1.
Woodwind instrument
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Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the more general category of wind instruments. There are two types of woodwind instruments, flutes and reed instruments. What differentiates these instruments from other instruments is the way in which they produce their sound. Examples are a saxophone, a bassoon and a piccolo, flutes produce sound by directing a focused stream of air below the edge of a hole in a cylindrical tube. The flute family can be divided into two sub-families, open flutes and closed flutes, to produce a sound with an open flute, the player is required to blow a stream of air across a sharp edge that then splits the airstream. This split airstream then acts upon the air contained within the flutes hollow causing it to vibrate. Examples of open flutes are the flute, panpipes and shakuhachi. Ancient flutes of this variety were often made from sections of plants such as grasses, reeds. Later, flutes were made of such as tin, copper. Modern concert flutes are made of high-grade metal alloys, usually containing nickel, silver, copper. To produce a sound with a flute, the player is required to blow air into a duct. This duct acts as a channel bringing the air to a sharp edge, as with the open flutes, the air is then split, this causes the column of air within the closed flute to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of this type of include the recorder, ocarina. Reed instruments produce sound by focusing air into a mouthpiece which then causes a reed, or reeds, similar to flutes, Reed pipes are also further divided into two types, single reed and double reed. Single-reed woodwinds produce sound by placing a reed onto the opening of a mouthpiece, when air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed causes the air column in the instrument to vibrate and produce its unique sound. Single reed instruments include the clarinet, saxophone, and others such as the chalumeau, double-reed instruments use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane bound together at the base. This form of production has been estimated to have originated in the middle to late Neolithic period. The finished, bound reed is inserted into the instrument and vibrates as air is forced between the two pieces and this family of reed pipes is subdivided further into another two sub-families, exposed double reed, and capped double reed instruments
2.
Musical instrument classification
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Throughout history, various methods of musical instrument classification have been used. The most commonly used system divides instruments into string instruments, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and percussion instruments, the oldest known scheme of classifying instruments is Chinese and dates from the 3rd millennium BC. It grouped instruments according to the materials they are made of. However, the Chou-Li, an anonymous treatise compiled from sources in about the 2nd century BC, had the following order, metal, stone, clay, leather, silk, wood, gourd. The same order was presented in the Tso Chuan, attributed to Tso Chiu-Ming, more usually, instruments are classified according to how the sound is initially produced. The modern system divides instruments into wind, strings and percussion, the scheme was later expanded by Martin Agricola, who distinguished plucked string instruments, such as guitars, from bowed string instruments, such as violins. Classical musicians today do not always maintain this division, but distinguish between wind instruments with a reed and those where the air is set in motion directly by the lips, many instruments do not fit very neatly into this scheme. The serpent, for example, ought to be classified as a brass instrument, however, it looks more like a woodwind instrument, and is closer to one in many ways, having finger-holes to control pitch, rather than valves. Keyboard instruments do not fit easily into this scheme, for example, the piano has strings, but they are struck by hammers, so it is not clear whether it should be classified as a string instrument or a percussion instrument. Ottoman encyclopedist Hadji Khalifa also recognized the three classes in his Kashf al-Zunun an Asami al-Kutub wa al-Funun, a treatise on the origin. The division pervades Tboli thought about cosmology, social characters of men and women, victor-Charles Mahillon later adopted a system very similar to this. This scheme was taken up by Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs who published an extensive new scheme for classication in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. Their scheme is used today, and is most often known as the Hornbostel-Sachs system. Electrophones, such as the guitar or electric bass, which produce sound through electricity and is required to be plugged in to an amplifier. Later Sachs added a category, electrophones, such as theremins. Modern synthesizers and electronic instruments fall in this category, within each category are many subgroups. The system has been criticised and revised over the years, in 1932, comparative musicologist André Schaeffner developed a new classification scheme that was exhaustive, potentially covering all real and conceivable instruments. The Kpelle of West Africa also use this system and they distinguish the struck, including both beaten and plucked, and the blown
3.
Wind instrument
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The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of the effective length of the vibrating column of air. In the case of wind instruments, sound is produced by blowing through a reed. Using different air columns for different tones, such as in the pan flute and this method is used on nearly all brass instruments. Changing the length of the air column by lengthening and/or shortening the tube using a sliding mechanism. This method is used on the trombone and the slide whistle, changing the frequency of vibration through opening or closing holes in the side of the tube. This can be done by covering the holes with fingers or pressing a key which then closes the hole and this method is used in nearly all woodwind instruments. Making the column of air vibrate at different harmonics without changing the length of the column of air, almost all wind instruments use the last method, often in combination with one of the others, to extend their register. A more accurate way to determine whether an instrument is brass or woodwind is to examine how the player produces sound, in brass instruments, the players lips vibrate, causing the air within the instrument to vibrate. For example, the saxophone is typically made of brass, but is classified as an instrument because it produces sound with a vibrating reed. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, wind instruments are classed as aerophones, sound production in all wind instruments depends on the entry of air into a flow-control valve attached to a resonant chamber. The resonator is typically a long cylindrical or conical tube, open at the far end, a pulse of high pressure from the valve will travel down the tube at the speed of sound. It will be reflected from the end as a return pulse of low pressure. Under suitable conditions, the valve will reflect the pulse back, with increased energy, Reed instruments such as the clarinet or oboe have a flexible reed or reeds at the mouthpiece, forming a pressure-controlled valve. Standing waves inside the tube will be odd multiples of a quarter-wavelength, with a pressure anti-node at the mouthpiece, the reed vibrates at a rate determined by the resonator. For Lip Reed instruments, the controls the tension in their lips so that they vibrate under the influence of the air flow through them. They adjust the vibration so that the lips are most closed, and the air flow is lowest, standing waves inside the tube will be odd multiples of a quarter-wavelength, with a pressure anti-node at the mouthpiece, and a pressure node at the open end. For Air Reed instruments, the thin grazing air sheet flowing across an opening in the pipe interacts with an edge to generate sound. The jet is generated by the player, when blowing through a thin slit, for recorders and flue organ pipes this slit is manufactured by the instrument maker and has a fixed geometry
4.
Double reed
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A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. The term double reed comes from the fact there are two pieces of cane vibrating against each other. A single reed consists of one piece of cane which vibrates against a mouthpiece made of metal, hardened rubber, resin, the term double reeds can also refer collectively to the class of instruments which use double reeds. There are several differences, the most obvious being size, between various types of reeds, for example between that for a bassoon and that for an oboe or a cor anglais. Typically, Arundo donax cane is used for the making of double reeds, for bassoon reeds, tubes of this cane are first split lengthwise then gouged to a certain thickness. The chosen piece of cane is cut to shape and the centre portion is thinned. The cane is folded end to end to form the two blades of the reed, the unprofiled end of the cane is shaped into a tube with the aid of a mandrel and bound with three strategically placed wires. A turban made out of thread is added on the third wire and it provides a hand hold for the reed that isnt a sharp wire. The folded tip is cut off to allow the blades to vibrate and final adjustments to the interior of the using a reamer. The reed is then ready to fit to the bocal of the bassoon, note that there are many schools of thought and processes for making reeds. However, because the oboe does not have a bocal, the cane must be fastened to a metal tube, the staple is then inserted into the farrow at the upper end of the oboe. There are many different methods of making reeds and many variations of design have been developed, players can buy reeds either ready-made, or in various stages of formation, such as part-scraped, reed blanks, or buy the staples and cane separately. Cane is sold in forms, as tubes, gouged, gouged and shaped. Bassoon cane has the option of being profiled before purchase. Cane from several different regions is used in reed making, traditionally from southern France, there are also many options with regard to staples, shaping equipment, and so forth, which all have a subtle effect on the tone quality a reed will produce. While cane is by far the most common material for double reeds, reeds made out of synthetic materials may be used, these reeds often last longer and are less sensitive to temperature and humidity flucutations. Most reeds produced from synthetic materials have a quality that is dissimilar to that of a cane reed and are not favored by musicians. However, some recent manufacturers produce synthetic reeds that are used in a professional setting, oboe double reeds are about 7 mm in width
5.
