PCMS Winter Choir Concert 2015

I was excited to go to the Pulaski Community Middle School winter choir concert on December 15! It's always so nice to see former students perform, and I was able to catch up with several of them after their concerts.

6th grade choir

7th grade choir

8th grade choir

7th and 8th grade combined choirs

The Pulaski High School Chamber Choir, directed by Ms. Elissa Richardson, sang some beautiful prelude music before the concert began. Here they are performing the Pentatonix arrangement of "Mary, Did You Know?"

The 6th grade choir was up after that! They opened the concert with Greg Gilpin's song "Can You Hear the Angels." This song included a few Lannoye/Hillcrest graduates as soloists!

The next piece was for the 6th grade handbell choir, which includes a few Lannoye/Hillcrest grads as well. Enjoy "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."

This was followed by a beautiful song that gave me chills. Two Lannoye grads are featured in "There is Peace," by Jim Papoulis.

The rest of the 6th grade concert featured some more great holiday music: "Up On the Housetop" (B.R. Hanby), "Love Came Down" (a beautiful partner song with "Away in a Manger," arranged by Ruth Morris Gray), and an audience singalong with "Our Winter Wonderland" (arranged by Audrey Snyder, including "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" and "Winter Wonderland"; it also featured two Hillcrest grads).

The 7th and 8th grade concert was up next! They opened with "Deck the Hall," arranged by Mark Patterson. The next song was "A Festive Noel," which Victor C. Johnson arranged with the traditional German carol "In Dulci Jubilo."

Next, we were introduced to an amazing 7th grade beat boxer!

He was also featured on "Christmas Toys on Parade," arranged by Mark Weston.

After that, the 7th grade women sang "Ring Silver Bells," arranged by Audrey Snyder.

Then the 7th and 8th grade bell choir performed "Silent Night" in between the 7th and 8th grade portions of the concert.

The 8th graders opened their portion of the concert with "Follow That Star" by Brian Lewis.

The 8th graders also sang "Mary Did You Know" (Mark Lowry, Buddy Green) and "Sleigh Ride" (arranged by Andy Beck) before the 7th graders came back onstage. The 7th and 8th grade choirs combined to perform "Christmastime" by Michael W. Smith and Joanna Carlson.

PCMS Winter Band Concert 2015

The 6th grade band has been playing since August, and they've been working hard! They opened the concert with "A Seven Note Medley," arranged by Bill Simon, which included Yankee Doodle, Old MacDonald, Lightly Row, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Ode to Joy. Every instrument got to play the melody on at least one song.

The 6th grade band's next piece was "Holiday Sampler," arranged by John O'Reilly and Mark Williams. This minute and a half medley included snippets of O Come All Ye Faithful, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, O Come Little Children, Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, and Good King Wenceslas.

"Holiday Sampler," performed by the 6th grade band, conducted by Mrs. Michelle Henslin

The final 6th grade piece was "Constellation March" by Joseph Compello. This piece had some fun drum breaks and a trumpet soli at the end. Six trumpets came out front to play the memorized soli. I was proud to see that two of them were former students of mine from Lannoye and two of them were former students of mine from Hillcrest!

The 7th grade band started their portion of the concert with "Star Wars" by John Williams, arranged by Doug Adams. The 7th graders have been an extremely dedicated group, taking advantage of extra times to come in and practice. This resulted in the band being able to learn triple meter, a concept they usually don't do until the spring. Thanks for the fun 6/8 piece, John Williams!

"Star Wars," performed by the 7th grade band, conducted by Mrs. Val Spaulding

"Sing a Song of Christmas," arranged by James Curnow, was the second piece on the 7th grade's program. It was a medley of Angels We Have Heard On High, Deck the Halls, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Sing We Now of Christmas. The students got all sorts of articulation practice on this one!

The 7th graders closed their portion of the concert with "Terracotta" by William Owens. This piece was written to portray the building of the Terracotta Army of ancient China, which took 700,000 workers almost 40 years to complete. Listen for the harmonic tension that represents the workers' stress.

