Wednesday, February 21, 2018

[02] chapter 18 - the early 18th century in italy and france



13 Feb 18, 20:47

I'm again in Moonleaf Maginhawa for internet and because I can never be progressive in the comfort of my bed at my boarding house. My crush ain't here (he also goes here for internet), but two of my batchmates from music are. I actually don't like the drinks here. They're so damn sweet and artificial, there's no variation in texture at all it's just so uninteresting can I ever finish their drinks happily zzz. I think this project blog is pretty useful. I'm okay with writing lengthy and I think I'm decent at writing. I also have a desire to get better at it because I don't want to be just decent, I want to be good (in my terms). I have to try hard not to post wrong information so I really have to read and google things to understand better. It also helps lay thoughts/ideas/info and retain them and boi I really need that because I'm spending time and money in these music literature classes I'll feel bad if I forget them.. I've had moments with fellow college of music people who're like "I studied that before but I forgot now" and I don't want to be that. Even if I'm not the most interested and fascinated and eager, I'm still trying to avoid feeling bad/regretful about some things. What's important is I get the ideas across (for my sake really when I'm reading this from the future). I also think this is good distraction (but it is also difficult for me to get myself in the right environment and mindset/state to want to start mo v  i   n    g     .      )

Soo this chapter talks about Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, François Couperin, and Jean-Philippe Rameau. Didn’t know who the last 4 ppl were to be honest. I’d just hear their names sometimes. As for Bach, well I thought his music was classical. It's actually Baroque, and all the rest mentioned above as well, as they're from the Baroque period. I suggest listening to Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach because it’s definitely something you’re going to be familiar with (for non-musicians. I only learned that that is its title two days ago). 

Toccata is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections,” (i.e., it’s fast, shows how skilled the performer is) and 

“a fugue is a compositional procedure/technique characterized by the systematic imitation (repetition of a melody in a polyphonic texture shortly after its first appearance in a different voice) of a principal theme (called the subject) in simultaneously sounding melodic lines (counterpoint).” 

Afterwards, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I like this a lot because it’s so thematic especially with the circle of fifths progressions (reminds me of those romance dramas I watched in my high school days). My favorite from the four is “Winter” because of the technicality required from the soloist. I go oooooohhh watching videos of the soloist perform. In general though, Four Seasons I think is a masterpiece! I think the ritornellos (recurring phrase, main theme), episodes (not main theme but adds to the overall construction), tutti (part where all instruments are played). All those go so well/perfect together/at the right time and I am drawn into the music/get lost in it/become unaware of the time.

About the Four Seasons
       - written about 1720/1721, a group of four violin concertos (musical composition in which a solo instrument is set off against an orchestral ensemble. Typically a cycle of several contrasting movements integrated tonally and often thematically), each of which gives musical expression to a season of the year
       - unusually for the period, Vivaldi published the concerti with accompanying sonnets (Italian “sonetto”/“little poem”. a poem with 14 lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure which originated in Italy)
       - stands as one of the earliest and most detailed examples of program music—i.e., music with a narrative element

I read that, if you wanted to show one person off while still letting the [perhaps] less skilled musicians perform, do a concerto! Vivaldi also worked at a hospice in Italy, where he taught homeless girls music. Concertos served both as entertainment for the people and as lessons for his students of different skill levels. I think Vivaldi was a really great teacher and wanted all the best to his students.  

Now let's check out Rameau. This French guy was one of the most important music theorist in da world. He coined the words tonic (the center of tonality, the note you go home to/want to go home to, subdominant (5th below tonic), and dominant (5th above tonic), and that these three were the pillars of tonality. He said dissonances create tension, while consonances are resolutions. 

oooOkey my butt is tired from sitting and I wonder what happens if I asked this place to play music from this metal band I really love (Deftones). Ooh now they're playing the hit "Let Her Go" by Passenger and it got so silent here @ _ @ I wonder if that song's nostalgic for the ppl here. Uh I will continue this another time I just cant anymore i i i i sleep

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