Author Archives: Ray Lawrence

Summary of Activity on this Site


Number of Posts: 2
Number of Comments: 1

About Ray Lawrence

NO-CARD

Preview- http://www.nypianosociety.org/gallery-multimedia/videos/

Pieces:

  • Chopin Etude Op. 25 Number 1
  • Nocturne In C Op. 27 Number 1

Venue:

  • Baruch Performing Arts Center NY

Performers:

  • New York Piano Society

 

The New York Piano Society, preforming at Baruch College, is preforming two pieces by composer Frederic Chopin. These two pieces are Etude Op. 25, No. 1 and Nocturnes, Op. 27. Etude Op. 25 is a solo piano work and Nocturnes, Op. 27 are two solo piano works.

Chopin’s Etude Op. 25 No. 1 starts with a one note theme, which develops into the notes becoming wider and longer apart and jumps become numerous, making it very difficult to carry any sort of main melody. However, the piece ends with a series of upward arpeggios. This piece, publish in 1837, was very reflective of Chopin’s life around this time period. According to Frederick Chopin’s biography on the IMDB website, in 1835 he became very ill, which can be seen in this piece in the middle during the deep and dark long notes to represent the dark phase of his life that he was going through when he was increasingly ill. However, according to the same biography on IMDB, in 1836, Chopin became well again and met a 17-year-old Polish girl who he eventually proposed to. This is seen at the end of the piece by the series of upward arpeggios that represent hopefulness and positivity.

Chopin’s second piece being preformed by the New York Piano Society is Nocturnes, Op. 27. The opening of this piece starts with a series of arpeggios that alternate between major and minor chord, which make for a very dark and gloomy opening. A first theme is introduced, and then a second one is introduced and then the piece ends by repeating the first. In Chopin’s biography on IMDB, in 1836 when this piece was published was also around the time that Chopin had become enemies with a former friend Franz Liszt and then created a new friendship with Hector Berlioz. This is reflective in the piece by the dark opening but is also created with two different themes to show the new friendship with Berlioz.

 

 

Boehm, Volker. “Biography for Frederick Chopin.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2013.

“Springsteen”- Eric Church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2gGXlW6wSY

I chose this song, “Springsteen” by Eric Church, because it’s one of my favorite songs. One of my favorite things about this song is the simple beat thats offset by the seldom piano notes that occur often enough to be noticed but not too much that they are over shadowing the whole song. This is what I first noticed about this song, since there’s such prominent guitar and drum usage, the piano notes stuck out even more to me.

This song is a duple meter song, which is cause for its relatively fast tempo. There’s a very strong demonstration of syncopation in this song in between each of the downbeats which leads to a very prominent beat in the background. Also, during the most quite parts of the song, when Eric Church is between phrases, there’s a slight arpeggio of the piano notes right before he begins to sing again.

I think the whole mood of this song would be completely different if the piano notes didn’t exist in the background. The song would get very repetitive and the offset of the piano notes keeps things interesting and different.

However, aside from the accompaniment, the lyrics are what stuck out the most to me. This being because I think no matter what stage of life you’re in or where you are, this song represents how a song can bring you back to a certain place in time. Even if you don’t have a memory similar to the one in the song, it still represents how a song (In this case, a Bruce Springsteen song) can bring back feelings of a past experience. This song, without explicitly saying it, is a reminder of the power of music and how a melody can transport you, from wherever you are, back to a specific place in history and evoke feelings you rarely remember. Just like how he says in the chorus “Funny how a melody sounds like a memory”. Sometimes I think with todays music we forget how powerful a song can truly be.



Comments:

"The piano in this song is my favorite song. It's what I think makes it so catchy because its so simple and so pronounced and its what you end up tapping your foot to when you listen to this song."
posted on Feb 21, 2013, on the post Michael Buble – “Haven’t Met You Yet”