Part of "Terracotta," performed by the 7th grade band, conducted by Mrs. Val Spaulding

The 8th graders performed four pieces. Their first piece was Sandy Feldstein's "Blues March." Their second piece was a Chip Davis (founder of Mannheim Steamroller) arrangement of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," featuring solo flugelhorn. James Kinyon's "Suffolk Celebration" was next on the program. This piece got its name because it was commissioned by a middle school in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. (I thought that was neat - my mom is from Hicksville, NY, which is close to Suffolk County. My grandparents, aunt, uncle, and a few cousins live in Suffolk County, and another uncle and a few cousins live just west, in Nassau County.) The final piece on the program was the lighthearted "Sledder's Carnival" by Len Orcino.

Part of "Suffolk Celebration," performed by the 8th grade band, conducted by Mr. Tim Kozlovsky

Congratulations to all of the middle school band students and directors on a well-performed concert! Best of luck for the rest of the year, and I look forward to hearing you play again on May 3!

Red Raider Showcase

On November 6th, the middle school and high school choirs performed for a packed house at the Red Raider Showcase. The show was phenomenal, and I highly recommend attending this annual event! I was glad to see current students in the audience and former students in the audience and onstage. It's amazing to see the growth of our kids and the immense amount of talent in Pulaski! Congratulations to the performers and their directors, Mrs. Amy Wright (PCMS) and Ms. Elissa Richardson (PHS), as well as everyone else who helped make the Red Raider Showcase a success.

The Pulaski High School Choirs started off the show with director Elissa Richardson's arranged medley of "Love Runs Out" and "Rumor Has It."

Up next was a student-composed barrel drumming feature (complete with costumes!) titled "A Work in Progress."

The third performance of the night was a self-accompanied vocal solo, "Warrior," by Demi Lovato.

The Treble Choir took the stage to perform "Wings" by Little Mix.

Composer Claude Debussy's piano solo Sunken Cathedral made an appearance.

The PHS Chamber Choir sang a beautiful a cappella Pentatonix song, "Run to You."

Two students choreographed a dance duet to "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees.

A student sang "Endlessly" by The Cab.

Look at all of these guys! The 7th-12th grade men joined forces to sing "Stand By Me." What a great way to build connections between the middle school and high school programs!

Up next was a vocal solo/dance duet with instrumental accompaniment: "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor.

The last song before intermission was the Green Day song "21 Guns," performed by the PHS Choirs.

Act II started with an '80s throwback! The PHS Show Choir performed "Footloose."

The next piece consisted of two vocalists (one of whom arranged the medley), a guitarist, and a percussionist. Destin played the cajon for this song - it's essentially a fancy box that you sit on while you play. The group performed a medley of "Thinkin' Bout You" (Frank Ocean) and "Sunday Morning" (Maroon 5).

Next, Ellis sang some Elvis - "If I Can Dream."

The 7th-12th grade women took the stage to sing Rachel Platten's "Fight Song," arranged by PHS choir director Elissa Richardson.

After the beautiful inspiration of the last song, it was time for some humor. If you weren't there, you missed a hilarious vocal duet with self-accompanied accordion and tuba. (Welcome to Pulaski, haha!) "Shaving Cream" by Benny Bell got the audience giggling, and sometimes even guffawing.

The PHS Concert Choir sang "Falling Slowly," arranged by one of the students.

The student emcees kept the audience entertained during the swift transitions, at one point resorting to using some didgeridoos. The whole concert was a touch over two hours, counting 21 songs and a 15 minute intermission. It flew by!

A dance solo to "Fortune Teller" was next.

The last solo performance of the night was "Angels" by Birdy.

The PHS Drumline made an appearance! They played a medley of drumline cadences, arranged by instructor Adam LeGrave and the drumline. I hear they got *glowing* reviews.

Drumline video: https://goo.gl/photos/2zeUf2XZ8C4deGWy6

The 7th grade, 8th grade, and high school choirs combined for a grand finale, "It's Time," by Imagine Dragons.

