posted
i need some ideas FAST i must learn 50 peices of classical music till wendsday!(we have to know how to recognise them fron the half minute they play for us in the test) this includes Mozart Wagner Hyden Chopin Beethoven Bach and many many more... i need some stratagy fast!
so far I've got Mozart covered.bot thats as far as my knowlege extends
does anyone have ideas?
Posts: 109 | Registered: Nov 2003
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anyways-I did the math and if I listen to them every second of the next days i will maybe get throught all them twice... these peices are LONG man.
Posts: 109 | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
I suggest you get the CD, "Mad About the Classics," or even several from the collection (Really Mad About the Classics, Mad About Cartoons . . . I don't remember the rest).
Here's a link to buy one at Target.com so you know what it looks like. These CDs are really cheap.
What I'd do is maybe buy three, hopefully so that you can have more than one song of each composer. The one I've linked to should have one song from every "important" composer of classical music. It can be difficult, though, to identify a composer by just one song.
As you listen, write down trends you notice between the songs. For instance, Mozart uses lots of notes. He was criticized for it in his day, even. His music sounds like baroque art, very ornamented. But his themes are profoundly simple underneath all the ornamentation. If you can get your hands on "Die Zauberfloete," do. It's absolutely beautiful.
Beethoven has his own sound too. I could tell you, but I won't, because that would be doing your homework for you. Besides, it's much more effective to hear the trends for the purposes of your test.
Good luck.
Also, if you know you'll only be listening to the first 30 seconds, only memorize the first 30 seconds.
posted
oh-bobbyk I got the assighnment 2 months ago.
but it realy want my fault!my dog ate the cd and then my cd player broke and my house burnt down and i got kidnapped by ailiens. hey- try to fit classical music into that agenda.
Posts: 109 | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
*Chuckles* In true procrstinator form. Good show! I really wish I had some insight to help you with.
Posts: 213 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I wish I really knew of some clear way to do that, then... hmm...
The only thing I can say is listening to the whole piece twice until wednesday will do nothing... listen to the segment you have to know ONLY, and listen to it over and over again. Sorry that's not very helpful!
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Okay, here's one thing that will help. Are you familiar with the concept of a fugue? Basically, it's a piece of music where a "theme" is repeated over and over with all sorts of variations. (Incidentally, when I first understood this about classical music it gave me a much greater appreciate for what the composer was doing in the piece.) Bach in particular was a big fan of the fugue, but most major classical composers use the same concept to varying extents. So here's the helpful part: once you know the theme, it's not too great of a leap to be able to recognize the variations. Thus, you don't need to sit there and listen to the entire concerto or whatever.
However, this strategy is contingent on several points. First, you must have the musical ability to recognize variations on a theme. If you can't do that, you're on your own. Second, this strategy rests on the assumption that your instructor will play a part of the theme rather than a musical interlude from the piece. I don't know anything about your class or your instructor, so this may not be a safe assumption.
Regardless of what you do to study, you have to understand that there are no real shortcuts. In many cases, there is no substitute for putting in the hours. However, an understanding of how music works can amplify the value of the time you spend studying.
Posts: 224 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Tabera-you are right on most assumptions. I do know how to recognize variations-good idea! do you mean by fugue the way Beethoven has in most of his peices the 'da da da dum" of the fifth symphony?
my instructer is usually nice and will give us a part with not much complications. bless him
and bless you on afterthought
i will stop this post before I become too mushy.or emotional
Posts: 109 | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
Raia- we need both but there are ways to eliminate peices if you know the composer.then you take a lucky guess
Posts: 109 | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
I made up a trick way to recognize each of mine when I had this test. Like Mozart's 40th symphony goes "Oh my god, oh my god, this is mozART".
We had to know which piece and which movement, so I memorized the theme for each one, by making up a picture in my mind. Like the 3rd movement of Beethoven's fifth I pictured a Looney Tunes cartoon with Bugs Bunny in a tutu dancing the bassoon parts, Fred Flinstone in a tutu dancing the bass parts, and a real ballerina doing the other strings, in sort of a pas de troix.
Do not give up. You can memorize a whole bunch of these in that time. Pick out the major theme. Memorize it in some way that associates it with the piece, and move to the next one.
[ December 07, 2003, 05:03 PM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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*runs off and starts fitting words to impossible peices.*
thanx ana kata.
oh what would I do without all your support??? (don't tell me-I know the answere- fail the test.) thank you!!!!!
