Concert March 14 @ Marlborough Public Library
Category: Events
Cochran Wrenn Duo to Perform on Yacyshyn Concert Series
Yacyshyn Concert Series
The Friends of the Marlborough Public Library present the Cochran Wrenn Duo
Bonnie Cochran, flute & Bryan Wrenn, guitar
7:00 PM – Wednesday, March 14, 2017
Marlborough Public Library
Bigelow Auditorium
22 Witherbee Street
Marlborough, MA
Program:
Haydn: London Trio in C Major
Leisner: El Coco
Bach: Sonata in E minor, BWV 1034
Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango
Free Admission
This concert is performed in conjunction with InConcert, our 2017-18 residency with the Marlborough Public Schools Music Program
Thunderstorm: Second In-class Session at MHS
Today, we visited the students in the Wind Ensemble at Marlborough High School for a second session on composing. First we reviewed the elements in a composer’s toolbox from our last visit.
In the last session, we did some melodic improvisation with student volunteers. We brought back snippets of those melodic improvisations today to use in a piece that we then created together at the end of class.
We took a look at form/shape and how that can be used by a composer when starting to write a piece of music. We included an example of J.S. Bach’s Canon alla Ottava, which we performed for the students. We also created some rhythms together.
Then we set out to compose a short piece that depicted a thunderstorm. First, we talked about the shape of a thunderstorm in sound and how you could portray different parts of a thunderstorm (rain, wind, thunder, lightning, etc.) with instruments and other sounds (snaps, shuffling feet, etc.). Then we combined our sounds, rhythm, harmony, dynamics and melodies to compose a thunderstorm, which you can hear below:
First In-class session at MHS
Today we had our first in-school session at Marlborough High School. We introduced ourselves to the MHS Wind Ensemble, played Spain for the students, and told them about InConcert.
Then we brainstormed together the tools that are in a composer’s toolbox when he or she is composing a piece of music. We looked at one of those tools, melody, by inviting students to have an improvised musical conversation with us–since improvising is one way that composers come up with melodies that eventually make their way into pieces of music.
As an added bonus, Gary Piazza (MHS Wind Ensemble Director) invited us to stick around a little bit to play for the guitar class that was meeting just after we ended with the Wind Ensemble. We had a fun time meeting the students and starting to get to know them, and we look forward to more interactions with them throughout the next year.
May 7, 2017 Concert!
