Concert Attire for Tonight is [insert here]


Photo by Francisco Bricio on Unsplash

In grade school, concert dress, attire, etc. usually meant white top and a black bottom. I distinctly remember looking up Youtube tutorials on how to tie a tie (Double Windsor knot for the win) because my Dad didn’t know how, and my brother’s instructions were too confusing for an 8-year old. I also remember standing in dumbstruck awe when I saw that nearly every other boy in the Queensbury Elementary School 3rd Grade Chorus was wearing a clip-on. I had struggled in vain.

We were never really given a good answer as to why concert dress was white and black. “It’s more affordable than a tux” seemed to be the prevailing explanation, but that wasn’t really an answer. Why is concert attire important? Why do most professional orchestras today dress in tuxedos, black suits and dresses, when smaller chamber groups might go for head-to-toe black (my own preferred uniform) or even forego “concert attire” entirely? Why did my High School a cappella group look like a penguin colony?

Where did uniform concert attire originate?

According to the New Penguin Dictionary of Music (a fitting source), concert dress as we know it solidified in the mid-19th century as:

white tie and tails for men

full gowns for women

The New Penguin Dictionary of Music

Orchestral players would wear black, while soloists could be as more “flamboyant.” Notably, this was the evening wear for the upper and middle classes. Musicians, many of whom were just then breaking out of the court servant mold and becoming freelance artists for hire, adopted the dress of the upper class for concertizing. More notably, we in the world of Western “classical music” haven’t made significant changes to concert dress since the mid-19th century. In engaging with this antiquated practice, we are indeed confirming our position at the foot of a tradition 150 years-strong. *

*
Of course, other performance wear practices, such as church choirs wearing robes, have endured even longer than the “white and black” paradigm. But that’s a whole other can of worms.

But is this a good thing?


Photo by Hadi Yazdi on Unsplash

Plenty of practicing musicians today make efforts to “modernize” their performance wear. Choices include foregoing tails and ties, substituting slacks and skirts for floor-length gowns, and even incorporating non-Western elements into one’s outfit.

Of particular importance in today’s cultural landscape is the question of women’s concert dress. “Evening gowns,” while still required by some major institutions, have almost entirely been phased out of professional concert dress in an effort to promote gender equality in the music world.

Upsetting the patriarchy

Historically, the image of women in music has been a hot topic of sorts. Noola Griffiths, a music performance researcher, writes of notions of “appropriate display” that may inhibit women from pursuing (or being allowed to pursue) and succeeding on certain instruments. “[Throughout] 18th century Europe women were excluded from playing instruments that were considered incompatible with notions of bodily decorum and that failed to exhibit ‘a quiet body,’ that is a body not engaged in physical effort … the choice of musical instruments available to women was severely limited” (Griffiths). The fact is, in a field long dominated by the male patriarchy, women still have to contend with what established, white men view as appropriate in order to be taken seriously. This extends to concert dress especially, as the emphasis in institutional choices on the matter generally focus on “modesty” or, worse, “distraction.” We can do better.

Diversity, multi-culturalism and schools

Classical music is fast becoming a different playing field. Though there’s still immense and crucial progress to be made, gender equality in music is a goal within reach. The emergence of gender identity concepts has also blurred the lines between women and men’s obviously gendered concert dress. An increasingly diverse and multicultured industry also creates a need for more inclusive representation in concert dress. All of this is to say that perhaps mid-19th century evening wear etiquette shouldn’t be the rules we play by today.

And then there are considerations of socioeconomic and cultural diversity. The explanation for black and white concert dress received in schools wasn’t totally off topic: it’s cheaper than a tux. Even later on in high school, when I did wear a tuxedo or a suit for gigging and concerts, cost was always an issue. Classical music already has a huge barrier to entry when it comes to cost. This unfortunately goes hand in hand with barriers to entry for certain ethnic or cultural minorities, and it’s a complex issue. Concert dress codes in schools should not be part of the problem.

Re-evaluating concert attire in today’s social context

It’s important to understand the role attire plays in the concert setting. Musicians and performers communicate with audiences not only audibly, but also visually. To quote Griffiths once more:

Concert dress is a valuable visual cue to an individual’s attitudes and through concert dress soloists can confirm or challenge generally accepted roles and statuses in the performance situation. 

Noola Griffiths, Music Psychologist, Teesside University

Concert dress is a uniform. Court musicians dressed according to the dress code of the court. When musicians began freelancing more and embedding themselves in the 19th century night life, they dressed to fit their audience, to be at once visible and hidden. Concert dress is designed to allow musicians to blend in with their surroundings, including each other. Today, that generally means black or other neutral colors. This serves the secondary (or perhaps the primary) purpose of drawing the audience’s attention mostly to the music and the soloists, who wear more adventurous colors amid a sea of black because they’re meant to be seen.

[Orchestra] players wear black, because the audience wants to pay attention to the music – not them. Many classical music lovers believe that there should be absolutely nothing to distract from the music, not even the performers themselves

Maddy Shaw Roberts, Classic FM

However, because concert dress is a uniform, many dress codes were designed with only women and men in mind, and with only one body type for each. Trans musicians are often forced to conform to a gender they do not identify with on stage, and musicians of different body types are often forced to wear unflattering clothes. This is, again, applicable to both professionals and to students.

By dividing attire by gender, one is also asking students who identify as one gender but present as another to forgo their presentation in favor of gender-expected clothing. If a student identifies as female but presents as male, what is the purpose of expecting that individual to wear a concert gown? Is there a need to keep the traditional divisions of gender in concert attire?

