Much Like Wolves- musical background
This post is a musical background to Much like Wolves (Fraser/Smithbauer, pre-musician Au, NC-17, 3000 words) with uploads of the pieces I have mentioned in the narrative, and explanations for technical language used. I am, of course, far from a musical authority, but if you have further questions I am happy to attempt to answer them.
Music and Composers Mentioned:
Dizzy Gillespie- they can’t take that away from me.
Miles Davis- Boplicity
I, of course, love them both equally ♥
Mozart-Rondo from Concerto no. 4 in E flat (this arrangement is for all French Horns, which is wonderful- the London Horn Sound are an ensemble of horn players based in London, so orchestral players, and teachers- all incredible players. This arrangement also has humour, and really, who could tire of hearing the French Horn?)
Bartok- Game of Pairs (from his Concerto for Orchestra)
The whole Concerto for Orchestra plays a significant role in the musical landscape of the AU. I will be making a separate post on it in the future- it is a concerto I love dearly. While a Concerto is written generally for a single instrument, or a small group of soloists, this concerto has been written for orchestra; all the sections have soloistic passages. The difficulty in this movement is in having two instruments- bassoons, flutes, clarinets and trumpets (which are muted- note the tinny quality of the sound- more on that later), playing the same tune in parallel. This requires the instruments to be absolutely in sync. Listen out for the brass chorale about 3 minutes in- it’s absolutely beautiful, a chord sequence which is a tribute to JS Bach. The drum played at the beginning and end of the movement is to introduce and then send out the couples who dance, and in the passage after the chorale (about 3:50 in) the couples are introduced to each other, and weave in together, learning each other’s customs.)
Beethoven- Cello Sonata in A
Movement I, Movement II, Movement III
Debussy- Cello Sonate
This is a thoroughly unsettling piece. It’s beautiful, my favourite piece to play, although it’s technically very demanding. It was written close to his death in 1917, during the ‘modern’ period- stylistically, impressionism (Pines of Rome, for example, music that sort of washes over you- lush orchestration and a sort of lack of tonality.) expressionism (whacky music. Seriously. Pierrot a la lune. Youtube it. Schonberg. Meep. The Serenade is sort of expressionist, with its jerky little outbursts and high, ethereal flutters of notes. I think it’s telling the story of a pierrot, pining for his love. It’s a serenade, which is why the plucked sections at the beginning are there- like a guitar accompaniment.) nationalism, neoclassicism and many other styles were clashing at this point, the idea of a…sort of new sound for a new century, with the remains of romanticism still overshadowing the period.
I- Prelude
II- Serenade
III- Finale
Ralph Vaughn Williams- The Lark Ascending
This is RayK’s piece, in my mind. It’s a stunning piece, truly wonderful.
Bonus Frasertrack (this makes me think of him, every time. It’s a sad, sweet piece that I am completely in love with.)
Song of the Birds (traditional,arr. Beamish). This track is played by Steven Isserlis, my seekrit boyfriend, who has done a CD of the Bach suites and included this as a bonus track. At some point in the future, I am going to dedicate a post to the cello suites, as I have a fair few recordings of them, and comparing is fascinating. Things like dynamics and bowing patterns are to a large extent at the discretion of the editor with…well, with pre-19thish-century pieces, and so hearing what different players do is wonderful. Also, the Bach Cello Suites contain some of the most flawless composing in music.)
Alas, my Delius is at home. I do not own Pachelbel’s canon. It would be an affront to my cellist’s pride to possess such a piece. Seriously. I think this gentleman says it the best:
It is an affront to music to give an instrument so many bars of pure tedium. The ground bass is a vital part of baroque music, yes, but a repeated sequence of eight notes makes cello a dull instrument. A crazy instrument with a Grudge. The popularity of the piece is insult to injury, of course.
I am also, alas, without my copy of The Firebird (Igor Stravinsky). I recommend the piece wholeheartedly.
Other Musical Allusions:
The Arban book of progressive studies is a huge tome of a book, full of the sort of technique building exercises that are the equivalent of press-ups. Feulliard is the same for cello, instrument drills that are vital, just as an incredibly detailed knowledge of scales and chords are essential for jazz improvisation. Muscle memory is essential for playing- valve patterns in the trumpet, the distance between intervals for a cello, the tightness of the mouth for trumpet, which along with which valves are held down, determines the notes, the way the angle of the bow needs to change depending on the string which is being hit by the hair.
