CONTENTS cover story
03 Twentieth Century Music a
fun facts
a
fun & games
a
getting to know you
08 Jazz Music 10 Inspirations & Influences 12 Rachel Barton Pine, Violin 14 Oops! Where’s the Orchestra? 16 Ask Auntie Melody v
music jokes
17 Does This Spark Joy? 18 SSO Recommends
EDITORIAL TEAM Senior Manager, Programmes: Kua Li Leng Editors & Coordinators: Lim Li Qian, Tan Sing Yee, Vanessa Lee Contributors: Christy Chua, Erin Tan, Linnet Sim, Regina Lee, Whitney Tan 2
cover story
Twentieth Century Music
What exactly is twentieth century music? In our previous publications, we featured the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. We just have one last question, what happened after the Romantic period?
PERIODS OF MUSIC Baroque 1600
Classical 1750
Romantic 1820
Twentieth century 1900
Twentieth century music, broadly founded as music written from 1900 and later, encapsulates a huge variety of different styles. It was so different that the definition of what twentieth century music could be was constantly debated over by many people! There are two broad categories in twentieth century music: Contemporary classical music and electronic music. 3
cover story
Twentieth Century Music
Contemporary Classical Music Following from the late Romantic period in the second half of the nineteenth century, the contemporaries in classical music had ventured either as a Progressive or a Conservative: Progressives: “We challenge the traditional.”
Conservatives: “We must revive early music from the past.”
• Composers broke apart the elements of music (rhythm, melody, harmony, etc)
• Composers use forms (sonata form, dance forms, etc) and techniques to evoke styles from the past. This is known as neoclassicism
• The twelve-tone scale became popular, with equal importance on all twelve chromatic notes • Experimental, avant-garde music was also promoted
• Historicism, a movement that emphasizes on the importance of music from the past and actively reviving early music, was widely used
Only early music is music!
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Electronic Music Electronic music is the use of music technology to create or edit sounds. The Digital Revolution (or Third Industrial Revolution) from the 1950s to 1970s made using digital technology popular, leading to large interest in genres such as disco, hip-hop and Electronic Dance Music (EDM). This genre also saw the rise of several electronic instruments:
Theremin Invented in 1928, the theremin is played without being touched! The player moves their hands nearer or further from its two receivers to control pitch and volume.
Synthesizer In early versions of the synthesizer, they were often used to imitate instrument sounds or the human voice. With technological advancements, today they are capable of producing a wide variety of sounds and creating effects such as distortions or modulations.
Computer Yes, the computer is an instrument as it can produce tones and wavelengths! It also created a new way of composing, drawing on a relationship between music and mathematics through algorithms.
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cover story
Twentieth Century Music Let’s explore some famous composers from the twentieth century music!
Arnold Schoenberg Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, teacher and artist who later moved to America. Coined as the “Father of Serialism”, Schoenberg developed the twelve-tone system, influencing at least three generations after him to shift away from tonality, giving equal importance to all chromatic notes in the scale. However, while he was alive, his music was labelled as “degenerate music” by the Nazis, whereas some other American and European counterparts held him in high regard. Most famous works: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Pierrot Lunaire
Igor Stravinsky Stravinsky was a Russian composer, conductor and pianist who had catapulted to fame in France mostly through his ballets commissioned for Ballet Russes (a ballet company). His style was a mix of Russian influences and metrical innovations. Later on, he developed a neoclassical style, referring back to old forms like the sonata form, and in his later years, converted to using the twelve-tone system that Schoenberg had put forth. Most famous works: The Firebird Suite, The Rite of Spring, Symphony of Psalms
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György Ligeti Ligeti was a Hungarian-Austrian composer who was famous for his contemporary classical music. He was sent to do forced labour in 1944 during the Holocaust, but completed his studies after returning and even dabbled in electronic music for a while. However, Ligeti preferred composing with instrumental textures to achieve an electronic flair and was also a believer of the twelve-tone system. Most famous works: Le Grand Macabre, Nouvelles Aventures, Atmosphères
Scan the QR codes and listen to SSO perform their music!
