Perceiving Acoustic Source Orientation in Three-Dimensional Space

Experiment conducted by John G. Neuhoff from the College of Wooster – Department of Psychology

Many studies have been done that indicate listeners can identify the where a sound is coming from, yet there have been relatively few studies that show that we as listeners can decipher which direction the sound is projecting from a given source. This experiment tries to prove just that – whether or not the human ear can perceive which direction the sound is projecting without visual clues. Assuming that the loudspeaker (refer to drawing) will not move other than in a 360 degree rotation pattern, listeners are asked which direction the speaker is pointing in relation to themselves. Obviously, Neuhoff, the conductor of the experiment, wanted to remove the ability of the listener to watch the speaker as it rotated, so he decided to blindfold all of the listeners. Essentially what they were measuring was the ability of the auditory system to spatially take over for the visual system. So many studies have been done identifying the sound source because it is the auditory system that initializes the visual system when you hear something. This is the localization part. By the time that the projection comes into play, the visual system has already taken over. You see what is making the sound and then which direction the sound is projecting. This experiment attempts to eliminate the visual system to see if the auditory and spatial systems can take over for the visual system. The auditory system is very unused to identify the source of sound without this orientation that the visual system allows and this experiment was designed to show how well it can adapt.

The subjects for all of the parts of the experiment were 18 to 25-year-old undergraduate students. They all said that they had normal hearing.

The experiment they designed tested the listeners on their accuracy for determining the facing angle of the loudspeaker. In this experiment, facing angle (point at the HELPFUL HINTS sheet) can be defined as the direction that the loudspeaker is facing in relation to the listener. In this experiment, they hoped to measure two main variables. The first was how much the distance from the loudspeaker affected the listener’s ability to gauge the facing angle of the loudspeaker. The second thing that they were trying to measure was the ability of the listener to identify the facing angle of the loudspeaker with either a constant sound as the loudspeaker rotated or only having the loudspeaker sound at the start and finish of the rotation.

The first variable had to do with this part of the experiment (point to the first row on the EXPERIMENT sheet). The listeners were placed at two different differences away from the speaker (point at the EXPERIMENTAL SETTING sheet). The first group of listeners was seated at .91 meters away from the loudspeaker while the second group was seated twice as far away at 1.82 meters from the loudspeaker. Their findings were not surprising. They found that listeners were much better at identifying the facing angle when they were closer to the loudspeaker. The only hard part from there was explaining why this occurred. Neuhoff proposed that this was because of the interaural level differences, also called ILDs. These are usually stronger as the sound source gets closer to the listener. This combination of the facing angle and how indirectly or directly the sound is reaching us is how Neuhoff explained the fact that the people that were closer were more accurate in their estimates of the facing angle. The second part – the indirect versus direct measure of sound – is believed to be caused by changing the ratio of direct sound to reflected sound. For example, if you had speakers pointed directly at you, very little of the sound that you would hear would be bouncing off of the wall behind the speaker, however if the speaker was faced 180˚ away from you, the majority of the sound that you would hear would be first reflected off of the wall before coming to you. Neuhoff believes that it is this synthesis of the ILDs and the ratio of direct-to-indirect sound that enables us to tell what angle the sound is coming from.

Then, they split this previously described experiment addressing the distance at which the listener is sitting, into two more separate experiments (point at EXPERIMENT sheet). This experiment measured the ability of the listener to identify the facing angle when the sound source was constant or not. The first part of this subdivision of the experiment measured the listener’s ability to guess the facing angle when given dynamic rotation cues while the second section of the experiment used only static directional cues. Dynamic rotation cues, which were part of the first experiment, means that the loudspeaker was sounding the entire time while it was rotating. Using static directional cues, like in the second section of the experiment, means that loudspeaker sounded only after it had already been rotated. The speaker was sounded at the beginning and at the end of the rotation only. As you would probably be able to guess, the listeners were better able to identify the angle of the loudspeaker with the constant sounding of the dynamic cues, especially when the speaker passed directly in front of the listener at some point.

