Trujillo 1

Rhiannon Trujillo
Instructor Yumae
Music Appreciation
6 December 2015
Assignment 5
For my assignment, I went to see the UC Davis Symphony-Orchestra. The concert that I
went to was held on Saturday, November 21, 2015. It was held at UC Davis Mondavi Center.
At the performance, I tried to be a perceptive listener because I wanted to observed all of
the qualities of the music that was being played. I listened to the music as a critical, referential,
and casual listener. I tried listening as a critical listener by paying attention to how the
performers played. They played well and in time, but at some points I did notice small mistakes,
mostly in how the performers of the stringed instruments were playing. Every once in awhile,
one would get lost and have to pause for a moment to get back into time. I tried to be a
referential listener because I wanted to understand what the image was that the composer was
trying to accomplish. My favorite part of listening to music is the meaning or idea behind it, so I
listened to each piece carefully and tried to figure out what they were about, then I would read
the program. Lastly I also tried to be a casual listener just to know which piece was the most
enjoyable or entertaining to me. I did have a favorite piece that I liked listening to the most.
There were three pieces that were performed. These pieces were: Les Offrandes oublies by
Oliver Messiaen, This Is Not a Toy for a Child by Sam Nichols, and Symphony No. 3 in C
Major, op. 52 by Jean Sibelius. My favorite piece was Messiaen: Les Offrandes oublies by far.
The piece just had a very unique sound, but it was still very pretty. It was divided up into three
ideas: The Cross, SIn, and The Eucharist. Each of the three sections were beautiful and

Trujillo 2
were easily distinguished from each other. My favorite was The Eucharist because it was the
falling action of the story and the resolution. The other two parts built up tension in the music,
but this one eased the tension and it was very pretty and peaceful after hearing the other two. I
like the uniqueness of the contemporary period, however, my least favorite piece was This Is Not
a Toy for a Child. I liked the creativity and the message behind it, but I did not enjoy how it
sounded. The piece went on for a long time, but I felt that it was repetitive. Cacophony can really
compliment the harmonized parts of a work of music, but this piece spent too much time in
cacophony, rather than in harmony, and this made it harder to follow and pay attention to. I did
enjoy the third piece because it was very emotional and I found the history behind it interesting. I
didnt like how long it was because it went on for thirty minutes, but it was still enjoyable when I
tried to understand the images and ideas that it contained.
Each of the pieces had their own historical style. Les Offrandes oublies was written in
1930, and was part of the contemporary period. Sam Nichols is part of the staff at UC Davis and
he wrote his piece, This Is Not a Toy for a Child in 2015, which would be considered during the
contemporary period. The last piece, Symphony No. 3 in C Major, op. 52, was written by
Sibelius in 1907. It was part of the Romantic period. Each of the three pieces fit the sound of the
historical period that they were composed in. Les Offrandes oublies had the unique sound of the
contemporary period, but it still had some influences to earlier periods of art music. This Is Not a
Toy for a Child was very unique, and was different from the art music that I am used to hearing.
Although it was written during the contemporary period like Les Offrandes oublies, it sounded
much more unique and seemed more like the art of today, rather than the art of previous eras. It
sounded abstract and it used various objects that dont get used often in symphonies. Among
these objects that were used as instruments were tin cans, cups, pipes, and even pieces of bubble