Posts: 109 | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
Cool random fact about Beethoven-Observe the fact that his music due to deafness was unique compared to his contemporaries.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Ok, one strategy is to sort the music into timeperiods.
For instance, I'd work with the following categories:
Pre-Baroque Baroque Classical Modern
Baroque has some very famous pieces, including Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" (you'll know it when you hear it), Pachelbel's Canon (ditto), Handel's "Messiah" (where the "Hallelujah Chorus" comes from) and all of J.S. Bach's. (When in doubt about baroque music, guess Bach: he was extremely prolific and very talented, so he gets a lot of airtime!).
Baroque is recognizable by what's called the "basso continuo": a low bass like a cello that plays a recurring set of notes over and over. (Think of "Pachelbel's Canon" for a perfect example of basso continuo") Once you understand what a basso continuo is, you'll be able to spot Baroque pieces almost instantly.
Baroque pieces also tend to be performed by smaller groups than, say, classical. If you hear a full orchestra, it's probably classical.
Classical composers include Beethoven (very recognizable), Mozart (ditto), and Brahms. Brahms is tricky, because he and Beethoven were contemporaries and early Brahms sounds a lot like late Beethoven.
Modern music is very diverse, and it's easy to find composers who sound nothing alike. For instance, compare the music of Philip Glass, George Gershwin (Especially his "Rhapsody in Blue"), Leonard Bernstein ("West Side Story", "Chichester Psalms"), Aaron Copland ("Fanfare for the Common Man", "Billy the Kid" ... think Westerns, and you'll recognize him).
Wagner is a piece of cake. He's opera, and tends to be overblown. Think "Ride of the Valkyries", which was from his Ring der Nibelungen set of operas. Compare him to opera composers like Verdi, who tend to be more lyrical. If the music sounds overblown and pompous: it's probably Wagner; if it sounds like a tragic love story, it's probably Verdi.
A good way to remember Mozart is to think of him as "diddley-dee music". Listen to a few of his pieces, especially his famous Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and after a while, you feel like you can sing, "Diddley diddley diddley diddley dee!" to it. It's a very distinctive voice: listen to him for a little and you'll be able to identify him.
Chopin is most famous for his piano music. That means that only danger is confusing other composers' piano works with his. Beethoven wrote a few really good piano works, but they tend to be dark and somber, or at least majestic and dignified. Rachmaninov wrote for piano, but they were more sweeping and emotional.
posted
Let us know how it works out. I am quite an accomplished and talented crammer. I would never have gotten my degree without that skill. I have lots of other tricks like that too, if you are interested.
I will say that before I graduated, I had come to the realization that the best and least painful way to make good grades was just to go to class every day and do the homework. <laughs> But you already knew that. It's still needful to have good cramming techniques for those times when you find you have not done that.
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
test comeing up tomorrow! ana kata-beleive me, from now on I will attend ALL classes , do ALL of the homework, learn for tests a month early at least and be a model student.(this will last for 2 days after the music test.) I am also on the verge of actually LIKING classical music. would you beleive that.
and by the way Jeffrey- the massiah is one of my favorite peices. it's simply gorgeous! I actually went out to buy the disc of the whole oprah with the words in German and the translation to English so I'll know what I'm singing. good tips! I'll use them.
Posts: 109 | Registered: Nov 2003
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You know you live in a talk-show society when you spell opera 'oprah'.
... and it's not an opera. I'm not sure if it's just a choral symphony or actually an oratorio, but it's not opera. Sorry, but you've got to know...
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I always failed that part of my music history tests. Sorry! All I can offer is, do your best to figure out what might be distinguishing characteristics for each composers' works, and go from there.
And hope that this isn't a huge part of your grade. That helps, too. Luckily, for me, it was always only a portion of the test or final, so I was usually able to do well enough on the other sections to just let the listening/identifying sections go, and spend that time studying other material.
Good luck! I don't envy you - that's a huge listening list.
Posts: 2661 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
You guys have all done a good job helping raphael out, so I won't add anything.
No Hobbes, *I* had the test today with Phillip Glass...and Charles Ives...and Webern (blech!!)
And today was the last day that I'll ever have to be in music history in my LIFE!!! (2 years of it gets tiring, especially when you end with all the ugly, yet interesting stuff.)
aka, you kill me!! But what was funny was that I knew exactly which symphony and movement you were referring to...which means that your system WORKS! Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
<laughs> One side effect is that you will associate Bugs Bunny with Beethoven for the rest of your life. But then Loony Tunes will always be imbedded inextricably in my mind with a lot of classical music anyway. Can anyone hear Wagner's Flight of the Valkyrie without thinking of Elmer Fudd going "Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit"?