The experiment also found another interesting finding, however they did not expect to measure when they first designed the experiment. Usually the error were no more than 60 degrees, however, they found that the number of reversals spiked around 180 degrees. For this experiment, a reversal (point at the HELPFUL HINTS sheet) means that the listener made an error of over 165 degrees. The interesting part of this finding is that it was the highest when the speaker was facing 180 degrees away from the listener. The most common mistake made by listeners was that the speaker was facing directly at them. This was interesting because common sense would tell us that the position 180 degrees – as indirect a sound as you can get from the speaker – was often mistaken for the speaker pointing straight at the listeners. Neuhoff hypothesized that this may be due to the lack of a direct sound coming from a specific direction, either left or right. Essentially, having the loudspeaker facing directly at you is 100 percent direct sound whereas having the loudspeaker faced 180 degrees away from the listener would be 100 percent indirect sound.

Revision

ILDs (interaural level differences) the inequity between the intensities of sound entering each of the ears. In theory, this would help your mind figure out where the sound is coming from by this degree of inequality between your two ears.

I don’t know where my last paragraph disappeared to (perhaps it took an early holiday break…however, it is more probable I accidentally erased it ☺ ), but here is a new one for all of you to enjoy.

Throughout the experiment, Neuhoff manipulated two different variables. The first was the distance between the listener and the loudspeaker. He found that the listener was much more accurate in their predictions about which direction the loudspeaker was facing when the subject was closer. He attributed this to the IDLs and the ratio of direct to indirect sound that the listener hears. Secondly, he changed the loudspeaker setting to sounding constantly or sounding in the stopped position only. His results were not surprising; he found that giving the listener to hear the speaker as it rotated really aided them in identifying the facing angle of the loudspeaker. This was especially true when the loudspeaker passed directly in front of the listener. This experiment was successful at measuring the auditory system's ability to identify the projection angle of a particular noise in the absence of a visual system.

The Horn Call and The Instrumentalist

Playing! With Ease

Based on hornist Arthur Krehbiel’s theories on horn playing, tips are offered to students hoping to increase the ease with which they play the horn. His technique is mastered only when the embouchure is able to consistently buzz with little drain on the lips. Krehbiel advises his students to focus first on the music and the technique will effortlessly follow. In regards to minimizing embouchure movement, he suggested simply whistling through the horn instead of shaping each note with the embouchure. Not only will this technique create more ease in playing, but it will also increase the student’s endurance. In addition, this technique will reduce the amount of warm-up and practice time needed by the student. Krehbiel’s teachings encourage creating a musical line with relative ease in playing.

Coping with Stage Fright

Much of the stage fright experienced by performing musicians stems from early or mid-life negative feedback regarding their performances. This negative stress often originates from the disapproval of individuals close to the performer by constantly striving for the elusive “perfection” in playing. It is emphasized that the first and most important step in overcoming stage fright is uncovering the underlying cause for each individual. Before this is completed, little permanent progress can be made for the performer. Also, the visualization of tense performance situations or use of Inderal, a beta blocking drug, is suggested for some. All musicians who have mastered the art of performing are ale to enter a “Zen-like state” while on stage. The conclusions were based on the author’s performance anxiety and his consequent degree researching the physiological and psychological repercussions of stage fright for the individual.


Goode, Michael. “Coping with Stage Fright.” The Instrumentalist. June 2004: 25-27.

Stevens, Paul. “Playing! Wth Ease.” The Horn Call. Feb 2004: 94-95.

Arnold Schoenberg

“Whether one calls oneself conservative or revolutionary, whether one composes in a conventional or progressive manner, whether one tries to imitate old styles or is destined to express new ideas -- one must be convinced of the infallibility of one's own fantasy and one must believe in one's own inspiration.”
-Arnold Schoenberg

It is not usually the lyrical melodies that we remember in Arnold Schoenberg’s music, but rather his contribution to the development of 20th century music through his work. It would almost seem as if his life were mirrored in his music; they were quite unconventional and often rubbed societal in slightly the wrong direction, often producing trial after trial for the musician that just wanted to live as he desired.

His Childhood
Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg was born to Samuel Schoenberg and Pauline Nachod on September 13th, 1874 in Vienna, Austria. His mother was an orthodox Jew while his father, an anarchist at heart, did not have a strong religious preference. His lower- to middle-class family had difficulties at times providing a quality education for their children. Although both of his parents that were avid musicians, it was really his mother Pauline who encouraged music within their household and ensured they were taught music as well as their small budget would allow. At the age of eight, Schoenberg began taking violin lessons regularly. From this base and his extraordinary music application abilities, he taught himself how to play cello and yearned to play with the youth chamber ensembles. His brother, although his name is not as household today, was a fairly well-known bass singer with the German Opera in Prague.