4th grade: Civic Symphony field trip 2015

Tomorrow, the 4th graders will be attending the Civic Symphony of Green Bay's school concert. The program will include some shorter versions of full pieces, so I wanted to share some videos for each entire piece in case you are interested in hearing them again (perhaps at the night concert!). I've also included some brief background info about the pieces they'll be playing tomorrow morning.

And God Created Great Whales

This piece by American composer Alan Hovhaness uses pre-recorded sounds of whales in addition to the voices from the orchestra. The video is over 12 minutes in length; we'll do the entire piece at the evening concert, but it will be a shorter excerpt for the morning concert. This piece uses a technique where the players in the orchestra each get a short series of notes to play, but the composer asks them to play that series many times, and in overlapping rhythms.

"CATcerto"

In classical music a concerto is a piece that features a soloist, either an instrumentalist or singer, and they usually stand in front of the orchestra. In this piece, the CATcerto, our soloist is Nora the Piano Cat. The composer had a video of Nora playing, and has written the orchestral accompaniment to match the music that Nora created. Our conductor will be watching the video to match up the live music from the orchestra to the recorded piano music from the video. It is similar to how orchestras used to provide music for silent movies 100 years ago.

Die Fledermaus

Die Fledermaus is an overture by the composer Johann Strauss. This video is 9 minutes long - we will play the entire piece at the evening, but at the morning concert we'll do just a short bit of the introduction. It is approx. the first 30 seconds of this video.  "Fledermaus" translates to "The Bat". The piece is about a man who dresses up in a bat costume for costume party, he is mentioned through the operetta as "Dr. Bat" by his friends, who are making fun of him.

Peter and the Wolf

Peter is the star of our concert, and you will hear his adventures told through the sounds of the orchestra. Our narrator is Stuart Smith, who will tell the tale of Peter as he leaves his yard, goes into the more dangerous meadow and encounters a mean wolf. With the help of some animal friends (a bird, a duck and a cat) and some nearby hunters, Peter comes up with a clever solution to his problem where nobody gets hurt. The music is by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.

During the evening concert, the Civic Symphony will also be performing movements from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens. 

Breaking Orchestral Ground in Australia

I saw this news yesterday and had to share it! When lots of people think about conductors (especially orchestra conductors), they picture men. Worldwide, fewer than a dozen women lead major orchestras. That's why I make it a point in class to share videos of multiple conductors like Gustavo Dudamel and Marin Alsop. 

Here's some news from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Australia: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexican-conductor-alondra-de-la-parra-makes-history-n454731. The news article has information plus a very short video. 

Here's my summary: Alondra de la Parra is a 34-year-old conductor who was born in New York and has lived in Mexico since she was two. She's traveled the world for music, conducting in places like Italy, Brazil, Sweden, Japan, Germany, France, and the United States. She just won the job of chief conductor and music director for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Australia! She's the first woman to hold that position in that ensemble, which is one of the three largest orchestras in Australia.

Here's a video of her rehearsing Arturo Marquez's Danzon No. 2 with the Orchestre de Paris last year. She was the first woman and the first Mexican to get that opportunity, which is neat. She's got some great facial expressions and some energetic left hand gestures! It looks like she would be a fun conductor to work with, especially with such a fun piece to play. I performed the band transcription of that my senior year of college, and it was a blast - we couldn't sit still while playing it! (In the video of de la Parra rehearsing it, you get a great view of the violas.) 

This is Gustav Mahler's 2nd symphony, which Ms. de la Parra will be leading the QSO in next year. In this video, she's conducting a Brazilian orchestra playing the same piece. The video is just a small section of the entire work, which is about an hour and a half long. Mahler (the composer) was known for writing very brass-heavy, long symphonies. Ms. de la Parra is excited to be performing it at the same age that Mahler was when he wrote it. 

DRUM CARD OPPORTUNITY: What is one thing that stands out to you about Alondra de la Parra's conducting style? (You can reply with your response. Be specific, and don't plagiarize from my descriptions.)

Buckets and Muffins and Thank Yous, Oh My!

To wrap up our year at Lannoye, we had an assembly last week.