Aerophone
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Aerophones categorically comprise the largest and most complex group of instruments in the Americas. The first class includes instruments which, when played, do not contain the vibrating air and this class includes free reed instruments, such as the harmonica, but also many instruments unlikely to be called wind instruments at all by most people, such as sirens and whips. The second class includes instruments which contain the air when being played. This class includes almost all instruments generally called wind instruments — including the didgeridoo, brass instruments, additionally, very loud sounds can be made by explosions directed into, or being detonated inside of resonant cavities. Detonations inside the calliope, as well as the pyrophone might thus be considered as class 42 instruments, according to Ardal Powell, flute is a simple instrument found in numerous ancient cultures. There are three legendary and archeologically verifiable birthplace sites of flutes, Egypt, Greece and India, of these, the transverse flute appeared only in ancient India, while the fipple flutes are found in all three. It is likely, states Powell, that the modern Indian bansuri has not changed much since the medieval era. Archaeological studies have found examples of globular flutes in ancient Mexico, Colombia and Peru, the use of shells of Conches as an aerophone have also been found to be prevalent in areas such as Central America and Peru. Examples of aerophone type instruments in China can be dated back to the Neolithic period, fragments of bone flutes can be found at the burial sites of the Jiahu settlements of ancient China, and they represent some of the earliest known examples of playable instruments. The instruments were carved from the wing bone of the red-crowned crane. The flutes were efficient enough to sound in a nearly accurate octave. Examples of flutes made out of bamboo in China date back to 2nd Century BC and these flutes were known as Dizis or simply Di and typically had 6 holes for playing melodies that were framed by scale-modes. Flutes including the famous Bansuri, have been a part of Indian classical music since 1500 BC. A major deity of Hinduism, Krishna, has been associated with the flute, some early flutes were made out of tibias. Free aerophones are instruments where the air is not enclosed by the instrument itself. The air-stream meets a sharp edge, or an edge is moved through the air. Occasionally called percussive aerophones, plosive aerophones are sounded by percussion caused by a single compression, an example of a plosive aerophone is the scraper flute which has tubes with ridged or serrated edges so that they can be scraped with a rod to produce sound. Non-free aerophones are instruments where the air is contained within the instrument
6.
Key (instrument)
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A key is a specific part of a musical instrument. The purpose and function of the part in question depends on the instrument, on instruments equipped with tuning machines, violins and guitars, for example, a key is part of a tuning machine. It is a gear with a key shaped end used to turn a cog. The key is used to make adjustments to a string. With other instruments, zithers and drums, for example, a key is essentially a small wrench used to turn a tuning machine or lug. On woodwind instruments such as a flute or saxophone, keys are finger operated levers used to open or close tone holes, the keys of an accordion direct the air flow from a manually operated bellows across various tuned vibrating reeds
7.
Musical instrument
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A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument, the history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have used for ritual, such as a trumpet to signal success on the hunt. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment, Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications. The date and origin of the first device considered an instrument is disputed. The oldest object that some refer to as a musical instrument. Some consensus dates early flutes to about 37,000 years ago, many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone, wood, and other non-durable materials. Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of the world, however, contact among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments in places far from their origin. By the Middle Ages, instruments from Mesopotamia were in maritime Southeast Asia, development in the Americas occurred at a slower pace, but cultures of North, Central, and South America shared musical instruments. By 1400, musical instrument development slowed in areas and was dominated by the Occident. Musical instrument classification is a discipline in its own right, Instruments can be classified by their effective range, their material composition, their size, etc. However, the most common method, Hornbostel-Sachs, uses the means by which they produce sound. The academic study of instruments is called organology. Once humans moved from making sounds with their bodies—for example, by using objects to create music from sounds. Primitive instruments were designed to emulate natural sounds, and their purpose was ritual rather than entertainment. The concept of melody and the pursuit of musical composition were unknown to early players of musical instruments. A player sounding a flute to signal the start of a hunt does so without thought of the notion of making music. Musical instruments are constructed in an array of styles and shapes
8.
Piccolo oboe
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The piccolo oboe, also known as the piccoloboe and historically called an oboe musette, is the smallest and highest pitched member of the oboe family. Pitched in E♭ or F above the regular oboe, the oboe is a sopranino version of the oboe. Piccolo oboes are produced by the French makers F. Lorée, Lorée calls its instrument piccolo oboe or oboe musette, while Marigaux and Patricola call their instruments simply oboe musette. As of 2006, a new instrument typically sold for US$6, the instrument has found the most use in chamber and contemporary music, where it is valued for its unusual tone colour. It is also employed in double-reed ensembles such as Amoris, perhaps the best-known pieces requiring piccolo oboe are Solo for Oboe Instruments and Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra No. 2, both by Bruno Maderna, as well as Ar-Loth by Paolo Renosto, Oboe Piccolo heckelphone F. Lorée page with description and photograph Wayback archive of Amoris International Musette page WIMA scores for oboe family instruments
9.
Oboe
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Oboes /ˈoʊboʊ/ OH-boh are a family of double reed woodwind musical instruments. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range, oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. A soprano oboe measures roughly 65 cm long, with keys, a conical bore. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed and vibrating a column of air, the distinctive oboe tone is versatile, and has been described as bright. When the term oboe is used alone, it is taken to mean the standard treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called a hautbois, hoboy. The spelling of oboe was adopted into English c.1770 from the Italian oboè, a musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist or simply an oboe player. In comparison to other woodwind instruments, the treble oboe is sometimes referred to as having a clear. The Sprightly Companion, a book published by Henry Playford in 1695, describes the oboe as Majestical and Stately. Humorously, the sound of the oboe is described in the play Angels in America as like that of a if the duck were a songbird. The rich timbre of the oboe is derived from its conical bore, as a result, oboes are readily audible over other instruments in large ensembles. The highest note of the oboe is a lower than the nominally highest note of the B♭ clarinet. Since the clarinet has a range of notes, the lowest note of the B♭ clarinet is significantly deeper than the lowest note of the oboe. Music for the oboe is written in concert pitch. Orchestras normally tune to a concert A played by the oboe, according to the League of American Orchestras, this is done because the pitch of the oboe is secure and its penetrating sound makes it ideal for tuning purposes. The pitch of the oboe is affected by the way in which the reed is made. The reed has a significant effect on the sound of the instrument, Variations in cane and other construction materials, the age of the reed, and differences in scrape and length all affect the pitch of the instrument. German and French reeds, for instance, differ in many ways, weather conditions such as temperature and humidity also affect the pitch
10.
