The major music experience this term will be Bach's Magnificat, Bach's Motet Number One, and Britten's Ceremony of Carols, performed with orchestra and chorus at Riverside Church at 3pm on December 3. In order to prepare for this experience, you should do the following three things. One, carefully attend to that portion of one of our two Saturday meetings that is on music, presented by Yoon-il Auh. Second, go to the Metropolitan Museum with a classmate or classmates and go through the Musical Instruments gallery with the Acoustiguide. Three, carefully read the chapter Musical intelligence in Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind and all of Anthony Storr's Music and the Mind (Ballentine Books, New York, 1992, 188pp. paperback list price: $11).
Focus of assignment. The purpose of this assignment is to encourage the examination, in both live and recorded performance, of the role of a number of components in the globally pervasive form of communication, music. Because live performance is the richest experience, particularly when well-composed and well performed, this assignment requires attendance at a specified, first-rate live performance. The one chosen should be excellent for several reasons: (1) Bach's Magnificat is a masterpiece known around the world, Motet Number One is generally considered to be his finest motet, and Britten's Ceremony of Carols is a well-known unaccompanied choral work; (2) the performers, the Riverside Choir, are an outstanding choral group; (3) the setting (Riverside Church Nave) is aesthetically ideal; and (4) there are a number of separate recordings of these three works with which the performance may be compared, and through which one unfamiliar with the works can prepare for a live performance.
In analyzing music as communication, you should be particularly concerned to reflect upon the roles in that communication of: (1) the performers and conductor, (2) the audience, (3) the technology employed in the performance, (4) audio and video recordings of the works, and (5) the composer. Where you can, you should consider how each seems to contribute to the communication and what that contribution seems to be.
For example, how does the audience's behavior influence what and how the performers communicate? Or, how does the technology of the instruments used influence the communication between performers and audience? You do not need to be a musician to understand and appreciate many very significant aspects of this entire communication environment (though if you are, you may gain even more insight). The conductor and the performers communicate not only in sound, but also visually, to the audience, and you should note examples of what you think is being communicated. The technology of the space at Riverside also contributes to the communication, both through its imagery -- reflecting the purpose for which Bach composed the Magnificat and Motet Number One, and through the acoustic properties of its stone interior. There is also a long technology development reflected in the organ and the instruments used by the orchestra, a technology that greatly mediates the communication of this piece. You may comment on all of these things or any subset, but your essay should reflect such matters. You must also listen to recordings of these pieces, and discuss briefly in your essay the noticeable differences between a recording and a live performance.
One reason for looking at music is its global acceptance, over eons of time. Another is its mystery (we still don't understand much of the communication, or, as Storr's book suggests, exactly how the brain processes music). Still another reason, implicit in what is said above, is that technology has played a direct role in most forms of music, as you should be able to note from: (1) the Met exhibit on instruments, (2) the live performances you attend, and (3) the recent technology of audio recording, as experienced by you and as suggested in Storr's chapter, The solitary listener suggests. A final, very pragmatic reason is that music is more and more often incorporated into multimedia communication of all kinds. (Prior to the advent of recording, it was not even possible to include music in a book except as a separate package, yet it is routinely, totally integrated into multimedia.)
Assignment specifics. Write a brief (no more than four pages) paper , The role of communication in music, based on the live performance of December 3, recorded performances of at least one of these pieces, and upon a live performance of any other music you wish. Your paper should examine the points listed above. As already suggested, your paper should include some discussion of how recording affects what is communicated, in connection with the various components listed. Use the experience of a second, different, live concert to add a comparative dimension to your assessment.
Note: You should arrive at Riverside at least 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time, to be sure you get a seat near enough to the front to see the performers clearly. Tickets are purchased at the door and are $10 regardless of where you sit. There may or may not be a big crowd, but last year, TU5000 students who came at the last minute to the Mozart Requiem performance were forced to sit in the rear, too far away to see the performers and conductor clearly. Riverside holds over 2000 people, but typically the audience is only a few hundred for concerts. However, this is the 65th Anniversary year, and the concert is nearer to the holiday season, so one can not be sure how large the audience might be. Better be prudent than sorry.....
Note II: There is a wonderful dual piano recital, by Madeline Bloom and Pablo Zinger, on Sunday afternoon, (Note: the recital date was erroneously posted here earlier as November 3), in the Christ Chapel at Riverside, that you might like to use for your other live concert or just to attend. It will begin at 3pm and last about one hour. The site is much smaller than the main nave at Riverside and will offer an excellent chance to see and hear dual pianists, up close. The price of admission there is optional but $5 or $10 as a donation at the end of the concert is usual, and goes directly to the performers.