You re invited to experience the magic of the Eugene Symphony! Jeffrey Peyton, Guest Conductor William Hulings, Narrator

Transcription

1 You re invited to experience the magic of the Eugene Symphony! Jeffrey Peyton, Guest Conductor William Hulings, Narrator

2 You will be visiting the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. The Eugene Symphony regularly performs here in Eugene, OR.

3 What to Expect at Musical Time Machine: Within this packet you will find the Musical Time Machine repertoire list, including links to YouTube recordings so your students can listen to the music in preparation for the concert. The youth concert features an on-stage host and guest dancers for select pieces. Please note: Each time we transport to a different time period, the overhead lights will flicker and flash.

4 Upon arrival, a Eugene Symphony Guild Volunteer will greet your school and guide you to your seats in the Silva Concert Hall.

5 Please review this Guide to Audience Behavior 1. Please leave all electronic devices on the school bus. 2. Once you have entered the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, please speak in a moderate tone of voice. (No yelling please!) 3. Stay with your teachers and chaperones while waiting to be seated. 4. Once the lights dim inside the concert hall, all talking should stop so that the orchestra may tune. The concert host will invite you to participate in the concert when it is appropriate. 5. Show your appreciation for the orchestra by clapping when the conductor comes on stage and after each piece is performed. 6. Get into the music and feel the beat in your body. 7. Focus on the instruments. What do you hear? What do you see?

6 Now let s meet the Eugene Symphony!

7 What is the role of the conductor? Every large ensemble has a conductor. The conductor leads the organization with an artistic vision. The Eugene Symphony s conductor, Francesco Lecce- Chong, decides which pieces of music the orchestra will perform at each concert. The conductor also conducts the musicians at performances and keeps the ensemble playing together through his hand patterns.

8 The Orchestra Map

9 Instrument Family: Strings The string family is made up of the violin, viola, cello, and bass. Not surprisingly, instruments in this family produce sound by vibrating strings! The strings vibrate in two ways: 1) using a bow (made from horsehair stretched on a wood stick) to rub the strings and produce vibrations or 2) to pluck the string, usually with the hand, a technique called pizzicato. The pitch is changed on string instruments by adjusting the length of the string. This is usually accomplished by putting fingers down at some point on the string to shorten the length of the vibrating string. String instruments have a very mellow, rich sound. There are many string players in an orchestra because each instrument alone does not have a very loud sound compared to other instrument families. Strings often play a beautiful melody, but sometimes the strings play the harmony parts.

10 Instrument Family: Strings The string family includes the violin, viola, cello, and bass. Stringed Instruments produce sound by vibrating strings. The strings vibrate in two ways: 1. using a bow (made from horsehair stretched on a wood stick) to rub the strings and produce vibrations 2. to pluck the string, usually with the hand, a technique called pizzicato. Pitches are changed on string instruments by adjusting the length of the string. This is done by putting fingers down on the string to shorten the length of the vibrating string. String instruments have a very mellow, rich sound. There are many string players in an orchestra because each instrument alone does not have a very loud sound compared to other instrument families.

11 Instrument Family: Brass

12 Instrument Family: Brass The brass family includes the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba. Brass instruments produce sound by a person buzzing their lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece to send vibrating air through the instrument. Brass players use two techniques to change pitch: 1. By changing how quickly they buzz their lips. 2. By changing the length of the tubing they blow air through. This is done by either pressing a key to open a valve (trumpet), or by using a slide to physically increase or decrease the length of the instrument (trombone). Brass instruments are often described as having a sweet or round sound. Then can also play very loudly and are often used in the most exciting parts of a piece.

13 Instrument Family: Woodwinds

14 Instrument Family: Woodwinds The woodwind family includes the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and piccolo. Woodwind instruments all used to be made of wood, which gives them their name. Today they are made of wood, metal, plastic or some combination. They are all basically narrow cylinders or pipes, with holes, an opening at the bottom end and a mouthpiece at the top. You play them by blowing air through the mouthpiece (that's the "wind" in "woodwind") and opening or closing the holes with your fingers to change the pitch. Metal caps called keys cover the holes of most woodwind instruments. Clarinets, oboes, and bassoons use a thin piece of wood called a reed in their mouthpieces. The clarinet uses a single reed made of one piece of wood, while the oboe and bassoon use a double reed made of two pieces joined together. Source: Oregon Symphony website -

15 Instrument Family: Percussion

16 Instrument Family: Percussion The percussion includes the timpani, bass drum, snare drum, xylophone, triangle, piano and much more! The percussion family is the most varied family in the orchestra. Sound on percussion instruments is created by physically hitting, rubbing or shaking a solid material, like a metal triangle or a membrane (like the top of a snare drum). Only a few percussion instruments produce a specific pitch. Pitched percussion instruments that use a membrane, like the timpani, change pitch when the tension of the membrane is altered. Membranes were once made from animal skins. but today most drums use a synthetic material. Percussion instruments usually provide rhythm for the music.

