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Sonatas And Interludes For Prepared Piano
''Sonatas and Interludes'' is a cycle of twenty pieces for prepared piano by American avant-garde composer John Cage (1912–1992). It was composed in 1946–48, shortly after Cage's introduction to Indian philosophy and the teachings of art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, both of which became major influences on the composer's later work. Significantly more complex than his other works for prepared piano,Reiko Ishii. ''The Development of Extended Piano Techniques in Twentieth-Century American Music'', pp. 38–41. The Florida State University, College of Music, 2005Available online (accessed December 29, 2007).Pritchett, p. 32. ''Sonatas and Interludes'' is generally recognized as one of Cage's finest achievements. The cycle consists of sixteen sonatas (thirteen of which are cast in binary form, the remaining three in ternary form) and four more freely structured interludes. The aim of the pieces is to express the eight permanent emotions of the rasa Indian traditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maro Ajemian
Maro Ajemian (July 9, 1921 – September 18, 1978) was an American pianist. Ajemian's career in contemporary music grew from her Armenian heritage. She became known as a contemporary pianist after performing the U.S. premiere of Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto, which she chose to play based on their shared Armenian heritage. Ajemian studied at the Juilliard School of Music. On March 14, 1942, she gave the American premiere of Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto in D flat with the Juilliard Graduate Orchestra under Albert Stoessel. She later performed the piece on a cross-country tour. Following her performances of the Piano Concerto, Ajemian began meeting contemporary composers and, together with her sister, the violinist Anahid Ajemian, she became known as a champion of new music, presenting the premieres of many new works by American composers. Among these were John Cage, Alan Hovhaness, Henry Cowell, Ernst Krenek, Lou Harrison, and Gunther Schuller. Cage dedicated his ''S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soft Pedal
The soft pedal (or pedal, ) is one of the standard pedals on a piano, generally placed leftmost among the pedals. On a grand piano this pedal shifts the whole action (including the keyboard) slightly to the right, so that the hammers which normally strike all three of the strings for a note strike only two of them. This softens the note and also modifies its tone quality. Tone quality is also affected by forcing the remaining two strings being struck to make contact with a part of the hammer felt which is not often hit (due to the whole action being shifted); this results in a duller sound, as opposed to the bright sound which is usually produced (due to the felt being hardened from regular use). History The essential function of the soft pedal was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventor of the piano. On some of his pianos, it was possible to move the hammer mechanism so that the hammers struck just one of the two strings per note. Cristofori's mechanism was a hand stop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fundamental Frequency
The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the ''fundamental'', is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present. In terms of a superposition of sinusoids, the fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency sinusoidal in the sum of harmonically related frequencies, or the frequency of the difference between adjacent frequencies. In some contexts, the fundamental is usually abbreviated as 0, indicating the lowest frequency counting from zero. In other contexts, it is more common to abbreviate it as 1, the first harmonic. (The second harmonic is then 2 = 2⋅1, etc. In this context, the zeroth harmonic would be 0 Hz.) According to Benward's and Saker's ''Music: In Theory and Practice'': Explanation All sinusoidal and many non-sinusoidal waveforms repeat exactly over time – they are periodic. The period of a waveform is the smallest value of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audio Frequency
An audio frequency or audible frequency (AF) is a periodic vibration whose frequency is audible to the average human. The SI unit of frequency is the hertz (Hz). It is the property of sound that most determines pitch. The generally accepted standard hearing range for humans is 20 to 20,000 Hz. In air at atmospheric pressure, these represent sound waves with wavelengths of to . Frequencies below 20 Hz are generally felt rather than heard, assuming the amplitude of the vibration is great enough. High frequencies are the first to be affected by hearing loss due to age or prolonged exposure to very loud noises. Sound frequencies above 20 kHz are called ultrasonic. Frequencies and descriptions See also *Absolute threshold of hearing *Hypersonic effect, controversial claim for human perception above 20,000 Hz *Loudspeaker *Musical acoustics *Piano key frequencies *Scientific pitch notation *Whistle register The whistle register (also called the flute regi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) = 1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word '' sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" '' |
Nut (hardware)
A nut is a type of fastener with a screw thread, threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used in conjunction with a mating bolt (fastener), bolt to fasten multiple parts together. The two partners are kept together by a combination of their threads' friction (with slight deformation (engineering)#Elastic deformation, elastic deformation), a slight Tension (physics), stretching of the bolt, and compression (physics), compression of the parts to be held together. In applications where vibration or rotation may work a nut loose, various locking mechanisms may be employed: lock washers, jam nuts, eccentric double nuts, specialist adhesive thread-locking fluid such as Loctite, safety pins (split pins) or lockwire in conjunction with castellated nuts, nylon inserts (nyloc nut), or slightly oval-shaped threads. Square nuts, as well as bolt heads, were the first shape made and used to be the most common largely because they were much easier to manufacture, especially by hand. While rare to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syvilla Fort
Syvilla Fort (July 3, 1917 – November 8, 1975) was an American dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher. Born in Seattle, she drew on her African-American heritage in her original dance works. American composer John Cage wrote his first piece for prepared piano, ''Bacchanale'' (1940), for a dance by Fort. She died from breast cancer at the age of 58. Biography Born in Seattle, Washington, Syvilla Fort began studying dance when she was three years old. After she was denied admission to several ballet schools because 'whites' practiced a system of color-based discrimination, Fort's early dance education took place in her home and in private lessons. By the time she was nine years old, Fort was teaching ballet, tap, and modern dance to small groups of neighborhood children who could not afford private lessons. Fort attended the Cornish School of Allied Arts in Seattle as their first black student after graduating from high school in 1932. After spending five years at the Cornish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
