Hello! By Wednesday, August 29, I would like each of you to comment on this post, with a brief introduction of yourself: what instrument(s) you play, what voice type you are, what year in school, where you are from, etc. I would also like you to say what you are hoping to gain from this course - this will help me plan out the repertoire we're studying.
For myself, these days I mainly compose, play piano and conduct, but I started out as a horn player with a little bit of jazz bass; I also sing tenor (strictly for chorus, no solos). I've been teaching at the U of I since 2001, and I actually grew up not far from here, in Taylorville, Illinois (which has no relation to my family). I went to Northwestern for undergrad, starting out as a horn major, then switching to composition; I went to Cornell for masters and doctorate degrees. My goal for this class is for you to learn some new repertoire, and to learn to focus on the repertoire you already know in a new way: really understanding how it works, and how a composer makes decisions on motives, themes, rhythms, and large-scale form. My own goal for myself is to finally play through all the Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven piano sonatas - I'm probably about 1/3 of the way there.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Erin Brooker. I'm a junior in harp performance from the St Louis area. I play both Classical and Irish harp. I also enjoy doodling on the ukulele while trying to write my own songs and someday hope to conquer the concertina. Aside from essentially living at the music building, I like to slackline, hike, backpack, and pet my cat. Also, I'm an avid supporter of baking and drinking coffee.
In this course, I hope to broaden my understanding of the classical repertoire. Since the single-action harp wasn't perfected until the 18th century, harp has very little classical repertoire. Because of this technical situation with the harp, I haven't studied in depth the classical repertoire and I'm excited to learn more about it!
Hello, everyone!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Janie Duffy, and I’m a senior studying Vocal Performance here at the University of Illinois. I’m from Oak Brook, a suburb of Chicago which is mainly known for its shopping mall. As far as other instruments that I play, I have some experience with piano, but I mainly stick to soprano repertoire. This semester I’m also going to be learning how to play the ukulele, so I’m looking forward to that! Once I learned what we were going to be working on in this course, I became pretty excited. I was fortunate to be able the sing Haydn’s Creation last year with the U of I Chorale, and The Magic Flute definitely has a special place in my heart. Beethoven has always been one of my favorite composers, and I look forward to analyzing his music, as well. I hope to be able to study the forms of these works, and be able to relate them to my past and future performances. Also, I hope to learn about the compositional characteristics and musical reasonings specific to each composer. I can’t wait to explore and learn with you all!
Hey, would you be interested in singing part of The Creation for your presentation? That could be a good project! The piece is so vast that we won't be able to do the whole thing in class, not by a long shot - I'm actually planning to focus on just the first section. Is there an aria that particularly grabs you?
DeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Hyeyeon Jung, 3rd year of DMA in piano performance. I am originally from Seoul, Korea and I have been in States since 2006. I went to Cleveland Institute of Music for master and artist diploma in solo and collaborative piano. I like traveling, learning other languages, listening jazz, and dancing salsa. The most beautiful places I have even been in my memory are Maroon bell, Colorado and Capri, Italy.
Through this class, I would like to learn how to analyze the classic repertoires, such as all the piano sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven that I often perform, more logically and structurally. I have played more than half of 32 Beethoven piano sonatas, but still struggling with analyzing in depth. I am also excited about non-piano music: Creation, Magic flute, and Choral symphony that I never even thought about studying as a pianist. I think this course will be full of fun and excellent music.
I feel like I'm already giving up in my plan to play every Haydn sonata - he wrote a ton of them!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI am Alexandra Rolfs. I went to Italy over the summer for a month and have been keeping pretty busy with my music. I'm a Junior in Vocal Performance and I'm a Soprano. I also play some piano, mostly for fun when I need a break from singing. I have participated in a few operas here at the U of I. One in particular was the world premier of Steven's opera "Paradise's Lost" this past spring semester =). I am from Bloomington, IL, which is right near ISU and Wesleyan for those who don't know. My goal for this course is to have a more in depth knowledge of the composers we are going over and their musical styles. As of right now I only know sparing details but nothing substantial and I know it would be helpful in the future to know more about them and their music.
Thanks again for doing a fantastic job in my piece Alex! I used to teach at ISU, back in the 90s actually, so I know Bloomington a little.
DeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Alice Beberman. I'm from Champaign and am a junior studying Jazz Performance here at the U of I. My instrument is guitar, which I began playing when I was 13. I played viola from 4th grade through sophomore year of high school, then switched to cello for the remaining two years of high school, but I never took any kind of lessons/studied any repertoire for these instruments. I took vocal lessons when I was much younger, but hurt my jaw in a freak viola accident, so I picked up the guitar and began taking guitar lessons from my old vocal teacher's husband.
I have never played any classical guitar, aside from maybe a watered-down version of Minuet in G when I was 13, so I'm really hoping to expose myself to some classical guitar repertoire. My high school orchestra/private guitar teacher always said that the big classical composers were really genius improvisers, something that has stuck with me while studying classical music in theory classes here at the U of I.
I know that Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were incredible improvisers - I haven't read that about Haydn, but he probably was too. Maybe your presentation/paper can involve some aspect of improvisation in classical music...
DeleteHey!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jacque (pronounced like Jackie) Piccolino, senior doing a B.M. in Vocal Performance. I am from Palatine, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago. I started voice early in age, I believe around 12 years old, but wasn't fully aware of how beautiful the operatic repertoire is. I decided to study opera when seeing my first opera Madame Butterfly, by Puccini. I have been in many opera productions at the U of I, as of recent Barber of Seville and Die Zauberflöte!! (Which I am excited to analyze). I just returned from a wonderful summer in San Francisco where I sang with the San Francisco Opera Merola Program.
