Transposing instrument

When I was first presented this task I questioned my ability to describe, and fully understand music. I have had a love for music since I was born, and have been playing it consistently since the age of five. I played alto/soprano saxophone in band for over eight years, and was drum major my senior year of high school. Not once in any of my experiences of living through music have I ever questioned my understanding of it, until that is, I was asked to describe and analyze pieces in the form of a…

When I was in the fifth grade they asked us what instrument we wanted to play I said clarinet my mom said viola; and ever since I've played the viola. From the day I picked up my instrument I knew that music was going to have a huge impact on my life, and it has. Music is there one thing that I can count on to turn my bad day to a good day. Music is the one thing that I know can stay constant in my life. It's the one way I know I can express myself and not be judged for it and be okay Music…

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov begins Scheherazade with “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.” To further demonstrate how Rimsky-Korsakov tells a story, the YouTube video will be added to aid in aural understanding, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNymNaTr-Y; time markings will refer to the listed video. At 0:18, the video begins with the strings in unison marked pesante, along with a deep, bellowing brass section. This marks the introduction of the sultan’s theme. This is followed by woodwinds holding a…

On the evening of February 21, 2018, I attended a Jamey Aebersold live jazz concert featuring Howard Levy and Chris Siebol at the music building at UIC. Since, I had never been to a jazz concert prior to this one, I did not know what to expect, but since it was my first time, I was excited. In my opinion, the evening’s program was nicely presented. The musicians started by introducing themselves, Howard Levy, an American multi-instrumentalist who switched off with playing the harmonica and the…

When looking at musical piece from a deeper perspective than just how it sounds, it is easy to observe that the piece is telling a story most of the time. Other times, it is much more difficult to analyze the piece from a storytelling perspective. For example, the messages of songs without lyrics are understandably harder to interpret. Looking at music from that perspective shows how music can be identified as a narrative. A theory developed by Walter Fisher called narrative paradigm explains…

The string quartet has been one of the predominant genres of chamber music since the year of 1759. The string quartet consists of four string instruments, usually with two violins, a viola and a cello which performed structured symphonies in the form of four movements. The first movement in Sonata form, Allegro, in the tonic key; the second movement is a slow movement, in a related key; the third movement is a Minuet and Trio, in the tonic key; and the fourth movement is often in Rondo form or…

without breaking the rhythm they had and even occasionally transform their instrument to produce the sound of guitar and piano. The thing I noticed during the performance was that the musicians were trying to voice out the sounds of nature by their music. Some of the sounds I listened were the sound of waterfall, wind, and a mixed sound of an airplane, and a fly. They even sometimes used the unusable parts of their instrument to produce naturally occurring sounds. Overall what I understood from…

Ever since the 1700's people have struck a key on an instrument which in turn makes this little hammer strike the corresponding string to create a sound. This instrument is known as the piano. With 88 different keys on the piano you can imagine just how many melodic sounds it could create. But how did the piano come to be? Or better yet, who created the piano you may wonder. Well, it all began with an Italian keeper of instruments named Bartolomeo Cristofori. When harpsichord manufacturers…

“Think instruments can only be made of wood or brass? An orchestra called the Vegetable Orchestra hails from Vienna, and all the instruments are all made from various vegetables” (Interesting Facts about Orchestras). Instruments have advanced greatly over the years, and that has affected the size and the sound of the orchestra. The orchestra started off as small groups of instrumentalists, playing for important occasions. As time went on, it grew in size and the importance level changed. The…

Though it is more complex. The headstock, which is what the tuning keys and the strings are mounted to. Next the strings are pulled over the nut, which holds the strings in place, then over the fretboard. The fretboard is a crucial part of any string instrument. When the string is pressed on a fret, it produces a note. When the notes are played together you get chords and that is what makes up music. Then the chords go over the pickups. Pickups are really, really interesting. Pickups come in all…