TOPICS IN MUSICOLOGY: MUSICS OF LATIN AMERICA
Concert Reaction Paper
Please write a two-paragraph paper (1 page) about your experience in the concert. Please focus on the
repertoire and its connections to the class topics (instrumentation, diverse repertoire, audience
involvement, etc).
For me, I had a great time enjoying the orchestra and the opera in the workshop. I particularly
enjoyed the orchestra that added a beautiful layer of emotions during the opera. During
conversational part of the opera, the orchestra created a soft sound with a lower volume for the
audience to focus on the actors’ dialogue. During the climax, the orchestra again created a highpitched sound with spaces in between, which I thought really helped build the audience’s tension
to the edge of their seats. I was also particularly impressed by Dr. Swigger’s solo performance,
she once again delivered a masterclass, which in my opinion was the highlight of the show. I
don’t think that the musical pieces in this concert had the recognizable signature sounds like
what we learned in the class as this is a more European-style music, but I did recall some of the
call-and-response aspects in the orchestra background music during the conversation of the
daughters.
Also, in my opinion, the best part of the orchestra was the percussions and double bass as they
really added that extra layers that made the play more interesting to me.