Repetitious Vs Ostinato

Everything in this piece was thought of in specific detail in order to portray the intent as well as possible. For example, in this work there are three distinct sections and for each new section, there is a new song that is played. The songs used in this work are ‘Something About John Coltrane’ by

First we hear beautiful traditional classical music, then the fragment is recorded and sent back to the hall and re-recorded, which generates an amplifying sound effect. This makes the orchestra sound like organs playing for a mass in a church. When the recordings are replayed and repeated, the music become percussive echoes, and looping echoes soon outstand the meaningful score, leaving resonant frequencies physically fill the space. When one fragment ends in frequencies, another fragment launches with clear notes. In this piece, the fading of meaning and reappearance of it reminds of me ocean waves. A wave rises high as a wall so that we can see water in an identifiable form, just like we can understand sound through scores; as the wave hits the shore, breaks and disappears, ripples and bubbles become evidences of the wave’s existence, just like we can tell that music once was there through the frequencies. When the music lost its meaning, the audience subjectivity also vanishes. Personal preference over music genre no longer exists, all we share is the same space and same frequencies translated through air and the material that reflected the

I have chosen to share three of my favorite pieces. Each piece is different by genre, artist, style, and time. These three pieces should be familiar to most of the populations’ ears. I tried to choose different types of pieces because I do not like to listen to the same artists or genre. My personal musical taste is a variety of genres and choosing the three pieces represents my musical mixture.

The title of the first song is “Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9” , preformed by the Youtube Symphony Orchestra and written by Hector Berlioz. It is a classical piece composed by Michael Tilson Thomas. The tempo for this song was all over the place. It starts off as a crescendo, then towards the end of the crescendo it becomes a mezzo-forte allegro. Suddenly it drops down to a pianissimo largo. It goes on like that for a few more steady beats then turns into a piano. As more instruments join in, it becomes a mezzo-piano adagio. When the chorus comes on it turns into an allegro. Throughout most of it, it is legato. There were many times in the beginning and end that it was an accelerando, but through most of the middle it is a ritardando. I could not tell what the meter was for this song because it seemed like it was all over the place. For rhythm, I noticed that there were a few parts that were repeated, but there was not any syncopation. The melody was predominantly conjunct and it seemed to be very tuneful. The harmony became a little dissonant in the beginning, but during most of it, it was consonant. The texture was homophonic because there were many instruments playing for most of it. The only time it was monophonic was at the start when there was a solo. The concert section that was an allegro, put me in thrilled mood. The decrescendo largo part was so moving that it made me want to cry. Overall, I liked it, it was very consonant, which made it pleasing to listen to. It was very good because the temp was vivace for a good amount of the song. This music made me picture a relationship between a man and a woman. Throughout parts they fight and during other parts they don’t, but no matter what they do, they are very passionate throughout it all.

This journal is about the musical piece composed by a man named Benjamin Britten titled The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This piece was surprisingly interesting to me as it created different feelings of emotions through the instruments volume, sync, and rhythm. I do like various instrumental styles of music, however, I was hesitant about listening to a classical style orchestra. Throughout the piece it seemed the sounds would constantly change, which reminded me of the early black and white cartoons that relied on classical style music to show the emotions they were trying to make the audience feel. For example, I remember a scene from an episode of the old cartoon Popeye, when there was fast paced instrumental music in the background while Popeye was saving Olive Oyl from a dangerous situation and they both were running to get to safety. The xylophone from Bitten’s composition is what made me think of that exact episode of Popeye and Olive Oly running to get to safety.

Although I enjoyed both pieces of music I really enjoyed the works of Gustav Mahler and his piece Lied von der Erde. This piece is rich in drama. I feel that the texture used is this song is imitative polyphony. I feel that there are various parts in this song that use the similar melodies. I feel that the harmony between the two vocalists were right on with each other and the orchestra. You can hear the brass instruments in the very beginning of the songs then the strings, wind instruments along with the piano and keyboards begin to make their entrance. They come together very strong but in a peaceful way at first. Towards the middle of the song the tempo and rhythm really picks up (it seems as if all of their emotions are bursting out) then it slowly begins to drop back to slower movements. You can really hear the strings during this time. But surprisingly enough just when you think the song is going to end boom your hit again. This song keeps you on the edge of your

     The fifth piece was called Epileptical Bipolarity by Chris Wheeler. The piece was written for trumpet with a piano accompaniment. It had three movements; the first was centered mainly on the trumpet. It started with low notes and a slow tempo and built to a lively and quick expression of joy and energy. The second movement was played with the trumpet muted. It was much, much slower in tempo and used much lower notes, played within a very small range. The third movement starts out livelier and continues with an upbeat sound. The melody seems almost recognizable and is, therefore, comforting to listen to after the sad second movement. Then the melody stops abruptly and the piano joins in to finish the song.