His First Challenge
Schoenberg’s first real challenge came when he was just fifteen years old. His father suddenly died and he was forced pick up a job as an apprentice at a local bank to support his family. It was at this time that all activities even slightly resembling a formal education came to an end. The more meager their income became, the worse his chances looked for getting an opportunity to focus on his music.

Then, in 1895, Schoenberg, to his delight, looses his banking job after the bank was forced to declare bankruptcy. This opened the door for the first time to truly give him the opportunity to pursue his musical career seriously. By the next year, he composed six pieces for piano. Alexander von Zemlinsky, who acted as his only formal composition teacher, encouraged Schoenberg to become more educated about the field of music. Although Zemlinsky was only three years older than Schoenberg, he was far more advanced musically than Schoenberg. Six years after Zemlinsky and Schoenberg become very close friends, Schoenberg married Zemlinsky’s sister, Mathilde von Zemlinsky. The next year, they brought their first child, Trudi, in to the world. Little did he know how hard a world it would be for her to grow up at this time in Europe…

Anti-Semitism in Europe and His Music
When it rains, it pours…Within a span of two years, two major events happened that would change Schoenberg’s life forever. One was his father’s death in 1891 that changed his family economic situation and forced him to put his music aside for half a decade. The other was the birth of Adolf Hitler in Austria. Although he did not know at the age of thirteen what Hitler would do in the following years, Hitler’s birth would greatly affect everything and everybody around him from his country to his family to his music.

Despite the fact that he had converted to Lutheranism in 1898, he was still labeled as a Jew throughout Hitler’s reign. In disgust, he reconverted back to Judaism in seeing the atrocities committed for “Christian ideals.”

It was not until 1920 that Hitler directly affected Schoenberg’ life. In 1921, Schoenberg was forced to leave his home in Mattsee where Jews were no longer welcome. This was also the same year that Hitler revealed his plan to send all Jewish people to concentration camps. In 1923, his wife died and he remarried a year later to Gertrud Kolisch. In this same year that was marked by so many changes for Schoenberg, Hitler was writing Mein Kampf while incarcerated.

His Life in America
The same year that the United States entered the war and the first gassings and mass executions of Jews occurred in Europe, Schoenberg received his United States citizenship. In 1936, he had joined the faculty at the University of Southern California (USC). Most of his teaching in America was at UCLA starting that same year. There he turned out many exceptional musicians, not the least of which was John Cage. It was in Los Angeles, California – his home away from home – that he died on the thirteenth of July in 1951 from a heart attack.

Bibliography

Political and Religious Ideas in the Works of Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg by H.H. Stuckenschmidt

Arnold Schoenberg’s Journey

A Schoenberg Reader

Arnold Schoenberg The Composer as Jew

On Classical

Biography of Arnold Schoenberg

The Arnold Schoenberg Center

Arnold Schoenberg

Der Ring des Nibelungen: Wagner’s The Ring Cycle

Target Audience: Background Information for the opera goer interested in Wagner written at the pre-college level

Wagner’s Operas: Table of Contents

Chapter I: Die Feen
Chapter II: Das Liebesverbot
Chapter III: Rienzi
Chapter IV: Der fliegende Holländer
Chapter V: Tannhäuser
Chapter VI: Lohengrin
Chapter VII: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Chapter VIII: Tristan und Isolde
Chapter IX: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Chapter X: Parsifal

“Der Ring des Nibelungen:” About the Opera

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungen) is a compilation of four consecutive full length operas written by Richard Wagner. He completed the operas in 1876 after fleeing to Switzerland due to his political activism in Germany. Wagner based his opera on a 12th century epic poem entitled "Nibelungenlied". "Des Nibelungen" are defined as “subterranean dwarfs” according to dictionary.com.

The four operas within the larger work are entitled Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung. After writing the last opera Götterdämmerung, Wagner realized that a prologue was needed and wrote the other three operas, each as a preface to previous. The entire work Der Ring des Nibelungen takes from 15 to 24 hours to perform. Usually not shown in one sitting, the audience was required to come back four nights – one night for each of the operas -- to see the entire work.


Richard Wagner: The Mastermind

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is considered one of the most influential composers German opera. When Wagner was just six months old, his father died of typhus. The next year, his mother married a close family friend, Ludwig Geyer, who moved the family to Dresden. After Geyer died, the family moved back to Leizpig.