Stravinsky – Petrushka
Schoenberg – Transfigured Night
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fun facts
Jazz Music Jazz is a soulful genre of music that originated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, with emphasis on elements such as improvisation, rhythm and variation. Want to find out all about the pizzazz of Jazz? Read on! Swinging with Rhythm In most pieces of music, there is a steady beat and rhythm. In jazz, musicians “swing� their notes, which means they can change the length of notes holding some longer and making others shorter. There are a lot more rhythmic surprises in a jazz piece!
Play it Your Way One of the most special aspects of jazz is improvisation. This means that that musicians are making music up on the spot without any discussions beforehand, changing up the main melody and structure of the piece. Improvising makes a jazz piece different every time it is performed!
Influence Because of its spontaneous and free spirited nature, jazz draws upon the largest number of influences ranging from African rhythms, classical music, and modern day pop elements. With this, it has spawned many different sub-genres of jazz such as Latin Jazz, Bossa Nova, Big Band and Soul Jazz!
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Body Language Body language is very important in a performance, especially in jazz. With improvisation, the jazz performers will probably have a set of cues that are used to indicate repeating certain sections of the music, ending of a solo or returning to the main melody of the song.
Bridge Across Cultures In its beginnings, jazz was mainly accredited to African American communities. The popularity of jazz then grew massively in the 1930 and more varied audiences began to follow and support jazz bands. Jazz music encouraged artistic innovation, new forms of expression, and the inclusion of different cultural music styles, which explains why jazz ensembles were among the first integrated public performance groups. On April 30 every year since 2012, the UNESCO organizes the International Jazz Day to celebrate the virtues of jazz as an educational tool and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and a bridge across cultures.
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fun & games
Inspirations and Influences From the twentieth century, music became more diverse in style. Composers drew inspiration from many influences and cultures from all over the world. Match some traits of modern music to their pictures and definitions!
A traditional Indonesian ensemble of metal pots played with mallets
A style of music typically played by a small ensemble with focus on swing rhythms, improvisation and syncopation
Music created by changing frequencies of sounds or waveforms on a computer
A method of composing where all twelve notes in an octave are given equal importance without emphasis on a certain note
The score dictates a pattern the performer plays, in which the performer can decide how many times it is repeated or how fast it is played
Answers: Spanish Music, Gamelan, Jazz & Blues, Electronic Music, Twelve-Tone Technique, Chance Music
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The use of guitar and castanets, playing fast scalic passages with a dance rhythm
Choose from the list of traits below!
Jazz & Blues
Chance Music
Gamelan
Spanish Music
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Twelve-Tone Technique
Electronic Music
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getting to know you
Rachel Barton Pine, Violin Classical violinist by day, rockstar by night – we caught up with our new artist-in-residence Rachel Barton Pine who will be bringing us the best of both worlds this October.
As the first time performing with the SSO and helming the title of artist-in-residence with the orchestra, what are you looking forward to in your time here? My first and only trip to Singapore was in September 2007, when I gave the inaugural recital of the new concert hall at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. I really enjoyed visiting Singapore, and ever since then, I’ve been hoping to return. I’m especially excited to collaborate with the Singapore Symphony as I’ve heard so many great things about this orchestra. My seven-year-old violinist daughter also travels with me around the world, so I look forward to seeing what each city’s best activities are for children. It’s very exciting to see that you are performing rock together with the SSO musicians — what aspects of rock music draws you to it? Heavy metal and classical are very closely related. Many of the great rock musicians studied classical and consider their music to be inspired by the melodies, harmonies, and figurations in classical music. I love the power and intensity of metal – though a great orchestra concert is just as exciting!
