what makes music

music?

North Carolina Symphony 2009-10

… it can make us feel happy, comfort us when we’re sad or help us think of things in a new way. But how do composers use the basic ingredients of music to do that? Come along with the North Carolina Symphony and learn how dynamics, rhythm, tempo, form, melody and texture combine to make music music!

we lovemusic!

These concerts are made possible by a generous grant-in-aid from the State of North Carolina, Honorable Beverly Perdue, Governor; Honorable Linda A. Carlisle, Secretary for Cultural Resources and the following supporters:

Education bEnEfactors:

Education Patrons:

The Harford Financial Services Group | BB&T Insurance Services, Inc. | The McLean FoundationThe Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation | Liberty Mutual

Education sPonsors:

The Rolander Family Foundation | The Florence Rogers Charitable Trust | Nordstrom Foundation | Dominion FoundationHarris Stratex | Hunter Industries Inc.

Education concErt suPPortErs:

The Janirve Foundation | The Mary Whiting Ewing Charitable Foundation Fund | The Ina Mae and Rex G. Powell Wake County Music Education Fund The Elaine Tayloe Kirkland Fund | The Ruby and Raymond A. Bryan Foundation

Design and Art Direction: opus 1, inc.Authors: Ann Goldfinch-Hughes, Marilyn Hoch, Melissa Raley, Janice WilsonNorth Carolina Symphony | 4350 Lassiter at North Hills Ave., Suite 250, Raleigh, NC 27609 | 919.733.2750 www.ncsymphony.org/education

Editors: Kathryn Wyatt, Director of Education and Community EngagementJessica Nalbone, Artistic Operations Assistant Andrea Blanchfield, Artistic Operations InternNorth Carolina Symphony Student Handbook © 2009 by North Carolina Symphony Society, Inc., reproduction of this book in its entirety is strictly forbidden.

Born: 1840, Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia Died: 1893, St. Petersburg, Russia

Tchaikovsky came from a wealthy family. They lived in a large house with many servants.

He taught music for more than 15 years at the Moscow Conservatory.

His brother, Modest, was a playwright and librettist who wrote a biography of Tchaikovsky.

Piotr tChaikovSky’S Life aNd Work

Tchaikovsky was a very musical child. He began taking music lessons and playing his family’s piano at age four. His natural musical ability was confirmed when his governess heard him crying one night because he could not get Mozart’s music to stop playing in his head. His governess described him as a “child of glass” because of his very sensitive nature.

Tchaikovsky’s parents wanted him to become a lawyer, and sent him off to begin his studies in St. Petersburg when he was only 10 years old. He eventually took a job as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice at age 19. He never enjoyed this job and grew deter-mined to have a life as a composer. He left his job as a clerk to study music at the con-servatory in St. Petersburg. Upon graduation, he toured throughout Europe, earning a great deal of fame for his compositions. Tchaikovsky combined the love of his native Russian folk music with the Western European ideas he learned in his studies.

A wealthy widow became Tchaikovsky’s patroness, meaning that she would pay him a regular salary so he wouldn’t need to worry about money and could devote all of his time to composing. She agreed to do so on the condition that they never meet. Tchaikovsky agreed and although they never met, they exchanged hundreds of letters to each other.

Tchaikovsky led a very orderly life. He would get up at seven in the morning, drink tea, read the Bible and begin composing at 9:30am. He spent his afternoons walking and said this was his most creative time. He enjoyed being outside and one of his hobbies was searching for wild mushrooms to eat. Tchaikovsky composed many musical com-positions, including three very famous ballets: Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and the holiday classic, The Nutcracker. At the concert you will hear the Prelude to Act III of Swan Lake, one of Tchaikovsky’s most beloved ballets.

TchaikovskySwan Lake, Prelude to act iii

Piotr

getting started

GeorGeS Bizet’S Life aNd Work

Georges Bizet grew up in a very musical household. His aunt was a famous singer, his father was a singer and composer, and his mother was a pianist. Georges loved to play the piano, and could already read and write music by the age of four! Shortly before his tenth birthday, Bizet began his studies at the Paris Conservatory of Music. There he composed his first symphony at the age of 17, and began to earn acclaim as both a pianist and composer.

Upon completion of his schooling in Paris, Bizet won a prestigious award known as the Prix de Rome, which allowed him to study and compose in Rome for three years. Although Bizet enjoyed his time in Rome, he eventually grew homesick and returned to Paris. Bizet most enjoyed writing operas, but began to receive negative reviews from the opera critics in Paris. Georges struggled to compose operas that pleased not only the Parisian audiences but also himself. His final opera, Carmen, became his most suc-cessful and masterful work. Sadly, Bizet died before he saw the success of the piece, but many influential composers were fans, including Camille Saint-Saëns, Piotr Tchaikovsky and Claude Debussy.

