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Last night, I had a chance to see the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, known as the “Chorale”, at the Orpheum Theatre. I’ve always enjoyed orchestra performances, but I was particularly excited for this symphony, given the new contexts surrounding classical music that I’ve learned through MUSC 326. Moreover, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony itself is intriguing on many levels: it was Beethoven’s last symphony, composed when he had already gone deaf. It’s said that when he performed the symphony at the Kärnnertor Theater in Vienna in 1824, Beethoven couldn’t hear the thunderous applause from the audience when the performance had finished, until the mezzo-soprano soloist tapped his shoulder so he could turn around and see the audience’s reaction.

Beethoven’s 9th is also compositionally unique: its arrangement requires a substantially large orchestra, and it features chorus and vocal soloists in its final movement. This was was immediately visible by the sheer number of performers on the stage. There was a full orchestra, vocalists, as well as a full chorus featuring UBC Choirs. Although I was sitting far back in the balcony, I could feel the energy of the huge ensemble of performers. I was also enchanted by the sheer setting of the concert; the beautiful architecture of the Orpheum and full audience seemed to heighten my anticipation for the performance.

The performance opened with a short piece called ‘The Unanswered Question’ by American composer Charles Ives. As the conductor explained, the piece poses existential questions: What is the meaning of existence? A core group of strings played a slow, quiet, underlying tone throughout the piece. Unexpectedly, a solo trumpet began to play from somewhere off stage – eventually I would scan towards the left side of the audience and see that there was solo trumpet positioned to the left of the theatre – posing the “The Perennial Question of Existence.” As the quiet strings continued to play ceaselessly, another off-stage melody emerged, this time from the right side of the theatre. It was a quartet of woodwinds, with its own composer, playing the “Fighting Answerers” – supposedly a response to the trumpet’s ‘question of existence.’ It was a unique piece that made interesting use of the stage, and it was an intriguing way to open Beethoven’s symphony.

Beethoven’s symphony begins with its first movement, Allegro ma non troppo, which is in sonata form. Opening in an eerie D minor key, the strings play a melody that sounds as if the orchestra “tuning up”. Immediately one feels a sense of suspense, and anticipation for what is to come. Being in sonata form, the first movement introduces the main theme, which undergoes a modulation and development phase, and and then repeats it several times throughout the movement.

The second movement, called Molto vivace, is formally called a scherzo. The scherzo, as we have learned in MUSC 326, is an innovative musical device created by Beethoven to replace the Minuet as a movement, which is much more moderate and delicate. The scherzo is frantic and energetic, driven by a feeling of angst and tension. The timpani shines through in this movement, its booming sound reverberating amongst the frenzied strings – and is even heard in its own solo sequences at times.

The third movement, Adagio molta e cantabile – is much more relaxed and calm compared to its preceding movements. The strings and woodwinds play sweetly, in stark contrast to the chaos heard in movements I and II. I recall from studying music theory growing up, that cantabile is an Italian term that translates to playing in a ‘singing style’ – and this movement captures that feeling perfectly.

The fourth and final movement, Presto assai – ‘Ode to Joy’ is probably the the most notorious movement of the symphony, where the chorus and vocals join the orchestra for a final, unified, and glorious ending. When all of the performers on stage came together to sing the joyous chorus, I could feel exactly why Beethoven’s 9th symphony is often referred to as the ‘universal anthem for hope, joy, friendship, and optimism for the future.’ It was a beautiful amalgamation of instrumentation, vocals, and poetry, and one can easily see why Beethoven’s work has withstood time and carved its own place in classical music history.

This UBC School of Music Wednesday Noon Hour featured Mark Takeshi McGregor on flute, and Adrian Verdejo on guitar. It was a combination that was new to me, nevertheless pleasant to listen to. McGregor is a classical and avant-garde musician and Verdejo is a classical musician. This days performance was jam packed with 4 excellent performances.

The first piece, entitled “Toward the Sea” by Takemitsu, featured a dark sound – due to the guitar strings being tuned down. It began with the flute, containing long tones produced by the flute and an arpeggiated accompaniment on the guitar. In between the movements the guitar was retuned. The second movement began with the guitar and featured trills. To me, this piece sounded like sounds of nature – at times sounding like a cacophony of sounds. It was somewhat expressive in nature.

