Music Concert Report: Free Sample Essay To Follow

I attended the Western Kansas Orchestra Festival concert on September 16th, 2015 at Garden City. The concert consisted of over 500 string players who were grouped into four main orchestras and was conducted by Cody Toll. The concert was completely sold out, and I was quite lucky to get a seat in the middle of the hall where I could see the whole stage and performances.
The concert consisted of great pieces and it opened with the festival overture by the Middle School String Orchestra A dubbed “Concert of Strings”. This particular piece began softly as the string instruments plucked in harmony, the brass instrument then came in with a slow melody. The atmosphere became more and more dramatic as the piece progressed. The tempo then became faster and more intense with complimentary entrances. The various instruments succeed each other one by one until they ultimately came in unison. The clanging of cymbals and beating of drums supported the trumpets which seemed to be the most outstanding players in the overture. Over time, the prominent trumpets were replaced by the strings in soft succession, and the brass instruments could be heard softly receding in the background. This led to the climax in the final parts of this masterpiece.
The second piece performed was the “A Beethoven Lullaby” performed by the High Schools String Orchestra B with a violinist as the featured soloist. The first thing that I noticed on stage during this particular piece was that the violinist decision to stand on her feet rather than be seated. This allowed her to have more freedom to move around. Her movements complimented the music as it echoed the fall and rise of both dynamic and pitch. The piece was divided into three different movements. The first was Allegro moderato, and it opened with the orchestra playing the crescendo and later introduced the violinist (soloist) who expertly presented the principle themes.
Onwards, the texture of this piece varied between the soft background homophony from the full orchestra and the monophony of the solo violinist. The particular melody that was introduced by the violin was soothing continuously heard in the various instrument that had large contracts in tempo and dynamics, even though the dominant tempo was allegro. When the violin solo came back, other background violins played along in staccato notes. The climax of this piece occurred when the solo violin produced a high pitch and then slowed down to a static pace. The piece ended with the whole orchestra playing in unison with a stronger beat.
The third piece was performed by the High School String Orchestra B, and this piece could be classified by the increasing significance of drums which moved the orchestra in a clear duple meter. However, the presence of the drums became less and less significant after the ritardando, which brought a light feeling to the woodwinds. In this piece, the imitative polyphony was the dominant texture as the tune established in the woodwinds was heard from every single instrument. There were specific parts in a somber tone that brought a dark feeling in the hall. The absence of the drum beats heard earlier left a fragile feeling and a suppressed meter. The final part of the piece was by a brass trumpet blast and the crashes of cymbal that built to several continuous crescendos.
At end of the concert, I was very happy and pleased to have attended. I have learnt a lot from the genre of music provided as well as entertained.