Proactive Report

On February 13^th, I played “Morceau Symphonique” by Alexandre Guilmant for trombone. The music was edited by E. Falaguerra in 1937. 1^st movement’s key is in E flat minor and time signature is 4/4. 2^nd movement’s key is in E flat major and time signature is 3/4.

I performed this piece at the student recital on February 13th. I could hear the sound of my instrument more clearly than when I play in a practice room because the hall is bigger than a practice room and made the sound softer. However, it makes us difficult to play between piano and trombone. The recital hall made a difference. The air was really dry, so I could not play a good quality tone at the time.

In my opinion, the beginning of the first piece has a very deep meaning. It starts with a soft, slow tempo, and it says with expression. I try to change the tempo every measure and to play expressively. First phrase finishes slowly, and soon, the tempo changes gradually to around 120. The next phrase starts with loud, con anima, and marcato. The phrase after that sounds much faster compared to the last phrase.

The second piece of music is really bright compared to the first piece. The piano begins with the trombone following. The tempo is allegro moderato. There are many slur and marcato makings. It will be more effective if I play slur and marcato differently. The dynamics change to very soft throughout the second piece, and finish with pianissimo (pp) at the end of the music.

After that, the third piece starts out very softly with andante sustention and with time signature 3/4. It sounds like the beginning of the first piece. Suddenly the dynamics change to fortissimo (ff) through a measure and then returns to piano (p) again.

The Forth piece’s dynamics start with forte (f) and the time signature is in 3/4. It is sounds like the second piece. The first phrase starts with the tempo around 104 and becomes faster at each phrase. Each phrase has a very face-paced melody. Finally, the tempo goes to 144 and finishes with fortissimo (ff).

This music appears as an A-B-A-B style. This piece does not stay in the same tempo—it changes every phrase and dynamics.

I really like this music. This music fluctuates (changes) between soft and strong feelings. I do not really care for music that only has a constant loud or strong emotion. I want to give listeners a variety of both light and powerful sounds so this music was especially moving to me.

What I did learn through this music is that “music is not easy.” I spent a lot of time to practice this music alone and with an accompanist. However, I still have problems with this music. I think that it is really hard to make perfect music. I always have to practice music and I have to make music more clearly. This is what I learned through this student recital.

501