Author Archives: sarah leong

As this is my final concert entry, I am extremely pleased that I had the opportunity to be writing about my experience at the Colin James Miles To Go tour concert at the Orpheum on March 21, 2019.  Colin James is one of my favourite rock and blues artists – not to mention, he is Canadian as well.  He is an extremely talented musician who is able to engage with the crowd without skipping a beat on his guitar, and is amazingly technically proficient as is the rest of his 7-piece band which included a harmonica, another electric guitar, the drums, two saxophones, a base and a keyboard.  It’s hard to comprehend how effortless and naturally he plays the guitar.  He would frequently take a casual stroll around the stage and the theatre while performing an incredibly elaborate riff that typically, I believe, would take a lot of concentration.  It was truly an experience that I will not forget and has failed to leave my mind the days following the concert.

Colin James, “Canada’s blues man” has been around for quite a while now having started off his career performing with Stevie Ray Vaughan.  His most popular songs that are played occasionally on the radio would probably be placed in the genre of rock  but his most recent album, the one that the tour is named after, Miles To Go, is blues as is most of his other work.  We have been discussing the idea of ground-bass and ostinato in a lot of the songs we’ve been listening to in class lately and the idea of how a musician would be able to improv atop of the recurrent bass line as in Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor.  This is most obvious during the cadenza of the song when the organ has a prolonged solo.  That being said, I found a strong resemblance in the format that most of these songs being performed by James, to this idea of being able to improvise on top of a base line.  In most of the songs, there is a verse, a chorus, a verse, a second chorus, sometimes a bridge, and then space for solos (sometimes the bridge would appear here instead) until you finish off with a course.  During the solo sections, it would usually be one of the instruments like the harmonica, saxophone or keyboard that would play for a couple rounds and then James would finish off the solo section with a guitar solo himself.  This was probably the most stand-out feature to me in terms of concepts from the course that we have been learning about.

It is interesting and fascinating to watch the evolution of music from the early medieval ages until today. Because the genres of music of today have been around for such a long time it is sometimes forgotten that they all stemmed from the music in which we are learning about in our class.  The aspect of “music appreciation” has definitely shaped and morphed my way of listening to music now and it is striking how many similarities are translated through “classical music” to the music we listen to today.

On March 18, 2019 I attended the UBC School of Music’s Composers’ Concert at Roy Barnett Recital Hall.  UBC music students were the stars of the performance and their talent blew me away.  This is the first student production I have seen throughout all my years at UBC and I regret not coming to see others before hand. All of the music performed was performed by students and composed by students who went above and beyond what I had been expecting.  Some of the pieces were conducted by the student who composed it, as was “Avdiutt” by Isaac Zee.  Some of the pieces were performed directly by the student and an accompanist, as was “Chance Encounter” by Tze Liew who also sang.  The last variation of performance was that the composer simply wrote the song and another student performed their work.

There were five songs that were performed during this concert. Two songs, “29^thAvenue Station” and “Second Beach” by Eugene Shen, were performed by soloists: a baritone saxophone player and a flutist.  What stuck out for me during “29^thAvenue Station”, which was being played on the baritone saxophone, was that the song appeared to be the skytrain itself (which I am assuming what the song was about, according to its’ title).  There was no fixed meter but there were moments of steadiness – two characteristics of a typical skytrain commute.  At the very end of the song, the last note was prolonged and a bit abrupt which reminded me of the abrupt stop which occurs occasionally on a skytrain.  I found this to be a very creative way of portraying a skytrain ride and the music was able to portray the characteristics of this specific mode of transportation very accurately.  This reminded me of what we learned in class on March 22 about how the song was shaped by another musical association – in this case, the skytrain.  There were no words being sung yet there was some purpose behind the music that was driving it.  Because there was no textual purpose behind it however, this wold not be considered “Program Music”.  “Second Beach” was more of a melodic tune, it had almost a jazzy feel to it which perhaps was inspired by the street performers that are present, especially during the summer days, at Second Beach. This song did not have a story as much as “29^thAvenue Station” did per se, but did capture the essence of a sort of busker/jazz performer that is characteristic of a summer day at the beach.

