Free Essay

Music Paper

In:

Submitted By tybo15
Words 952
Pages 4
Ty Gilbertson 828811509
MU100 Ellins 2PM
Assignment #2

Holst: The Planets

Before listening to “The Planets” play list I was somewhat skeptical on how accurately Holst would portray each individual planet in music form. After listening to the songs I was impressed by how the artist personified each planet giving every planet a different tempo, instrument combination, and rhythm. My favorite songs were Mars and Mercury because Mars has faster tempo with strong horn and percussion sections and Mercury has an uplifting pace and pleasant string instruments. When I started listening to Mars I visualized an inter-galactic battle taking place with the song playing in the background. I didn't like Venus or Saturn all that well because of the somber tone and the slow pace didn't hold my attention as well. Overall I enjoyed The Planets play list and the artist did an excellent job representing all the planets in musical form.

Beyond the Score Video

In addition to the Holst the Planets play list, the Beyond the Score video, directed by Gerald McBurney, featuring Simon McBurney, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and conducted by Charles Dutoit, offers viewers a deeper more historical perspective on the musical piece. The video begins with a detailed look at Mars: The Bringer of War and how the uses of horns and trumpets have been used for thousands of years to frighten opposing armies before battle. In particular, the use of the bass oboe gives the musical piece the recognizable dark ominous tone. McBurney then introduces the circle of fifths and how each one is used in relation to another to give the Mars piece its signature rhythm. I really enjoyed the Mars piece because the song represents Mars' red rocky surface full of deserts and volcanoes well and was a fitting song for time period because Holst was in the midst of WWI.

The next piece that is analyzed is Venus: The Bringer of Peace. Venus is the closest planet to Earth and is similar in size and until recently we haven't been able to photograph the surface. As for the musical piece itself, it is more peaceful and somber with an emphasis on the woodwind instruments while still maintaining some of the same notes used in the Mars piece. In addition, Venus introduces the Hexatonic Model Scale, which includes the six highest pitched notes in the circle of fifths. Overall I didn't like the musical piece Venus as much, but after watching the video I gained respect for how Holst represented the human soul through Venus.

Next in line is Mercury: The Winged Messenger, Mercury features a more playful tone and consists of two separate rhythms. The musical piece of Mercury is fitting for the planets small mass and wondering orbit around the sun making Mercury seem more young and alive. Holst includes more range in the orchestra by including the glockenspiel and kettle drum in this piece. The video provides a helpful historical insight to Mercury and gives the music more depth which improves the overall experience of the Mercury piece.
After examining the smallest planet in the solar system, Holst makes the drastic jump to the largest planet, Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity. Jupiter being the largest planet requires deeper notes in the circle of fifths with strong emphasis on the large horns, such as the tuba, to give the piece a loud motivating feeling. Jupiter, with its' epic uplifting tempo, was featured as an English patriotic piece during WWI to give the common English person a sense of pride and optimism for their country. I didn't really pay that much attention to the Jupiter piece originally, but after watching the video and realizing the historical impact and I now see how significant and well done this piece really is.

Continuing with the large gas giant's, Holst then progressed to Jupiter's neighbor, Saturn: The Bringer of Old Age. Somewhat similar to Jupiter in size, Saturn differs because it possesses rings that are made of rocks, ice, and dust. As for the piece itself I found it to be somewhat boring and repetitive with a similar tone to Mars, but with a slower tempo. Even though Holst said this was his favorite piece, I would disagree because of the slow and sad pace. However, the women in the orchestra that are singing to the Saturn piece do provide a rich deep melody to the song at the end.

Expanding outward into the depths of space, Holst then introduced us to Uranus: The Magician the second to last planet away from the Sun. Uranus was actually discovered by a composer, William Herschel, and then McBurney reminds us the significance of the note G and how it has been used in every planet's piece before this. The Uranus piece uses the Whole Tone Scale which in a way mesmerizes and at the same time entertains the listener. I liked the Uranus piece, but not as much as the others because it is more sloppy and unorganized.

Finally, Neptune: The Mystic was not discovered by a person, but discovered by mathematics due to irregularities in Uranus' orbit. Holst uses the full range in the circle of fifths called the Augmented Triad instead of isolating one side or the other. The tone of this piece suggests utter stillness in a mysterious place. While, Neptune is the exact opposite tone of Mars they do share the same piece structure. I didn't like the Neptune piece because I thought it was dull and somewhat confusing at times.

