Name: William Halim

Student ID: F14MU0541

Ensure that all details you give are accurate and completed to the best of your knowledge.

MODULE

Historical Studies IB: Western Music Mid 18th C to Early 19th C

Assignment

My Learning Portfolio

Date due

30 March 2015

CONTENT

PAGE

The First Movement

Baroque vs Classical : Comparative Studies
Leading Trends in the 18C
Curating Music for Small(ish) Groups
Orhcestra sans Conductor
Competitive Collaboration and Collaborative Competition
Drama in Music
Final Reflections
BIBLIOGRAPHY (end of every topic)
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I declare that the enclosed work is entirely my own except where due
acknowledgement of sources is made.
I have not worked
collaboratively or copied from another students work except where
group activity has been authorised by the lecturer concerned. This
assignment has not been submitted for any other module or course at
any other institution. I have kept a copy of this assignment.

Student Email: @student.nafa.edu.sg

Submission date on Blackboard: 30 March 2015

I. The First Movement

Review the Module Guide for content about what we are going
to cover this semester:
1. What are its parts?
- In the process of our learning in this semester, we are going to
divide it into three

parts, which is the application exercises, creative

project, and the final exam. The

application exercises will be the ones

that we do in class, just like usual studying

process. The creative

project requires us to give a presentation based on what we

have

learned from the application exercises. And then, we will be assessed

again

during the final exam.

- Week 1: The First Movement (1), Baroque v Classical: Comparative

Studies (2)

- Week 2: Leading Trends in the 18C (3)

Case Study: C.P.E. Bach's Fantasia in

C minor (AMWC 126)

- Week 3: Curating in Small(ish)

Groups (4)

Case Study:

Haydn's String Quartet in C Major Op. 33 no. 3 (AMWC 129)

Week 4: An Orchestra sans Conductor (5)

Case Study: Mozart's Symphony no. 40 in G minor
K550 (AMWC 133)

- Week 5: Collaborative Competition and

Competitive Collaboration (6)

Case Study:

Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 3 in C minor Op. 37

- Week

6: Drama in Music (7)

Case Study: Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (AMWC 137)
- Week 7: Project Briefing, Chinese New Year
- Week 8: Study Week
- Week 9: Artistic Processes of Composers
and Performers (8)
Connect

Collaborative Project:
- Week 10: Oeuvre

(eLearn)

(9)

Collaborative Project: Extend

- Week
11: Zeitgeist

(10)

Collaborative Project: Challenge

- Week 12: Iconography (11)
Collaborative Project: Refine
- Week 13: Leadership in the Classical Period (eLearn)
(12)

Pecha Kucha
- Week 14: Tools as a Classical Composer
(13)

Project Presentations
- Week 15: Project

Presentations
Finales in the Classical Period (14)

- Week

16: Final Project Presentations

Week 17: Exam

2. What are its purposes?
- The module are divided into three parts so that the learning
process can flow

smoothly, as you are required to really

understand about the first topic before

topic, and so on.

moving on to the second

* Applied Knowledge
- Identify

with composers in the Classical Period, their creative output, and

contributions to innovative musical developments. (Week 2-6)
* Core Skills
- Approach issues about music and the arts with an enquiring
mind. (Week 1)
* Soft Skills

- Demonstrate ability to work with others to generate creative

products.

(Week 9-13)

* Professional Practice-based Skills

- Explain artistic approaches and performance practices in
assigned contexts.

(Week 14-17)

3. What are its complexities?

- There are a lot of Case Studies included from week 1-7. Some of
them are also

online class, in which we do it outside class. And

then there will be an Assessment

and Presentation at the end of the

term.

II. Baroque vs Classical: Comparative Studies

Comparative Studies: My Views on the Baroque
I am thinking from the point of view of Lim Han Quan. In his opinion,
Baroque Music has a stronger connection to religion than Classical Music.
Musically, Baroque Music are more melodious and rhythmically strong.
And when someone tells him "Baroque", the first thing that will come to
his mind is vocal music. He believes that Bach alone is enough to
represent the music from Baroque period, and because Bach composed
mostly church choral work, it is normal for him to think of Baroque Music
that way.

What are the 4 most important ideas about Classicism you

value? Why?
- The 4 most important ideas that I value is simplicity, elegance,
proportion, and ornaments. You use a simple idea which is
very proportionate and relatively easy to generate, and add
ornaments on it. For me it is a very effective method to
produce something beautiful in a relatively efficient manner,
because you are working based on a formula, and you expand
it over and over again, resulting in a bigger piece of work. And
you can create a lot of them because it is based on a very
simple idea, which you can generate easily. All you need is the
creativity and skill to decorate your idea. And also, the special
thing about the Classicism aesthetics is that it can be applied
to a lot of art forms. Theatre, architecture, fine arts are the
examples of them.

