WEEK 7 - APPALACHIAN SPRING

I have given myself a challenge this week. I hope to motivate you to actually listen to an entire orchestral composition. Now, being that I could never accomplish this with mere words, I have devised a brilliant plan. If you listen to the WHOLE piece, you can inform me on Monday, and I will bring you candy of your choice to class on Wednesday. Now, I’ll be using the honor system, so be prepared to pinky-swear (hand-sanitizer not included). Also, just in case you try to get cute with me, I will not count edible underwear as a valid form of candy. That means you, Nathan Graham. 

I an all of music, I truly believe that there does not exist a more powerful arrangement of musical instruments than the full orchestra. Over the past decades, popular music certainly has progressed away from this traditional collection of strings and brass, and while modern music can certainly evoke palpable emotional responses of sadness, joy, anger, and excitement, only an orchestra can generate the artistic power necessary to truly overwhelm an audience with beauty and grandeur. With orchestral music, you almost experience the sounds instead of just hearing them. I most enjoy listening with my eyes closed; it lets me focus on feeling the music internally.

Aaron Copland originally wrote Appalachian Spring for a small chamber orchestra to perform as the score to a ballet, and its original title was, in fact, “Ballet for Martha.” Martha Graham, the choreographer, later suggested the name “Appalachian Spring,” based on a poem by Hart Crane. Although many people claim to hear the distinct sounds of springtime in the Appalachian mountains throughout the piece, Copland in no way had this image in mind when writing.  A conductor later commissioned Copland to rearrange his work as a full-fledged orchestral suite, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra recorded his masterpiece in 1945. Copland earned the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his accomplishment. I like to think of Copland as the Ernest Hemingway of music. Ernest Hemingway changed American literature forever with his informal yet vivid wiring style. Many critics called him a populist writer. Similarly, Aaron Copland’s music doesn’t strive to sound obtuse or complex. Compositions like Fanfare for the Common Man serve as perfect examples of his democratizing approach to orchestral music. This is why he is considered one of the most important men in American music. Interestingly, both of these American heroes were also clandestinely monitored by the FBI for long periods of time.     

I chose to share Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland because it best embodies the magic of orchestral music described above. If you listen to the piece in its entirety, I guarantee you that your eyes will be opened to an incredible side of music you may have never heard before. Also, I will buy you candy. Watch it here!