Sunday, May 1, 2016

Authorship

Music authorship controversies often take light in today’s news, but we don’t often think of them outside the context of pop culture. All artists from Mozart to Stevie Wonder have had to worry about someone taking their music and passing it off as their own or using it in someway to earn revenue for themselves.  To this day we still struggle to find  ways to ensure that a musician's work is not stolen from them in anyway.  In this modern day it is easy to think that downloading music online is not harming the musician, while in reality music authorship fraud has never been a larger problem than it is today.
Perhaps one of the oldest and most famous legends of music authorship fraud is when Mozart got a request from a “Mysterious Stranger” to write a Requiem.  Mozart, being down on his luck at the time, gladly accepted the request with no questions asked.  As we know now, the mysterious stranger turned out to be Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach who already had a reputation of presenting other people's music as his own.  The count intended to use this Requiem to commemorate his late wife, but of course he never got a chance to go through with his plan.  This case is very different than most modern cases for many obvious reasons, but it has many unseen similarities as well.  The Count intended to use Mozart's music for his own fame and profit, as many people do today by taking music from the internet and using it for their own profit without the permission of the original artist. The Requiem has such a rich history and this small authorship debacle is only the surface!
Unfortunately in our modern age, where everything is available to us at all times, it is easy to be exposed to something later pass it off as your own. Often times this is done out of ignorance but sometimes people find themselves in the face of lawsuits: especially musicians. We decided to explore a few modern examples of authorship controversy; perhaps this is where the Count would have found himself had he actually taken credit for Mozart’s Reqiuem.
In many cases, to avoid serious penalty, an artist accused of using previously written material ends up co-crediting the songwriting to the artist that did it first. This happened to the band Oasis in the late 90’s when they were about to release the song “Step Out”; upon further review, it was brought up that the tune had an uncanny resemblance to the Stevie Wonder hit “Uptight”. The band cut the song from their album and released it later, rightfully crediting Wonder.


Listen to the similarity between the main tune of “Uptight” and the chorus of “Step out”. Even the keys each respective song takes on bear similarity.




Stevie Wonder, Uptight


Oasis, Step Out


It seems that well known bands are accused of stealing more often than we think. Michael Roffman at consequenceofsound.net has another example. Music listeners of 2008 surely know Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”, but not many know that Joe Satriani accused the band of reworking his song “If I Could Fly” into their pop hit. If that was not enough, someone later claimed the song bore resemblance to Cat Steven’s song “Foreigner Suite”.


The artists, luckily, overcame their differences and settled without much controversy. On a humorous note, someone has pointed out that both the Coldplay and Satrani song can be compared to an 18th century Pergolesi song “Se tu m'ami“. We cannot actually discern exactly where this claim comes from, but we invite you to listen for yourself and come to your own conclusions. (Not all claims turn out to be true, after all!)
To bring another twist to the story, there is actually much debate as to whether Pergolesi wrote “Se tu m’ami”. Composer Alessandro Parisotti attributed Pergolesi to it but there is little evidence that Parisotti didn’t just write the piece himself.


Coldplay
Satriani


Pergolesi/Parisotti
As we can see, music authorship fraud has been a problem society has faced for ages.  Through the years we have gotten much better about confirming the authenticity of an author's music before accepting it as theirs, however, the problem is not even close to being over.  With the new age of technology musicians face and entire new world of problems with music authorship and illegal downloading and use of their work.  Though we have given less extreme examples (both of which were solved without issue), this topic should not be taken lightly because it has impacted many careers in the past and will continue to do so until we take the initiative to stop it.
Mozart writing: Brian
Current examples and writing: Hannah
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Mozart's Quartets

It is well regarded that Haydn grandfathered the now ubiquitous string quartet genre. Of course there have been great strides made in the genre by numerous other composers -including Mozart - but even Haydn’s fingerprints can be found on some of Mozart’s quartets: especially those dedicated to the great Joseph Haydn. We want to examine how these quartets differ from the ones Mozart wrote in his own style.

Though any of his 6 dedicated quartets do Haydn’s work great justice, we chose to focus on the first (Quartet No. 14 in G major, K. 387, “Spring”) and the third (Quartet No.17 in Bb Major). The second movement of the Spring quartet is what really pays direct homage to Haydn’s style. It can be compared to the third movement of Haydn’s String Quartet No. 64 in D major, as both are minuets (a dance in ¾). Haydn had something of a musical sense of humor; often his minuet movements would technically be in the correct meter, but the heavy beats would be off kilter to what a dancer would expect.
In Haydn’s quartet, after the introduction of the first minuet theme the parts begin to accent every 2 beats, though it remains in the ¾ time signature.


