The drums and rhythms are the only musical ingredients that can compete with Merrill Garbus’ voice and lyrics in the song “Water Fountain.” Too often, dance music approves the vacant reverberation of let’s party or drunken I-don’t-care promiscuity that gives the serious listener second thoughts about sitting down and taking note of anything remotely connected to that genre of music. That is not the case here.
The song is high-speed vocalization that scats like machine gun fire. Even when the lyrics become repetitive, the fiercely driven delivery blazes with passion. There is no sense of the robotic aestheticism that so many dance tunes seem to carry. Garbus brings her lyrics like a wounded poet, yet leaves them riding the extreme rhythm of multiple instruments. Her melodies are as assertive as any song sung from the heart and it doesn’t take long to forget you are listening to a dance tune.
Her lyrical voice, however, has to be strong to be felt over the beat. A mosaic of swift deep bass, hollow tom-toms, and quick ringing bells, quickly get your feet tapping in an unconscious need to dance. The stacked rhythm grows with synthesized
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She unites soul with scat as she hits pinnacle after pinnacle of heartfelt lyrics. “Water Fountain” pulls the ear toward the powerful expressions again and again, which, considering the profoundly polyrhythmic beat, is no easy chore. The rhythmic churning stirs up emotions of a daily life in a repressed world when the singer bravely tells us, “Nothing feels like dying like the drying of my skin and lawn. Why do we just sit here while they watch us wither till we're gone? I can't seem to feel it. I can't seem to feel it.” Garbus’ lyrics feel like there is an emotional foot on her neck. While asserting her stance against water shortages, she gives us the feel of a good love gone
In addition to the elements of music, musical concepts such melody, harmony, and texture are also important to “The Piece of Resistance.” The song’s melody was played in a smoothly, connected manner, which means it is best described as a legato. This smooth melody resulted in a consonance harmony in the piece. There is a distinct main melody played throughout the song played by the drums being accompanied by the other instruments. Ultimately resulting in the different sounds competing for attention, which is a characteristic of the piece’s polyphonic texture.
At the beginning of Le Thi Diem Thuy’s novel, The Gangster We Are All Looking For, water provides a refuge to the narrator and her family by functioning as a pathway to a new and secured life. This water signifies a new beginning and becomes a dwelling place where the narrator retreats when searching for answers. As the narrator progresses in the story, her understanding of life also develops, and water in the story becomes a barrier; it never truly provides the answers or fixes the issues that engulf the narrator’s family like a surf on the beach. Instead, the water reflects the traumatic reality within the narrator’s life, whether she realizes it or not. Essentially, in The Gangster We Are All Looking For, water functions as a pathway and a barrier which illuminate the trauma that the narrator and her family experience in their lives after Vietnam’s colonization.
The song incorporates a slow-mid tempo, complex harmonies, appropriate use of legato and staccato, slightly swinging rhythm, warm and thin timbre, minimal vibrato, smooth melody, and a calm dynamic performance. The instrumentation of this song is composed of mainly R&B instruments such as: electric guitars, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, organ, electric pad, keyboard, strings, and a drum set with auxiliary percussion. The song is comprised of mostly minor notes and high pitches, making the vocals vary in range. The use of these musical elements makes the song delightful to listen.
The luxurious tone of Daisy’s voice snatches the attention of all who are nearby, urging them to listen to her siren-like cry. While at Nick’s house for tea, “ the exhilarating ripple of [Daisy’s] voice was a wild tonic in the rain” takes Nick on a journey, causing him to “follow the sound of it for a moment, up and down, with [his] ear alone, before any words came through” (85). Making Nick stop and listen to the bobbing rhythm of her voice, Daisy captures Nick’s ear and guides it on a riveting expedition. The voice leads Nick’s ear in a consistent pattern of up and down coercing him to listen to every beat. Daisy’s voice is unique in the sense that “it was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again” (9). With the use of a metaphor, Daisy’s voice becomes an arrangement of notes resembling a song, arranged in a specific lyrical pattern. Fresh in the mind of those
This was particularly exciting because the music was written and sung by Beyonce, a majority favorite. However, the costumes lacked coordination and seemed put together very last minute. Although, the purple and red vests did match the lighting which added a unique touch. The dance moves were fun and upbeat which allowed for the audience to enjoy themselves and experience the joy the dancers expressed. The dance truly attempted and succeeded at displaying the true spirit of Beyonce. Also, the dance moves seemed to have been carefully planned out to their fullest potential. The originality of the dance was exceptional which was one of the many components that cultivated its excellent
