Our featured artist today is Frank Wilhoit!
Let’s give him a warm welcome.
If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series, send me an email message. Don’t be shy! This is the final Artists post in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.
“Classical” Music: How Does It Work?
…ask fairly few people, fewer as time goes by. But the answers are straightforward and open up a vast new world of enrichment. I will use my own works as examples — not only because I am an insufferable egotist, but also because that way you can set aside any specific expectations that you may have, based upon earlier chance encounters with The Standard Repertory. I will also present the discussion with the utmost concision, but will expand upon any particular points requested in comments.
How does it work? The first principle is contrast. Contrast manifests in many ways. The most obvious one is dynamic contrast: quiet versus loud. (Sometimes very quiet indeed, and sometimes very loud indeed.) Another important one is tempo: fast versus slow (very, indeed, etc.). Another is timbre or tone color: different types/families of instruments.
Why is contrast essential? Because I am asking for your time and just who in Hell do I think I am, anyways? Your time is the most valuable commodity you have and if I am going to ask you to spend it absorbing my musical thoughts then I must give you fair value for that bargain. Contrast builds musical form, because contrasts have to be integrated, and that takes time; and form explains how the time is being used. All of that is perceived subconsciously.
Contrast is not the only ingredient of form; the other big ones are repetition and tonality. (Tonality is also perceived subconsciously.) Repetition is the obvious link between “classical” and “popular” music: tunes are played more than once. The difference is what happens to them when they come back: [how [much]] have they been changed? And this is really a matter of why repetition; and that comes back to time, and therefore form, and therefore contrast.
Enough talk, let’s do some listening. 2020 was the kind of year that posed distinctive challenges to sanity (are there other kinds of year?). Here was my reaction:
This serenade was composed during the summer of 2020. It is for ten instruments: pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoon, and horns. There is a long tradition of serenades for wind ensemble: Mozart wrote a bunch of them. My serenade is in four “movements”, this being an obsolete definition of the word, meaning “pace” or “rate of speed” — in other words, tempo. My four tempi are fast, very fast, very slow, and medium. One ought not write consecutive movements in the same tempo: contrast!
Now what about the tunes? The important thing to notice is that they are made up of little pieces called motives, which are assembled, transformed, and reassembled in different ways throughout. This enables constant repetition, tying the form together, but without repetitiousness, because they are always changing. At the very beginning, the horn plays four notes; the clarinet instantly expands that to six, then the oboe repeats the original four notes, then the clarinet introduces a new motive, spiky and descending in wide jumps. Things are happening very fast, and will continue to do so for the next…
Well, you can read a progress bar; but the point is that this beginning, or any beginning, ought to signal how big the piece is going to be. And that responsibility continues throughout. At 42 seconds in, the first “theme” (paragraph?) finishes and the second “theme” begins. Here is another contrast that will have to be integrated, and that takes time, etc. (Compare at 5:10 .)
Each of the four movements has its own form, but these individual forms cannot be completely self-sufficient, else they would not need each other or fit together into the overall, 23-minute form. In that connection, notice how the overall affect of the work is relatively cheerful, but in the slow movement, starting from around 15:55, things suddenly get darker for a minute. A span of 23 minutes needs one very solid anchor point, and this is it. It comes at 16-17 minutes out of 23, well past the midpoint but not very close to the end; that kind of proportion is typical of many different kinds of music.
You have now learned just enough about “how to listen” to be able to follow lots of music and start understanding more about how it works and the stories that it tells — you. No two people may hear the same story!
Some of the bits left over from the serenade found their way into my next work, the horn concerto.
What is a concerto? It is a work for a solo instrument (or for some smallish number of solo instruments) and orchestra, but the whole point is how the relationship is defined and how the interaction plays out, and there is wide scope in those things. The horn concerto started with ideas that were too sharp or sarcastic for the serenade, but it cannot be all sharp and sarcastic throughout: that would have no contrast and therefore would not be able to tell a story. The first movement is very fast and very tight — and, accordingly, fairly short. The middle movement is slow and proceeds from confusion to contentment (note the two appearances of the music that is underpinned by a slow drum beat). (This “darkness into light” trope is very useful, also on larger scales, and we will see more examples of it.) The last movement — concerti typically have three, less often four — returns to the mood of the first, now rather snide than urgent, but it eventually cracks a smile (from about 19:35).