What a study does is creates repeated patterns, drills which can be transferred to sequences in a piece of music. For example, in the third movement in the Haydn Trumpet concerto (another cd which is at home, darn it), has a passage in which the trumpet plays a series of ascending octaves- F to F above, then G to the G above, etc. The valve pattern is the same for both of the notes within the couple; it is the tightness of the embouchure and the speed of the breath that affects the note. A book such as the Arban will have a study that deals with octaves, and the technique can be transferred to the Concerto. The groundwork needs to be laid for the piece before the player has the necessary skills to play it.
Harmonics are played by lightly touching the string with the left hand at certain points on the string, at points of exact fraction of its length. This produces overtones- it’s like a different register of playing. It’s to do with sound vibrations; the principles of harmonics make every instrument work- haha, it’s why trumpets only have three valves.
Mutes distort and stifle the sound- it’s like shouting with your head in a bucket. Different sorts of mutes produce different sorts of distortions- there are straight mutes, cup mutes, bucket mutes, Harman mutes, wah-wah mutes…
Triple tonguing isn’t as dirty as it sounds. Generally, to separate the notes, a wind player will stop the sound with their tongue. The sound used to make this stopping in trumpet is a ‘t’ sound- up against the teeth. Alternating a ‘K’ sound further back in the throat makes it easier to articulate notes at speed- ‘tktktktkt’ is easier to say quickly than than ‘ttttttttt’ (go on, try it *g*). Triple tonguing is ‘ttk-ttk-ttk-ttk’, for speed.
Darlings, you may well have noticed that…well, both Fraser and Mark play my two main instruments. This is because I know my stuff for them, although my scientific knowledge of sound production is sketchy. There is no way I could describe Fraser playing the clarinet and still feel I was being true to character and instrument. I don’t know the little tricks of technique, how it feels to play a scale, how the reed and fingering works. On cello and trumpet? I’m pretty good. I know how it feels to play. Writing a story from the perspective of a male Canadian who falls in love with another man, with the American professional music scene as my background is just about the limit of what I feel able to write without stretching my knowledge to breaking point.
However, I do feel that both instruments suit their personalities *g*. As always, suggestions for more music to mention, and corrections to what I have written are extremely welcome.
Music and Composers Mentioned:
Dizzy Gillespie- they can’t take that away from me.
Miles Davis- Boplicity
I, of course, love them both equally ♥
Mozart-Rondo from Concerto no. 4 in E flat (this arrangement is for all French Horns, which is wonderful- the London Horn Sound are an ensemble of horn players based in London, so orchestral players, and teachers- all incredible players. This arrangement also has humour, and really, who could tire of hearing the French Horn?)
Bartok- Game of Pairs (from his Concerto for Orchestra)
The whole Concerto for Orchestra plays a significant role in the musical landscape of the AU. I will be making a separate post on it in the future- it is a concerto I love dearly. While a Concerto is written generally for a single instrument, or a small group of soloists, this concerto has been written for orchestra; all the sections have soloistic passages. The difficulty in this movement is in having two instruments- bassoons, flutes, clarinets and trumpets (which are muted- note the tinny quality of the sound- more on that later), playing the same tune in parallel. This requires the instruments to be absolutely in sync. Listen out for the brass chorale about 3 minutes in- it’s absolutely beautiful, a chord sequence which is a tribute to JS Bach. The drum played at the beginning and end of the movement is to introduce and then send out the couples who dance, and in the passage after the chorale (about 3:50 in) the couples are introduced to each other, and weave in together, learning each other’s customs.)
Beethoven- Cello Sonata in A
Movement I, Movement II, Movement III
Debussy- Cello Sonate
This is a thoroughly unsettling piece. It’s beautiful, my favourite piece to play, although it’s technically very demanding. It was written close to his death in 1917, during the ‘modern’ period- stylistically, impressionism (Pines of Rome, for example, music that sort of washes over you- lush orchestration and a sort of lack of tonality.) expressionism (whacky music. Seriously. Pierrot a la lune. Youtube it. Schonberg. Meep. The Serenade is sort of expressionist, with its jerky little outbursts and high, ethereal flutters of notes. I think it’s telling the story of a pierrot, pining for his love. It’s a serenade, which is why the plucked sections at the beginning are there- like a guitar accompaniment.) nationalism, neoclassicism and many other styles were clashing at this point, the idea of a…sort of new sound for a new century, with the remains of romanticism still overshadowing the period.
