A Concert Report

I used to think that music support the singer but then I realized that I was wrong after I attended one of the school's concert. The concert was on February 23, it features Ira Spaulding as a baritone and Alison Deane as a Pianist and Dan Carillo was a special quest and he played the guitar.

The concert was divided into two sections one of them was a piano solo. The pianist performed three pieces which were composed by R. Nathaniel Dett. They were very influential and emotional. "Honey" was the name of the first piece and it was a romantic melody. The dynamic was moderately loud, Mezzo forte and the tempo was fast and lively. Then the creative pianist played "Barcarolle", which had a smooth tune. The texture was homophony and the dynamic was so soft pianissimo. There was no change in the speed, and it was adagio tempo. The third piece was "Juba dance" which its rhythm was full of energy. The homophony was clear in this piece and the dynamic was loud. It was fast tempo but even though it had a fast tempo I was able to guess that it was a romantic piece.

The Second part started by the baritone, Ira Spaulding welcomed his special quest Dan Carillo. Carillo started playing an amazing solo piece then Ira start singing "Georgia On my Mind" by his melodious voice. It was a great song which its rhythm was simple and the dynamic was changing between piano and forte. The tempo started slow then got allegro and that made the tune of the song ultimate. The lyrics of Georgia On my Mind expressed the case of longing and alacrity to Georgia "Georgia, Georgia, The whole day through Just an old sweet song Keeps Georgia on my mind". The lyrics made me wonder if Georgia is a place or a beautiful girl. The guitarist added a beautiful painting by his outstanding performing.

Ira Spaulding and the pianist performed many songs from The Life of Christ (a cycle of Negro Spirituals) which is composed by Roland Hayes. Those songs are simple and repetitive melody and there style seemed to me as an opera. One of the songs is called "The Little Boy" and its rhythm is very simple but it is full of energy. The lyrics of "The Little Boy" are repetitive for emphasis. The dynamic is exchanged from split to another, for example when Ira sang "Little boy how old are you", he was using a loud dynamic. On the other hand, he used the soft dynamic when he sang "sir, I am only 12 years old." The tempo does not change, it is always moderato.

I concluded that no matter what kind or what culture the music is from we can all understand it because music to me is a language that we can all speak and we all can understand. Beside, the melody and the motive of the rhythm are not needed to be translated to be enjoyed and that's why for example you see performers from the United States performing in countries that where they don't speak