Cor anglais
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The cor anglais or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, the cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe. This means that music for the cor anglais is written a fifth higher than the instrument actually sounds. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais are essentially the same as those of the oboe, the cor anglais normally lacks the lowest B♭ key found on most oboes and so its sounding range stretches from E3 below middle C to C6 two octaves above middle C. The pear-shaped bell of the cor anglais gives it a more covered timbre than the oboe, the cor anglais is perceived to have a more mellow and plaintive tone than the oboe. Its appearance differs from the oboe in that the reed is attached to a bent metal tube called the bocal, or crook. The cor anglais is usually notated in the treble clef, a fifth higher than sounding. Some composers notated it in the bass clef, when the register was persistently used. Alto clef written at sounding pitch is used, even by as late a composer as Sergei Prokofiev. In late-18th- and early-19th-century Italy, where the instrument was played by bassoonists instead of oboists. French operatic composers up to Fromental Halévy notated the instrument at sounding pitch in the mezzo-soprano clef, although the instrument usually descends only to low B♮, continental instruments with an extension to low B♭ have existed since early in the 19th century. Examples of works requiring this note include Arnold Schoenbergs Gurre-Lieder and Gustav Mahlers Das Lied von der Erde, antonín Dvořák, in his Scherzo Capriccioso, even writes for the cor anglais down to low A, though it seems unlikely that such an extension ever existed. Reeds used to play the cor anglais are similar to those used for an oboe, consisting of a piece of cane folded in two. While the cane on a reed is mounted on a small metal tube partially covered in cork, there is no such cork on a cor anglais reed. The cane part of the reed is wider and longer than that of the oboe, unlike American style oboe reeds, cor anglais reeds typically have wire at the base, approximately 5 mm from the top of the string used to attach the cane to the staple. This wire serves to hold the two blades of cane together and stabilize tone and pitch. Perhaps the best-known makers of modern cors anglais are the French firms of F. Lorée, Marigaux and Rigoutat, the British firm of T. W. Howarth, instruments from smaller makers, such as A. Laubin, are also sought after. Fox has recently made some instruments in plastic resin and in maple, the instrument originated in Silesia about 1720, when a bulb bell was fitted to a curved oboe da caccia-type body by the Weigel family of Breslau
11.
Oboe da caccia
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The oboe da caccia is a double reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family, pitched a fifth below the oboe and used primarily in the Baroque period of European classical music. It has a tube and a brass bell, unusual for an oboe. Its range is close to that of the cor anglais—that is, the oboe da caccia is thus a transposing instrument in F. The notated range is identical to that of the baroque oboe. Johann Sebastian Bach tended to favor the middle and lowest registers, however, the instrument was likely invented by J. H. Eichentopf of Leipzig, Germany. The first dated reference to the da caccia is 1722. The first recorded use of the instrument is on 24 June 1723, but Bach was certainly the most prolific and most important composer for oboe da caccia, often using them in pairs. Bach wrote extensively for the da caccia in the years 1723–27. There are also significant parts for the da caccia in his Christmas Oratorio, the Passions. 1780–1820, roughly the Classical period, centering on Vienna, the soprano oboe underwent major changes first in bore and it is therefore understandable that the oboe da caccia, with its complex means of construction, was not selected for the same evolutionary treatment. The early English horn was no more suitable. Innovation was the watchword of the day, and antiquated instruments such as the da caccia stood little chance of surviving. A curious note, according to Cecil Forsyth in his famous book on orchestration, however, Forsyth wrote during a period when organology was in its infancy. The oboe da caccia has a wooden body terminating in a large wooden bell, or in the case of Eichentopfs instruments. There are typically two brass keys, E-flat and C, the E-flat key is normally doubled for the left hand. There are usually two twin fingerholes, G/A-flat and F/F#, similar to the baroque oboe. The construction differs from that of all other woodwinds. The bore and outward profiles are first created on the lathe, then a series of saw kerfs are made through the bore from the side, then the instrument is bent over steam and a slat glued onto the inside curve to fix it
12.
Octave
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In music, an octave or perfect octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. It is defined by ANSI as the unit of level when the base of the logarithm is two. The octave relationship is a phenomenon that has been referred to as the basic miracle of music. The most important musical scales are written using eight notes. For example, the C major scale is typically written C D E F G A B C, two notes separated by an octave have the same letter name and are of the same pitch class. Three commonly cited examples of melodies featuring the perfect octave as their opening interval are Singin in the Rain, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, the interval between the first and second harmonics of the harmonic series is an octave. The octave has occasionally referred to as a diapason. To emphasize that it is one of the intervals, the octave is designated P8. The octave above or below a note is sometimes abbreviated 8a or 8va, 8va bassa. For example, if one note has a frequency of 440 Hz, the note one octave above is at 880 Hz, the ratio of frequencies of two notes an octave apart is therefore 2,1. Further octaves of a note occur at 2n times the frequency of that note, such as 2,4,8,16, etc. and the reciprocal of that series. For example,55 Hz and 440 Hz are one and two away from 110 Hz because they are 1⁄2 and 4 times the frequency, respectively. After the unison, the octave is the simplest interval in music, the human ear tends to hear both notes as being essentially the same, due to closely related harmonics. Notes separated by a ring together, adding a pleasing sound to music. For this reason, notes an octave apart are given the note name in the Western system of music notation—the name of a note an octave above A is also A. The conceptualization of pitch as having two dimensions, pitch height and pitch class, inherently include octave circularity, thus all C♯s, or all 1s, in any octave are part of the same pitch class. Octave equivalency is a part of most advanced cultures, but is far from universal in primitive. The languages in which the oldest extant written documents on tuning are written, leon Crickmore recently proposed that The octave may not have been thought of as a unit in its own right, but rather by analogy like the first day of a new seven-day week
13.
Clef
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A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the stave, it indicates the name and this line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the stave may be determined. Only one clef that references a note in a rather than on a line has ever been used. There are three types of clef used in music notation, F, C, and G. Each type of clef assigns a different reference note to the line on which it is placed, once one of these clefs has been placed on one of the lines of the stave, the other lines and spaces can be read in relation to it. The use of three different clefs makes it possible to music for all instruments and voices, even though they may have very different tessituras. The use of different clefs for various instruments and voices allows each part to be written comfortably on the stave with a minimum of ledger lines, to facilitate writing for different tessituras, any of the clefs may theoretically be placed on any of the lines of the stave. The further down on the stave a clef is placed, the higher the tessitura it is for, conversely, the higher up the clef, since there are five lines on the stave, and three clefs, it might seem that there would be fifteen possible clefs. Six of these, however, are redundant clefs, each of these clefs has a different name based on the tessitura for which it is best suited. In modern music, only four clefs are used regularly, the treble clef, the bass clef, the alto clef, of these, the treble and bass clefs are by far the most common. Here follows a complete list of the clefs, along with a list of instruments, each clef is shown in its proper position on the stave, followed by its reference note. An obelisk after the name of a clef indicates that that clef is no longer in common use, where the G-clef is placed on the second line of the stave, it is called the treble clef. This is the most common used today, and the only G-clef still in use. For this reason, the terms G-clef and treble clef are often seen as synonymous, the treble clef was historically used to mark a treble, or pre-pubescent, voice part. Treble clef is the upper stave of the grand stave used for harp and it is also sometimes used, along with tenor clef, for the highest notes played by bass-clef instruments such as the cello, double bass, bassoon, and trombone. The viola also sometimes uses treble clef for very high notes, treble clef is used for the soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, contralto and tenor voices. The tenor voice sounds an octave lower, and is written using an octave clef or double-treble clef. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a special clef was used for violin music, for this reason it is known as the French clef or French violin clef although it was more commonly used for flute music
14.