Stacy Dziuk, NAfME

At the same time, we have to consider the formality of our concert dress. Tuxedos with tails and evening gowns, while outdated, are at least of equal formality. Therefore, it makes little sense for women to wear items like black long-sleeve sweaters or sheer blouses and leggings on stage surrounded by tuxedos. Perhaps this is a sign that tuxedos are “too formal” while current dress codes for women aren’t formal enough, or are too vague to set a standard of formality in the first place. In an impromptu interview conducted with a vocalist at the Eastman School of Music, I was presented with a possible solution:

“Concert dress should be standardized to two or three options of equal formality, each designed to be compatible with a number of body types. That way, there’s no ambiguity as to what one should wear, and people have the choice to dress in a way that fits their concept of themselves without worry.”

Gwyneth Paker, Voice Student, Eastman School of Music

A final point: we should also bear in mind, for the sake of inclusiveness, that classical music and opera don’t have the best public image at the moment. Part of this is a consequence of the fact that classical music is still dominated by white men, and minority representation is going to take a while to improve. But concert dress plays a role here, too. When a child goes to see their local symphony or opera company for the first time, only to see an orchestra dressed in penguin suits and dresses, or yet another presentation of an 18th century opera in period dress, what kind of message does that send? Is our performance practice reinforcing the idea that classical music is irreparably elitist? Can we amend it to mitigate that perception?

Queensbury High School Madrigal Singers (home sweet home)

References

“concert dress.” The New Penguin Dictionary of Music, Paul Griffiths, Penguin, 1st edition, 2006. Web.

Dziuk, Stacy. “We Are What We Wear: Inclusion and Diversity in Concert Attire: Does your concert dress code welcome all students?” Teaching Music, Oct. 2018, p. 26+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A562004496/ITOF?u=nysl_ro_rochstru&sid=ITOF&xid=9fbf2a10.

Griffiths, Noola K. “The Fabric of Performance: Values and Social Practices of Classical Music Expressed through Concert Dress Choice.” Music Performance Research, vol. 4, 2011, pp. 30-48. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.ezp.lib.rochester.edu/docview/2082950229?accountid=13567.

Paker, Gwyneth. Personal Interview. 1 February 2019.

Roberts, Maddy Shaw. “Why the heck do musicians always perform in black?” Classic FM, May 2018. https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/musicians-black-concert-dress/.

Napster: The Start of Music Streaming Services

Now in 2019, how many people have not used Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, or any music streaming services yet? There is simply too much music that we are exposed to listen to with just a press of a button.

However, did you know that history of the music streaming services first derived from Napster, Inc., which uses a mechanism of Peer to Peer (P2P) service? This unprecedented application on the internet began in the fall of 1998 by Shawn Fanning, brought both cheerful acclamation and troublesome disputes (lawsuits from major records) at the same time. The songs were stored in central servers that provided a real-time directory with specifications of stored file names and locations. Users uploaded music to the server from their vinyl, tapes, and CD recordings, in returns, downloading over billions of other songs in MP3 format. “MP3 technology was developed by a German engineering firm in 1987 as a way of compressing digital audio files by removing inaudible space and squeezing the rest.” (Honigsberg, 474)

P2P Mechanism by David R. Cheriton
Napster running under Mac OS 9 in March 2001
Screenshot by Njahnke

On December 6th, 1999, A & M Records and seventeen other record companies filed a complaint about Napster off copyright infringement. The image of Napster was rapidly waning and on February 12th, 2001, the court ordered Napster to install filters to halt the use of any copyrighted materials, thus “blocking over ninety-nine percent of copyrighted material.” On July 2nd, 2001, Napster eventually had to close their online service.

Nevertheless, during the span of court hearings, Napster was preparing for their transformation. BMG record company, which was one of the five major companies who sued Napster, turned their side and partnered with Napster for a “fee-based membership service.” Napster and BMG together, they planned on creating a new online service that provides a digital version of the music, books, and magazines with the utilization of P2P mechanism. Hank Barry, who is the former CEO of BMG record announced to offer the users with $4.95/month and about seventy to eighty percent avenues shared to record companies. Unfortunately, the offer did not appeal to any other major records as their calculation suggested that the deal was not profitable enough. With Konrad Hilbers’ replacement of Hank Barry, Napster previewed their new subscription model In January 2002 with a limitation in a diversity of music selections.

[News Article] Napster Unloads Interim CEO Hank Barry, Brings BMG Insider on Board

Soon after, Napster sadly had to announce their bankruptcy and Roxio, a CD-burning software maker, purchased Napster’s brand and logo with his bid that was worth about $5.3 million. After he successfully brought back Sean Fanning to the company, they planned on launching a fully legalized version of Napster. Roxio acquired PressPlay for $12.5 million in cash and made reborn of PressPlay possible with the name of Napster 2.0. After five years, Best Buy purchased Napster with $121 million but resold ‘Napster’s customers and intellectual property’ in 2011 to Rhapsody with returns of a minority stake. Rhapsody has been growing ever since, especially big in Europe, and In 2016, Rhapsody rebranded itself with the name of Napster. Now Napster is competing against major music streaming services, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, Deezer, Beats Music, and many more.

[Article] Roxio Buys Napster Assets

[Article] Roxio Hires Napster Founder, Will Re-Launch Service In 2003

[Article] ROXIO BUYS PRESSPLAY, NAPSTER LIVES

[Article] Napster Is Back as Rhapsody Rebrands Its Streaming Service

[Article] The History of Napster

This is the brief history of Napster, the pioneer incorporate that brought the music streaming services to us. Watch some of the documentaries about Napster.