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Which are your favourite rock bands? Well, of course my own band is my very favourite! Earthen Grave, a doom/thrash metal band, was active from 2010-2015 and released one self-titled album. The other bands to which I always return to are the classic thrash bands like Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, Pantera, and early Metallica. My favorite Asian metal band is The Hu from Mongolia. What was the biggest adversity you faced in pursuing your dream as a violinist and how did you overcome it? During my childhood, my father was frequently unemployed while my mother was raising my younger sisters and I. We were often one missed payment away from losing our home, and our phones and electricity were frequently shut off. While I had scholarships for my violin lessons and played on borrowed instruments, it was very difficult to pay for piano accompaniments, new strings, sheet music, audition recordings, concert clothes, and even gas for the car to drive to my rehearsals. Thankfully, generous people helped me along the way and I’ve been very blessed to repay their kindness through the work of my RBP Foundation which supports young artists. What advice would you give to young violinists out there who are unsure of venturing into a performing career? There are so many kinds of satisfying musical life you can make for yourself, and you don’t have to do just one thing. Find your own voice, discover what your passions are, be creative, work hard, continue to grow, and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing! Rachel performing with her daughter, Sylvia.
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Oops! Where’s the Orchestra? A cappella is an Italian expression that dates back to the nineteenth century. It refers to choral or vocal music sung without instrument accompaniment. This genre of music has evolved a whole lot with the times and trends. In today’s contexts, it refers to an all-voice presentation of any style, including modern pop-rock, barbershop and doo wop (think Bruno Mars)!
A cap pella (pronounced vah-kah
) p-pel-ah
1. Spelling It Right – “Acapella” or “A cappella”? No doubt you will have seen many ways of spelling it. The most common two, “acapella” and “a cappella” are both correct. The original Italian version of “a cappella” is the traditional spelling, and, “acapella” the Latin version. Two words, two “p’s” and two “i’s” – that’s how we generally prefer to spell this term. 2. How did a cappella come about? In the first 1000 years of Christianity, all hymns in the church were sung without instrumental accompaniment. This style of singing came to be known as a cappella, meaning “in the style of the church.” In fact, Gregorian chant is a good example of a cappella singing, as is the majority of secular vocal music from the Renaissance period. 3. A ca-llaboration with the Singapore Symphony Children’s Choir (SSCC) Vocal music-making at its best: Have a listen to the SSCC’s magical performance with The King’s Singers, premiering Bob Chilcott’s piece, We Are. The King’s Singers sang the melody while the SSCC added dynamics in the background.
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4. What About the Orchestra? A cappella pieces can be transcribed for instrumental or orchestral arrangements, and vice versa, instrumental, orchestral arrangements made into a cappella ones. Here are two versions of the Christmas classic, Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker Suite – try and see if you can identify the differences in musical styles! Orchestral Performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in the 2017 SSO Christmas Concert.
A cappella Arranged & performed by pop a capella group, Pentatonix. Listen out for new voice elements that make up the background. 5. Finding Your Voice
Active Listening
Harmony
Pitching
Being able to sing and hold onto your part or melody is one important aspect of a cappella music. Singers are constantly interacting and collaborating, and need to work together to create varied, interesting harmonies. Here’s a challenge for you: Record yourself and your friends singing a song without music, then play it back and compare it with the original song. Did you get confused with your friends’ singing and pitching? Kudos to you if you didn’t, it was no mean feat!
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Ask Auntie Melody Do you have any burning questions about music? If your question is featured, you will win a surprise gift! After musicians have performed a piece, do they still continue to practise it? If not, will they still remember how to play the piece after not playing it for some time? – Hui En Dear Hui En, Musicians will likely still remember how to play most of their old pieces as they would already have committed the piece to muscle memory. It would be easier to take out an old piece to re-learn again! One similar example you can think about is doing a math problem. We are constantly doing new math questions, but we are likely to remember how to solve the same question we did a year ago – because our brains have understood the skills and technique needed for each question! Why do pieces change keys in the middle and not be the same throughout? – Melissa Dear Melissa, Composers may choose to modulate, or change keys in the middle of a piece, so that the music would not seem “static” or lacking a direction. Modulation is also used to show a change in character or energy. For example, a major key modulating into a minor key can show a shift of mood from a happy to a sad one. Furthermore, in certain musical forms such as the Baroque dances, a shift away from the home key or shifting back can represent the music transitioning to different sections!