Most of the spring 2015 bucket drummers

The original purpose of the assembly was to give our 4th and 5th grade bucket drummers a chance to perform the piece they've been working on, "Blue Muffin Tuesday" by Mark Shelton. Thanks to a generous bucket donation from Home Depot, we were able to do this in a simple and uniform fashion. (Thanks, Home Depot!) We were also able to share our performance video with the composer, who complimented us on having an army of buckets to bring his piece to life!

To achieve the different sounds, we played on the head of the bucket (the bottom of it), the rim of the bucket (the slightly raised edge of the bottom), the floor (or metal chairs, if you were in the back row), and the sticks themselves (clicking them together). Also, during the middle section where it goes into a half-time feel (the tempo doesn't change, but the emphasis does), you'll notice some group improvisation, trading twos between 4th graders and 5th graders.

Since we didn't want the assembly (which later added the PBIS Leadership student of the month awards) to be a two-minute hurrah, I found a cute song for Teacher Appreciation Month in Music K8. The entire school (K-5) learned it in secret to make it a surprise for the rest of the staff. During a couple of classes, all the kids took some time to write thank you notes to the people who have taught them things at Lannoye (including all staff positions, not just their classroom teachers). The kids had lots of kind, insightful, unprompted things to say! I assembled these notes into little party bags for the teachers and attached a cute "thanks for caring" poem. The bucket drummers hid them under their buckets until after the whole school surprised the adults with the song, then they dashed out and delivered the bags. Nearly 200 kids in the school, and they kept the secret for almost a month!! Surprise: Success.

This assembly was a great way to end our school year, and I can't wait to see what next year will bring!

As a way to show my appreciation for the work that the bucket drummers put into their performance, I spent a large portion of my Monday baking muffins...including blue muffins...for Tuesday. (Get it? "Blue Muffin Tuesday" was the name of their piece.) 11 dozen mini muffins later and a few hours of sleep later...the kids (and some teachers) demolished all of them!

Some of the kids asked for the recipes, so here they are:

For the blue blueberry muffins, I used THIS RECIPE and doubled it. I added a bunch of blue food coloring and used mini muffins (adjusting bake time to 15 minutes), and the doubled recipe made about 5 dozen of them.

For the (uncolored) banana muffins, I used THIS RECIPE (single batch). Since I made mini muffins out of them, I adjusted the bake time to 15 minutes. This resulted in about 6 dozen muffins.

I left an open invitation for the bucket players to eat lunch in my room or to just swing through for muffins before recess. I didn't get a picture with the whole gang, but here's the view from my desk partway through:

I'm very proud of what these kids have accomplished, and I'm glad that I could share my time and other interests with them the way that they've shared their time and growing talents with me.

Bolero: An example of ostinato

The 2nd graders have been talking about (and practicing their own) ostinatos (repeated musical patterns). Today, I showed them clips of the biggest ostinato example I know: Bolero by Maurice Ravel. Listen to the snare drum rhythm at the beginning. Then the flute comes in with a melody on top of it. The melody moves over to the clarinet, and the flute starts playing the same rhythm as the snare drum. This kind of trading around grows more intricate as the piece goes on, but the ostinato in the background never goes away. 

Check out this video and see if you can pick out the ever-present ostinato:

Jazz Appreciation Month: Scat Singing

As part of Jazz Appreciation Month, the younger grades got to read the book Freddie the Frog and the Flying Jazz Kitten.

In this story, Freddie the Frog and his best friend Eli the Elephant see a plane land on the other side of the Crocodile River. While exploring the plane that his friend was too big to board, Freddie the Frog accidentally flies away to a gig with five cool cats. The Flying Jazz Kitten helps him hold his own as she teaches him how to scat, though. Eventually he realizes that she disappeared during his performance, and he did just fine without her!

The students got to practice their own scat singing (musically making up their own nonsense syllables and sounding like instruments), and they got to hear other examples of scatting.

Here's a famous example of nonsense words, brought to you by The Muppets:

What about this famous scene between Baloo and King Louie?