Napster Documentary: Culture of Free
Napster Documentary ‘Downloaded’ Part One

Sources:

  1. U.S.C. A&M Records. Inc. v. Napster. Inc. 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N. D. Cal. 2000)
  2. Peter Jan Honigsberg, The Evolution and Revolution of Napster, 36 U.S.F. L. Rev. 473 (2002)
  3. https://www.businessinsider.com/napster-is-finally-dead-heres-a-look-back-at-what-happened-2011-10
  4. H. Michael Drumm, Life after Napster: Will Its Successors Share Its Fate, 5 Tex. Rev. Ent. & Sports L. 157 (2003)

The Thrilling Theremin

When you think of the theremin, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps a violin being played under water? Ghost movies? Alien abductions?? For me, I always think of that one episode on the Big Bang Theory where Sheldon used it to played the Star Trek theme song (much to the annoyance of his friends).

Even though your views of the theremin might not be as intrinsically linked the the Big Bang Theory as mine, I’m sure we can all agree that this instrument is already pretty cool. And now that we have established that the theremin is pretty freaking cool and therefore worth studying, I’m about to flood your brain with all the necessary knowledge you never thought you needed about how this pretty incredible piece of electronic technology came to be.

A History of Lev and his Theremin

Léon Theremin
(1896-1993)

The thermain begin in the mind of Russian inventor Lev Sergeyevich Termen, more commonly known today as Léon Theremin in 1919. The 23 year old soviet (who was also a KGB spy) invented the device accidentally while working on a meter that measures the density of gas. Basically this gas meter created an electromagnetic field that would produce a sound when the area around it was disturbed. Theremin realized that the closer he brought his hands to the gas meter, the higher the pitch became, and the further away he pulled his hands, the lower the pitch became. So, like any 23 year old in a laboratory when you find out your new machine makes funny noises, Theremin busted out some tunes for his lab buddies. His buddies and his boss were like “Wow that’s so cool . How about you like make an actual instrument out of it and like take it on the road and stuff?” And, so he did.

But first young Theremin made a pit stop at Vladmir Lenon’s house in 1922 to show him the new diddy maker he had just made, which he called the Aetherphone. And Lenin was like “Woah, this is cool, like really cool. It electronic technology like this that will help me spread all the communism. You should totally go out and share this Aetherphone with the people (and also maye think of a new name while you’re at it.)” So, with Lenin’s gold star of approval, Léon Theremin went out and spent the 1920s touring Europe with his fancy new doodad, which he now called the Thereminvox (which was then shortened to Theremin because it’s easier to say).

from “Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage” by Albert Glinsky, and Bob Moog

After traveling and performing around Europe, Mr. Theremin and his wife Katia then made their way to America in 1927. In America, Theremin performed in the nation’s top concert halls and venues making his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1928, then New York Philharmonic in 1928, and Carnegie Hall in 1928 and 1929. It was at this time that Leon Theremin also patented his theremin in the United States and the Theremin began to be produced and marketed by RCA (*Radio Corporation of America) in 1929 and 1930. Unfortunately, they were not a commercial success.

However, while in America Mr. Theremin met Clara Rockmore (née Reisenberg) who would go on to become a theremin virtuoso and perpetuate the use of theremins in modern music and cinema. Clara went on to devise her own fingering to allow for greater control and dexterity on the instrument, and as their partnership continued, Clara convinced Mr. Theremin to continue to refine his instrument, expanding the instrument’s range from three octaves to five octaves. Mr. Theremin, who was so encapsulated by Clara’s gifts, then proposed to her (a bunch of times) ((even though he may have still been married to Katia)), and was rejected, and Clara went on to marry the attorney Robert Rockmore.

Leo Theremin and Clara Rockmore

In the 1930s, Mr. Theremin established a laboratory in New York where he continued to develop the Theremin and other electronic instruments including the Rhythmicorn (electronic drum set) and the Fingerboard (cello) Theremin. Theremin even went on to perform a 10 theremin program in Carnegie Hall in 1930 and conducted his first electronic orchestra in 1932. Mr. Theremin also went on to marry the African-American ballet dancer Lavinia Williams, which resulted in his ostracization from society.

Lavinia Williams, second wife of Leo Theremin

The Theremin continued to make appearances in films and media in the background tracks of movies like The Lost Weekend (1945), Spellbound (1945), and Forbidden Planet (1956). Meanwhile Clara Rockmore continued to play the Theremin in a variety of concert halls and venues (and was also featured in the 1932 performances in Carnegie Hall). Clara went on to release an album entitled “The Art of the Theremin” in 1977 with Delos CD, containing a variety of selections from the classical canon. Even moving into the late 20th and early 21st century, the Theremin is still heard in a variety of pop songs including in the Beach Boys 1996 single “Good Vibrations,” the 1967 Rolling Stones albums Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request.

And through the theremins continued success across the mainstream media and musical performances, what ever happened to Leo Theremin? One day in 1938, he disappeared from his New York studio and vanished, being swept back to Russia, leaving behind his wife, Lavinia, and his theremin (among many his other musical inventions). Never to be heard from again until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991.

Technology Behind the Theremin

So how does this thing actually work? We’ll you’re in luck because SciShow made a super informative video that explains the whole thing. The theremin really didn’t change a whole lot since its invention; the body of the device grew smaller due to the advancements in microtechnologies and the rod that determines pitch was made longer as to accommodate a more extended range. Aside from these small adjustments, the science behind the theremin remained relatively unchanged.

The Theremin In Action

Here are some super cool videos of the Theremin in action!

music stands!!1!