In conclusion, I enjoyed the video and the producers did an excellent job of mixing the biography of Holst, historical insight about the planets, and incorporating the musical pieces.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Music Paper

...off with “O quam gloriosum est regnum.” This piece was written by Tomas Luis De Victoria, whom lived from 1548-1611. After studying the history of music, I could tell that this music was from the time period because there were fluctuations in the sound, yet the sounds did not vary as much as they did later in history. I also noticed that this performance did not have any musical accompaniment, thus making it A Cappella. From then on, I realized that the chamber choir is an A Cappella group. After this song, the group sang another piece of work from De Victoria and slowly worked their way to more recent works. My favorite piece in this concert was Magnificat, written by Arvo Part. This song was magnificent and I enjoyed the crescendos and decrescendos that the singers were able to accomplish while using Latin. The singers exerted great emotion while singing this piece and I could definitely tell the passion exerted through seeing the faces of the singers during the performance. I believe all of the pieces of the concert were great; however, Magnificat stood above the rest in my opinion because of the passion of the singers during the performance. Overall I enjoyed the concert. It was definitely a cultural experience since I did not know what a chamber choir was. Also, I was not sure if I would enjoy A Capella music, but I did enjoy it due to the variation. I thought the signing was beautiful, especially with the choir consisting of sopranos, altos, tenors, and...

Words: 362 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Music Term Paper

...Musical Experience You must either attend a live concert, watch a video or television performance, listen to an entire CD or watch a musical movie. You must only use something from this quarter for this assignment (not a concert you saw in another quarter). You may choose any type of music for this paper. Requirements for this Assignment: fill in the boxes below. Describe the Concert Setting and media (Video, CD, DVD, Live Performance): Grease | Date of concert, place of concert, name of group, programs provided, program notes provided, spoken remarks, include the names of all the selections: Date of Concert: June 16, 1978Place of Concert: United StatesName of Group: Grease CastProgram provided: DVDAny Spoken remarks: Various Movie QuotesNames of ALL the Selections you listened to: "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing""Grease" – Frankie Valli"Alma Mater""Summer Nights" – Danny, Sandy, Pink Ladies and T-Birds"Rydell Fight Song" – Rydell Marching Band"Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" – Rizzo and Pink Ladies"Alma Mater Parody" – T-Birds"Hopelessly Devoted to You" – Sandy"Greased Lightnin'" – Danny and T-Birds"La Bamba" – Ritchie Valens"It's Raining on Prom Night" – Cindy Bullens"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" – Jerry Lee Lewis"Beauty School Dropout" – Teen Angel and Female Angels"Rock n' Roll Party Queen" – Louis St. Louis"Rock n' Roll Is Here to Stay" – Johnny Casino and the Gamblers"Those Magic Changes" – Johnny Casino and the Gamblers; Danny sings along onscreen"Tears...

Words: 854 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Music Appreciation Paper

...Wallace did not have very good diction. The words he sang seemed to have country slang although it is German. Overall, Dr. Jones did a very good job at preparing his students to perform in front of a large crowd of people and I was impressed. One song I noticed that I did not like the most was “Come to my Garden,” from the musical, Secret Garden by Lucy Simon. Sydney Hough, soprano, and Katherine Brown, mezzo-soprano, sang this as a duet. This musical was on Broadway in 1991, making it one of the more contemporary musicals. I believe the more recent the musical the easier it is in some aspects because as music has progressed since Mozart and Beethoven, it lost the classical touch old music had – it loses the need for technique. . Sydney Hough began singing first, and was followed by Katherine. Sydney’s performance was very good; she seemed to be in sync with the music. Her tone was dark, and in her lower range was sometimes too airy. Katherine’s singing, I thought, was not good. Her diction was poor and her intonation with Sydney was poor. They harmonized towards the end of the song, and maybe out of nervousness or lack of practice, Katherine became flat and out of tune. I really did not hear much change dynamically, pulling away from the performance. Compared to the duet last on the program, this piece sounded very unprepared and mediocre. My favorite piece of the evening was “The Flower Duet,” from Lakmé sang by two sopranos, Jennifer Pagano and Shana Mayerand. The...

