A pioneer of Minimalism, Steve Reich is known as “the most original musical thinker of our time” according to The New Yorker. His contemporary musical style was contradictory to the serialism and aleatory styles of music of his time. That is the very component that is used as evidence that Reich is indeed “America’s greatest living composer.” Music is in his blood. Reich’s mother, the very June Sillman (later June Carroll), was a famous lyricist, singer, and actress. She is best known for her co-writing of a piece called “Monotonous” alongside Arthur Siegel. Both mother and son, June Carroll and Steve Reich, contain a similar conversational quality in the music they write/wrote. At a young age, Steve Reich took piano lessons and grew up listening …show more content…
If you’re not moved by the music, then everything else falls away. You’re not interested in the text, you’re not interested in how it is done, and you’re not interested in interviewing the composer and the rest of it,” says Steve Reich. In an interview, Reich was asked about the importance of the comprehension versus the emotion he was trying to evoke. I believe this statement clearly states his stance on music and composition. Reich’s philosophy rests on the fact that his purpose for music is to move you; that both the musician and his or her music becomes irrelevant if it isn’t making a statement, if it isn’t causing some kind of mental/auditory stimulation. Steve Reich’s philosophy is also defined by the gradual processes of music. “I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music,” Reich further explains. In order to promote intricate listening to compositions, music processes should be gradual. This goes back to Reich’s first thought of meaningful music arises from its ability to move you. The music has to be heard and understood to be felt. A gradual process “sustains one 's attention” as perceived by Reich. “Music should consist of a compositional process and sounding music that are one and the same thing” and “structural devices should be open, rather than be hidden.” I believe these statements that Steve Reich makes about musc reveals that for one’s music to be wholly appreciated and for the musician to be taken seriously and to make contact impersonally, the composer must strive to appeal to the audience on a whole other level. One of which that elicits emotion and interpretation of the
... themes of individualism and alienation. The chief value of living with music lies in its power to give us an orientation in time. In doing so, it gives connotation to all those indefinable aspects of experience which nevertheless helps us make what we are.
Nearly a century’s worth of compositions has earned Aaron Copland extensive recognition as the foremost American composer of his time. Ironically, Copland was raised the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and inhabitant of a colorless city environment, yet would become known for producing the music of “rugged-souled Americans” (Mellers 4). Unbounded by historical musical constraints such as those present in the culture of France, where Copland studied for many years, Copland found himself free to explore and experiment in pursuit of a unique, undoubtedly American sound.
Richard Strauss was known for being able to portray incredible stories with his music incredibly well. Every part of his writing is so descriptive that even Strauss said that he could “describe a soup spoon” in his music. Program music became so popular and still is for just that reason; a master composer like Strauss can tell any story in a musical format that people enjoy.
Music is loved by nearly everyone around the world; learning about composers and what they have been through can develop your understanding of music today. World War II certainly helped sculpt the face of music and of the composers of that time. The war affected German, American and French composers and musicians; causing them to write hateful music, or live with fear of writing any music at all.
From this statement, I believe that there’s a fear of losing the expressive plane, if this problem triggers. On the other hand, we have the general audience. Listeners often neglect them. He argues that a good listener should know the musical structure in order to enhance the enjoyment of music on this plane.
Later, he was to use it to begin the practise which he has now perfected as an art, and would create music through his mothers computer. He started working on a radio show which showcased mostly dance music, called “The Party Revolution” (The DJ List, 2014). Using the latest technology available to him, and not just a turntable and microphone, he dappled with sampling and continued along the track leading him to become a successful artist. He worked a little while in web development and animation (Biography.com, 2014). Later, he was to work for an software company in Belgium, a software program designed to aid music production and brags to be “the fastest way from your brain to your speakers”- (Image-Line, 2014), something which Zimmerman believed was the way of the future for music. Through this time, he was always writing his own music. Before the electronic music evolution, he made efforts to try to convince recording s...
...usic in film has an intensified power to affect the viewer and can cause us to engage with meaning and responses without knowing it. I looked at three films that Hans Zimmer has scored each film being made years apart and based on different story lines. Although the genres of all three films where different each film score was used to achieve the same thing. Each film score was the reason the films had an emotional impact. The motifs in all three films where identifiers for the viewers and allowed them to understand the meaning of the films. Zimmer understands the score needs to pull the viewer towards responses as the image on screen is not always able to do this. Zimmer is an amazing composer and can write film scores for any film and use the score to suggest the central meaning of the film. Zimmer’s versatility can also be seen as he can score films of any genre.
The Scholar: You heard what I said. Everyone gets sick of a song after awhile. It's because there are no life issues in music. You hear it and it's over, and there's nothing to hold on to, nothing to cherish, not even an image, afterwards. It distracts me from reading. Yes, it's part of culture, but to really appreciate it you have to have an ear for it. It's not my thing. To really get it, it has to be your thing.
