Something I Enjoy Doing Alone

I enjoy going for classical concerts. It improves my knowledge of pieces composed in the 4 eras of classical music- Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Pop Music. Let me elaborate and explain further. During the Baroque era (, keyboard music played on the harpsichord and pipe organ. A harpsichord

is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed. It also produces detached notes (a tip for piano players when you play Bach, play quavers detached :D) Composers and performers used more elaborate musical ornamentation, made changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing techniques. Some composers are Bach (my favourite), Telemann, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and many more. Well-known pieces during that period are, for example, Concerto Grosso ( Christmas Concerto) by Angelo Corelli and The 4 Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. I can actually tell you more but perhaps in another entry. So if you want more musical nuggets (or fries haha… ) you must follow this blog, comment, ask questions and keep reading. Moving on to the classical period (1750-1830). The term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or seventeenth to the nineteenth. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven were the famous most well-known composers in the entire world of music and are from the classical period. You can ask MOST people and they would tell you “ Oh! Beethoven! Isn’t he the composer long time ago ?” Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic — melody above chordal accompaniment (but counterpoint is by no means forgotten, especially later in the classical period). Variety is more obvious and contrast can be noticed more easily. Keys, melodies, rhythms and dynamics (using crescendo, diminuendo and sforzando) were more common in the classical period. Now the romantic period(1800-1910)…You can roughly tell from the name what kind of music is being played… Romantic! But romanticism does not necessarily refer to romantic love, though that theme was prevalent in many works composed during this time period, both in literature, painting or music. Romantic music was a movement evolved from the formats, genres and musical ideas established in earlier periods, such as the classical period, and went further in the name of expression and syncretism of different art-forms with music. Famous composers are Niccolò Paganini(was known for his exceptional skill in playing the violin, and composing what people call crazy pieces. People believed him when he said he sold his soul to the devil to get the skill.) , Franz Schubert, Chopin (pronounced Sho-pun, I added this so you might not be like a joke when you pronounce it wrongly :D ) , Brahms and Sergei Rachmaninoff ( you can check out my dog singing to one of his piece in my previous entry). Finally, the contemporary music period. To sum it up, it is the songs you here the moment you turn on the radio. This is the amount of knowledge you can gain from attending concerts of course not just listening but researching and reading the programme notes. (Just for fun: You can get a good laugh, if you need one, by searching for ‘viola jokes’) Till the next entry, JJ