MUS202 music appreciation

CLASS JOURNAL

FORMATTING IS CORRUPTED.

meeting 1, 22 Jan 2008, Tuesday

Assignment 1

What do you value in music? Please answer this question in one page or less, being both general about what you value and explain your answer with specific examples. 10 points; one point off if not typed. Due next Tuesday, January 29.

talking about music to add to its meaning

Music example: “Elegua-Iroko,” traditional Cuban music invoking the ‘god of the crossroads,’ performed by John Santos, Coro Folklorico Kindembo. John Santos is a Bay Area expert on Cuban music and is a great musician and educator. His website is an excellent source of information about Latin Jazz. Album title: Hacia El Amor. Xenophile 4034.

your brain is busy when listening to music

example performed in class on the piano. Your brain is comparing the melody to its knowledge of a scale.

examples of scales

Your brain recognizes the difference; we can label the difference with words: Ø Complex, chromatic scale: Village music of Yugoslavia, 1958. Nonesuch Explorer Series 72042 Ø Simple, pentatonic scale: Vietnamese music played on the dan tranh; from World Sound Matters, CD 1. future: compare Goldberg Variations

books mentioned

Music is a special kind of knowledge. See: Ø Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, 2007 Ø Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and other clinical tales, 1998 Ø Daniel Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, 2007

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Theory of multiple intelligences (Howard Gardner) • linguistic • logical-mathematical • spatial (visual) • bodily-kinesthetic • musical • interpersonal • intrapersonal • naturalistic The last time I checked it (2007), the Wikipedia entry had an excellent critique of this theory, but a poor description of it.

 meeting 2, week 1, 24 Jan 2008, Thursday

Handout

Taking notes in class on music.

many types of music are organized by scales

Scales underlie the construction of melodies and harmonies. Even if we’ve never been trained to play or sing scales, we recognize them because we have heard so much music that uses them. Scales structure pitches with a pattern of intervals that divide up the octave. An octave is the interval between two notes that as as closely related as notes can be, while being different notes. Two pitches an octave apart are related by their frequency. The frequency or rate of vibrations is twice as fast in the higher pitch. Types of scales · pentatonic (the black notes on the piano) · diatonic (do-re-mi, the white notes). · chromatic (all the notes on the piano) · others (examples from Arab and Balinese music; the whole tone scale)

scales

As meter is a mental projection of a grid in time, scales are a mental grid of possible pitches to which our minds compare the actual musical sound we hear. Ø Ø scale construction may vary from culture to culture, but the idea of a consistent reference framework of pitches occurs in nearly all cultures Ø Ø scales or fragments of scales often are used in melodies Ø Ø scales depend on a pattern of larger and smaller intervals in order to be recognizable. Example: the rising major scale has a smaller interval between the 3^rd & 4^th notes and the 7^th and 8^th notes. The whole tone scale is made of equal size intervals and it is easy to “get lost” and not know which note of the scale you are hearing. The chromatic scale presents a similar problem. That is why the chromatic scale is slippery, maybe even sexy . . .

Pentatonic scale

A scale that uses 5 pitches in the octave. It can be generated by creating a series of tones with frequency ratios of 3/2, and then moving the results by octave to fit into an octave. The pentatonic scale is found in many cultures around the world. Examples of music using the pentatonic scale: · Simple, pentatonic scale: Vietnamese music played on the dan tranh; from World Sound Matters, CD 1. · Mongolian song. The singer bends and slides between pitches, but always comes to rest on notes that form a pentatonic scale · The melody of Amazing Grace

