TIMEFORTHREE
Cue sheet FOR STUDENTS
At the Performance
At the Kennedy Center you will attend a performance presented by Time for Three, a trio that performs music in a variety of styles. In addition to playing music, the musicians will talk about their artistic influences, how they got together as a group, and their process for writing and adapting music for their performances. The performers in Time for Three are Nick Kendall (violin), Zachery DePue (violin), and Ranaan Meyer (double bass). They met while attending the Curtis Institute for Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though they share a common background in classical music training, each brings additional musical influences to the group, helping to create their unique sound. During the performance, listen to how the performers in Time for Three use their instruments to play different styles of music. Non-traditional techniques, such as tapping the instruments with their hands and scraping the strings add a variety of sounds not commonly heard from string instruments. Trio - a musical group consisting of three performers Fugue - a musical form that features distinct instrumental voices that each present a melody (musical theme) in deliberate order, creating a complex, intertwined musical structure; common during the baroque era (1600–1750 CE); from the Latin word for “chase”
Time for Three are (left to right): Nick Kendall, Zachery DePue, and Ranaan Meyer.
Eclecticism Eclecticism is an artistic style that combines elements of other styles, often in unexpected ways (in music, eclecticism is sometimes called cross-over music). Some examples of eclecticism in music might be samples of rock music inserted in a rap performance; a rock musician performing a baroque fugue on electric guitar; jazz music performed on toy instruments; or dance beats added under an operatic aria or Gregorian chant. Each of these examples combines elements of music that do not commonly exist at the same time and creates a musical performance that “crosses-over” more than one style.
Gregorian chant - a spoken/singing style developed by 12th century European monks for church services; named for Pope Gregory I (540–604 CE)
The music performed by Time for Three crossesover many musical styles. During the performance you will hear jazz improvisation, bluegrass fiddle, the expressiveness of gypsy violin, the slaps and pops of a funk bass, and the delicate precision of baroque counterpoint.
Counterpoint - two or more distinct melodic lines that when performed together create the harmonic texture of a piece of music; from the Latin for “note against note”
Some styles, like bluegrass, are commonly played by violin players, while others, like funk, are not common. What types of music do you expect a violin to play?
Aria - a melodic song performed by a singer, usually in an opera; from the Italian for “air”