You might think that finding music stands at a music school shouldn’t be a problem. Wrong. Finding a music stand in the annex is one of the hardest challenges you’ll face at Eastman. Musicians always talk about recording devices, recital halls, more expensive instruments etc., but no one ever talks about music stands?! Let me show you some examples of how hard musicians’ lives would be without music stands:


Other replacements for music stands include window sills, chairs and pianos.

I tried to find out who invented music stands and what they originally looked like but unfortunately couldn’t. This suggests that music stands have been around for a very long time. However, I did find this painting called “Church singing, Tacuinum Sanitatis” from 14th century, which gives us an idea of what stands might have looked like centuries ago.

Look at the stand in the painting. It’s made up of thick wood and is probably extremely heavy. It doesn’t seem to be adjustable, as the children in the painting are craning their necks to see the music. Today, we can easily adjust the height of the stand so that it can suit people of various heights. Not only that, plenty of improvements have been made to music stands to make our lives so much easier.

Most music stands these days are made up of metal, that are lighter than wood and are still steady. Most come with adjustable height and tilt function. Some have knobs attached to them, and some have automatic friction slides so that you can just easily push the head of the stand to adjust the height.

This is my personal favourite type of music stands, as it has an extra accessory shelf that lets you put things like pencils, reeds, tuner etc. I always carry a shitload of stuff with me all the time so this extra storage room makes my life so much easier.

One disadvantage music stands have is that it is too heavy and big to carry around. Thankfully there are these things called foldable stands that lets you fold it to make it easier to carry around, and is also significantly lighter in weight. One downside of these portable folding music stands have is that they aren’t very sturdy. They usually have metal spring arm extensions to hold sheet music in place.

To make music stands more awesome than they already are, there are stand accessories such as clip-on light, attachable instrument stands, clip-on page holder and phone/drink holders. It’s pretty wild.

I’m now realising that it’s kinda hard to write 600 words about music stands.. especially because there doesn’t seem to be much information about it. Unbelievable.. Music stands deserve way more credit than it’s getting. Music stands are an absolute necessity for musicians. You can’t even dreeeam of having a functioning orchestra without music stands!

Maybe I’ll post my blog online somewhere public. Let me know what you guys think.

source:

https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_stand

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_stand

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/stand-accessories-parts

Music Stand

20 Best Music Stand Reviews 2022 (Best Music Stand Brands)

Spatialization in the Renaissance Polyphony: A Short History of its Aesthetics and Application

Music, besides a purely sensual, and often surreal, kind of enjoyment, has a million facets and presents a wide array of different challenges for different mentalities: for performers, music is a fluid oscillation between obtaining eloquent delivery of tones and phrases, and reimagining the philosophical pillars with which the piece in question was derived; for composers, and usually scholars as well, music yields a metaphysical reality, by pursuing which our concerns about material, and sometimes even practical, realities shrivel; for the general audience (assuming one that is familiar with the context of the piece they listen or recollect), music tends to be interpreted as a manifestation of an all-encompassing, higher being, in which the listener is dissolved, elevated to a vantage point, and able to re-deliver the comprehensivity of the music.

Discussions of the psychological impact of music are often imbued with that praising its extraordinary illusionary capabilities. This observation, however, pertains directly to an integral part in musical imagination: space. Composers use techniques of distance and spatiality to create a premise for intricate structural progressions and volatile ideas; sometimes it becomes so compelling that the listener’s awareness of the surrounding is completely subsumed into it. In such cases an ‘environment’ is created. In relation to more traditional aesthetics, the sole agenda of creating space is to create an alternative path towards metaphysical reality, apart from teachings of reasoning. Space instills fertility of thought in us. When we listen to music attentively enough, the boundary between the listener, who perceives sonic information, and the music, which configures and ‘emanates’ the information, is obscured; therefore it is not hard to imagine the multiplicity and simultaneity of perceptual conduits and the listener’s self-awareness achieved by spatialization, through which the attentive locating of sound — sometimes the listener’s subconscious, self-seeking appreciation of such attentiveness as well — is transposed to a kind of panoramic ‘vision’ when the listener recognizes another sound source. The experience is then translated into, to a certain extent, an experience of anonymity and metaphysical clarity beyond the subjectively imposed characterization of external sonic objects. Ultimately, a virtual environment is created, and the listener is rendered receptive of it; the processes of signification is diluted within a complex procedure of transitioning between being and non-being. The listener’s ideas are therefore, ideally, equally represented and given ‘amorphous’ shapes according to how the composite matters are delimited and when the ideas ‘intersect’ the music during the listening experience. When we internalize spatiality, polyphony begins.

The spatialization technology has nowadays been primarily associated with electronic settings thanks to the proliferation of electronic music and development of electronic equipments. Its root, however, can be traced far back to the antiphonal singing of chants in the medieval era. The antiphonal style, that is, the call-and-response setting between segregated choruses, has been implemented in chants more than the responsorial (solo-chorus) style and the direct (unison choir) style. Besides exploring the poetic images behind the antiphons, the Renaissance era inherited the performance practices and further intensified implicit soundscapes in significantly elaborate polyphony. One can relate this movement to concurrent scientific discoveries (or, perhaps more accurately, the acknowledgment of their validity from the Church) regarding the motional and spatial relativity between Earth and other celestial objects, which helped replacing the Earth-centric view of the universe with a spatially much greater one. The explosive expansion of the hypothetical universe led to a new way of looking at space; the spherical representation of the universe and the sphere as a theological representation of perfection both emerged during this period, and the octave, considered the most ‘spherical’ of all intervals, was employed in ways of enhancing, regulating and reorganizing the tonal space — the handling of tonal implications and motional relativity had been increasingly reified and conceptualized such that it virtually became a ‘spatial’ parameter — which correlates to a revised end-goal of contrapuntal writing. Counterpoint had been treated as, obviously enough, a rigorously linear, ‘contrapuntal’ context in the previous century. This can be seen in Johannes Tinctoris’ formulation in his 1477 thesis Liber de arte contrapuncti:

Counterpoint is a regulated and rational concentus [literally, “singing together”] realized by setting one voice against another. Its name counterpoint derives from counter and point, because one note is set against another as if it were constituted by one point against another.