Intervals and scales

Scales can be defined as notes given by a pattern of intervals. Intervals can also be seen as a way of generating scales. The interval of an octave is between two notes that sound as closely related is to notes can be without being the same note. The frequency of the higher note is twice that of the lower note. Recognizing the octave as a salient musical interval is probably common to all cultures around the world. The reason can be traced to psychoacoustics and how the brain measures pitch, registering the vibrations in the cilia in the ear. Nearly all scales are patterns of intervals within an octave. After the octave, the most important interval is generated with a frequency relationship of 3/2. This is known as a fifth, and it is common in many cultures, although not in all. If we begin with a note, find a note a fifth above that, and again find a fifth above that note, and so on, five times, we generate the notes of a pentatonic scale. These notes are spread out wider than an octave, but if we move them by octave all back into one octave, we hear the pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale is made up of whole steps and a slightly larger interval, the minor third. The whole step is a very common interval throughout the world. It seems to be recognizable and singable by nearly everyone. The minor third is also very salient in most cultures. Think of children taunting each other (na na na na na na). If the process is followed two more times, the seven notes of the diatonic or major scale are generated. This introduces the half step into the vocabulary of intervals. Once we have a half step, we can divide the octave into 12 parts, and produce the chromatic scale. Ø musical example: Zuni lullaby, from Worlds of Music textbook CD, Titon, ed. Demonstrates the interval of a perfect 4^th.

 Meeting 3, week 2, 29 jan, Tuesday

chromatic scale = sexy?

Sometime a scale can have a particular meaning or use. The chromatic scale sung by the sexy Carmen is contrasted by the diatonic (major scale) scale used by Don Jose and his soon to be forgotten fiancé. Carmen, an opera by George Bizet. (DVD). The opera is from 1875. This film version was made in 1984.

why start with the blues?

The blues are the basis of much of jazz and American popular music. The blues can be used to demonstrate common key music concepts such as phrases and form; a scale; meter and subdivision; harmony, chords and chord progressions.

African musical traits

Several musical traits found throughout Africa May have contributed to the origins of the blues. These include Ø the use of the pentatonic scale in a rather free way, without great concern for tuning Ø an emphasis on repeating rhythmic and melodic patterns (ostinato) Ø complex timbres Examples played: Ø Shona mbira music from Zimbabwe Ø Ewe drumming from Ghana

the blues scale

The blues are defined by the characteristic blues scale. Compared to the European major scale, the third, fifth, and seventh notes of the scale are often ornamented with lowered ("flatted”) notes. These ornamented or altered notes are often called "blue notes." Considerable expressive quality is generated by the melody being slightly off from the expected "in tune" notes of the scale. Ø Musical example played: “The Titanic,” from the Alan Lomax Collection Sampler. Recorded in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1960. Bessie Jones, lead vocal. An excellent example of a blue note can be heard in the backing vocal. The origins of the blues scale may be traced to combining a version of the pentatonic scale with a major scale.

Blues chords

The blues often use chords with 4 pitches in them. These chords are known as seventh chords, or dominant chords. Most other music created in 1600-1900 uses mostly triads, which are 3-pitch chords.

 Meeting 4, week two, Thursday, 31 January

THE BLUES and CHORDS

The blues can be used to introduce the idea of chords and chord progressions, common elements in a great deal of the music we listen to. Knowledge of the blues chord progression may increase our appreciation of the blues and the creativity of blues musicians.

chord – simple definition

The simultaneous sounding of three or more notes. (Textbook, p. 24.)

chord –a better definition

A recognizable group of notes in a system of harmony. Example: JS Bach, C Major Prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1. This pianist, Till Fellner, chooses to play it softly, with lots of pedal, and a fairly steady tempo. Other musicians have made different choices, such as playing it on harpsichord and using a flexible and ever changing tempo.

Chord progressions

Chords function as units in a system of harmony, creating a system of expectations. In a tonal system, those expectations include a sense of a home chord and tonic note, and degrees of tension away from that tonal home or center. For example, the V chord seems to have more distance or tension away from the tonal center, I, than the IV chord.

Naming chords

Most of us recognize chords relative to one another, not in absolute terms. It is as someone held up a lemon but we don’t know that it is yellow until we see it next to an orange. (Analogy from Daniel Levitin). Once we have a sense of a tonic (central or home) pitch, chords are usually labeled by considering the place of the root of the chord in the scale of the key. For example, since F is the 4^th note in the scale that starts on C, a chord that is based on F is some sort of IV chord. Chords also have functional names; the V chord is also known as the dominant, and the IV chord is the subdominant. These labels were given to these chords by Rameau, a composer and music theorist, without any logical justification, but the names stuck and there is no reason to change them.

the blues progression

I I I I IV IV I I V IV I I many variations are possible The last phrase, V-IV-I, is particularly interesting to me, because of its complete avoidance of European musical habits. A common European musical progression is IV-V-I; the blues progression is 'backwards' in the traditional European way of hearing harmonic progress and direction. Additionally, I think is very interesting how the harmony arrives back at the I (or "tonic") chord in advance of the completion of the rhythmic cycle. I think the usual European approach would be to end the cycle with a strong statement of V, which would set up a strong return to the beginning on the I (tonic) chord. It is part of what makes the blues so distinctive and so truly American.

