1-1 YPC What Does Music Mean.pdf

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1-1 Young People's Concert: What Does Music Mean
[ORCH: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
O.K. Now, what do you think that music is all about? Can you tell me?
[KIDS ANSWER]
That's just what I thought you'd say: cowboys, bandits, horses, the wild west. I know my little
daughter Jamie, who's five years old, agrees with you. When she heard me play this piece, she
said - "That's the Lone Ranger song, Hi-ho Silver!" Well, I hate to disappoint her, and you too,
but it isn't about the Lone Ranger at all. It's about notes - E Flats and F sharps. You see, no
matter how many time people tell you stories about what music means, forget them. Stories are
not what the music means at all. Music is never about anything. Music just is . Music is notes,
beautiful notes and sounds put together in such a way that we get pleasure out of listening to
them, and that's all it is. When we ask "what does it mean - what does this piece of music
mean?", then we're asking a hard question. And that's the question we're going to try to answer
today. It's a funny thing about this meaning business - in music, anyway. When you say "What
does it mean?", what you're really saying is "What is it trying to tell me?", or "What ideas does it
make me have?". Just like words; when you hear words, you get ideas from them. If I say to you
"Ow, I burned my finger!", then immediately you get an idea from what I said or some ideas.
You get the idea that I burned my finger, that it hurts, that I might not be able to play the piano
any more, or that I have a loud ugly voice when I scream, lots of different ideas like that. That's
words. But if I play notes, some notes on the piano, like this
[PLAY]
the notes don't tell you any ideas; these notes aren't about burning your finger, or sputniks, or
lampshades, or rockets, or anything.
Well, what ARE they about? They're about music. For instance, take this piece by Chopin.
[PLAY: Chopin - Nocturne]
Beautiful, isn't it? But what's it about? Nothing. Or take this Beethoven Sonata -
[PLAY: Beethoven - Waldstein Sonata]
That's not about anything, either. Or take this piece of boogie-woogie.
[PLAY: Boogie Woogie]
It's not about anything either. None of them are about anything, but they're all fun to listen to.
Why should they be fun to listen to? I don't know; it's a part of human nature to like to listen to
music. You see, notes aren't like words at all. Because if I say one single word all by itself to
you, like "rocket", immediately you have an idea; you see a picture in your mind. Rocket! Bang!
Picture! But if I play a note, one note all alone -
[PLAY]
- means nothing. It's just a plain old F sharp of a B flat.
[PLAY]
A sound, that's all, higher or lower, louder or softer - a sound that can seem very different if I
play it
[PLAY]
or if I sing it
[SING]
or if an oboe plays it
[OBOE]
of if a xylophone plays it
[XYLOPHONE]
of if a trombone plays it
[TROMBONE]
Very different. It's all the same note - only with a different sound. Now all music is a
combination of sounds like that one.
[PLAY]
or that [PLAY], or that one [PLAY], or that one [PLAY] put together according to a plan. The
guy who plans it is called the composer - whether he's called Richard Rodgers or Rimsky-
Korsakov, he's the composer, and his plan is to put the sounds together with rhythms and
different instruments or voices or whatever - in such a way that what finally comes out is
exciting, or fun, or touching, or interesting, or all of those together. That's called music and it has
a musical meaning, which has nothing to do with any stories or pictures or anything like that. Of
course if there is a story connected to the music, okay; sometimes it's good in a way, it gives an
extra meaning to the music; but it's extra — remember that. But, whatever the music really
means, it's not the story. So what does it mean? That's what we're going to find out.
Now let's take the first step. Remember the piece we played at the beginning?
[SING: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
That wild west piece of music? Well, for one thing it can't mean the Wild West, for the simple
reason that it was written by a fellow who never heard of the Wild West - an Italian named
Rossini. We think his music means horses and cowboys and the Wild West because we've been
told so by the movies and television shows. But Rossini really wrote this piece as an overture to
an opera called "William Tell," which is about people in Switzerland, which is pretty far from
the Wild West. Well, then, maybe the music is supposed to be about William Tell and
Switzerland, instead of about cowboys. Is that what it's about?
[KIDS RESPOND]
No! It's not about William Tell or cowboys or lampshades or rockets or anything. Then what
makes it so exciting? Well, there are a million reasons: but they're all musical reasons. That's the
main point. For instance, take the rhythm
[SING]
whichis like the rhythm of galloping horses
[PERCUSSION: CHINESE BLOCKS]
or like the rhythm of drums in a battle
[SNARE DRUMS]
but that doesn't mean that the music is about drums or horses or battles; the meaning is only the
excitement of that rhythm. another reason it's exciting is that it has a mighty tune, one that's easy
to remember and stirs your blood: it starts with a phrase going up
[SING: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
and answers itself with a phrase going down.
[SING: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
It's like a question and answer. Or maybe it's more like an argument with the second person
winning it. Let's try and have that argument now, you and me. And see who wins. I'll sing the
first phrase
[SING: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
and you'll argue back with the second phrase.
[SING: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
Then I'll argue back with the third phrase
[SING: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
and you'll wind it up with the fourth phrase.
[SING: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
O.K.? Ready, go!
[SING WITH AUDIENCE: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
You win! You see, how exciting that last phrase is:
[SING: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
it has all the excitement and triumph of winning an argument. It makes you feel good. But there's
still more reasons why this music is exciting; for instance, the way it's played, the instruments
that play it, like these trumpets at the beginning.
[ORCH: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
or the violins, who use their bows in a jumping way to make that galloping sound, takata, takata.
Will you show us, Mr. Corigliano?
[CONCERT MASTER SHOWS]
You see, and when all the strings do it together, it really gallops!
[ORCH: Rossini - Overture to William Tell]
So you see, this music is exciting because it was written to be exciting, for musical reasons, and
for no other reasons.
Well, if all that's true, then why does a composer put names on his music at all? Why doesn't he
just write something called Symphony or Trio or composition Number 900 and 50 and 12 or
anything? Why does he give his music a name, like "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", or whatever it
is, if it's not important to the music? Well every once in a while an artist is stimulated to express
himself by something outside himself - something he reads, or something he sees, or that
happens to him. Haven't you ever felt that you wanted to dance or sing because something
happened to you that made you want to dance or sing or express your feelings in some way? I'm
sure you all had that feeling. Well, it's the same with a composer; for instance Johann Strauss
wrote lots of waltzes, and one of them goes like this:
[PLAY: J. Strauss - The Blue Danube]
Do you know the name of that one?
[KIDS RESPOND: THE BLUE DANUBE]
Right! Now, maybe the Danube River inspired Strauss to write that waltz. I don't know, I have
my doubts. But those notes don't have anything to do with the Danube River, do they?
[KIDS RESPOND]
Now what's this one?
[PLAY: J. Strauss - Tales from the Vienna Woods]
[KIDS RESPOND]

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