Tinctoris , Liber de arte contrapuncti, 1477

However, new ideas emerged unhindered, and we see the recognition of the totality of polyphony as a ‘body,’ an organic whole. Counterpoint had since therefore been endowed a mystical quality. Here is one example of numerous expressions of the then-revolutionary theory, quoted from Franchinus Gaffurius’ Angelicum ac divinum opus musice, written in 1518:

The concento or many-voiced work is a certain organism that contains different parts adapted for singing and disposed between voices distanced in commensurable intervals. This is what the singers call counterpoint.

Gaffurius, Angelicum ac divinum opus musice, 1518

The latter one, notably favored by theorist Gioseffo Zarlino who appropriated the quote nearly verbatim in his seminal treatise Istitutioni harmoniche, combined the perception of external spatiality and that of the internal analogue into a single, transcendent unit. If external spatial distribution was to be viewed as insufficient to fulfill our perceptual intuitions, Gaffurius’ conception of the organic composition may well serve to alleviate the apparent mediocrity of the seemingly signal-like, ‘unmusical’ tactics. In other words, spatialization had again been able to yield its perceptual potency thanks to the intensification of tonal organization. Further discussion of its aesthetic history can be found in this beautifully written paper.

The revitalized interest in spatial arrangement was evident in the architectural plans of Catholic churches. Many of the them have places specially designed for antiphonal choirs; in this article, the author specifically examines the floor plan of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.

The symmetrical layout is typical for Catholic architectures; note the cruciform design.

The liturgical significance of antiphonal settings is evident here; while the organ is introduced into architectures, spaces are retained for antiphonal choirs.

Unsurprisingly, antiphonal writing is enormously difficult because, by the time polyphony came into fruition during the mid- and late-Renaissance era, segregated choirs were treated not only as purely antiphonal but also as a composite choir. Besides maintaining independence of melodic lines, the composer has to manage the composite choir — typically an eight-part force divided into two four-part choirs with equal forces — in a way that the independence of individual choirs can be recognized while the unity of the eight-part body is preserved. In Istitutioni harmoniche Zarlino wrote about the principles of writing of this kind:

Because the choirs are located at some distance from one another, the composer must see to it that each chorus has music that is consonant, that is without dissonance among its parts, and that each has a self-sufficient four-part harmony. Yet when the choirs sound together, their parts must make good harmony without dissonances. Thus composed, each choir has independent music which could be sung separately without offending the ear.

Zarlino, Istitutioni harmoniche, 1558

One example of eight-voice setting is the Ave Maria (1572) by Tomás Luis de Victoria, included in the supreme compilation of his musical art Missae, Magnificat, Motecta, Psalmi, published in 1600. This motet incredibly encapsulates different kinds of choral writing, all fused in a compelling dramatic trajectory. In addition to eloquent shifting between kind to kind, Victoria exploited the organizational possibilities within the expanded setting, usually when the texture is diminished into four parts. The curtailed choir, however, may be drawn from both sides of the entire force as opposed to one; the strict, ‘primitive’ distinction of sides which once defined antiphony became a form of interlacing, its original functional implications — to elicit call-and-response reciprocations — giving way to intricate transitioning between different pairs of different distances. To carefully calculate the relative amplitude of each side is to manipulate the ‘movement’ of a sound (not to be confused with that of a pitch, which is contour) — an implicit, heavily context-dependent, yet immensely affective parameter.

For further investigation of the performative considerations of an eight-voice setting, this article offers a detailed discussion of Victoria’s Victimae paschali laudes, a sequence also included in the 1600 collection Missae, Magnificat, Motecta, Psalmi.

The spatial component saw a second rise in significance in the nineteenth century and a full fruition in subsequent centuries. In the third movement of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, an oboist is instructed to remain offstage while playing the remote echoes of the shepherd’s melody, which is in turn played by the english horn; the schalldeckel in Richard Wagner’s revolutionary Bayreuth Festspielhaus reflects the lush orchestral sound from the pit back to the auditorium in a way that at any given point the sound seems to be completely immersive and all-directional; Luigi Nono credited the Venetian masters in the Renaissance era as of primary importance in his music because spatialization directly pertains to contemporary theatrical philosophy. Such is the relevance of our instinctive awareness of surroundings to metaphysical and spiritual truthfulness. However, spatialization through purely contrapuntal means is no less complex than the handling of the electronic facilities. Perhaps, evocation of a primal revelation and reverence — although it may appear more akin to an ‘unlearning’ process — could only be plausible through our rigorously regulating, reinventing and augmenting the conduit for an authentic yet universal experience.