Transposing instrument
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A transposing instrument is a musical instrument whose music is notated at a pitch different from the pitch that actually sounds. Playing a written C on an instrument produces a pitch other than C. For example, a written C on a B♭ clarinet sounds a concert B♭, rather than a property of the instrument, the transposition is a convention of music notation—however, instruments whose music is typically notated in this way are called transposing instruments. As transposing instruments is a convention, the issue of transposition is mainly an issue for genres of music which use sheet music, such as classical music. For some instruments, the pitch is still a C, but in a different octave. There are several reasons that composers, orchestrators and arrangers transpose music for certain instruments, many instruments are members of a family of instruments that differ mainly in size. For example, the fingerings which produce the notes of a C major scale on a standard flute, instruments that transpose this way are often referred to as being in a certain key, such as the A clarinet or clarinet in A. The instruments key tells which pitch will sound when the plays a note written as C. A player of a B♭ clarinet who reads a written C will sound a B♭ while the player of an A clarinet will read the same note, the non-transposing member of the family is thus called a clarinet in C. In the early 20th century, however, instruments with basic scales other than C were sometimes written as transposing instruments, before valves were invented in the 19th century, horns and trumpets could play only the notes of the overtone series from a single fundamental pitch. As a result, all music was written as if for a fundamental pitch of C. The introduction of valves made this unnecessary, though many players and composers found the tone quality of valved instruments inferior. F transposition became standard in the early 19th century, with the horn sounding a fifth below written pitch in treble clef. In bass clef composers differed in whether they expected the instruments to transpose down a fifth or up a fourth, when they played together in an ensemble, the parts of some instruments would then have to be transposed to compensate. In many of Bachs cantatas the organ part is notated a full step lower than the other instruments, a few early-music ensembles of the present day must do something similar if they comprise some instruments tuned to A415 and others to A440, approximately a semitone apart. Modern builders of continuo instruments sometimes include moveable keyboards which can play with either pitch standard. The harpsichord has a string for each note, plucked by a plectrum. Moving the keyboard mechanism right or left causes the A key to play the next string, instruments that transpose at the octave are not playing in a different key from concert pitch instruments, but sound an octave higher or lower than written
15.
Scientific pitch notation
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Scientific pitch notation is a method of specifying musical pitch by combining a musical note name and a number identifying the pitchs octave. Although scientific pitch notation was designed as a companion to scientific pitch. Scientific pitch is a pitch standard—a system which defines the specific frequencies of particular pitches, SPN concerns only how pitch names are notated, that is, how they are designated in printed and written text, and does not inherently specify actual frequencies. Thus the use of SPN to distinguish octaves does not depend on the standard used. The octave number increases by 1 upon an ascension from B to C, thus A4 refers to the first A above C4. In describing musical pitches, enharmonic spellings can give rise to anomalies where C♭4 is a lower frequency than B♯3, scientific pitch notation is often used to specify the range of an instrument. It is also translated into staff notation, as needed. For example, a d′ played on a B♭ trumpet is actually a C4 in scientific pitch notation, scientific pitch notation avoids possible confusion between various derivatives of Helmholtz notation which use similar symbols to refer to different notes. For example, c in Helmholtz notation refers to the C below middle C, with scientific pitch notation, middle C is always C4, and C4 is never any note but middle C. C7 is much easier to distinguish visually from C8, than is, for example, c′′′′ from c′′′′′. Although pitch notation is intended to describe audible sounds, it can also be used to specify the frequency of non-audible phenomena, for example, some MIDI software uses C5 to represent middle C. This differentiation is unnecessary and can result in confusion and this creates a linear pitch space in which an octave spans 12 semitones, where each semitone is the distance between adjacent keys of the piano keyboard. Distance in this space corresponds to musical pitch distance in a scale,2 semitones being a whole step,1 semitone being a half step. An equal-tempered semitone can also be subdivided further into 100 cents, each cent is 1⁄100 semitone or 1⁄1200 octave. This measure of pitch allows the expression of microtones not found on standard piano keyboards, the table below gives notation for pitches based on standard piano key frequencies, in other words, standard concert pitch and twelve-tone equal temperament). When a piano is tuned to just intonation, C4 refers to the key on the keyboard. Mathematically, given the number n of semitones above middle C, given the MIDI number m, the frequency is 440 ⋅2 /12 Hz. Scientific pitch is a pitch standard, first proposed in 1713 by French physicist Joseph Sauveur
16.
Semitone
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A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale, for example, C is adjacent to C♯, the interval between them is a semitone. In music theory, a distinction is made between a diatonic semitone, or minor second and a semitone or augmented unison. In twelve-tone equal temperament all semitones are equal in size, in other tuning systems, semitone refers to a family of intervals that may vary both in size and name. In quarter-comma meantone, seven of them are diatonic, and 117.1 cents wide, while the five are chromatic. 12-tone scales tuned in just intonation typically define three or four kinds of semitones, for instance, Asymmetric five-limit tuning yields chromatic semitones with ratios 25,24 and 135,128, and diatonic semitones with ratios 16,15 and 27,25. The condition of having semitones is called hemitonia, that of having no semitones is anhemitonia, a musical scale or chord containing semitones is called hemitonic, one without semitones is anhemitonic. The minor second occurs in the scale, between the third and fourth degree, and between the seventh and eighth degree. It is also called the diatonic semitone because it occurs between steps in the diatonic scale, the minor second is abbreviated m2. Its inversion is the major seventh, listen to a minor second in equal temperament. Here, middle C is followed by D♭, which is a tone 100 cents sharper than C, melodically, this interval is very frequently used, and is of particular importance in cadences. In the perfect and deceptive cadences it appears as a resolution of the leading-tone to the tonic, in the plagal cadence, it appears as the falling of the subdominant to the mediant. It also occurs in many forms of the cadence, wherever the tonic falls to the leading-tone. Harmonically, the interval usually occurs as some form of dissonance or a tone that is not part of the functional harmony. It may also appear in inversions of a seventh chord. In unusual situations, the second can add a great deal of character to the music. For instance, Frédéric Chopins Étude Op.25, No.5 opens with a melody accompanied by a line that plays fleeting minor seconds and these are used to humorous and whimsical effect, which contrasts with its more lyrical middle section. This eccentric dissonance has earned the piece its nickname, the wrong note étude and this kind of usage of the minor second appears in many other works of the Romantic period, such as Modest Mussorgskys Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
17.
C (musical note)
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In terms of musical pitch, C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège scale. When the A440 pitch standard is used to tune a musical instrument, Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the notes position as the fourth C key from left on a standard 88-key piano keyboard. Another system known as scientific pitch assigns a frequency of 256 Hz but, while numerically convenient, other note-octave systems, including those used by some makers of digital music keyboards, may refer to Middle C differently. In MIDI, Middle C is note number 60, the C4 designation is the most commonly recognized in auditory science, and in musical studies it is often used in place of the Helmholtz designation c. While the expression Middle C is generally clear across instruments and clefs, C4 may be called Low C by someone playing a Western concert flute, which has a higher and narrower playing range than the piano, while C5 would be Middle C. This technically inaccurate practice has led some pedagogues to encourage standardizing on C4 as the definitive Middle C in instructional materials across all instruments, in vocal music, the term Soprano C, sometimes called High C or Top C, is the C two octaves above Middle C. It is so named because it is considered the defining note of the voice type. It is C6 in scientific notation and c in Helmholtz notation. The term Tenor C is sometimes used in music to refer to C5. In organ music, the term Tenor C can refer to an organ builders term for small C or C3, in stoplists it usually means that a rank is not full compass, omitting the bottom octave. For the frequency of each note on a piano, see piano key frequencies. Pythagorean,701.955 ×12 =8423.46 =23.46 = B♯+++ ET,700 ×12 =8400 =0 = B♯ = C1200 ×7 =8400 =0 = C This difference,23.46 cents, is known as the Pythagorean comma. Piano key frequencies A440 C major C minor Root
18.