FORM and the blues

The blues can be used to introduce several ideas about form.

cyclic form

One formal element of the blues is the way it cycles through a chord progression again and again. Compare the feeling to this music based on melodic and rhythmic cycles: Gendhing Bubaran Kembang Pacar pelog patet nem.  A gamelan piece from Java (Indonesia). . from Worlds of Music textbook CD, Titon, ed.

Meeting 5, week 3, 5 Feb SUPER TUESDAY

In-Class Activity

??-- Chords

recognizing different chords

Just for fun and as a form of self-knowledge, I played examples in class to see if students could distinguish between the I, IV, and V chords. (I used dominant seventh chords in all examples, in the blues fashion.) Some musicians respond to chords more than other components of music. For example, Professor David Clay is an excellent jazz pianist. He teaches English here. Often he may not be able to remember a song’s melody, but he easily remembers chord progressions.

meeting 6, week 3, 7 Feb

more on chords

Student suggestions: Ø arpeggiating the chords might help when we try to recognize the difference between a IV and a V chord. Ø it is easier to recognize the difference between IV and V when they are next to each other (I-IV-V or I-V-IV) then when they are isolated (I-IV-I or I-V-I)

NEW TOPIC METER and SUBDIVISION Levels of time in music

Chapter 2 presents time in music. Read Chapter 2. A series of pulses (beats) can be faster or slower than our pulse. This is the tempo. Tempos cannot be happy or sad. People can be happy or sad. Tempos merely are fast or slow or moderate, with “moderate” felt as our average pulse or heartbeat. “The beat” is a grid of pulses in time that exists in our listening mind. We can count beats right through silences in the music. Not every beat needs to be sounded. TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE: “Hoochie Coochie Man.” other example: “Sylvie,” performed by Sweet Honey in the Rock. Beats are grouped into measures (the same as saying “bars”). This grouping is the sense of meter (“time signature is an equivalent term). Most of the meters we encounter are duple (2 or 4), an even feeling, or triple. In the B.B. King & Albert Collins, “Stormy Monday,” blues example, the electric bass does play a note on every beat. The snare drum plays on beats 2 & 4. The bass drum (or kick drum) plays on 1 & 3. (The ride cymbal plays three notes per beat, which is triple subdivision.) This points out the meter is not an arbitrary number of beats grouped together; it is a hierarchy of emphasis, and rhythmic patterns relate to that hierarchy.

subdivision

Beats are also divided, usually into 3 or an even number of parts. This is duple (2 or 4) or triple subdivision. This is an important general style difference between rock and blues. Ø B.B. King & Albert Collins, “Stormy Monday,” blues. The ride cymbal plays three notes per beat, which is triple subdivision, a common feature of the blues style Ø Little Richard, “Good Golly Miss Molly,” duple subdivision in rock’n’roll.. The 12-bar blues chord progression is the basis of this piece, but it is rock’n’roll, not the blues. Why? The subdivision of the beat is duple, not triple. (We could say that it has a shuffle feel, which is a triple subdivision at a finer level of detail.) Ø Ex.: “La Llorona” (the weeping woman) – duple meter, triple subdivision. Performed by Suni Paz. The Wikipedia has an entry on this interesting song. Triple subdivision does not have to be a constant 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3 etc . . . feel. It can be long-short-long-short; the long is twice as long as the short, and 2+1 = 3. Ø Example: Viderunt Omnes by Perotin. Medieval music from c. 1100. Not every beat has to be subdivided for subdivision to be present.

