These first piece that I listened to was Hoedown, because as creatures of habit and familiarity, I listened to the one that I knew. When I then listened to Putnam's Camp, I was a little shocked and uneasy, and although I did not enjoy the piece - it had many things in common with Hoedown.
Hoedown by Copland uses percussion to represent familiar sounds; for example, there was a percussion instrument used to simulate the trotting of a horse. The xylophone was also used - this piece is simple, but made more intricate and interesting by its percussion. There was a great deal of repeated melody in this piece. The opening - a higher pitched phrase, followed by a lower pitched phrase - is repeated many times, as is a phrase in the middle of the piece. Also, Copland uses a good amount of quiet, not silence per se, but a contrast between quieter times and then more striking beats. About half way through the music, there seems to be a conversation between a small group, perhaps two people. Again, this is symbolized through percussion, and it seems as though they are having a light, flirty conversation. This piece was very happy and upbeat - as if we"re growing up in the West without a care in the world.
There was not much information on this piece alone, rather there was a great deal of information to be found on Aaron Copland himself. Hoedown is from Rodeo, a ballet about a cowgirl growing up in the Wild West, who is trying to find a man. This was so fitting to the image that I had developed - right down to the trotting horses and the flirty conversation. This did not really change my idea of the music, instead it heightened my mental picture and made the story a bit more enjoyable.
The second piece, by Charles Ives (in Cleveland by vonDohnanyi?), was very sporadic it seemed to me. The very first thing that I envisioned by Putnam's "camp" was a military camp. But this camp was very disorganized and frantic right now.