At the concert, you will hear Carillon from L’Arlesienne, Suite No. 1, a section of music Bizet wrote for a play in 1872. This lively provincial folk song employs the use of brass chords and strings to create a sense of drama.

Born: 1838, Paris, France Died: 1875, Paris, France

Bizet was considered a “master pianist” by the age of 14.

His first symphony was written as an assignment at the Paris Conservatory. It was forgotten about and not debuted until 1935, after which it was deemed a master work.

The work you will be listening to at the concert, Carillon, is featured in The Disney Channel’s Little Einsteins.

GeorgesBizetCarillon from L’Arlesienne, Suite No. 1

= pattern of notes of varied Korsakovlengths and accents

NikoLai rimSky-korSakov’S Life aNd Work

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was always more interested in his studies than in music. He began music lessons at age six, yet it wasn’t until he turned 17 that Rimsky-Korsakov began to develop a true love for music. Mily Balakirev, an influential composer of the time, encouraged Rimsky-Korsakov to perform his works and begin a career in music.

Nikolai was passionate about opera, and often took on unfinished projects left by col-leagues who had died. He took on a position as a teacher at the St. Petersburg Con-servatory, but the job did not suit him and he eventually returned to his occupation as a full-time composer. Rimsky-Korsakov was a member of a group of Russian compos-ers known as “The Five,” whose goal was to infuse their music with a sense of Russian pride. The group denounced the strict Western rules that they felt limited their ideas of music.

Rimsky-Korsakov struggled to find acceptance among his peers, and was constantly trying to balance his personal style with an “appropriate” musical structure. An example of this is his obsession with counterpoint, or repeating specific phrases and layering them throughout a piece.

At the concert, you will hear Capriccio Espagnol (Movements IV and V). The Spanish-influenced piece is a lively, dance-like tune that was very popular at the time it was written. Rimsky-Korsakov had been almost completely silent for six years until he wrote Capriccio Espagnol. The first rehearsal of the work was interrupted again and again by the spontaneous applause of the orchestra. Rimsky-Korsakov returned thanks by dedi-cating the work to them. All 67 names of the orchestra members were put on the score. Its first performance was October 31, 1887 with the composer conducting.

Born: 1844, Tikhvin, Russia Died: 1908, St. Petersburg, Russia

Nikolai Rimksy-Korsakov once served as the band director for the Russian Navy.

He became part of a well-known group of Russian composers called “The Five,” many of whom were his close friends.

He died in 1908 after a prolonged battle with angina, a disease of the heart.

NikolaiRimsky-Korsakov

Capriccio Espagnol, movements iv & v

= the layout of the sections of a composition... it’s like

the roadmap of music

terry mizeSko’S Life aNd Work

You might find Terry Mizesko in the North Carolina Symphony’s brass section, on the conductor’s podium at education concerts, or preparing arrangements for Symphony performances. A multi-talented musician, Mizesko has played Bass Trombone with the North Carolina Symphony since 1971.

Mizesko is a native of Morehead City, NC and a graduate of East Carolina University. There he studied composition and trombone with Gregory Kosteck and Eugene Nar-mour. Mizesko has conducted the North Carolina Chamber Players, the Governor’s School Wind Ensemble, the Raleigh Youth Symphony and the Duke University Wind Symphony. He also appeared as guest conductor with the Charlotte Symphony in education concerts. Mizesko taught trombone for more than 20 years at several local schools including Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and St. Augustine’s College. He now devotes much of his time to composition and his family.

The North Carolina Symphony has performed many of Mizesko’s compositions and orchestrations in classical, pops and education concerts throughout the state.

Born: 1954, Morehead City, NC

Terry Mizesko has been playing Bass Trombone for the North Carolina Symphony for 38 years!

The movements of A Little Dance Suite are meant to mimic what a day in the life of a child would be like. That is why the piece ends with a story (about Hobgoblins!) and a lullaby.

Mizesko’s two children, ages 10 and 12, are sources of inspiration for his educational compositions.

A Little Dance Suite, movement ii: dos muchachos mariachimizeskoTerry

aaroN CoPLaNd’S Life aNd Work

Aaron Copland was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Lithuania who im-migrated to America in search of a better life. Copland learned to play the piano at a relatively young age, and regularly attended orchestra performances in New York City.

Although this experience inspired him to pursue a career in music, he wanted to learn more in Europe before beginning his life as a composer. When he turned 20, Copland moved to Paris to study music under Nadia Boulanger, a very famous composer and piano teacher. There he began to develop his personal style. Copland wanted to create a distinctively American style of music, influenced by the jazz and pop he had grown up with on the streets of New York City.

