Concert Review Essay

On Sunday, 14 October, Jeffrey Phelps, cello and Lee Jordan-Anders, piano, performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata in A Major, Opus 69 (1808) and Claude Debussy’s Sonata (1915)

For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at the Kimball Recital Hall. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because I usually work at night. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the composers and/or performers. I went with three friends, who I convinced by telling it would be interesting to see

I chose the genre string quartet and attended a concert at First Presbyterian church on October 19th, 2014. Because of its location the sanctuary where the concert took place had many stained glass windows. It was marvelous and in my opinion well suited the feel of classical music. The audience was very responsive and attentive. They applauded when the musicians appeared, in between pieces, and at the very end. They were quick to join in the sing along portion of the concert. Overall the people attending were an older crowd but you could tell they truly appreciated the music. The concert’s duration was around an

The music played throughout all of the concerts adhered to be diverse. The instruments, the individuals performing, and the conductor all proved to be outstanding. The concerts proved to be interesting as I witnessed them, first hand.

I decided to attend the Symphony on the Prairie on July24, 2015. I haven’t been to a Symphony Orchestra since I was very young and I was unable to attend the Symphony last Friday or Saturday. My fellow classmates invited me to the concert on July 24, 2015. I wanted to view a concert so I agreed to attend the Symphony with them. I also like Harry Potter and Star Wars; and they played pieces from both movies in the Symphony concert. Unfortunately there wasn’t any vocal throughout the concert but there were many instruments. These instruments include the entire string family (violin, viola, cello, and contrabass), the woodwind family (flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and contrabassoon), the brass family (English horn, horn, trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, and tuba), and the percussion family (timpani, harp, and keyboard)

1 in G Major, BWV 1007. I really loved this piece because the first part, the prelude, is super familiar and it helped to know the music beforehand so I could just follow along with the melody. The other two movements, Sarabande and Gigue, were new to me but just as exciting and pleasant as the prelude. Technique-wise, this entire piece is lovely and Dr. Snyder executed it very well. The notes were very clean and precise, and his use of vibrato and rubato were excellent. Because he was a soloist, it did not matter whether he kept tempo since he did not need to maintain a rhythm with anyone else, unless the music instructs the musician to keep a steady tempo. It is the same with dance, if one is a soloist, that person does not have to worry about matching the movements of another dancer. I also enjoyed that the Sarabande was so peaceful. It was quite flowy, smooth, and overall gentle. I especially loved the intro to this movement, with a grand entrance that figuratively just filled me with anticipation for the rest of the song. It was also just the right amount of time; it was not too long or too short. I also really liked the Gigue. One reason is because it’s different than the prelude and the Sarabande, so it gives variation to this collection. This last movement was very lively and cheerful, a difference compared to the previous two movements. When I listened, I could imagine a village scene with little kids dancing around a maypole, and it just made me

The first question I asked myself at the beginning of the quarter was how much do I actually know about jazz? I have always characterized jazz music as a rhythmic and instrumental form of music. My impression on the basis of the jazz has always been portrayed with the African-American race. I think this was build up from the rhythm ‘n’ blues era and meaning according to the dictionary (“style of music that was invented by African American musicians in the early part of the twentieth century and has very strong rhythms and often involves improvisation”). But Louis Armstrong’s famous reply was “if you had to ask, you’ll never know”. Whatever else he meant, he was at least saying that jazz is noticeable, but not necessarily understandable by

Dr. Jin Park’s latest recital can only be described in one word- amazing. Park is one of Simpson College’s professors of piano who exhibits her skills in playing often for the public. This past Friday, She performed five notable pieces at Lekburg Hall in the Amy Robertson Music Center at Simpson.

On September 7th at 7:30pm, I attended the Chamber Music Trio Concert at Williams Hall. The three musicians were the cellist Dr. Martin Gueorguiev, the violinist David Harned Johnson, and the pianist Dr. Joanna Kim. In total, they performed four pieces, two duets and two trios, one of which was an original composition by David Johnson himself. Their pieces included a wide range of styles, from upbeat majors to dark, emotional minors and from standard classical to zesty tangos. Having played the piano since third grade and taken music theory, I felt that I was able to resonate better on an emotional and technical level.

For this assignment I chose to compare and contrast two concerts. The first concert is from the modern era, while the other is a Baroque Era concert originating from the 17th Century preformed by a modern day orchestra. The Baroque Era Concert takes place in a large modern day Lutheran Church in front of a small crowd of well dressed onlookers. The second concert that I chose for this assignment is a modern day rock concert from the English Symphonic Rock Band, Muse. This concert takes place at the O2 Sheppard’s Bush Empire Theatre in London, England. The crowd is large and ruckus, the concert is loud, bright, and energetic.

On Thursday April 25, 2013 , I attended a jazz vocal concert at the Music Concert Hall. The first vocal ensemble opened up the performance with a slow rhythmic song called Blue Skies. It began with vocals and I noticed a light auxiliary percussion and drum rhythm. Also, the bass guitarist used walking bass and the piano and electric guitar joined in as well. The first song also consisted of two soloist Regina and Chantel who took the front stage to show off their chops. After the solo performances they fell back into the vocal sections and finished off the song as a complete band. The second performance had a piano opening which led to vocals joining in at the same time as the rhythm section. This performance

As we all waited in line to go into the concert there was a thrill of

     For my second concert report I thought that I would write about my only experience hearing songs of the Beatles live. The Rib America Festival was hosted by The Beatles Live Repertoire. The group dressed exactly like the Beatles, even had the same names, John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I had never heard any Beatles songs live before, so that was enough to get me off my butt. Not to mention, it was free entertainment, not a bad time at all.

My mom and I go to concerts, it always ends up being a huge bonding experience. She had bought tickets for Skillet in Regina so on our way we were listening to all their albums. We had to stop for gas once we got into town and when mom went inside to pay this song came on. I had really liked it at the start so I had been listening to the lyrics really close; by the time mom got back the song had ended. Flash forward to the Encore of the concert, this song started playing. I was having a great time singing along to my new favorite song and mom looked over at me, shocked because she had never heard this song before. In conclusion the reason I like this song so much is because whenever I listen to it I remember this concert with mom. Also the lyrics just really hit home, they tell a story I want to listen to. What I didn't know walking into this concert was that Skillet is a Christian rock band. I'm sure they intended this song to mean God is here for us, and he knows who we are, we don't have to pretend or hide, but I took it a different way. I think of it as a couple having broken up and one person thinks really highly of their ex. They still feel like this person is their world, they hold the stars up, and calm the raging seas. Since they can do impossible tasks like this they believe if they wanted to this person could help them hold their heart in place, and calm the storm within them. I just think that this song could be really poetic.

This afternoon, I went to the music concert hall where is located in the music building for the listening hour, a small noon-time concert which is performed by the staff and students from the music majors. Since it is a free noon-time concert, most of the audiences just wear the t-shirts and jeans to the concert. Dresses are not required for the concert. The performance today is given by the Ananda Jazz Ensemble. They have played “Running Away”, composed by Bob Marley; “Madalena”, composed by Ivan Linz; “Conejitos y Ananda”, composed by Abi Romero; “La Bikina”, composed by Ruben Fuentes; and “Chukaro”, also composed by Abi Romero. Because this is a Latin Americdan Journey, all of the music performed is jazz music. All pieces played in the concert are an ensemble of piano, bass, and drums. During the concert, I was trying to be a perceptive listener; I enjoyed the music with concentration and paid attention to the music’s unity and variety, such as the dynamics and tempos. I also tried to associate the music with a picture when I listened to it and understand the emotion in the music.