Bass clarinet
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The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B♭ clarinet, it is pitched in B♭. Bass clarinets in other keys, notably C and A, also exist, Bass clarinets regularly perform in orchestras, wind ensembles/concert bands, occasionally in marching bands, and play an occasional solo role in contemporary music and jazz in particular. Someone who plays a clarinet is called a bass clarinetist. Most modern bass clarinets are straight-bodied, with a small upturned silver-colored metal bell, Early examples varied in shape, some having a doubled body making them look similar to bassoons. The bass clarinet is fairly heavy and is supported either with a strap or with an adjustable peg attached to its body. While Adolphe Sax imitated its upturned metal bell in his design of the larger saxophones, Bass clarinet bodies are most often made of grenadilla or plastic resin, while saxophones are typically made entirely of metal. More significantly, all including the bass have a bore that is basically the same diameter along the body of the instrument. This cylindrical bore differs from the saxophones conical one and gives the clarinet its characteristic tone, causing it to overblow at the twelfth compared with the saxophones octave. A majority of modern bass clarinets, like other clarinets in the family, have the Boehm system of keys and fingering, most modern Boehm system bass clarinets have an extension key allowing them to play to the E♭. This key was added to allow easy transposition of parts for the relatively rare bass clarinet pitched in A. A significant difference between soprano and bass clarinet key work is a key pad played by the index finger with a vent that may be uncovered for certain high notes. This allows a form of half-hole fingering that allows notes in higher registers to be played on the instrument, in addition, older bass clarinets have two register keys, one for middle D♯ and below, the other for middle E and higher. Newer models typically only have one, the second register key makes the altissimo range much easier to play. In addition to differences in keywork, many professional and advanced bass clarinetists own instruments with extensions down to a C a full two octaves below written middle C. At concert pitch this note is the B♭ below the second ledger line below the bass staff, overall, the instrument sounds an octave lower than the B♭ soprano clarinet. As with all instruments, the upper limit of the range depends on the quality of the instrument. According to Aber and Lerstad, who give fingerings up to written C8, the bass clarinet has been regularly used in scoring for orchestra and concert band since the late 19th century, becoming more common during the middle and latter part of the 20th century
19.
Brian Cherney
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Brian Cherney is a Canadian composer currently residing in Montreal, Quebec. Cherney was born in Peterborough, Ontario and he studied at the University of Toronto where he was a pupil of John Weinzweig, Samuel Dolin, and John Beckwith. In 1972 he joined Schulich School of Music of McGill University and his pieces, often characterized by carefully calculated formal trajectories and a rich harmonic language, give the impression of a quiet intensity, usually featuring stillness in some manner. His works have played throughout North America, Europe. Cherney maintains a career as a composer, teacher and author, his book Harry Somers remains one of the most important. He was awarded the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 1985 for River of Fire, en forme de sandwich for viola and piano Le fil dariane for guitar and percussion Dunkle Stimmen
20.
Orchestra
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The term orchestra derives from the Greek ὀρχήστρα, the name for the area in front of a stage in ancient Greek theatre reserved for the Greek chorus. A full-size orchestra may sometimes be called an orchestra or philharmonic orchestra. The actual number of employed in a given performance may vary from seventy to over one hundred musicians, depending on the work being played. The term chamber orchestra usually refers to smaller-sized ensembles of about fifty musicians or fewer, the typical orchestra grew in size throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a peak with the large orchestras called for in the works of Richard Wagner, and later, Gustav Mahler. Orchestras are usually led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of the hands and arms, the conductor unifies the orchestra, sets the tempo and shapes the sound of the ensemble. The first violin, commonly called the concertmaster, also plays an important role in leading the musicians, the typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of related musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. The orchestra, depending on the size, contains almost all of the instruments in each group. Chamber orchestra usually refers to smaller-sized ensembles, a chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians. The term concert orchestra may also be used, as in the BBC Concert Orchestra, the so-called standard complement of doubled winds and brass in the orchestra from the first half of the 19th century is generally attributed to the forces called for by Beethoven. The composers instrumentation almost always included paired flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, the exceptions to this are his Symphony No. 4, Violin Concerto, and Piano Concerto No,4, which each specify a single flute. Beethoven carefully calculated the expansion of this particular timbral palette in Symphonies 3,5,6, the third horn in the Eroica Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility, but also the effect of choral brass in the Trio movement. Piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones add to the finale of his Symphony No.5. A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver the effect of storm and sunshine in the Sixth, for several decades after his death, symphonic instrumentation was faithful to Beethovens well-established model, with few exceptions. Apart from the core orchestral complement, various instruments are called for occasionally. These include the guitar, heckelphone, flugelhorn, cornet, harpsichord. Saxophones, for example, appear in some 19th- through 21st-century scores.6 and 9 and William Waltons Belshazzars Feast, and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th-century works, usually playing parts marked tenor tuba, including Gustav Holsts The Planets, cornets appear in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys ballet Swan Lake, Claude Debussys La Mer, and several orchestral works by Hector Berlioz
21.
Gustav Holst
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Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for The Planets, he composed a number of other works across a range of genres. His distinctive compositional style was the product of influences, Richard Wagner. There were professional musicians in the three generations of Holsts family and it was clear from his early years that he would follow the same calling. He hoped to become a pianist, but was prevented by neuritis in his right arm, despite his fathers reservations, he pursued a career as a composer, studying at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford. Unable to support himself by his compositions, he played the trombone professionally and later became a great one. He was the founder of a series of Whitsun music festivals, a shy man, he did not welcome this fame, and preferred to be left in peace to compose and teach. In his later years his uncompromising, personal style of composition struck many music lovers as too austere, nevertheless, he was a significant influence on a number of younger English composers, including Edmund Rubbra, Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten. Apart from The Planets and a handful of works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s. Holst was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the elder of the two children of Adolph von Holst, a musician, and his wife, Clara Cox. Holsts great-grandfather, Matthias Holst, born in Riga, Latvia, was of German origin, matthiass son Gustavus, who moved to England with his parents as a child in 1802, was a composer of salon-style music and a well-known harp teacher. He appropriated the aristocratic prefix von and added it to the name in the hope of gaining enhanced prestige. Holsts father, Adolph von Holst, became organist and choirmaster at All Saints Church, Cheltenham, he also taught and his wife, Clara, a former pupil, was a talented singer and pianist. They had two sons, Gustavs younger brother, Emil Gottfried, became known as Ernest Cossart, an actor in the West End, New York. Clara died in February 1882, and the moved to another house in Cheltenham. Gustav recognised her devotion to the family and dedicated several of his compositions to her. In 1885 Adolph married Mary Thorley Stone, another of his pupils and they had two sons, Matthias and Evelyn. Mary von Holst was absorbed in theosophy and not greatly interested in domestic matters, Holst was taught to play the piano and the violin, he enjoyed the former very much more than the latter
22.
The Planets
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The Planets, Op.32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System, from its premiere to the present day, the suite has been enduringly popular, influential, widely performed and frequently recorded. The work was not heard in a public performance, however. Although there were four performances between September 1918 and October 1920, they were all private or incomplete. The premiere was at the Queens Hall on 29 September 1918, the first complete public performance was finally given in London by Albert Coates conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on 15 November 1920. Holst also used Alan Leos book What is a Horoscope. as a springboard for his own ideas, as well as for the subtitles for the movements, Holst then scored the suite for a large orchestra, in which form it became enormously popular. Its novel sonorities helped make the work a success with audiences at home. He was, however, partial to his own favourite movement, a public concert was given in London under the auspices of the Royal Philharmonic Society on 27 February 1919, conducted by Boult. Five of the seven movements were played in the order Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Uranus and it was Boults decision not to play all seven movements at this concert. He felt that when the public were being given a new language like that. The anonymous critic in Hazells Annual called it an extraordinarily complex, at a Queens Hall symphony concert on 22 November of that year, Holst conducted Venus, Mercury and Jupiter. There was another public performance, in Birmingham, on 10 October 1920. It is not clear whether this performance was conducted by Appleby Matthews or the composer and his daughter Imogen recalled, He hated incomplete performances of The Planets, though on several occasions he had to agree to conduct three or four movements at Queens Hall concerts. He particularly disliked having to finish with Jupiter, to make a happy ending, for, as he himself said, the first complete performance of the suite at a public concert did not occur until 15 November 1920, the London Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Albert Coates. This was the first time the movement Neptune had been heard in a public performance, the composer conducted a complete performance for the first time on 13 October 1923, with the Queens Hall Orchestra at a Promenade Concert. Because of the constraints of the 78rpm format, the tempi are often much faster than is usually the case today. In Neptune, two three-part womens choruses located in a room which is to be screened from the audience are added. Holst almost certainly attended a performance of Schoenbergs Five Pieces for Orchestra in 1914, and owned a score of it
23.
