IDEAS ABOUT MUSIC
With the flyers advertising a cheese reception afterward, I spent the first few minutes in mouth watering anxiety, wondering whether the long drive and the chaos involved in finding the location of the performance would be worth it.
Despite our lateness, we managed to catch three songs, "Day Dreams," composed by Dana Wilson, "Vientos y Tangos" composed by Michael Gandolfi, and "Symphonic Dances From West Side Story" by Leonard Bernstein. Looking beyond the dissonant tones of the first movement of "Day Dreams," I noticed a phenomenon that I hadn't experienced in quite a while. The performers were moving. And not just tapping their feet to keep the beat, but actually moving their bodies as if they were one with the music. Coming from a high school band in which the a whole bunch of the members were just participating for a fine arts credit, it was a welcome relief to see people who cared about what they were performing just as much as I did. Needless to say, that display of emotion took my mind off the cheese for the rest of the concert.
All the music from this concert can be described as "modern classical," or plain, "concert band music." Obviously, any music written for concert band today cannot be called "classical music," because well, it's not really a classic if it's modern, right? That being said, this genre most likely takes its roots from classical music, since it incorporates instruments from that genre as well as adds its own. Saxophones, which did not exist in those days have happily found a place in this type of music.
The members were dressed in formal clothes, with the men in tuxedos but the women in black clothing. It seemed the women had much more freedom in their dress choices than the men. Why this was apparent is anyone's guess, but it is a universally known fact that men can really only look formal in tuxedos while women can really make anything look good.
With the lavish introduction to the bombastic conducting of Jack Delaney for the final song, I knew that this was a man that embodied this culture. If I mentioned the performers moved while playing before, it was nothing to how Mr. Delaney moved while conducting "West Side Story." In fact, he was all I and mostly everyone else could keep our eyes on.
There's seriously nothing more entertaining than watching people do what they care about. The cheese wasn't bad either.
Ramon Bagadion
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ACTIVITIES INVOLVING MUSIC
As the concert took place in a formal setting, a majority of the audience members dressed formally, and politely watched the performance with very little movement or speech. All phones were turned off, and anything that proved to disrupt the listening and absorbing process of sound was clearly disapproved of. There wasn't much audience-performer interaction, other than the appreciative applause resounding at end of each piece. The audience mostly consisted of “insiders,” or those invited by members of the orchestra, though “outsiders” were not unwelcome as they went rather unnoticed. A reception was held after the concert, where attendees gathered freely to discuss what they had observed and felt about the performance, all while enjoying the tasty Perrier and cheese provided.
Lily Kim
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REPERTORIES OF MUSIC
While the musical culture we set out to study was the classical music culture of SMU, this performance was by the Meadows Wind Ensemble, which did not really play legitimate "classical music," as I previously mentioned. Rather, this night's repertoire consisted of more contemporary concert band music that did stem from their earlier classical influences. The first piece was titled, Day Dreams, by Dana Wilson, which was a four movement piece paying homage to the life of that night's guest conductor, Frank Battisti. The second song was influenced by various tangos, and appropriately titled, Vientos y Tangos by Michael Gandolfi. The final piece was Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances From West Side Story, the most well-known and contemporary piece of the night.
-Program Notes. Homage et Fromage. Februrary 18,2011.
Ramon Bagadion
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MATERIAL CULTURE OF MUSIC
In this music culture the material objects used are mainly classical instruments and other accessories related to the music. The set-up of performances is relatively simple and the performers were dressed semi-formally in black. Every musician had their instrument, a music stand, sheet music and a chair if necessary. The conductor had a music stand, sheet music and a baton to conduct the band. I do not know where the instruments or accessories were made, but the chairs and music stands were probably borrowed from the SMU music department. The set-up of these performances is not extravagant because the focus of the concert should be listening to the music. At the end of this performance, there was food provided for the audience and performers in the lobby. It consisted of a unique variety of cheeses, crackers and fruit with sparkling water. It was a homage et fromage.
Natalie Hope
