Later, the strings came in as an accompanying section along with the guitar playing chords. After the English horn finished the melodic solo, Mr. Williams played the melodic line, which is almost identical to that of the English horn. Mr. Williams’s solo was very melancholic, yet uplifting. Both the soloist and the orchestra were very sensitive to harmonic changes and drama during the movement. The cadenza was very impressive musically and technically.
The voice has the role of the main melody while the drum kit creates a layer of rhythmic pattern. The bass guitar creates a bass line. We can also see counter melodies being played by the melodic instruments while there are chords being played by the synthesizer and accordion to give it a background feel. Instrumentation The piece uses both folk and pop instruments. For example, the synthesizer, Wurlitzer piano, bass guitar and the drum kit is used.
There were also different types of folk music even before the American slave era, the songs based from different melodies told stories and were passed down generation by generation. Folk music was when manual labour was happening and the workers wanted something to cheer them up, keep them motivated. So they sang, this was folk music as well. Generally opinions differ of the creation of folk music. People said it reflects the character of the race that made it, some said it came from the reasons that I’ve already said.
For example, the song at times changes from a quiet saxophone soli, to a loud shout chorus, to a uniquely created improvised solo. The second track on this album—“Love Theme from Hair”—is my favorite on the CD. I like this song because it is a soft ballad that is simplistically happy. Mike Vax delves into this tune and explores range, melody and emotion as the featured soloist. This song is not a standard or an original, but it holds a special place in my jazz repertoire.
There are also blues inflections in the vocal and guitar duet where the flat 3rd is emphasised by bending the notes at the beginning of phrases. The use of blues notes are very common in the style due to the heavy blues influence in New Orleans Jazz. Chromaticism is also featured in Duke Ellington’s Koko, again blues notes are used, for example in bar 8 of Nantons trombone solo he uses a fragment of the blues scale making use of the flattened 5th, 3rd and 7th. Another example of Chromaticism in Koko is in the double bass solos where Blanton plays descending chromatic phrases. The use of chromatic notes adds to the mood created by the minor blues chord progression.
Subbuteo: This song is odd in structure as it has no chorus, it does however have a certain part of the vocal melody that is repeated at intervals to add some aspect of continuity. The song has a very full feel, the rhythm is very low pitched and is handled by a bass drum and an upright double bass. The guitar, although playing the main melody, provides a harmony around which the melodies from the flute and clarinet are based during the instrumental breaks. , there is a second guitar strumming a harmony however it is almost inaudible up until the clarinet section at the end. The flute and clarinet play alternate, subtle flourishes during the verses.
The second version was Pretty Polly #826 (PP826). This song was a capella but a female was singing instead. Some similarities I caught between the two songs were in fact that they were both a capella and were of the same music genre. They were very “twaingy” songs; they both had singers with strong Arkansas accents. The songs are both telling a story about a woman named Polly and each have a man named Willie in the story as well.
Gallo’s piece of music would have had a fourth instrument (i.e. a harpsichord) to fill out the harmonies, but Stravinsky instead uses the whole orchestra to double notes and fill out additional harmonies. At the same time he also adds chromaticism to these chords (e.g. adding an A to the G major chord in bar 3), including the use of open strings in the second violin part (G-D-A). This is unusual as open strings were generally avoided in Gallo’s time as they were bare.
Collective improvisations are when different front-line group instruments all play their improvisations at the same time! They also used polyphonic texture, which is when ‘the cornet or trumpet plays the main melody with variations, and against which the clarinet plays a higher countermelody and the trombone a lower countermelody with much sliding between the notes’(http://www.last.fm/music/Original+Dixieland+Jazz+Band). The last characteristic is that they were often played in use of the 12- Bar blues progressions. One of the well-known piece is ‘When The Saints Go
Appleton Middle School Spring Concert Gamelan Walter Cummings (1916-1999) 5:15 Grade Level 2 Many musical concepts are relevant in Walter Cummings’ Gamelan. Playing in unison and focusing on intonation are key. Dynamics also play a key role in portraying the medieval aspect of this piece. Longtown Legacy Cedric Adderley 4:17 Grade Level 2 This piece can teach harmony, moving out of the way of the melody, adjusting intonation, and balancing the sound with the ensemble as a whole. Shenandoah Frank Ticheli(1958) 6:45 Grade Level 3 Shenandoah consists of a melodious blend of suspending chords, solo instruments and dynamics.