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The Music Of My Life

By: Frederick Gimino

 

Music plays many important roles in life. Cultures all over the world regard music as a special language. A language bringing together a group of people to honor traditions new and old, to communicate with elements in nature, express feelings, and convey emotions.

My revival as an American teenager, surviving the aftermath of a family tragedy, is owed to the role music played in my life at the time. Instrumental music had been a staple of my upbringing.

I played a clarinet in my school's concert band since the age of 8. At first, participating, was not something I wanted to pursue. My contribution to the band was a decision made for me by my parents, mostly my father. He had reaped the benefits of playing the trumpet during his high school career. He felt that experiencing music aided him in his ability to succeed in school.

My mother did not play an instrument, she sang. She sang in various choirs, and quite well. Since my major function was not singing, her support was not as enthusiastic as my father's was. I labored for many years to attain the ranking I earned in the school band. Music lessons, camps, and many hours a day practicing to better my playing became routine. Eventually I became friends with the clarinet and I was able to maneuver the fingerings. My passion for music was born, and it fueled my determination to be better.

I was first introduced to serious pieces of music my freshman year of high school. By serious I mean that they were comprised of many changes to the tempo, pitch and melodic structure. It was also around this time when I began to see how music had a soothing quality.

The more you participate in something musical, the more it draws you in. The upbeat, fast tempo and varied melodic structure of varied pieces can be energizing.

I began to understand certain elements of music. Ethnomusicologist Timothy Rice said, "In order to study music, one must understand how music is individually created and experienced, how it is historically constructed, and how it is socially maintained" (Hast, Cowdery, and Scott, 5).

My senior year of high school I had accomplished my goal of achieving the principal clarinet player, first chair in the school band. I was very proud of this since I had worked hard to achieve it. We played some great pieces that year, one in particular I had found to be quite captivating.

This piece was the First Suite in Eb for Military Band by Gustav Holst. I began working on this piece shortly before my father died. The fast tempo of this song and melodic nature attracted me. For the first time I found a piece I could pour myself into and this emotional outlet freed me from the pain and darkness which had previously consumed me.

The First Suite in Eb for Military Band by Holst consisted of 3 parts. The first part was called the Chaconne. According to an article by Boosey and Hawkes, on a website created by Kenric Taylor for Gustav Holst, the chaconne consisted of varied harmonic patterns.

"The Chaconne", was a melody of 16 notes that starts in the baritone makes its way throughout the entire band, and in the middle of the piece, the trombone plays the inversion of this progression. Building ever so slowly, the finale of this first movement is marked by a strong fortissimo in all instruments and a sustained chord by the upper winds as the lower brass drops out. (Boosey and Hawkes).

The second part of the piece was called the Intermezzo. This part of the suite had a much faster tempo. It was more vibrant and lively. There seemed to be a melodic structure composed exclusively for the clarinet and oboe section of a band. The last part to the suite was the March.

The March opened with a fast and loud drum solo only to decrescendo to and ending filled with sounds of brass instruments. Per an article by Budd Udell, This suite "is a work full of wheat, of which we bake beautiful and musical bread"(Udell).

The First Suite in Eb was written in pre World War I 1909. It was written during a time Holst was concentrating on woodwind ensembles. Holst was the director of St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London at that time. According to an article by Boosey and Hwkes,

"Holst wanted to make the concert band a
serious concert medium, and this piece is
seen as the first step in that direction.
Holst was well suited for this role as concert
band composer; he played trombone in the
Scottish Orchestra and the Carl Rosa Opera
Company, and he was well acquainted with
the working of wind instruments."

It should also be noted that Holst played for seven years as a trombonist for the White Viennese Band. It
was a seaside band which claimed to be foreign, and the members even spoke with phony accents, but in actuality two thirds of the group was from England. During this time period, audiences were more likely to go to a concert held by a foreign band than a
British one.(Boosey and Hawkes)

My high school concert band played the First Suite in Eb in 1997. At this time, the band was made up of woodwind and percussion sections. We were a group of dedicated students captivated by the suite because it was comprised solely for a woodwind band. Many of the pieces we had played were adaptations from a piece composed for an entire symphony or orchestra.

During this time we were playing different pieces from composers of the 20th century. The duration and tempo of Gustav's suite made it the perfect piece because he was a composer of the 20th century and we had the required instruments to play the piece as it was intended.

We had the perfect balance in our musical environment between the score and the instruments available. In our society of "American" teenagers, some had found their musical passion for the first time. I was one of those people. Music began to talk to me and it healed wounds as no other words could.

Article Source: http://www.myhotarticles.com

Frederick Gimino is the founder of DownloadMusic Downloads offering music articles, podacsts, music videos , and download service reviews. For more music related content please check out the site.

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