Homophony

On Tuesday night, December 8th of 2015. I waited impatiently by the Great Hall of the CCNY Shepard Hall. Seven twenty-three pm I looked at the clock on my phone. Small groups of people starts to enter the open door to the Great hall. Confusingly, I walk to the door and pick up the program note to CCNY choral concert. I went to the seating area and pick the row at the back. When everyone gathered, a man caught everyone’s attention, Ira Spaulding, introduced himself as the conductor of the concert…

There are many film techniques involved in the film Julia. The movie Julia begins with a one camera shot, which adds the appreciation of the entrance. After the opening, the water images use the technique of lap dissolve to transition to the scene of the actor is talking. While the character is typing on the type writer admiring the world, she gets up to leave the room, and the technique of panning is used to follow her into the other room. Panning is used throughout the whole movie, but this is…

Favorite Song Analysis: Bill Withers, “Lovely Day” My favorite song is “Lovely Day”, performed by R&B artist Bill Withers. The date of the composition was December 16, 1977 and it was released as a single. "Lovely Day" peaked at #6 on the Billboard R&B chart and at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US in early 1978.[1] Rhythm “Lovely Day” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYi7uEvEEmk) is a song that I impart into my life on a daily basis, mainly because of its positive message and…

“A real musical culture should not be a museum culture based on music of past ages... It should be the active embodiment in sound of the life of a community- of the everyday demands of people’s work and play and of their deepest spiritual needs.” (Wilfred Mellers, pg. 54). Music is always changing and adapting based on how people feel and what people like. Some people prefer to listen to choral works, while others are more interesting in instrumental music. Throughout history we have been able…

Shakespeare in his Sonnet 135, uses homoerotic language, transgressive sexuality, universalizing views in his attempts to bring the Golden Young Man to bed. Sonnet 135 is full of homoerotic language queer theorists would not call it ‘coded’ at all. The homophony allows the reader to explore all sorts of sexualized ideas and expressions. Throughout the sonnet word play on will, is used to mean three things; Will the speaker, will as in the will of man expressing something…

chaotic than the last and sparser in terms of its placement within the overall structure of the piece; three consecutive movements follow the penultimate Promenade theme (discounting the modified minor version within the movement Catacombs). The final reinstatement of Promenade is heard in the form of the final movement, entitled The Bogatyr Gates (In the Capital in Kiev). The grandeur of the finale is anticipated by a virtuosic rising cadenza, leading into the already familiar finale, but this…

My grandson asked me to tell him a story about myself, so I recounted my early days when I met the great Jacques Arcadelt. It was many years ago in the mid 1530's. I had snuck into a party hosted by the Medici family. I heard beautiful music and wanted to see the performers first hand. Plus, they always have the best wine. The Medici family has been in power in Florence for so long, people know of no other rulers here. Even though they still followed a monarchical structure and often ruled…

Berloiz creates a musical atmosphere in his Symphonie Fantastique through the use of musical elements rather than melody. The atmosphere that Berloiz creates in the beginning of his Symphonie Fantastique is one that is very erie. When listening to it, one might expect a villain to suddenly enter the room or some sort of trickery to be taking place. The way Berloiz creates this atmosphere is through the use of staccato notes out of the tonic. In the first 20 seconds, the piece starts off with…

Monteverdi’s aria from Orfeo and Mozart’s Queen of the Night solo show the relationship between the Baroque and Classical eras. Mozart, composing during the Classical period, uses elements more accepted in the classical world such as simple meter and full homophony. On the other hand Monteverdi’s composition incorporates duple meter and hemiolas, reflecting the often allegro and sometimes presto tempo music of the Baroque time period. Instrumentation progressed along with musical style of…

Individual Music Analysis Paranoid Android by Radio Head La Vie En Rose by Edith Piaf Lily Chapman, Term 4, 2014 Musical elements can be manipulated to change the mood and emotions that are interpreted by a song to the audience. By selecting and studying two contrasting pieces, it will demonstrate how the composers portray specific emotions through the different use of music elements and concepts. The two songs that will be contrasted are La Vie En Rose by Edith Piaf, and Paranoid Android by…