As respected as his works are today, he had very little formal training in music. He was quite involved in theater from an early age, however was compelled to write music as well. He had very little formal training in music outside of the six months that he spent studying in Leizpig. He had a fair number of opportunities within theatrical directing, however not any in opera. Despite his lack of formal training, his ability to mimic the sounds of other composers such as Beethoven or Rossini to create his own masterpieces was nothing short of astounding.

After participating in radical politics for a period of time in Germany, he fled to Switzerland. It was during this period of time away from Germany that his approach to opera changed dramatically. The Ring Cycle was his first work after this time and it was by far his most large-scale work. Upon his return, he divorced his wife and married Cosima von Bülow, the daughter of his close friend, Franz Liszt.

In 1882, Wagner started to develop some health problems. He moved to Venice, but he suddenly died there within a year.


The Ring’s Continuing Influence in the 20th Century

The Ring Cycle’s plot and characters sound very familiar to today’s audience since the creation of “Star Wars” and “The Lord of the Rings”. In fact, both of the makers of the movies drew parts and symbols almost directly from Wagner’s masterpiece. Below are some striking similarities between Wagner’s work written in 1876 and the works of these 20th century film writers.


Wagner’s The Ring Cycle
1. Became a tetralogy only after realizing that needed a prologue
2. Took 28 years for the whole work to reach audiences
3. The heroine, Brunhilde, sacrificed herself to save the humans and gods
4. In the beginning, the leader of the gods, Wotan, is a relatively average god. The lust that Wotan, the leader of the gods, has for power drives him to obsess over the ring
5. The two long lost twins of Wotan find each other as adults and fall in love
6. Wotan’s son, Siegfried, shatters his father’s sword
7. Siegmund had his all-powerful sword, however it failed him and he was killed

George Lucas’ "Star Wars"
1. Became a trilogy after adding a prologue and become a tetralogy after Episode I: The Phantom Menace
2. Took 28 years for the whole work to reach audiences
3. Both Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrificed themselves to save the galaxy
4. Anakin Skywalker’s lust for power encourages him to join the dark side as Darth Vader.
5. The two long lost twins of Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) as adults and sort of fall in love
6. Darth Vader, Luke’s father, chops off Luke’s arm, however Luke returns for revenge and does the same to him
7. Luke had his all-powerful light saber, however it failed him when he got his arm cut off


The story was different for “The Lord of the Rings”. It has been said that Tolkien believed that Wagner had done a disservice to Norse and Germanic mythology by not accurately portraying it. He said of the difference between himself and Wagner, “Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases!”

Wagner’s The Ring Cycle
1. Midgard (Middle Earth in English)
2. Nibelungen finds first finds ring in river
3. The Rhinegold ring enslaves the owner and is desired by others
4. Tarnhelm turns person who possesses invisible
5. Mysterious person reveals himself (Odin)
6. The characters are from Norse mythology

Tolkien’s "The Lord of the Rings"
1. Middle Earth
2. Ugly little creature first finds the ring in a river
3. The ring enslaves the owner and is desired by others
4. Ring turns the person who possess it invisible
5. Mysterious person reveals himself (Gandalf)
6. The characters are from Norse mythology


Bibliography

http://www.island-of-freedom.com/WAGNER.HTM
http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/lotr.html
http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/classes/winter9
http://users.utu.fi/hansalmi/ring.html8/lcc3412l/ring.html
http://www.npr.org/programs/attheopera/archives/000325.ato.html
http://www.trell.org/wagner/starwars.html
http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/opera/a/aatheringcycle.htm
http://www.geocities.com/viennaonline/feature/starwars.html

Richard Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen: A Companion
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Richard+Wagner+Der+Ring+des+Nibelungen%3A+A+Companion&userid=y65093x9Kt&cds2Pid=946

Ring of Power
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0892540435/qid=1100473092/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-0980899-1083811

Images

This is an example of how to put a picture in the blog.