— I-Hsiang Chao

Timpani Through Time

A very prominent online dictionary defines the timpani as follows: Timpani — The greatest set of orchestral drums ever created. Admittedly, this definition comes from the urban dictionary, potentially a less than scholarly resource, but I can’t help but agree. Perhaps I am a little biased, being a timpanist myself, but the timpani are perhaps the most powerful and dramatic instrument in the symphony orchestra. They can roar or they can whisper, heightening the impact of the moment. The Timpani occupy a percussive category of their own; they have the ability to play specific pitches. The head of the drum is tensioned by a hoop that pulls down on the head to tighten it. On contemporary drums, a mechanism called the spider links this hoop to a foot pedal. This allows the pitched to be raised (by pulling down on the hoop and tightening the head) or lowered (by letting up on the hoop and loosening the head) with the feet, while the player continues to play with his hands. This allows the timpanist to play complex melodies, playing the notes with his hands and quickly changing the pitches with his feet. Here’s a great example:

Percussionists at the Texas Music Festival play an arrangement of the Stars & Stripes Forever

But timpani have not always been so technologically advanced. In fact, the pedal mechanism was not invented until the 1870s. The history of the timpani predates this.

In fact, the very first timpani date from 12th century Arab empires, such as the Ottoman empire. These timpani were much smaller than modern drums. Primarily, they were used in military bands. Although there is little information on these ancient drums, the historical record fills out when European crusaders and Saracens brought these drums back home with them to Europe. In the 15th century, larger timpani, similar to the drums we use today, began to show up. These new drums were played from horseback, with one mounted on either side of the horseman. They were used in battle and to herald the grand entrance of royalty.

A timpanist on horseback from Nick Woud’s Art and Prints

From these militaristic origins, the timpani began to expand into civilian life. Around the 16th century the timpani were adapted for church music. Still, their sound was most often paired with trumpets and used to summon a militaristic aura. These drums would evolve into what modern timpanists consider baroque timpani, drums which were hand- tuned with screws. It would not be until the late 1870s when the German instrument maker Carl Pittrich would patent a pedal mechanism similar to what we see today on modern drums

Early pedal timpani

But how were the timpani made before methods of modern construction? Contemporary drums are manufactured in specialized workshops with machinery that makes the process efficient and exact. Here’s an interesting video showing how Yamaha produces their drums.

But in its earlier days, there were no specialty factories. Instead, it took the skills of many different craftsman to construct the timpani. Firstly, the bowl (or kettle) was made by an expert metal worker. Primarily, the bowl was made copper, although other metals, such as brass of silver, could be used. Interestingly, most timpani bowls are still made from copper. Next, a tanner would fabricate the drum’s head from an animal skin, most commonly a calf. Most contemporary drumheads are made from plastic, although some professionals still favor the sound of calfskin. Finally, a machinist would be responsible for making the counter hoop (the metal hoop that pulls down on the head), the tuning screws used to tighten the head, and the mounting hardware for the screws (these are often called called lugs).

It was a painstaking process, but worthwhile. The timpani were considered a compelling instrument during their early period. German Composer Johann E. Altenburg wrote in 18th century that, “An accomplished timpanist, by utilizing a large variety of techniques and artful beatings, can keep his audience’s attention for quite a length of time. He compensates for the lack of pitches with numerous Schlag-Manieren.” The term Schalag-manieren refers to a series of artful patterns and rhythms that the timpanist would improvise over their part. Timpanist and musicologist Ben Harms demonstrates this in this video.

As you can see, the timpani have a long and rich history. And their evolution continues, with the introduction of new ensemble and solo pieces that push timpanist to unprecedented technical extremes. Who knows where we will end up in another couple hundred years!

Piano Pedals

If you’ve ever played the piano before, chances are you’ve used the pedals by your feet. Most grand pianos will have three of them, and they all have different uses. But where did they come from? How, and why, were they developed?

The modern piano’s three pedals have pretty distinct functions; the right pedal, or the damper pedal, is the one that is by far the most used. It lifts the dampers off of the strings so that every note you play sustains even after you release the key. The left pedal, also called the una corda or the soft pedal, is designed to create a softer, more muted sound, and it achieves this on most piano designs by shifting the keys and hammers to the right so that each hammer only hits one of the strings (many notes on a piano have two or three strings that create the full sound). The middle pedal, which is rarely used, is usually a sostenuto pedal. It has the same effect as the damper pedal, but only on the notes that you are already holding down when you press the sostenuto pedal. This lets you sustain certain notes while simultaneously playing shorter notes elsewhere.

The first mechanism that changed the sound of the piano in a way that resembles our modern piano pedals was the una corda, invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy. Cristofori’s 1700 piano is the first pianoforte that we know of. You’ll notice that Bartolomeo’s una corda shares the same name as our modern left pedal, and that’s because they shared the same function; however, Cristofori’s original una corda was a hand stop, not a pedal. This made it very clunky to use, as the pianist would have to stop playing with one hand every time they wanted to use it.

Cristofori’s piano design, similarly shaped to a harpsichord as that was its predecessor. You can see the white una corda stop to the left of the keyboard.

Moving ahead to Germany in the late 1700s, Johann Stein, who designed the pianos that Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn wrote music for, found a way around the problem of having to use your hands by using a knee lever instead. The lever itself is believed to be developed around 1765, and Mozart wrote about them in a 1777 letter, in which he says,

“I have played my six sonatas by heart repeatedly, both here and in Munich. The fifth in G, I played at the distinguished Casino concert, and the last in D, which has an incomparable effect on Stein’s pianos. The pedals, pressed by the knees, are also better made by him than by any one else ; you scarcely require to touch them to make them act, and as soon as the pressure is removed not the slightest vibration is perceptible.”

A re-creation of what Stein’s knee lever would have looked like.


