Concert Essay

For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at YUANZE UNIVERSITY auditorium in building 6. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because of religious restrictions. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the performers and some of the university students. I went with two friends, who weren’t so eager to go; I had to convince them by telling it would be interesting to see student performers/composers. The first piece was called Oblique/musique composed by Patrick Swanson. This piece instantly stood out among the others because of the instruments involved. The piece was performed by two people: one playing a vibraphone and the other playing a large drum/cymbal/gong. However, the piece also contained prerecorded sounds of static, bass, and an incoherent voice. In this piece the melody was repeated many times. It was similar to the works of John Adams because of its repetitions, background recording, and minimalistic sounds. The second piece was a piano composition called something Afternoon; I didn’t really get the title. This piece had a very relaxing melody and a mild tempo. It was not fast and not slow. It was an experience of a lifetime. I listened to a genre of music I never had listened to. At the concert two people performed already leaving the audience wanting for more. I also noticed that in the back of the auditorium there was a camera crew filming the whole performance. The auditorium was very elegant looking. The majority of the people in the audience were young people in their twenties. That’s what I expected, it being in a college and all. The hall was rather big for such a small performance. It could fit approximately three hundred people and in the performance floor there was a piano a chair for the pianist and a table with a jar and a glass of water. The songs performed in the concert were all mixed up between andante and allegro. Most of the songs went from andante to allegro. It was divided into five acts. Four of the five acts were homophonic and the other act was polyphonic. The performers were dressed very elegantly. There was about thirty people in attendance and they were dressed in there normal attire. Also the majority of the concert was in the dissonant form. Very rarely I saw a consonant song playing. The behavior of the performers was that they were very concentrated in their work. Keeping aware and avoiding all mistakes if possible The pianist was really young for his professionalism, he was really professional, played spectacularly well. He gave the audience feelings of anger, sadness, and joy. The flutist also played brilliantly. Lastly the vocalist was the best part. She had a very high pitched voice sang both high and low parts. Sang both happy and sad parts. Gave the crowd mixed up feelings.