Monday, November 17, 2008

The Truth about Sonata Form

I was on-line this afternoon preparing for my Form and Analysis course. This definition of sonata was the first item that came up in a Google search for sonata and it includes some very important information for practitioners and consumers of classical music to know.

Sonata

What is Sonata?

Sonata is a sedative, also called a hypnotic. It affects chemicals in your brain that may become unbalanced and cause sleep problems (insomnia).

Sonata is used to treat insomnia . . . causes relaxation to help you fall asleep and stay asleep.

Important information about Sonata

Sonata may cause a severe allergic reaction. Stop taking Sonata and get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat.

Sonata will make you fall asleep. Never take Sonata during your normal waking hours, unless you have at least 4 hours to dedicate to sleeping.

Some people using Sonata have engaged in activity such as driving, eating, or making phone calls and later having no memory of the activity. If this happens to you, stop taking Sonata and talk with your doctor about another treatment for your sleep disorder.

Sonata can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions. You may still feel sleepy the morning after taking Sonata. Until you know how Sonata will affect you during waking hours, be careful if you drive, operate machinery, pilot an airplane, or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert. Do not drink alcohol while you are taking Sonata. It can increase some of the side effects of Sonata, including drowsiness. Sonata may be habit-forming . . . Sonata should never be shared with another person, especially someone who has a history of drug abuse or addiction.


Before taking Sonata, notify your doctor if you have:

liver disease;
sleep apnea
lung disease
a history of depression, mental illness, or suicidal thoughts; or
a history of drug or alcohol addiction.

If you have any of these conditions, you may need a dose adjustment or special tests to safely take Sonata.


The sedative effects of Sonata may be stronger in older adults. Accidental falls are common in elderly patients who take sedatives. Use caution to avoid falling or accidental injury while you are taking Sonata.

Overdose symptoms may include sleepiness, confusion, shallow breathing, feeling light-headed, fainting, or coma.

Sonata side effects

Stop Sonata and call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects:
aggression, agitation, changes in behavior;

thoughts of hurting yourself; or

hallucinations (hearing or seeing things).

Less serious side effects may include:

day-time drowsiness, dizziness, "hangover" feeling;

problems with memory or concentration;

numbness or tingling;

anxiety, depression, nervous feeling;

problems with vision;

headache;

nausea, stomach pain, loss of appetite;

dry mouth;

back pain, joint or muscle pain; or

mild skin rash.

This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Tell your doctor about any unusual or bothersome side effect.

For the original article, click here.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Great Beethoven

I've had two great Beethoven experiences in the last few weeks. I think the case for Beethoven's greatness is no enormous and rich that we sometimes don't even attempt to articulate it for ourselves. We just assume it. But it might be a very good thing to try be able to explain to people who are on the outside of the classical music world who might wonder what makes Beethoven so great.

In our form and analysis class, we've been considering how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts when it comes to multi-movement works. Over the course of the semeser, we've been building the skills to be able to really appreciate that truth. We listened to the first movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata and noted all the ways Beethoven gives us hope and then takes it away throughout the movement. The first phrase modulates from minor to relative major, only to slip right back into minor. We achieve relative major again, only to see it flattened into its parallel minor. The bass line reaches to its lowest point with a tritone - our most unstable interval. Then, the right hand spirals up and down in diminished chords that cause us to loose track of the meter and of where the descent will stop - ungrounded drifting. Finally, most of that happens again!

After that first movement, the second movement can sound surreal with its perky syncopations and carefree mood. Alone, it would be charming. After hearing the first movement, it can be incongruous, unsettling, or inappropriate. It leaves us with more questions than answers, and so we need the boiling and turbulent final movememnt. (I wonder if second movements following slow first movements tend to create more tension or inconguity as a rule.)

Most aspects of what I've described are so effective because Betehoven is playing with our expectations and our human nature. Thus, the music jumps into us, and we can't think of it as something outside and separate from ourselves.

Yesterday we spent some time with the Fifth Symphony. This work involves two of the big ideas of the Romantics: cyclic organization (the four-note motive comes back throughout the symphony) and evolution. This aspect of evolution, which permeates Mahler's works, is most obvious in Beethoven's orchestration. When transitioning between the two main themes in the exposition, Beethoven reiterates his motive in the horns. In the recap, it's a bassoon. He also adds an oboe cadenza in the middle of his first theme in the recap, and gives the second theme new color with woodwinds instead of strings.

Several weeks ago, we heard Awadagin Pratt perform Beethoven Fourth Concerto with the Virginia Symphony. I'm proud to have gone to school with Awadagin. His playing always strikes me as the playing of someone with real perspective. As he plays, you feel like he grasps whatever the music is about and has grasped it through living himself. The way he plays also causes the listener (at least this listener) to more thoroughly hear and register the work he's playing. I find myself still thinking of the way he played certain phrases weeks after the performance. And the way he played those phrases ultimately drove the nature of those phrases deeper into my mind. The rhythmically driven passages were compellingly played and the wandering passages were, once again, played with real knowing. The rubato he applied to the arching, yearning phrases of the second movement was also unforgettably meaningful and moving.

On the same concert, we heard the Eroica. On this hearing, I mostly found myself admiring the scope of Beethoven's vision - another part of his greatness.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Fall and Mannerism

It's a lovely fall day in Murfreesboro - muted but colorful foliage, a little drizzle, and cool. I think living in M'boro is about as close to living in a charming New England town as one can get in North Carolina. We have lovely nature as I just described, history, old homes, and lots of individualists.

Now about mannerism:

I had a funny thought teaching yesterday. I was explaining some basic aspects of Mannerist art such as in works of El Greco in painting or Gesualdo in music. These include distortion, exageration, and jarring juxtapositions, all for dramatic effect. It struck me as I said those things that I had pretty much just described a political ad!

Monday, November 03, 2008

Sad News

I was just sent this link regarding the death of Moshe Cotel.

Moshe Cotel was our orchestration teacher at Peabody. A fascinating pianist and a composer, Mr. Cotel made an important journey from the religion of classical musician to being a rabbi.

I didn't know him well, but I did admire him, and in the last year I have been intrigued by a series of concerts he has been presenting regarding "a Jewish life in classical piano." I had been thinking about inviting him to play for us here at Chowan some time in the next few years.

My one personal story related to Cotel is as follows and it is a poignant memory of the last time I saw him.

When I lived in New York, I took a lot of afternoon walks in Riverside Park. Most of those walks consisted of me wandering, contemplating, imagining, musing, praying, seeking to understand my life. On one of these walks, I saw a man in a blue pea coat that reminded me of Cotel, and as we got closer, it turned out to be him. He asked about my life since Peabody and was calm-spirited and kind. As we parted ways, I felt that his Riverside walk may have been the same sort of walk I was having.

Knowing he's no longer in it makes the world seem a little less complete.