in it. Although he had no solos in this concert, I was a great supporter of every phrase he played as “Alto 2”.

The band opened with an original written by the Trombone lead, Kevin Spacey. The tune dedicated to his finance. The background story of their relationship was a long distance relationship, but every time they met, they were watch the stars together.

The trombone solo stood out to me as there was a huge significance on space and the silence between phrases. It was refreshing from songs overwhelming the listeners with sounds and beats. As the piece transitioned to the main chorus, where other instruments then joined, I realized the importance of homophonic texture in jazz music. This definitely comes in layers, but there will almost always be a basso continuo to accompany the melody.

The idea of improvisation in jazz would definitely not be widely accepted in the Baroque or Classical era. However, these musical time frames definitely were growing towards the idea of creativity and improvisation. Throughout the course, we have been highlighting composers who were challenging the music of their time. Whether it be Chanson that pushed the music trend to polyphonic, or Beethoven being a musical inventor of this time, there’s always a push for something new. I think this is the focus of jazz. Each jazz song has a time of improvisation. And even if one song is played over and over again, each improvisation by the soloist will be slightly or completely different.

As the band continued to play the classic, widely recognized song “Feelin’ Good”, I couldn’t help but tap my feet. Jazz music has a huge emphasis of keeping with the tempo – almost a complete contrast from opera. As we learned more about opera seria, and how it conveys feelings and emotions, I couldn’t help but compare and contrast how Jazz does this. I use to love playing in Jazz band in high school, but there’s definitely a lack of emotional range and feeling it provides compared to the opera’s we listened in class. Jazz is a good bop, a great tune to dance to and tap your feet… however it doesn’t make your heart ache the way listening to an amazing opera does.

The singer for “Feelin’ Good” also had a solo part, but focused more on what I believe is “scatting”. Words with absolute no meaning. This was so different from the Baroque and Renaissance period, where music with text and lyrics had so much emphasis – whether it be a praise to God, or a story to tell. However, even without text, the music still got me to “feel good”, but more in a way that made me feel energetic and positive moreso than feel the emotions with the music.

Overall, music appreciation definitely has got me appreciating classical music more, but unfortunately has me appreciating jazz music a little less!

The first concert I watched at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Day of Music event was the UBC Percussion Ensemble at the Orpheum Theatre. However, instead of playing inside the concert hall of the theatre, the UBC Percussion Ensemble had their percussion instruments scattered around the Lobby. The architecture of the Orpheum Lobby has four levels, whose balconies open up to the lobby hallway to the grand theatre. All of UBC’s percussion instruments were scattered around the perimeter of all four levels.

Before they began playing, I walked around to see all the different instruments and get a better look of the pieces on the music stand. From my high school band experience, I could pick out some instruments, including the xylophone, bells, steel drums, glockenspiel, wooden blocks, cymbals, suspended cymbals and cowbells.

Both pieces they were performing, Oort Cloud and Perseid Cloud by Jordan Nobles. Jordan Nobles gave a brief introduction to start, explaining that the pieces were to create an experience of space.

As the piece began, it quickly transformed the Orpheum lobby into a gaze of wonderment. The audience was encouraged to listen from the first floor, in the middle of the opening for the best experience. By standing here, the xylophones and cymbals and light music made it feel as if I was looking up at stars, with a surround sound experience. I was shocked to find no meter or beat with the tune, and it was hard to even follow a strict melody. The piece truly just wanted to change the atmosphere to a feeling of space, and being in a cloud of music and sounds.

The melody and sounds jumped from one instrument to another. As they were situated in different places and I was hearing from below, this got my ear following the sounds all over the theatre. It was truly a unique experience that wouldn’t be replicated or as enjoyable in a regular concert hall. I would have to assume this is polyphonic texture, as each instrument has its own melody, as even though it comes together as one, it often overlaps and plays over one another.

Another unique point of interest in this piece is that each instrument player was keeping time not by a conductor like a regular orchestra piece, but instead with a stop watch. A stop watch! Jordan Nobles briefly explained that each player has a stop watch, all synced at the same time. With that, their pieces are also prompted them to come in at certain times with the stop watch.

