A Cord Of Three Strands Analysis

I attended the Baylor University Concert Jazz Ensemble directed by Alex Parker on Tuesday, November 10th. This ensemble consisted of saxes, trombones, trumpets, drums, a piano, and bass. The concert showcased many individual talents by including solo’s or duet’s in every song. The program consisted of seven songs with no intermission. The pieces I selected were “Big Dipper” by Thad Jones and “Undecided” by Frank Mantooth.

The first movement began with a very strong texture as the music reflected a very powerful theme. It began with the heavy instrumentation from the strings including cellos, violins, and basses. The tempo was also relatively fast and generally upbeat. About a minute and half in there was a very noticeable solo by the violins which was a bit softer in terms of the texture. The melody seemed to be very upbeat and cheerful. Lasting the form of the movement was very well structured and the instruments backed each other up smoothly.

This piece has quite a few elements like the use of musical ideas. There are both A and B ideas expressed through the music lasting no longer than six seconds. This of course is different pertaining to solos due to the fact

The syncopated rhythms that initiate “Duality” are also velvety. They are an integral part of a magical soundscape, which, even shifting along the way, maintains both the consistency and stability. The improvisations are further extended here, beginning with Cowherd, who pulls out interesting melodic lines over exuberant chord changes. Giving the best sequence to a short bridge, packed with horn unisons and counterpoint, it’s Walden who, taking advantage of the recently appeared balladic tones, makes his alto saxophone cry and beseech intensely within an outstanding, repeatedly motivic post-bop language. Holding an absolute control of tempo, “Broken Leg Days” closes the session, flowing elegantly while Blade's drumming brings together simple rudiments and dynamic rhythmic

The next song on the playlist was called “Everything Happens To Me”. The texture to this was very soft as well. The instruments were playing off each other but it was still a freestyle type of song. I think jazz is generally played like freestyle. There was no melody to this song. The rhythm was not existent as well. It was more of a free flowing song. This song had a very quiet dynamic. It sounded very romantic like something out of a movie. The tempo of the song was very slow and mild but the trumpet was going very fast. The cello and the drums had a portion of the song where they fed off each other’s energy and the trumpet was doing its own thing.

It features guitarist Scott Hesse’s rapid runs and cascading ostinatos, saxophonist Greg Ward’s emotional yet electrifying phrasing over dynamic rhythmic activity, and Marquis Hill's diaphanous melodicism delivered within a storytelling that bears fragments of swing.

With an impactful dramatic punch, “New Groove” is buoyed by hi-hat cymbal and a groovy cadence of piano and bass. The tune features the singular verbalization of saxophonist Rich Perry intercalated with orchestral usurpations.

In the piece the performing force were for sure the clarinet, played by Rich Moore, and piano, played by Philip Spencer. In the beginning it sounded very elegant and peaceful. It gave the feeling of being submerged in nature on a sunny and warm day. The mood of this was definitely happy and joyful. Further along the viola, played by Jackie Moore, make an appearance and it seems to be in conflict with the clarinet. It felt like a fight between good, portrayed by the clarinet, and bad portrayed by the viola. This completely changed the mood from joyful to suspenseful and dangerous. The piano, during this part, felt like the narrator of the “battle”. The tone color changed a bit from the beginning from warm and smooth to warm still but added a bit of coldness with the viola added. Throughout the rest of the piece it was a lot of back and forth, but it seemed to come to an end when both the viola and clarinet come to a happy ending. The texture of the composition was, for the most part, entirely was polyphonic with at times homophonic, an example was in the beginning with the piano and clarinet. Since this was composed in 1786, in the classical era, the rhythm had sudden changes and gradual increases and decreases in energy especially during the “battle” between the viola and

The piece starts beautifully with a minor and starts to build up slowly and gradually. The first movement was absolutely abstract. It builds up a soothing feeling inside of you. The music is slow and peaceful. It just takes me to somewhere peaceful. It gives a calming sense and takes away all the tension from

On November 10, 2016, the jazz guitar ensemble at Palm Beach State College had their first concert for the fall semester with a special performance by the 2:00 Jazz Sextet directed by Neil Bacher and co-directors David Gibble and Stephen Scott. The Jazz Guitar Ensemble performed five pieces including “Bittersweet,” “On Green Dolphin Street,” and “Bill’s Bay” – Last two pieces very different in style had allowed the audience to enjoy the variety sounds of jazz music.

I enjoyed a wonderful jazz concert on Saturday night, to an audience about eighty people. Most of the audiences were college students and elders and it was not hard to tell that everyone was expecting this concert very much. At about 8:20pm, the concert started. Kei Akaji, the pianist and composer, introduced himself and his friends to the audience humorously and briefly. Then, 4 instruments assemble were gathering in the center of the stage and 10 wonderful jazz pieces was presented. Each piece lasted for 10-20 minutes in length and Akaji gave a brief introduction of each piece before the start. Led by Akaji, this concert combined classical jazz bass section and jazz form, but explored more possibilities of improvisation of modern jazz. Some of these pieces were written by Akaji himself and had his strong personal style. However, an interesting thing about this concert was that even though those four musicians were playing the same composition, they could express the same melody with their different personal styles.

It started with a rather slow tempo that had a call and answer type of theme, with the call part being more loud and dramatic while the answer was soft and then after a part that flowed without the call and answer theme, it was vice versa- so the call part was soft and the answer was louder and more dramatic. This movement faded out and into a slightly more fast paced part, however it wasn’t the end of that movement because it wasn’t a complete stop. The second movement was quicker and much shorter than the first movement. The third movement was very similar to the first, in that it was a little slow and has very short pauses that fade into a different paced part of the same movement. This movement had variations to the first theme and had a short harpsichord solo. The fourth movement, Menuetto alternativo- trio had a faster pace and sounded like a non imitative polyphony with the violins and viola as the main melody and the cello and harpsichord as the second melody at most times and as the background accompaniment at other times. The last movement was much louder, more dramatic and more lively than the rest of the movements.This movement had multiple parts that sounded were crescendo and then decrescendo. They finished the song with crescendo and it was a very dramatic ending. Most of the movements in this piece were played by the strings, and the harpsichord was rarely heard because the strings overpowered it and were much louder than the

The piece begins and continues with the piano, bass, and set playing the same rhythms over and over and ends with them playing the same rhythms even after the piano and bass have inprov solos. Davis begins the melody by stating a theme and then improvising on it some before the solo fades out and the saxophone soloist picks it up and embellishes the theme more. In a similar way, Norudde’s song “Josses, Polska efter Magnus Olsson” begins with the Nordic mandola setting a simple rhythmic harmony to give the melodic lines, established by the fiddle and cello, a steady ground to play on. The repetitive nature of this piece is established by both the melody and the harmony. The simple beat is played with Nordic mandola over and over and the melody is added on top of it. Two different themes are presented towards the beginning of the piece and are played

The Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble Program is a rare and unique opportunity to devote eight-weeks to the intensive study of contemporary music. The festival’s high-level of performance, interaction with living composers, and the outstanding faculty attract me to this program. Some of my most memorable musical experiences have involved performing contemporary music and working with living composers.

On October 5th, the Auburn University Chamber Winds and Symphonic Winds performed a collection of pieces from different time periods including: The Classical period, the 20th century period, and the Modern period. All of the pieces, except for the last piece and the pieces that were not conducted, were conducted by either Michael Cater, Zack Deininger, Ethan Lolley, or Meghan Miller, who are all graduate conductors.