The next-following work (spring of this year) was my second violin concerto.
It is in a happier mood, like the serenade, but mostly calmer and less manic. The first movement is in a medium-to-slow tempo, and its themes and form should be very easy to follow. The second movement (like that of the serenade) is what is called a scherzo, Italian for “joke”. Can you hear how its ending prevents its form from being too closed, and thereby tells us that we’re not done yet? Again, the third (slow) movement, at the very end, turns out to have been an extended introduction to the finale: this is a pattern that Beethoven was very fond of and used in his last three concerti. The finale is a cakewalk — as filtered through so many successive layers of cultural appropriation, starting with Debussy and Gershwin, that it is hopefully, by now, entirely meta.
So these are what I have been up to for the past year-and-a-half or so. Right now I am working on my seventh symphony, but it will not be done until some time next year. But if this sampling has left you with any curiosity about my other works, a few more things can be found on my YouTube channel and even more on my web site (not everything can go on YouTube; some of the scores become illegible).
Here are a couple of pieces that might expand the horizon a little. My third string quartet:
is a prime example of the darkness-to-light trope; I am particularly proud of its slow movement (from 14:26). Somewhat older (2017) is the Symphony for Brass:
This posed the challenge of not sounding like stereotypical “brass band” music, which aims to blend all the instruments together. I tried to set up a contrast between the sharper sound of the trumpets and trombones and the rounder sound of the horns and tubas.
As I mentioned, I’ll be glad to answer questions in the comments, where any of this very concise discussion has raised more questions than it answered. Thank you all for your time! I hope it has been a fair trade.
(PS. All of the recordings are synthesized.)
satby
I listen primarily to classical music, so I appreciate this essay a lot. And I really enjoyed your pieces and how they illustrated your explanation. Thanks so much for this.
WaterGirl
HI Frank, let us know when you get here because I’m sure folks will have questions!
NotMax
Classical mash.
;)
Frank Wilhoit
I’m here.
WaterGirl
@Frank Wilhoit: Yay! Thanks for checking in.
hells littlest angel
Thanks for including the scores. It makes it easier to follow the individual voices, and it’s fun to watch and listen.
NimmoENull
I’m curious what DAW and synth/sample programs you use? Lovely work, btw.
West of the Rockies
Thank you, Frank (from a fellow Frank). Your essay and accompanying illustrations were informative and pleasing! I announced classical music for a CA NPR affiliate 35 years ago and respect your obvious talent. I miss attending live classical music programs. I think I will be comfortable returning to crowds in the spring.
Ted
Fantastic post! Would love to read more of this kind here.
Frank Wilhoit
@NimmoENull: I use Sibelius and NotePerformer. The latter is a VST that can be thought of as an absolutely minimal DAW with everything preset to a sane default. The key to its sound is a little bit — not too much! — of spread spectrum or randomization, both of attack times and pitches. NotePerformer is now also available for Finale and Dorico.
Rusty
This is great. My music background was top 40 radio, middle and high school band and jazz ensemble, blues and Cajun zydeco, and only in my thirties when I joined a Lutheran church choir was I meaningfully exposed to classical music. I’ve slowly converted over to mostly classical (I particularly like modern classical, Arvo Part…). My problem is I’ve had zero formal education on classical and so this really appreciated. Thank you.
zhena gogolia
@Frank Wilhoit: So this is all synthesized, not live performance? Amazing
ETA: Duh, I see you answered this in the p.s. Sounds great!
The Dangerman
My maternal GF was a classical cellist; sadly, I never heard him play (he couldn’t play to his standards in later years).
I was supposed to play the cello in whatever grade they start you on music but I passed for some insane reason that I don’t recall. One of life’s major regrets. Still time maybe.
ETA; Add me to the bring more list please.
Another Scott
This is excellent. Very, very well done. Thanks for sharing it with us.