Trujillo 3
wrap. Some of the instruments that were used were different from those that were in the other
pieces, like a glockenspiel and crotales. The last piece, Symphony No. 3 in C Major, op. 52,
sounded more traditional than the other two. It was the longest, and lasted for thirty minutes,
which was about twice as long a the other pieces.
The instrumentation of the orchestra that was in each piece varied depending on which
one was being played. Les Offrandes oublies and Symphony No. 3 in C Major, op. 52 had the
same instruments, except the second one did not include a bass drum or a tuba. This Is Not a Toy
for a Child had much different instrumentation than the other pieces. It had the most instruments,
and it used very unique ones that I had never heard of, and it used common objects as
instruments. The work used basically the same instruments as Les Offrandes oublies, but
included extra instruments in the percussion section. The percussion in the piece included a
glockenspiel, a xylophone, crotales, a side drum, bowls, cups, and pipes.
With the three different pieces played during the symphony, it contained a lot of diversity
among its sound. Each of the pieces had the own unity and variety in themselves, and when they
are compared to each other. Both of the contemporary pieces were very distinct from each other,
and had much contrast to the symphony that was written during the romantic period. They each
used different instruments as well. All of the works played were divided up into three sections,
which each had their own instruments. I saw the instrumentation changing the unity and variety
the most in This Is Not a Toy for a Child because it had so many instruments. They gave each
part a distinct sound because some would be used and some would not. It also had a solo cellist
that played a separate part than the rest of the orchestra and symphony. Les Offrandes oublies
probably had the most unity and variety because each of its three parts were so different from
each other. I could tell that a different part was playing as soon as the music started transitioning

Trujillo 4
into the different part because they sounded so unlike each other. Symphony No. 3 in C Major,
op. 52 had diversity in itself, but probably the least out of all of the pieces. The least amount of
instruments was used in this piece and its parts would last long amounts of time before changing.
The structure of the music was almost the same in each of the pieces. The main
differences were the durations of time that the pieces lasted. Les Offrandes oublies was thirteen
minutes long, This Is Not a Toy for a Child lasted eighteen, and Symphony No. 3 in C Major, op.
52 lasted thirty. Each of the pieces were divided into three ideas. This Is Not a Toy for a Child
was different in the sense that it contained the solo cello that contrasted the music of the
symphony.
All of the pieces played express their own ideas. The composers of the pieces wanted
images to be shown through their music. Les Offrandes oublies and Symphony No. 3 in C
Major, op. 52 were both religious pieces. This Is Not a Toy for a Child was written by a
composer at UC Davis as a memorial to his grandfather and was meant to express his memories
of his grandfather to the audience.
The pieces had similar tempo patterns, rhythms, and forms. They would each start with
slow tempos and rhythms, then they would build up to faster speeds and beats, then at the end of
the pieces, they would slow back down again. In This Is Not a Toy for a Child, there were minor
variations in its tempos and rhythms, but the major changes stayed to this general form.
The volumes of the pieces changed throughout the progression of each piece. When the
tempo and rhythms sped up, then the music would get louder, and when they slowed, then the
dynamics would get quieter. At the beginning and at the resolution of each of the pieces, they
dynamics of the music would become quiet. The one piece that had the most changes in volume
was This Is Not a Toy for a Child because it was such a constantly changing piece.

Trujillo 5
Each section of each work had its own melodies. The piece with the simplest and least
amount of melodies was Symphony No. 3 in C Major, op. 52, and its melodies were repeated the
most in this piece. This Is Not a Toy for a Child and Les Offrandes oublies had more melodies
and they were more unique. This Is Not a Toy for a Child had the most and the most complex
melodies because the music in it was constantly changing.
Cacophony and harmony were used in all of the pieces. The piece with the most harmony
was SIbelius symphony. Cacophony was used in most of the duration of This Is Not a Toy for a
Child, and this piece used cacophony the most and harmony the least. Les Offrandes oublies
had a good amount of both, which is why it sounded the best to me. It had enough harmony to be
able to follow, but enough cacophony to really compliment the harmonies.
The three pieces came from two different historical periods. Les Offrandes oublies and
This Is Not a Toy for a Child were from the contemporary period. This Is Not a Toy for a Child is
the most recent and sounds the most modern, while Les Offrandes oublies is from earlier in the
period, so it sounds much different. Sibelius Symphony No. 3 in C Major, op. 52 was from the
romantic period, and it sounds much more traditional in comparison to the other two.