Author Archives: KimberlyLin

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.

Listening to Corina Marti was an amazing experience, specifically because I have never heard or seen a harpsichord before. For some reason, I was expecting a harp shaped instrument. I was pleasantly surprised to see a small piano like instrument instead. As she started playing her first piece, Preambulum in g, I immediately started comparing the enchanting instrument to the piano. The harpsichord seems quite a bit smaller, and creates more of a string, plucking sound. The longer I listened to the pieces, the more I noticed was the lack of dramatic range in the harpsichord. Each note didn’t quite fill the Barnett Hall as loud as a piano or any other instrument. I felt as if Corina’s piece could almost use more range in volume, but was restricted because of the instrument.

I may be wrong, but I feel the harpsichord lost it’s popularity for this exact reason. Because it cannot use volume to express different aspects of the piece, it cannot convey feeling. To make up for the limit in shape created with volume, the pieces play around with speed to create this effect instead. It made sense that such an instrument was used in Baroque music for simplistic pieces. However, as the music era grew to more complex pieces that were emotion focused, bringing in larger musical arrangements, the harpsichord faded out as an instrument of choice. The piano then became more popular as it could use the playful aspect of volume along with speed to fill the atmosphere with the appropriate feeling.

The first piece played allowed the harpsichord to create a lot of arpeggios with chords. The feel of the song was generally jumpy and abrupt. The next piece, Preambulum in e, was a nice contrast to this as the melody focused on a lot of ascending scales leading up to the note. The piece almost never had large interval jumps.

I was proud to note that her repertoire truly reflected Late Medieval and Early Renaissance times with the homophonic pieces. The left hand, which often played the bass accompaniment, created a moving and supporting line for the right hand’s melody, which gave an overall clear homophonic effect.

As we are touching upon themes and repeating ideas in class, I tried my best to picture a form or try to figure out the structure. I found this very difficult as I couldn’t even tell when one piece would move onto the next. However, I did find it helpful to have an active listening ear while I was trying to figure this out. I managed to hear the bass line repeat itself in some instances, which I could only assume means a repeating theme.

I am definitely glad I was able to enjoy and appreciate the harpsichord with Marti’s talent, as I don’t think I’d have the opportunity to hear and see one of these instruments in person. I’d be intrigued to hear the pieces played once again by Corina Marti, however on a piano. I wonder how the overall effect and musical environment would change.

Attending Fire and Grace with William Coutler on the guitar and Edwin Huizinga on violin was an amazing experience. My first realization as they started playing their first piece, Prelude rom Cello Suite No. 1, was that I have never listened to musicians play so passionately and precisely with absolutely no music sheets or music stands in front of them. My background in music includes private piano lessons, and heavy involvement in my high school concert, symphonic and combo bands. Even though I’ve been in music for over 18 years, I can’t imagine memorizing more than nine pieces to be played back to back, let alone playing them well. I was absolutely blown away.

With the combination of the classical guitar along with the violin, Fire and grace performed a Bach piece with a Celtic, new age twist. Such a classic song with an energetic vibe was perfect to excite the audience and appreciate both of their talents and individual music personalities.

The main piece of their performance was a new suite called Liquid Gold, in which they just finished creating a film about, including snippets of their discoveries and inspiration in Europe. This combined four Bach movements, each with an Irish jig in-between, for a total of 8 pieces. I am not completely familiar with all the jigs and Bach pieces, so I listened closely so I could follow when the Bach movement switched to an Irish jig. Through our new teachings of musical textures, I noted that the Irish jigs often started and ended monophonically, and homorhythmically, whereas the Bach movements were indefinitely homophonic. The Bach pieces usually had the violin in the foreground, with the classical guitar as accompaniment (based on the piano version of Robert Schumann). I appreciate how Fire and Grace transitioned from one movement to another, as well as which specific movements they picked. For example, in the middle of the suite, they went from an Irish jig to Bach’s movement “Gigue” which was a nice play on words.

As I listened and enjoyed each piece, I understood why their duet name of “Fire and Grace” fit their type of playing so well. Especially with the Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1, the passionate, smooth, on-going melody coming from the violin was so strong beautiful, truly giving the sense of grace. In the meantime, Coulter was bringing an energetic and vibrant accompaniment with the guitar, giving a sense of a fire – however, more like a controlled fire. Throughout the next few songs, I loved how this dynamic changed. Coulter later in the performance took on a solo for a song called “An Daingean”. I’ve never heard this piece before, however I absolutely fell in love with it, and his arrangement of it. I couldn’t help but be completely immersed in his sound, following every phrase and beat. It reminded me of a beautiful piece that could be danced to, or played at a wedding. I would definitely have this piece played at my wedding – but only by someone as captivating as Coulter.

Overall, I was completely amazed of the talent that Coulter and Huizinga have. Their dynamic, music personalities and completely stage presence was memorable. I look forward to learning more about Bach pieces as we progress the course.