Music. Percussion Concerto. Visual & Performing Arts Essay

With this assignment, we’ll practice some of the vocabulary we’ve studied in our first classes, while also preparing a bit for the first SBSO concert (which you’re required to attend for your first Concert Report). The assignment will focus on a piece by a contemporary composer named Chen Yi. She was born and raised in China, and received her training first in China, and then in the United States. She now teaches at the University of Missouri Kansas City.
The piece we’ll be listening to is called Percussion Concerto. It was written for a famous percussionist named Evelyn Glennie, and it first performed in Singapore in 1998. At the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra Concert on October 6, 2018, it will be played by Sun Yi, a doctoral student in percussion here at Stony Brook. It’s a very difficult work, and Mr. Sun had to win a competition in order to have the opportunity to perform it here.
Details and Requirements
Below, you’ll find a list of some of the terms we’ve discussed in our first classes. Look these over. Then, keeping them in mind, watch the video provided with the assignment on Blackboard. This is a performance of the same work (Chen Yi’s Percussion Concerto) played by another percussionist, Jingli Zhang.
If, for some reason, you can’t play the video via Blackboard, you can likely find it on YouTube here: https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=LOl74Fq7Iek
Your assignment is to write a 400-word response to this performance.
To begin, please briefly describe your overall impressions of the music and the performance. How does the music strike you? How might you describe its style or character? Do you think it seems to express any particular emotions, images, or ideas? What about the performers, especially the soloist? How might you characterize what you see and hear them doing?
Then, please address at least two of the following points:
Rhythm and Meter: How do the rhythm and meter sound to you? Can you count out the big beats and little beats for any parts of the piece? Do you notice an changes in tempo that you find interesting? What about accents, or syncopations?
Dynamics and Timbre: How would you describe the dynamics, and the ways they change at different moments in the movement? Do you hear any crescendos or decrescendos that stand out to you? Do any of the timbres or tone colors from the orchestra or the piano strike you as particularly interesting or noteworthy?
Melody and Harmony: Do any melodies or motives stand out to you? How might you describe them? How do the various harmonies that you’re hearing sound to you? Do any sections seem particularly dissonant? Can you hear relationships between dissonant and consonant harmonies? Can you hear any moments of tension or resolution?
Form: Can you hear relationships between any parts or sections of this piece? Do some moments of the music seem to mark the beginning of a new part of the piece? Do some seem like the end of a section? Do some parts seem to repeat something you’ve heard earlier? Do some seem to contrast with what you’ve heard earlier?
You do not need to answer every one of these questions. But you do need to address at least two of these four areas.
Finally, you must be specific in your discussion. Please refer to at least three particular moments in the video, and please refer to these with timings, so that we can find them too.
Your assignment must be double-spaced, using one-inch margins, and a common font (e.g. Cambria, Times New Roman, etc.) at a standard size (12-point). It must be submitted through Safe Assign on Blackboard by 11:59 pm on Thursday, 9/20.
Please be sure your writing is clear, and that you check for issues with spelling or grammar. Basic errors on this level will affect your grade.
Terms:
Rhythm and Meter
rhythm
beat
accent
meter
duple meter
triple meter
simple meter
compound meter
syncopation
tempo
Dynamics, and Timbre
dynamics
crescendo
decrescendo
tone color or timbre
Melody and Harmony
melody
motive
theme
phrase
harmony
consonant
dissonant
tension
resolution
Musical Form and Musical Style
form
repetition
contrast
variation