III. Leading Trends in the 18C

Look at the score (autograph manuscript of CPE Bachs Fantasia)

1. What do you see?

- An autograph manuscript of a solo keyboard piece by CPE
Bach. It is written without bar lines.

2. What do you think about what you see?

- Why it is written in a single line when the instrument is a
keyboard instrument, which is capable of playing the
harmonies? (In the end we found out that the instrument used
is a clavichord. And also in the Largo section the left hand
accompaniment enters.)

3. What does it make you wonder about?

- The style of the music seems as if it doesnt belong to the
Baroque or Classical Period. For what purpose did he write in a
style that is not from his period?

Listen to the music

1. What do you hear?
- An almost improvisatory piece played on a rubato manner. It
has the "bebung" (vibrato) that is unique to the clavichord.

2. What does it remind you of?

- It has a very solemn atmosphere, listening to it reminded me
of the chanting of a poem.

3. What does it make you wonder?

- Back in the past, how was this piece meant to be performed?
Was it supposed to be performed on a concert hall or larger
hall with a lot of audiences, or was it performed in a more
intimate setting like in a salon or chamber? Because the
clavichord is a small instrument, and the piece itself evokes
the feeling of intimacy.

IV. Curating Music for Small(ish) Groups

Identify the score: (Beethoven's "Harp" String Quartet no. 10 Op.
74)
1. Composer : Ludwig van Beethoven
2. Genre : String Quartet (2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello)
3. Performance Practice Awareness
- The performance of the piece might be more effective if the
pizzicato

section in the first movement is brought out

clearly. The semiquavers can

also be played more precisely and

clear. Bowing near the frog or around the

result in a better intonation.
4. Analytical Knowledge

middle of the bow can

- It is written in sonata form. The movement starts on a

unison, forming an

E-flat Major chord. At bar 27, the motif is

introduced (starting from the

B-flat to the C on bar 29). It

appears again at bar 31 on the viola. At bar 35

the development

starts. With the A natural as a pivot point on bar 43, the

piece

modulates to B-flat Major, therefore taking the piece to the B section.

5. Historical Understanding of Composition

- The piece was published in 1809. It earned the nickname
"Harp" because of

the pizzicato section on the first

movement. The quartet alternate notes,

resulting in an arpeggio

that resembles the harp.

Bibliography
Web. 29 Mar. 2015. <http://www.ricmc.org/pages/2006-07 program notes/2007-02-21
Liepzig.pdf>.
"String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, Op. 74, Harp." Beethoven, String Quartet No. 10 in
E-flat Major, Op. 74, Harp. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.earsense.org/chamberbase/works/detail/?pkey=1>.

V. Orchestra sans Conductor

No informed musician should nowadays accept this assertion
with regard to the music of Gluck, Boccherini, Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven, Clementi, Schubert, et al. for we have learned how
different were the performing conditions at the end of the 18th
and beginning of the 19th centuries from those of our own day,

and that the notion of an unbroken tradition of performance

practice, which many musicians once believed in, was simply a
myth.
What do I know about Classical Orchestral Music? What have I
learnt about Mozart's Symphonies? What more do I want to know
about Classical Symphonies? How might I apply my findings to my
practice?
-

Classical Orchestral Music are very structured and are almost always

written with formulas as a building block. It might be harmonic ideas,

rhythmic ideas, or even some very unconventional ideas, like what
Beethoven did for his Fifth Symphony. He used a theme that does not
sound like a "melody" as a driving force to his composition. Mozart, on the
other hand, prefer his music to be more simple yet graceful, like how a
typical Classical Music would sound like. A famous conductor once said
(forgot his name): "If you can whistle a tune then it's Mozart's, but if you
can't it's Haydn's."
Mozart lived in the era where composers have to compose music
that would please the aristocrats. It is said that if someone from the royal
family happened to yawn during the performance of a certain composer's
music, then it means the composer did not write good music. After all,
they have to sit through a performance that is at least 20 minutes, writing
a piece that will keep them engaged is very difficult. As for me, writing a 2
minute long piece will take at least a week for me to complete writing. So,
how did the Classical composers, who have less resources compared to
the present, manage to write a half an hour long piece?
After looking through Mozart's Symphony, I discovered that Mozart
knows how to get the listener excited. Maybe it has something to do with
his playful personality. Let's take the Symphony 40 for this case. The
materials he used were only two themes that were written as a question

and answer phrase, but the material itself has enough "DNA" to grow itself
to an exciting piece of music.
Things that I want to know more about Classical Symphonies is the
Instrumentation and Orchestration. Because Mozart used Horn in G and B
flat, and I have just recently discovered the reason why he chose them
instead of Horn in F. Because Horn in G does not have any valve, it can
only produce pitch which belongs to the harmonic series, therefore giving
him a very strong D.

