Music Is a Difficult Instrument: That's My Opinion

By Ken Krause

A collection of information, anecdotes and opinions related to music, accumulated over the author's 80-plus years of existence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483696393

Ken Krause

The author describes himself as a "Jazz-oriented" musician who has played in three symphony orchestras, Broadway shows, and club dates. He has Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Music and Education from Northwestern University, with a major in Marimba under Clair Musser; directed bands at two high schools, and taught at eight colleges. He has toured with Henry Mancini, Chet Atkins and Tom Jones and was a marimba soloist with the Nashville Symphony. He was Assistant Conductor, percussionist and arranger for the Atlanta Pops Orchestra. Along with children’s author, Roxie Gibson, he composed and produced the music for three musicals which were recorded and published in the late 1970s. Ken Krause was born in 1929 in Belleville, IL He now directs the Williamson County Community Band, based in the Nashville suburb of Franklin.

Book preview

Music

is a Difficult

INSTRUMENT

That’s My Opinion

Ken Krause

Copyright © 2013 by Ken Krause.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4836-9638-6

                Ebook          978-1-4836-9639-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 09/24/2013

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1:   Why Music Is A Difficult Instrument

Chapter 2:   Basic Principles: I

Unity / Variety

Chapter 3:   Sound

And Its Effects On Physical Structures.

The Bean Sprout Experiment

Infrasound

Chapter 4:   Basic Principles Ii

The Natural Harmonic Series

More On Harmonics

The Tempered Scale

Chapter 5:   Harmony

Chapter 6:   Pitch

Vibrato

Violin Makers Fret

Chapter 7:    Melody

Rhythm

Chapter 8:   Conducting

Illustrative Stories

Interpretation

Chapter 9:   Composing

Electronic Composition

Chapter 10:   Improvisation

Teaching Techniques

Stories

Chapter 11:   Volume

Chapter 12:   Repertoire

Buildng A Repertoire

Chapter 13:   Percussion

Chapter 14:   Singers

CHAPTER 1

Why Music is a Difficult Instrument

First of all, music is both an emotional and an intellectual pursuit. And second, some of the means of producing it require quasi-athletic (muscular) activity. In some cases these may work together to produce a desired result, and in others they are in conflict. My intention here is to analyze the various ingredients that go into making music, and the ramifications of each one.

In his 1697 poem, The mourning bride, William Congreve began with the oft-quoted line. Musick hath Charms to sooth a savage Breast. (Often misquoted as "savage beast.") As a tribute to the emotional effects of music, it has become a standard quote. However, music can be used to incite, or at least heighten almost any emotion. Different kinds of music are associated with different emotions. For instance, you don’t play the same music at a wedding that you would play at a funeral.

The film composers of the 1930’s and ’40’s made effective use of emotional techniques. During that era background music was used in many cases throughout the entire film to heighten the emotional effect of the story. In fact, Joseph Schillinger, in The Schillinger System of Musical Composition postulated a psychological clock describing musical techniques for heightening the effect of the various emotions—techniques often used by the film composers.

Also, many musicians seem to be unaware of the emotional effects of rhythm and tempo. These will be discussed in a later chapter. (See Chap. X)

The Intellectual aspect of music starts with the composer. An all-embracing definition of music is Organized sound. The key word here is Organized. To illustrate—the two main department stores at the mall where we shop both have Men’s and Women’s clothing departments. I like to shop at store A because their men’s department is better organized than the other one’s, and it is easier to find what I want. My wife likes store B better because it is easier to find what she wants in their women’s department. In general, most people are more likely to do business with an organized one than a disorganized one.

Organization really applies to all aspects of music, and is frequently overlooked. After all, it’s Organization that creates an artist’s style. For the performer it may be involved in Program Building. For the improviser, organization can heighten or reduce the effect of his/her solos. For the listeners, if they cannot perceive some sort of organization in the sounds being presented they tend to turn off. There is more to be said on this subject in succeeding chapters.

To the kid who buys a guitar on Saturday and is in a band on Monday, music may not seem like a difficult instrument. But that’s like a sandlot baseball player, compared to the Major Leagues. The difficult part is getting from the sandlot to the Major Leagues.

CHAPTER 2

BASIC PRINCIPLES: I

UNITY / VARIETY

The unity/variety principle applies to many areas of music. It also applies to how you live your life. Some philosopher once said, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. My antithesis to that is, All play and no work makes Jack an idiot. The point is that it takes both work and play to make a life. You might say that work is the unity and play is the variety. Most people who work for a living spend more time working than they do playing. Work can become boring or monotonous. Play is rest or relief from the drudgery of