Sennockian 2016-2017 | Page 60

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.” 54 MU M U S IC IC REVIEW SEVENOAKS SC CH HOOL 2016-2017 55