EIU Wind Symphony Concert Report
I attended the EIU Wind Symphony concert on December 4, 2015. It started seven in the evening and was in Dvorak hall in the Doudna Fine Arts center on Eastern’s campus. Alicia Neal was the conductor of the symphony. It was a symphony composed of some of Eastern’s best music majors and it showed their skill throughout the entire performance.
The symphony was composed of woodwinds, brass, and percussion. On the woodwinds, they had piccolos, flutes, oboes, bassoons, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and bari saxophone. The brass instruments they played were the English horn, trumpet, horn, trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, and tuba. The percussion was spread out throughout the stage and many of the performers ran back and forth in order to hit the next note with the correct instrument. The percussion instruments included snare drums, timpani, cymbals, xylophone, marimba, chimes, a woodblock, and many other various percussion instruments. They …show more content…
played six musical works and had an intermission in-between them. Puszta: Four Gispy Dances was the movement they played before the intermission and it consisted of four movements and lasted about eight minutes. Rocky Point Holiday and Down A Country Lane were the pieces played to open up the show. They were both short pieces and captured a vibrant picture of the outdoors for the listeners. After the intermission they played “Scherzo” from Petite symphonie and Joy Revisited. For their last song, they played Zion by Dan Welcher. Every song was different in some way and made the symphony come together.
Puszta: Four Gipsy Dances by Jan Van der Roost was an upbeat song that got people to interested. Jan Van der Roost was a Belgium composer who was born in 1956. (Stehle, Roy) He was born into a musical family. His father was conductor of a few small ensembles and his mother say with a choir in their town. (Stehle, Roy) He went to school for music at the Lemmens Institute where he was highly praised for his work. (Stehle, Roy) Roost also continued his education and allow attended the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Antwerp. (Stehle, Roy) He later went back to where his roots came from and became a professor at the Lemmens Institute. (Stehle, Roy) The Puszta incorporates the sounds of Hungarian folk dances. It was an original piece composed in 1987, it has melodies, and themes that Roost created himself (“Symphony Band”.) The Puszta is the Hungarian prairie where shepherds and horseman tended to settle.
Puszta by Roost had a homophonic texture and a fast tempo that catches the listener’s ears.
It was a character piece because it gave the listener a chance to visual the horseman, Shepherds, and gipsies in the Puszta. The song was filled with consonance and was performed in the major key. The tempo tended to vary a lot but it was mostly fast. The tempo made the listener want to get up and start dancing. The melody was conjunct and extremely tuneful. It’s melody sticks in the listeners head days after hearing it. The first movement was a comfortable tempo. The second movement was a smoother and softer tempo making the piece slow down for a while. The third movement’s tempo was fast and made listener sit back in their seats because the transition from the second to the third was so quick. The fourth and final movement’s tempo was fast and sounded as though it had an accent on it. Puszta: Four Gipsy Dances was overall a fast song with a tuneful melody that left the listener feeling uplifted and
happy.
Personally, I loved this piece. It was vibrate and colorful. It sounded like a fun song to dance to. In fact, the little girl in front of us had no shame in getting up from her seat and started jumping up and down with music. The symphony was fantastic. I was baffled at how much skill they had and the fact that most of them are around the same age as me. I could never imagine having that much talent. The conductor did an amazing job of explaining the piece before they played them and arranging the set list. Overall, I am glad I took this class and was able to experience the concert.
The symphony was composed of woodwinds, brass, and percussion. On the woodwinds, they had piccolos, flutes, oboes, bassoons, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and bari saxophone. The brass instruments they played were the English horn, trumpet, horn, trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, and tuba. The percussion was spread out throughout the stage and many of the performers ran back and forth in order to hit the next note with the correct instrument. The percussion instruments included snare drums, timpani, cymbals, xylophone, marimba, chimes, a woodblock, and many other various percussion instruments. They …show more content…
played six musical works and had an intermission in-between them. Puszta: Four Gispy Dances was the movement they played before the intermission and it consisted of four movements and lasted about eight minutes. Rocky Point Holiday and Down A Country Lane were the pieces played to open up the show. They were both short pieces and captured a vibrant picture of the outdoors for the listeners. After the intermission they played “Scherzo” from Petite symphonie and Joy Revisited. For their last song, they played Zion by Dan Welcher. Every song was different in some way and made the symphony come together.
Puszta: Four Gipsy Dances by Jan Van der Roost was an upbeat song that got people to interested. Jan Van der Roost was a Belgium composer who was born in 1956. (Stehle, Roy) He was born into a musical family. His father was conductor of a few small ensembles and his mother say with a choir in their town. (Stehle, Roy) He went to school for music at the Lemmens Institute where he was highly praised for his work. (Stehle, Roy) Roost also continued his education and allow attended the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Antwerp. (Stehle, Roy) He later went back to where his roots came from and became a professor at the Lemmens Institute. (Stehle, Roy) The Puszta incorporates the sounds of Hungarian folk dances. It was an original piece composed in 1987, it has melodies, and themes that Roost created himself (“Symphony Band”.) The Puszta is the Hungarian prairie where shepherds and horseman tended to settle.
Puszta by Roost had a homophonic texture and a fast tempo that catches the listener’s ears.
It was a character piece because it gave the listener a chance to visual the horseman, Shepherds, and gipsies in the Puszta. The song was filled with consonance and was performed in the major key. The tempo tended to vary a lot but it was mostly fast. The tempo made the listener want to get up and start dancing. The melody was conjunct and extremely tuneful. It’s melody sticks in the listeners head days after hearing it. The first movement was a comfortable tempo. The second movement was a smoother and softer tempo making the piece slow down for a while. The third movement’s tempo was fast and made listener sit back in their seats because the transition from the second to the third was so quick. The fourth and final movement’s tempo was fast and sounded as though it had an accent on it. Puszta: Four Gipsy Dances was overall a fast song with a tuneful melody that left the listener feeling uplifted and
happy.
Personally, I loved this piece. It was vibrate and colorful. It sounded like a fun song to dance to. In fact, the little girl in front of us had no shame in getting up from her seat and started jumping up and down with music. The symphony was fantastic. I was baffled at how much skill they had and the fact that most of them are around the same age as me. I could never imagine having that much talent. The conductor did an amazing job of explaining the piece before they played them and arranging the set list. Overall, I am glad I took this class and was able to experience the concert.