Resources: Other Alma Maters

March 29-Over the course of working on this project, I have spent countless hours on YouTube listening to various Alma Maters from colleges and universities around the country. Almost every one has a few things in common:

• mention of local geography                                               
• reference to school history
• recording of Alma Mater is from a sporting event

It seems that the most common place to hear an Alma Mater is either after a win in a sporting event, or at a graduation or commencement. So this has given me ideas as to what the atmosphere will be when the Alma Mater is performed. 

Ms. Lord mentioned the other day the idea of trying to find the Alma Maters of other high schools in our area such as Lansing, Newfield, or Dryden to see if they could spark some ideas as to what to make the lyrics about. This will be my next angle to pursue.

Joon Park/IHS Pride

March 27-A friend of mine, Joon Park, was IHS Class of 2013, and he now attends Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. From what I understand, he is currently double majoring in Physics and Music Composition, and I believe he has a minor in some other field.

He was back in Ithaca this week on spring break and he came in to observe our Music Theory class at the high school. He reminded me about how two years ago, there was a Fight Song Competition at IHS in an effort to increase school spirit.

As it turned out, he was the only person to submit an entry, and we never even played his piece in Pep Band. IHS has a very underwhelming sense of school spirit, and I think it is because of the diversity Ithaca has to offer.

There are so many different demographics that feed into the ICSD system, it is hard to find a common bond between all of them. Even the Ithaca High School Wikipedia page speaks of the wide demographic.

"The [Ithaca] schools have children of professors at Cornell University and Ithaca College, who would not be rattled by a dinner-table chat about quantum physics. They also have students from Ithaca's poorer streets and from the hardscrabble farms and mobile homes in the villages that surround this Finger Lakes city."

My goal in writing this alma mater is to create something for everyone to latch onto and be proud of. I want to make this the common bond between all Ithaca High School students. 

Barnsong: A Reflection

March 25-Yesterday during our WISE class, Ms. Lord showed us a documentary created by a former WISE student. The quirk about this documentary was that it was made about another students' WISE project. The title of the documentary was Barnsong, and it is about a student who built a barn completely from scratch as his project. He did everything from cutting down the trees on his property, to milling them to create beams, to nailing everything together, to raising and finishing the barn.

I found it very interesting to see two projects in one. I actually thought it was a great idea for a project because it encouraged so much collaboration.

Listed below are a few praises and criticisms of the combined project.

Praises:
Music was well used and fit the mood
Showed just enough of the barn project for it to make sense, without showing us everything
Asked good questions of the student building the barn
Showed both successes and failures, also showed how to overcome problems

Criticisms:
Needed commentary to describe what was happening (some dead spots)
Music was sometimes too loud and covered up voices
Some scenes seemed random and out of place

Hopefully I can take what I learned from these two projects and apply it to my own. Even though they aren't directly related, they show some good examples of collaboration.

Former WISE Project

March 23-This past week, Ms. Lord gave us the WISE Project of a former student who's project related closely to our own. I received Paul Westin's project because he had written a piece for the IHS Jazz Band. I was actually a freshmen that year, and I remember rehearsing a performing Paul's piece. It was fascinating to see all the different stages that he went through to achieve his final result. I remember seeing small changes to certain sections after we began rehearsal, but I really enjoyed being able to see all the work he put in up to that point.

Reading Paul's blog was very inspiring to me because I saw that he struggled with blogging in the same way that I have. And of course, the reason for his absence from the blogosphere was because he was in the Pit Orchestra for the musical. His blog was so well written, and it showed both his successes as well as his failures. It was inspirational to read something that sounded so human and so relate-able.

It was also very neat to read about what came out of Paul's mentor meetings, because I would always see him conducting his meetings with Ms. Zawel in the band room. (I like it when stories come full circle. Hopefully mine will too.)

Finale PrintMusic

March 22-This is when the beauty of technology is very obvious. I just downloaded my new composing software. Finale is the premier music composition software in the world, and I bought a version of their software: Finale PrintMusic.

This is to musicians what Microsoft Word is to the rest of the world. It is essential in writing music for an ensemble. Using Finale will allow me to enter notes onto a document and be able to hear back what I put in. So I will be able to hear exactly what the piece will sound like before anybody even performs it.

I have only used the Finale software once before, and that was five years ago, so I will be reacquainting myself as I go along. Lots to start working on.

Secondary Function Chords

March 21-The plot has thickened for my project. Recently, in my AP Music Theory class, we have been discussing the usage of secondary function chords. (I'm about to go into 'music nerd talk' for a few sentences, so if something is unclear, please ask me a question in the comments).

Secondary function chords are used to establish a new tonic key in a piece of music, without changing the key signature. For example, if I were playing a piece of music in A Major, and suddenly there was a B Major chord, this would be a secondary function.