Comparing this to the classics of what we learned in class was interesting to note as well. First, Nobles makes uses of the location and how he wants the audience to feel and be transported to, just like in Dido and Aenas when the witches are in the cave. No matter what time frame, its amazing how composers can utilize their space of performance with their pieces to bring the listener to a new world.

Second, the evolvement of keeping time. There was no accompaniment, and I don’t think the Baroque, Renaissance or 19^th century would even imagine playing a piece using just a basso continuo, or just percussion instruments for that matter. And that’s not to mention keeping time with a stop watch.

If music in modern time can be evolved using technology we have today, like stop watches, to compose creative pieces, I can only imagine how music will continue to transform 25 years from now as technology continues to grow.

The UBC Contemporary Players Ensemble I attended consisted of multiple musical works with a nice variety of instrumentations. The first composition, titled Bagatelles, was a trio of flute, cello, and piano. It was also broken up into 3 separate parts: I. the palest of blues, II. elixir, and III. still waters.

The palest of blues started with melodies being exchanged between the three players sequentially, making it feel like the instruments were ‘responding’ to one another. The melodies then started to overlap with each other as time went on, eventually converging into homophonic harmonizations.

In elixir, the pianist did something that I had never seen before; he played the strings of the open piano with soft mallet sticks, striking the strings that he wanted to play. I could not figure out the tonal differences of this method as opposed to the regular way of playing the piano, but I would guess that the player has more control over the force with which he strikes the strings with the mallet. In any case, the pianist started this portion of the composition with the lowest octave of the piano, setting a dark tone. The flute player switched to an alto flute to match this change of register. Together, the trio completely changed the mood from the melancholy of the palest of blues to the ominousness of elixir.

The third and final part, titled still waters, primarily featured the cellist playing very long bending notes that would often create an uneasy tone thanks to their dissonance. The flutist accompanied this with fast arpeggiations of 2 notes, with the piano playing chords in the back.

Overall this was my favorite composition of the concert because it caught my attention and never seemed to get stale. It was also interesting to see the unusual methods of playing instruments that I had never seen before.

There were a few other notable compositions; Tenebrae showcased a vocalist, a clarinetist, along with a string quartet. A memorable aspect of this composition was its use of imitation, with the vocalist setting a motif and the clarinet repeating the same melody shortly after. There was also a great use of juxtaposition between the voices of the instruments; the voices of the vocalist and clarinetist had a sharp contrast to the strings that were heard most throughout the piece, giving the vocal and clarinet melodies a sharp emphasis when heard. Tenebrae also had a distinct arc in its progression. It started very calmly and worked its way up in intensity until a climax was reached, during which every instrument could be heard. The composition ended by calming back down to a lower intensity before fading out into silence.

The next composition also featured the same ensemble and was called Capricious Zephyrs. The difference in this was the addition of a percussionist playing the glockenspiel and xylophone. I mainly focused on the percussionist during this piece because it was a nice change of sonics compared to the other compositions. He had two soft mallets in each hand and used them to play two complimenting notes at a time; this made me wonder if he could use three mallets with one hand to play a basic chord. The existence of a glockenspiel and xylophone made this piece sound and feel much brighter than its peers.

Although the rest of concert was interesting, I outlined my favorite compositions above. Overall this concert made me appreciate my local musicians more, and want to support them by attending more of these ensembles.

I attended my friend’s Church Anniversary Concert on March 31. Although I had lots of previous exposure to hymns, I think learning more about the musical and historical aspects of them in class has given me more appreciation for the genre. The ensembles consisted of strings and vocals, and the songlist was 15 songs, ranging from church hymns to popular songs with lyrics that matched the theme of the concert.