rhythmic patterns longer than a bar

Cuban music and the clavé rhythm. Ø traditional music performed by John Santos, Coro Folklorico Kindembo, CD title Hacia El Amor; Note clave rhythm & rhythmic complexity.  John Santos is a great Bay Area educator and Latin jazz musician.    Rumba (genre) - Cuban music with strong African roots; performed by an ensemble of three conga drums, other percussion, and claves (the instrument) with a lead singer and chorus; party music with dancing and commentary on everyday life & love. The Wikipedia gives notated examples of this rhythm.

meeting 7, week 4, 12 Feb

blues lyrics

Note departure's from the traditional AAB form, and also think about the relationship to the harmony. The second A is not just to repeat, since the harmony shifts to IV in the second for bar phrase. The dramatic payoff in the lyrics is matched by the greater harmonic intensity in the final phrase.

history of the blues in reverse

In lecture, I prefer to introduce the blues in reverse historical order, starting out with the Chicago sound, which probably represents the mainstream today. Going back through Bessie Smith, an early artist significant both for artistic and commercial accomplishments, we can appreciate Robert Johnson a bit better, when we know what becomes the blues style.

Robert Johnson

Examples: Ø Ø Crossroad Blues Ø Ø Crossroad Blues as recorded by Cream (Eric Clapton solo) Ø Ø Terraplane Blues -- his most successful record in his lifetime. Ø Ø Hell Hound on My Trail contrasting example: Ø Ø Leadbelly, "In the Pines"

musical facts, contextual facts and opinions

Robert Johnson accompanies himself on guitar in his recording of “Crossroad Blues” [musical fact – something that can be determined by listening to the recording] Robert Johnson was born in 1911 and he died in 1938. [contextual fact] Robert Johnson is the greatest Delta bluesman. [opinion] Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. [unsupportable claim] The story or belief that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil was part of his reputation. [contextual fact] The story or belief that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil adds emotional meaning to our experience of listening to his recording of “Crossroad Blues.” [opinion]

blues assignment

Blues Assessment Assignment (20 points, due 21 Feb) LISTEN to the 4 blues examples on the textbook CD and READ Chap 7. For each example, describe a musical fact, observation or detail that you feel is significant to a potential listener. Explain why you think it is significant. Then describe something about the context of the music (where & when it was made, social conditions, the artist’s biography, explanations of the meanings of the song lyrics, etc), and explain why you think it is significant. 1. Robert Johnson, “Crossroad Blues” Musical fact: Musical fact significance: Contextual fact: Contextual fact significance: 2. Bessie Smith, “Poor Man’s Blues” Musical fact: Musical fact significance: Contextual fact: Contextual fact significance: And so on for 3. Muddy Waters, “Hoochie Coochie Man” & 4. Keb’ Mo’, “Am I Wrong?” You may use complete sentences or bullet point format. The results of this assignment will be raw material for a question on the final exam, which will ask for answers in fully developed paragraphs. One point off if not typed. Stumped about what musical facts might be relevant? Do the listening activities for each example. .

Robert Johnson in context

Greg Sandow writes: . . . there . . . are crucial American musicians like Robert Johnson, the most powerful and forlorn of the Delta blues singers, whom many of us aren’t likely to understand without some preparation. For one thing, he mumbles his words, which first of all makes it hard to understand his songs, but also makes it seem, from a refined perspective, that he can’t be taken seriously. Why isn’t he just some bumbler from the depths of rural Mississippi, who couldn’t even speak, let alone sing or write music? . . . Blues, as it happens, is a very formal music, in which nearly every song has the same structure, built from the same simple chords repeated in more or less the same simple patterns. Its sophistication, therefore, comes from what each blues musician does with this more or less unchanging form, in which the “more or less” (along with the unique sound each singer has) can be a home for art. Johnson’s habit is to smudge the formal patterns, to apparently evade them, to slide away from them with his voice, just when the chords might be finishing their sequence. So we get distracted from the sequence, even though it’s clearly there. If we know the blues, we can follow this, and find it haunting, as if Johnson’s lost inside the standard ways of life, and might either be despairing, or be trying to escape. But if we don’t know the blues, he might simply sound chaotic . . . .

Robert Johnson in American culture

The Coen Brother’s movie, O Brother Where Art Thou, is fun even if you don’t catch all the cultural references, but so much better if you do. Take pleasure in knowledge!

