Music Pieces In Story Telling

What have you learned about story telling? In this unit, we are exploring music pieces written though stories, and the outside musical meaning of the composer trying to express through music. Programmatic music played an important role in the type of storytelling music. I learned that storytelling through music it’s an instrumental music that interprets a story. Also, brings out different extra-musical ideas or images in the mind of the listener, throughout musically depicting a scene. Therefore, music gives you the opportunity to tell your story in a different way, storytelling through music played an important role in the history of music. What knowledge did you apply?I apply my knowledge of music theory. Most are the theory of harmony, instrumentation, and rhythm. This theory is the declaration of patterns that are known to work in many different circumstances and they cover a big quantity of areas. During the composition, the weakness I had is the use of string instruments.

For example, when I compose the violin part of “The Migrant Swallow”, the note range of violin really block my way. Since violin has only 4 strings, chords are hard to compose if I have never played the violin, thus my theory on instrumentation needs to be more strengthen. Impact of story telling compositionThe impact of storytelling throughout music is to often bring a complex set of emotions to the listener, and communicate with an immediacy, that often sits outside of common language. Through the music of storytelling, it can transfer meaning and magic of music into words and images, and as an underscore to our daily lives. In my composition “The Migrant Swallow”, the impact divided into three different parts. The first part (bar 1-11 and bar 22-33) represent a flock of swallow soaring in the sky, which piano and Harper plays the flow of flying pattern in the sky by the harmonious chord accompany, and most of the other instruments were represent the flock of a swallow.

The first part creates a feeling of peaceful and comfortable to the listener, because of its major and tuneful chord. The second part (bar 12-22, 33-43) represent the swallow lost its flock and trying to seize back, this part gives a desponding image to the listener’s mind. And finally, the last part (bar 44-51) represent the swallow is slowly dying, the change of natural and flat (oboe and piano) give a disheartened feeling. Therefore, rhythm and dynamics are factors to communicate urgency and importance to a composition of music. The impact of storytelling through music composition strongly affected one’s aesthetics. Critique (statement of inquiry-personal and cultural identity can be expressed through stories)After the study of the unit of storytelling, the statement of personal and cultural identity is expressed through stories can be proved.

I believe it is important for us to experience the variety of available storytelling music and to explore new cultures through programmatic music. Every nation has a different culture, thus some listener has difficulty understanding the culturally driven behaviors and motivations of the music. It is easy for listeners who do not understand how culture shapes behavior within a particular cultural setting to misinterpret the actions, beliefs, and values of music and how the music interact with others within that setting. Therefore, everybody has individual aspects belong to their identity intersections, they think about the influence each aspect has had on their lives or the life of storytelling music