Here's another example, from Ella Fitzgerald:

With some call and response added by Cab Calloway:

April Fools!

I found this video tonight and thought some people might enjoy it... Here's the "Duetto buffo di due gatti."

Next, enjoy some sportscast commentary by Peter Schickele, also known as PDQ Bach. (I'm pretty sure my Music Theory IV professor introduced us to this my sophomore year of college, and we listened to the whole thing during class.)

For more comedic music, check out WQXR's April Fools article!

Kids in music: Louisville Leopard Percussionists

You may have seen this floating around the internet, but this particular video recently went viral after rocker Jimmy Page shared it on social media:

Led Zeppelin medley

The Louisville Leopard Percussionists are a group of 60+ kids, ages 7-14, from 48 different schools in and near Louisville, Kentucky. They're broken down into smaller ensembles, including a beginning group, an advanced group, and a steel drum ensemble (link to video below). The students play a variety of percussion instruments, including marimbas, vibraphones, xylophones, steel drums, drum set, and auxiliary percussion (maracas, vibraslap, etc.).

"Firework"

"Crazy Train"

Live for Music

Happy Music in Our Schools Month! Enjoy this song by Shaun Canon, featuring Lindsey Stirling and footage from Drum Corps International.

How the Penguins Saved Christmas

Here are the concert videos from our 2014 holiday musical, How the Penguins Saved Christmas. (I'm posting both videos because of the double casting in two of the 5th grade roles.) Enjoy!

12:30 performance

2:30 performance

5th Grade Field Trip: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

On Tuesday, February 3, the 5th graders at Lannoye will be heading to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to see a performance in the MSO Youth Concert series (and visit Discovery World in the afternoon). This is a belated culmination to the students' instrument unit from the end of September through the middle of November. They took a break from instruments for our holiday musical (which will be posted in the coming weeks). Since returning to school after Christmas break, the students have been learning about the MSO and the pieces (and their composers) on the program.

TIPS FOR ACTIVE LISTENING
"To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also." (Igor Stravinsky, composer)

• Try to pick out specific instrument sounds 
• Remember facts from class
• See if you can predict what will happen musically - watch the conductor for hints
• Listen for melodies and see if you can remember one you can hum later. Can you remember 2? 3? More?
• If the music were the soundtrack to a movie, what would the setting be? What kind of story line would it have?
• Pick your favorite moment in the music to tell your family about later (but keep your thoughts to yourself during the concert - let your friends listen in their own ways)

ABOUT THE MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY (from MSO.org)
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Edo de Waart, is among the finest orchestras in the nation. Now in his sixth season with the MSO, Maestro de Waart has led sold-out concerts, elicited critical acclaim, and conducted a celebrated performance at Carnegie Hall on May 11, 2012. The MSO’s full-time professional musicians perform over 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state. Since its inception in 1959, the MSO has found innovative ways to give music a home in the region, develop music appreciation and talent among area youth, and raise the national reputation of Milwaukee.

The MSO is a pioneer among American orchestras. The orchestra has performed world and American premieres of works by John Adams, Roberto Sierra, Phillip Glass, Geoffrey Gordon, Marc Neikrug, and Matthias Pintscher. In 2005, the MSO gained national recognition as the first American orchestra to offer live recordings on iTunes. This initiative follows a 44-year nationally syndicated radio broadcast series, the longest consecutive-running series of any United States orchestra, which is heard annually by 3.8 million listeners on 183 subscriber stations in 38 of the top 100 markets.