Meeting 8, week 5, 19 February 2008, Tuesday

Revival of traditional blues

Major folk music festival in 1970; traditional and Chicago blues extends beyond traditional core audience. Previously, many American’s exposure to blues had been filtered through rock and jazz. The blues is an excellent data point for the ethnomusicologist’s faith that musical structures relate to social structures, conditions and history. It is also a counterexample of that, as the blues are taken up by many social classes across the world. Our culture of sub-cultures needs a marker of authenticity, and the blues sometime fills that role. Examples: · Bonnie Raitt, “Love Me Like a Man,” from Fundamental, c. 1998. · Keb Mo,’ “Am I Wrong?” TEXTBOOK CD

TEXTURE

MONOPHONIC – one melody by itself, without accompanying parts. · Ex:, Ave Maria, Gregorian chant sung by Chanticleer; a single line sung by a group of men. · [not played] “Barbry Allen” sung by a solo voice, Jean Ritchie; POLYPHONIC – “many” voices. All parts independent and of equal importance. · Special case: IMITATIVE POLYPHONY Josquin, Ave Maria, 1500. Performed by Chanticleer. · Video realization of a Bach fugue (Music Animation Machine) · [not played in class] Bach “Little Fugue in G minor,” TEXTBOOK CD HETEROPHONY – “mixed” voices – different instruments play the same melody at the same time in different ways. · Chinese Silk & Bamboo music. · “Tiger Rag” TEXTBOOK CD; HOMORHYTHMIC – different parts perform different pitches with the same rhythm. Ex.: 4-part harmony, “Chester” MELODY PLUS ACCOMPANIMENT – very common. Examples: Robert Johnson “Crossroad Blues” and Keb’ Mo’s “Am I Wrong?” TEXTBOOK CD. Beyond identifying the texture, we can talk about the relationship of the accompaniment and melody. What is important in a piece of music? While it is full of lovely melodies, the Josquin Ave Maria seems to be more “about” texture than melody, rhythm, harmony, etc. We could say that it is the topic of the piece.

JAZZ	Why study jazz? · Great music (an opinion) · History traces an arc from music on the margins of society, to popular music, to an art music. · To be able to talk about rhythm in popular music, we need to understand the concept of swing

Syncopation

Emphasis of a beat or part of a beat that is not ordinarily accented. Usual pattern: 1234 1234 1234. Syncopated pattern: 1234 1234 1234 This is syncopation at the level of the beat. This is rock’n’roll. Syncopation on the off beat (beat divided into 2 parts, known as “eighth notes”) -- Mozart, Symphony No. 25 in G minor, 1^st movement. TEXTBOOK CD Syncopation with the beat divided into 4 parts (“Sixteenth notes”) -- Scott Joplin, “The Easy Winners,” genre: ragtime; discussed in textbook.. Very popular sheet music. Millions of copies of ragtime pieces were sold.

Jazz History Chart

Jazz history chart pdf file. Many streams flow into, out of and along side of jazz.

Meeting 9, week 5, 21 feb 2008

Pre-jazz

American popular music before jazz. Ø Scott Joplin, “The Easy Winners,” genre: ragtime Ø Stephen Foster, “I Dream of Jeannie” This performance features a precision with regard to pitch that is a hallmark of European musical culture. Ø John Phillip Sousa, “Hands Across the Sea” The military band was an important source of musical materials for jazz – the percussion, the wind instruments (trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, tuba, trombone). The music also features a lot of syncopation. Ø “Memphis Blues”- James Reese Europe's 369th U.S. Infantry 'Hell Fighters' Band. A kind of proto-swing. This recording is featured a lot in the Ken Burns Jazz documentary series. As of Feb 2008, the Wikipedia entry on James Reese Europe is worth reading. Ø Musical theater & operetta -- Victor Herbert, “Ah, Sweet Mystery,” from Naughty Marietta. Note flexibility of tempo, and the semi-operatic singing. How do you fill a hall with your voice without amplification?