I- Prelude
II- Serenade
III- Finale
Ralph Vaughn Williams- The Lark Ascending
This is RayK’s piece, in my mind. It’s a stunning piece, truly wonderful.
Bonus Frasertrack (this makes me think of him, every time. It’s a sad, sweet piece that I am completely in love with.)
Song of the Birds (traditional,arr. Beamish). This track is played by Steven Isserlis, my seekrit boyfriend, who has done a CD of the Bach suites and included this as a bonus track. At some point in the future, I am going to dedicate a post to the cello suites, as I have a fair few recordings of them, and comparing is fascinating. Things like dynamics and bowing patterns are to a large extent at the discretion of the editor with…well, with pre-19thish-century pieces, and so hearing what different players do is wonderful. Also, the Bach Cello Suites contain some of the most flawless composing in music.)
Alas, my Delius is at home. I do not own Pachelbel’s canon. It would be an affront to my cellist’s pride to possess such a piece. Seriously. I think this gentleman says it the best:
Click to viewIt is an affront to music to give an instrument so many bars of pure tedium. The ground bass is a vital part of baroque music, yes, but a repeated sequence of eight notes makes cello a dull instrument. A crazy instrument with a Grudge. The popularity of the piece is insult to injury, of course.
I am also, alas, without my copy of The Firebird (Igor Stravinsky). I recommend the piece wholeheartedly.
Other Musical Allusions:
The Arban book of progressive studies is a huge tome of a book, full of the sort of technique building exercises that are the equivalent of press-ups. Feulliard is the same for cello, instrument drills that are vital, just as an incredibly detailed knowledge of scales and chords are essential for jazz improvisation. Muscle memory is essential for playing- valve patterns in the trumpet, the distance between intervals for a cello, the tightness of the mouth for trumpet, which along with which valves are held down, determines the notes, the way the angle of the bow needs to change depending on the string which is being hit by the hair.
What a study does is creates repeated patterns, drills which can be transferred to sequences in a piece of music. For example, in the third movement in the Haydn Trumpet concerto (another cd which is at home, darn it), has a passage in which the trumpet plays a series of ascending octaves- F to F above, then G to the G above, etc. The valve pattern is the same for both of the notes within the couple; it is the tightness of the embouchure and the speed of the breath that affects the note. A book such as the Arban will have a study that deals with octaves, and the technique can be transferred to the Concerto. The groundwork needs to be laid for the piece before the player has the necessary skills to play it.
Harmonics are played by lightly touching the string with the left hand at certain points on the string, at points of exact fraction of its length. This produces overtones- it’s like a different register of playing. It’s to do with sound vibrations; the principles of harmonics make every instrument work- haha, it’s why trumpets only have three valves.
Mutes distort and stifle the sound- it’s like shouting with your head in a bucket. Different sorts of mutes produce different sorts of distortions- there are straight mutes, cup mutes, bucket mutes, Harman mutes, wah-wah mutes…
Triple tonguing isn’t as dirty as it sounds. Generally, to separate the notes, a wind player will stop the sound with their tongue. The sound used to make this stopping in trumpet is a ‘t’ sound- up against the teeth. Alternating a ‘K’ sound further back in the throat makes it easier to articulate notes at speed- ‘tktktktkt’ is easier to say quickly than than ‘ttttttttt’ (go on, try it *g*). Triple tonguing is ‘ttk-ttk-ttk-ttk’, for speed.
Darlings, you may well have noticed that…well, both Fraser and Mark play my two main instruments. This is because I know my stuff for them, although my scientific knowledge of sound production is sketchy. There is no way I could describe Fraser playing the clarinet and still feel I was being true to character and instrument. I don’t know the little tricks of technique, how it feels to play a scale, how the reed and fingering works. On cello and trumpet? I’m pretty good. I know how it feels to play. Writing a story from the perspective of a male Canadian who falls in love with another man, with the American professional music scene as my background is just about the limit of what I feel able to write without stretching my knowledge to breaking point.
However, I do feel that both instruments suit their personalities *g*. As always, suggestions for more music to mention, and corrections to what I have written are extremely welcome.