The MSO's standard of excellence extends beyond the concert hall and into the community, reaching more than 40,000 children and their families through its Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, Youth and Teen concerts, Meet the Music pre-concert talks, and Friday Evening Post-Concert Talkbacks. Celebrating its 25th year, the nationally-recognized ACE program integrates arts education into state-required curricula, providing opportunities for students when budget cuts may eliminate arts programming. The program provides lesson plans and supporting materials, classroom visits from MSO musician ensembles and artists from local organizations, and an MSO concert tailored to each grade level. This season, more than 7,600 students and 500 teachers and faculty in 25 Southeastern Wisconsin schools will participate in ACE. - See more at: http://www.mso.org/about_mso/mission_history#sthash.wOotmbTu.dpuf

ABOUT THE CONDUCTOR (from MSO.org)

Lecce-Chong.com

American conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong, currently associate conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, is active with the orchestral and operatic repertories on the international stage. In his role with the MSO, Mr. Lecce-Chong works closely with renowned Music Director Edo de Waart and is directly responsible for leading over forty subscription, tour, education, and community concert performances annually. During the MSO’s 2012.13 season, Mr. Lecce-Chong took the podium for an acclaimed gala concert with Itzhak Perlman, led the orchestra through its statewide tour of Wisconsin, and conducted a special three-week series at Milwaukee’s Basilica of St. Josaphat.

A list of Mr. Lecce-Chong’s international appearances include leading the Hong Kong (China), Pitesti (Romania), and Ruse (Bulgaria) philharmonics and the Sofia Festival Orchestra (Italy). Equally at ease in the opera house, Mr. Lecce-Chong has served as principal conductor for the Brooklyn Repertory Opera and as staff conductor and pianist for the Santa Fe Opera. He has earned a growing reputation and critical acclaim for dynamic, forceful performances that have garnered national distinction. Mr. Lecce-Chong is a 2012 recipient of The Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award and The Presser Foundation Presser Music Award. He is also the recipient of the N.T. Milani Memorial Conducting Fellowship and the George and Elizabeth Gregory Award for Excellence in Performance.
As a trained pianist and composer, Mr. Lecce-Chong embraces innovative programming, champions the work of new composers and, by example, supports arts education. His 2012.13 season presentations included two MSO-commissioned works, two United States premieres, and twelve works by composers actively working worldwide. He brings the excitement of new music to audiences of all ages through special presentations embodying diverse program repertoire and the use of unconventional performance spaces. Mr. Lecce-Chong also provides artistic leadership for the MSO’s nationally-lauded Arts in Community Education (ACE) program – one of the largest arts integration programs in the country.
Mr. Lecce-Chong is a native of Boulder, Colorado, where he began conducting at the age of sixteen. He is a graduate of the Mannes College of Music, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree with honors in piano and orchestral conducting.  Mr. Lecce-Chong also holds a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied as a Martin and Sarah Taylor Fellow with renowned pedagogue Otto-Werner Mueller. He currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Follow his blog, Finding Exhilaration, at www.lecce-chong.com. - See more at: http://www.mso.org/about_mso/meet_the_orchestra/musician_roster/musician_detail?name=FRANCESCO%20LECCE-CHONG&instrument=Directors#sthash.BiVDhePU.dpuf

Also of note: Mr. Lecce-Chong was one of four conductors selected (out of more than 130 applicants from around the world) to participate in a conducting workshop with David Zinman at the end of January. http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/music/the-tip-of-the-stick-dos-and-donts-of-conducting

PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
Stafford Smith     Star-Spangled Banner
Copland               "Hoe-Down" from Rodeo
Gershwin             An American in Paris (excerpts)
Mozart                 Concerto in C major for Oboe and Orchestra, K. 314
                             I. Allegro aperto
                             featuring Julia Simpson
Traditional           Yankee Doodle (singalong)
Joplin                   Overture to Treemonisha
Copland               Lincoln Portrait (excerpts)
                            featuring Chief Flynn from the Milwaukee Police Department

STAFFORD SMITH - Star-Spangled Banner
The program will open with "The Star-Spangled Banner." To prepare, we reviewed what we already learned in September and practiced our SSB etiquette.
link to video with lyrics

COPLAND - "Hoe Down" from Rodeo

Wikimedia

Aaron Copland

1900 - 1990

• Born in Brooklyn, NY
• His older sister taught him piano; father wasn't musical, mother played piano
• Went to as many performances as he could
• At 15 years old, knew he wanted to be a composer
• At 21, moved to Paris to study composition; returned to America 4 years later
• Had a distinctive style and became known for modern composition techniques with American folk tunes, cowboy songs, church hymns, etc.
• Also taught composition students
• In the mid-1970s, started becoming quite forgetful. Diagnosed with Alzheimer's. By mid-1980s, lived at home with round-the-clock nursing care. Died of pneumonia shortly after his 90th birthday.
• Although he started late, Copland really liked conducting. "It's fun. It's well-paying. And you get applauded at the end. The orchestra does all the work and you turn around and take a bow. If you want to be nice, you ask the musicians to stand up, too, the poor dears."