The second piece, entitled “Dúo I by Baca-Lobera , contained many sounds or noises that were unpitched and percussive. It used high registers, creating a unique and interesting sound. It seemed to me as though the instruments competed – being equal in prominence. Once again, this piece began with long tones on the flute, then combined the percussive sounds. I had never heard a guitar played this way before. At one point the flute and guitar were playing rather furiously, in an arpeggiated fashion. The flautist even seemed to spit in the flute a few times.

The third piece, entitled Verdigris for flute and guitar by Morlock, sounding as though there were scattering creatures – barely visible in the nightlight. The flute was more prominent than the guitar – making it homophonic in texture. The flute featured a lot of low tones, giving the piece an eerie feeling. During the middle of the piece, the flautist switches form a regular flute to an alto flute. This was a refreshing change, and gave added interest.

The fourth piece, entitled Histoire du Tango by Piazzolla, demonstrated the history of the tango chronically. The first movement was playful, followed by a soothing movement, and the last movement was also playful. The guitar also made some percussive noises. This was my favourite piece of the afternoon as it was so light and pleasant to listen to and made me feel like I was somewhere in Latin America. The flute was definitely more featured than the guitar, giving it a homophonic texture once again. The arpeggiated accompaniment and chords were also great, and were notably associated with places such as Latin America. The second movement began with an almost romantic guitar feature. When the flute joined in, it sounded very sweet and deep. The last movement reminded me of the first movement.

Overall, I gained an appreciation for this combination of instruments. My favorite piece being the Histoire du Tango. The musicians – McGregor and Verdejo – were marvellous, and I would recommend you go see them if an opportunity presents itself. Also, take a look out online for guitar and flute duets, as they go well together. They definitely helped me to appreciate the music better.

Here comes my series of journals of concerts I went to over the term. The first show I went to was the CITR Shindig finals, which happened on the night of Feb 8th, at Pat’s Pub, near the corner of Main and East Hastings. CITR(at 101.9FM) is UBC’s very own student operated radio. Though the popularity of the radio format has been on a decline, there’s no stopping the independently ran station as well as their events.

Shindig is an annual musical competition hosted by CITR, in which 27 bands enter, and through 3 rounds of 3 to 1 elimination one band will remain in the end as the winner. This blog entry will entail the final night, with 3 bands that have already withstood 2 rounds of battle between bands.

The first band of the night was Sleepy Gonzales. Sleepy Gonzales was a simple four piece band, with the usual guitars, bass, keyboard and drums. Their music was fairly straightforward, one can easily place them right in the newer indie rock camp. It’s easy going, but a touch forgettable, if you like bands like alvvays, you may like them!

Russian Tim and Pavel Bures was quite a surprise, the singer Tim was from Russia, I’m not sure if the rest of the band were Russian as well, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. They ended up providing one of the highlights of the night for me. Amidst a solid, tightly set of originals, they performed a cover of Boney M’s Rasputin. It was hardly recognizable at first, being covered by in the punk style; though once the chorus hit with ‘Ra ra Rasputin, Lover of the Russian Queen’ it was easily distinguishable. I brought a friend along that’s quite into hardcore bands, during the song he made an attempt in doing a traditional Russian dance where you kneel and hop on the floor during the song, followed by a half attempt at a mosh pit. Russian Tim was a good time, I’d recommend anyone looking for a fun punk band to check out Russian Tim and Pavel Bures.

Last of all, in my opinion the most interesting band of the night was most definitely girlsnails, (pronounced girls nails). Girlsnails was a math rock band, now some of you would think what is math rock? Math rock takes the traditional role of the guitar and completely throws out the window. Gone is the strummed chords (for the most part), replace them with a constant barrage of tapped or picked melody outlining harmony, and you got yourself math rock. The band had two guitarists, 3 horns consisting of sax, trumpet and trombone, a drummer and a singer.