My dad played classical music on his fancy stereo a lot when we were growing up. I think he ended up wearing out his copy of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. But he had lots of silly stuff too (Spike Jones and his City Slickers, lots of 78s).
Cheers,
Scott.
laura
It is a joy to be a listener; and more so in an audience; because I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, and I love symphonic and orchestral music. Your post has really been a portal into understanding why the aural experience is so often deeply moving.
scav
Thanks! I’ll be returning to this once my brain is engaged enough to listen with the question mode engaged. Right now I’m just listening to enjoy and very much hoping to recognize classically expressed sarcasm.
West of the Rockies
@Rusty:
You might enjoy a music appreciation course at a local college or university. The instructor would surely love to have mature, enthusiastic presence in class!
Frank Wilhoit
@Rusty: “…My problem is I’ve had zero formal education…”
That is not a problem. The whole point is that the music explains itself to you: though of course not in words. Once you know what it sounds like, then you can go to any of a large number of books and learn more (if you start with the books, they…don’t make sense). Stop by your local library (are there still such?) and browse the 780s, particularly 785 and 781.
Frank Wilhoit
@The Dangerman: You may enjoy my ‘cello concerto.
mrmoshpotato
Reposted elsewhere.
MomSense
This is wonderful. I’m going to take my time and listen. My mom is a violinist so I grew up with classical music.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@The Dangerman: If there’s nothing physically stopping you, you have time.
I just started my second year of violin lessons, and I’ve started on piano again after a 12-year break. The Georgia university system allows residents 62 and older to attend school tuition-free, so I plan to spend part of my retirement majoring in piano performance, if I get good enough by then to pass the audition. I have a few years to practice. It could happen. And if it doesn’t, I’ve still got several years of practice under my belt, so at least I’ll be better than I am now. Either way, I’m ahead.
If you can pursue it, you really should.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@Rusty: If you have a streaming service (Roku, etc.), try the Wondrium channel, formerly The Great Courses Plus. It has some fun music appreciation lectures by an instructor who clearly loves this stuff.
WaterGirl
Now for my usual comment that if there’s anyone out there who would like to be featured on one of these Artists or Authors posts, please send me an email message.
Isua
I can’t listen to this now because we’re in the middle of moving, but I am super listening to this and rereading the details on Wednesday once I get the kids to school. Thank you for posting this!
Sure Lurkalot
Like others, I’m excited to spend more time with this post. Tomorrow is chore day when I can listen more intently after which I’m hoping to learn from your explanations of what to listen for.
Thank you so much!
Persistent Illusion
Lovely. I enjoyed this very much. Piano (quite bad), classical guitar, voice, flute (also pretty not good), and oddly enough hand-bells here. So, I know nearly enough to vaguely understand your wonderful explanation. Thank you.
Frank Wilhoit
@Persistent Illusion: Thank you. I wish I knew how to write for handbells. Something could be done with them. Do they always come with the very soft clappers or are harder ones also made/used?
Betty
Your advice on how to listen is very helpful. You seem to be a good teacher as well as composer. The music is very enjoyable, and I also appreciate seeing the score while listening.
Ninedragonspot
Congratulations – these are all ambitious works. I hope you have been having luck in finding performers to work with.
Dan B
My family is full of classically trained musicians. My father’s parents sang with the Chicago Symphony and trained with Gottschalk (grandfather) and Lotte Lehman (grandmother). My mother, two aunts, and two cousins graduated from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.
My mother produced a program on rythm for her women’s intellectual club, the FPA. She played African music and then from the Rolling Stones ‘Sticky Fingers’ – the one with the cover of Joe Dallesandro’s crotch in tight shorts with a zipper. The ladies of the Followers of Palaes Athena were shocked.
Music education can be
exoticerotic?Frank Wilhoit
@Ninedragonspot: You touch upon large and baffling issues…too large and too baffling for even this forum. It is a composer’s life; and it is why the technology that creates audio renderings of this quality is such a godsend.
I am, however, “in talks” with one of the (pleasantly numerous) orchestras in the Philadelphia area to play something in the ’22-’23 season. They premiered my 4th symphony in 2017.