In Mozart’s Spring quartet, the accents happen on the unstable third beat as opposed to the first (which is usually accented to give the dance rhythmic flow).   

We also compared the fourth movements of Mozart’s quartet no.17 and Haydn’s No.64. The first thing we noticed was a similarity in how the first themes are introduced. Again, Haydn’s flamboyant, childlike, style takes center stage as the theme comes in with the instruments playing in unision. It is slightly unexpected sounding, and takes off with a sense of urgency. The same happens in the beginning of Mozart’s No.17.

Mozart Movement IV
Haydn movement IV


The differences between Mozart’s and Haydn’s compositions become very evident after Mozart composed multiple string quartets in dedication to Haydn. If you compare the previous string quartets to pieces Mozart composed without the Haydn dedication, you can hear more of Mozart’s distinct voice come through.  Take a listen at Mozart’s String Quartet No.20:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFA-7IfvBAg
String Quartet #20
Haydn composes with a theme in mind and it is very evident to the audience what that theme is and when it happens.  Mozart not only has multiple very contrasting themes, but will even flutter between keys, all within the first movement. Haydn’s quartet themes were definitely no less brilliant, but did not have the same contrasting nature. Mozart composed music for all sorts of different audiences and patrons.  This specific piece was written for a music publishing company in Vienna.  With a closer observation we can see the subtle differences and changes Mozart makes to his musical voice based on who he is writing the piece for.  In some cases it is far more evident than others, for example, the pieces he wrote in dedication to Hayden greatly differ from every other piece of music he composed.

In his novel, Peter Gay mentions how the Mozart family had a number of different patrons all of Europe.  It is evident that Wolfgang made changes to his music depending on where his patron was  from or what their specific tastes in music were.  The most dramatic changes that Mozart made to his music, however, was the six string quartets he wrote in dedication to Haydn.  Mozart was paid for a lot of his work, but these six compositions were written as a thanks and a declaration of how influenced and inspired he was by Hayden.  Although Mozart was a child prodigy and unarguable a musical genius, he would not have been the same musician and composer if it weren’t for Haydn and Mozart was very well aware of that.  Through Mozart’s dedicated string quartets were are let in on the relationship that Haydn and Mozart shared and just how much they influenced and respected one another.
Hannah: Writing and Media (Haydn string quartets)
Brian: Writing and media (String quartet 20).
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Devalue or Revalue?

The value, popularity, and overall context of classical music over the last few centuries has been far from static. As new genres emerged and became popular, Western art music has become arguably unimportant, at least to a vast percentage of music consumers. In regards to this topic, we found people who have very strong feelings about why this is and what can be done about it. Some have overwhelmingly negative projections about where we are headed while others seek out opportunities to reintegrate the great masterpieces of our past into the culture we currently live in.


First we want to take a look at this issue from a relatively pessimistic point of view. Craig Havighurst wrote an article regarding the “devaluation” of music (see it in full here: https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-devaluation-of-music-it-s-worse-than-you-think-f4cf5f26a888#.1fic5oowh) and raises some good points.


Havighurst rightfully gives credit to those who compose for the screen and video games, as the field is full of many young composers. However, he points out faults in the consumer of soundtrack music. Craig argues that the value of such instrumental music goes down when it is forced to be paired with a specific, (usually cliche), emotion. He claims that when it is suggested that the job of symphonic music is simply to evoke an emotion, we lose some of the integrity that Western art music used to have as a means of representing math, architecture, symbolism, and philosophy.




