A performance of the Prelude from J.S. Bach's Suite No. 5 in c minor for solo cello.
Kian Raissian
Spring 2020
The Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello are often recognized as the most prolific set piece for cello, with even the most skilled cellists calling them the Mt. Everest of cello playing. Apart from providing a substantial part of the cello repertoire, the Suites continue to catch the attention of all musicians, classical or otherwise, for their use of endless hidden harmonies. Many contemporary solo cello pieces also take harmonic cues from the Suites.
These underlying harmonies drive each of the six movements comprising each of the six suites and are the reason why many cellists and musicians often refer to them as Self-Accompanied Suites.Each of the suites’ latter five movements are all in dance form, and are preceded by a movement called a Prelude, or an introduction to the suite that establishes the key and provides both the cellist and listener with a groundwork for listening to the rest of the suite. While the Preludes can stand alone within the framework of the Suites, the Prelude to the Fifth Suite manages to separate itself from the other five Preludes in almost every way. Firstly, the entire fifth Suite is written for a cello where the uppermost string—the A string—is tuned down a whole tone. A technique called scordatura, simply meaning detuning, completely changes the instrument’s tone quality (especially on that string) and because of that string’s looser tension on the instrument, it allows the cello to resonate differently than it normally does.
This Prelude is also written in two distinct sections: an introduction and a fugue. The introduction is more free-form and contains broad chords which act as a demonstration of what effects the scordatura tuning has on the instrument. The second half is in fugue form, and is much more rhythmic than the introduction. It is in this section where Bach’s work of incorporating intricate harmonies into his composition shines the brightest. Moments of deceptive resolutions and recalls to the main motif of the fugue take the listener on a journey where they feel as though they are being taken home and almost instantaneously transported to another setting over and over again.
My journey with this piece hasn’t been the most orthodox and the context in which I explored this piece most certainly allowed me to appreciate it on a completely different level. I started learning this piece at the beginning of April, in Morgantown, WV. I spent the past year learning Brahms Cello Sonata in F Major, but without access to a pianist, my plans had to drastically change. I have never had any reason to go to Morgantown, but the closing of our school due to COVID-19 forced my good friends and I to make a choice: spend the rest of our college experience in our homes, not knowing when we would see each other again, or move to Morgantown, where the family of one of our friends generously offered us a place to stay with each other on property they owned. While we knew where we were going and how long we would stay, the feeling of uncertainty around every other aspect of our lives was at the forefront of our minds. We were suddenly trying to balance schoolwork (now online), meals, managing and maintaining our living space, limiting our exposure to the outside world, and most importantly, our mental health. While this experience has both allowed me to appreciate the bonds I share with people with whom I have experienced the past three and a half years of my life, it has left me feeling a bit homesick at the same time. Learning this piece in this context of my life has allowed me to bring myself home in all aspects except the physical sense and calm much of the uncertainty that this experience has brought on. Both cello and the Suites have been a pivotal part of my life ever since I started playing as a 5 year old. The two sections of this Prelude, the freeform and the more structured, allow me to reflect on times of freedom and structure in my life. While my academic life at school was more structured, I had more freedom with my time outside of academics. At this point in my life, my academic life is less structured, with many of my projects being self-directed, but my life outside is much more limited.
This is my first Album focusing on my upbringing and who I am now. It’s a retrospective of where life has taken me. This album’s main message is that Rascal lived life from moment to moment holding onto whatever he could. To the end of the album to ideal changes to see what he can get out of life.
I’m Rascal a rapper and producer from Nashville Tennessee living in Massachusetts. I’ve loved
hip hop music since I was five years old listening to Black Eyed Peas’ album Elephunk. I was
never was too plugged into mainstream hip hop growing up but listened to groups like Blue
Scholars and Doomtree. Their work influences how I make and interact with music today. Blue
Scholars’ music has a deep focus on staying informed and being policy engage. Doomtree As a
group focuses on challenging ideas of society with socialism and anarchy.
I want to make music to express how I feel about life and how I feel about society. I want to celebrate the highs and lows of life and express vulnerability as a strength. I want to stand up to the structure in society that forces us to be something we are not.