Amy Beach was a very famous and influential composer and pianist from New Hampshire, United States. She fought long and hard to get to where she got in her lifetime. Back in the late 1800’s, it was hard for women to get noticed because they believe that their role in society was to stay at home and take care of the family. Amy Beach defeated all the odds of a female gender role in her lifetime. She became a role model for young girls wanting to become a composer or becoming anything they wanted to be, as long as they fought for it. She has made an enormous impact on music in America. The following paper will discuss Beach’s life, her struggles, her musical training, how her music was shaped by the society she lived in and famous compositions
I want to discuss the function of music to combine intention and perception. I believe in the prehistoric, people sing or beat on the tough surface because they want to express their emotions, otherwise they have no reason to sing. Similarly, the composers also write the songs to express their feelings. Nevertheless, a piece of music which cannot trigger the change of feeling to audience cannot regarded as a musical sound. According to Thomas Schafer, "When people listen to music they usually try to attain specific goals. Those related to self-awareness and the regulation of mood and arousal are relatively important to them and those related to social relatedness less so"(12). From the research, Schafer get a conclusion that the music which can let people attain goals related to self-awareness and the regulation of mood and arousal will increase the strength of music preference(12). Hence, the function of music is to express the emotion and then influence the audience to let them have the same feeling as composers or performers. For example, Beethoven composed the famous Fate Symphony, or called Symphony No.5 in C major to show his determination to fight with the fate, for Beethoven the fate is the loss of his lover. While it is not the only purpose to write this symphony. The final goal is to move the
For almost half a century, the musical world was defined by order and esteemed the form of music more highly than the emotion that lay behind it. However, at the turn of the 19th century, romantic music began to rise in popularity. Lasting nearly a century, romantic music rejected the ideas of the classical era and instead encouraged composers to embrace the idea of emotionally driven music. Music was centered around extreme emotions and fantastical stories that rejected the idea of reason. This was the world that Clara Wieck (who would later marry the famous composer, Robert Schumann) was born into. Most well known for being a famous concert pianist, and secondly for being a romantic composer, Clara intimately knew the workings of romantic music which would not only influence Clara but would later become influenced by her progressive compositions and performances, as asserted by Bertita Harding, author of Concerto: The Glowing Story of Clara Schumann (Harding, 14). Clara’s musical career is an excellent example of how romantic music changed from virtuosic pieces composed to inspire awe at a performer’s talent, to more serious and nuanced pieces of music that valued the emotion of the listener above all else.
Loesser’s music reflects American society including relationship practices as well as the heightened sense of nationalism throughout the Depression and the war. Loesser had just entered into Tin Pan Alley music when the depression hit. While the depression played a role economically it did not hinder the cultural advances because people looked to music as a source of entertainment. Due to the popular dances of the time courtship and romantic relationships were a vital part to maintain moral across the nation. Due to the lack of money flow people looked for cheap entertainment like listening to music, radio shows, playing sports, or dancing. These activities often involved partners and when mean were successful it made them more desirable. Throughout
The years 1960-1969 were very impressionable years. With events that changed America , turning the innocence and hope of American people into violence and anger. The young nation of the 60s were the most influential of all ,with rioting about war or turning music into culture. This was a completely different america than it was years before . In a Music standpoint artists such as The Beatles , Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix were changing the way music was made . They were changing music into an artform , a way for people to express their feelings , beliefs and ideas. The Music of the 1960s evolved into an artform which lead the path for American music of today.
My composer is known as an influential minimalist and has written a variety of works such as opera, musical theater, symphonies, chamber music, and film scores and much more. This composer’s identity is none other than Philip Glass. The major focus in this paper are to give a moderately brief background on Philip Glass, examining his style of music along with how others view it and describe one of Philip Glass’s musical pieces. The background or bio about Philip Glass has information primary associated with events surrounding his career. When we reach examining Philip Glass’s style of music, people’s opinions on his music and who he sounds similar too is discussed. The final part of paper basically discuss one of Philip Glass’s works and how it serves as an example to his other music.
Music is far more than the sum of its parts. It can be thought of in a highly mathematical sense, which leaves one in awe of the seemingly endless combinations of rhythm, tone and intervals that a good musician can produce. Admiring music in this way is a lot like admiring an intricate snowflake, or shapes in the clouds; it's beautiful, but at the same time very scientific, based on patterns. All of the aforementioned qualities of music have one thing in common: they can be defined with numeric, specific values. However, the greatest aspect of music lies elsewhere, and cannot be specifically defined with words. It is the reaction that each individual has when they are confronted with their favorite (or least favorite) kind of music.