“Night Piece” was performed by a soprano singer and accompanied by a guitar player.  This song had no meter.  It was almost an abstract piece of music, as the guitar accompaniment seemed to echo tones of obscurity yet tranquility.  The singer mimicked these sometimes acute and quick accents throughout the piece. “Chance Encounter” was originally a Chinese poem and the composer put it to music  The composer sang and was accompanied by a harp.  In contrast to “Night Piece”, this song was a lot more relaxed and had a melodious and calming tone.  This song though had no meter as well.  This piece reminded me of how there was no way to fit a “formula” but it was a through composition that was determined by the text, similar to the work of Schiller and Beethoven.

Finally, “Avidutt” had the largest ensemble of all the songs performed and this song also told a story.  There were three singers and they were all interacting with one another through song and laughter.  They were making loud siren noises and would repeat one another, which reminded me of imitative polyphonic texture.   This also had elements observed in “Night Piece” such as the abstraction and acute accents in which the singers mimicked with their voices.  This was a fantastic way to end off the show.

All in all, I enjoyed this concert very much and highly encourage you, if you have not yet fulfilled your five concerts, to go see a student production.  It is very inspiring to see the art that is being created and performed by our peers which we do not always have the opportunity to observe.

On March 9, 2017 I was grateful to have the experience to watch a piece of musical theatre called “Come From Away” by Broadway Across Canada.  “Come From Away” tells the true story of what happened to the remainder of people who were flying in airplanes on the day of the September 11, 2011 attack.  Emergency landings were put into order in Newfoundland, which had one of the biggest airports in the world at the time.  The town of Gander, Newfoundland immediately became a temporary home to 7000 stranded passengers from all around the world.  Before they got off the plane, I can imagine that this would be quite a traumatic experience especially having no access to a phone, no television or communication with the outside world – they were stranded in Canadaof all places.  This was especially scary because these people did not know what had happened and why they were making this sudden detour of events.  However, when the people got off the plane, they were informed of what had happened and were given access to telephones, food, clothes and shelter: They received amazing hospitality from the Newfoundlanders.

As expected, this sequence of events seems quite all over the place, an enormous roller coaster of emotions, especially watching from an outsider point of view.  Most of the musical was accompanied by music that I would describe as stereotypical of Newfoundland, including the flute and the fiddle, which stood out as main instruments.  At the end of the musical after the bows, the band came on stage and played one song and I found it incredible how passionate and engaged in the music they were… the flutist was jumping up and down very energetically while playing the flute!  I can’t imagine that would be easy.

The music and dialogue that accompanied the telling of this story contained elements I thought were similar to opera seria, as there were songs that mimicked recitative and aria accompagnato to guide telling of the story.  Further, the concept we just learned, singspiel – song and dialogue – was evident throughout the piece because there was not one continuous song and as I mentioned, recitative was apparent throughout the piece.

The cast being of around 18 people, there was homophony within the harmonies being sung. As well, the use of imitative polyphony was able to be heard especially during the finale with the line “I am an islander”, the men singing it first and then the women repeating it later on in the song.

I like to think that musicals in the modern day are a branch off of opera seria and older theatre.  Though the stories may not be similar, the idea of telling a dramatic story through song, theatre, dance and acting still remains as the guiding principle of musicals.

If you ever get the chance to see this show, I highly recommend it because not only is it an amazing musical experience but the story and the way in which it is told really tugs at your heart strings and I would say especially if you are Canadian, after watching this musical, this would make you very proud to be Canadian.  I’ve included a link to the finale of the musical if you are interested in watching.

Today on March 6, 2019 I attended the UBC School of Music’s Wednesday Noon Hours’ “Brazz” at Barnett Hall.  They were a lively, humorous and passionate brass jazz band that I had the pleasure of listening to.  What had initially sparked my interest in choosing to attend this performance was that work by Paul McCartney and John Lennon were mentioned as being part of the program.  As the Beatles is one of my favourite bands, it was a no-brainer for me to attend this noon hour show.  When I first saw the program, I admit I may have been a bit upset when I saw that there were neither any Beatles tunes nor anything by Lennon/McCartney on schedule to be played.  However, my frown was instantly turned upside down when the band started playing. Sitting in the second row, it was amazing to hear up close, the homophonic texture of each instrument when played together: the French horn, the tuba, the trombone, the trumpet in conjunction with the piano, euphonium, bass and percussion.  I found this experience to be a pivotal moment of realization concerning my ability to listen and observe different elements of music that I had never noticed before.  There are elements in which we have been learning in class, which I was able to apply to my enjoyment of this performance.  The presenter and conductor, Fred Stride was also the pianist and also arranged many of the pieces that were performed.  These pieces were:

