contrast+in+antarctica

Contrast in Antarctica Hi everyone, Please bear in mind that despite the fact I assigned you Elements of Musics there are quite a few other points below, you also need to know these. Here are my revision notes on contrast in Antarctica. Note the key point at the very top, that is the effect that contrast has overall: Thick texture is often built through several layers of ostinato figures e.g.b24 -39. B 40 Monophonic. Along with the mini essay on Constrast that Sue was kind enough to give us I think I’ve been very generous and given you lots – I will give you more general revision material as we go. Here are the reponses that class members have supplied. I am very disappointed about the fact I have work from three people. Examples of Instrumentation changes that create contrast
 * Contrast is used to show or emphasise emotion. Examples of contrast: **
 * Between solo guitar and orchestra; e.g b.40 solo guitar cadenza - free rhapsodic style, sustained articulation, more virtuosic playing, soloist can set own tempo. Fermatas at the end of each phrase.
 * Rhythmic - between solo guitar sections which are rhapsodic with free rhythm, no clear metre and very metrical tutti sections which feature strong accents and strong pulse.
 * Complexity of writing - virtuosic, soloistic writing for guitar contrasts with less elaborate writing for tutti (whole ensemble).
 * Dynamics – mf opening using only solo guitar, harp with very soft chordal backing from strings (with no vibrato), then at bar 15 sudden change to // ff // chords on strings and woodwind, percussive two quaver figure on brass & percussion // f //
 * Tempi: frequent changes between strict tempo of crotchet = 88 and free rhapsodic style with no strict tempo or established metre.
 * Timbre (tone colour); constant alternation between guitar solo and different combinations of instruments. Full tutti at 15 with // ff // chords on strings and woodwind, percussive two quaver figure on brass & percussion // f. //B/ 18 harp and flute with strings; harsh piercing sound. B. 71 cello has semiquaver repetitive figure while guitar, strings and clarinets tale repeated quaver rhythmic figure on off beats.
 * Mood: expressive solo opening contrasts with percussive, loud, rhythmic tutti at b.15.
 * Texture e.g.b.40 guitar cadenza. Harp only ‘in free time’. B. 59 tutti, no harp. Thick tutti section b.69, most parts playing same rhythmic figure // f //, guitar with // fff //semiquaver triplet passage. Thin texture b.1 – 12 Thick b. 15 – 17.
 * Melody – opening expressive melody using repeated pitch triplet figure ascending in 2nds and 3rds contrasts with wide ranging and more rhythmic melody at b.18.
 * Tonality – final section from b. 103 is identical to intro. but transposed down a tone – creating contrast and a calmer mood for the end of the piece.

Bar 1 - Guitar, Harp, low drone

Bar 15 - Whole orchestra picks up

- Drops to harp, flutes, guitar

Bar 24 - Percussion, clarinets etc

Bar 40 - Solo guitar, harp

Bar 61 - Clarinets, violins

Bar 65 - Whole Orchestra

Bar 89 - Pics, violins, Guitar

- Drops back to harp, guitar, soft drone Good work here to list some of the instrumentation changes. It is important to understand the significance of the instruments and how they create contrast. This is a good start but we need more detail to be able to answer a variety of questions.
 * __ Antarctica Contrast though Tone Colour __ **

- -A quiet sleepy awakening due to the drone of the low register of the double bass played with the harp and the ascending register of the guitar A desolate, barren and cold tone colour

- Bar 15, Boomey when the bass drum comes in with a low register. It has a deep dark strong feeling.

- Bar 18, harmonic sounding piccolo and flute give a shimmering penetrating shrill tone colour

- Bar 21, The pizzicato of the guitar being played solo gives a story telling feel, mysterious, curious

- Bar 24, A running feel because of the fast rhythm of the whole orchestra, A melodic romantic feel because of the middle register of the cello when it comes in with a tense sensation brought in by the high register of the violas.

- Bar 40, The cadenza- a powerful, Noble and smooth tone colour because of the low register of the guitar

- Bar 54, Harmonics on harp for a similar effect to the flute and piccolos, a shimmering, and unsure tone colour

- Bar __, Noble, haunting and rich sound

- Bar 61, ** __Train like, the feeling a train is coming and you are on the train line.__ ** Perhaps a better way of putting it is a sense of something impending or approaching. A powerful, eerie, harsh, vivacious feel from the low register of the strings. It also sounds very dramatic here

- Bar 65, Brassy, the texture is thick here and the tone colour is dark, penetrating because of the rising register of the trumpets and horns and this also give a harsh feel

- Bar 89, Shrill and penetrating once again because of the high register of the piccolos, they sound like they are playing harmonics. It gives an anxious, scary feeling, also lonely and isolated

- Bar 102, The feeling something big just happened, a dark and gloomy, rich, dramatic feel from the low register of the double basses. It gives a rich, resonant, romantic tone colour. In some ways the double basses end like they start.

By Allara This is really good, well done Allara! Watch out for your references to harmonics. One of the references is to a section played by flutes. You have to be very clear about this – if something sounds like it is using harmonics I would suggest that you use a description of what you actually hear, perhaps – “the tone colour has a thin whistling tonecolour, like that produced by a string instrument playing harmonics” you could just leave out the second part and say it has a high whistling tone colour. Contrast through texture At the start of the piece the texture is thin and starts to thicken when the ‘Antarctica’ chord comes in by adding in the orchestra. Bar 41 the texture goes back to just the guitar. The texture is thick because parts in the orchestra are all playing different melodies and rhythms creating more lines in the music. Not many instruments play in unison yet there is still texture when the guitar is playing the cadenza and the strings are playing in the background the same melodies which is homophone and sounds as though there is more then one guitar. The piece has sections which sound monophonic but majority of the piece is actually polyphonic. The contract occurs between the sections of being ‘mellow’ with the guitar to a sound quite like a ‘death march’ where the whole orchestra is playing. Some fine work here and once again it proves that texture is one of the hardest things to write about and stay on track with. In reviewing this section make sure you mention the three applicable textures. Where is it homophonic, polyphonic and/or monophonic? Remember texture is about how many lines are going on, not how many instruments are playing. If I arrange a quartet for a huge orchestra I have not changed the texture only the number of instruments playing each line. Everyone, use Kasey’s great start but have another listen and go further with this.