Can winds player play endless long tone?

I believe all wind players always envy about strings players that they can play AND breathe at the same time. We always struggle to find a good spot to breathe-in, and trying hard to train up our support in order to maintain a long phrase with good tone quality.

Of course, as a wind player, it is important for us to keep practicing and improves our lung capacity, nonetheless, sometimes we might find a phrase that is out of our limits. So what can we do?

Circular breathing, to define, is a technique that helps you to prolong a sound, or a phrase for a long time, by inhaling air through your nose while you are still exhaling air from your month. Some think that it's a contemporary technique, but actually it appeared early since there's winds instruments. Unfortunately, because pieces in classical and romantic period didn't contain a lot unreasonably long phrases, this technique was once disappeared and very few people knew it.

Later, a group of well-known winds players, including Charles Neidich, determined to redevelop this technique, and share it to the world. Nowadays, more people know how to use circular breathing in their playing, but of course, you still need good air support before practicing this technique.

*Though the basic of circular breathing among ALL winds instruments are the same, due to different system and different embouchure(the way of circular breathing between single and double reeds are a bit different), it might be varied among winds instruments. So before start practicing it, it would be better to consult your teacher.
*(And try not to choke up when practicing it.)

Bass clarinet in orchestra

Bass clarinet is from the family of clarinets, also in Bb but one octave lower. It is around a meter tall and with keys almost half a meter in length. Many people (including me) are fascinated by the beautiful low sound by the bass clarinet. But when was it appeared. and when it started being popular? 

At first, In Paris in 1772 Gilles Lot created a clarinet with several keys and a compass of more than three octaves, which he called a ”basse-tube”. At first, there were bass clarinet in the pitch of A and Bb, but later on, bass clarinet in Bb was more commonly used in orchestra, wind band, and even military band.

It was first being used by Giacomo Meyerbeer scored for a bass clarinet in his opera Les Huguenots, and even included various solo parts. Since then, bass clarinet is more widely used in orchestra.....though sometimes bass clarinet players count a lot empty bars before their entries.

Some might think that there's very limited range for bass clarinet to play, and almost difficult to play fast. However, with a lot practice and wisely use of alternative fingerings, there are a lot possibilities and color tone made by bass clarinet! 

Flight of the Bumblebee on Bass Clarinet. Boom.

I hope you all find out the potential and beautiful sound of bass clarinet in this article.

Ping Pong and Orchestra??

Nowadays, there are numerous possibilities in contemporary music, crossover with dace, drama, or even Cantonese Opera is not very special already. But how about with sports?

As we all know, it is difficult to control the speed, and even when the ball drops even when we are playing it. But in this piece, "Ricochet" • Concerto for Ping Pong, Violin, Percussion & Orchestra, show that it might be possible to make this happen.

Being an orchestral player, I found that it's difficult to play contemporary music, especially those orchestral works, as it's technically challenging and also difficult to understand. Nonetheless, when listening this piece, I guess it could be fun to play this.

Hopefully in next year's composition workshop, our classmates would bring out some new elements for their works. 

Development of the Orchestra

Nowadays, the number of full-time players in an orchestra is almost standardised in most places around the world. And we audience are only able to see the conductors back. 
Look at how the orchestra evolved!

Moreover, orchestral size has always been subject to variation. The gradual increase was initially connected to the transfer of the orchestra from royal courts to the public domain.
In 1782, the permanent staff of the Mannheim Orchestra included 33 stings players and 21 winds players. At the time of Berlioz, his symphonie fantastique demanded more than 50 strings players. At the time of Mahler, the number of orchestra players went up to 120 for his 8th symphony.

Settings of a Baroque orchestra

A modern full-scale symphony orchestra consists of approximately one hundred permanent musicians, most often distributed as follows: 16–18 1st violins, 16 2nd violins, 12 violas, 12 cellos, 8 double basses, 4 flutes (one with piccolo as a specialty), 4 oboes (one with English horn as a specialty), 4 clarinets (one with bass clarinet as a specialty, another specializing in high clarinets), 4 bassoons (one with double bassoon as a specialty). In theory, all woodwind players are expected to be able to play all auxiliary instruments in addition to their main instrument. Furthermore 5–8 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones (one with bass trombone as a specialty), 1 tuba, 1 kettledrum player, 3–4 percussionists (of whom at least one must also play kettledrum), 1–2 harps and a keyboard player (piano, celesta, harpsichord, etc.).



And check out what Berlioz says about the orchestra and instrumentations!
http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/BerliozTreatise.html

Period instruments or Modern Instruments?

Nowadays, there are not so many orchestras using period instruments. Examples of period instrument orchestra includes The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Academy of Ancient Music from the United Kingdom.

Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique is always an all-time master piece. Have you ever heard of this piece performed in period instruments? Which one do you prefer, period or modern instruments?
Here are the vidoes for you to do a comparison!

