Theory

Gustav Mahler: Mahler's Methods

Mahler said "Composing is like playing with building blocks, continually making new buildings from the same old blocks." Explore some of the most intriguing of Mahler's musical procedures.


AIR-DATE
April 2011
COMMENTS
8

Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
Musical Precedent

The way Shostakovich introduces his first motives gives us a hint as to their meaning. As the movement progresses, however, he transforms these motives in dramatic ways, changing things like tempo, instrumentation, dynamics, setting. Does doing so change their meanings as well?


AIR-DATE
October 2009
COMMENTS
0

Shostakovich: Symphony Number 5
Investigations

INVESTIGATING specific compositional techniques Shostakovich uses can help us better understand his musical language.


AIR-DATE
October 2009
COMMENTS
0

Ives: Technique IV:
Singing Along

One of the things George Ives asked the young Charlie to do was to sing very famous melodies while he accompanied him in a totally different key. He had to hold his own. In this experiment, stretch your own ears by singing  “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” in one key while the pianist plays it in another.


AIR-DATE
October 2009
COMMENTS
1

Ives: Technique III:
Piling It On

George Ives was Danbury’s bandmaster, and he was always trying quirky new musical ideas. One of the most famous was an extreme version of his piano experiments. He had two bands march toward each other, playing different songs in different keys and tempos just so he could hear what would happen when they collided…  In this experiment, see for yourself how it sounds when the two different marches collide.


AIR-DATE
October 2009
COMMENTS
2

Ives: Technique II:
Playing in the Shadows

“Father had a kind of natural interest in sounds of every kind, everywhere, known or unknown, measured “as such” or not, and this led him into positions or situations that made some of the townspeople call him a crank…”  One of the "crank-like" things George Ives would do was to play his cornet from different spots on the pond, exploring the relationship between distance and sound. This experiment recreates his experiment, playing with the sound of a band on shore and a lone trumpeter playing Taps.


AIR-DATE
October 2009
COMMENTS
4

Ives: Technique I:
Playing with Tunes

To George Ives, real music was made when people sang. He loved their enthusiasm, and he didn't care that they didn't always hit the pitches just right. One of his favorite experiments was to play a tune on glasses filled with just the right amount of water to make those "inbetween" tones. In this experiment, create your own "inbetween" tones. See how they change the feeling of the tune.


AIR-DATE
October 2009
COMMENTS
1

Primal Moves: Emotional Roots

Classical music’s expressive vocabulary begins with simple, direct emotions like joy, anger, wonder, sadness, then layers on a vast range of tone colors and compositional techniques that allow composers to extend these basis into a language capable of expressing te most suble variations of feeling. Explore the variations of emotion found in classical music.


AIR-DATE
June 2004
COMMENTS
2

Primal Moves: Match the Music

Though the tools of their trades are different, the arts share many techniques such as color, line, and form. Pair music and art to see and hear the interplay between visual art and music.


AIR-DATE
June 2004
COMMENTS
5
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