As a seasoned listener of mostly rock sub-genres, while not well versed with math rock, seeing girlsnails is like reliving a long lost dream. The predominantly melodic approach of the guitar makes the harmony hard to make out, which contributes to the dream-like, floaty quality of the music, one can maybe call it polyphonic. Through many revisions of this journal trying to describe girlsnails, it dawned on me that I really can’t solely describe their music without drawing parallels to the American Football. American Football (yes that’s their name) is arguably the quintessential mid-west math/emo band. Everything that I’ve described about girlsnails regarding the guitar playing can be applied to American Football, I’d strongly recommend them.

A Girlsnails song can either start off jumping directly into the verse, or by starting with a more down-tempo intro. In the case of an intro, the guitars would start off playing around each other, slowly painting a vague picture of the song to come, while the drummer starting off sparingly with the drums, this can be heard in If Rodney Were as Cowboy. Droning open strings are used a lot in their guitar playing to create harmony, filling space while melodies while melodies are tapped. With their lightning fast tapping technique, they often throw in ‘glitch like’ phrases that are vibrant while alien.

In a verse they would arpeggiating guitars doing simpler parts in verses to serve as backdrop to the lead vocals. The singing is generally laid back and non-confrontational, the vocals really do carry the same urgency that American Football carried, though it does stand out as Laura brings with her a feminine touch that is different from Mike Kinseller (singer of AF).

The choruses are what you expect from a rock band, but in this case in math rock fashion, a stronger hook is presented in vocals, and counterpointed by melodies from guitars and horns throughout. Horns are scattered throughout songs to heighten the mood and tension, generally later in the verses and throughout choruses, American Football also have horns.

Now you may think this band isn’t original at all, with me constantly comparing them to AF, here’s a key difference: throughout their songs girlsnails would throw in unexpected breakdowns. In a breakdown the tension is brought to the max, it can be performed in a different time signature, often odd. Breakdowns frequently employ dramatic synchronized short pauses, as well as heavy syncopation. The band generally plays as loud as possible during breakdowns as well. These breakdowns are sprinkled throughout their music, though tastefully, as well as well transitioned to and fro other sections of their songs. American Football, to my knowledge, does not employ frequently, though I may be wrong. Talking about breakdowns, this actually allows me to draw attention to another math rock band Hella, to describe Hella simply, every song they have is essentially a series of breakdowns, with a heavy pinch of noise, atonality and glitches. Hella is likely out of the scope of most people in this class I strongly recommend checking them out.

Though I do love their music there is definitely issues, one being that the compositions are mostly guitar and drum focused. Knowing the history of the band, I knew the guitarists have composed a lot of the songs dating from years back, the horns and vocals are added on later to ‘complete’ the song. They did a great job, and the songs flowed generally very well, but often times I did wish things arose more naturally. It’s likely a simple mismatch of my expectations to their music, and I’m just accusing them of a issue rooted in my difference in taste.

I see this journal has gone on for too long, to cap it off, I very much enjoyed girlsnails set, they ended the entire thing with a huge breakdown/crescendo that gave me serious shivers. Ultimately girlsnails won shindig WOOHOO! From which they’ll get a chance to record in a professional studio, I would love to hear something new the band, for now you can find girlsnails music by googling them, which will direct you to a link on bandcamp, this can also be said for the other bands. Thanks for reading! Support local music!

On March 18, I attended the UBC Composers’ Concert from the UBC School of Music. This particular concert was a composition of songs composed by the UBC music students as well as the professor.  This was the first concert that I had attended for our music journals and I was so impressed with the performances- it also made me regret not attending any UBC performances before, but after seeing this I will without a doubt be attending more.

Each piece that was performed had a different story to it, some had been composed solely by students, others by students and teachers and a few were pieces that were variations of popular compositions.  It was really interesting to see how these all beautifully came together as the students performed the pieces. In this particular concert/performance- there were 5 pieces that were performed. 29^th Avenue, Second Beach, Night Piece, Chance Encounter and lastly Avidutt which was my favorite performance out of them all.

