WHAT WE DID TODAY (SEMESTER #2-17): THURSDAY; FEBRUARY 24, 2011

GENERAL MUSIC PERIODS 2, 3, 6:
SUBSTITUTE TODAY

OBJECTIVE: PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS
1. Watch film about percussion instruments: "MUSICAL ENCOUNTERS: PERCUSSION"
.....a. Students to take down 15 important facts will help of the teacher
.....b. Before beginning, teacher reviews how to take notes effectively
.....c. Review of notes I took on this film are located on this Blog (http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6233607564678139674&postID=3203417336970149174)

2. After the film, if time, percussin instrument worksheets (http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6233607564678139674&postID=8720473478311785350)are passed out and worked on.
.....a. If not finished will continue on Monday.

BEGINNING VIOLIN PERIOD 5 and ADVANCED VIOLIN PERIOD 4:
OBJECTIVE: EXPERIENCING A LIVE ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE
1. Field trip to the Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles
2. Topic: Jazz and the Orchestra demonstrated by the musis of George Gershwin
.....a. "Rhapsody in Blue"
http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2980
.....b. "An American in Paris"

..........1)An American in Paris is an extended symphonic tone poem
.............a)A tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section (a movement) in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another (non-musical) source
.............b)It is illustrated or evoked by the American composer George Gershwin who wrote it in 1928.
.............c)The music was inspired by the time Gershwin had spent in Paris evoking the sights and energy of the French capital in the 1920s.
.....c. It is one of Gershwin's best-known compositions.

Gershwin collaborated on the original program notes with the critic and composer Deems Taylor, noting that: "My purpose here is to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere." When the tone poem moves into the blues, "our American friend ... has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness." But, "nostalgia is not a fatal disease." The American visitor "once again is an alert spectator of Parisian life" and "the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant."

An American in Paris is scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in B flat, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, triangle, wood block, cymbals, low and high tom-toms, xylophone, glockenspiel, celesta, 4 taxi horns, alto saxophone/soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone/soprano saxophone/alto saxophone, baritone saxophone/soprano saxophone/alto saxophone, and strings.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_in_Paris and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_poem)The idea that this music was based upon was expanded into a film musical format in 1951winning Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Musical Score, Best Story and Screenplay, Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Best Color Costume Design.(http://www.filmsite.org/amer.html)

http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2983