Bassoon
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The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor clefs, and occasionally the treble. Appearing in its form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band. The bassoon is an instrument known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, variety of character. Listeners often compare its warm, dark, reedy timbre to that of a baritone voice. Someone who plays the bassoon is called a bassoonist, the word bassoon comes from French basson and from Italian bassone. However, the Italian name for the instrument is fagotto. B♭1–C5 The range of the bassoon begins at B♭1 and extends upward over three octaves, roughly to the G above the treble staff, higher notes are possible but difficult to produce, and rarely called for, orchestral and concert band parts rarely go higher than C5 or D5. Even Stravinskys famously difficult opening solo in The Rite of Spring only ascends to D5, a1 is possible with a special extension to the instrument—see Extended techniques below. The bassoon disassembles into six pieces, including the reed. Bassoons are double reed instruments like the oboe and the English horn, a modern beginners bassoon is generally made of maple, with medium-hardness types such as sycamore maple and sugar maple preferred. Both bore and tone holes are precision-machined, and each instrument is finished by hand for proper tuning and this ensures coverage by the fingers of the average adult hand. Wooden instruments are lined with hard rubber along the interior of the wing and boot joints to prevent damage from moisture, the end of the bell is usually fitted with a ring, either of metal, plastic or ivory. The joints between sections consist of a tenon fitting into a socket, the tenons are wrapped in either cork or string as a seal against air leaks. The bocal connects the reed to the rest of the instrument and is inserted into a socket at the top of the wing joint, bocals come in many different lengths and styles, depending on the desired tuning and playing characteristics. Folded upon itself, the bassoon stands 1.34 m tall, there are also short-reach bassoons made for the benefit of young or petite players. The origins of the dulcian are obscure, but by the century it was available in as many as eight different sizes. Otherwise, dulcian technique was rather primitive, with eight finger holes, the dulcian came to be known as fagotto in Italy. However, the etymology that equates fagotto with bundle of sticks is somewhat misleading
24.
Michael Tippett
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Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as one of the leading British composers of the 20th century. Among his best-known works are the oratorio A Child of Our Time, the orchestral Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli, and he withdrew or destroyed his earliest compositions, and was 30 before any of his works were published. Until the mid-to-late 1950s his music was broadly lyrical in character, before changing to a more astringent, New influences, including those of jazz and blues after his first visit to America in 1965, became increasingly evident in his compositions. While Tippetts stature with the continued to grow, not all critics approved of these changes in style. From around 1976 Tippetts late works began to reflect the works of his youth through a return to lyricism, although he was much honoured in his lifetime, critical judgement on Tippetts legacy has been uneven, the greatest praise being generally reserved for his earlier works. His centenary in 2005 was an affair, apart from the few best-known works. Having briefly embraced communism in the 1930s, Tippett avoided identifying with any political party, a pacifist after 1940, he was imprisoned in 1943 for refusing to carry out war-related duties required by his military exemption. His initial difficulties in accepting his homosexuality led him in 1939 to Jungian psychoanalysis and he was a strong advocate of music education, and was active for much of his life as a radio broadcaster and writer on music. The Tippett family originated in Cornwall, Michael Tippetts grandfather, George Tippett, left the county in 1854 to make his fortune in London through property speculation and other business schemes. A flamboyant character, he had a tenor voice that was a popular feature at Christian revivalist meetings. In later life his business faltered, leading to debts, prosecution for fraud. His son Henry, born in 1858, was Michaels father, a lawyer by training, he was successful in business and was independently wealthy by the time of his marriage in April 1903. Unusually for his background and upbringing, Henry Tippett was a progressive liberal, Henry Tippetts bride was Isabel Kemp, from a large upper-middle class family based in Kent. Among her mothers cousins was Charlotte Despard, a campaigner for womens rights, suffragism. Despard was an influence on the young Isabel, who was herself briefly imprisoned after participating in an illegal suffragette protest in Trafalgar Square. Although neither she nor Henry was musical, she had inherited an artistic talent from her mother, after their marriage the couple settled outside London in Eastcote where two sons were born, the second, Michael, on 2 January 1905. Shortly after Michaels birth, the moved to Wetherden in Suffolk
25.
Frederick Delius
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Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a mercantile family. He was sent to Florida in the United States in 1884 to manage an orange plantation, there he soon neglected his managerial duties, and in 1886 returned to Europe. Having been influenced by African-American music during his stay in Florida. Deliuss first successes came in Germany, where Hans Haym and other conductors promoted his music from the late 1890s, in Deliuss native Britain, it was 1907 before his music made regular appearances in concert programmes, after Thomas Beecham took it up. After 1918 Delius began to suffer the effects of syphilis, contracted during his years in Paris. He became paralysed and blind, but completed some late compositions between 1928 and 1932 with the aid of an amanuensis, Eric Fenby. The lyricism in Deliuss early compositions reflected the music he had heard in America, as his skills matured, he developed a style uniquely his own, characterised by his individual orchestration and his uses of chromatic harmony. Deliuss music has been intermittently popular, and often subject to critical attacks. Delius was born in Bradford in Yorkshire and he was baptised as Fritz Theodore Albert Delius, and used the forename Fritz until he was about 40. He was the second of four born to Julius Delius and his wife Elise Pauline. Deliuss parents were born in Bielefeld, Westphalia, of Dutch origin, Juliuss father, Ernst Friedrich Delius, had served under Blücher in the Napoleonic Wars. Julius moved to England to further his career as a wool merchant, the Delius household was musical, famous musicians such as Joseph Joachim and Carlo Alfredo Piatti were guests, and played for the family. Despite his German parentage, the young Fritz was drawn to the music of Chopin and Grieg rather than the Austro-German music of Mozart and Beethoven, a preference that endured all his life. The young Delius was first taught the violin by a Mr. Bauerkeller of the Hallé Orchestra, from 1874 to 1878, Delius was educated at Bradford Grammar School, where the singer John Coates was his slightly older contemporary. He then attended the International College at Isleworth between 1878 and 1880, as a pupil he was neither especially quick nor diligent, but the college was conveniently close to London for Delius to attend concerts and opera. Julius Delius assumed that his son would play a part in the wool business. Deliuss first job was as the representative in Stroud in Gloucestershire
26.