RevRick
My earliest exposure to classical music was my dad’s hi-fi and Looney Tunes cartoons, but my older brother became a teenager at the same time as rock became a thing, so our bedroom alarm clock/radio was set to the inevitable NYC am station. That, and my mom’s growing infatuation with Broadway shows meant classical faded from my interests. Elementary school music classes did little to revive my interest.
Until the early 2000s.
I found myself utterly bored with rock music. The lyrics frequently felt inevitable, and guitars, drums, and basses only provide so much tonal variety.
Nowadays, the Sirius XM in my wife’s car is set for jazz and mine’s set for classical. For the past ten years we have bought a subscription to our local Allentown Symphony. And tomorrow we get to go to our first performance in a year and a half.
Thank you for the foretaste.
Ninedragonspot
@Frank Wilhoit: That’s very good news – hopefully they’ll program another work of yours (or, possibly better, commission one!)
Baud
Rusty
@Frank Wilhoit: Thank you for pointing me in the right direction, we have a good local library!
Frank Wilhoit
@Baud: I think you need to talk to this guy.
Baud
@Frank Wilhoit:
Hahahaha. Touché.
HumboldtBlue
Damn it, WG and Frank, why the hell did you have to drop this brilliant post on a Saturday night on the busiest sports night of the year?
Frank Wilhoit
Thanks very much to everyone who has commented, and especially to WaterGirl for her help with setting this up. Noting and appreciating what people have said about wanting/needing more time to engage with my work, I will continue to monitor this post over the coming days. Onward!
Mike in NC
Watching season finale of Ted Lasso. Next up is season 4 of Goliath.
Frank Wilhoit
@HumboldtBlue: O is that the problem? I know little of these “sports” of which you speak. But if you find yourself able to re-engage at a more convenient time, it’ll all still be there.
HumboldtBlue
@Frank Wilhoit:
Too late, pal, I’ll just go find some Peter Schikele instead and have him teach me something.
HumboldtBlue
@Mike in NC:
I started Lasso last night. It’s good, but from the hype I expected it to be gobsmacking.
It’s good. Charming, laugh out loud funny at times with some very engaging characters. Sudeikis is excellent.
the pollyanna from hell
Attractive, restful textures, even the sarcasm. I hanker for more drama, but it all seems worth my time.
I shocked myself by composing classical songs starting age 34, half my lifetime ago. I never could force myself to practice enough thereafter to derive intuitive insight from standard positional notation, but I can see where the simple whole number frequency ratios pop up when I use twelve tone numerical notation, which works because I only write one voice anyway.
Wolvesvalley
Thank you, thank you, Frank! The serenade was just what I needed to listen to at the moment.
Frank Wilhoit
@the pollyanna from hell: I should like to see some of your things. “More drama” of what kind?
Frank Wilhoit
@Wolvesvalley: I am so glad that I was able to give you that.
WaterGirl
@HumboldtBlue: Sorry! You guys need to tell me about sports events ahead of time if you want that to be taken into consideration.
WaterGirl
@Frank Wilhoit: I usually remind the artists to check back on the post even after it seems to be done, but it looks like you are already on top of that!
Frank, thanks so much for doing this!
Everybody: remember, the Artists and Authors posts are always linked under Featuring in the sidebar, so you have easy access to them long after the posts move off the front page.
Villago Delenda Est
“It was Beethoven, or the Beatles, or something classical” — Louis Wu in Ringworld
HumboldtBlue
@WaterGirl:
No, no, no, that’s just a comment on the crowded sports schedule for the weekend, nothing specific. Just very distracted watching other screens, and then BOOM! Classical music lesson! And I’m all like… but MLB playoffs, San Diego State football…
If mom had her way, the sports would be off, and we’d be required to watch and learn and then go and explain to her what we learned.
And then we’d have to go practice our instrument for an hour.
nwerner
Thank you, Frank. A pleasure to watch the scores alongside the listening experience.
The Dangerman
@Frank Wilhoit: Thanks. I’ll check it out later. Kinda busy.
