Sociology
Sociology
It was a Thursday night on November 4th, when I received a call from my friend, Ericka. She was talking so quickly that it was difficult to understand her speech. She had just won a trip to any place of her choice, She was allowed to invite three friends. Ericka told me that she had chosen to go to Italy and we were leaving at 12 noon the next day. Before I could answer her, she hung up.
The next afternoon we were on our way in a taxi to the San Francisco Airport. Before we were able to unpack our luggage, the taxi driver drove off. We decided to forget our luggage and get our tickets. When we got to the counter, we were told all the computers were down because of an unexpected power surge, but everything should be fine in 4 hours. This meant that we would miss our flight. We were told that we could take a small plane to another airport, where we would then catch another flight. My three friends and I boarded a small plane with four other passengers. After flying for about one hour, we learned that the plane had only gone about five miles from the airport and was simply flying in circles. The pilot was refusing to take any passengers to their destinations because of a conflict he had with his boss. My friend, in a moment of hysterics, took her purse and hit the pilot, knocking him unconscious, Luckily, we had a person on the plane who could fly. She was horrible with directions and we could not find any maps so she continued to fly until we saw a place were we could land. Since it was dark, we could not determine where we landed. After we got out of the plane and looked around, we were stricken with horror. We were at the Modesto Airport! By a miracle, my friends brother, who was driving from Ceres, saw us and picked us up. He seemed to be in a hurry. It was 7:25pm, he told us that he had to play in the Modesto Junior College Symphonic Band Fall Concert and he apologized for having to take us with him, but he was already late.
He made it just in time to play the beginning of the “Prometheus Overture.” The quick allegro tempo, set in a 2/4 meter, caused the audience to become more alert. My attention was drawn to the woodwinds, particularly to the flutes because of their leading contribution of the melody. Although they had the introduction to the melody, I could not cease to allow my attention to follow the other sections in the band. Perhaps this was because of the canon form of the piece. The flutes would begin the melody, then about half way through, the brass would follow with the same melody, In the brass section, the powerful, yet elegant sound of the trumpets were heard, then the lower brass, consisting of the trombone and tuba, followed with the same melody. As the brass forte volume began to decrescendo, the clarinets soon came in. In just a few minutes, the entire band was playing the same melody at different times. The clarinets and flutes set the rhythm, while playing on the downbeat and the cymbals and drums complimented this rhythm by playing on the upbeats. Although this was one of the shorter pieces in the concert, it was very dramatic.
The next piece, entitled “First Suite in E flat for Military Band, composed by Gustav Holst, resembled the “Prometheus Overture” in its sections of 2/4 meter, but it had a unique change of meter and tempo throughout the piece, that was not noticeable in the first piece. Similar to the first piece, it had a lively texture. The powerful trumpets, blended nicely with the gentle, but also powerful sound of the flutes. The clarinets with the rest of the brass combined to produce a fortissimo energetic melody. The piece quickly moved from a major key to a minor key and shifted from a 2/4 meter to a 4/4 meter. As the tempo slowed, you could hear the pianissimo sound of the horn. Once again, my foot began tapping to the allegro 2/4 tempo. The brass section did not overpower the rest of the band and the song ended with the saxophones, trumpets, and trombones with a slight decrescendo, and finally with the flutes and clarinets following.
My attention was quickly lost as the next piece was played. The entire mood in the auditorium would soon transition from a lively energetic crowd to a solemn crowd. This was due to the slow 4/4 tempo of “Shenandoah” composed by Frank Ticheli. It felt as if the piece needed an extra jolt of energy. The pianissimo sound of the brass section blended with the gentle sounds of the flutes and clarinets. The mezzo piano contributed to the mournful sounds that were produced. The tempo was constant and there was little to no variations with themes. This piece was