The melody sounds somber and serious and the energy of the dancers suddenly changes. A spoken word takes place and all of the dancer begin to tell their stories of pain and struggle through movements. The spoken word talks about the journey of men and women who overcame social injustice. In the dancer's movements you could clearly see how they correlated together. Movements were powerful and restraint at the same time giving the audience the idea of the women were pushing through something that was bearing them down. There was a lot of expansion in the chest, back, and arms followed by contractions in the body. As soon as the spoken word was finished the mood of the piece change again and the pianist began to play a upbeat tune that brought the dancers back in to a more positive and high spirit. A lot of polyrhythms take place as the dancers jump high and move their arms back and forth moving throughout the space. This happens in unison at first and then solos, trios, and duets happen in this section of the dance. The expression on their faces add charismatic charm to this piece. Their expressions continue to move them into different emotions and feelings that are relatable to everyday
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 dance that I will be focusing on is entitled: thinking sensing standing feeling object of attention. The dance, to me, symbolizes the socialization of persons in Western civilization concerning gender roles. In the beginning there are gestures that are separated from emotion and full-embodiment, but as the dance progresses the gestures become more meaningful and recognizable. The lighting starts out very specific and narrow, then the light encompasses the entire stage, and eventually the dancers are silhouetted as they return to a familiar movement motif in the end. The music is mainly instrumental with occasional soft female vocals, and the lyrics suggest emotion, which is interesting because the dancers do not convey emotion until
The track’s light and hypnotic production fuels the choreography, and captures the sense of freedom and bliss seeminglessly with each motion. A theme that is set to be carried into Ainsworth’s sophomore album, Darling Of The Afterglow, due out March 31st,
My body tingles, still feeling the need to be on the dance floor, moving with the music. Everything is soft and a little bit muted around me, and it all seems brighter. Everything is funny, so funny, I can’t stop laughing. I didn’t drink did I? It doesn’t matter, because everything feels so good now. So good, until a
The song really tells us that we must take risks in life. When given the option we must dance, no matter how silly we look instead of sitting out on the opportunity. This translate to being a senior, I have many choices in my life and if I want to go far, I must take chances and have the courage to go out, to dance instead of sitting out and missing chances.
He creates this dance-like feel in a variety of ways. Firstly, the 2/4 time signature makes the music feel upbeat compared to the 4/4 time signature of the rest of the piece. Secondly, the sforzando accent on the first beat of every bar drives the music onwards. Also the catchy, short and rhythmic melody is lively and metronomic. Finally the fiddle-like manner in which the violins play creates a sense of a dance. There are unexpected changes and dramatic dynamic changes throughout the trio which are both romantic qualities. The fact that this movement moves seamlessly into the next is also romantic.
People and music have an extraordinary relationship; neither can truly exist beyond the conventional confines of life without the other. The unity which people and music share on various levels within life is obviously recognizable but is regularly overlooked. On the fundamental side of life, music and people can offer so much more when taken into careful consideration. Judging off appearance, whether that’s the name of a song or a person’s appearance, is never justifiable. The best qualities of music and people are objective.
The pattern of the song has a beat that repeats itself at a fixed rate. In addition to the fixed rate, the song has an accent where one beat is emphasized and this can be heard by the increased volume of that specific note. Towards the end of the song, the melodic contour of the song can be described as a descending melodic contour as the pitches descend from high to low. This is done by the artist holding out their voices for a lengthened amount of time. Furthermore, the phonic structure of this piece can be described as a monophonic piece. Monophony means that the performers play the same pitches with the same rhythms. Even though the song incompasses a wide varitey of instruments, the rhythm of the song stays relatively the same Another important aspect of the song is the dynamics. The beginning of the song can be classified as a crescendo because of the increased musical sound from the instruments, however, towards the end there is a decrescendo as the volume falls off and the artists holds on and extends the last note. The crescendo in the beginning of the song is interesting to note because the song starts off acapella and gradually the volume begins to increase when the first musical instrument comes into play. Last but not least, this piece of music contains a lot of repetition. The vocal repetition of the songs title serves as a
When I saw the piece, named, “Lapa’s Lament, I thought it was very unique and interesting. When the dancers were doing several movements with it, I got very confused. As a result, this confusion caused me to draw all the attention towards the dancer and to their performance. After a dance progresses, dancers were trying to tell a story with their movements. I think some of the dance movements, they were doing was very fascinating to watch. As a result, I was trying to make the whole story in my mind, as it was very unclear for me, what they were doing, but when Randy James came and talk little bit about the dance, I would able to understand what the dance is about. The way his dancers performed by showing their emotions, I thought it was incredibly performed. I felt that this dance was not losing its limelight throughout the performance. That is, the way they were communicating with each other through their body language and physical contact was just amazing. It shows their effort, as the dance steps included twisting and tumbling. Some of the dance steps, I have never saw in any of the dance companies who came to performed. I felt the dance was full of body movements, and I thought it would require a lot of physical strength to perform this kind of