Rodeo

1942

"In the 1940s, Agnes de Mille asked Copland to write a cowboy piece for her and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The result was the wildly successful ballet, Rodeo. The story takes place on a ranch and follows a cowgirl trying to impress the self-centered head wrangler. To attract his attention, she dresses like a cowboy and shows off her roping and riding skills. He still doesn't notice her. Finally, she catches his eye when she puts on a red dress and goes to the evening square dance, where she falls in love with a sweet and kind-hearted cowboy.

"The final scene is a lively square dance with the famous "Hoe-Down." This piece, one of the best known works by any American composer, has been featured in movies and ads. This movement captures the excitement of spirited country dance and fiddle music. Listen for the strings in the introduction - it sounds like the fiddlers tuning the instruments! Two main themes come from classic square dance tunes. The first is Bonyparte, played by the violins and violas. Next is Miss McLeod's Reel, played by the trumpets" (from the MSO's Teacher Resource Guide).

You might recognize "Hoe-Down" from the American Beef Council's commercials.

SafeShare link to the following video

GERSHWIN - An American in Paris

MasterworksBroadway.com

George Gershwin

1898 - 1937

• Famous for writing Rhapsody in Blue (remember that clarinet excerpt?)
• While growing up in Brooklyn, NY, was very athletic and assumed music was something girls did. At 10, figured out music was awesome.
• Left school at 15 to work 10 hours/day in music stores, practicing, writing, and trying to get published
• Became rich and famous at 19 - had a 14-room apartment with a piano in the gym, owned every music book of the time, was a major art collector, drove a Mercedes Benz
• Big ego, but somehow it charmed people instead of repelling them - "Great, isn't it?"
• "When I am in my normal mood, music drips from my fingers."
• Died of a brain tumor

Photo is my own, taken in summer 2008

An American in Paris

1928

• Inspired by Gershwin's 1928 trip to Europe (he was originally from Brooklyn, NY)
• Wanted to become a better classical composer, so traveled to Paris
• Later that year, the NY Philharmonic commissioned a new work from Gershwin
• An American in Paris is a symphonic poem
• Copland said, "My purpose here is to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city, listens to various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere."
• Some themes are repeated throughout the piece, depicting different moods
• “The opening gay section is followed by a rich blues with a strong rhythmic undercurrent. Our American… perhaps after strolling into a café and having a couple of drinks, has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness. The harmony here is both more intense and simpler than in the preceding pages. This blues rises to a climax, followed by a coda in which the spirit of the music returns to the vivacity and bubbling exuberance of the opening part with its impression of Paris. Apparently the homesick American, having left the café and reached the open air, has disowned his spell of the blues and once again is an alert spectator of Parisian life. At the conclusion, the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant.” (Copland's program notes about the piece, found on the LA Philharmonic's website)

SafeShare link to the following video

MOZART - Oboe Concerto in C major, Op. 314, movement I (Allegro aperto)

Wikimedia

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1756 - 1791

• Born in Salzburg, Austria
• Father was a famous violinist
• 1 of 7 kids; only he and his sister made it to adulthood
• While sister was learning harpsichord, Mozart would play the pieces she was learning without practicing
• Father took the 2 on a concert tour through Europe 1762-1771
• Worked as a court musician and freelance composer. Very popular, but didn't make a lot of $. Never had a steady job.
• Got sick and died young, but wrote over 600 works

