P iano S howcase : Turning Points
A student view A teacher’s view
On Tuesday 14 March, a group of the school’s pianists
performed a variety of experimental music in the
Turning Points concert in the Recital Room, organised
by Mr Wey. Throughout the concert the performers
used not only the two pianos (usually in weird and
wonderful ways) but also other objects such as a radio
and a jug of water, as well as their own voices. The
concert also featured several electronic pieces. Here
are a couple of items that stood out. The school’s piano students embarked on a journey
of discovery, engaging with cutting-edge experimental
music and the radical questions that they pose.
In the field of music, being experimental means
using sounds, ways of ordering sounds, and means of
making sounds that are not commonplace. Students
valiantly performed works by Henry Cowell, Karlheinz
Stockhausen, John Cage and Cornelius Cardew, all of
whom were leaders of the musical avant-garde.
Ablinger’s piece, entitled ‘Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert, Bruckner, Mahler’, produced the most
powerful reaction amongst listeners. This was all the
title composers’ symphonies electronically condensed
into four minutes. Understandably, it was neither
recognisable nor tuneful so the audience was relieved
when it ended!
The sense that music is experimental because the
listeners’ response to the music cannot be predicted
was particularly daunting for the students in the
concert. However, the possibility that this music can
challenge society and change people’s beliefs and
perceptions was undoubtedly one of the most
exciting aspects.
I really enjoyed performing Toch’s Geographical
Fugue with the other performers, directed by Mr
Potts. It follows the usual fugue conventions but uses
spoken chorus, where the lyrics are just spoken with
dynamics – they are all geographical place names
such as Trinidad and Lake Titicaca. It was a fitting end
to a unique concert that opened everyone’s ears to
unconventional and challenging music.
The concert sought to explore music that was
associated with upheaval, as well as music that
resonates with the current cultural condition and is
able to comment on the world in which we live.
The Piano Showcase presented a programme of stark
contrasts, with cerebral music that prompted the
listener to think and make choices. It was a search
for sounds that might be the onomatopoeia of all
the thoughts and feelings of the world today, as it
struggles to reconcile divisions and stares into an
uncertain future.
Tau Wey, Head of Keyboard
Mika Curson, Year 9
“In the field of music,
being experimental means using sounds,
ways of ordering sounds,
and means of making sounds that
are not commonplace.”
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MU
M U S IC
IC REVIEW
SEVENOAKS SC
CH
HOOL 2016-2017
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