Viterbi Early Career Chair Lecture Series

JEANNE BAMBERGER: Expressing the Difference - comparing great performancesProfessor Emeritus of Music and Urban Education, MITVisiting Professor, UC Berkeley School of EducationEvent poster: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mucoaco/events/20060216-bamberger.pdfABSTRACT: The presentation will begin with a comparison of three performances of the first movement (beginning) of the Moonlight Sonata -- one each by Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Schnabel, and Alfred Brendel. The three recordings are remarkably different, especially with respect to expression, and the means by which each performer creates that expression. In that context, I shall also talk a little about Schnabel and the kinds of things he had to say -- not specifically about the Moonlight Sonata, but principles that would apply to it and other pieces.Then, I shall play the Schubert, E-flat minor March for piano 4-hands with Elaine Chew. We will then discuss how we would make a performance of the piece, the decisions we make, and what makes a difference in expression. Moving on to the Trio, the second part of the same piece, which has a completely different mood, we shall talk about what makes it so different, and how we would project that difference. The difference goes beyond the fact that one is in a major and the other in a minor key, and stems from many other factors.BIOSKETCH: Jeanne Bamberger is Professor Emeritus of Music and Urban Education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she taught music theory and music cognition. She is currently a Visiting Professor at the School of Education in UC Berkeley. Her interests include musical development and learning, in particular, aspects of representations among both children and adults. She was a student of Artur Schnabel, Roger Sessions, Olivier Messiaen, and Ernst Krenek, and has performed extensively as piano soloist and in chamber music ensembles. She attended Columbia University and the University of California at Berkeley, receiving degrees in philosophy and music theory. Her awards and honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, a San Francisco Exploratorium Residence Fellowship, and the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities Fellowship. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Spencer Foundation, an Eisenhower Grant, and the Palo Alto Institute for Research on Learning. Her most recent books include (1995) The Mind Behind the Musical Ear (Harvard University Press), and (2000) Developing Musical Intuitions: a project based introduction to making and understanding music. (Oxford University Press)Prof. Bamberger is also giving a guest lecture in MUED520, in ASI on WED, Feb 15, 7:00PM-8:30PM on Situated Inquiry: Moving between Action and Representation.Host: Elaine Chew, Viterbi Early Career, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems EngineeringSupported in part by the Viterbi Early Career Chair Funds, the Integrated Media Systems Center, and the Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.For other lectures in the series, please see http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mucoaco/events/vecc0506.html

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Elaine Chew