The first 2 pieces had been performed by saxophones and flutes and as we moved along into performances I noticed that there were more and more instruments being incorporated and eventually in the last piece we had a full accompaniment of instruments as well as a soprano.  I was really impressed by the pieces that were performed, especially because the students that were performing seemed quite young but still they had such fantastic skills to be able to perform and conduct such an extraordinary ensemble. The first two pieces had a steady beat to it and a fixed meter, the rigidness of the piece was further enhanced because there was no other accompaniment with this piece and no words sung either. The second piece was a lot more melodic and less rigid, it reminded me a bit of jazz music. Night piece was performed by a guitarist, this piece seemed a bit obscure to me yet musically alluring, perhaps it is the obscurity that made it beautiful.  The next piece that was performed was actually originally a Chinese poem but had been turned into a musical composition in a beautiful, accessible and stimulating way. The last piece, Avidutt, was certainly my favorite. I really didn’t know what to expect from this because all the pieces were so different from one another, and this one certainly did not differ. For this piece, everyone that had performed was out on the stage as well as a soprano singer. This was the largest ensemble of the concert! The singers produced sounds so interesting, even imitating the sound of laughter and incorporated whistling sounds. This sounded a bit like imitative polyphonic texture to me. The string players that accompanied the singers echoed the singer’s voices in an abstract way.

All in all, if you are someone who is into abstract music then I would certainly recommend this to you! It was amazing to see people so young producing music that is so unique and inspiring.

On Monday 25^th March 2019 I attended the UBC Contemporary Players Performance at 12:00 Noon in the Barnett Hall. The was the second performance that I had seen from this particular group of students. It had been performed on commission through Belkin Gallery, Workstream for international continuum for multiple schools around the world.  A lot of the pieces that had been performed had actually been composed by students which were really impressive to see.

The first piece featured by Dorothy Chan was a trio and was inspired by an old work from the 1990s called Dark Sea Sun for Solo Guitar. The intention of this piece was to try and make us as the audience feel like we were at sea. This performance featured- a flute, piano and a cello and was a beautiful introduction which set the pace for the rest of the pieces to be performed later on. The piece began beautifully and suddenly got very fore boarding and eventually came to a stop with plucking from the cello. I found it interesting to see how this song took a drastic turn and how it made me feel as though there was some kind of impending doom.

The second piece, Tenebrae began with string players that played beautifully together joined by a soprano. I noticed that as the soprano singer sang, one specific instrument would echo her and this was the clarinet. This piece started off as quite intense but got a lot more serene and calm towards the end. The third piece to me was almost like a climax in a play, the performers set the mood by dimming the lights to further grab our attention. The music started off swiftly, almost as though somebody was walking (it sounded like footsteps to me because of the steady beats from the percussion instruments). Eventually, I noticed the student on the drums was picking up the pace of how he was playing making me feel as though someone was fastening their walk. It was really interesting how this piece ended almost abruptly making us as the audience curious to know what was going to happen next.

The piece Pado which Korean means wave, and for that particular scene basically just means the wave of the ocean was the next peace that was performed. This was actually one of the most fascinating parts of the performance for me because the instruments actually made wave sounds by blowing into the trumpet but not fully blowing to produce any sound which made it seem like the crushing of the wind.  All together these instruments created again some kind of foreboding effect, but towards the end formed some kind of harmony. This was a beautiful introduction to the last piece of the play titled Transformations was beautiful and made me feel so calm. This could have been to symbolize finally reaching “peace at sea” or even to show us how transformations are beautiful at the end despite being rough at the beginning. All in all, this was a beautiful performance done by very talented students! I was truly astonished to see and hear how they made wind gushing sounds through their instruments- I didn’t even think this was possible!

