(not) The Official Edvard Grieg

I like them a whole lot! (Especially Dvorak, but Grieg is really nice too!)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-k-get-to-her-music-competition&rcid=r01-156782343893-ee6f43dbe84d4cf1&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_m

(C. Alan Publications)

Dances from ‘The Morning of the Year’ by Gustav Holst

arr. Geoffery Brand for Wind Orchestra (Grade 5)

“In 1927 Hoist composed the music for a ‘choral ballet’, […] This interesting project was inspired by Douglas Kennedy, who provided the scenario and also arranged the traditional dances that were performed during the ballet. Hoists friend Steuart Wilson wrote the words for the choral sections of the piece. […] In his notes for a CD that includes The Morning of the Year, as well as The Golden Goose, Raymond Head states that the Scottish composer Granville Bantock was the first to use the term 'choral ballet’, and suggests that there was a conscious attempt on Hoist’s part to link back to the 'Balletts’ of Thomas Weelkes and Thomas Morley, which combined dance and song. The Morning of the Year has the distinction of having been the first piece of music to be commissioned by the music department of the newly formed British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC]. Its first performance was as part of a concert given at the Royal Albert Hall by the National Chorus and Orchestra, which was broadcast live, on the evening of 17 March 1927. It was sandwiched between two pieces by Arthur Honneger and the two composers each conducted their own works. The reviewer for The Times […] wrote, 'about the only thing we can venture to say is that it is full of good tunes treated in the ingenious, reiterative style which the composer has made his own. As The Morning of the Year is really a ballet, and was, of course, given without action, and as the words of the choruses could not be heard from the other end of the Albert Hall, we came away with only a vague notion as to what it was all about, but with the feeling that we should probably enjoy it if it were given with its proper stage accompaniment. The ballet was first performed with its dances at a private concert held at the Royal College of Music on 1 June 1927. The dances were performed by members of the EFDS [English Folk Dance Society] under the leadership of Douglas Kennedy. The Times critic was more impressed by the music than the dances, although he considered the performance of the EFDS dancers to be 'very finished’. He felt, though, that 'before an art-ballet can be created out of our folk dances, a more elaborate technique will have to be evolved’. The Daily Telegraph critic was more enthusiastic, describing the outcome as 'very nearly a perfect art form’, although he did concede that some aspects of the performance needed further work.89 This performance was, in effect, an open dress rehearsal for the public performance at the Scala Theatre later in the month.” (Source)

“The piece was not received well with the critics. The Daily News called the piece, “terribly confused artistically.” Michael Short wrote “the 'Mating Dance’ is too bland and folksy, and lacking in any sexual energy.” Holst was somewhat annoyed by a report which appeared in the press after a concert, and wrote to Percy Pitt: I was sorry to read in the Evening News that I consider the new ballet my best thing since The Planets. I certainly don’t and if I did I would keep it to myself. I did tell one or two men privately that I thought it was the best thing I had written in the last two years which is a very different matter.“” (Source)

Jazz teaches improvisation skills, and introduces students to extended chords and harmonies. It also uses swing eighth rhythms, which is challenging to players who are used to straight eights in classical music.

Rock and pop music use lots of syncopation and teaches how to feel the offbeat and how use this feeling to lock-in rhythmically with the other players. These genres also influence the music of musical theatre.

Country has it’s roots in the music of Appalachian fiddle music, which uses techniques that classical violinists don’t use.

Not to mention, the racial disparity between the music of classical Western tradition and popular music from the 20th century makes it blantantly obvious that we’re supposed to believe that European art music is superior to other types of music. How can we fairly say that Bach is one of, if not the greatest composer who ever lived when the likes of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and even Michael Jackson have all changed the game? Bach’s music all sounds like it wants to sell me the new Nissan Altima, but sure, he’s the musical genius.

I’ve noticed that band programs don’t have this culture of elitism as much as orchestra programs do. Most schools in the US have a marching band program, and the music they play is popular music. the show for this season at my school was Beach Boys, and next year’s is 80s. Band kids also have the option of joining jazz band, and still get to learn classical repertoire in concert band.

Orchestra, on the other hand, has a reputation for being full of pretentious, classically trained since birth, uppity snobs who look down upon music of the masses. The only “real” music is music from dead European guys who lived between 1650-1900. But you know what? The music that got us the most excited and most interested in playing was always arrangements of popular music.

Orchestra kids are so hungry for new and exciting music. I played Mozart’s Symphony 25 every goddamn year in high school. By senior year I could play it memorized. I was so tired of playing the same old shit, and I know kids today are too. We don’t get the same opportunity to be exposed to new music like band kids. I got told that wanting to play musical theatre was “an unrealistic career” and to “not waste my time trying” by my high school orchestra director. He also said that learning to play the Beatles’ on my cello was “not worthy of performance, unprofessional, and a waste of talent.” This kind of condescension of popular music is rampant in orchestra culture.