Introduction
The carillon culture in North America officially starts in 1922. Before this time, there were already four instruments with a "carillon" status. Three of them could be played by mechanical devices and one was playable from a keyboard. Two automatic instruments cast by the French bell founder Bollée were installed at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana (1856, 23 bells) and at St. Joseph's Church in Buffalo, New York (1870, 43 bells). The other automatic instrument was cast by Paccard in 1900 and it was installed in St. Vincent's Seminary in Germantown in Philadelphia. The only manually played instrument (though the keyboard was primitive) was cast by Severinus Aerschodt in 1883 and was installed at the Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia (25 bells).
The person who introduced the carillon to North America was William Gorham Rice (1856-1945). He had visited Europe, especially the Low Countries several times. He visited libraries to gather information about instruments. He also visited many of these instruments. He was interested in towers, bell sizes and weight, and keyboards. He was actively promoting the carillon in North America and tried to show that although this instrument was new to America, that it had a long history and tradition in Europe. He founded the Carillon League, assisted in the foundation of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, and supported the Mechelen Carillon School. In addition, he published several books and articles about carillon art. He also encouraged the purchase and installation of many carillons in North America.
Before World War II
The first modern carillons arrived in North America in 1922. They were usually two- octave instruments made in England. Taylor cas...
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...oremost performers to provide advice on appropriate performance techniques. The interest in creating music for the carillon is very big. The music is published by two publishers ACME and GCNA.
There is a lot of influence from Europe as quite a few carillonneurs study the art in Europe. However, there is not yet a tradition for improvisation on carillon. There have been a few attempts to introduce the subject of improvisation at the Guild Congress, but these were unsuccessful.
A very characteristic aspect of the carillons in the US is the location of the carillon towers. Most carillons are not placed in city centers like in Europe, but in parks, gardens or on university campuses. During summer festivals, listeners attend the recitals in great numbers.
Bibliography
"Carillon The Evolution of a Concert Instrument in North America" by K. and L. Keldermans.
Beck, John. Encyclopedia of Percussion. 2nd ed. New York: Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, 2007. Accessed May 15, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=8U83AgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Chicago, IL: GIA Publications, Inc. Miles, R. (1998) Teaching Music through Performance in Band, Volume 2. Chicago, IL: GIA Publications, Inc. National Band Association (1997) Selective Music List for Bands, 4th Edition. Nashville, TN: National Band Association.
Radio waves were first discovered in 1887, but radio itself was initially invented by Italian Guglielmo Marconi in 1895 (1). His biggest mentioned success was in 1901, when he managed to broadcast the letter “S” across the Atlantic Ocean (1). However, he focused primarily on point-to-point transmissions, not large scale broadcasts from one point (F). As such, three American inventors - Lee De Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff - took credit for making radio as it is today a success (F). De Forest was born and raised in Alabama and he thought of everything in terms of patents and eventually held more than 300, but many claimed that he simply stole the inventions of others (2). In 1900, he patented a device to enhance weak signals and in 1902, he formed the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company (1). In the same year. Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian, invented the “electrolytic detector”, which later became the spade detector that brought De Forest so much fame (F). In 1904, John Fleming invented the oscillation valve, which later became De Forest’s audion, and De Forest won the gold medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair for his “spade detector” (F). De Forest gained quite a bit of fame by broadcasting music live from the Eiffel Tower and from the Metropolitan Opera; however, many believed that this was a scam and that he had actually had the device broadcasting the signal only a few blocks away (F). In 1906, he envisioned bringing music and voices to all American households, but as it turns out Canadian inventor Fessenden had already broadcasted a Christmas greeting and music to the crew of a ship off the coast of Canada on Christmas Eve a year earlier (F). In 1912, Armstrong became prominent by inventing regeneration, wh...
Howard, John Tasker, and George Kent Bellows. A Short History of Music in America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957. 342-3. Print.
Interestingly enough, in one article, Bach is mentioned saying that at first he was not that fond of it. Not until after the Seven Years War was over did pianos become famous in Germany. A few instrument makers in the early 18th century were building on what Cristofori had invented. One of these makers was Zumpe who became famous for his “square” pianos around the 1720’s in Germany. Fransisco Mirabal is making pianos in Spain in 1745, while Thomas Culliford starts a piano making business in London just five years later. In the 1760’s Guib and Gulliford were making pianos for Longman & Broderip (famous music publishers). A few years later in 1772, Johann Stein developed pianos with what is called the Viennese action, which is allegedly the type of piano Mozart preferred. It was not until 1775 that the piano made its debut in America. Johann Behrent of Philadelphia created square
The Native American flute is the third oldest known musical instrument in the world, with bone flutes dating back over 60,000 years. The first instrument found were drums, then varies whistle were made. Over time, the instrument evolved with many different materials and shapes. And these difference and changes reflect the culture of that time. Virtually, flutes were used all types of hardwoods and softwoods in history.
In the Baroque period, the performance venue usually was within churches and courts. These locations were not built to suit instrumental performances, and were more of just a venue to perform more than a designed venue like there is in the 21st century. Starting...
Since the first person heard the wind whistle through the trees or the sea in a seashell humans have been drawn to sound. Being the oppressive and ingenious species that we are we felt the need to capture these sounds and any others that we could to keep for our own. Eventually people like Pythagoras and gods such as Apollo found that by stretching materials and picking/plucking them that they would produce sounds and that the tighter you stretched these strings the higher the sound would go. These were the early beginnings of the pianoforte.
The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, ed. Oscar Thompson, 10th ed. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.)1968-1993
In 1846 Adolphe obtained patents for his 14 variations of saxophones. Among them were: E flat sopranino, F sopranino, B flat soprano, C soprano, E flat alto, F alto, B flat tenor, C tenor, E flat baritone, B flat bass, C bass, E flat contrabass and F contrabass. In 1881 Adolphe extended his patent for the saxophone; while doing this he also made some improvements to the instrument by lengthening the bell to include Bb and A and extended the instruments range to F# and G using the fourth octave keys. In 1886 the saxophone underwent changes again, this time adding in the right hand C trill key and the half-hole system for the first fingers of both hands. In 1888 the single octave key for th...
Hanning, Barbara Russano, and Donald Jay Grout. Concise History Of Western Music. 4th. New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2010. print.
The history of the Concert Band and Wind Ensemble will be reflected through a timeline of events, including an analysis of significant events, groups, composers, and advancements. When society envisions a Wind Ensemble, talented musicians, grand music halls, and difficult arrangements typically come to mind. However, a modern-day Wind Ensemble includes a variety of musicians, each with positive and negative aspects. In society today, music is greatly appreciated and accepted. It is considered an honor and a privilege to expose our ears to the music.
Being that the both the harpsichord and the clavichord were popular keyboard instruments, instrument makers were looking for ways to improve their designs. One such instrument maker was Bartolomeo Cristofori. Cristofori was an Italian harpsichord creator that ended up inventing the piano, or the Gravicembalo col piano e
Music has shaped the lives of people throughout history. Even in its earliest forms, music has included use of instruments. One of the oldest musical instruments known is a variation of the flute; the original flute is thought to date back nearly 67,000 years ago. Tonight we are going to move throughout the eras with a history of instrumental music. This concert will begin with the Renaissance Era and continue through time until we have reached modern instrumental music.
Richard W. Payne, M.D. "The Plains Flute",The Flutists Quarterly, 1988, Vol. 13, no.4, The National Flute Association, Ind. Ann Arbor MI.