On the 4th of April 2019, I attended a music and dance ensemble organized by professor Dr. Kofi Gbolonyo. The performance took place at the Plaza outside the Barnett Recital Hall at 12:00 noon, not only was this venue inspiring, the environment within the room was filled with people of different ages and ethnicities which made the entire experience so much more exciting for me.  The backdrop of the music set was full of African drums of different sizes and bright lights that lit up the plaza so that the movements of each dancer and drummer could be seen clearly. The performers which consisted of students both male and female as well as the professor were stood on the stage wearing elaborate West-African traditional clothing. The professor began by giving us a brief introduction about the background, there were 5 main dance performances that were introduced, these were the Atsiagbekor, Kuhunga, Boboobo, Gahu and Chinyanda. There were deeper meanings to everything within the pieces, even when it came to the ratio of females and males in the performances.  I found it interesting to learn about the Chinyanada dance, often known as the harvest dance and includes singing, dancing and praising beauty with both males and females performing. Whereas with the Kuhunga dance which was about puberty consisted of only females and was the only performance where all males drummed.

To expand further “Atisagbekor”, is a dance of the traditional Ewe (refers to the people originating from Ghana, Benin, and Togo) that is performed after a battle and on many social occasions. It is a very lively performance and the drums definitely reflect the kind of movement with the dancers, this is because the dancer’s actions correspond to that of the drummer. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this piece, I think from all the performances this one had the most upbeat beats and movements, ranging from dancers jumping to movements on the floor. The master drummer was certainly key in this piece as they kept the rhythm of the song, the cow-bell, and singing was also incorporated into this song. At the end of the performance, the professor gave us a brief background to this piece. It is usually performed after a war in order to celebrate the victory and bravery of the warriors. Throughout the piece the dancers were smiling and happy, this could have been used to portray the feeling of pride and victory during this happy occasion.  The costumes incorporated into this performance could have also been used to symbolize unity that comes during this occasion, as everybody had been wearing the same costumes, even the female dancers. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece and found myself tapping my hands and feet to the rhythm of the music!

To expand further on the “Boboobo” dance which was performed, it is done by the Nzema and Ahanta Ghanaians and has evolved in a way which is used to illustrate peoples cultural, social, political and economic ideologies.  This was an incredible piece that was upbeat and really captured the attention of the audience. There were multiple drummers for this piece but one main drummer playing the largest drum that kept the beat and rhythm of the entire song, other instruments such as the cow-bell and singing were also incorporated, and the performers danced with vigor and excitement with huge smiles to the beat of the drum. The last part of this performance involved dancers making strong torso movements, the master drum motives were usually based on verbal phrases, thus the drums were used as speech surrogates. The dancers also incorporated handkerchiefs to symbolize victory and freedom.

The “Kuhunga” is a music piece that was done in order to celebrate the process of coming into puberty, an important stage of life for both females and men in the society but particularly more important for men after circumcision. The piece is led by respected female members in order to celebrate the girls becoming women.  For this particular performance, I noticed that there were no male dancers as they all played the drums and the stage was occupied by only female dancers this could have been because the women were celebrating the process for the men whereas the men ideally would take on more manly roles like playing the drums.  I noticed a lot of shaking of the waists for this particular song from the women.

The “Gahu” was the next piece that was performed. This piece emanated from marriage and wedding rites. It was interesting to see both female and male dancers wearing skirts while singing and chanting words for praise.  There was a lot of movement from the dancers which consisted of wiggling of the pelvis and vigorous of the hand movements as they moved around in a circle clockwise direction.  This circular motion with the dancer’s interactions could be used to signify celebration and unity between the men and the women, whereas the previous performances which were line-motion symbolized war.  The drummers were also part of this circle as they held their drums and dances and chanted as well.  At first, I was resistant to sing along to the words being chanted, but as soon as I got into the rhythm I began singing and harmonizing with the performers. This performer-audience interaction made the whole experience so much more inspiring and interactive because the Professor kept urging people to join along to his singing! This was by far one of my most favorite pieces to watch because we as the audience got to join in.