I am most excited to learn about The Magic Flute, especially with the wonderful overture and specific arias in which the underlying orchestral part plays certain roles relating to text. More so, just understanding the vast musical styles and deepening my understanding with analysis and composers reasoning as to why they set the music a certain way.
Maybe we can get you to sing an aria from Magic Flute as part of your presentation!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is So Jung Kwak. I am second year DMA student, majoring in piano performance. I am from Pusan, Korea. I was born and raised there. I did my Master's Degree and Performer Diploma Program at Indiana University at Bloomington. I like talking to people, listening to music, and watching movies. I love to meet great musicians, writers, artists and others who have a sincere heart. I enjoy listening to classical music, specifically Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Schumann. I like Gregorian chant, as well. Moreover, I love to seeing movies, since I could learn lots of tips for life from the movies.
From this course, I would like to understand the music theoretically in depth. It means that I hope when I play through or listen to music, I could know how it is constructed, and how the composer made this piece specialized by using motives, fragments, special harmony, harmonic progressions, transposition, texture or forms. My final goal is that I could recognize the composer's message in certain pieces, so I can play those more convincing. Furthermore, when I listen to other musician's performance, I could find out that how they express the special moment, in which composer's secret or apparent signs in their own way.
I love to study three classical composers in this class: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, specifically their piano sonatas, which sound familiar to me. Of course, I am happy to learn their big pieces: The Creation, The Magic Flute, and Beethoven Symphony No.9, as well as smaller solo, chamber, and orchestral ones. I think this class not only helps my knowledge of 18th century music theory to be widen, but also makes me to play the pieces beautifully.
I definitely want to have a movie night sometime this fall, to see Amadeus!
DeleteWow ! It's fantastic !!! That is one of my favorite movies. I will bring a large size popcorn, if it is allowed.
DeleteHey all!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Stephen, I am a senior in Vocal Performance with a minor in keyboard. I'm from suburbia, west of Chicago, and started my studies in music via the Suzuki Method. I continued with Suzuki piano all the way through my high school years, until I got sick of it and switched to voice. Now I'm doing both and I'm loving the numerous opportunities I've been given here at Illinois.
In this class I hope to trace the development of melody, what makes the great tunes of Mozart and late Handel so "catchy." I'm interested in the more interesting intervals to the human ear (2, 5, and 7) and their usage in perfect classical symmetry. I'm very excited to get started. Looking forward to working with all of you.
Hi everyone! My name is Michelle Beggs and I am a junior in Vocal Performance. I transfered to the University of Illinois last year and I absolutely love the music program here. However, when I signed up for this course I was very nervous about it. Music analysis is not my strongest subject, but I am prepared for the challenge! I truly love music, and feel that the repertoire that we will be studying this semester is wonderful. I hope this semester to strengthen my skills as not only a vocalist, but as a musician overall.
ReplyDeleteHello! My name is Sunyeong Pak and I am a first year DMA student in Music Composition. I am originally from Seoul, South Korea. I have always found that even contemporary and experimental music are strongly rooted from the basic, structural materials. I hope to get a better understanding about the basic element through this class, so that I can apply these elements to my own music.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, since I started preparing for this class, I have really begun to notice sentence- and period-like structures in my own music, and in other contemporary works as well. You're right, the basic elements often remain the same.
DeleteHi, all. My name is Young Kim, first year DMA in Piano performance. I went to Indiana University for Master and Performer diploma program. I was born in Seoul, South Korea. I like chamber music and accompanying besides solo. I love Beethoven, especially all sonatas and chamber pieces. In this class, I would like to learn how to interpret theoretically the classic music such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. It would help me get many ideas for playing.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Sunjoo Lee(call me Sun, please!), I completed MM in piano pedagogy last May and now I am working on MM in piano performance. I am from Seoul, Korea. I lost any passion for music during my undergrad years. I decided to study more after a long time. Now I highly enjoy my grad study. I like traveling, often by myself, learning new things, looking up to see the sky and baking. When I feel bad, I usually bake bread or cake, which makes me feel much better. I am also interested in various things like politics, environment, history and people etc.
I am so excited about this class. I like symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven as well as solo and chamber music. Actually, Beethoven is one of my favorite composers. My first LP was his 5th symphony. I hope I play all of his 32 piano sonatas. Through this course I hope to understand how classical pieces are constructed and how different the style of three composers is.
Hello~
ReplyDeleteMy name is Yi-Hsuan Lin. I am a second- year percussion DMA student from Taiwan. Besides percussion, I also like opera. My favorite singer is Maria Callas!
Lately, I am working on my marimba recital and the upcoming competition…
Although most of percussion solo works were composed after 20th century, I am still interested in learning analyzing 18th music which I think it is helpful for me to play the timpani part in the orchestra.
Hi, my name is Yu-Hsuan Liao, I am a first year clarinet DMA student from Taiwan. I just got my master's at Indiana University and I am very excited about my new life here in Champaign...
ReplyDeleteAs a clarinet player I love Mozart the most, especially the second movement in his clarinet concerto, it's just so beautiful. I also play the piano, and Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 2 No. 1, which we are now discussing in class, is the first Beethoven sonata I learned!
In this class I hope to learn to analyze classical music and by that to understand the repertoire better.