Although Copland’s earlier music was often far too complex for audiences to appreci-ate, he eventually found a style that audiences loved. He became most famous for his ballets such as Billy the Kid and Rodeo. He loved the American Western style, and pro-duced many songs for movie soundtracks. He even won an Oscar for his movie score for The Heiress.

Copland’s signature is to take a relatively simple melody and breathe new life into it with exciting uses of instruments. At the North Carolina Symphony education concert, you will listen to Copland’s John Henry, a lively folk tune characteristic of those used by the American composer. You will also be invited to sing along with the orchestra to this fun folk tune. Listen closely to the lyrics – they tell the story of John Henry’s life.

Born: 1900, Brooklyn, New York Died: 1990, North Tarrytown, New York

Before he became a composer, Copland worked as a pianist at a resort entertaining guests.

Copland once taught as a professor at Harvard University in Boston, MA.

Throughout the course of his career, Copland received over 30 honorary degrees.

AaroncoplandJohn Henry

Beethoven

Born: 1770, Bonn, Germany Died: 1827, Vienna, Austria

Beethoven was known for having a hot temper and occasionally lashing out at his fans.

Beethoven was very fond of nature and often took long walks in the countryside to find inspiration.

More than 20,000 people lined the streets of Vienna for Ludwig van Beethoven’s funeral procession.

LudWiG vaN BeethoveN’S Life aNd Work

Beethoven began his musical schooling when he was a small child. Both his father and grandfather were musicians at the Court of the Elector of Cologne, which was based in Beethoven’s hometown of Bonn. Although Ludwig’s father began his son’s musical education, it was clear that the boy had surpassed his father’s abilities by the age of nine. By age 12, Beethoven had composed his first work of music.

In his young adult life, Ludwig worked as a conductor and organist for the court band. Like many other composers, Beethoven traveled to Vienna, Austria to find inspiration. Here, he played for such famous musicians as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn, who later became one of his mentors.

Beethoven was very restless, always jumping from one composition to another. His musical ideas frequently became fused together in the chaos, creating some of his most memorable works. As an adult, he began to lose his hearing. Although this loss was devastating, he continued to compose for nearly 25 more years until he died of pneumonia in 1827.

At the concert, you will hear Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68, Movement IV, also known as “The Storm” or “The Tempest”. This movement depicts what Beethoven calls “a matter more of feeling than of painting in sounds.” The music evokes the sense of an intense storm, including the emotions surrounding its arrival.

BeethovenLudwig van

Symphony No. 6 in f major, op. 68, movement iv, “the Storm”

saint-saëns

Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah

CamiLLe SaiNt-SaëNS’S Life aNd Work

Camille Saint-Saëns’s father passed away only three months after his birth. Camille’s mother enlisted the help of a governess around the house, who introduced Camille to the piano. It became clear that Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy when he completed his first work of music at the age of four. Camille was a precocious child who excelled in all aspects of his schooling, including Latin, which he mastered by the age of seven.

To make money early in his career, Saint-Saëns played the organ in churches around Paris. He also taught at the Paris Conservatory, where his colleagues showed distress at his modern ideas about music. Camille was not only dedicated to his musical endeav-ors, but a variety of other activities. He was a prominent force in the field of science and wrote various texts on acoustics, religion and existentialism. He also wrote a book of poetry called Rimes familières and a very successful play. He was also very interested in astronomy. He was a member of the Astronomical Society of France, owned a tele-scope made to his own specifications and even was known to plan concerts around astronomical events such as solar eclipses!

At the concert, you will hear Bacchanale, a dance from his opera Samson and Delilah. A Bacchanale is music which depicts a rowdy party. Listen for loud, rhythmic percussion and brass sounds which make the piece feel more energetic!

Born: 1835, Paris, France Died: 1921, Algiers, France

Saint-Saëns once stormed out of one of Igor Stravinsky’s performances because he disagreed with the “misuse of the bassoons.”

Saint-Saëns was a true intellectual. He studied geology, astronomy, archaeology, lepidopterology (the study of butterflies and moths) and was a master mathematician.

Camille could read and write and started taking piano lessons all before the age of three.

Camillesaint-saëns

We have included a song for you to sing with us at the concert! “John Henry” can also be played on instruments. We hope to hear an instrumental group from your school perform this song on your own before you sing it with the orchestra.

For those who will play, here are the directions: 1

2

3

4

Memorize the music so you can watch your conductor.Possible instruments are: recorders, stringed instruments, Orff instruments, bells, xylophones and autoharps.Play the instrumental version through one time.If autoharps are accompanying, they can play the chords marked above the note.

singLet’s

Play&