Pre-jazz: Africa

African musical traits such as complex timbres, rhythmic complexity and improvisation show up in jazz; did they survive centuries of slavery and cultural dislocation? Ø Nhemamusasa (title, "cutting branches for shelter") note buzzy, complex timbre, polyrhythm, ostinato.  Instruments:  mbira, gourd rattle. Ø Akbekor, from Ghana. from Worlds of Music textbook CD, Titon, ed. Bell as time marker/rhythmic reference; improvisation. Ø “Marilli,” vocal solo from Ghana. (Nonesuch Explorer Series 79711.) Complex vocal timbre that does not project very far.

Louis Armstrong

Ø “West End Blues” (TEXTBOOK CD) – this recording is an example of o scat singing o Armstrong’s extension of the trumpet range o swing feel and phrasing o it presents a variety of solos, notably Earl Hines on piano.  Recorded in Chicago, 1928. Ø “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues.”  Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, recorded in Chicago, 1933.  • Scat singing • timbral play in the vocal • swing feel (nicely contrasted by a lack of swing feel in the other trumpet players very straight playing of the melody before Armstrong’s soaring solo)    Subjective claim: Modernism, Louis Armstrong & recording technology are the 3 biggest influences on music in the 20^th-century. And Modernism is not that import to many people. Ø Swing’s pervasive influence (plus the impact of the microphone) create a new way of singing.  Example: Fred Astaire in the film Top Hat.  Note the quick but smooth transition from speech to song in “No Strings,” the 4^th scene on the DVD. Note the triplet feel in the sand dance. Songs by Irving Berlin.

Jewish songwriters

Broadway songwriters quickly absorb jazz ideas into their music. Perhaps this was a natural fit for some, given that some Jewish music uses similar chromatic inflections in scale structures. A contemporary (1995) example of klezmer music, “Man in a Hat,” by the Klezmatics, on their Jews with Horns CD (reissued 2002).

 Meeting 10, week 6, 26 Feb 2008

Swing or jazz?

“Swing” is a feel or a way of rhythmic phrasing that pervades all of jazz; “swing” is also a genre of music. “Big band music” is a common equivalent term. According to some (notably Wynton Marsalis), all jazz swings. Is all swing music jazz? Duke Ellington It Don’t Mean a Thing . . . (TEXTBOOK CD) Harlem Airshaft Ø Ø orchestral & harmonic color; a balance between soloist and the band Glenn Miller, “In the Mood,” a big band classic.

Small group (“combo”) swing; what is the basis of improvisation?

Body and Soul · Benny Goodman, clarinet; Teddy Wilson, piano; Gene Krupa, drums. Recorded in NYC, 1935, for Victor Records (better than same group recording same tune on Columbia) “ . . . pianist Teddy Wilson’s first solo is the middle or bridge part in the first AABA chorus, and basically he uses the original melody. But his second solo (an A plus and A) is a brilliant invention, a beautiful new melody, with no thematic relationship to the original at all.” Martin Williams, Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, 1973. The first integrated recording. · Billie Holiday · Coleman Hawkins, recorded 1939; still on jukeboxes into the 1950s. .

Bebop

“Mohawk” TEXTBOOK CD not as fast as most bop. “Koko” Charlie Parker Musical traits: · Emphasis on virtuoso solos · Fast – tempo; rate of harmonies changing · Complex melodic lines full of interesting harmonic implications · Sit down and listen! Social context · An insider music · No dancing! · Artistically self-aware

Meeting 11, 28 Feb 2008 

Jazz experimentation

“Take Five” by Paul Desmond. (Dave Brubeck, piano)

METER

Questions about meter: · What meter is a piece (or a section of a piece) in? · Is it obvious or hard to figure out? · Is the meter unusual? · What does the meter do to you or for you in your experience of the music? · Does recognizing the meter contribute to your musical experience and to the meaning of the music?

examples of different meters

“Take Five” by Paul Desmond. (Dave Brubeck, piano) “London Calling,” The Clash, in 4; should be obvious Radiohead, “2 + 2 = 5,” in 7 for the 1^st 2/3rds of the song. The Beatles, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” change in meter, triple to duple and back again. Gabrieli, late Renaissance, change in meter, duple to triple and back again. “Mugshot,” Russell Malone, jazz guitar. Hard to figure out. “Wreck of the Day,” Anna Nalick. In slow duple meter with triple subdivision. 2005.