The concert kicked off with the song Amazing Grace which had been arranged for a strings quartet (2 violins, 1 cello, and 1 viola). It is a song that is very well known, and I think the musical timbre and tone of the strings ensemble aided to portray the soft characteristic of the song. The song has a very simple and repetitive melody which may not justify it’s immense popularity worldwide, however, I think, from being there listening to the performance, it is its simplistic characteristic that makes the melody so much more familiar to the listeners. Similarly, I find that another song that was performed, You Raise Me Up, is also very simplistic and repetitive in its melody, but it is the simpleness that attracts its listeners. The strings ensemble were very good at portraying the mood of the song at its softer moments, while also providing a dramatic effect during the climaxes.

Towards the end of the concert, one of the final songs was Time to Say Goodbye, performed by the vocals. The vocals performed with a very operatic tone which helped set the tone and texture for the song to be very round. This is also a very popular and well-known song worldwide, and I personally find that this song also is very simple and repetitive in nature. However, it is also quite distinctive in its melody progressions which make the song easily identifiable. I think it was a good way to end off the night, both in terms of the musical components of the song, but also the nature of the lyrics.

Overall, I really enjoyed the concert, and was surprised at the mixture of church hymns, popular songs, and also classical music song choices used. I would recommend to other students to attend a church concert, regardless of religion, as it can give the opportunity for a different kind of musical appreciation that we may not find in other genres.

On March 27th, I attended Friends in Low Places which featured David Brown and Jeremy Berkman on bass and trombone respectively. I overall really enjoyed the concert as the program consisted of a wide variety of pieces, despite most of them being played on the same two instruments. The concert featured the premiere of three difference pieces, all of which were composed by UBC music students. These were The Encounter by Carmyn Slater (b.1999), The Ground Beneath Us by Robert Humber (b.1995), and Night Tides by Taylor Hall (b.1997).

Both The Encounter and The Ground Beneath Us had more of a contemporary sound to them, while Night Tides had a Latin feel to it. The more contemporary sounding pieces in comparison to Night Tides, had an undefined meter and sounded as if the piece was being led by the instrument rather than a beat, like an instrumental recitative. These pieces sounded as if they had no clear direction of where they were going or as if they were floating.

Something different about Friends in Low Places compared to other noon hour concerts is that the musicians spoke the audience, acting as MCs for the concert. This way, they were able to introduce the pieces and provide their thoughts on the compositions. I really appreciated how the musicians introduced the pieces, as they gave some background information which made listening to the pieces more interesting. For example, the audience was told that The Encounter was inspired by an encounter with something sinister, which was represented by the trombone. I appreciated this as a listener, as it gave me the opportunity to pay special attention to look out for these characteristics.

The concert began with a short introduction piece, with Berkman sitting in the audience. Playing while walking onto the stage, both Brown and Berkman played a short antiphon – a call and response melody. It contrasted different melodic lines, with one ascending while the other was descending. This reminded me of Moonlight Sonata, where we heard 2 different themes moving in contrasting directions. Although this short introduction piece was not featured in the program, I thought it was a creative way of beginning the concert.

I also enjoyed a Selections from Arie Musicali, Book 1 (1630), which featured Christina Hutten on harpsichord. This piece frequently alternated between moments of homophony and polyphony – contrasting the two. Polyphony was used less frequently, where all three instruments played different and independent melodic lines for special effect. The three excerpts from this book were in a very typical baroque sounding style, particularly with the edition of the harpsichord.

I liked how this concert featured a number of student compositions, as it was very impressive to hear compositions by students around my age. I really enjoyed the concert as I surprisingly liked the sound of bass and trombone together, which I had never heard before in isolation. The programme was different and diverse, as both music from older time periods and contemporary music was featured.

On March 20th I attended a performance during the Wednesday noon hours at the UBC school of music by the duo of Mark Takeshi McGregor, flute, and Adrian Verdejo, Guitar. The program was a selection of avant-garde compositions for flute and guitar. This music was very different from anything I had heard before, and took me by surprise at how unconventional it was. Most of the songs the duo played didn’t seem to have a comprehensible meter or key structure, with the flute often playing in a guttural and piercing way, with the player often creating a glottal sound with the flute with a forceful push of air. Sometimes it didn’t even seem like discernible pitches were being played, using the flute for more rhythmic effect, and without an emergent melody line. Though this was definitely far from the more structured music that we have looked at in class, as we learn more about the breaking from structural convention that happened during the 19th century, I thought it was astonishing to see the type of musical transformation that has happened since then, with these music totally throwing out any kind of musical structure. 