Oboe Concerto in C major, Op. 314

1777

• Written in 1777 for an Italian oboist
• Rewritten one step higher for flute in 1778 for a Dutch flutist
• The Dutch flutist had commissioned 4 flute quartets and 3 flute concertos. Instead of writing a new 3rd concerto, Mozart just rearranged the oboe concerto...as a result, the flutist didn't pay him for that piece.
• Fun fact: Mozart didn't like the flute and didn't trust flutists.
• Some detective work was required to figure out that this solo originated as an oboe piece. 
• Cadenza at the end

Julia Simpson

Featured soloist

• Junior at Oconomowoc High School
• Won the 2014 MSO Stars of Tomorrow competition, so she got to perform the 1st movement of the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto with the MSO last spring
• Won the Waukesha Area Symphonic Band Concerto Competition
• Will be guest soloist in February with the Wisconsin Philharmonic, performing Mozart's Oboe Concerto
• Enjoys reading, studying, spending time with friends, and being a marching band drum major

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TRADITIONAL - Yankee Doodle

• Originally started during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), when British and American soldiers fought side by side
• The well-dressed Brits made fun of their rag-tag American counterparts. Dr. Richard Schuckburgh, a British surgeon, wrote verses ridiculing them, and set the words to an old English folk tune.
• The Americans embraced the song as a proud colonist anthem.
• Definitions: 
• Yankee: rash or lacking judgment
• Doodle: fool or simpleton 

JOPLIN - Overture to Treemonisha

Wikimedia

Scott Joplin

1867 - 1917

• Believed to have been born in Texas between June 1867 and January 1868; moved to MO
• Played piano and cornet (like trumpet, but a conical bore instead of a straight bore)
• Gigged for over a decade before going to college, then focused on composing
• Considered to be one of the best ragtime composers
• Ragtime: popular style of music in late 1800s that started in St. Louis (MO) and New Orleans (LA). Known for syncopated or "ragged" rhythm in the melody, steady rhythm in the bass. Predecessor to jazz.
• People who didn't like ragtime music said it was an addictive poison that caused permanent brain damage and ruined people's morals.
• You might know two of his famous piano solos, "The Entertainer" and "Maple Leaf Rag."

Treemonisha

1910

• Opera (all text is sung) - finished in 1910. Joplin wrote the libretto (text) and music. 
• Similar music to standard European operas (so, not a ragtime opera). Some ragtime style used to show "racial character." Like many French operas, includes a short ballet.
• Tried to get it professionally published, but ended up having to publish it himself in May 1911. 
• Tried to have it performed numerous times, but a full production wasn't successfully staged until 1972 (>50 years after death)
• Story takes place in rural black Arkansas in September 1884
• Main character is Treemonisha, the only educated person in her community
• She leads her townspeople away from others who prey on ignorance and superstition. She gets kidnapped and almost thrown into a wasp nest. Her friend rescues her. 
• The community then realizes the value of education.
• Joplin believed education was the key to equality for African Americans.

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COPLAND - Lincoln Portrait

Copland's biographical information is listed towards the beginning of this post.

Lincoln Portrait

1942

• After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, conductor André Kostelanetz commissioned orchestral works that would present "a musical portrait gallery of great Americans." Copland said, "The choice of Lincoln as my subject seemed inevitable."
• Copland used quotes from Lincoln, along with themes from folk song "Springfield Mountain" and Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races."
• 3 sections of Lincoln Portrait
• Part 1: "I wanted to suggest something of the mysterious sense of fatality that surrounds Lincoln's personality. Also, near the end of that section, something of his gentleness and simplicity of spirit." Main theme ("Springfield Mountain") in the clarinet
• No break before Part 2. Brighter tone and tempo to depict the place and time in which Lincoln lived. Main theme is "Camptown Races"
• No break before Part 3, where Copland combines the melodies and moods of the first 2 sections with narration
• The narration contains quotes from and about Abraham Lincoln. The piece has had many famous narrators throughout its existence, including Neil Armstrong, Bill Clinton, Aaron Copland, Al Gore, Tom Hanks, Katharine Hepburn, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Barack Obama, and Margaret Thatcher.
• You can find the narration here.

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