I watched the piece “Dark Fortress” being performed by the Hopewell Middle School Band. I was amazed at their posture, and look of attentiveness before they started playing. The trumpets started the piece, and their dynamics were good, but their articulation could have been much better,. They sounded quite muffled, and it was not very clear. As the piece went on, I realized that trombones and french horns were doing a wonderful job with their tone, dynamics, and articulation. However, I felt that the flutes and clarinets we drowned out, and they needed to play out more. Additionally, I felt that band was together for most of the performance. Still, it felt like the song was dragging along, I felt that if they had had a little faster tempo the song would have sounded better. The percussion sometimes overpowered the rest of the band, but they played with almost perfect dynamics, and their rhythms were clear, and correct. Overall, I felt that the brass section were probably the most showcased section in this piece, but they did have some intonation problems. They had a nice style, but at times the drowned out the flutes and clarinets. Sustaining notes was a big problem with this band, they kept clipping their quarter notes and whole notes, which was resulting into a chopped up sound. This also help ruin the flow of the music. The band itself, seemed very attentive, and they seemed a lot more focused than many other middle school bands that I have seen. Also, the ended very well, they were together and had a nice big finish. The band had many different styles that went well with each other.Additionally, the band acted very well on stage, they were wearing all matching clothing, and they looked professional. Mostly, the band did grea...
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...out the character from this piece. As a band we did do this, but if we had further emphasised these things, the piece would have been much better. We could also done a better job being together in the beginning. Lastly, we played the song “Heroes Return”. Our beginning was very off and were not together at all. We also need more articulation in the beginning. Also, we needed to have better change in dynamics, and played more in tune. However, the saxophone played out well during the piece. We played better as the we got towards the middle and end. Our main issues for our performance, were our dynamics, and the fact that whole band was not together at times. Also, we needed practice come pieces more, so we could perfect the begining, and other things, such as articulation. Still, I was impressed with our concert and I think we did a good job for our first concert.
The production had many elements which for the most part formed a coalition to further the plot. The characters, the three part scenery and costumes represented well the period of time these people were going through. As far as the performers entering and exiting the stage, it could have been more organized. There were a few times when the performers exited at the wrong times or it seemed so due to the echo of the music. At certain moments the music was slightly loud and drowned the performers. Many of the songs dragged on, so the pacing could have been more effectively executed. Though the music was off at times, the director's decision to have most of the songs performed center sage was a wise one. Also the implementation of actual white characters that were competent in their roles came as a great surprise to the audience and heightened the realism.
The rest of the trumpet section was also very lively; I felt they carried the main theme in almost every song which certainly kept me interested in the performance. The conductor kept the band on time, and to me they never missed a beat. One could tell they were certainly well rehearsed and truly knew how to use their instruments. A lot of music these days has become focused on generating the catchiest lyrics or chorus, so seeing this jazz ensemble was very refreshing. I was delightfully surprised to see such remarkable music talent at a performance of that size and caliper.
The overall interpretation of the performance has a lot to do with examining the uses and functions music in the performance. During halftime the band is trying the lift the spirits of the crowd and team playing, but the result is at halftime everyone leaves. Whether or not the performance was great much of the audience will never know because they leave. For those who stayed and listened to the performance it was delightful and intriguing but others did not give the band a chance. The musical sound was there. The performance involvement was present for those who stayed and listened and the music was very easy to interpret.
...ked throughout the concert. The pacing of the selections seemed appropriate. No piece sounded like the one before it. There was a great variety of songs played. There were songs played that were written by famous jazz composers and songs played that were written by some of the performers themselves. This added to the excitement of the show.
This song began with a strong 4 part harmony in SATB, balanced due to the fact that their were two boy parts and two female parts, that way you couldn’t hear more of one gender. However in the second half of the song the strength of the harmony faltered; this is due to the fact that the boy’s were letting go of the volume, making it sound unbalanced. I did find that the words in this song got jumbled and their meaning lost because of the lack of diction. During the chorus the sopranos were showcasing their ability to sing high notes, they did a good job hitting them and remembering to hold back on the volume so that the rest of the choir could be heard. For the entire song the choir sang in forte and had no dynamic changes, I found that this made it seem boring because they weren’t doing anything to keep us hooked. I think that this song could have used more articulation, like staccato and slurs so that they could showcase their technique as well as their voices. At the end of the song the entire choir cut off at the same time showing that they had been watching their conductor. I wish that they had projected their emotions more in this song, whether that be by smiling or using a tone of voice to suggest feeling, I think that it would have enhanced their performance. The Humberside Collegiate Choir did an amazing job making sure that they all breathed on time and together without c...
Band is family. When your student walks onto campus, he or she is instantly adopted into the strongest society on campus. They will be spending their school days among the top achievers on campus, with fellow students who look out for one another and steer each other away from trouble instead of towards it. Teachers, staff, parents, and volunteers watch over all the kids as if they were their own.
The band played together in such harmony and joy, and they exchanged looks as if they're talking to each other and understood by looks. As it turns out the guest go the nigh George Gazone was the professor who taught the band members music. Garzone Played the Saxophone like no other, he’s solos were magical it was fascinating watching him and the admiration his student have for him. The music sounded beautiful, yet seems the band are not well prepared for the evening. There was a lot of improvisation and as if every band member wanted to show off his skills which was really good. Improvisation is an element of jazz I was looking for, also, there were a lot of call and response between the band members different ones at each piece they played.