The last piece was called the “Chinayna” this refers to a recreational music piece that is usually performed in Zambia; the rhythm was so upbeat, and the dancers got to showcase their moves as they stood in a circle and two by two walked into the circle and showcased out their best dance moves. This really reminded me of having grown up in Kenya and playing with my friends, we would stand in a circle and individually go inside the circle and show our best moves as everybody clapped and sang. There was also a lot of singing and cheering done in this performance, as Ewe phrases and words were chanted out by the singers who made all sorts of cheerful facial expressions which gave me an idea of the thrill and excitement people felt when performing this piece both on stage and in Ghana.  and the crowd was encouraged by the professor to come up on stage and join. It was so touching to see people really appreciating this performance, as a lot of people including myself went up on stage and joined the dancers. In American culture, it is not so common to have people from the audience join into performances and it is sometimes considered rude when you cheer too loudly in an audience or even whistle, but for this performance and certainly in Ghana, cheering, whistling and participating with the crowd was encouraged.

Out of all the performances/concerts that I had attended, this was by far my favorite one. I loved how the professor encouraged us to participate! It was truly a remarkable performance!!

On April 3, 2019, I attended the UBC Balinese Gamelan concert.  The pieces were performed at the Barnett Music Hall.  The backdrop was absolutely stunning- it was set up to represent Bali in Indonesia as that is where Gamelan music originates from. I noticed everyone that all the performers were dressed in all white and had red headbands and they were also barefoot.  We were given a brief introduction by the Professor who explained to us that  Gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali in Indonesia. It made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments used are metallophones played by mallets and a set of hand-played drums called kendhang which registers the beat.

The first piece that was performed was Lengker- these compositions belong to the repertoire of the gamelan semar formerly of the Balinese royal courts. It was served to lull the royal family to sleep when it played in the late evenings in the inner sanctum of the palace. It is also considered to be a refined sweet style of music.  The music was quite fast past in this and had a lot of sudden changes in tempo and dynamics. There was a heavy incorporation of metallophones and gongs, I also recognized an instrument that resembled a tabla- an instrument commonly played drum set in Asia. The ensemble included other various small percussion instruments similar to sleigh bells and finger cymbals, and a row of small kettle gongs that played the melody.

The next piece that was performed was the Sunaren; these were melodies featuring the gong-row. The repertoire came from Bali’s northern district Bulelend. This music would be played during temples at rituals in order to entertain deities who descended into shrines. I noticed that this particular type of music was quite repetitive, it may have been to symbolize some sort of prayer that was consistent and because of this, there was a consistent beat throughout the performance of this piece.  This piece created several overlapping harmonies that were beautiful to listen to.

The next piece that was performed was the Sekar Gendot this repertoire of music of the gamelan was an ensemble that accompanied shadow plays, cremation processes, tooth filing ceremonies, and other traditional events. It was so interesting to see how different types of music were played for different ceremonies. For this particular piece, there was a swirl of elaborated patterns followed by expanded melodies of irregular size, shape, and intricacy.  The performers used metallophones with the addition of gong strokes during this piece.

The last piece that was performed was the Tabuh Pisan Bebaronga- this music in the bebarongan repertoire is associated with barong, a mythical dragon-like creature distantly related to the Chinese lion. Barong masks and costumes were extremely sacred and kept in temples in most inner courtyards.   This particular piece was quite complex but still very vibrant and rich in melody and texture. There were a number of metallophones, gongs, and xylophones all being played, this particular piece was also much louder and swifter than the other pieces performed.  There was a melodic percussive beat resembling rises from the drums and xylophones. All in all, this was such a unique and beautiful performance, I truly enjoyed learning about traditional Bali music.

On the 1st of April, I attended an Oral Composition Play at 12:00 noon at the Plaza. At the start of the concert, the Instructor had given us a brief overview as to what this performance would be about. The class that was performing had spent the first few months studying and practicing rhythm techniques from world traditions which included the basics of Solkattu and Mora. The instructor mentioned that Solkattu and Mora music is a traditional way of learning and practicing rhythms through vocalizations of nonsense syllables stemming from South Indian Carnatic music. In performance, Solkattu is traditionally called Konnakol. Most percussionists, vocalists, instrumentalists, and dancers all learn these syllables first and then add the sounds of the drum, the pitches, or the dance movements to the vocalizations later on. This particular music was also interlocked with a totally different type of music, this was African music and to be more specific music originating from West Africa. I was quite excited to hear this beautiful composition and the interweaving of two very different types of music from two very different places. Each piece was 3-5 minutes and utilized both ideas from West African and South Indian culture.