Shostakovich’s 5th symphony, for example, is not a piece of music that was written to simply evoke an emotion from the listener.  Shostakovich composed this piece as a cry of help and a plea for the end of the suffering the Soviet people went through under Stalin.  In the 5th movement you can blatantly hear the final cries of outrage that collapses in on its on aggression and is followed by a sorrowful, yet hopeful, melody that builds into a proud victory march.  Shostakovich used the ambiguity of music to pass this symphony on as a victory for Stalin, but the people knew exactly what ironic message he was portraying.  After its debut, the crowd was in tears and gave a 40 minute ovation. Stalin was none the wiser.  There is a Russian saying that is very appropriate for this situation that goes, “Pretend to be kissing someone, but then spit when they are not looking.”  
So, perhaps some of our attempts to re-cultivate instrumental music have fallen flat because of the context we hear the music in. Maybe the true key to its longevity is placing the emphasis on the performance as it was centuries ago, before recordings regurgitated our favorite music for us. A new organization, called Groupmuse, is trying to do just that. Groupmuse’s goal is to bring classical music to people right in their living rooms.  On their front page Groupmuse emphasizes the fact that they only perform classical music, do not take requests, and are not background music.  They intend on keeping the music's integrity and giving it the respect it deserves while bring it into a more modern and casual setting.  They even encourage that the seating is non traditional (i.e couches) and that beverages are provided along with the performance!  


Notice in the first minute of their promotional video they mention that their audiences applaud between movements and hoot and holler at exciting moments in the music.  Groupmuse would say this is what bringing classical music to the modern generation is, while Havighurst would complain that this is taking away from how the music should be received.  What’s interesting is both sides of the argument have a very genuine love for the art and wants to keep life in classical music for the new age.  They just have strong differing opinions on how it should be presented.

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Classical plus Calypso?

Throughout this unit we have seen the power that steel band, calypso, and other such things give to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Often, there can be stereotypes made about exactly what steel bands are -- thoughts of Caribbean vibes and authentic calypso come to mind. In reality, the genres that steel bands cover can be just as diverse as any Western group, as we will soon see. The fact that emphasis can be put on more than one genre in steel pan shows the versatility of the instrument and the people that play them!


This is a steel band playing an arrangement of Rossini’s overture to “Semiramide". The performance won them the 2005 Orchestra Grand Finals of the World Steelband Music Festival in Trinidad and took them to the final round in New York, where they also won. The orchestra category of the event, which is where this recording took place, requires the band to play a European classical piece (or piece clearly of that nature) as well as a piece of their choice. This shows that just as much emphasis is put on the Classical performance as well as a performance of other music.

It’s interesting that these performances become a hybrid of stereotypical Western Art Music performances and stereotypical steel band performances. The music is very well arranged in a way that relates it closely to the original, but the setting and manner of performance remind me more of the Trinidadian performances I have seen. For one, the music is memorized and there is great emphasis on intrapersonal communication between members of the band. The Berlin Philharmonic might perform this in a different setting, with sheet music, and with a different purpose in mind. We don’t often think of these classical pieces as competition oriented.
Once steel pan ensembles began performing classical European music the role of the arranger became irreplaceable.  Turning a musical piece that is arranged for a traditional European orchestra into something that is not only playable by a steel band, but also has a Trinidadian flavor to it is not an easy task.  Trinidadian arrangers and composers began to meet and work with European musicians to help understand their culture.  Through the 1940’s and 50’s steel pan bands classical performances became so widespread that a competition known as the “Bomb” was born.  The “Bomb” got it’s name from the surprise and astonishment that was felt when steel pan ensembles firsts came to a concert with Bach and Tchaikovsky by their side.
This performance was in the Orchestra Grand Finals in Trinidad at the World Steelband Music Festival in 2004, however, we can imagine the awe and conflict this created when Trinidadian audience were used to only hearing pieces like the one below performed at the “Panorama” competition.  

When Trinidadian arrangers began creating this style of Classical music it opened the cultural gates that had previously divided the nations.  When Trinidad showed the world that they could reach up and use music from a countries that are far more powerful and influential than themselves allowed other smaller countries to do the same and expand their musical horizons.  Since then, society has embraced this new style of music and has changed the course music on an international level.
We thought this was similar to modern day performances of classical pieces with a modern twist. Often times, to make classical music more accessible, people will put it in a modern setting. Take this performance of Beethoven’s 5th on guitar:

Many people know the tune to Beethoven’s 5th, just as they know the theme to the 1812 overture. Putting it into context can make people otherwise unfamiliar with European music begin to get a taste of what it is about. Trinidadians putting European music into their national music style is the same idea!
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, March 20, 2016