A Sleeping Bee (Arlen)

Fanfare for the Common Man (Copeland)

Jitterbug Waltz (Waller)

El Camino Real (Johnson)

Higher Groovin’ (Stride)

Nite Life (Nelson)

Close Your Eyes (Petkere)

First of all, I noticed that all the instruments had similar sound qualities and that reminded me of the concept “consort”.  Further, I noticed in all of the songs, the concept of “concerto solo”.  In each of the pieces, there were at least two solos by two different instruments.  During the solos, the instrument stood out on its’ own and sounded different while the rest of the band was like accompaniment such as the role of an orchestra while soloists perform.  There were also hints of “concerto grosso” as well, the ripieno being the majority of the instruments playing together, while the concertino presented itself as specific groups of instruments playing a special part together.  Further, in “Jitterbug Waltz”, there was use of ostinato.  There was a melody that was repeated multiple times on the xylophone (escalating up and descending down) and it was clear and repeated throughout the entire piece.  It seemed almost a passacaglia was built upon this ascending and descending ostinato so perhaps this piece was meant to be one.

The concepts of consort, concerto solo, concerto grosso, ripieno, concertino, ostinato and passacaglia were present during this performance and definitely not aspects of music that I would ever pay attention to if it hadn’t been for my education in this class.  The material I am learning in class is enhancing my ability to appreciate and observe music in a new way.  Attending these live performances are really helping me to engage with the content.  If you ever have the chance to see Brazz live, I would highly recommend you go see them!

On February 13, 2019 I was provided the amazing opportunity to go and appreciate the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gabriel Fauré, Franz Liszt and Sergei Prokofiev’s performed by David Jalbert on the piano.  I found this experience to be enriching and more enjoyable to listen to since we have been learning about different textures and forms of music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque.  I was completely blown away by the speed and dexterity of which Jalbert was able to move around, up and down the keyboard.  He is incredibly talented and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to see a piano performance live.  There is something about being in the atmosphere and the room of a theatre space that is strikingly different than just listening to songs that have been previously recorded.  The beautiful sounds of the piano filled the Barnett Hall and I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t be able to sit there for another hour listening to the sweet sounds of the keys.  Moreover, there were many elements of the four works that Jalbert performed in which I would have never noticed if I hadn’t been educated and informed of the specific elements to listen for in the songs.  There were four songs that Jalbert beautifully performed:

1. Toccata in C minor, BWV by Bach
2. Nocturne No. 2 in B major, Op. 33 No. 2 by Fauré
3. Légende No. 2 “St-François de Paule: marchant sur les flots” by Liszt
4. Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29 “After old notebooks” by Prokofiev
   1. Allegro molto sostenuto
   2. Andante assai
   3. Allegro con brio, ma non leggiere

There were three songs that Jalbert performed that I felt I was able to connect with on a more intellectual level stemming from the concepts we have been learning in music class.  In Bach’s Toccata in C Minor, the use of imitative polyphony was very evident.  It was in this moment that concepts from the course provoked me to wonder:  Since Bach was a Lutheran composer of the Baroque era, why was he using imitative polyphony?  Was this evidence of the old entering the new – or perhaps evidence of “Second Practice”?

Légende No. 2 “St-François de Paule: marchant sur les flots” by Liszt and Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29 “After old notebooks” by Prokofiev greatly reminded me of what we have been learning about Purcell and Opera Seria or perhaps Händel’s Oratorio, “Israel in Egypt”.  I felt that when listening to these pieces, that there was a story being told. Likewise to these two works, there was emotion and expression put in to the music such as pounding sounds on the bottom half of the keyboard to demonstrate feelings such as impending doom or a sort of heaviness.  This contrasted light, quick moving melodies on the top of the keyboard, demonstrating more happy and sprightly feelings.  This also reminded me how Purcell and Händel’s works were put on in small spaces with low-budgets and how the music had to demonstrate emotion within itself through its texture and form.

All in all, I found this to be a fruitful experience.  I am looking forward to attending many more concerts in the future and being able to apply all my new knowledge towards the appreciation of music.