For my week 3 familiar music I chose "Hotel California" by the Eagles and "Head over Heels" by Wesley and Keaton Stromberg. Keaton and Wesley are the two brothers from Emblem3 but they weren't in the band when they were this young yet. Wesley starts the song out by a monophonic guitar melody line. He comes in singing and Keaton harmonizes with him by singing notes that are leaps higher or lower than Wesley. Around 1:07 Keaton imitates Wesley's last line he sung. They sing the chorus again and Keaton continues to harmonize with Wesley through the whole song. They harmonize really well together and it is really cute and nice that they can sing together because they are brothers and music probably brings them closer as brothers. Around 2:03 Wes stops playing and the two finish out the song by simply singing together still harmonizing. Hotel California begins with a homophonic guitar having the main melody and a bass accompanies with single notes in the background. Then a similar melody is repeated before the singer begins. Then the singer starts. The singer and the background music without the guitar is homophonic. But, then the guitar melody from the beginning is also present so the singer and the guitar could possibly be counterpoint polyphonic. I don't know if that is correct because the singer is heard more easily than the guitar. After that, the chorus is sung using harmonies. Around 1:51, the line, "Such a lovely place" is imitated. A different verse is sung using the same guitar and background music. The song is using dynamics throughout. Around 3:37 it is somewhat quiet and then crescendos a little bit. There is an instrumental around 4:55 where the guitar has the main melody and accompanied by other instruments like the percussion and bass. The instruments take the song to the end.
"Hotel California" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NTqZ347TKY
"Head over Heels" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAVwmAYnPXs
For my week 3 unfamiliar music I chose "An American Elegy" by Frank Ticheli. I know of Frank Ticheli from being in band and playing his music, however, I have not yet heard of "An American Elegy." It begins with what sounds like wind instruments. I may hear an English horn in there and some clarinets as well. The soft sound beautifully crescendos to a cymbal crash and the melody is played by some brass with the trumpets included. The French horns take the melody at around :57. Along with maybe a bass clarinet or a low woodwind instrument. The song is very slow moving around this point. A saxophone plays along with the melody. The flutes join in and play the melody and then it is passed down to a lower wind instrument. The same melody is being repeated or imitated during this section. This song, although it is beautiful, I feel like it is too slow for my taste. I think I would get bored going this slow for the majority of the piece. Around 4:25 the clarinets crescendo with the melody. An oboe then takes the melodic line. Then, clarinets accompany the oboe. The trumpets come in with a more broad feel. The trumpets crescendo up to a suspended cymbal roll at 5:15. And bass drum at 5:23. A saxophone has a solo at 5:32 accompanied by high woodwinds like the clarinets. The clarinets pass the melody to the flutes and oboes. The flute have a pretty line along with a French horn solo at 6:27. The band as a whole crescendo at around 7:02 with a bass drum and cymbal crash. At 7:04 the majority of the band play the same music at the same time sounding monophonic. A saxophone takes over with the melody accompanied by low wind instruments. Then a trumpet has a solo at 7:47 accompanied by other instruments. The band crescendos at 9:08. Near 10:07 there is another solo by a French horn with clarinets supporting. A low chord is played to end the song.
"An American Elegy" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIIKdBYfmlo
Hi Joanna!(: I like Emblem3 too! Except you picked a song that is missing the best person in the group for your first video>:(. Anyway, in the beginning of the song, up until :15 I would say the texture is monophonic because the guitar is the only instrument making noise in that section. Then when Wes starts singing with the guitar, I'd say it's homophonic with Wes as the melody and his guitar as the accompaniment. It's tricky categorizing the texture where Keaton joins at :18 because they're singing the same melody and moving at the same time on different pitches that aren't octaves, but with the guitar accompanying them. I like this song for many reasons, but one of the main ones is that is has a simple accompaniment and a catchy melody. It's acoustic without all the electronic equipment used in a lot of songs these days. I also noticed Keaton's echo around 1:07. Would that be considered of polyphonic texture as imitation, or is the phrase too short? Also, at the end of the song, it's hard to decide what kind of texture the song has because, although they move at the same song and are both singing the melody, it's on different pitches that aren't octaves. Also, it's funny how you chose to do those two songs for your familiar music because Emblem3 cover that too, as you know.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN1nawfl67Q I love the part at 3:10-3:32 in Emblem3's "Hotel California" cover. As for the unfamiliar music, I always love Frank Ticheli in band songs, mostly because of the French horn parts. I agree with all you have said about this song. I like how the clarinets lead to the saxophone and French horns at 2:03. At 4:35, I like the clarinets lead to the oboe solo playing the main melody and it sounds like the clarinets are playing a countermelody while the rest of the band is accompanying them. I especially like how the band crescendos toward the end of the piece with the suspended cymbal roll at 9:37, and quiets down at the end with the French horns ending it and the band accompanying them. I liked this piece. To find it, did you type in Frank Ticheli's name and search?
ReplyDeleteJoanna,
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about it before and I have heard Hotel Calif. many times but they do use imitation several times in the song. Did you realize that when you picked this or did it just work out? The band does a nice job with the guitars which I think adds to this song and makes it so memorable. I would say you're right and most of the song is homophonic. I do notice a few variations or embellishment during the chorus especially towards the end. I'm not sure how much of the Eagles music you have listened to but Desperado is one of my favorites if you haven't heard it.