Corinne Webb: Senior Recital

Program

“Allegro” from Horn Concerto No. 3 in Eb Major, K447……W.A. Mozart

French Horn - Corinne Webb

Piano - Sonja England


“Gardens in the Rain” from Estampes………………...…Claude Debussy

Piano - Corinne Webb


Sonata for Horn.…………………………...…..……….Paul Hindemith

French Horn - Corinne Webb

Piano - Sonja England


“The Wanderer” from Songs without Words…………....Felix Mendelssohn

Piano - Corinne Webb


Excursions, No. 1, Op 20 ………...…………...………….Samuel Barber

Piano - Corinne Webb


Trio for Brass …………………………P. Koepke, P. Hall, V. Barvinsky

I. Prelude II. Winter III. A Light Rain

French Horn - Corinne Webb

Trombone - Andrea Webb

Trumpet - William Webb


The All-American Hometown Band….…………..Walter and Carol Noona

Piano - Corinne Webb

Piano - Andrea Webb


Claude Achille Debussy (1862-1918), arguably the most influential Impressionistic composer of his time, started his piano career at the age of nine. He was trained at the Paris Conservatoire and it was there that he quickly became frustrated with piano performance and decided to pursue composition. He married Rosalie Texier, but within ten years, left her and married Emma Bardac in 1908. The next year, he found out that he had cancer. Also complicating his life was World War I, dying on March 25, 1918 as the German artillery marched into Paris.
Much of his work was inspired by the impressionistic visual artists and poets of his time. In fact, one of his most well-known works, L’apres-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun), was inspired by his close friend and impressionistic poet, Stephane Mellarme. Also, the works of Wagner inspired him greatly, however he rejected the works of other Wagner-inspired composers such as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, preferring “simpler” ideas. He also did not believe that music should or could be formally analyzed through a set criteria. He stated, “There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law.”
Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain), one of Debussy’s numerous works for solo piano, was written in 1903. He felt inspired to write Gardens in the Rain after attending The Paris Exhibition in 1889, where he heard oriental music. After attending the Paris Exhibition in 1889, he felt inspired to write a collection of movements from this exposure to new international music. Although Gardens in the Rain Gardens in the Rain is part of the Estampes collection, the last of which is Gardens in the Rain in this collection.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was one of the most well-known musicians of his time throughout Europe and still is recognized as one of the leaders of the Classical music era. A child prodigy, he started composing at the age of five. By the age of three, when most are still learning to speak a language. Mozart was able to pick up tunes by ear and play them back on piano. His father and an accomplished musician himself, Leopold Mozart, immediately realized his son’s musical genius. At the age of seven, Leopold Mozart hoped to profit from his son’s talents and took him on a tour of Europe, playing for the courts in Paris and London among other places. He and his father had a very unique and somewhat unhealthy relationship. Wolfgang resented the amount of control that his father had over his childhook, yet he was the person that he grew up closest to while touring Europe as a young child.
Mozart, having been deprived of any and every part of a normal childhood, never seemed to outgrow his child-like behavior throughout his adult life. Although he was widely known as one of the most talented musicians in Europe, his lack of tact often kept him from attaining the highest paying jobs that he yearned for. Throughout the beginning of his adult life, Mozart lived in many different cities including Salzburg and Munich, however none of these cities were large enough for a man of his talent. He eventually moved to Vienna and lived there for the remainder of his life. His cause of death was a high fever, probably scarlet fever, and no poison as rumor would have it. He ironically left one of his largest works for the church, his Requiem, unfinished upon his death. He was buried outside Vienna in an unmarked grave.
Mozart’s Concerto No. 3, Mvt. 1 was written in 1783. Four out of the five works that Mozart wrote for horn were written for his friend and well-known horn virtuoso, Ignaz Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb, was then a part of the Archbishop’s orchestra in Salzburg before moving to Vienna. Although Mozart’s Concerto No. 3 was not specifically written to be played by Leutgeb, historians find no reason not to believe that it was not written for him as all of the others were.

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), a native to Germany, is a highly-regarded composer, conductor, violist, educator, and theoretician of 20th century music.
In addition to music, he also had interests in medieval philosophy and early church documents. He was able to play of the modern instruments to some extent, but was known as one of the most accomplished violists of his time. He did not stop at playing all of the instruments and he eventually wrote concerti for all of the instruments that he was able to play. Apparent in all of his music is the influence of Bach, even writing a collection of pieces in which he refers directly to Bach’s
Brandenburg.
The sonata for Horn was written by Hindemith in 1939. He piece has been recorded by many people including a duo by Mason Jones on horn and Glenn Gould on piano. Hindemith, who was known for writing piano accompaniments that challenged even the best, certainly made no exception in this sonata. The piano part combines complex rhythmic pattern, changing time signatures, and unusual chords to the point where the prominence of the piano turns this horn sonata into a duet for piano and horn.


Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), a native of Berlin, was an accomplished pianist by the age of nine and had written symphonies, concertos, and sonatas by the time that he was thirteen. The member of his family, who were for the most part in bankers, were all moderately well-off and were great supporters of the artistic and intellectual community. Due to his family’s wealth, he did not suffer from the financial difficulties that so many other musicians of his time were forced to cope with, and was therefore able to concentrate on his music making. He was able to have a relatively normal life with a wife and five children despite the fact that he was a musician. He was greatly influenced by the works of Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven. At the age of just 20, he was a recognized conductor of a professional orchestra and he went on to found the Leipzig Conservatory at the age of thirty-three. At the age of 38, he died suddenly of a stroke.
All of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words were originally published without titles at the Mendelssohn’s request. He felt that the pieces that he wrote did not necessarily have to be “programmatic” in nature and therefore wrote them without lyrics or titles. Publishers have since placed titles on many of them, such as “The Wanderer,” in order to help with identification.

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, were he managed to write his own compositions by the time that he was eight. Soon following that, he made an attempt to write his first opera by the time that he was ten. He studied composition, piano, and voice at the Curtis Institute by the time he was fourteen. He won many prizes within his lifetime, including two pulizers. He also won the American Academy’s Prix de Rome, which allowed him to study in Rome. Trained in the European classical style of the Curtis Institute where he obtained so much of his education, his music often seems to oscillate between the European influence and his own “American” ideas. It was at Curtis that he met Gian Carlo Menotti who he later moved in with after leaving Curtis as a professor. Probably his most famous work would be his Adagio for Strings.
Excursions is an example of Samuel Barber’s synthesis of his European training and his fascination with “American” ideas. Each one of his three movements is based on a regional idiom from the US. Each of the movements is also based on a local instrument from each of the regions. The first of Barber’s Excursions is based on the jazz rhythms of the south.


Paul Koepke is known for brass arranging of many types. One of his most familiar works is Prelude and Fanfaronade, is arranged for trombone and piano.

Percy Hall is a composer, conductor, and arranger. He is currently the conductor of the Mansfield Symphony Youth Strings. He attended the University of Maryland and then joined an Army band. He then joined Westminster College where he received his music education degree. He also performs with the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra.


Walter and Carol Noona are a married piano duo who have written numerous piano duets and ensembles. Walter studied at East Carolina University. He has been a finalist in the Steinway Centennial competition. He also is an orchestral conductor and has made guest conducting appearances with numerous major orchestras such as the Pittsburg Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Carol studied at the American Conservatory of Music and has taught piano since the age of fourteen. She is also interested in theory and pedagogy. Currently, they live together in Virginia and they have performed together at numerous workshops.

Corinne Webb has been playing the French horn for 6 years. She graduated from Edina Public Schools in 2004 and is currently attending DePauw University, studying with Robert Danforth. She studied with Ellen Smith of the Minnesota Orchestra and with Kathleen Van Doeren throughout high school. She has been a part of many ensembles including the Minnesota All-State Concert Band, Great Lakes Ambassadors of Music European Tour band, the Interlochen Arts Camp Symphonic Band, the Greater Twin Cities Youth Orchestra Symphony and numerous college honor bands. She has attended many festivals and camps such as the Bands of America summer music program, the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Kendall Betts Horn Camp, and the St. Olaf College Summer Music Program.


Sonya England is a resident of Edina, Minnesota, Sonya England has been musically active in the community for many years. She has taught in public schools and she quite successfully ran her studio in Edina for many years as a private piano teacher. Since retiring, she now solely accompanies students around the Twin Cities area. She was an accompanist for the Interlochen Arts Camp for about a decade. She graduated from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota with degrees in piano performance and education. She lives with her husband, John England, who is a professional trombonist and studio teacher in their home in Edina. Her two daughters, Karna and Elizabeth, both graduated from Edina High School and attended the New England Conservatory on trombone and oboe, respectively.

William Webb has been the director of bands at Edina High School since 1987. He is well-known as a conductor, educator, performer, and leader in music education. He was the president of the Minnesota Band Directors Association (MBDA). For the past 15 years, he has been the associate conductor of the Minnesota Symphonic Winds which is now directed by Timothy Mahr. Mr. Webb is past president of the Phi Beta Mu professional music fraternity and has served on the VanderCook College Alumni Board of Directors. He has been active in the Minnesota State High School League and has served on many selection committees for it. He has been involved in numerous groups that include the Music Educator’s National Conference, the National Band Association, Minnesota Music Educator’s Association, Minnesota Band Director’s Association, and the International Association of Jazz Educators. William Webb is a native of St. Paul, Minnesota and currently lives in Edina, Minnesota.