The Rise of the Sparrow


The Rise of the Sparrow
Calypsos have been pushing the status quo since they were performing in small tents for select crowds.  Since then, their popularity and eagerness to call out social scandals have only grown.  They have a deep understanding of text and language that allows them to create an interesting commentary on daily life that listeners crave.  Calypsos used the unrest that was brewing within the middle and lower classes to create this style of music that fed the fire of uneasiness towards the government and told the people of Trinidad exactly what they wanted to hear, but were too meek to say.
Julian Whiterose, one of the first singers to define Calypsonian music, began his career as a chantwell.  Chantwells were carnival band leaders that performed in small tents during the carnival season.  Whiterose was one of the first Chantwells to take his performance to the street (that would later become known as a “road march”) and change his style into what would become a new genre all together.  He quickly became know as the “Iron Duke in the Land” and sang of how he was both an artist and a warrior.  Julian set the precedent for future Calypsos by giving himself a stage name and identifying himself as a performer separately from the band he performed with.  Following in the Iron Duke’s footsteps (and quickly surpassing him in popularity) was The Lord Kitchener who became such a good road march performer that he became known as the “Grandmaster”.  His six decade long career set a high bar for future Calypsos to meet.
In the 1950’s Calypsonian music had finally begun to solidify itself as a genre of music when a Calypso called the Mighty Sparrow came along and used the combination of serious commentary with humor to cover topics from smut to politics.  The Mighty Sparrow had such a unique style and feel about him that had not yet been seen in a Calypso, he was constantly praised for his rich and nuanced singing voice.
.
Mighty Sparrow                                                 Lord Kitchener
As you can tell by the pictures, The Mighty Sparrow had a vastly different style than the Lord Kitchener who was hailed as one of the best performers of his time.  The Mighty Sparrow won both the Calypso King and the Road March (two Calypsonian awards) titles with on song in 1956.  This was an outstanding feat because in the past Calypsos had separate songs for road marches and for performing in a tent, but The Mighty Sparrow managed to create one song that was a favorite all around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjcoM6wJR4I - The Mighty Sparrow “Jean and Dinah”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9vYKwkDmqo - The Lord Kitchener “Sugar Bum Bum”
The differences in these two songs may not be blatantly obvious, but they are very substantial.  Notice that Lord Kitchener features his band far more than The Mighty Sparrow and relies much less on the text.  The Mighty Sparrow prides himself in his sarcastic rhetoric and wit, his songs feature him singing almost the entire time to show off his ability to use language and irony to get his message across.
The Mighty Sparrow revolutionized Calypsonian music.  He sang about social issues that past performers wouldn’t and put on an enjoyable show while he did it.  This genre of music began to fall out of touch with the younger crowd, but it was The Mighty Sparrow and other performers that followed him that brought life back into the genre.  Women began to become Calypsos after the Mighty Sparrow came into the picture and were very successful performers as well.  Calypsonian music, unlike a lot of music, is a genre that has not died with the generation that made it popular.  The music evolves and adapts with the culture that it is a part of, Calypsos continue to be major progressive social figures in Trinidadian culture today.  This style of music is just as relevant as it was in the 1930’s and will continue to grow with and for the people.
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Music for the Moment

We often focus on differences between cultural music, but striking similarities can be found between seemingly polar opposite cultures in the ways in which they use musical structure. This week, we chose to focus on the similarities between the Indonesian Dalag music that Bonnie Wade discusses and the use of musical themes to tell a story in Western art music .


Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade is based on the Arabian Nights stories, focusing on Scheherezade, Shayar, the Kalendar prince, a prince and princess, and often Sinbad and his ship. The nuances and details of each story do not necessarily matter in the context of structure, but rather the overarching themes that occur for each well known character and big event. In terms of dalang music, there are already similarities. Bonnie Wade notes that “In any given performance, the plot is usually not the main focus. Rather, the elaborations, digressions, and manner of execution of well-known stories take precedence” (146). Rimsky-Korsakov may not be telling stories exactly as they match up with text, but it is the concepts and big ideas of these stories that take center stage.


Scheherazade's theme is primarily harp and violin it is seductive yet mysterious much like the women herself. Her theme makes its mark in three of the four movements, either near opening or closing of the movement. The Sharyar theme is appropriately contrasting: heavy and brassy. With each entrance of the Sharyar theme, his dark mood makes its mark.




This is the very beginning of the entire work, and Shahryar theme opens. Listen past the one minute mark to hear Scheherazade's theme played by the concertmaster. It makes sense that these two themes would open the work; Scheherazade and the Shayar are the reason the rest of the stories exist. As this movement progresses you would hear these two themes take on different roles, notably the Sharyar taking on the role of Sinbad the sailor.