When the instructor was explaining what went into creating these pieces I was truly impressed. The students had practiced for 2 hours 4 days a week, their dedication and hard work could definitely be seen through the quality of music that they produced. They had all played percussion instruments from UBC’s world music collection and formed a beautiful ensemble. Each composer taught their own music orally to the group and it was then learned, memorized and practice without notation. This reminds me of what we spoke about in class- during the 19th century, thematic transformations had become a major force where musical performers like Clara Schumann introduced memorizing of music. She concertized throughout Europe and then became a celebrated piano teacher. She taught her students to play all their solo piece from memory so they would perform with greater finesse and confidence and eventually the tradition of memorizing solo music came to be expected. Today, we as musicians spend a lot of time working to memorize music. In my own preparation, I feel I spend half of my practice time striving to learn notes and the other half trying to memorize music and so did the performers on that day because all the music was memorized.

Most of the music that was played was composed to be played in the same way each time which is why a lot of the pieces that were performed sound similar to one another. Some pieces used comfortable grooves and rhythms calculation processes which I believe helped to aid memorization of those pieces. There was also some improv involved and I was able to notice this through the group’s awareness of the composers intent body language and how the rhythms all interlaced.

A few of the pieces that were played were “Pass the Farm Fresh Butter” “The Fishmongers Wife” “Three Gardens” and “Glimpse to Equinox” all of which represent olden times and perhaps could be used as a way to show us the kind of life that people in West Africa and Southern India live. All the performers were also barefoot which again could have been used to represent the authenticity and the attempt to make it as real and as close to African and Indian culture. There was percussion used in all of the instruments and although most of the pieces sounded very similar because of the banging and percussion instruments some of the pieces stood out because of the soprano singing that was employed. It was really interesting to hear them playing this music in the Plaza outdoors in the warmth and it made me wonder how it would have sounded in the Barnett Hall indoors.

On March 18, I attended a concert from UBC Music’s Wednesday Noon Hours Series; titled UBC Composers’ Concerts. It was interesting to be able to attend a concert on campus in such a casual setting, by dropping into Roy Barnett Recital Hall during a block of time in my day that I probably would have otherwise spent standing in line at the Delly.

The first performance, titled 29th Avenue Station composed by Eugene Shen, was a solo Baritone Saxophone piece performed by Jackson Bell. The second piece was a flute solo titled Second Beach, also composed by Eugene Shen and played by Shilpa Sharma. Both Second Beach and 29th Avenue Station were interesting monophonic pieces that truly showcased the individual talent of the performers. Asides from the musical performances themselves, I particularly enjoyed the titles of the pieces, as they both refer to locations in Vancouver that I am familiar with. As I listened to the compositions, I associated the aural experience with imagery of these locations. As Jackson Bell performed 29th Avenue Station on the saxophone, I pictured the solemn and vacant East Vancouver Skytrain station in the calm of the night. As Shilpa Sharma performed Second Beach, I envisioned the subtle, lapping waves on the shore of Second Beach as the high pitched melody of the flute gently played.

It is rare to come across musical pieces that refer specifically to Vancouver, and I feel an inexplicable connection with these pieces when I do. In contrast, most classical music that I have listened to or played originates from Europe, written centuries ago. As a result, I realize that I have always listened to and admired classical music from a distance; a degree of separation; as it comes from a time long before mine, and from a continent I’ve yet to set foot on. Contrarily, as someone who has grown up in Vancouver, pieces like 29th Avenue Station and Second Beach evoke a feeling of closeness; of home.

Another piece from the UBC Composers’ Concerts that I enjoyed was Chance Encounter, originally a poem written by poet Xu Zhimo. Soprano singer Tze Liew adapted this poem to a musical performance, accompanied by harpist Nathania Ko. In Chance Encounter, Xu Zhimo speaks of her life crossing with another’s:

We cross paths on the midnight sea

You on your way

I on mine

The melody of the harp intertwined beautifully with the words of the poem. I believe that the poem’s adaptation into a polytonic musical piece added an additional layer of emotive meaning to the text. I believe that listening to the poem as an adapted musical evoked a heightened feeling of distance and solitude, one which goes beyond what could be achieved by listening to the poem alone merely as a monotonic text.