Email your questions to outreach@sso.org.sg Winners will be notified by email. All questions are subject to editing for clarity.
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music jokes
Does This Spark Joy? This one sparks joy.
Credits: Classic FM
This one does not spark joy.
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SSO Recommends
SSO Artist-in-Residence 2019/20 • Rachel Barton Pine Scottish Fantasy Sat, 26 Oct 2019, 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall The first of the three concerts by the versatile and inspiring SSO Artist-in-Residence 2019/20 Rachel Barton Pine, be prepared to be swept away with this all-British soul-stirring programme by Bax, Bruch and Vaughan Williams. VCHpresents: Shredding with a String Quartet Sun, 27 Oct 2019, 4pm Victoria Concert Hall Infusing classical music with heavy metal, Rachel Barton Pine together with SSO musicians will perform from Paganini to Led Zeppelin! Elgar Violin Concerto & Enigma Variations Fri, 1 Nov 2019, 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall Hear Rachel Barton Pine tackle the great twentieth century British composer’s showpiece in her final concert with SSO this season.
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Singapore Symphony Children’s Choir Audition Sun, 29 Sep 2019, 10am onwards Victoria Concert Hall For more information, please visit www.sso.org.sg/ssccauditions
Concert for Children: Emily Saves the Orchestra Sat, 16 Nov 2019, 2pm & 4pm Sun, 17 Nov 2019, 2pm Victoria Concert Hall A clever ten-year old needs help to outsmart, Cacopholous, a monster scheming to silence music forever. In this concert, drama, dance, dazzling masks and costumes are woven together with orchestral music in a story about bravery and hope.
All SSO events are supported by the National Arts Council and local schools are eligible for up to 50% claim/subsidy from the Totalisator Board Arts Grant. For more information, please call us at 6602 4200 or email us at corporate@sso.org.sg.
Upcoming Events SEP
OCT
NOV VCHpresents Chamber: French Connections Thu, 14 Nov 2019, 7.30pm Victoria Concert Hall
Concerts for Children: Peter and the Wolf in Hollywood Sun, 1 Sep 2019, 11am & 2pm Esplanade Concert Hall
VCHpresents Organ: Organ, Omakase Sun, 8 Sep 2019, 4pm Victoria Concert Hall The SSCC Experience Mon & Tue, 9 & 10 Sep 2019, 10am - 6pm Victoria Concert Hall
President’s Young Performers Concert Fri, 27 Sep 2019, 7.30pm Victoria Concert Hall
Open Rehearsal: Kahchun Wong & Karl-Heinz SchĂźtz Sat, 19 Oct 2019, 10am - 12.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall VCHpresents Atrium: Symphony 924 Young Talents Sun, 27 Oct 2019, 10am & 11am Victoria Concert Hall Atrium
VCHpresents Atrium: YST Chamber Performances Sat, 16 Nov 2019, 3pm Victoria Concert Hall Atrium Intimate Moments: From West to East Thu, 21 Nov 2019, 7.30pm VCH Dance Studio SNYO in Concert Sat, 30 Nov 2019, 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall
NOV
DEC
VCHpresents Organ: Pipes de Deux Mon, 4 Nov 2019, 12.30pm Victoria Concert Hall
VCHpresents Organ: Pipe Up! II Mon, 16 Dec 2019, 12.30pm Victoria Concert Hall
Chorus of the Plants Fri, 8 Nov 2019, 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall VCHpresents Chamber: Love and Longing Sun, 10 Nov 2019, 4pm Victoria Concert Hall
Pre-registration on www.sso.org.sg. Information correct at time of print and is subject to change without notice.
SSO Christmas Concert Thu & Fri, 12 & 13 Dec 2019, 7.30pm Esplanade Concert Hall
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SSO in Your Community at MPC @ Khatib, July 2019