17 Musical Time Machine Concert Program Georg Frideric Handel ( ) Overture from Music for the Royal Fireworks Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K.525 ( ) Mvt I. Allegro Gioacchino Rossini ( ) Richard Strauss ( ) Aaron Copland ( ) Overture to L Italiana in Algeri Serenade in E-flat Major, Op.7 Fanfare for the Common Man

18 Musical Time Machine Concert Program cont. Anthony Cirone (b. 1941) John Williams (b. 1932) 4/4 for Four Adventures on Earth from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Click on the pieces above to listen to a YouTube recording with your students. When you see the symbol, you can also click to listen to a YouTube recording!

19 Baroque Era (1600 to 1750) Derived from the Portuguese barroco, or oddly shaped pearl, the term baroque has been widely used since the nineteenth century to describe the period in Western European art music from about 1600 to Comparing some of music history s greatest masterpieces to a misshapen pearl might seem strange to us today, but to the nineteenth century critics who applied the term, the music of Bach and Handel s era sounded overly ornamented and exaggerated. Having long since shed its derogatory connotations, baroque is now simply a convenient catch-all for one of the richest and most diverse periods in music history. Source: Music of the Baroque ( George Frideric Handel ( ) Music for the Royal Fireworks

20 Musical Concept: Tonality and Ornamentation Tonality is the principle of organizing musical compositions around a central note, the tonic. More specifically, tonality refers to the particular system of relationships between notes, chords, and keys (sets of notes and chords) that dominated most Western Music from 1650 to 1900 and that continues to regulate much music. Ornaments or embellishments are musical flourishes, typically added notes, that are not essential to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony) but serve instead to decorate or ornament that line (or harmony), provide added interest and variety, and give the performer the opportunity to add expressiveness to a song or piece. Source: (Tonality) Encyclopedia Brittanica ( Source: (Ornament) Wikipedia ( (music)

21 Classical Era (1750 to 1830) As the Classical period took over in the mid-1700s and the Baroque era was winding down, a few defining characteristics emerged. Where the music of the Baroque period was ordered, efficient and complex, the new sound of the classical period tended to focus on simplifying things a little bit, but also making them bigger. On a purely musical level, there was simply more to hum along to in the Classical period. Melodies and plain-old good tunes took over from complex polyphony (everything playing at once), and composers like Haydn and Mozart flourished because they were so good at writing them. W.A. Mozart ( ) Eine kleine Nachtmusik K.525 Source: Classic FM ( Gioachino Rossini ( ) L Italiana in Algeri

22 Musical Concept: Melody Melody is what results from playing notes of different pitches - sometimes pitches can be repeated too - one after the other in an 'organised' way. Melodies are very distinguishable and are often singable. However, just the succession of pitches doesn't make a melody. Each note played has a duration. The relation between durations refers to rhythm. Source: Didjshop (

23 Romantic Era ( ) The Romantic period started around 1830 and ended around 1900, as compositions became increasingly expressive and inventive. Expansive symphonies, virtuosic piano music, dramatic operas, and passionate songs took inspiration from art and literature. Famous Romantic composers include Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mahler, and Verdi. The Romantic era is known for its intense energy and passion. The rigid forms of classical music gave way to greater expression, and music grew closer to art, literature and theatre. Ideas and compositions became more and more outlandish and inventive until the musical rules had to be rewritten, and the scene was set for the biggest change in music for centuries - the beginning of Modernism. Richard Strauss ( ) Serenade in E-flat Major, Op.7 Source: Classic FM (

24 Musical Concept: Timbre One of the basic elements of music is called timbre. When referring to timbre of sound, we can also refer to its color. Timbre describes all of the aspects of a musical sound that do not have anything to do with the sound s pitch, loudness, or length. In other words, if a flute plays a note, and then an oboe plays the same note, for the same length of time, at the same loudness, you can still easily distinguish between the two sounds, because a flute sounds different from an oboe. This difference is in the timbre of the sounds Source: School Work Helper (

25 Contemporary/Modernist Era (1900s to present) Music in the 20th Century changed dramatically, due to the hostile political climate, advances in technology, and huge shifts in style. Many composers, struggling to build any further on the music of generations gone by, reacted against established musical trends, creating exciting new forms and styles. Modernism in music was about being radical and different. For the first time, musicians and audiences realised that music didn t have to be confined to tradition. Film music and video game music increased in popularity towards the end of the century, with the soundtracks to E.T., Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings making their mark on classical music. Source: Classic FM ( Aaron Copland ( ) Fanfare for the Common Man John Williams (b.1932) Adventures on Earth from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

26 Musical Concept: Harmony and Rhythm Harmony means playing several notes together to make chords. The word comes from the Greek harmonia meaning "to join things up". A tune by itself can sound nice, but it can be harmonized by adding an accompaniment of chords. Studying how to do this is called harmonization. Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds as they move through time. You can take any of the sounds listed above and arrange them rhythmically to create music. The term rhythm is also used to describe a specific pattern of sounds. In a very simple form, music can be created by clapping your hands to a specific rhythm. There are many aspects of rhythm and several terms related to it that help us to better understand music. Source: KidzSearch ( Source: Rhythm in Music (

27 Thank You to our Youth Concert Sponsors Youth Concert Season Sponsors Marie Jones and Suzanne Penegor Concert Sponsor Education Program Support Cow Creek Foundation Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute SHO (Support Hult Center Operations)