Title- The exact title of this piece is not listed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpqVYvPIv1s
Performers- Istvan Kohan (clarinet) and his band
Culture- In klezmer music, the leading voice (usually the violin or clarinet) has the important job of imitating the human voice crying, laughing, and wailing.
Instrumentation- Clarinet, Violin, Accordion, Trombone, Keyboard, Bass, and Percussion.
Last night I attended the symphony band concert and one section in particular is still very present in my mind. The soprano sax solo from movement three of Lord of The Rings was composed in order to give the audience a visual image of what the character Gollum would look like.
The musicians playing coupled with the visual imagery reminded me of klezmer music and how the lead player is responsible for imitating the human voice. In this video, the clarinetist uses many slides, trills, fast moving lines, and other musical tools that help to give listeners a visual image. This compositional tool is very common throughout the genre.
I think that it is intriguing how some instruments can sound so much like a voice. I was actually at an audition recently and heard what I thought was someone singing in another room, but as I listened more closely I realized it was actually an instrumentalist. Considering how many sounds the voice is able to make because of its physical versatility, and considering how uniformly instruments are made and how relatively unchangeable they are, it is amazing when someone like the clarinetist in this band can make such a wide range of human-like sounds with his instrument.
ReplyDeleteI also find it really interesting how we focus on playing "traditionally" with "good tone" and "good technique" and yet there are times when all of that doesn't matter because the music demands different timbres or performance practices. This is why I think music from other cultures, or even music based off of ideas like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, is something that we need to look into more and try because of the different skills that can be learned.
ReplyDeleteI heard somewhere that sustaining pitched instruments are created in order to imitate the human voice. Are we simply trying to reinvent the wheel? Are we attempting to give everyone who wishes a chance at making music instead of limiting it to those with a sonically pleasing voice?
ReplyDeleteju vrau babain tim, do të përgatisë për të vdekur
ReplyDeleteGreat example, Matt. I think Jon's point about what is "good tone" should be relative to the context, including emotion. Consider Ella Fitzgerald's voice, for example, when scatting. It is the reverse of an instrument trying to imitate a voice; her "ugly" tone attempting to sound like various jazz instruments is what makes her scatting so effective.
ReplyDelete