Music: Casting Crowns and Janine Jansen Essay

Submitted By mbwaites
Words: 1363
Pages: 6

Music Critique

Casting Crowns The performance was at a place in West Sussex England in 2012. Their whole performance was 1:00:08 long. I found the performance on YouTube the website is www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSOC3D-myI. There were 8 pieces in this performance. The songs that were sung was Lifesong, Voice of Truth, Praise You in the Storm, Who Am I?, Jesus, Friend of Sinners, Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me), Courageous, and Until the Whole World Hears. In each song there are many different movements. They range from allegro to andante. The composer for Jesus, Friend of Sinners, Glorious Day, and Courageous is Matthew West and Mark Hall. The composer for Lifesong, Praise You in This Storm, Who Am I? is Mark Hall. The composer for Voice of Truth is all of Casting Crowns group. The performance of Casting Crowns was amazing. I wish I could have been in the crowd live. The performance sounded excellent. I knew all the songs so it was enjoyable to watch as well. The performers is Mark Hall lead singer, Juan DeVevo plays guitar and back ground vocals, Chris Huffman plays bass and background vocals. Megan Garrett plays piano, keyboards and is backing vocals. Melodee DeVevo plays the violin, cello and backing vocals. Brian Scoggin plays drums. Josh Mix is the lead guitarist and back ground vocals. The was no conductor for Casting Crowns they all sang on cue from the instruments. The different instruments that were played were guitar, bass, violin, keyboards and drums. There were all singing at one point in time except for the drum player. The purpose of this concert was an event they hold every year where a bunch of Christian groups come together and put on a concert called Big Church Day Out 2012. My reaction to this performance was excitement. I was excited to watch a performance that was live. I have been to one of their live performances before and I thought it was truly amazing. It’s a great experience so I would have loved to be there. I believe that is why they are my favorite band because of the environment and feeling I get when I hear and sing their music.

Janine Jansen: Enescu
In her performance they were all strings that played very well together. The performance took place in Vredendurg Leidsche Rijn, Utrecht. The date that is took place was December 28, 2009. They played for 38:58 but the tape did not stop until 41:14. The website I got it from is www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugv_02XsJoE. It looked like only one piece was performed even though it had a mini slight break at 12:12 and 12:29. When they paused they stood there and started up fast and dramatic. There were several movements. The movements began not even 5 minutes into the piece. I do love how they go from slow almost to nothing than to a fast and dramatic. The piece was performed by Janine Jansen herself and friends. It doesn’t give the friends names at all. There wasn’t a conductor but sheet music in front of them. The type of instruments that was played was violin, viola, and cello. These are all part of the strings instruments. (Listen p15) I believe 2 cellos, 3 violins and 3 violas.
The composer of this piece was a man named George Enescu. He was a violinist, pianist, composer and conductor and a teacher. Unfortunately there wasn’t a voice in classical music. There were 8 people that played the strings. Sometimes they were demonstrating different techniques of playing them, such as plucking. The cello was plucking throughout the whole thing at times. Janine Jansen did a solo part at around 11:22. There is a light cello sound in the background while she is playing her first part. I believe to introduce her part.

Comparing and Contrasting both performances
My general reactions to each of the performances were excitement. I wanted to hear both pieces. I enjoyed hearing the classical strings and enjoyed my favorite band perform. They both sounded great. You can tell both has been rehearse and well played. They are professionals and