Re: [Finale] OT: orchestral piece for education
At 6:54 PM +1000 4/18/10, Matthew Hindson (gmail) wrote: Dear listers, Something different: I'm racking my brains to give my 1st year beginner music theory students a public domain orchestra piece that is a good demonstration of the different instrument families of the orchestra and introductory score reading. My first thought was perhaps Jupiter from The Planets, or maybe something from The Nutcracker, but are there any other suggestions? Why public domain, if you don't mind my asking? Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide was designed for exactly that! But you can find good material in a lot of Tchaikovsky. The pizzicato ostinato movement of one of his symphonies (sorry, but I can't remember which one) is a beautiful example of contrasting the plucked strings, woodwinds, and brass sections, each with its own very fitting themes and motives. And of course his 5/4 waltz movement from another symphony is a masterpiece of non-standard meter, alternating 3+2 with 2+3 throughout, that was unequalled until Brubeck's Take 5! I'm not at all sure that The Planets would be my first choice, but we're presently preparing both Mars and Jupiter in concert band transcriptions, so that's the sound that's in my ears. And you might check with the people at W.W. Norton publishers. They have a CD (or maybe DVD) with excellent excerpts of individual instruments, although I'm not sure about sections, and if nothing else you might be able to get a listing of the excerpts they chose. All the best, John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts Human Sciences Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html We never play anything the same way once. Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: orchestral piece for education
On 18 Apr 2010 at 14:14, John Howell wrote: And of course his 5/4 waltz movement from another symphony is a masterpiece of non-standard meter, alternating 3+2 with 2+3 throughout, that was unequalled until Brubeck's Take 5! I don't know the exact level of the orchestra that this was asked for, but I recently heard a recording of a live performance of Tchaikovsky's 6th that gave me pause. It was the Gustavo Dudamel's Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra under the baton of Claudio Abaddo. It was a very nice sound, really crisp playing in the strings, excellent contributions from all other sections, too. But in the 5/4 waltz, they really didn't get it. Perhaps it was Abbado's fault, but I attribute it to youth. It's complicated getting the right feel for that piece. It's not quite the old Viennese waltz distortion of the rhythm, but there's something of that required to make it come off the page, seems to me. So, that was an extremely accomplished youth orchestra, and it was difficult for me to listen to it. I shudder to think what a beginner group would do to it! Of course, they have to start learning the subtleties of style somewhere, so as teaching piece, it might be very good. Not sure I'd want to hear a performance, though! -- David W. Fentonhttp://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: orchestral piece for education
Matthew Hindson (gmail) wrote: Dear listers, Something different: I'm racking my brains to give my 1st year beginner music theory students a public domain orchestra piece that is a good demonstration of the different instrument families of the orchestra and introductory score reading. My first thought was perhaps Jupiter from The Planets, or maybe something from The Nutcracker, but are there any other suggestions? Saint Saens, Carnival of the Animals. ns ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Re: [Finale] OT: orchestral piece for education
Matthew Hindson (gmail) wrote: Something different: I'm racking my brains to give my 1st year beginner music theory students a public domain orchestra piece that is a good demonstration of the different instrument families of the orchestra and introductory score reading. Since you're in Australia, and since Prokofiev died in 1953, Peter and the Wolf is also in the public domain. ns ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