For this critique, I was fortunate enough to attend a jazz performance by Deborah Davis and Ben Rosenblum. Davis was the vocalist and Rosenblum was the pianist. This concert was part of a jazz concert series presented by Preservation New Jersey and the New Jersey Jazz Society. I enjoyed this performance because I was able to witness a professional pianist play up close in a relaxed setting. I was seated in the second pew of the sanctuary, directly in view of Rosenblum’s hands as he performed. This allowed me to not only listen to Rosenblum’s music, but also view his technique and positions throughout the performance. In addition, I am not often able to witness professional jazz performances, but I look forward to attending more in the future.
This piece was filled with improvisation and you could feel the creativity following from the musicians. The combo didn’t have a conductor like the big band and was significantly smaller. Although, the combo was smaller and less formal it wasn’t any less of a performance. The piece started out with a phenomenal alto sax solo by Kevin Clements of Lamar, Missouri. Kevin is a talented musician, with his dark, rich sounding solo, he hit it out of the park. Ivan Vazquez of Garden City, Kansas performed another great solo on the trombone. Maddy Beasley, Kearney, Missouri followed Ivan with a tenor saxophone
Sweat dripping down my face and butterflies fluttering around my stomach as if it was the Garden of Eden, I took in a deep breathe and asked myself: "Why am I so nervous? After all, it is just the most exciting day of my life." When the judges announced for the Parsippany Hills High School Marching Band to commence its show, my mind blanked out and I was on the verge of losing sanity. Giant's Stadium engulfed me, and as I pointed my instrument up to the judges' stand, I gathered my thoughts and placed my mouth into the ice-cold mouthpiece of the contrabass. "Ready or not," I beamed, "here comes the best show you will ever behold." There is no word to describe the feeling I obtain through music. However, there is no word to describe the pain I suffer through in order to be the best in the band either. When I switched my instrument to tuba from flute in seventh grade, little did I know the difference it would make in the four years of high school I was soon to experience. I joined marching band in ninth grade as my ongoing love for music waxed. When my instructor placed the 30 lb. sousaphone on my shoulder on the first day, I lost my balance and would have fallen had my friends not made the effort to catch me. During practices, I always attempted to ease the discomfort as the sousaphone cut through my collar bone, but eventually my shoulder started to agonize and bleed under the pressure. My endurance and my effort to play the best show without complaining about the weight paid off when I received the award for "Rookie of the Year." For the next three seasons of band practice, the ache and toil continued. Whenever the band had practice, followed by a football game and then a competition, my brain would blur from fatigue and my body would scream in agony. Nevertheless, I pointed my toes high in the air as I marched on, passionate about the activity. As a result, my band instructor saw my drive toward music and I was named Quartermaster for my junior year, being trusted with organizing, distributing, and collecting uniforms for all seventy-five members of the band. The responsibility was tremendous. It took a bulk of my time, but the sentiment of knowing that I was an important part of band made it all worthwhile.
When I was first elected as section leader in the TWCP Marching Band my junior year, I had a copious amount of hope in the people around me. Even though we did not share the same beliefs and interests, I felt that with my leadership position, I can still help those newer members thrive in band and make their time worthwhile. I was the first chair bassoonist in the top band and had placed well in multiple prestigious competitions, so I was confident in my abilities. This task was a relatively simple one for me. Always understanding of the younger students’ interests, I knew exactly how it felt to be in their position. Band was enjoyable for me, I lived for the competition
Payne, B. (1997). A review of research on band competition. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 33(1), 1-21.
Because people in band do have that ‘barrier’ we do have to work harder to create those relationships with people, and to perform with emotion. However it is because of this barrier that we are able to rise. You build much stronger relationships with these other instrumentalists, because you have to. Because it’s true: if relations are ignored that instrument will become a barrier and your music will suffer because of it. But the class is not called instruments, or brass and winds, or emotionally unstable kids. No, it’s called band because that’s what you do. You band together to create a beautiful piece of music to present. You band together and get to really know and understand each other and the piece. And because of this you can present so much more because you can’t convey the emotion of the piece with only one player, otherwise it would be a solo piece. Each and every person in the band has to play and put forward their part, otherwise the whole feeling of the piece will be off. We are used to conveying things with our words, our voices, with a choir we don’t have to all work together to create a feeling; you do all have have to portray the same emotion, but one person on their own could portray that emotion. Band you have to rely on others to convey what your instrument cannot, and because of this, the relationship you build and the emotions in the song are that much more
It is impossible to fully comprehend the appeal to the Gulf Coast High School Band Room unless you are actually a member of the band. All members of the Gulf Coast High School marching band spend the majority of their time in the band room, which is like a second home for most. The room itself does not appear to be anything special. It is a large room with a high ceiling, bright fluorescent lighting, and pink and green padding on the walls. The hallway maintains a terrible odor which nobody can quite determine the source of, and the white, vinyl tile floor is covered in a layer of disgusting things one can only dream of. Still, for some reason it remains a haven to about twelve percent of the student body. At first glance, it does not look like anything special, but when you open that big, gray door and step into the “band world” it becomes clear that it really is an amazing and wonderful place. It feels like the center of the universe.
... mine”. Despite the connection I have with the song, I feel that the performance was below average overall because they really lacked stage presence and consistency. I understand that it is a slower song compared to the others in the main setlist, however, even if the pace of the song is slow, the performer must still maintain a balance between energy and chemistry with the audience which they failed to do so. Towards the end, Zayn’s falsetto during his ad-libs in the bridge section made up for the flat notes sung by the group earlier. He has always been the strongest soloist. I also admired the floating platform they used to float above the audience for this song because it changes our perception. I looked up to them physically just as I looked up to them emotionally. It was definitely a good experience. I truly cannot wait to attend another concert of theirs.