The concert in a whole was a very soothing to me because when I went there I was ere hyper and tense, but as the pieces were being played out, I became very relaxed and sleepy. This concert was a little different because in the beginning, the conductor went through a lecture of the Mexican baroque period. After he went through all of the material, they sang 5 songs and left. It was very Interesting to learn about the music as it was heard and I think this is a very effective way to teach people about music and let them learn through personal interaction.
Most of the songs were sang mostly by the higher pitched singers so It made us very sleepy. I had to wake up my friend who came with me because he was snoring! The first piece that was played was “Beats IVR” with Brian Gloss as the cantor. A cantor is the person who leads a congregation in singing. At the end of the performance, the 2 cantors were given special recognition because of their remarkable presentation. In “Beats IVR,” It started with both guys and girls singing, and ended in jus guys singing. The melody of this tune began slow and then got faster and faster as it progressed.
There was a wide array in the dynamic of the piece. Sometimes they would be singing softly, then abruptly they would all get loud all together and that added to the variability which is essential to musical piece. Also, In the first two pieces, Including this one, one person one sing (the cantor) and then everybody would sing after he did one line. The second piece they sang was “In Invention Seance Crisis,” with Ryan Matthew Hadley as the cantor. Just like the first piece, the cantor would sing a few lines, then everybody would Join In and sing together.
All of these pieces were sung In Mexican o it was very hard to understand what meaning they were trying to get through to the audience. They did not sing very loud throughout this piece and the melody was a little bit fast. The third piece that was played was “Pang Lingua. ” This song reminds me of when I am in church. Everyone sings loud and there is no one person that sings first and is followed. There is a lot of confusion in this song because everyone is singing something different and they are all very loud. I did not like this piece for that reason.
I don’t know If that Is how It’s supposed to be played, but I think It would have sounded better if only some people sang loud and other people sang soft so the attention could be focused on the people singing loud. The fourth piece played was “Knobs Dates. ” The third and fourth pieces, the scants flumes was the same. Scants firms Is the pre-existing melody taken from the chant piece. However, the scants firms In the third piece was sang by the tenors and the scants flumes in the fourth pieces was sang by the soprano part. Both of 1 OFF abrupt. This is when my friend woke up from his short-lived nap.
The fifth and last piece played was “Even Creator Spirit’s. ” In this song, the pitch Mould go up, down, down again and then back up. This one was very soothing like the first two and had no cantor. One thing I also noticed was that one person would play a note on a harmonica before every song, and I reasoned that he did that was to make sure everyone was in tune. Overall, the conductor told us a lot about the history of this type of music. There Mere many composers from back then who made this music such as: Pedro Bermuda, Gasper Fernando, and Francisco Athenian.
This type of music was important religious service in the Baroque period. These verses where homophobic, lust like the pieces they sang, and they were usually chanted by men. The chant Mould be the basis of the melody. This music is very old and usually when they transcribe this music, errors are made in copying. These errors in copying caused problems in harmony. I learned from this concert to not only listen to big orchestras, but also different choral groups because their talent is greatly appreciated when they can sing efferent languages and sing them effectively.
If they were to perform again, however, I think I wouldn’t go see them play only because I do not like baroque music as much as I thought I would and I rather enjoy music with a large orchestra. This Nas my first baroque concert and it wont be my last. I do appreciate baroque music more than I used to by attending this concert though. Next time I go to a concert, I Mould really like to hear some instruments accompanied with the vocals. Other than that, this concert was a great experience for me.