Music Journal # 1
Traci Nurcellari
Word Count: 601
Listening through this week’s music selection I am reminiscent of many childhood memories. I was very lucky to grow up in Columbus, Ohio where arts like ballet, live music and art of any kind was appreciated. The more unique a piece of work was the more praise it seemed to obtain. Balletmet was a renowned ballet company that performed several different ballets throughout the year. At Christmas time their key performance was, and in my opinion is still, the best rendition of Tchaikovsky’s’ “The Nutcracker” I have even been so gracious to experience.
Another one of my earliest memories of music was in second grade where I was asked in music class to sit and listen to an orchestra performance of “Peter and the Wolf” by composer Sergei Prokofiev. I remember the first time sitting there, eyes closed, allowing my imagination to listen as each instrument took on a different character. I remember how each of those characters almost seemed to talk. I could see the chase and felt the emotions of being scared, wanting to run away, fight even the sadness I felt when I thought the wolf had caught and eaten Peter. It has been over 20 years since I last heard “Peter and the Wolf”. I can still remember the vivid sounds of the timpani drums from the hunters’ gun, the playful flute of the Bird and the humorous oboe for Duck.
Listening to the “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” I am reminded of my childhood “Peter and the Wolf” as each of the instrumental sections awakens the playfulness in their instruments ability. For example Track 11 of the woodwinds where the flutes and piccolos come in light soprano tones; I am instantly swept away to imaginary forest, where the sun is shining brightly against a mid-summer sky, shade from the tall oak trees offer coverage and solitude from the suns’ rays waiting to burn my skin with their