As it has grown obvious to see, musical works are a much more complex arrangement than they seem. They have a multitude of components that blend and build off one another to achieve the perfect sound. From the timbre that describes the musical traits of an instrument to the element of time, each feature is of equal importance. By simply overlooking one element when composing music, one can completely alter the entire piece. On the evening of July 18, 2003, the musical pieces performed were representative of the Contemporary Era. Overall, Choral Academy Concert composed a wonderful evening that exhibited the musical components that a critic looks for.

Time seems to be a rather elementary element of music. However, when it is broken down, the aspect of time encompasses quite a bit. For example, as Ms. Valerie Austin suggests, it envelopes the meter, tempo, and rhythm. It is not solely contingent on the duration of a movement. The second song of the evening, or the first documented piece in the program was Viva Tutti by Edward Ralph Hunter. As a brief side note about this piece, the title is written in Italian. However, as Ms. Valerie Austin described, it means “we are friends together”. The lyrics of this piece were sung rather briskly. This was due to the fast tempo other wise known as the brisk “speed of the beat” (Kamien, 34). The tempo also assists in establishing the mood of the movement. In this particular piece, the ambiance of the song was very optimistic. This characteristic can also be described as vivace or “lively” (Kamien, 34). Although the tempo ranges slightly, it was always consistently cheerful. Furthermore, the pace of the rhythm is balanced by the conductor, Calton Kilapatrick. Maestro Kilapatrick kept the accompaniment as well as the vocalists in sync. Also, when keeping them in unison, he established the tempo. If he simply rushed the song along, the tempo would have sped up and in turn left the audience in a different mood. Further on in the program, the Girls Ensemble sang Set Me a Seal by Rene Clausen. The composition of the piece was simply four beats per meter. This in turn made this particular movement rather relaxed in reference to the tempo.

The concept of musical form is a rather vague idea, related to the composition of a piece. The description can be simply stated as, “organization of musical elements in time” (Kamien, 52). At the Choral Academy Concert, the musical form was slightly difficult to recognize. Each piece seemed to only have one movement. Not only did it sound this way to the audience, but the program did not recognize more than one movement of a particular piece. However, the program was broken down into sections of the concert. To begin, the boy’s ensemble performed four songs until the Girls’ Choir dominated the stage and presented five pieces. Then, after each individual ensemble completed their portion, various arrangements of males and females sang together. However, since there were twenty-

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