Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in place of the live concert attendance report, watch a video of a live symphony orchestra concert, or a ballet, opera, or musical performance. The video must be a full c
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in place of the live concert attendance report, watch a video of a live symphony orchestra concert, or a ballet, opera, or musical performance. The video must be a full concert performance, typically about 2 hours long. If you choose to watch a video of a ballet, opera, or musical, choose a video that clearly shows the seating arrangement of the musicians. The performance must be by a professional company. High school performances, band concerts and jazz concerts are not acceptable for this assignment. Email Dr. Yumae to make sure your video selection fulfills the Concert Report requirements.
If you choose to watch a symphony orchestra concert, be sure it is a traditional symphony orchestra like the one we study in Class 8: Orchestral Timbres. You may not write about a wind ensemble, concert band, wind orchestra, jazz orchestra, a mandolin orchestra, a popular group that uses ‘orchestra’ or ‘symphony’ in its title (Symphony X, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Alive Music Orchestra etc.). The performance must be by a professional company, not a high school, middle school, or elementary school group.
Your Assignment
You are to write the equivalent of a 5-page report (about 1250 words) giving a thorough review of the concert you attended. Please write your report as an essay, using complete sentences and paragraph form. Your review must include the following:
- The name of the musical ensemble that you observed, the date of the performance, and the location.
- What kind of listener were you at the concert? Why?
- What pieces were performed? List the title and composer of each piece.
- What was the historical style of each of the pieces performed?
- What was the instrumentation of the orchestra in each piece? This may change from one piece to the next. You will need to go online to research this information.
- Hand draw the seating arrangement of the instruments in the orchestra. If the instrumentation changed during the concert, draw out the different seating arrangements used for each piece performed. Be sure to label each drawing with the names of the specific instruments.
Analyze each piece played in the concert using the following criteria from our C4Elink lectures:
- Unity and Variety
- Structure of the Music
- Purpose of the Music
- Tempo
- Volume
- Rhythm
- Melody
- Harmony
- Form
- Historical Period
