Chopin

On the 24th of November, I went to one of the Brussels Chopin Days concerts, at the Royal Conservatory. This one was performed by Zlata Chocieva.

In the lower balcony seats of the audience, there was an artist painting what I assumed to bean abstract representation of the music: vibrant, lively colorful, and so full of character. Chocieva's performance was inspiring to see. Not only for the artist, but also for an amateur musician like me.

The way she smiled or grimaced when there was a happier tone in the music, and the movements of her body followed the character of the music so precisely made it clear to me that she was not only very experienced in giving concerts, but also was having a lot of fun.

The Music of Afghanistan

Learning about another country was enjoyable. I had no idea that Afghanistan had such a rich history. We learned about the Soviet invasion, the Mujahideen, and the Taliban. The Afghan people endured truly terrible things.

It was nice to hear the music from the country. I enjoyed learning about music which was in modal scales, neither major nor minor. this inspired me to work on my research project.

On the Town

On the Town was Leonard Bernstein's first ever musical, and it was an interesting start to the school year, reminding us of the last thing we studied previously: the musical techniques used by Bernstein, such as leitmotif, which was a reocurring theme in the course.

What I hope to achieve in my final year of high school

I have always had a passion for music, so I have decided to pursue it more seriously now. After all, it would be a shame to throw out years of experience away for no good reason.

This year, I hope to learn more about music theory. This will make me advance in composition, but also the way I see music. I hope to be able to analyse music better by the end of the year, and have a deeper understanding and make more meaningful conclusions from it.

I also hope to gain experience in performance.

This year I am going to study the following:

• Leonard Bernstein's On the Town, where I hope to gain more understanding on his musical techniques.
• The music of Afghanistan. I will do my best to learn about the historical and political context of the country too, to see how that can influence music and culture.
• RnB. As with the music of Afganistan, I will also learn about the history behind the music. I think it will be interesting to learn about the roots of that genre.
• 20th century music, and how music changed after the end of the Romantic era.

West Side Story

We learned about Leonard Bernstein's most renowned work, West Side Story. We learned that he knew both jazz theory and classical music theory, and married the two schools in his works. In class, we picked apart the musical elements of the songs and analyzed them. It was a very good experience, as it was also enjoyable to experience the story, when we watched the movie. The dancing and choreography was impressive. Learning about how dance links to music was also quite nice.

RnB, Gospel and Jazz

This was a topic I enjoyed. I hope to learn more about the origins of these genres.

1600 - 1900

baroque society renaissance (history, fall of rome) baroque music classical society 1750-1810 death of js bach, end of baroque era classical music was mostly reserved for wealthy people who could afford to pay for concerts and performances. later on the middle class had enough money to pay for performances. (?) classical music mostly diatonic (major or minor) metre and tempo is consistent classical orchestras were much smaller than the great symphonic orchestras of the romantic period. string instruments were the dominant group melodies are simple, articulations and decorations were rarely used metre and tempo changes were uncommon, and usually there is no change in character. most often romantic society During the romantic era, music was used as a means to express nationalism and cultural identity. romantic era romantic era (in terms of music) transitioned from classical to romantic in the lifetime of beethoven compared to the classical era, romantic music focused on expressing strong emotions over sticking to the same structure and form of the past. many romantic composers knew other artists such as painters or writers, thus their works were inspired by one another. compared to the classical orchestra, the brass section became more important, and the percussive elements became more varied and colorful. Romantic music has stronger and more contrasting dynamics as opposed to classical music. Expression markings were written to indicate the character of the music. Additionally, the tempo and metre was more prone to change.

Introduction to Music

We started off by learning about the basics of music theory. As I had taken music in the previous years, it was mostly revision. In any case, it served as a helpful reminder on how to differentiate between major and minor tonalities, counting metre, and differentiating between different types of textures. Also, we learned the basics of composition: what makes a melody memorable, as well as how to make electronic music. This is something I enjoyed in particular, and I started to make more electronic music after that.