William Grant Still music
William grant still is an African American musician born in a family where the parents were teachers, but the father died while William was three months old. William’s mother, an English teacher who taught in high school for 33 years. Later, her mother got married to Charles B after moving to Little Rock, who made significant contributions to the musical career of William. William’s stepfather bought him several musical instruments which enhanced his interest in a music career. Besides, William and the stepfather attended several musical performances. While in Little Rock, Still started training for violin by attending to formal lessons where he learnt to play several musical instruments such as the saxophone, double bass, the clarinet, oboe, and viola which significantly enhanced his interest in music. Still graduated from Gibbs High School, Little Rock at the age of 16 years.
After graduation from high school, Still’s mother wanted him to pursue medicine despite high interest in music. Apart from his studies, Still made still pursued his talent in Wilberforce University where he increased his experience and could conduct the university band where he produced his first Orchestration and composition. Still gained maximum exposure which let him explore several opportunities and later left Wilberforce university and started as a performer of several bands in Ohio state. Throughout his career, his work received a lot of recognition and recommendation as he worked as an arranger radio, and other orchestras in Los Angeles. As he continued with his career, Still made several achievements. For instance, Still became the first African American whose symphony was performed in the United States by a professional orchestra. Besides, Still conducted Los Angeles Philharmonic in performing a symphony in the united states. Therefore, this essay will discuss Stills work in the field of music as an African America.
Up to date, William Grant Still has been remained one of the musical artists whose musical works are significantly addressed by scholars of music and literature. The two aspects significantly performed to perfection by Still include his unique and interesting musical career as well as his successful attempt to break the chains of racial discrimination among black Americans by incorporating African music into American culture. In his compositions, Still managed to compose close to 200 pieces of music composed of operas, symphonies ballets and other musical forms of art. The compositions gave Still several awards and appreciations of honour due to his extreme talent and abilities in music.
Symphonic works by William
Of all the musical compositions William Still made, symphonies take the lion’s share and also are among the musical compositions that gave William many recognitions of honor. William composed many symphonies which significantly gave him a sense of reputation due to the interest people developed o his symphonies. One of the symphonies by Still that made global highlights in America during his time was the Afro-American Symphony.
Afro-American Symphony
Afro-American Symphony is one of the greatest works by William still in his career due to several attributed affiliated to the symphony. Foist, the symphony was the first one to be performed by an orchestra being composed by a black artist. The symphony made Still to look like he had broken the chains of racial discrimination having produced a nice symphony blended with deep-rooted African music. The art was uniquely blended with aspects like blues, jazz and spirituals of which portrayed the traditional aspect of music and the authenticity of the production. Jazz, for instance, is a celebrated production that is highly appreciated in the concert halls, therefore Still made hit his target as the symphony was enormously played in many live performances.
The symphony signified the unified occurrence of events in Still’s lifetime. The spirituals, for instance, were motivated by the experience from his grandmother, which he had gained as she used to sing hymns for him. Besides, the hymns portrayed a significant aspect of Still. First, the spirituals indicated that despite the education and his musical carrier, Still was faithful in God. Besides, William held the balance between African and European culture and traditions, where he used traditional African oriented titles for the movements within the symphony. For example, Still emphasized the use of rhythms and blues that were common with the African-American culture hence integrating the black culture into the European culture. The symphony was also referred to as symphony number 1 was composed in the year 1930. The orchestra was instilled with tenor banjo, harp and celeste.
Ballet music
Apart from the symphony music, still composed ballet music which was played in live performances in many spheres. Ballet music is a piece of theatrical music with a unique academic dance on stage. Ballet music is an interesting form of art which is performed in conjunction with the use of musical instruments and costumes to pass a message. Even though ballet music was not a new concept during their time, William made significant steps towards unveiling the actual feel of ballet music. He composed and wrote many pieces of ballet music that were played by many dancers. One of the successful works of William in ballet music is La Guiablesse which meant a female devil. The music was characterized by intense drama and beauty, which had a low tone beginning and an inclined ending. The music features a couple of two young lovers who are in love but the woman devil parts the two lovebirds. In the ballet, Yzore and Adou, two village teens are in love, but suddenly the she-devil interrupts and replaces Yzore. After bonding with Adou, the then beautiful woman transforms into a demon.