Rachmaninoff: Choral symphony, The Bells - 4. Lento lugubre, The Mournful Iron Bells

Rachmaninoff wrote to his friend Morozoff in December 1906, asking whether he could think of a suitable subject for a choral piece to follow his cantata spring. Nothing came of this request. However, while on a holiday in Rome early in 1907, Rachmaninoff received an anonymous letter containing a copy of Balmont's translation of The Bells. The sender asked him to read the verses, suggesting they were suitable for musical setting and would especially appeal to him. This suggestion was both extremely sensitive and opportune.

Here is the 4th mov .The finale, marked Lento lugubre and subtitled The Mournful Iron Bells, certainly lives up to these descriptions. It is gloomy; the sound of the baritone is dark, and that of the chorus cold and dispiriting. At the end Rachmanniof conveys only grudging hope, when the music turns sad and warmly Romantic, as the baritone tells of the "quiet of the tomb."

Berliner Philharmoniker's Digital Concert Hall

The Digital Concert Hall is the virtual concert venue of the Berliner Philharmoniker on the Web. The orchestra's Berlin concerts are broadcast live and are available as recordings in a archive within a few days.

Here is the video shows that how it's work behind it!

Theodore Thomas’ Series of Six Symphony Concerts

We are now move on to another place (but we are still in New York). The Steinway Hall

This is the first Steinway Hall which is on 14th street. And the hall it looks like that.

This is the Theodore Thomas' Series of Six Symphony Concerts held on Steinway Hall on the date 26th April, 1873.

This program was distributed for the sixth concert of the series on April 26, 1873, at Steinway Hall, New York. For the performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Thomas’s orchestra was joined by the chorus of the Handel and Haydn Society and four soloists.

Leroy Anderson "The Typewriter" symphony

"The Typewriter" is a novelty instrumental piece written by Leroy Anderson in 1950, and first performed by the Boston Pops.

Its name refers to the fact that its performance requires a typewriter, which is used on stage: keystrokes, the typewriter bell, and the carriage return mechanism provide a major component of the piece.

It has been called one of "the wittiest and most clever pieces in the orchestral repertoire''.
Maybe one day your child ask you " What is a typewriter?'' , you can answer " It's a musical instrument !'' .

Philharmonic Society of New York

And now, let's go back to 1870's New York!

This is the concert which is held by Philharmonic Society of New York on the date 

17th December,1870. As you can see on the concert program, you can see that the concert is only playing Beethoven's work.

This “Grand concert to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the birth of the illustrious Ludwig van Beethoven” featured the Seventh Symphony, a scene and aria from Fidelio, selections from Egmont, and the Fifth Piano Concerto with Mary Krebs as soloist. According to the program, the Egmont music was presented for the “first time.” Note the large number of German names among the musicians of the orchestra.

Boston Phil-harmonic Society

As I stopped my presentation at the place of Boston, I would like to tell you more about those concert that moves to Boston and New York.

This is the Concert program from Boston Phil-harmonic Society held on 30th January, 1847.

This concert featured Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony but presented in a very unusual order by today’s standards. In between the first and second movements, the audience heard the ballads “Love’s Young Dream” and “The Gipsy Girl’s Dream”. But this is by request, according to the program. Then, followed by a dramatic scene from Auber’s Fra Diavolo and a piano concerto by J.N. Hummel. The second movement of Beethoven’s Fifth concluded the first half of the program, and only after intermission did the orchestra perform the rest of the symphony.

The Cyber Conductor ( Remote conductor and orchestra )

The Cyber Conductor is the brainchild of violinist, composer and actor Aleksey Igudesman, who devised the orchestral comedy with concert violinist Sebastian Gürtler.

 An amazing remote-controll, The conductor and the orchestra as a robot and play the

Symphony Nr. 40 g-moll KV 550 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1. movement: Molto Allegro

The remote- controll have :  play, stop, pause, slow-mo reverse, key change and even a major/minor toggle option and  the conductor and the orchestra will do  the

instruction while the person press the controll.

This is  a  programme between laugh and absurdity

with virtuosity great music.

Mahler Symphony No. 6 in A minor 4th Movment

Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Mahler is a symphony in four movements, composed in 1903.It is sometimes referred to by the nickname ‘’Tragic Symphony’’. This time we focus on the IV movement , the movement is punctuated by hammer blows.

There were three mighty blows in the movement , that representing the fate befallen by the hero.

The three hammer blow:

13:45 First hammer blow

18:35 Second hammer blow

29:25 Third (last) hammer blow

The sound of the hammer, which features in the last movement, was stipulated by Mahler to be "brief and mighty, but dull in resonance and with a non-metallic character (like the fall of an axe)." The sound achieved in the premiere did not quite carry far enough from the stage, and indeed the problem of achieving the proper volume while still remaining dull in resonance remains a challenge to the modern orchestra. Various methods of producing the sound have involved a wooden mallet striking a wooden surface, a sledgehammer striking a wooden box, or a particularly large bass drum, or sometimes simultaneous use of more than one of these methods.