[ December 10, 2003, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote: and by the way Jeffrey- the massiah is one of my favorite peices. it's simply gorgeous! I actually went out to buy the disc of the whole oprah with the words in German and the translation to English so I'll know what I'm singing. good tips! I'll use them.
A few pieces of trivia about "Messiah":
First, it's an oratorio and not an opera. Operas didn't exist as an art form until, if memory serves, the very tail end of the Baroque period. An oratorio is not acted: it tells a story, yes, but only through the song, whereas an opera is actually acted out.
Second, "Messiah" actually was written to be performed in English. Yes, Handel was originally from Germany, but he moved to England. There was something a bit convoluted in how the piece was written, if memory serves. I think that he had the English words translated into German for his scoring, which is why the accents are often humorous. (For instance, "shine-ed" instead of "shined").
Third, "Messiah" has an alternate title of "A Sacred Oratorio". The story behind this, I believe, is as follows:
Apparently, Handel was always getting into trouble with the Church because he liked to perform his works in hospitals, town halls, etc., and not in the churches. So when he came out with "Messiah", the Church essentially said, "Ah ha! We've got you!"
"No piece bearing the name of our saviour," they proclaimed, "may be performed anywhere other than in a church."
So Handel changed the name to "A Sacred Oratorio" and continued to perform it wherever the heck he felt like it.
posted
I PASSED THE TEST!!! thank you soooo much everyone who gave all those great ideas- they helped so much. ana kata-the idea of adding pictures and words did the trick. from now on I cannot hear haydns concherto without picturing Aragorn and legolas waltzing to the music. I've also discovered the poet that lives inside of me while composing outrageous rhyms for gloomy sonatas.(mostly composed by Mozart)
Jeffrey-I allways thought that the church asked Hendel to compose that 'mock opera' because the real opera was starting to be popular and they wanted to get people to come to them instead of going to the regular operas.I knew it wasn't an opera but didn't know what exactly it was.
p.s. I got on the test 80% I'm totaly astonished. so is my instructer.
Posts: 109 | Registered: Nov 2003
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Congratulations on your grade, and welcome to the wonderful world of classical music. As you've learned the hard way, there's quite a lot of it, and it's very divergent. You're not going to like all of it, but there's so much of it, you're bound to find something that you like.
For instance, I'm not a big fan of opera. I just don't like it; it's not for me. But I love oratorios and symphonies, concertos and fugues. I've been known to plug all nine (or ten, if you count Brahms's first Beethoven symphonies into my CD changer and play them over and over.
Find what you like. Don't be afraid to decide you don't like a certain composer or piece and move on. Listening to music should be fun, not an endurance test!
Jeff
P.S. Once you feel comfortable listening to classical, you should also try listening to jazz sometime ... Posts: 1692 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Awesome! So you're well ahead of the curve.
I find jazz more complicated and difficult to understand than classical music -- classical tends to be much more structured and rigid. So if you understand jazz, you will have no trouble whatsoever with classical!
posted
My favorites, for your delectation, are Bach first and foremost. He totally rules. His B Minor Mass is just the most wonderful thing that's ever been written. Listen to the notes, not the overall atmosphere of sound. Most everyone doesn't play Bach well, I think. The greatest thing about Bach is the notes he chooses. His stuff just has fantastic bones.
Then Beethoven (particularly his odd numbered symphonies), Stravinsky (Petrushka, Rite of Spring, Firebird Suite), Handel (Messiah), Holst (The Planets), Aaron Copeland (Appalachian Spring), Khachaturian, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel.
People I don't care for: I loathe Mozart. It's so prissy and obvious, all of it. He's perfectly revolting. Wagner is okay but just too many potatoes and not enough meat. He's sort of overblown, I guess, for my taste. I can't think of anyone else who particularly offends me. Lots of people are mediocre. Seek out the good stuff. Hope you enjoy your sojourn into classical music.
That's great that you did so well on the test. <laughs> I feel really proud that my technique helped. If you are interested in other ways to make good grades without the bother of actually learning things, do let me know. I have many more such tricks, acquired in a long career as a lazy student. Posts: 968 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Operas didn't exist as an art form until, if memory serves, the very tail end of the Baroque period.
Baroque dates from the birth of opera. In any case, the first opera was composed in 1598, but the first extant opera - Eurydice - was composed in 1600. The first masterwork was composed by monteverdi in 1607.
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