The ballet conveys three themes which made the music take the credit. First, the music portrayed the theme of love, betrayal and the theme of sinister. The contextual meaning of the music was behind the intense love and admiration of the piece of art. Another piece of ballet composed by William that make a significant impression on the artist’s musical career was the one titled Sahdji. The art was significant in its own ways; first, the music portrayed a different culture assumed into a European tradition with a high sense of drama. The music had two parts, a chorus which consisted of a text that was sung while mentioning of specific incidences and a second part, the bass chanter which was performed by reciting African proverbs. Drums also took a larger portion of the musical instruments in making the piece lively.
In the Sahdji music, a wife of an African chief is portrayed unfaithful by having affairs outside wedlock. The story was based in central Africa. The piece was however revised in the year 1936, but since then it has never been revised.
opera music
it is notable that William significantly utilized his abilities to account to compose some nice opera music that significantly rose to the heights beyond ordinary opera. William’s opera music played a significant part in the honour that William received. For instance, he invested heavily in Blue Steel, a piece of opera music that presented the themes of black magic and materialism. The opera was composed of thrilling rhythms and melodies and chords and invariable drumming. In the first scene, the music was composed of emotional melodies that portrayed a mixture of emotions and an intriguing psychological move. The second scene was performed with choruses, and stylistically ballet dances of a religious nature with the end of the act having a terrifying scene where a high priest is shot for discouraging Neola, one of the characters not to elope with a stranger.
As the act ends, Neola and Blue Steel attempt to escape but the chants and drums take effect on them, where the guy leaps to his death. Therefore, in the overall act, black magic seems to win over materialism. The music, however, assumes some form of jazz rhythm wise in some instances. At some point yet, Blue Steel gets terrified and decides to seek assistance from his God the music turns and assumes the attributes of a Negro spiritual. The change of form and inclusion of other aspects of music such as the Negro spirituals gives the piece a blended form.
Piano music
Another part of the musical aspect of William is his works in solo instrumentation where he managed to achieve piano music. Williams piano compositions are representations of African American history and other life situations. The piano reflects the true nature and vision of African Americans like the case of William Still. They are considered less capable of achieving what other “first-class” American citizens could achieve. In William piano music, the people of the cradle land are portrayed as being a courageous and progressive aspect of courageous and civilization of the discriminated groups of people.
Through the piano, still communicates the intriguing aspects of the Africans who dwell in atmospheres entangled with romance and piece given that their faith was established in the Divine. The divine relationship with the creator was responsible for the quality attributes such as the ability to sing and dance. The piano is among the attributes that gave the African-American people who struggled to gain credibility of their talents. Besides, the music represented the bravery of the African-Americans. The introduction of the piano and flute marked an important breakthrough in music having made a critical mark in enhancing the rhythm of his musical movements. The possibilities of introduction of the piano as a solo instrument enhanced Still’s experience in matters that were not possible previously. However, for a long time, the piano was very difficult in grasping among many artists and up to date, the piano works by Still have not been exclusively interpreted.
Conclusion
William Grand Still remained honoured up to date in history for the good and achievements achieved in the musical career. William marks the first African-American person whose symphony was performed in New York City and the first to person to have conducted a radio orchestra. Besides, another significant achievement made by still is by being the first African-American to have conducted an orchestra. The major aspect of a coloured man to conduct a major symphony made Still to be renown all over America. Besides, William was the leader of African composers who were of American society.
Besides, William managed to break the chains of racial discrimination by proving that the people of colour were capable of doing great things just like ordinary European citizens.
Describing a piece of music
Afro-American Symphony
The symphony was played with a nice mix of musical instruments such as saxophone, viola, and the clarinet. There was an increase and lowering of the pitch in a uniform and controlled ways to fit into the music. Besides, the musical piece was written for the orchestra. The is a change in mood signaled by the change in pitch and voice and the musical instruments. At some point of the first movement, there is a rise in tempo with a timbre in the voice of the bass.