SEPTEMBER 2013
Whether
Weather Affects Music
excerpt
by Keith Kvenvolden, MPRO member
Two U.K. meteorological scientists by day and musicians by night,
Karen L. Alpin and Paul D. Williams, investigated
depictions of weather in music over the longest possible time period. They
focused on musical genres that had not changed substantially over centuries,
limiting them to classical, church, or folk music. They selected classical
music, which covers a wide geographical and temporal range encompassing a
variety of climates.
They selected pieces of music as being representative of weather based mainly on clear indications given by the composer. This could be the title of the piece or section, references in accompanying notes, letters to acquaintances, or the use of special instruments such as a thunder machine or wind machine. In some cases, the meteorological link was made not by the composer but by music commentators and critics, perhaps long after the piece was written.
Their findings showed that storms, wind, and rain were the most popular weather to be represented, presumable because dramatic weather allows for effective depictions of emotional turmoil. Calm, peaceful weather was pictured less frequently. Almost all of the pieces depicting frontal storms were associated with the sea. They found disproportionately many representations of weather by composers from the U.K., possibly because of inspiration from its famously variable weather systems, but also possibly because of selection bias due to their nationality and place of residence. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, the pieces depicting miserable weather tended to be in minor keys, and pieces depicting fair weather tended to be in major keys.
A histogram found in the first link below shows the occurrence of various weather types in the authorsÕ database. In the storm category, light shading indicates frontal storms and dark shading indicates convective storms. In the wind category, light shading indicates calm conditions, and dark shading indicates windy conditions. If a piece of music includes more than one weather type, it is counted in all relevant columns.
Another histogram can be found
in the second link below, which shows the nationality of the composers whose
music was used in the study.
ÒWhether Weather
Affects MusicÓ
Eos is a geophysics magazine which is published by the
American Geophysical Union.
ÒMeteorological
phenomena in Western classical orchestral musicÓ
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CONDUCTORÕS CORNER
Dear
members of the Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra,
After an unexpected scheduling conflict with JLS
Middle School caused the cancellation of the orchestraÕs meeting on September
11, MPRO President, Dana Wagner, has contacted the schoolÕs administration and
confirmed the MPRO meeting dates for its 2013-2014 season. All of the meeting dates previously sent
to the membership are unchanged with the exception of
the one on October 16 which has been rescheduled for October 9. The location, time and music planned for
that evening remain the same. Please mark this change on your calendar.
Listed
below is the music for the October 23 and November 6 meetings of the orchestra.
Please note that there will be sectional seating for the Gabrieli Canzon
Septimi Toni, with those in Coro Primo sitting on the
right as they face the conductor and those in Coro Secundo
on the left. Please observe this
seating arrangement when you choose your place at the beginning of the meeting on
November 6. Please note as well
that sopranino, great bass and contrabass recorders
will be needed at both meetings, bass viola da gamba on October 23 and krummhorns
and dulcien on November 6.
October 23
Hotby: Quae est ista
Cowell:
Birthday Piece, Jig
Albinoni: Adagio Op. 9, No. 8
Corelli:
Concerto Op. 6, No. 2
November 6
Gabrieli: Canzon
Septimi Toni
Hotby: Quae est ista
Anonymous: O
lusty May, Wo worth the tyme,
How shuld
my febill body fure
Cowell:
Birthday Piece, Jig
I look forward to seeing you at these upcoming
meetings.
Sincerely, Fred Palmer
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DUES ARE DUE FOR THE FOR
THE 2013-2014 SEASON
$100.00 for Participating
Member, $50.00 for Student Member, $35.00 for Associate Member
Make your check to MPRO. See September Upbeat for application.
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A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Fellow MPRO Members,
Well, our first meeting cancellation
since the Loma Prieta Ôquake in Õ89 wasnÕt the most
auspicious start to our season, but it did give us a chance to display the kind
of cohesion thatÕs kept us together through the years.
Many thanks to
Laura Gonsalves and Anne-Marie Wiggers
for helping me with the impromptu phone tree. That
dramatically reduced the time it took to contact everyone and meant only a
handful didnÕt get the message in time (sorry, folks!).
Fortunately, most of us were able to get
to the makeup meeting on the 18th. ItÕs nice to know weÕre all on the same page
when we get thrown a curveball like that.
In other news, IÕll be traveling to
Belgium this month and will visit the Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments.
The MIM has one of the finest collections of early instruments in the world. I
plan to bring photographs back to share with the group.
Have a happy October, Dana
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MEET YOUR FELLOW MPRO MEMBER: Judith Unsicker
I am a native of the Bay Area, old enough to remember when
Silicon Valley was mostly orchards. I learned to play the recorder as an
eccentric extracurricular activity at the University of California, Santa Cruz
in the 1960s. My other unusual activity at UCSC was majoring in ecology (as a
biological science) at a time when I had to explain the meaning of the word to
family and friends. I spent most of my career as an environmental
scientist with the state agency that protects Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, and other
waters east of the Sierra Nevada crest. One of the best antidotes for 6-month
Sierra winters was playing with a recorder group at Lake Tahoe Community
College. The group played at college and community events including Shakespeare
plays, garden tours, and Renaissance fairs. One class combined recorders with
accordions, a cello, a hammer dulcimer and other instruments to play
traditional Celtic music, with a coffee house gig as a final exam. I
retired in 2012 and moved back to the Bay Area for year-round gardening,
hiking, and cultural activities. I am happy to have found MPRO. I
hope to improve my F fingering and to learn to play the soprano cornamuse that I bought several years ago, whether or not
it annoys the neighbors.
Judith Unsicker
joined MPRO in 2012. She became a Board member in 2013 and serves as the
Hospitality Chairperson.
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Links to youTubes of music in
our current MPRO repertoire-for your reference
ALBINONI
OBOE CONCERTO OP. 9, NO. 8. ADAGIO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CuyAlRWioU
CORELLI
CONCERTO GROSSO OP. 6, NO. 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGBe8kf_dvY Slovak Chamber Orchestra
GABRIELI CANZON SEPTIMI TONI NO. 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W2cihreVlQ Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass
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October 9, 2013