The first instance of the pedal itself is not as clear, but the consensus seems to be that it came from England. Gottfried Silbermann, the first German piano builder, had many English piano builders as apprentices, and a few of them are credited with first incorporating the damper pedal. Americus Backers, one of these English apprentices, has a surviving 1772 piano with what are believe to be the original pedals.

Piano makers were very experimental with how they arranged the pedals from then on, and the configuration changed constantly. Beethoven owned several different pianos from different makers, all with different pedal configurations. His Broadwood grand had a soft pedal and a separate damper pedal for the treble and bass notes. He also had a piano designed specifically to be louder for him, as he was going deaf. This piano had five different pedals as well as more strings on some of the notes.

The piano pedals are very important in modern classical playing, and looking back on the history of their creation and all of their different variations can be very interesting. It is entirely possible that the modern pedal configuration may end up changing at some point, so looking back at how these changes were made can offer a unique perspective on something as taken for granted as the piano pedals.

Neck Straps Today: Gimmicks or Essentials

All saxophonists and other musicians who play larger woodwinds invest in some piece of technology to support their instruments while they play them. Most people call this piece of technology a neck strap, but as manufacturers become increasingly aware of occupational hazards, some of these devices have absolutely zero contact with the players neck. For instance, JAZZLAB makes a harness which is made of high-tech, lightweight materials, and can be adjusted seven different ways to Sunday.

Now don’t get me wrong, JAZZLAB makes a great product and I have seen many players use this piece of equipment on several occasions, but I have always wondered if their product actually improves posture. If I’m at all like some of my fellow instrumentalists, I don’t think about my posture nearly enough whenever I pick up my horn. But when I do, I think about my posture from the ground up and try sit or stand as naturally as possible as if the horn weren’t even in my hands. The Saxophone Guy provides an excellent breakdown on building a healthy, supportive playing position and also has some pretty sweet pictures on his site:

https://www.saxophone-guy.com/good-posture.html

The Saxophone Guy has some pretty killing posture, but where is his JAZZLAB saXholder!? Countless saxophone legends have been able to play the instrument at the highest of levels without the aid of special harnesses. Here is some photo-graphical evidence for your viewing pleasure:

In the photographs above, we have three jazz giants and zero saxophone suspension gadgets. Perhaps I am a traditionalist, but the previous fact is a good indication that saxophonists today don’t need a fancy harnesses to facilitate good posture and achieve mastery of the instrument.

While Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, and Dexter Gordon were truly masters of their craft, let’s take a closer look at a different saxophonist: Rich Perry (linked below).h

http://richperrymusic.com/

Rich Perry visited the Eastman School of Music in 2016 and performed as a guest with the Eastman Jazz Lab Band in addition to teaching a few master classes. When he played, he used the JAZZLAB saXholder to support his saxophone. I remember him saying that his harness was an essential step in his recovery. After years of developing bad posture, Rich created not only a unique sound on the tenor but also chronic pain in his neck and shoulders. He corrected this issue by improving his posture and using a harness instead of the old-fashioned neck straps. And if you don’t believe me, here’s a video of him playing with his harness on (solo starts at 5:00).

Rich Perry is one of many who has experienced the therapeutic benefits of playing with a harness. To invest approximately $50 to increase the longevity of your musical career is perfectly reasonable decision to make. But if you don’t have to, and you buy an expensive harness to have the latest technology I would advise against it. Either way, it’s probably better than playing on one of these!

https://secondhandsaxes.com.au/images/wrecksspares/brilhart%20sop%20strap.jpg

Shure Unidyne Model 55: The Famous Microphone That No One Knows About

Imagine a young Elvis Presley, only 21 years old, in his home town of Tupelo, Mississippi. Finally coming home for the first time as a massive celebrity, Elvis decides to put on a homecoming concert for the town. Performing for tens of thousands of screaming fans, Elvis makes sure to pull all of the stops. He sings some of his most famous hits like “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel,” dances in the sensual fashion that never made it into his “waist up” performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, and holds his hand out to a sea of people desperately wanting to touch him, all the while clutching a bulbous, chrome set microphone that would come to be playfully nicknamed the “Elvis Mic”: the Shure Unidyne Model 55.

Elvis Presley performing in Tupelo, Mississippi on September 29th, 1956.

This microphone, first developed in 1939 under the Unidyne Microphone Series of the Shure Company, has been in the presence of some of the most famous musicians and arguably the most recognizable events in American history. The Shure Unidyne Model 55 was the preferred microphone not only for Elvis Presley, but for the great jazz singer Billie Holiday, the “Queen of Swing” Mildred Bailey, and Frank Sinatra. It was in front of Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, was quite noticeable in the “Dewey Defeats Truman” photo, and the iconic microphone that helped Michael Buffer utter the words, “Let’s get ready to RUMBLE!!!” 

Truman holding up a newspaper with the famous title “Dewey Defeats Truman.” The Shure Unidyne Model 55 is clearly visible on the podium.

However, even though the Model 55 has been around for 80 years and has been an integral part of America’s musical and social culture, not many people really know much about this mic and what made it the groundbreaking technology that it truly is. Well, I intend to right this incredible wrong of society and present to you a rundown of the Model 55’s history and its ingenious design that more that certainly led to its popularity.

1. It was the first of its kind to be a “single element dynamic cardiod” microphone

Image from giphy.com

Now I know what you’re thinking. “This is how you’re going to reel me in? Throwing together a bunch of engineering terms and hoping I think it sounds cool? You’ve lost me.” But wait! While they might sound a little dry, those four words (single element dynamic cardiod) are the basis for almost all modern recording technology and, in the context of the 1930’s, opened a new realm of possibilities for studio and live recordings. Here is a breakdown for those words. 

