Program Music
Program music is supposed to put a picture in your head. Like if you're watching a movie/documentary & a war/fight scene comes up then there is usually music that is played to help set the tone for the scene. Some examples of this type of music are "An American In Paris" by George Gershwin, "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi, "Black & Tan Fantasy" by Duke Ellington, "Putty Tat Trouble Part 6" by Carl Starling, "Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima" by Krzysztof Penderecki, & last but not least "Symphony 9 The Fourth Movement" by Gustav Mahler.

George Gershwin – "An American In Paris" was composed in 1928 – The CD that this song came from is called Essential Gershwin – George Gershwin's song "An American In Paris" is a good example of program music cause when you listen to it it's like you're seeing for yourself an American tourist checking out the sights of Paris. Like at the beginning the strings & the flutes make everything all light. Sort of like if someone is looking all around them at the people & the shops. Stuff like that. Oh & throughout the piece someone is playing the xylophone & it sounds like people walking down a sidewalk. & how all of the brass instruments play it's like this guy/girl is walking down a busy sidewalk that is by a very busy road/street.

Antonio Vivaldi – "The Four Seasons" were composed in 1711 – The CD that these songs came from is called Vivaldi – Vivaldi is another great example because of his interpretation of the four seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, & Winter. OK for Spring it sounds really light, happy, warm, & some of the time it kind of sounds like there are little/big Spring rain showers happening. For Summer it kind of sounds like to me that he like tried to make it sound like there were a lot of rain storms going on. It also sounding like at the end that it was getting colder or something like that. Fall is really cool because it’s almost like you can hear/see the leaves falling off the trees. Also at some points it kind of sounds like its getting colder & like it's snowing maybe just a little bit. Then for Winter the last season it sounds like he wrote it kind of scary & mellow something like that. It also sounds like it's snowing really hard & that it's very cold.

Duke Ellington – "Black & Tan Fantasy" was composed in 1927 – The CD that this song came from is called The Best Of Ellington – Duke Ellington's song "Black & Tan Fantasy" starts out kind of spiritual & what I think of as robotic then goes into a more dance like swing kind of thing. Then in a few places a trumpet has a solo. It's like it's a person talking over someone else. Then in other places in the solo it sounds like the trumpet says something & then the rest of the band replies.

Carl Starling – The "Putty Tat Trouble" was composed in 1951 – The CD that this song came from is called The Carl Stalling Project – This song is really cool because it's like you can see a cat chasing a mouse or a bird when you close your eyes & listen to it. When the strings & what sounds like a piano start to play at the beginning it sounds like a cat is chasing a bird/mouse around a house.

Krzysztof Penderecki – "Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima" was composed in 1960 – This song is really sad/dramatic. I saw it at the Lincoln Center with my Dad about two to three years ago. It started out I guess you could say sort of happy but then it got kind of scary & loud. I'm sorry but I don't really remember anything else except that you could really hear how horrible the bomb was in Hiroshima.

Gustav Mahler – The CD that this song came from is called Mahler Symphony 9 – "Symphony 9 The Fourth Movement" was composed in 1908 through 1910. So Mahler wrote this symphony before he died so some parts like the beginning are OK & sort of happy but other parts are kind of desperate & fast. The ending was light, sad, & a little depressing. It started out loud then would stay that way for a while then it would gradually get softer & softer till finally the whole thing ends on one long drawn out sad note that you can hardly hear then nothing.

Even if some of these songs were composed a long long time ago they still sound fresh. The six examples that I think I explained fairly well are what program music means to me.