The first song played was “Toward the Sea”(1981) by Toru Takemitsu. The duo compared the composer to Debussy, saying that he was the Debussy of Japan because of the way he used dissonance in his pieces. Despite saying this, in listening to the piece I still thought this was far from anything that I had heard of Debussy as it did not have a melody line that I could really hold onto. However I did think that the piece did capture the imagery of being at sea and created a quite mysterious and powerful sound. The piece consisted of three movements: The Night, Moby Dick, and Cape Cod. Looking at 19th century programatic music, I thought this piece achieved the same aims that that musical movement strived for. By naming the piece and the movements with imagery that will be recognized by the audience, and where the audience will use their own ideas to build the story while hearing the music, the piece achieves the extramusical meaning of programatic music. 

The last piece played, “Histoire du Tango” (1986) by Astor Piazzolla was quite different from the other pieces played, as it had a clear key structure, and a sense of meter. I think because of this more recognizable musical structure, this was by far my favourite piece performed. Like the other pieces played, the piece tried to tell a story, in this case the historical progression of the Argentinian tango and how it changed over time. The duo gave some background on the piece and author, speaking to how the author was informed by their own experience in writing the piece through living in both Paris and Argentina, which allowed the audience to keep this in mind while they listened to the piece. The piece consisted of the movements: Bordel 1900, Cafe 1930, Nightclub 1960, and Concert d’aujourd’hui. As the composer conveyed both the history of the tango and his own life, I can now recognize that this practice in composition also grew out of the 19th century practices of composers trying to catch their interior life through their music, as music became more of a reflection of the identity of the composer. 

This music definitely challenged my expectations, but I appreciated what it tried to achieve and the skill of the musicians in trying to convey these musical ideas through their playing. Though I don’t think that I will be listening to this type of music in my daily life, I would encourage people in this class to listen to music that really steps outside the box and challenges our preconceptions of what music should sound like. 

Finally I was able to attend some performances by associated with the early music ensembles on campus. Firstly, it was very interesting to compare these ensembles to the orchestras I have been attending lately. The lack of instruments is quite refreshing and forces the listener to seek out intricacies. For the most part many of the pieces that included a harp or harpsichord played in either a homophonic or polyphonic manner. More homophonic than anything. In fact there was a piece accompanied with a classical guitar. Seeing both the harpsichord and guitar contribute to the melody in a homophonic way was rather exciting. I remember the piece Concerto for Five Flutes in D Major by Boismortier using a lot of imitative polyphony. With 5 instruments that are identical without any bass or accompaniment, imitative polyphony is a good tool to use when trying to provide depth to pieces. There was also a Vivaldi concerto for violin that primarily used ritornello. The violins would go back an forth accompanying each other while one would solo. Then they would return to the primary chorus or theme presented in the beginning.

The main event for this concert was the Cantata Burlesque BWV 212. This is my first opera I have witnessed at UBC. The ensemble included horns, strings, flutes, oboes and a harpsichord. The piece itself exaggerated how many townsmen/women felt about royalty that ruled the lands that they lived in. It felt like a jovial, sarcastic expression of frustration. Even the way the bass and soprano vocalists bobbed their heads suggested they were playfully arguing about some thing. The text suggests that they were not the most wealthy two in the land. They were often talking about their ‘boss’. Mostly how wonderfully and kind the boss-man and boss-lady are. I vividly remember the 20th movement which was a bass aria. “Dein Wachstrum sen fest und late for lust”. Possibly taking a shot at the royals who rule the land. He then pokes fun at how their fields have gotten in shape due to their ‘terrific spirit’. Which is definitely not how fields get into shape to produce a good crop. Melisma is used to change the delivery of the aria section. There was a lot going on in this section as there seemed to be two different melodies being played. The bass vocalist and the violin were imitating each other. This happens throughout the first presented theme of the aria. The B section is more homophonic as there was just one supporting harmony/accompaniment played by the harpsichord.