I like all thinks cello. Ode to Joy to Caroline Dale (Pink Floyd, or at least David Gilmore, U2, etc) to Apocolyptica. I listen to a lot of Floyd that I think could use my accompaniment on cello (with no one to hear but me, of course).
ETA: sorry David for the spelling of you lurk here
the pollyanna from hell
@Frank Wilhoit:
“What kind of drama?” Too many to enumerate. Example: if this dance moves the people, how will it move them, how will it change them? Your dance has some of the beautiful formality of baroque, and I would like some more hypnotic transport to go with it, again because of the human drama whether driving or parallel.
Another example: I never could listen clear through the Leningrad symphony of Shostakovitch until I got thoroughly grumpy and depressed with pandemic and lockdown, so sometimes the drama is too much even for me. I wrote mostly for solo a capella in a Unitarian church. I’ll write to wg and see what I can send.
MomSense
Working my way through the first – the adagio is gorgeous. I’m really enjoying this.
jl
I liked the serenade for winds, and the brass piece.
Have you written anything for double reed choir? Especially with a shitload of double bassoons? I like that brick wall of sound. Though to some, it is even worse than massed bagpipes.
Edit: to confess my serious TMI deep dark secrets, double reed player here, as well as flautsy flutist. Though I mostly play flute now because more versatile, and friends’ kids do pick up flute and want a few lessons from time to time.
Thanks for posting those pieces. Very nice respite.
Yutsano
Okay so…this is catnip for my BA in music self! I just got done with the second movement, paused to type this and because I have to take care of a few things, then I’ll come back to it. So far the ending of the second movement both startled and delighted me!
A suggestion for outreach is local university music departments. You’ll definitely have some discussions with the composition instructors there but I’m certain they’ll give some welcome feedback. Plus they can refer you to some student players (even some professional contacts) who would be more than willing to play your pieces in an actual concert/recital setting. Just an idea on how to make your music come to life off the screen!
Frank Wilhoit
@jl: We aim to please.
Wag
Really special work. thanks for sharing.
the pollyanna from hell
I liked the horn concerto better. In the first movement whenever the intensity was defused I kept asking, where is the instruction to fill this moment of rationality? The second movement answered every question perfectly; it was serious and compelling discourse from beginning to end. Third was like sitting around the table after the hot talk was finished.
Frank Wilhoit
@the pollyanna from hell: Contrast!
Seriously, I’m glad you like it; and you are right about the finale, but that is why it could be better. It is a bag of little bits of little tunes and it kites on bluff. The finale of the violin concerto does much the same but hangs together a little better.
jl
@Frank Wilhoit: Thanks! I’m listening now. Nice. Contrabassoon is playing in tune too. Amazing.
MomSense
The serenade is beautiful. What a delightful piece especially the adagio. I wish I were still dancing because I would love to move to that piece. Skipping to the string quartet now.
Frank Wilhoit
@jl: Well it is synthesized, it ought to be in tune. One of the reasons why NotePerformer is so inexpensive is because its sample library is highly extended, as an organ builder would say. You may notice that for a few pitches near the top of the bass-clef staff the bassoon sample seems to have been tweened with a cor anglais sample.
jl
The harmonies in the wind serenade reminds me of Elliott Carter, but in other ways very different, much more varied emotionally. The Cater piece is a little exhausting, kind of like listening to a logic puzzle.
I really like the Adagio.
I was also going to mention Ives, but then I realized I’d managed to get two of the pieces playing at once :)
jl
@Frank Wilhoit: Oh, OK. That explains a contrabassoon playing in tune all the way through. I think the warbling in and out of tune is one of that instrument’s charms, to the extent that being ‘in-tune’ means much of anything down in the lower range.
Other than that, I think it captures the timbre of bassoon in midrange burbling mode pretty well. I’ll go listen for the upper range of the bassoon to see where it get a little too mellow in the upper overtones and loses the lower ones.
Edit: and I didn’t notice the note at the end of the post! Sounds good for synthesized.
the pollyanna from hell
The idiom of the string quartet is very congenial to me, thanks. I never felt deflected; the pointed rest was waiting for me as much as you.
opiejeanne
@Frank Wilhoit: That was great fun. Thank you for sharing. I have a BA in Music, and was required to do a little bit of composing, but I couldn’t put down on paper what I hear in my head.
