The Effect of Self-Assessment on Motivation and Performance of Instrumental Music Students
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to examine if student self-assessment helps band students improve more than students who do not self-assess. Is it worth the extra class time it takes?
Research Questions
Does self-assessment improve student performance? Does training students in self-assessment help them perform better and improve faster?
Percy Aldridge Grainger
1882-1961
Grainger is considered the first significant 20th century composer whose best music was for wind band. The quantity and quality of his music made him vital to the development of the wind band. His band music is considered the most important and largest collection of works for the ensemble. He also wrote many works for wind instruments in various groupings such as brass choir and woodwind choir. He composed almost 30 wind band works.
Leonard Bernstein's “Mass”: Trash and Blasphemy or Genius and Masterpiece?
Out of quadraphonic chaos comes this modest, beautiful beginning of Leonard Bernstein's “Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers.” When the work premiered on September 8, 1971, controversy swirled around it and Bernstein. By reading ten different reviews one can find ten different, strong opinions. Bernstein was not a stranger to controversy and strong opinions. The Federal Bureau of Investigation watched him for many years because they believed him to be a communist. In spite of any controversy, there is no doubt that his work as a conductor and a composer played an important role in the development of American music. He wanted America to have its own version of sophisticated music. All of this comes together in the “Mass.” It epitomizes the conflict that his music and he himself could create and his desire to elevate American music. Through the years it has been endlessly praised and criticized for religious, political, and musical reasons. More recently the questions have focused on whether his “Mass” stands the test of time and whether it is still an important work.
Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major (“Waldstein”) Op. 53
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major (“Waldstein”) Op. 53 (1803-4) was written at the beginning of his middle period and shares the heroic spirit found in his works at this time. This heroic spirit is also found in Symphony no. 3 in E-flat (“Eroica”), written before the “Waldstein” and Sonata no. 23 in F (“Appassionata”), written after (Terrell and Sadie, 2001). This sonata, along with the Appassionata are considered outstanding middle period sonatas. These two sonatas establish Beethoven’s skill with the classical sonata which is perhaps the reason he wrote no more sonatas for five years. While he stayed close to the traditional form he expanded that form to support his themes of “exceptional tension and concentration” (Grout and Palisca, 1988, p. 644). An analysis of the first movement of the Waldstein shows how Beethoven stretched the bounds of Classical harmony and how he created tension by pushing the listener through this beautiful and often frantic movement. A deeper look at the exposition of the first movement shows how he used increasing and decreasing melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic complexity to create and release tension.