Week 2 Music Journal

     For my week 2 familiar music I chose "I Really Like You" (3:27) by Carly Rae Jepsen and "Aquarius (Let the Sunshine in)" (4:49) by The Fifth Dimension. The first time I heard "Aquarius" was when I was young and my family and I went to a rock musical in Chicago called "Hair." When I heard the song in the play, I instantly liked it. Now, I can't listen to it just once, I always find myself replaying it every time I hear it. The song is introduced by flutes and played with possibly another woodwind instrument that kind of echoes the first part but plays higher up. Then, to move the song along some percussion instrument is holding the beat. The singer comes in around :16. Around :36, more singers join and harmonize with the first singer by singing notes that are leaps higher then the first singer. Then another percussion instrument is used, a tambourine could be used in there somewhere. I also think there is a string instrument in there as well, maybe a bass keeping the tempo up. Then, a new slower theme is sung that has a different sound then the first melody. The second melody uses a percussion instrument maybe a snare drum and a string instrument, the bass. Also, male voices are heard more along with the female voices. The song is held together by the constant playing of the bass guitar when the singers are resting. The first melody is repeated. I think this may be an instance of a sequence being used in the song, but I'm not sure. I absolutely love how the highest female voices are joined with the lower female voices, it makes the chords sound more rich and complete. Some trumpets are also accompanying the voices around 2:15. The song takes a slower turn and the melody is taken over by the trumpets. Then, the voices take on another different singing part. It kind of has a swing feel with the percussion and guitar. The trumpets join in again with the same melody. The third singing melody is then repeated until the end.

"Aquarius (Let the Sunshine in)" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06X5HYynP5E
"I Really Like You" -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DSHRazDpVc

     For my week 2 unfamiliar music I chose "Hold back the River" (3:55) by James Bay and "World without You" (3:44) by Hudson Taylor. My younger sister suggested these two songs for me. I was going to write about the James Bay song, but the guitar melody at the beginning of the Hudson Taylor just caught my attention and after listening to the songs, I realized I liked Hudson Taylor's song better. I like the simple melody of the guitar at the beginning of "World without You." The guitar sounds really nice accompanying his voice throughout the whole song. The first guitar melody continues to play when another guitar part accompanies it with chords. I think that a bass guitar is also added when the singer comes in for the second time. Some type of percussion instrument is added that sounds like a shaker where the player would move their hand in a circular motion to move the beads along the metal circular surface of the instrument. The singers then repeat the chorus changing a little bit of it by harmonizing with each other around 2:44. The singers harmonize by singing notes that are leaps away from each other. One singer sings higher then the other to harmonize as well. The guitar plays small chords to end the song. The James Bay song just doesn't catch my attention. It doesn't seem to have too much dynamic changes and that makes the song a little less interesting. I like how "Hold back the River" sounds at 2:54 and on, but still the beginning just doesn't catch my attention and I don't really like the beginning of the song.


"World without You" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a14A1LULO20
"Hold back the River" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZBJD8zYOo