Sibelius: Finlandia

We did talk about some Sibelius in out last lecture but we didn't have a chance listen to one his most popular/celebrated/acknowledged work, Finlandia.
It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire, and was the last of seven pieces performed as an accompaniment to a tableau depicting episodes from Finnish history.

My first time to listen to the tune was not from the original orchestral piece but a hymn sung in a christian church. The tune was set into lyrics of different language and was performed more frequent as a song rather than an orchestral piece. It is also one of the most important nation songs of the Finnish now. Beautiful, isn't it?

Now the original symphonic poem, with stunning filmography. Will immediately get you understand this piece. Watch through to the end!

The original movements are as follows.

1. Preludium: Andante (ma non troppo)
2. Tableau 1: The Song of Väinämöinen
3. Tableau 2: The Finns are Baptized by Bishop Henry
4. Tableau 3: Scene from Duke Johan's Court
5. Tableau 4: The Finns in the Thirty Years' War
6. Tableau 5: The Great Hostility
7. Tableau 6: Finland Awakes

Disney Cartoon set into Classical Music

In 1936, Walt Disney felt that the Disney studio's star character Mickey Mouse needed a boost in popularity. He decided to feature the mouse in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a deluxe cartoon short based on the poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and set to the symphonic poem by Paul Dukas inspired by the original tale.

The company immediately ran into the director of the Philadelphia Orchestra at that time, Leopold Stokowski. Stokowski's version for the soundtrack of Fantasia remains one of the most famous. Although too early for high fidelity, the performance was recorded using multi-tracks and was the first use of stereophonic sound in a film. It is the only part of the film for which Stokowski conducted a studio orchestra, rather than the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice was already a popular concert piece, but it was brought to a much larger audience through its inclusion in this film project in 1940.

In 2000, Disney produced a sequel of the Fantasia. The film included the original Sorcerer's Apprentice and adding a few new scenes, also set into classical music. Below is the list of compositions used.

Symphony No. 5 (first movement) by Ludwig van Beethoven

Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi

Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin

Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102 by Dmitri Shostakovich

The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnival des Animaux), Finale by Camille Saint-Saëns

The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas

Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4 by Edward Elgar

Firebird Suite—1919 Version by Igor Stravinsky

Tuning of Orchestra across the globe

The above clip showed the recording of the opening chords of Beethoven's third symphony played by different orchestra across the century.

You might have noticed that orchestras from the America in the early 20th century used lower tuning than orchestras in Europe and orchestra from Germany used a higher tuning, especially for Berlin Phil.  For your information, in 1939, an international conference recommended that the A above middle C be tuned to 440 Hz, now known as concert pitch.

Many orchestras in the UK and the US adhere to this standard as concert pitch. However, not all the orchestra follow the standard. New York Philharmonic use A = 442 Hz. Most of the orchestras in Germany and Austria use the tuning A = 443 Hz.

Classical Music Mashup

How many of these 57 tunes by 33 composers can you recognised? It is really amazing that these pieces were composed in different periods and countries and they could be mash up into a song. 

Let me introduce the names of some tunes that were included to you before you start to hear the piece.

- Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture

- Schubert Symphony No. 8 ‘Unfinished’

- Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Overture

- Beethoven Symphony No. 5 ‘Fate’

- Smetana Moldau

- Dvorak Symphony No.9 ‘New World Symphony’

Hope you guys enjoy it!!!

 

Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee

Flight of the Bumblebee is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan in 1899-1900. Its composition is intended to musically evoke the seemingly chaotic and rapidly changing flying pattern of a bumblebee. The piece has been transcribed from orchestra to different instruments.

This is the original version played by orchestra.

This is arranged by Rachmaninoff and played by two pianos.

This is the piano version played by Yuja Wang with an incredible hand-blurring and double-octave.

This is a guitar version that shows the virtuosic technique.

This is an organ version. Look at her feet!!!

Carmen Fantasy

The Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25 by Pablo de Sarasate is a violin fantasy on themes from the opera Carmen by Bizet.  This piece contains an adaptation of the Aragonaise, Habanera, an interlude, Seguidilla and the Gypsy Dance.

This is Serasate’s Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25.

In this transcription, it is played by melodica. Melodica is a free-reed instrument similar to pump organ and harmonica. It has a keyboard on top. It contains excerpts of Aragonaise, Hebanera, Seguidilla and the Gypsy Dance. It also include two main themes in the Carmen overture. They are Prelude to Act 1 and Toreador Song.

This is the Bizet’s Carmen Overture. Enjoy!!!

