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Do You Know What Program Music Is?
By Kate Grana
Most people will tell you that they really enjoy music. They listen to the radio, go to concerts, and attend church services where music is an integral part of worship. Perhaps they even go to a symphonic performance. But let’s try to expand our musical explorations and investigate a form of music called Program Music.
What, exactly, is Program Music? It is a form of music that is composed with a scene, a storyline, event, a place, or some specific “thing” in the mind of the composer. The composer creates the music in such a way that it evokes that image or story in the hearts and minds of the listeners.
Absolute music, on the other hand, has no extra musical idea to express and is just pure music composed for music’s own sake. Both Program Music and Absolute Music are written expressly for instruments and is usually composed in the classical European style.
An easy clue to finding examples of Program Music lies in their titles. For example, Ferd Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite, which has some sections titled “Sunrise”, “The Painted Trail”, and “Cloud Burst”. Another example would be Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. During a listening of that particular piece, one can hear the musical fighting between the families as well as a rich, lush love theme and the final somber church like theme at the end. Beethoven’s 6th symphony, the Pastoral, uses titled movements such as country dances, bird calls and a storm.
I’m sure all of us remember the section of Disney’s Fantasia where Mickey Mouse was portrayed as the sorcerer’s apprentice. Paul Dukas composed that as a piece of Program Music entitled the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Disney simply added the visuals.
In more recent times, Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride is a perfect example of Program Music. He even scored in the horses’ whip and whinny using orchestral instruments.
Have fun investigating new pieces of Program Music. See if you can distinguish between Program Music and Absolute Music
Here are some suggested pieces that have proved popular over the years (in addition to the ones already mentioned above).
American in Paris by George Gershwin
The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson
Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz
Rodeo by Aaron Copland
Prometheus by Franz Liszt
Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky
Scheherazade by Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov
Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens
Till Eulenspiegels Merry Pranks by Richard Strauss
Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi
Kate Grana
Kate Grana is a Voice Talent and performs at weddings, funerals and religious ceremonies and services. She also writes jingles and compositions for businesses looking to advertise on radio and television.
Kate maintains a vocal studio in Portsmouth, RI and is a devoted voice teacher and vocal coach. Her strengths lie in teaching correct vocal technique to the beginning student.
Feel free to contact Kate at 508.677.0626 or visit her website at www.KateGrana.com.
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