James C Vincent II
Introduction to music
J. Tiner
MWF/9AM

Arkansas Saxophone Quartet On Sunday November 11, 2012 the Arkansas saxophone quartet played in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall at UALR. At a concert the audience must hold their applause until all of the pieces are finished. The concert room is a small auditorium that allows the instruments to be heard everywhere in the room. The performers were dressed in all black professional dress. There will be a change of attire due to the content of one of the pieces. The audience did not dress in a particular way. It was a free recital. One noticeable thing was that after every piece the baritone saxophone player empties spit out of what is called a spit valve. During the actual performances no one are to leave or come in until it is finished and the audience is clapping.
The first piece named Folk Dances by Dmitri Shostakokvich starts off in a marching band sound melody. It adds clarinet as the baritone goes back and forward. All of the instruments are in the same tune for the same two endings. After a while a triangle is then I mixed in for a small moment. The woodwinds then start to what I call “rattle snake” to introduce a new speed to the whole piece. The brass plays the smooth melody while the percussion keeps a simple beat that complements the sound great. After this is over the woodwinds began to mock the percussion in a way that it sounds like a guy riding a horse. What I mean by this is that the horse’s shoes hit the ground in loopier pattern. The piece reminds me of a carnival or a parade that has really began to freestyle and experiment with different tunes as it is played through. The next piece is called avec un sage decision by Florent Schmitt. It reminds me of a ghost house. All of the saxophones have their own tune that laps each other forming another melody. The clarinet is mixed in as its being played. Then there is a slight jump in pitch and it starts the same tune again. Assez lent is somewhat similar to the first one only a slight variation of the Baritone’s tune. Vif sounds similar in tune just a different variation of Assez Lent. The Body of Your Dreams is very unique and it also is very amusing. It mixes a commercial ad and classical music together. It’s like a remix of the original commercial ad with saxophones. The saxophones fill in the parts that are left open why the workout commercial. They also play rise by Steven Bryant. The majority of this piece had dark and mellow sounds. It reminded me of a roller coaster going down a mountain. The pitch then drops low then it goes loud. After that it seems that it goes out of control. It then levels out and goes back to the same dark tune. The last piece of the quartet is by Rudy Wiedoeft Suite. The first part Saxema reminds me of a very cartoony and older setting. The saxophones then sound very bright in which they restart from a low note. It is very much the same in the second part. The last part Saxophobia is fast and reminds me of a video fast forwarding. The tune is very good spirited and lively. After the Quartet finishes they bow and the audience claps. My experience was very great because it was better than I expected. It was not boring or annoying at all. To appreciate classical music it is a lot better to hear it in concert. I would go to another concert if I had a choice. It was very relaxing and the actual players sounded perfect. In The Body of Your Dreams piece they actually changed in to workout theme to match the setting of the commercial. I would recommend any one to go to a saxophone recital like this one.