Requiem (Delius)
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The Requiem by Frederick Delius was written between 1913 and 1916, and first performed in 1922. It is set for soprano, baritone, double chorus and orchestra, the Requiem is Deliuss least-known major work, not being recorded until 1968 and having received only seven performances worldwide by 1980. The reasons why Delius, an avowed atheist, started work on a Requiem and he started work on the Requiem in 1913, after a holiday in Norway. The dedication To the memory of all young artists fallen in the war was not in Deliuss mind at the outset. He had substantially completed the work by 26 October 1914, barely ten weeks after the start of the First World War. Prior to the outbreak of the war, both Henry Wood and Sir Thomas Beecham had showed early interest in presenting the Requiem during the part of the 1914 season. The war put paid to plans, and Delius used the opportunity to make some minor revisions. By 15 March 1916 he was able to tell Philip Heseltine that it was completely finished, Deliuss nephew was killed on active service not long before the war ended but the dedication was already appended at the end of the score in the spring of 1918. The work lasts a little over half an hour and it is in two parts and five sections. The chorus appears in section, along with either the soprano or baritone soloist. Simon was the owner and editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung, and also a political economist, writer and translator, art historian, musicologist, how he and Delius became acquainted is not recorded. At one point, Hallelujahs are mingled with Arabic invocations to Allah, the published score makes no mention of the author, and Heinrich Simons involvement only became generally acknowledged in the 1970s. Thomas Hemsley, the baritone soloist in the 1965 Liverpool performance, described the words as a bit embarrassing, seeming to be rather a poor, Delius himself described the Requiem as non-religious, his working title until shortly before its first performance was Pagan Requiem. Portions of the text appear to be critical of religion and its followers, colles wrote Its words are little more than a dry rationalistic tract. Beecham expounded on what he saw as its failings in his book on Delius, fenby initially described it as the most depressing choral work I know, but he later came to see its merits. The first performance in London used an English translation of the German text by Philip Heseltine, heseltines heart was not in a project he did not like or believe in, and this further reduced any chance of the Requiem being received in a positive light. The work was first published in 1921, Heinrich Simon escaped Hitlers anti-semitism by migrating to the United States in 1934 but was murdered at the instigation of the Nazis in Washington, D. C. in 1941. He wrote a biography of Delius, but it was never published, the premiere performance of Frederick Deliuss Requiem was in the Queens Hall, London on 23 March 1922, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates
27.
Fennimore and Gerda
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Fennimore und Gerda is a German-language opera with four interludes, by the English composer Frederick Delius. It is usually performed and recorded in English, as Fennimore, the German libretto, by the composer himself, is based on the novel Niels Lyhne by the Danish writer Jens Peter Jacobsen. It was the composers last opera, the United States premiere of the work was staged by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in June 1981 with Kathryn Bouleyn as Fennimore and Kathryn Gamberoni as Gerda. Place, Denmark Time, Around 1910 Two cousins, the writer Niels Lyhne and she chooses Erik but the marriage begins to break down as a result of the artists drinking and Fennimore embarks on an affair with Niels. Erik is killed in an accident and, overwhelmed with guilt, the rejected Niels spends years travelling before he settles down and marries his neighbours daughter, Gerda. ISBN 978-1-85828-749-2 Holden, Amanda, The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York, ISBN 0-14-029312-4 Complete cast list, notes, extensive synopsis Fennimore and Gerda, Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Eder, Bruce
28.
Arnold Bax
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Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax KCVO was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, in addition to a series of symphonic poems he wrote seven symphonies and was for a time widely regarded as the leading British symphonist. Bax was born in the London suburb of Streatham to a prosperous family and he was encouraged by his parents to pursue a career in music, and his private income enabled him to follow his own path as a composer without regard for fashion or orthodoxy. Consequently, he came to be regarded in musical circles as an important, while still a student at the Royal Academy of Music Bax became fascinated with Ireland and Celtic culture, which became a strong influence on his early development. In the years before the First World War he lived in Ireland and became a member of Dublin literary circles, writing fiction, later, he developed an affinity with Nordic culture, which for a time superseded his Celtic influences in the years after the First World War. Between 1910 and 1920 Bax wrote a large amount of music, including the symphonic poem Tintagel, during this period he formed a lifelong association with the pianist Harriet Cohen – at first an affair, then a friendship, and always a close professional relationship. In the 1920s he began the series of seven symphonies which form the heart of his orchestral output, in 1942 Bax was appointed Master of the Kings Music, but composed little in that capacity. In his last years he found his music regarded as old-fashioned, from the 1960s onwards, mainly through a growing number of commercial recordings, his music was gradually rediscovered, although little of it is regularly heard in the concert hall. Bax was born in the London suburb of Streatham, Surrey and he was the eldest son of Alfred Ridley Bax and his wife, Charlotte Ellen, née Lea. The couples youngest son, Clifford Lea Bax, became a playwright, Alfred Bax was a barrister of the Middle Temple, but having a private income he did not practise. In 1896 the family moved to a mansion in Hampstead, Bax later wrote that although it would have been good to be raised in the country, the large gardens of the family house were the next best thing. He was a child, I cannot remember the long-lost day when I was unable to play the piano – inaccurately. After a preparatory school in Balham, Bax attended the Hampstead Conservatoire during the 1890s, the establishment was run – with considerable personal pomp, according to Bax – by Cecil Sharp, whose passion for English folk-song and folk-dance excited no response in his pupil. In 1900 Bax moved on to the Royal Academy of Music, Corder was a devotee of the works of Wagner, whose music was Baxs principal inspiration in his early years. He later observed, For a dozen years of my youth I wallowed in Wagners music to the almost total exclusion – until I became aware of Richard Strauss – of any other. Bax also discovered and privately studied the works of Debussy, whose music and his keyboard technique was formidable, but he had no desire for a career as a soloist. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he had private means that made him free to pursue his career as he chose. Among the influences on the young Bax was the Irish poet W. B, yeats, Baxs brother Clifford introduced him to Yeatss poetry and to Ireland
29.
Percy Grainger
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Percy Aldridge Grainger was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the years of the 20th century. He also made many adaptations of composers works. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his arrangement of the folk-dance tune Country Gardens. Grainger left Australia at the age of 13 to attend the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, between 1901 and 1914 he was based in London, where he established himself first as a society pianist and later as a concert performer, composer and collector of original folk melodies. As his reputation grew he met many of the significant figures in European music, forming important friendships with Frederick Delius and he became a champion of Nordic music and culture, his enthusiasm for which he often expressed in private letters. In 1914, Grainger moved to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life, though he travelled widely in Europe and he served briefly as a bandsman in the United States Army during 1917–18, and took American citizenship in 1918. After his mothers suicide in 1922 he became involved in educational work. He also experimented with music machines that he hoped would supersede human interpretation, in the 1930s he set up the Grainger Museum in Melbourne, his birthplace, as a monument to his life and works and as a future research archive. As he grew older he continued to concerts and to revise and rearrange his own compositions. After the Second World War, ill health reduced his levels of activity and he gave his last concert in 1960, less than a year before his death. Percy Graingers father, John Grainger, was an English-born architect who emigrated to Australia in 1877 and he won professional recognition for his design of the Princes Bridge across the Yarra River in Melbourne. In October 1880 he married Rose Annie Aldridge, daughter of Adelaide hotelier George Aldridge, the couple settled in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne where their only son, christened George Percy Grainger, was born on 8 July 1882. John Grainger was an accomplished artist, with cultural interests. These included David Mitchell, whose daughter Helen later gained fame as an operatic soprano under the name Nellie Melba. Johns claims to have discovered her are unfounded, although he may have offered her encouragement, John was a heavy drinker and a womaniser who, Rose learned after the marriage, had fathered a child in England before coming to Australia. His promiscuity placed heavy strains upon the relationship, particularly when Rose discovered shortly after Percys birth that she had contracted a form of syphilis from her husband, despite this, the Graingers stayed together until 1890, when John went to England for medical treatment. After his return to Australia they lived apart, the burden of raising Percy fell to Rose and he also designed Nellie Melbas home, Coombe Cottage, at Coldstream
30.