My husband enjoyed the first movement so I played the whole thing after supper. I enjoyed it immensely.
Frank Wilhoit
@the pollyanna from hell: Your use of language is very distinctive but I can tell what you mean. I appreciate your comments. If at some point you get a chance to listen to my earlier quartet (no. 2, also on the YouTube channel) I would be very interested in how you would compare it.
Scamp Dog
@the pollyanna from hell: I’m also Unitarian, and sing bass in our choir. Are your compositions available to other congregations? Our director does like to program music from a variety of sources and might be persuaded to take a look if it is.
dr. luba
Just got home from my first concert in ages to find this! Thanks! I will peruse it in depth tomorrow!
The Detroit Symphony pretty much shut down during COVID–they diid televised concerts, small group pieces (e.g. chamber music) with a small number of musicians scattered far apart on agreatly enlarged stage. As a season ticket holder for 30+ years, I got to attend one of these shows; only 200 people in Orchestra Hall altogether, including the musicians and staff. We were fully masked and spread out in the balcony.
It’s great to be back. As this was the season opener, the orchestra played the Star Spangled Banner, then “Banner” by Jesse Montgomery, Sibelius’ violin concerto, and two pieces by Respighi: The Fountains and Pines of Rome. The soloist was Ray Chen. It was Jader Binganimi’s debut as our new music conductor….one year late. He was ebullient and put on a brilliant concert.
And it was a safe concert–vaccination proof required (or recent negative COVID test), and everyone wore masks–patrons, staff, musicians.
I didn’t realize how much I’d missed live music until tonight……
Lacuna Synecdoche
Frank Wilhoit @ Top:
If they do, it will set off a cascading violation of the Pauli Musical Exclusion Principle and destroy the Universe!
the pollyanna from hell
@Scamp Dog:
Available, yes, but maybe not usable in my unprofessional format. I’ll ask wg for your email also.
the pollyanna from hell
@Frank Wilhoit:
Nice. String quartet no. 2 begins with a familiar and reassuring vocabulary, but quickly warns of a precipice a few feet away from the path. Balance is never threatened, but a lot of work goes in to stay upright until return to safe ground in the finale, tho with some wisdom gained.
No. 3 seems to be after the fall; it’s no longer threatened, we’re dealing with the aftermath.
the pollyanna from hell
Some parts are better the second time thru. Some parts I’m just getting to are quite profound. The orchestration of the brass evokes archetypes and fanfares of the urfolk.
MomSense
@dr. luba:
Love Ray Chen. I heard him several maybe 5 (can’t keep track of time anymore). He stayed with the parents of my son’s good friend when he played the Bowdoin music festival. He hung out with the youngs around a bonfire and is apparently a very cool person in addition to being a brilliant violinist.
Frank Wilhoit
@Yutsano: This is excellent advice.
Frank Wilhoit
@the pollyanna from hell: The prevailing ideology in the pedagogy of composition during the Long Third Quarter of the 20th century was based upon (a hasty and superficial reading of) the writings of Theodor Adorno, mashed up with (an equally superficial) neo-Platonism. If any of my “teachers” had heard anything about “…evok[ing] archetypes and fanfares of the Urvolk….”, they would have wanted me clapped in jail as a matter of extreme urgency. Again, I know what you mean. It ought to be — and, I really think, it is — a little more meta than that. But it is a good example of one of the ways music communicates. The game, as with any art, is to deploy multiple modes of communication, but so that they support each other, rather than just being thrown together.
munira
Thank you Frank. Love your music. I’ve been playing classical piano pretty much all my life and have been working on classical guitar for the past year. Appreciate being able to follow along with the score.
dkinPa
Thank you! I enjoyed your explanation, and the music is lovely!
the pollyanna from hell
@Frank Wilhoit: When you say it should be more meta that reminds me that an expert like you can tear it apart and make it reproducible. My metaphor is the most blatant prevarication that I can find to remind me of the physiological response to each moment of musical provocation. I think maybe my understanding of language is just as meta as your understanding of music.