There is a great deal of material to uncover in the third movement, but focus on this section where Scheherezade’s theme comes back. You would have just heard the story of the prince and the princess, and her theme comes cascading back into the forefront to remind us of the overarching story.




(I have started before the theme returns for context).
Dalang music is also responsible for setting the mood of a story. “Battle music, walking music, [and] meditating music” are used to convey the part of the story taking place (146).




Consider how this music fits the actions of the puppets in terms of lightheartedness and a sense of joy, while this next scene is more dramatic in music and appearence:


Music to accompany or invoke imagery can also be found in music that is not often thought of as programmatic (because programmatic music is a concept developed in the romantic era) but contain motifs or moments of vivid imagery. Consider Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, four concertos for violin and orchestra each meant to accompany snippets of poem about each season.


In Summer, the opening theme which occurs later on is meant to be symbolic of sweltering heat. After this, there is text in the score that suggests a cuckoo is singing as the violin begins a rapid but light sixteenth note passage.



The third movement portrays a summer storm complete with thunder and lightning. This is quickly evident with the opening theme in g minor that crashes in and out of silence.




Hannah Gorham: Writing
Brian: Media
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Complicated Consonance


Exploring consonance and dissonance can prove to be a difficult task. It is easy to jump to conclusions about these terms and assign them definitions based on what our Western trained ears tell us. Outside of the Western tradition, however, it is not easy to define dissonance and consonance in a way that satisfies all cultures. Britannica says the two terms refer to, “the impression of stability and repose (consonance) in relation to the impression of tension or clash (dissonance) experienced by a listener when certain combinations of tones or notes are sounded together”.
In The Craft of Musical Composition composer Paul Hindemith argues that we have not made any progress in trying to define these terms because "the two concepts have never been completely explained, and for a thousand years the definitions have varied" (Hindemith 92).
Even a definition this vague leaves questions to be answered. Who is allowed to say a certain interval has characteristics of dissonance when the exact same interval is used somewhere else to sound consonant? Perhaps the best way to explore this concept is through listening.

Take, for example, a Bulgarian Women’s Choir. These ensembles are known for their use of drone sounds which often result in a major second interval (something that sounds dissonant in the western context). In this context, however, the singers so often find themselves at this interval that it takes on the role of a “home” interval.


The intervals we consider dissonant in this video are not used in the same way we expect. While the ear expects a quick resolution from such a tense sound, the women take their time on such chords. Often they do not even “resolve” in the way we want them to, but continue to meander through other chords and return to occasional unison moments.
Consider this use of the major second with the major second we are used to. An easy and familiar example can be found in the children’s piano song “chopsticks”. As we begin hearing this close interval, our ears rejoice at the third that follows for it finally brings some consonance.





In this performance the ensemble displays classic Japanese Gagaku music.  

Throughout the piece we hear a Major 2nd almost consistently between the separate parts.  As Westerners, we hear tension in the sound, but this music is often played at celebrations and meant to be danced to.  While someone from Japan may not describe this interval as “consonant” they certainly would not say there is tension in the sound.  The tension we hear in dissonant intervals is completely arbitrary and stems from what our ears are used to hearing.

To close, let’s go back to what is familiar to us and see how it connects with these concepts. It is interesting to note that even Western art music has fluctuated over centuries in what is considered dissonance, consonance, and general tension and release. The folk music of the Medieval era employs a great deal of perfect intervals, creating a rather harsh and cold sounding harmony.



I am almost reminiscent of the Bulgarian singers after hearing this. Perhaps it is due to the lowest line very rarely moving, creating a lot of short drones below the moving melody (in a great deal of parallel fourths).

Compare this to the vocal music of the Renaissance, which warmed up harmonies through the use of thirds and sixths; intervals like fourths had to be resolved almost immediately.



In his prime, Bach solidified the concepts behind four-part harmony. Consonance and dissonance seem to come naturally, given these rules for voicing and harmony, and our human need for tension and resolution is satisfied.



Bach seems to take the best of both worlds in his harmonizing; nothing is as cold and rigid as it was in the renaissance, nor is there an endless stream of thirds and sixths melting into one another.
All this is to say that consonance and dissonance are extremely hard concepts to tackle in the realm of cultural music. We long for an answer, though it is fair to say there is not just one. Hindemith was right in saying these have never been defined, and we are right to assume this is because it is constantly changing.

Hannah: Writing and Media
Brian: Writing and Media
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)