Overall it was interesting to see the relationship between the instruments and the vocalists. Arias and recitatives have a pattern in terms of musical support. Continuos were very easy to notice during arias especially. Providing support towards a musical expression of words blends well with the presence of a continuo of some sort. Recitatives often have little accompaniment which allow the words to be sang without competition. The lack of noticeable rhythm puts more emphasis on the speaker. This can introduce new context to an ongoing development or story. Recitatives introduced new context for the arias. Arias were a way vocalists could express emotion using ritornello. Honestly arias were more like choruses than anything else.

UBC Chamber Strings performed a number of beautiful pieces for String Fest. I went the first day and was in attendance for Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No.3 “Razumovsky”. The ensemble which consisted of two violins, a viola and cello played the menuetto grazioso and the allegro molto.

The first movement, which is the third movement of the actual piece, is a slow minuet. At first I had trouble counting the meter as it was substantially slower compared to some of the pieces we have listened to in class. It began with a beautiful first theme played by the violins. The major theme was played repetitively, ornamenting itself every time it was played. The development of the movement had noticeable breaks that confused me. The modulation that happened throughout the first theme was subtle. So subtle that it was hard to tell which mode it was in. Most of the theme used harmony and polyphony to make a clear representation of the main theme. The first theme was played without too much modulation until the half way point. In general the first theme did not have any competition. It gradually grew from the introduction by adding fast runs within the major scale. While all is good, modulation did start to noticeably increase. After being play a few times it was then modulated fully into a minor theme which gradually transitions into the second theme. The transitional part of the movement used a lot more staccato compared to the first. The dark point of this movement was not subtle at all. Previously in the piece, breaks were often used to restart the theme. That technique was also used here. However, these breaks weren’t followed by the violins gliding into their notes like before. The breaks were followed by heavy jabs that were more passionate. The notes are more like dots than continuous arcs and valleys.

The concluding movement, allegro molto, is very interesting and reminds me of Beethoven’s Sonata in A Major No. 2 written for piano and violin. Particularly the first movement allegro vivace. Very fast paced and abrupt. The difference between the works is the level of dynamic change. The major mode is played at a much softer volume and with more fluidity. When the volume and aggression increases, that usually signals a modal change.

The ensemble also performed Serenade for Strings, Op.48, TH. 48 by Tchaikovsky. Talk about dynamics! The first movement made good use of homophony as the introduction began by ascending and descending throughout the C major scale. The accompaniment was the more interesting part of the piece. The melody was simple in structure. But the layers of accompaniment made it interesting. Throughout the piece homophony is primarily used to create emotion. Often switching in-between homophony and monophony to provide more variety.

Walzer, the second movement was a waltz and used a substantial amount of polyphony. There seemed to noticeably be two different melodies competing for attention. Also accompanied with a bunch of chords in the background. The rather happy major themed theme created a feeling of dancing in a ballroom with the spotlight on you and your better half. Very open and well rounded section.

The third movement, Elegie, was very dramatic and was at a very slow pace. Often with any rhythm structure. More polyphony is used throughout the piece. It was more intricate in comparison to the previous movement. Similar to the openness of the second movement and the dynamic changes in the first. It made good use of volume changes and scale meandering. It really feels like a waltz. Just with more drama.

When the Finale first started, I thought they were tuning up. It had the same melodramatic feel. Then, as the theme developed it introduced some string plucking to accompany the melody. Polyphonic textures were presented with breaks of monophony. Often the strings will be moving away from each other in relation to the major scale. It did sound like there were some chromatic runs thrown in they as well. There were definitely more modal changes throughout this movement in comparison to the others. The final part of the Finale also returned to the first theme of the first movement. Changing it a little by adding a relative minor note when resolving to the tonic.