Andrea Webb is currently a senior at Edina High School (EHS). She has been involved in many activities within the school and in the arts. She is a leader for the “Transition Team” at EHS for the incoming sophomores and also is a leader for both fifth and ninth graders throughout the district. She is the captain of the top danceline and has been dancing for ten years. She is also a teacher’s assitant three of the lines at the studio. She is also heavily involved in music as a trombone student and piano player. She has gone on a Minnesota-based tour group to Europe for band and she will be traveling to California in January of 2005 to play in the BOA All-American National Honor Marching Band for the Rose Bowl Parade. She has also was selected and participated in the Minnesota All-State Symphonic Band for 2004. She is currently looking at attending Northwestern University, Duke University, St. Olaf College, Univeristy of Minnesota-Twin Cities, or the University of Wisconsin-Madison beginning next fall.

The Guarneri String Quartet: "Has No Superior on the World's Stages" -The New York Times

You know it is going to be a good concert if the first violin walks out with a polka dot tie. Just when you think life can’t get any better than trendy polka dot ties, a concert like this follows. The Miami Herald pretty much summed up all of my thoughts when they said, “Some things, like the Guarneri, are as good as it gets.” It is quite obvious that they have been together for quite sometime, for they are almost able to communicate solely through their music. At times, a reassuring gesture or glance could be caught, but it was as if they knew every next move of the other three.

Looking at their remarkable bios, all four members have studied with professors of the Curtis Institute of Music, arguably the most prestigious music school in the country. In addition to their successful careers with the Guarneri String Quartet, the members’ bios boast of performances with the highly regarded Beaux Arts Trio, professorships at top conservatories, and soloists with countless major orchestras around the world. At the end of a few of the musicians’ bios, he state the make of the instrument he plays, almost as if it is just as vital a part of his music-making as his education or previous experiences.

They started off their anything but “Bb” performance with Mozart’s String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat (no pun intended). The piece, written in a time of financial difficulty for Mozart in 1789, gave him a small amount of much needed money through a commission by the king of Prussia. The king, Frederick William, was himself a cellist and probably was the reason that Mozart placed an unusal amount of emphasis on this instrument that is all too often just used as a bass voice in the quartet setting. Within a couple minutes of the start of the piece, the cello’s prominence is first seen in a violin and cello duet followed by a relatively extensive solo.

A skip ahead of one hundred and fifty years in music, Richard Danielpour’s String Quartet No.5, which was made possible in part by a co-commission by DePauw, provided the much-needed contrast from the Mozart. Possibly the most exceptional part of the performance of this piece was the almost intuitive sense of balance that these musicians produce in their quartet while maintaining a healthy, full sound. In a piece that could easily become chaotic and nothing but rhythmic motifs, they definitely mastered the art of finding the melodic interest in the piece. The soloist was never covered despite the often technically difficult accompaniments as they seamlessly passed the melody between themselves.

Despite the seemingly endless intermission that pushed twenty minutes during which I had way too much time to visit the restroom…twice, Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major was definitely worth the wait. If you made a list of the all that was absolutely brilliant about Ravel’s writing – the sweet, yet heart-wrenching harmonies, the melodies that seem to simply float above the accompaniments, the countermelodies that often rightfully so supersede the melodic line in interest, Ravel’s instinctual awareness of the balance between the instruments, his understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each instrument – it was all wrapped up in this one, four movement piece. Granted I would have enjoyed this piece had it been played by a middle school group, however, the quartet’s musicianship and execution made this an absolute delight to listen to. It was the highlight of my night. You know it was a good concert when you come out giddy and with an inextinguishable urge to practice.

Besides the intermission that lasted looked as if it would last longer than the entire second half of the concert, I didn’t have too many complaints. I think that Thompson Recital Hall would have acoustically served this small ensemble better than Kresge Auditorium. At some points, their sounds seemed to get lost in the large room and it just didn’t have the resonance that Thompson would have more readily provided for them. Visually, you could tell that the amount of sound they were putting out just didn’t match the smaller sound that was heard out in the audience. I think that the occasional lack of full sound, especially in the top violin voice, and the occasional intonation problem was partly due to this hinderance. Although the ensemble would have been better suited in Thompson, I understand the number of people wishing to attend forced them hold the concert in Kresge.