Every student is required to submit an essay as an individual project. The essay should be on on the following topic: Attend a musical concert or any live musical performance, which could be an SS concert, a musical or an opera, a pop!roc" concert, a ja## concert, a $hinese orchestra concert or any concert, performance or event in which the %&'E performance of music is the main focus (this would e)clude plays or ballet*, and say in your own words how and why you have enjoyed (or not enjoyed) the performance. performance . +ou should include some comments on how and why science and/or technology may have had an eect (positive or otherwise) on your musical experience and why, why, but the main focus of the essay should be on your personal views of the concert performance. performance . The essay should be written from the point of view of a member of the audience , and T as one of the performers. &n addition to concerts which you plan to attend, you may also write about a concert you have recently attended (within the last - months*. This will include concerts during the months of ctober, ovember and ecember /012. The concert should be a formal performance performance by live performers performers for an audience lasting at least 23 minutes. The concert may be either in an indoor or outdoor venue, and need not be a tic"eted fee4paying performance. +ou +ou need not conne your essay to the content of the lectures . The essay should express your own opinions, and will be graded be graded on content and writing ability. ability . The essay should have not less than 2 words or more than ! words. words. &t should be written in English, and should not include any diagrams, photographs or illustrations. &t 56ST be entirely your own and unaided wor". "he essay should be submitted as a #icrosoft $ord le with the name% exxxxxxxxx&doc where ))))))))) is your matriculation number. 7lease put the number of words and your matric& number at the end of your essay but do '" include your name. name . * of the semester, at The submission deadline is at the end of wee * of midnight of +aturday 2! #arch 2* i.e. 2* i.e. the midnight between Saturday /8 5arch and Sunday /9 5arch. submission of the Essay project les will be The -.0 worbin for the submission of open a few days before the submission deadline. 7lease do T email your essay les to me.
$oncert review 4 ;esonance of a Thousand Strings
The concert & attended was a gu#heng concert by the students and instructors of a gu#heng school. The performers are not professionals and mostly involved school groups. The age of the performers ranged from about < to /3 years old. 5ost of the pieces were performed by an ensemble of only gu#heng players, although there were a few e)ceptions. The gu#heng has a unique sound. &t is a pluc"ed instrument with many strings, each string=s pitch is adjustable to t the requirements of each piece. The strings are tuned by default to the pentatonic scale, which is the foundation for most traditional $hinese songs. The gu#heng=s notes typically ring for a while before slowly fading away after pluc"ing. uring the concert, & observed the di>erent styles of play by the gu#heng players and learnt about some standard ways to play the instrument. The right hand of each player is equipped with plastic nails on several ngers and are used to pluc" the strings. They can also rapidly pluc" the same string to produce a sort of sustained note, even though the sounds still come out as particles. Their left hand is often used to play the bass notes of the piece and strum the part of the strings on the left of the bridge, which are untuned, to produce a raw wave of sound to add e>ect to the music. The same can be done to the tuned part of the strings to produce a more beautiful wave of sound. As the number of strings on the gu#heng are limited, some notes require pressing the string on the left hand side of the bridge to alter the pitch. These pressed notes are often not perfectly in tune. These techniques were used time and again throughout the duration of the concert. A quartet of gu#hengs performed their version of the famous Tur"ish 5arch by 5o#art, which was very interesting as & did not thin" that the gu#heng would be capable of playing a song which used the western scale. & reali#ed that the strings were cleverly tuned to be able to play the chorus or the main melody without having to press down on the string.
6nfortunately, it also dawned on me that it ta"es at least four gu#heng players to match what one pianist can play. As the concert went along, many pieces sounded similar to the previous ones as the gu#heng=s timbre is rather constant and the dynamic range is also fairly limited. Also, the composition style of each piece is greatly conformed to the traditional style and there was not much variation in the bass accompaniment for each piece. This repetition in musical styles made me quite bored, although & did manage to stay awa"e for the whole /4hour concert. There was a gu#heng solo accompanied by a piano. The piano, being much more technologically advanced than the gu#heng, project its sounds far better and is able to play a much greater range of music, in terms of melody, chords, dynamics and pitch range. This combination of instruments unfortunately showed the inferiority of the gu#heng, which has not evolved much in its long history, apart from an increase in the number of strings. The piano overpowered the soloist numerous times during the piece even though the gu#heng was the one playing the main melody. ?owever, the soloist=s s"ills were respectable. ?e played with a certain masculinity and decisiveness that was a good t for the theme of the song, which depicts the tragic story of loyal general +ue @ei in the Song dynasty. At one point, one of his strings fell loose and he quic"ly put the string bac" in place and in tune without losing his composure. & thin" that was the most impressive thing & saw in this concert. The music sounded much better when other accompanying instruments were included, li"e percussion or the sheng, a traditional $hinese wind instrument that involves blowing into di>erent pipes, each of a di>erent pitch. & thin" this is largely due to the addition of additional tones or colour to the piece, ma"ing the music much fuller than before. Also, the sheng is capable of playing sustained notes, something that the gu#heng is unable to do. This made the music ow smoother and sound more harmonious. &n conclusion, this concert was an eye opener for me as & have only learnt the piano and cello before. & have learnt that the gu#heng is an e)cellent solo instrument which is capable of playing a unique and beautiful sort of music that no other instrument is able to replicate. verall, & could see that the performers were well4practiced and were performing as one in most occasions.
