Time signature

(Wendell) After a diving accident in Hawaii, Brubeck suffered damage to his spinal cord, which resulted in nerve pain in his hands that prevented him from playing the typical, intricate, single-note runs that are seen in most jazz music. (Schudel) He learned to compensate by composing songs with complex time signatures, bulky chords, improvisational segments, and push-pull solos with Desmond and Marcello. This is what made Brubeck’s music stand out. In the mid 1950’s, the Quartet signed on with Columbia Records and began to write songs for their album, Time Out. Patrick Langham, a faculty member of the Brubeck Institute said that Brubeck “was a very worldly person. Within his travels, he would go and hear other musicians and hear what they were doing, and he would incorporate that into his music.” (qtd. in Lamb.) “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” the song in 9/8 time, is one example of how he merged other styles into his…

The Dave Brubeck Quartet, comprised of Brubeck on the piano, Paul Desmond on the alto saxophone, Eugene Wright on the bass, and Joe Morello on the drums, released the album Time Out in 1959 (Time Out). Even on the first listen, one can see how revolutionary this work would soon become. Opening with “Blue Rondo A La Turk,” Brubeck’s Quartet immediately presents a rhythmic, swingin’ tune featuring 9/8 time. “Kathy’s Waltz” explores polyrhythm and “Take Five,” arguably the band’s “titular” work…

When it comes to education, and what should generally be taught in schools, fine arts classes are consistently on the outermost rim of the educational spectrum. It is either the last to be added, or the first to be dropped in times of budget shortages or altered priorities. Many people believe that government funding of the arts is unnecessary and that funds could be directed elsewhere. Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts has long been a source of political controversy. In recent…

The joke is that the cast “mishears” the narrator and thinks that he says the musical takes place in Finland and not England. Melody or a succession of single pitches recognized as a whole, in the “Fisch Schlapping Song” is very upbeat and boisterous. The range for the song is fairly static throughout the three choruses, and the lyrical and instrumental verses. Each section has conjunct melodic motion as well. Texture or a number of pitches or melodies sounding at the same time with reference to…

Eric Whitacre uses the same form in his piece as Frost did in his using in the first two stanzas AABA, then in the third stanza uses AAB. Then, he proceeds to finish the piece without form as it moves freely as it leads to his repeating lyrical texts, “As I surrender unto sleep” three times, then at the end, “Sleep”. To add color and texture Whitacre on his last refrain of the line “As I surrender unto Sleep” on the word “Unto” as he allows the choir to sing a beautifully slow polyphonic…

He recognizes the fact that students can learn things by ear, make up small tunes, and even begin to harmonize all without reading music, but they cannot translate those ideas and communicate them properly if they cannot read and write the language they are speaking. Recognizing musical patterns is also an essential part of music education. Recognizing two eighth notes followed by three quarter notes is like learning to read a word in english. You do not learn by building it one letter at a…

recapitulation. In his Coriolan Overture, although Beethoven presents a minor first theme and a major second theme in the exposition, the recapitulation includes the second theme in a minor key, which completely changes the tone of what had been a light and happy theme in the exposition and development. 6:18 then begins the overture’s coda, which ends at 7:15 in a minor key with a few plucked strings. The Coriolan Overture’s sonata-allegro form provided Beethoven with an opportunity to present…

this is an example of rhythm. Rhythm can be easily described as a recurring pattern of movement or sound. According to our book, “rhythm can be defined as the particular arrangement of note lengths in a piece of music.” You can arrange any set of sounds rhythmically to create a music piece. Rhythm also has several subcategories which relate to one another to help get a better understanding of music and the making of it. The subcategories are beat, meter, and tempo. Each of these can be put…

Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem that contradicts itself as a whole many times. When reading it, there are two contrasting ideas that can be visualized. He uses certain words that are playful while also using words that have a clearly negative connotation to tell this story between a father and son. Other times, there is ambiguity in the phrases he chooses. Even the rhythm of the poem can have different meanings to different people. It all depends on which words stand out to the reader.…

Blue October More and more the music I hear on the radio disappoints me. Shallow lyrics, unoriginal tunes, all around uninspiring! I get the feeling that the majority of musicians are manufactured, created solely for profit. Every once in a while I stumble across a musician or group that are true artists. One such group is Blue October. The first song I heard by Blue October was “Calling You”, which was featured in American Pie. I’ll admit this tune did not particularly gab my attention. It…