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Running head: CONCERT REPORT

Timothy Jason Burton

HUMA 118
Music Appreciation
April 12, 2015
Concert Report

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Running head: CONCERT REPORT

Throughout Ivy Tech Community Colleges course Music Appreciation, I have learned
about the structure and musical elements of the worlds most prestigious musical pieces. The
class has enabled me as a listener to identify musical elements within a musical composition. The
class requires that all students in the course attend a live concert of Western Art. The study of
Western art, or classical music, was one of the major components of this course. The
understanding and comprehension of musical elements in classical music is the purpose of this
concert report.
For class purposes, I chose to attend a live concert of the Indianapolis Symphonic Band.
This concert was located in the Warren Performing Arts Center, which is located off of East
Sixteenth Street in Indianapolis. The concert took place on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, at seven
p.m.
The ISB (Indianapolis Symphonic Band) is composed of eleven different musical
instruments including the flute, saxophone, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, trumpet, French horn,
tuba, percussion, trombone, and the euphonium. The band enables music lovers of all ages,
ranging from teens to retirees, to play in their programs. The ISB is led by conductor Joe Poio.
Outside of Ivy Techs musical course, I have no prior musical experience. All the material
covered in the course was completely new information that I had to learn. With that being the
circumstance, I went into the live ISB concert with the mindset that I was going to be a very
attentive listener. I felt as though if I were to listen very attentively, I could pick up on some of
the new musical references that I have learned. Before heading to the concert I reviewed musical
vocabulary from the course such as tempo, which is the speed of music, or rhythm, which is the
duration of notes in an allotted time. I had hoped that reviewing these terms would allow me to

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Running head: CONCERT REPORT

point out certain aspects of each musical piece played at the concert. I listened throughout the
concert very attentively, paying close attention to details throughout each musical piece. This
listening approach helped greatly.
The ISB played eight musical pieces in their concert. The pieces played were as follows:
Gallop, written by Dmitri Shostakovich, Three Revolutionary Marches, written by Bedrich
Smetana, Lord, Guard and Guide, written by Robert Jagger, On Wings of My Own, written by
Paul Bergen Abbott, To Challenge the Sky and Heavens Above, Robert W. Smith, In Storm and
Sunshine, written by J.C. Reed, Songs of Grace and Songs of Glory, written by John Philip
Sousa, and Where Never Lark of Eagle Flew, written by James Curnow.
The style of the pieces performed were of the classical genre. All of the musical pieces
sounded as if they were from the same musical time period and related to the same type of topic.
The musical piece Gallop sounded as if it were a symphony. The musical piece sounded
as if it were separated into three movements. The first movement seemed to be extremely longer
than the other two. However, the final movement seemed to be the most intense and gave the
impression of a conclusion to the work. The tempo of the musical piece sounded allegro (very
fast), while the rhythm of Gallop included a variation of short and long musical notes. The
melody showed an apparent high pitch sound conveyed from the musical instruments throughout
the piece. The harmony of the piece is heard as dissonance (intervals or chords that sound tense).
The form of the musical piece is constructed to tell a story. There is a long beginning segment
that is concluded with an intense ending. This musical piece was my second favorite from the
evening of music.

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Running head: CONCERT REPORT

The second musical piece that I really enjoyed was Lord, Guard and Guide. I think that
the title of the song set up an image of some sort of protection in my head. I visualized an older
war movie with this musical piece as the intro or conclusion. The tempo of this musical piece
sounded allegretto (on the fast side but not too fast). There were parts of the song in which the
tempo changed to more of a moderato (moderate) tempo. The dynamics of the song is something
that I really noticed. The alteration of sounds from a very low soft sound to a very loud sound
was quite impressive. The melody of the song included low notes following a high note to
simulate an end to an idea. I felt like this was the musical pieces way of conveying its theme
(topic). The harmony of the song was what I consider consonance (intervals that sound relatively
stable and free of tension). The sound of this musical piece is what I would consider the
definition of a harmonious song. After hearing this musical piece I was left at a feeling of ease. I
really liked this musical piece. The piece was my favorite of the entire evening.
The ISB were arranged neatly in front of the audience. The instruments were arranged by
type and relevancy to the other instruments around them. The ISB sat in a U-shaped fixture
surrounding the composer. The members of the ISB sat in their positions, dressed very
professionally in a neat manner. I was impressed by the image of consistency presented across
the ISB. I think they could have done a better job of individualizing the ISB members by giving
them their own brief solo at some point in the night. I realize that the idea is to sound as one with
the ISB, but this would enable each member to get their own time in the focus of attention.
The audience sat quietly and attentively waiting for each musical piece to begin. The
majority of the crowd was dressed very nicely for the occasion. There were mixtures of people
there ranging in age from what appeared to be high teens to elderly people. All of the audience
were there were one reason and that was to enjoy the classical music concert.

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Running head: CONCERT REPORT

I went into the concert with an open mind. I had never been to a classical style concert
before so I had no idea what to expect. I was weary of going to a concert such as this alone. In
some ways my prejudged opinions of the concert were right, but in others I was very wrong. I
was right in a sense that I anticipated not knowing many of the songs or the people that would be
in attendance. I was wrong in a sense that I thought I would not enjoy any of the concert. I
actually enjoyed some of the musical pieces such as Lord, Guard and Guide. In fact, I even came
home and searched for the musical piece on YouTube. I may not have completely enjoyed the
music class, but I was surprisingly delighted by my experience watching the Indianapolis
Symphonic Band. The experience with the ISB is definitely an experience that I would not mind
having again. I look forward to seeing more classical music concerts such as this in the near
future.