Bass oboe
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The bass oboe or baritone oboe is a double reed instrument in the woodwind family. It is about twice the size of an oboe and sounds an octave lower, it has a deep, full tone somewhat akin to that of its higher-pitched cousin. The bass oboe is notated in the treble clef, sounding one octave lower than written. Its lowest note is B2, one octave and a semitone below middle C, the bass oboe uses its own double reed, similar to but larger than that of the English horn. The instrument is known popularly as the oboe in the English language. The bass designation is in resonance with that of the flute in the flute family and the bass clarinet in that family. Early bass oboes were modeled after bassoons, with a joint and bocal and some holes drilled obliquely. The concept of the oboe as an enlarged English horn survived. As a result, it is not always clear in English orchestral works of the early 20th century which of the two instruments is intended when the composer requests bass oboe. The instrument has been manufactured sporadically by various companies, including F. Lorée, Marigaux, Rigoutat, Fossati and it is usually a special order instrument, and its purchase price normally exceeds that of a top-of-the-line English horn. Another similar instrument, the Lupophon, has developed by Guntram Wolf. The bass oboe is also featured in the First Interlude of Sir Michael Tippetts Triple Concerto. There is also a substantial solo in the second movement of Thomas Ades Asyla. Frederick Delius scored for the oboe in a number of works, including Songs of Sunset, A Mass of Life, Requiem, An Arabesque, Fennimore and Gerda. 1, however, the latest research reveals that despite his use of this term, arnold Bax calls for it in his Symphony No. 1, and Havergal Brian requires an instrument in both the Gothic Symphony and his Symphony No.4 Das Siegeslied, percy Grainger includes the bass oboe in Childrens March and The Warriors. The bass oboe has not as yet come into its own as a solo instrument, the work was written for the Canadian performer Lawrence Cherney, who uses a bass oboe manufactured by F. Lorée. Robert Morans Survivor From Darmstadt, for nine amplified bass oboes, was commissioned by oboist Nora Post, at least one sonata for bass oboe and piano, by Simon Zaleski, has been written
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Gavin Bryars
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Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, born in Goole, in East Yorkshire, England, Bryars studied philosophy at Sheffield University but became a jazz bassist during his three years as a philosophy student. The first musical work for which he is remembered was his role as bassist in the trio Joseph Holbrooke, alongside guitarist Derek Bailey, the trio began by playing relatively traditional jazz before moving into free improvisation. However, Bryars became dissatisfied with this when he saw a young bassist play in a manner which seemed to him to be artificial, bryarss first works as a composer owe much to the New York School of John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and minimalism. The first recording of this appeared on Brian Enos Obscure Records in 1975. The 1994 recording of this piece was remixed by Aphex Twin as Raising the Titanic, on top of that loop, rich harmonies played by a live ensemble are built, always increasing in density, before the whole thing gradually fades out. A new recording of this work was made in the 1990s with Tom Waits singing along with the recording of the vagrant during the final section. Its members included Brian Eno, whose Obscure Records label would release works by Bryars. Bryarss later works have included A Man In A Room, Gambling, bryarss music is heard beneath monologues spoken by the Spanish artist Juan Muñoz, who talks about methods of cheating at card games. His Cello concerto Farewell to Philosophy was recorded in 1996 by Julian Lloyd Webber, Bryars has written a large number of other works, including four operas, and a number of instrumental pieces, among them three string quartets and several concertos. He has written pieces for dance, including Biped for Merce Cunningham, as well as works for William Forsythe, Carolyn Carlson, Edouard Lock. Between 1981–1984 he participated in the CIVIL warS, a vast, never-completed multimedia project by Robert Wilson, bryarss When Harry Met Addie was premiered at the Duke Ellington Memorial Concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 1 May 1999. The piece was performed by the London Sinfonietta Big Band and was commissioned by the baritone saxophonist/bass clarinettist John Surman and he lives in England, and, for part of the year, on the west coast of Canada. He was born on the day as another prominent English composer. In his June 2008 appearance on Desert Island Discs author Peter Carey chose Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet as his eighth, Bryars is married to Anna Tchernakova, a Russian filmmaker, and has a stepdaughter and son. Bryars has two daughters from his first marriage, Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet,1972. Medea 1982, revised 1984 and 1995, some sections of the music exist in completed form, as follows, On Photography for Chorus, harmonium, piano. Arias For Marie Curie, The Queen of the Sea, Captain Nemo, string Quartet No 1 Between the National and the Bristol,1985
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YouTube
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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005, Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube now operates as one of Googles subsidiaries. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old, YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service, and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. YouTube began as a venture capital-funded technology startup, primarily from an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006, YouTubes early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name www. youtube. com was activated on February 14,2005, the first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23,2005, and can still be viewed on the site, YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005. The first video to reach one million views was a Nike advertisement featuring Ronaldinho in November 2005. Following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital in November, the site grew rapidly, and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The site has 800 million unique users a month and it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The choice of the name www. youtube. com led to problems for a similarly named website, the sites owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to www. utubeonline. com, in October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13,2006. In March 2010, YouTube began free streaming of certain content, according to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event. On March 31,2010, the YouTube website launched a new design, with the aim of simplifying the interface, Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented, We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter. In May 2010, YouTube videos were watched more than two times per day. This increased to three billion in May 2011, and four billion in January 2012, in February 2017, one billion hours of YouTube was watched every day
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Bagpipes
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Bagpipes are a wind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The term bagpipe is equally correct in the singular or plural, though pipers usually refer to the bagpipes as the pipes, a set of bagpipes minimally consists of an air supply, a bag, a chanter, and usually at least one drone. Many bagpipes have more than one drone in various combinations, held in place in stocks—sockets that fasten the various pipes to the bag, the most common method of supplying air to the bag is through blowing into a blowpipe, or blowstick. In some pipes the player must cover the tip of the blowpipe with their tongue while inhaling, an innovation, dating from the 16th or 17th century, is the use of a bellows to supply air. In these pipes, sometimes called cauld wind pipes, air is not heated or moistened by the players breathing, the bag is an airtight reservoir that holds air and regulates its flow via arm pressure, allowing the player to maintain continuous even sound. The player keeps the bag inflated by blowing air into it through a blowpipe or pumping air into it with a bellows, materials used for bags vary widely, but the most common are the skins of local animals such as goats, dogs, sheep, and cows. More recently, bags made of materials including Gore-Tex have become much more common. A drawback of the bag is the potential for fungal spores to colonise the bag because of a reduction in necessary cleaning. An advantage of a bag is that they have a zip which allows the user to fit a more effective moisture trap to the inside of the bag. Bags cut from larger materials are usually saddle-stitched with an extra strip folded over the seam, holes are then cut to accommodate the stocks. The chanter is the pipe, played with two hands. Almost all bagpipes have at least one chanter, some pipes have two chanters, particularly those in North Africa, the Balkans in Southern Europe, and Southwest Asia. A chanter can be bored internally so that the walls are parallel for its full length. The chanter is usually open-ended, so there is no way for the player to stop the pipe from sounding. Thus most bagpipes share a constant, legato sound where there are no rests in the music, primarily because of this inability to stop playing, technical movements are used to break up notes and to create the illusion of articulation and accents. Because of their importance, these embellishments are often highly technical systems specific to each bagpipe, a few bagpipes have closed ends or stop the end on the players leg, so that when the player closes the chanter becomes silent. A practice chanter is a chanter without bag or drones, allowing a player to practice the instrument quietly, the term chanter is derived from the Latin cantare, or to sing, much like the modern French word chanteur. The note from the chanter is produced by a reed installed at its top, the reed may be a single or double reed