Dancing conductor

The conductor used the funny way to conduct, his gesture let the audience can feel the dancing rhythm and the joyful of the music! 

Little Symphony No. 1 (Milhaud)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WJKziU8yEt4


The first of a collection of six “Little Symphonies,” by Milhaud, is a symphony by name, due to its length of just over 3 minutes. 
According to Milhaud himself, he was quite attracted to the unusual quality of small groups of instruments, which is why he embarked on his series of Petites Symphonies.

Paganini's La Campanella

Paganini’s Violin Concert No.2 in B minor was composed in 1826 in Italy. The third movement of the concerto owes its nickname “La Campanella”. This movement is a rondo form. This theme has become very famous. This piece has been transcribed to Listz's La Campanella and Strauss's I's Walzer a la Paganini.

This is Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Third Movement.

In this transcription, it is played by glass harp. Hope you guys enjoy!!!

Schubert Arpeggione Sonata

The sonata was written in Vienna in 1824.  It was commissioned by Schubert friend, who was a virtuoso of the Arpeggione.  Nowadays, there are so many different version of this piece.

This is a transcription for Viola and String Orchestra  by Dobrinka Tabakova.

Here is the original version played on arpeggione and fortepiano.  Do you like the sound of the arpegionne?

Modern Concert Hall - Waltz Disney Concert Hall

Waltz Disney Concert Hall ,completed October 23,2003, which is the home of Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The hall is one of the most acoustically sophisticated concert hall in the world.

The video talks about the acoustic design and the  'French fries' organ of the concert hall.

Beethoven Symphony No.6 played in string sextet

Beethoven Symphony No.6 "Pastrole" begins with a cheerful movement.  Can you feel arrive in the country in this arrangement?

The controversial Premiere of the Rite of Spring

On 29 May 1913, the Rite of Spring by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris by Ballets Russes company. Arguably the most famous work of the composer in present days, the premiere of it is one of the biggest scandals in classical music history. 

Below is a interesting video introducing what happened that night. 

Stravinsky was already a popular composer who produced two successful ballet, the Firebird and Petrushka, in previous years. Whether it was that the composition did not meet the audience's expectation, or the riot in the primiere was actually a political conspiracy remains a mystery. However, it certainly did not harm, but rather advocate the reputation of the piece to be a masterpiece in the 20th century.

Shostakovich Symphony No.5

Shostakovich Symphony No.5's final movement is a brilliant piece. Do you know what is the piano part doing? Here are the last three pages of the piano part - only octaves! Tiring!

Pianist - Conductor - Composer

Musicians always wish to become a virtuosic soloist, a conductor and a composer at the same time. Is there someone like this nowadays? Yes, but not as many as before.  One famous person - Mikhail Pletnev - is a famous pianist, composer, and the founder of the Russian National Orchestra. Let's here how is his composition sounds like!

Composers conducting their own works

You may have known from the movie Amadeus that in the old time, composers usually took up the responsibility to conduct their own works in concerts. This is certainly not a bad idea. After all, who knows the works better than the composers themselves? Also, as the ensemble was usually under-rehearsed in the premiere (even for performances nowadays...?) struggling with possibly unfinished hand-written score, it was better to let composers handling their own business...

                 'Mozart conducting Mozart' (Source: Amadeus, 1984)

The tradition of composer being a conductor can be traced back to Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Wagner. Thanks to modern technology, we are fortunate to hear some of the foremost composers showing the most authentic rendition of their pieces. Here is an example:

Richard Strauss conducting Don Juan 

(who knows what the musicians were thinking when they first played this notoriously difficult tone poem...)

Mahler was the subscription conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic during the years 1898-1901. Although there is no available recording of his conducting, we can have a glimpse of his own interpretation and musical insight from his piano playing:

       Mahler playing excerpts from Symphonies No.4 and No. 5

Finally, legendary conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wilhelm Furtwängler, reversely had a lesser-known identity as a composer. Here is the recording of his complicated and lengthy Symphony No. 2:

Furtwängler conducting Symphony No. 2

Czerny Symphony no. 2

Czerny is a nightmare for many pianists. He is very famous for his tedious piano etudes. But not many people realize that he is also a prolific composer. He composed a very large number of pieces (up to Op. 861), including not only piano music (études, nocturnes, 11 sonatas, opera theme arrangements and variations) but also masses and choral music, 6 symphonies, concertos, songs, string quartets and other chamber music.

Here is his symphony no. 2 in D published in 1847. You may notice how similar it is to Beethoven's symphonic works and how conservative he was. It actually sounds much better than his piano etudes.

10 most remarkable opera houses in the world

Here is a list of 10 most remarkable opera houses in the world. Save this list for your concert trip in the future.

Beethoven 5th salsa arrangement

Beethoven 5th is transformed into an energetic salsa by Sverrer Indris Joner. Would you dance with your fate motif?