Words: 506 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Music Generation Research Paper

...The articles are related to music generation features referred papers based on high standard with detailed and informative purpose and claims in order to be reviewed by other peers. Music generation research has approach human and science to make our life become more and more completed in many ways to enhance human cognition, emotion, physiology and endocrine throughout the experiments and study . In this paper we will be analyzing the benefits and effectiveness of music interventions helps people in many other fields like computation, data machine, entertainment and especially human cognition. There are eight sources below to illustrate the range of task and main purposes of music applying the electrophysiological, biochemical measurement...

Words: 956 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Music Therapy Research Paper

...Music is more than hearing a favorite song on the radio or a popular artist on stage performing in front of thousands of people. Although that maybe a great way to start someone’s day, music is bigger than celebrities are. In today’s society, music is changing people’s lives. Music is now more capable of changing someone rather than just riding to tunes on the way to the grocery store. Music has served as medicine to help those who are incompetent, struggling with disabilities, the elderly, and children. Music is therapy. In a recent study, “The modem use of music therapy in hospitals developed during the 1950s in Europe and the United States. Many physicians began to use a multidisciplinary approach to medicine and, recognizing the soothing effect of music, provided music therapy to patients who were...

Words: 486 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Music Is Medicine Research Paper

...Genuine voices, is an organization that brings music to juvenile jails. They allow the kids to make music with trained instructors. This program is good for the children, because it can help make their time in the jail pass a little faster. It also gives the kids something to look forward to. Some boys are making songs for a program called “Music is Medicine” which is given to children who have terminal illnesses. These songs not only make the boy creating it feel better, but also make the child listening to it feel better. It is a common thought that the boys have nothing to contribute to society, but the “Music is Medicine” program is another example of how they could still help society. Wilkerson thinks that the reason society thinks...

Words: 288 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Country Music Research Paper

...The demand for country music song writers is fast increasing, with more and more musicians widely accepting that their country songs are in part the product of someone else's words or instrumental. The fact is that song writing, like many other art forms, tends to be a collaboration. You may have a great idea that can be clarified and perfected by working with a ghost writer or other musician. Country tunes, unlike most other genres of music, emphasize the lyrics. In country, the words make the song and usually tell as story. Country music song writers are known for straightforward yet unique lyrics that tell a story. People tend to associate country to feeling at home because there is familiarity in the words that attracts people to the songs. This is, to a certain...

Words: 411 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Music Paper Chapter 1

...I. INTRODUCTION I went to a concert held at Carnegie Hall in New York, New York, on Sunday, February 14, 2016. The concert was performed by The Cleveland Orchestra. It was an all-Mozart program conducted by Mitsuko Uchida. The concert performed 3 pieces of Mozart’s work: Piano Concerto No. 17, Symphony No. 34 and Piano Concerto No. 25. I chose to focus on the last piece played in the concert Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503. II. BACKGROUND OF COMPOSITION The work is a concerto completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on December 4, 1786, and it is the last of the twelve great piano concertos written in Vienna between 1784 and 1786. The concerto is one of Mozart's longest with a duration of about 33 minutes. It has the following three movements: Allegro maestoso, Andante in F major and Allegretto. The Piano Concerto No.25 concerto has long been neglected in favor of Mozart's more "brilliant" concertos, such as Piano Concerto K. 467. Though Mozart performed it on several occasions, it was not performed again in Vienna until after his death, and it only gained acceptance in the standard repertoire in the later part of the twentieth century.[1] Mozart's pupil, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, valued it, as can be seen in the influence it had on Hummel's own Piano Concerto in C, Op. 36.[2] III. FORM AND GENRE The concerto was performed by The Cleveland Orchestra, with the famous musician Mitsuko Uchida as the conductor and pianist. The Form...

Words: 609 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Music Therapy Observation Paper

...For my very first site observation, I visited the music therapy clinic on the sixth floor of Robert Glidden Hall. I got to observe Elyse Suhay MT-BC, holding a session with an 11-year old boy who has autism. It was amazing being able to see an intervention in real time. I learned a lot from this first observation. I picked this session to observe because I know I want to work with children after I graduate. I feel like this was a great site to do my first observation, because we were in a separate room from the client; so it didn’t make me nervous, or feel intimidated. The only thing I wish was different was the fact that the child knew we were observing from the next room over. A couple times during the session the child would run to the glass, and try to look through because the child knew we were on the other side. I feel like that was one of the major distractions to the child....