The members of a B Major chord do not all appear in an A Major scale (they are not diatonic), so accidentals are used to alter the quality (major or minor) of a chord. The chord that leads to I (1) in A Major is V (5). The V chord in A Major is E Major.

So to make a piece interesting and establish V as the new tonic, I would write a V/V (5 of 5) chord. This is where the B Major chord is used as the V in E major.

Wow...did you catch all that? If not, let me know.

When my alma mater is finished, you should definitely look for some secondary function chords. (Don't worry, I'll help you find them!)

Original Alma Mater/Mentor Meeting

March 19- Ok, my wonderful mentor, Ms. Kristin Zaryski, just gave me a copy of the original Ithaca High School Alma Mater. Yikes...I was not too impressed. I think the only thing that I liked about it was the fact that it was written in purple ink. Many of the words were compressed in an effort to eliminate syllables, and it just made the whole thing sound corny.

Aside from the lyrics being set to the tune of "O Christmas Tree", they don't even reference the current high school. The lyrics are written in reference to the old Ithaca High School, before this current one was built.

Stately 'neath the sloping hills
Rise our high school towers
And it's noble rapture 
Thrills every heart of ours

To thee old Ith'ca we sing
Loudly let its praises ring
Sing it's praises to the sky
Grand and noble Ith'ca High

Really...Ith'ca?

Clearly I have my work cut out for me.

Michael's Music Mondays

Happy Monday everybody! You know what that means. So here it is. This week's pick: "The Seal Lullaby" by Eric Whitacre. Given that last week we looked a work of Gustav Mahler, who lived from 1860-1911, I decided that this week we would take a look at one of the most prolific composers of our time. Eric Whitacre is only 44 years old, but he has already revolutionized modern music as we know it. After listening to this piece, you will see why.









Ok, let's analyze why it is so powerful.



Whitacre is famous for using what are known as "cluster chords" in which many "non-chordal" tones are used. Sometimes it sounds like a wrong note is being sung, but in reality, when all those notes are put together, it creates a very mysterious effect.



This song is especially powerful because it uses musical onomatopoeia to depict the message. As you can see, the song is written about seals, and at the beginning and the end of the piece you can hear how Whitacre uses crescendos and decrescendos to create a feeling of rolling waves on the ocean. If you close your eyes and imagine watching the ocean while listening to this piece, the music shapes the water in your head.



It's pretty neat how music can create pictures in your head.

Update

This past week, I spent a lot of time exploring different ideas for a melody. I got very hung up on trying to write lyrics, so I had to leave that for a few days and go back to what I know a little bit better. I need to meet with Mrs. Kennedy to discuss how to write lyrics (or a poem) for this Alma Mater. This has been the part that is more challenging than I anticipated. I have a list of features of Ithaca High School that are what make it unique, now the challenge is putting those features into a piece of music.

Michael's Music Mondays

For this weeks pick, I have selected a short section from Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Resurrection". In its entirety, the symphony is nearly an hour and a half. This particular recording is a short four minute recording of what is known as the "brass chorale" section of the piece. It was recorded by the New York Philharmonic in 1988, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. You will notice that the video begins with just brass instruments (trumpets, trombone, horn, and tuba) and is later joined by strings.
Enjoy!



If this doesn't send chills through your entire body, I don't know what will.

I'm sure if you actually listened to it, you already know why it is so powerful, so I will go a little bit more in depth in my reasoning.

This is simply the greatest passage of music that a brass player will ever play. Having played it once before, I don't think I will be asked to play as loudly ever again. One of the loudest moments in the history of music occurs from 1:12-1:37 in the video.

Mahler uses a wonderful musical technique at the beginning of this section to create the effect of something coming from a distance. The only instruments playing at that point are horns, trombone, and tuba. The sound is regal, but ominous. This is created by both the instrumentation (brass) and the constant flip-flop between major and minor chords.

Mahler also writes a long crescendo (gradually get louder) through this section, so the music is always going somewhere. Different instruments are added to the mix until the crescendo reaches its climax at about 1:37. Up to that point, the music sounds very angry and dark, and it is as if sunlight finally burst through the clouds at that moment.

While the brass continues the regal chorale, the woodwinds and strings have these light flourishes throughout the second half that embellish the long notes in the brass. Towards the end, the sun slips back behind the cloud and everything begins to darken again. Instruments are taken away until finally the harp is left playing its lowest notes all by itself.

I do hope you've enjoyed having your mind blown by the power of music. Come back next Monday to see the next pick in the series!

Michael's Music Mondays

Ok, I've decided that because so much of my research has to do with the power of music and how it has affected my life, every Monday, I will share a YouTube clip that has some very powerful music. After you listen to the recording, my reasons for why I think the music is so powerful will be posted below. 

Please feel free to comment on each post and share your reasons for why you think the music is powerful.