“Cardiod” refers to the specific directional pattern that the mic makes. Back in the 1930’s, most microphones either picked up sounds equally from all sides (an omnidirectional pattern) or equally from two sides (a bidirectional pattern) but the desired pattern for live performances was a unidirectional pattern that picked up sounds from only one side of the microphone. That way, only a performer’s sound would go in to the microphone without the ambient noise that could normally cause unwanted feedback. This unidirectional pattern often is in the shape of a heart, which is why it is specifically called a cardiod pattern. If you want to read more on directional patterns, click here

Basic forms of directional patterns for microphones. Image from https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/microphone-polar-patterns/

“Dynamic” refers to how the microphone turns the acoustic waves of the sound into electric waves. In a dynamic microphone, sound pushes against a diaphragm which is connected to a piece of wire coiled around a magnet. Whenever the diaphragm moves, the coil moves over the magnet, creating a small current that momentarily runs through the wire. There are many different ways in which sound can be changed to electric signal and if you want to learn more about these methods, click here

“Single element” is probably the most important term out of this group because it’s what made this microphone so successful as a product. In the 1930’s, to be able to create a cardiod directional pattern, recorders would have to use huge microphones that effectively had multiple omnidirectional and bidirectional mics within it that would sum or subtract their outputs. These “multiple element” mics were heavy and not always reliable, so Shure researched ways to modify the dynamic configuration of the mic so that only one element was needed. With the help of Benjamin Bauer, the head designer and inventor of the mic, the company found a way to alter how sound hits the diaphragm from the back and effectively nullified any sound that would come in that direction. This resulted in a mic that was extremely light weight and significantly more reliable than its competitors; features that many performers and announcers were attracted to.

2. It was extremely cost effective

Because of its single element design, Shure could sell these microphones at a reasonable price to broadcast groups. The Shure Unidyne Model 55 costed around $45 dollars, which for its reliability and weight, was a great deal for performers buying them.

3. People loved the outer design of the microphone

Without a doubt people were attracted to the futuristic look of the Model 55. According to the Shure company, the outer design of the mic was inspired by the grill of the 1937 Oldsmobile as well as the Art Deco movement of the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Grill of the 1937 Oldsmobile. Image from medium.com

All in all, the Shure Unidyne Model 55 was a feat of technological brilliance. It offered an efficient way to accurately record vocals without the fear of feedback or odd frequency response. The Shure Model 55 should be remembered as the father to all modern dynamic microphones because it truly was the first of its kind. So, whenever you see a picture of Elvis waving around the “Elvis Mic” or Sinatra crooning into the Model 55, just remember how groundbreaking that microphone was.

What’s a Hammer?

What do you think of when the word hammer comes to mind?

  • A tool?
  • Rapper/dancer, MC Hammer?
  • A piano?

You may be thinking, “What’s a hammer have to do with a piano?”

Good question.

Hammers are mechanisms inside the keyboard that play a crucial role in its structure and sound. At times, we can forget about them because they are inside the instrument, but they are still an essential part of this big wood contraption. Without the hammers, it would not be able to produce the sound we hear today.

Before the piano was invented, the harpsichord was the main keyboard instrument. It produced sounds by hitting keys, which would strike a device called “jacks” that were in the harpsichord. The strings would be plucked in order to make sound, and a “jack rail” would then control how many strings were plucked at a time. This was what adjusted the volume.

Here’s a simple demonstration of how the jack works:

Bartolomeo Cristofori

The piano eventually came into play in the 1700’s. It was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy because many people were unsatisfied with the lack of control they had over the volume of the harpsichord. Cristofori switched the plucking mechanism for a hammer in the 1700’s. He developed an “escapement” mechanism, which allowed a hammer to fall after hitting the strings, as well as a dampening mechanism on the jack so that the strings would not sound when it was not being hit. His invention completely changed the sound of the keyboard instrument. It seems like a very minute detail- silencing the string; however, it makes a big difference. There’s a less abrupt sound, and a nice resonation. All of these characteristics makes the instrument more appealing to the ear.

Closer look of the hammers inside

Cristofori also developed another mechanism that improved the striking action. He used what he named, a “slide-slip.” The device (which was activated by a hand stop) would shift the mechanism so that it would only hit one string instead of three. This is where the soft pedal or una corda originated from.

The head of the hammer was also covered by a piece of felt. This allowed the tool to be protected, and not clash into the strings while keys were played. They were originally covered with layer of leather; however it was changed, most likely because it wasn’t fully developed until the mid 1800’s. The felt material allowed pianists to produce a softer sound, compared to the harpsichord, which was sharper and more abrupt. It had larger gradations in dynamics, which previous keyboard instruments did not have. As the felt quality gradually increased over time, modern pianos developed better tone, which gave room for more expression.

http://www.piano.christophersmit.com/hammer.html

So why are the hammers in the piano even that important? Is it even considered a technology? I would say so! The development of the hammer revolutionized the keyboard instrument. Before, pianists had no control over the volume at which they could play. As a pianist, that would have really bothered me, because the most important thing to have is a large range in dynamics. With the earlier keyboard instruments, the volume could only be controlled with the jack rail, and that still didn’t give much range in dynamics. The articulation of fingers was essentially the only thing that could control the sound and tone. It didn’t matter how much weight you put into the keys. 

With the development of the hammer mechanism, pianists were able to change the sound and volume with the weight of their arms. This allowed them to produce a much bigger range of dynamics. It’s the reason why we are able to play a vast range of fortes and pianos today.