Admittedly, when I first entered the concert, I didn’t initially realize that the pieces were composed by UBC students. However, there was a sense of locality and familiarity that came with the realization that the musical pieces I was listening to were written by students who also attended UBC. It left me to ponder whether these composers drew inspiration from places and people that I had also encountered myself, and I envisioned these images as I listened to the musical compositions.

When I first heard about Jose Franch-Ballester and Jane Coop’s clarinet/piano concert, I was sure that they would be performing concertos and ensemble pieces. No way there could be enough clarinet/piano duets by recognized composers to comprise a whole program! But, soon I realized, just like many of the composers featured in this concert, that the piano and clarinet make an excellent pair, with the ability to showcase personality and virtuosity together in harmony. I was surprised by the breadth of the works featured. Weber and Brahms used typical sonata style with impassioned, bold melodies spanning classical and romantic works, while Stanford and Berg offered some intriguing modern takes on the classical-esque timbre of the duo. To close, they finished with an encore of a wild modern piece whose composer escapes me, but left the audience invigorated and amused by the concert as a whole.

Jose Franch-Ballester and Jane Coop couldn’t have been more different in their stage presences. Franch-Ballester appeared to be constantly smiling, even with his clarinet pressed to his lips! He swayed and paced, shook his head with the music, and even caused some chuckles in the audience when he reached a particularly joyful passage of music and practically jumped up and down! His enthusiasm for the music was infectious and showed his clear dedication to conveying its meaning. Jane Coop, on the other hand, took on the role of the bemused accompanist; her demure and solemn stage presence allowed Franch-Ballester to shine, but she wasn’t afraid to showcase her obvious skill when the music called for it. This stage dynamic reflected the character of the music itself: often, the music portrayed the clarinet as the emotional, excitable voice of the piece, with the piano as a grounding accompaniment in the background, dutifully following the clarinet but not afraid to allow some of its character to shine through.

Each piece was remarkably different, and evoked a completely different emotion and style. Stanford’s Three Intermezzi recalled the joking character of these operatic interludes, clearly shown in the allegro agitato using shrill tones in the clarinet and accented two-note slurs. Stanford also coupled this effect with a lyrical and reflective style (especially evident in the andante espressivo).

The Grand Duo Concertant by Carl Von Weber clearly evokes the structure and elegance of the classical period with a 3-movement sonata-style piece. Its melodies are clear, with a lighthearted character and moments of serenity, and the sonata form in the first moment could be clearly discerned.

A complete contrast, Berg’s Four Pieces for clarinet and piano experimented with atonality and clarinet tone to give a radical new take on these two highly classical-sounding instruments. And yet, despite all this experimentation, the piece was not harsh or brash, but rather showcased the clarinet’s smooth and mellow tone by pairing it with an unexpected melody. Rather unsettling in the composition is that the pieces never seemed to come to a clear end- one was almost a continuation of the other after a small pause. Unsurprisingly, these pieces were an attempt of Berg’s to evoke Schoenberg- although the latter harshly criticized the piece, much to Berg’s dismay!

I thought ending with the Brahms Sonata No. 1 was an excellent choice: it was an evocative and emotional performance, and combined so many of the best traits of the Romantic Period: drama, lyrical melody, and rich harmonies that entrance the listener. These rich harmonies allowed the piano to shine, as the clarinet could soar with the melody while the piano coloured the background with an equally beautiful accompaniment. The final movement, vivace, was a lively closing, which ended dramatically with clarinet arpeggios and a strong cadence- which led to Franch-Ballester practically throwing his clarinet in the air as he enthusiastically concluded the concert!

I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth of the music showcased at this concert, as well as how well the clarinet and piano worked together to create rich and lyrical music. It was entertaining and eye-opening, and made me more curious to look into interesting instrumental arrangements from my favorite composers. As always, a final concluding thought- not technically a joke from this concert, but too good to resist….

Titled: If Wagner owned a laundromat