Pop Music Medley
What piece should my orchestra play?
So I’m in h.S., and We have a great orchestra program; 2 string groups, and a symphony orchestra- I’m 2nd chair viola in advanced and symphony:) so, for our last concert of the year, we usually play something epic. E.G… 3years ago, Sound of Music. 2years ago, phantom of the opera. Last year, a James bond medley. My conductor said we can suggest string orchestra/sympony pieces, and she’d look into it. Does anyone have any suggestions for pieces we could play that are like an overture from a popular movie or something pop-culture-ish?? Any suggestion helps:)) thanks!!
Ps-for an earlier concert, we played a lady gaga hit mix already:P
:O
Thanks again!!
Well, this is the classical section, so if you really want pop/movie suggestions, there are other places on Answers! to ask…
If you’re looking for stuff your audience will recognize, which will give your orchestra/s a good workout, and which are readily available (may be in your school’s music library already, in fact), and which have resonances to pop culture, consider:
Pictures at an Exhibition – Moussorgsky/Ravel arrangement. Exercises every part of your orchestra, lets you pick up the lead tenor sax from the band, even has a tuba solo! But the pop resonance comes from groups like Emerson, Lake and Palmer producing albums devoted to rock re-imaging of it! (If you don’t know who EL&P are, your pop-culture chops need an update!)
Nutcracker Suite – Tchaikowsky. (Spelling of his name varies depending on the time and the nationality of the transliterator, btw.) This is not only great for the orchestra, but guaranteed to leave your audience singing the themes when they go. Many rock bands have re-imaged movements from this one. And, you have a choice between the Suite which Tchaikowsky wrote himself, and excerpting from the Ballet itself, which has the benefit of pieces which are less-known, but just as beautiful and catchy!
For string orchestras, Holberg Suite – Grieg, full of gypsy-ish love-song themes and driving rhythms, guaranteed to showcase your strings’ abilities to put forward a solid piece of ‘real’ music, but also lets your top-desk cellists shine in an incredibly lyrical duet. The first movement’s descending scale runs travel through the sections, making a link between the Renaissance/baroque space-music/poly choral style and the modern, Hi-Fi induced speaker-bouncing of the Rock age.
And, if your audiences are totally sated with ‘real’ classical music, and you want something that will stir them up as well as out, consider PDQ Bach and his modern Discoverer, Peter Schikele. Highly recommended: Eine Kleine Nicht Musik (Mozart’s Eine Kleine serenade with added familiar themes from other music laid on top) or either of the orchestral oddities by Schikele, the “Quodlibet for small orchestra” (don’t be misled by the title, full symphonic strength works quite well) or his “Unbegun Synphony”. You could even get one of the schools leading thespians to do Schikele-like announcements before the pieces, parodying the conductors of great orchestras (or, if you’re a Fantasia fan, Deems Taylor) trying to connect with their audiences before performing the Greats with lectures.
Just a few thoughts, if your orchestra is good enough, there’s no reason not to occasionally slip in some great classical music with the pop-sop, eh?
Pop Music Medley
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