There was a return to a monophonic texture for the cello and the dynamics became pianissimo. Since this movement’s form was ostinato, I heard short melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic patterns repeated. This piece was long, at twelve minutes, and at one point I stopped taking notes, in awe of what I was hearing. The entire piece felt symmetrical to me and was sing able throughout. Beethoven’s Sonata 3, Opus 69 nears a close with a texture that was heterophonic, dynamics that go from forte to piano and a bright tone color for cello and piano. The melody remained conjunct with a contour that was wavelike, by ascending and descending, especially for the piano. The tempo returned to allegro throughout this piece and ended with the dynamics returning to forte and the final cadence as the harmony resolved in consonance.

The audience was wrapped in the complexity and intensity that radiated in this piece. This was due to the disjunct melody, as the piece sounded generally uneven, with recurring wide leaps as the piece had a wide range. It was mesmerizing, watching the technique and fast pace hand movements. Furthermore, the song had a general homophonic texture as there was a clear dominant melody being played, with a few different chords supporting the melody. Despite there being a few tempo changes as the song alternated in pace, the piece sustained a duple meter, emphasizing on the jazz rhythm. The uniqueness of the piece was especially brought out through the frequent dissonance harmony, which made the piece more interesting to listen to. The piece had an overall free rhythmic feel, allowing the combination of distinctive rhythms and dynamics into a unique melody. The timbre of the piano matched the style of music as it was successful in giving the jazzy tone to the piece. Nevertheless, I think that the use of a full orchestra is more successful in delivering the full jazz melody as each instruments timbre provides an interesting influence on the

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.

After listening to the three samples of music I decided to pick was Machaut: Ma fin est mon commencement. In this piece is sung with three voices which makes it a polyphony. The piece has a rondeau form giving a song a repetition feel. Out of the three pieces I would say I enjoyed this one the most, because this song has a pleasant feel to is compared to the other ones.

The very first music piece started off slow but then flutes and chimes came in and took the song to a different level. It then later on has the same type of beat which helps it continue to flow. I really like the flute solo that was played around the middle of the song. In the next song it starts out as if it is a church choir. The song sounds serious and probably takes part of some ritual or ceremony. The third song sounds very inviting and calm. This song also is song by a choir or a group of people. Throughout the video the church is present so in that case this means that this song had an importance inside the church. The beginning of the fourth song is different by how the drums are the first things you hear. In this song you will also presence all the songs playing at the same time. The

The piece starts of with a light sound and homophonic texture. The bass, piano, saxophone, and trumpet are on the melody with the drums countering underneath. Soon, the saxophone comes in with a solo over the rest of the instruments. This solo is flowy and lingering. The melody seems to be conjunct. I envisioned a person ice skating, gliding around on the ice without tripping or stumbling. As the saxophone settles out, there is a decrescendo. There is a combination between a homophonic texture of saxophone and trumpet over bass, drums, and piano and polyphonic textures of the bass, piano, and drums playing various different melodies. This created a great deal of tension with made for a not so tonal rhythm. In this part, the ice skater is doing a lot of starting and stopping, stumbling. The piece ended with a short, but complete cadence that resolved the

The song was called “Funk Indeed Free”. The texture to this song was very soft. Not all the instruments were competing with each other like the last song. The song had some form to it aside from the trumpet. The trumpet was very wild and had many different ranges. The melody was the same throughout the song aside from the trumpet as well. There was a steady flow throughout the whole song. The dynamic of the song was very calm and quiet aside from the trumpet. I didn’t appreciate that because it was so distracting. The tempo was at a mild pace. Not all the instruments were played during this song. It was only 2 instruments played at a time during the whole time.

In the first section, A, I recognized the usage of a piano, synthesizers, and a drum set. Different parts of the drumset, like the cymbals and the bass drum, are playing at a pianissimo and slowly crescendo up to a mezzo piano. In the music, the drum set plays a big role in the leaps it presents when it starts creating a beat. The synthesizers create different sounds which add to the music of the song. The sounds created sound, out of this world when they crescendo and decrescendo in section A. The last instrument plays a big part as the harmony. The piano is the harmony which is played at a dynamic of piano and mezzo piano. Although the tempo is Allegro, this part of the music is calm and happy, making