Verse 1
Born to fly doing the music sity slide,
Duck up ta bean town is where I resided,
From a little rascal becoming big trouble,
Stuck in a bubble, standing up in my struggle,
Working so hard that the vision started to double,
That not enough to start me mumbling in this muzzle,
But this is not about them its about me,
Just a little black boy coming from Tennessee,
Fixing my pipes take my voice and amplify,
Engineer, activist, artist are areas I modify,
Just call me a maker if you want simplify,
Pain power and joy on that I will testify,
Chorus
Keep moving no matter what I achieve,
No brake never stopping till bare my wings,
I've done things, ones you won't believe,
I'm in the here and now but the past keeps pulling me,
My heart down in the lock of this beat,
Other players want to take that shit and reheat,
I've done things, ones you won't believe,
I'm in the here and now but the past keeps pulling me,
Verse 2
Pulling me like fast and furious makin' other trilogy,
Should I stand up when brothers are pushing me with bigotry,
Should I give them the symphony when puttin' down women in the industry,
Quickly, recheck my life I do that liberally,
I can not fuck off, I was just getting started,
I been pressin' down on this the gas pedal for too long,
And you stay wondering why your friends are all gone,
Rolling with a crew becoming more furious the furious,
Lost the grandmaster on a 50-meter march,
Cleat up, ripping me out from my mark,
I'll be off, but I'll get back on,
Sit here for a while, I teach you the lexicon,
As a boy, you couldn't catch me,
Oh please don't shoot me my picked of fill with little things,
Just ride the beat in some tight jeans,
Stand up sit down that's what the groove means,
Stand up sit down that's what the groove means,
Chorus
Verse 1
I feeling like I'm cracking the ceiling, bustin out the windows,
Tried of these sucker drinking Coke Zero,
Tried of standing in front of a crowd "look it the black hero,"
Seeing their heads whip when they figure out that I'm a fuckin' weirdo,
Bobbing my head Mr. D saying I'm too loud,
Turning their heads Mr. D saying I'm too much,
With Billy telling me that I'm too cool,
If ya just chut up you would learn a thing or two,
There more to this world than your stupid principle,
Your health food, bad lessons, are making us miserable,
So don't tell me to fight hate with love,
They hit us with the push we will hit them the shove,
Verse 2
They look at me like I am visible,
Man who this punk being so cynical,
But how it went I'm trying to prevent,
Our dissent with some content,
Devil's out of the closet president skeleton,
Mob's pickin' side you knees a gelatin,
Ignorant the stock is not the only raise interest,
Tried of a government run a circus it finished,
Out with the Klan and the man with a fake-ass suntan,
Holding an iron over a sleepy man who better do the plan,
The past can not be the norm,
Fucked over, no matter the color of the uniform,
Hey you are listen,
I can make you understand my existence,
But Google is free,
So I'll bring the heat when you come in with ignoress
Verse
12 bars
Not safe at home, not a safe school,
Not in the street or in your neighborhood,
You could get your whole murder on tape,
Still, a chance that your case gets overlook,
The news paints you criminal, police misunderstood,
Nine minutes on his neck hold your breath for the killer get the book,
This is black and white simple as human right,
I want to ride my bike back home at night
guaranteed that tomorrow my grandmother’s eye without tear,
Still, we been living here So I got no fear,
White-collar wondering why there heat in the beat,
When black bodies caught by pigs in the street so,
8 bar
You want talk about something more positive?
This generation could end a conversation that's ominous,
About how to survive encountering the police,
So stand up, on your feet, no justice no peace,
Black live matter, yea, you can say that,
But we need you to say it louder for the people in back,
From Seattle to Jacksonville let me hear your voice,
We can't give the system an inch to make that choice,
Outro
We tired of dying we tired of fighting,
We tired of media and cops keep lying,
What you do when the people are tired of protest,
Up all night man wondering what comes next.
Verse 1
They shouting at me, I can hear the siren cries,
Of pain power and joy, procrastinating to finalize,
Ruin attention span with a photo or an audio,
Holding me in stereo losing seconds in a micro,
Fully automatic man,
Hold bills he'll never earn,
Sittin' still with a plan,
Waiting patiently for his turn,
Tying my shoes so I don't hit the concrete,
I got my degree to walk in the rodeo,
Big heads tell me I'm live comfortably,
Forget about ambition of who I am and who I want to be,
Moving me out on big house end of cul de sac,
Laying down pipes broad in the street light,
Pain power and joy is how they see right,
Would you still recognize me if I left the pack,
4 bar break,
Verse 2 {33-44} 12 bar
Forget your morals to preotect a bottom line,
Look at the skin to tell if they done a crime,
This shit makes you give in sit silent,
Give up a bail give a penny couple spins,
We stay locked up in that cycle,
Live vicariously through some idols,
I think I can break out the spiral,
I stuck watching Tik-Tok that go viral,
Would you still recognize me if I left the pack,
Would you still love me what I get them off my back,
Became beast to stop the world for harming,
Or would that just be something you find alarming?
Verse 1
They shouting at me, I can hear the siren cries,
Of pain power and joy, procrastinating to finalize,
Ruin attention span with a photo or an audio,
Holding me in stereo losing seconds in a micro,
Fully automatic man,
Hold bills he'll never earn,
Sittin' still with a plan,
Waiting patiently for his turn,
Tying my shoes so I don't hit the concrete,
I got my degree to walk in the rodeo,
Big heads tell me I'm live comfortably,
Forget about ambition of who I am and who I want to be,
Moving me out on big house end of cul de sac,
Laying down pipes broad in the street light,
Pain power and joy is how they see right,
Would you still recognize me if I left the pack,
4 bar break,
Verse 2 {33-44} 12 bar
Forget your morals to preotect a bottom line,
Look at the skin to tell if they done a crime,
This shit makes you give in sit silent,
Give up a bail give a penny couple spins,
We stay locked up in that cycle,
Live vicariously through some idols,
I think I can break out the spiral,
I stuck watching Tik-Tok that go viral,
Would you still recognize me if I left the pack,
Would you still love me what I get them off my back,
Became beast to stop the world for harming,
Or would that just be something you find alarming?