Words: 524 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Jazz Music Research Paper

...who loves listening to music on the radio and listening to the meaning of the lyrics and the story being told. For example, when I hear country music the meaning of the song can be identified pretty easily through the lyrics and how the artist uses different tones and emotion. When it comes to jazz music the story and meaning behind the song are hard for me to find. Before reading any section of the book I believe jazz is broken down into two sections, the sound from the instruments and the vocals to accompany the instruments. While today's country music focuses more on the lead singer, jazz has an emphasis on the singer along with the sound from the various instruments being played. For the most part, I think jazz is the combination of saxophones, trombones, and other wind instruments. Some Jazz pieces may include vocals, but the focus of the piece are the instruments and the sounds they produce as a whole. While there are different instruments in jazz bands the saxophone is the lead instrument that has center stage with the majority of the solos. While instruments are the main focus in jazz pieces there are jazz songs accompanied with lyrics. For the most part, I think jazz music implements lyrics into the music when the there...

Words: 497 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Listen To Music Research Paper

...Music is different for certain people and it means different things. Music is also a way of which sound expresses ideas, thoughts, and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, and harmony. I like with me when listen to music it makes me feel all different type of ways like maybe happy and sometimes sad. Music can make a human really emotion of it could take all of the pain away and make you feel so much better. When I listen to certain music there are different emotions certain music have different effects. The music that I relate to for comfort depends on the situation at hand. If I am in a situation that I know only God can see me through it, then I lend to Gospel. When listening to gospel I am feeling depressed...

Words: 378 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Loud Music Research Paper

...They say that music is the universal language. Regardless of where you are from or what your background, a good melody is something that everyone can enjoy and understand. There must be something behind that, right? For children, music provides many, many benefits. Experts agree, there are lots of good things about letting your child learn to play an instrument. Here are 10 reasons why your child should put down the remote and pick up a musical instrument. 1. It will boost their brain power  Want to give your child a mental advantage? Music can do that. "More and more studies show a correlation between higher academic achievements with children who are exposed to music," says children's music specialist Meredith LeVande of MonkeyMonkeyMusic.com....

Words: 735 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Christian Music Research Paper

...Christian Music is my favorite genre of music. Now, the term ‘genre’ means “a specific type of music, film, or writing” according to vocabulary.com, but my example is a little bit broader than the actual definition of a genre. The ‘genre’ of Christian music is a very broad and wide subject to cross. So, if I were to narrow it down a bit into more understandable ranges I could say my favorite genre was contemporary Christian music or pop Christian music. I chose this genre because it is what I listen to most. I listen to contemporary Christian music a lot because it is uplifting and makes me feel better and in a good mood. Sometimes I can apply the songs to my life and I get a creepy, weird sensation inside my body, throughout my veins, and...

Words: 752 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Music Sampling Research Paper

...2017 COPYRIGHT LAW REGARDING MUSIC SAMPLING. To: Producers and artists of Tone Def Records. From: Austin Nagel Date: 15 October 2017 Introduction Music sampling has been an integral part of the music industry since time immemorial. In the past, music sampling was freely allowed, but when songs containing sampled music turned out to be very popular, owners of the sampled music saw the need to copyright their music. With this, anyone who wanted to test any genre of music for commercial purposes has to seek permission from the copyright owner. Sampling music without the knowledge and go ahead of the owner of the copyright is an infringement of the copyright, the sound recording copyright, and...

Words: 1566 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Indie Music Research Paper

...Indie music represents a platform of music where no musician is turned away and creative boundaries are nonexistent. Though the Indie music movement has become quite common in today’s music industry, in the wider scope of history, independent music is a relatively new concept. The term was first coined in England during the early 1980s as a way to differentiate between “mainstream” music recorded under public labels and “non-mainstream” music recorded under independent labels. (“Indie Rock Music” Para 1) Deborah Cohen explained the definition perfectly by saying, “The approach was anarchic and participatory: the idea (at least theoretically) was that anyone could get a band together, learn to play, and maybe even press a record and take the...

Words: 651 - Pages: 3