VI. Competitive Collaboration and Collaborative

Competition
Online Case Study: Beethoven's Piano Concerto
no. 1 in C Major

Look at the score:

What do you notice?
- The Clarinets, Bassoons, Horns, and Trombones are all in C major tuning
rather than in B flat or F. (The piece is written around 1796 to 1797.
Beethoven started to lose his hearing around 1796. Does it have some
connection to why the instruments are all tuned in C? Maybe it is to help
him "hear" it better if it's in C.)

Listen to the music:

What do you hear? What do you think is going on? List

10 words or phrases.
- The theme almost modulated to G major during the first four bars, but
went back to C major within only six bars.
- The upbeat note sounds as if it falls on the strong beat. Beethoven was
playing with rhythm, and it was done skillfully.
- A very short cadenza suddenly appeared, surprisingly soft, and leads to a
very short modulation to F Sharp Major, which is a very unrelated key to C
Major. But it only lasts for a while before returning to C Major.
Watch the video:
List 10 new phrases about the aspects of music. (Beethoven's String
Quartet No. 4 Op 18)
- thick sounding, passionate, energetic, frustration, heavy, a hint of
sadness, struggles, hardship, fiery, occasionally soft.

Reflect in 6 sentences:
How did what you learn today connect to what we have learnt?
- Orchestral music is actually very different from chamber music. A lot of
instruments share the same staff, so both the sound colour and the notes
themselves are different. In orchestral music, the instruments are not
really being pushed to the limits like how they would be in chamber music.
Chamber music allow composers to write challenging passages because
the instrumentation is restricted to only a few players. It's almost like
writing for a different media, for example writing for a newspaper and
writing a novel. It will have a very different format and structure, and the
language used will also be different.

Bibliography
- Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15 (Beethoven, Ludwig van). (n.d.). Retrieved
February 2, 2015, from
http://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No.1,_Op.15_(Beethoven,_Ludwig_va
n)
- "Beethoven Concerto No. 1 in C Major for Piano and Orchestra Op. 15 |
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1." Beethoven Concerto No. 1 in C Major
for Piano and Orchestra Op. 15 | Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1. Web.
29 Mar. 2015. <http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/concerto1.html>.

VII. Drama in Music

Case Study : Mozart's Marriage of Figaro
I am thinking of Drama in Music in the point of view of Goh Jun Hui.
In his opinion, a good opera has to have a catchy tune that the audience
can sing back. It is important for the opera to be supported by good music
so that the audience can enjoy watching it. And also, the actors have to
perform in their native language. In his opinion, the main actors hold a
very crucial role in an opera, and it would really help if the main actors
understand the story of the opera that they are performing as they would
be more passionate while they act.
I completely agree with his opinion, except that I don't really think of
it as a must in performing an opera. But it would be a bonus point if you
happen to have the native speaker as your main character, as a lot of
vocalists now took language and dictation classes so that they would be
able to sing as if they are singing their native language.
My opinion in Drama in Music is that when you want to perform an
opera, you must think of it as a "special" performance. And by special I
mean that it would be completely different from when you are performing

orchestral work, chamber, choral, etc. The story has to be well expressed,
and because most of opera are tales of two lovers, it might also prove to
help if the lovers have a good chemistry. But essentially, for me good
story supported by good music is enough.

Final Reflection
1.

Connect all the critical points in your own special way. What have
you learnt in the past 10 weeks, and how do the topics connect with
your personal musical journey?
- I love how the lesson plan is arranged in the way that we study the
composers by the order of their generation.

2.

What were your learning difficulties?

- I don't have any difficulties in particular, but sometimes I can feel
that the Blackboard is very confusing. I cannot find where my
posted work is, so my portfolio have to be started over.

3.

What did you learn as:

a.

an individual musician
- I got the chance to really specifically study music from the
Classical Period.

b.

in your team ensemble

- None. My ensemble (Choir) is now working on a Baroque
piece.

c.

with your collaborative project partner(s)?

- I got the chance to analyze a Neoclassical piece.