 meeting 12,week 7, 6 March 2008

jazz history continues

post-bop cool jazz, and the experimental impulse seeks out new forms of expression. Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool, 1949. Miles Davis “So What” – “cool,” no complex chord progression, just two melodic chord constructions a half a step apart. Miles Davis Sextet: Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, tenor saxophone; Cannonball Adderley, alto sax; Bill Evans, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; James Cobb, drums. Recorded in NYC, 1959. From the album Kind of Blue, “a collection of first takes recorded without a single rehearsal.” (Len Lyons, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, 1980). Often regarded as the best selling jazz record in history and even the best jazz record in history. [NOT JAZZ] Milton Babbitt, composer from Three Compositions for Piano, 1947 Ø Ø complex classical music to which certain jazz players might be hip Cecil Taylor (composer, band leader, pianist) composition: Rick Kick Shaw Ø Ø complex head, complex solo. More generally, an example of the experimental spirit in jazz. John Coltrane (composer, leader, saxophonist) composition (and album name): Ascension, 1965 Diana Krall song on TEXTBOOK CD: Straighten Up And Fly Right DVD played in class: Diana Krall, Live in Paris, “I Love Being Here with You.” Ø Ø representative of popular, conservative, mainstream jazz today Jazz starts on the margins of American society; becomes the popular music of the Jazz Age and the Swing Era, and fragments into many artistic trends after WWII.

JAZZ ASSIGNMENT

Read the chapter on jazz, Chap 8, and listen to each of the 5 examples on the textbook CD. Choose the one you enjoy the most and review the Listening Activity for that example. Then describe what you can of the following: Ø what makes it jazz Ø what makes it this particular style of jazz (swing, bop, etc.) Ø the relationship of the soloist to the group Ø the solos – how are they different from each other; how much of the melody do they retain; what is their mood and how is that created Ø what you enjoy about the piece Typed. Answers may be in paragraph form or bullet format. This work may be used on the final exam. Due 12 March.

In-class activity

1. Identify the style or genre 2. How do you know? What traits do you identify? 3. Your personal reaction. o Louis Armstrong, “Stardust” o Bennie Moten, “Moten Swing,” 1932 o Thelonius Monk, “Epistrophe”

Analysis project introduction

See class webpage for the TWO separate handouts describing this assignment and due dates.

Meeting 13, week 8, 11 March 2008

Song Forms

See Handout on Song Forms. The metaphor underling the psychological satisfactions of many forms: Statement, departure, return. Examples played: “Barbry Allen,” traditional folk ballad, sung by Jean Ritchie; strophic form. I enjoy listening for the micro-variations in each repetition of the melody. I enjoy the story, too. “Let Yourself Go,” Irving Berlin, music & lyrics, 1936; AABA. In the film Follow the Fleet; sung by Ginger Rogers. video, Prince, “Diamonds & Pearls.” Hybrid AABA form as architectural metaphor. “Fantasy,” Earth, Wind & Fire, (Maurice White, Eddie del Barrio & Verdine White), 1977; formal expectations disrupted FORM: so what? Expectations confirmed: SATISFACTION! (clichéd, boring, too predictable) Expectations denied: EXPRESSION! (hard-to-follow, meaningless, wrong, incompetent)

 meeting 14, week 8, 13 March

more on rhythm Noticing Meter

Duple meter, especially in 4, is the most usual & common meter today. Meter is a grouping of beats, but not all beats have to be sounded 1-2-3-4 for something to be in 4.

Two contrasting examples in 4

Both of these are in 4, while the actual rhythms used within that 4-beat measure are different. · The Beatles, “Got to Get You Into My Life” – bass plays on every beat · The Beatles, “Taxman” – bass plays accents on 1, 2 and the 2nd half of the 3rd beat; the rhythm guitar plays chords (aggressively!) on beats 2 and 4. (both songs are from the Revolver album, released in 1966.)

phrase length

An unusual phrase length (something other than 4 bars) can have a subtle and captivating effect. Example: “Kahalu’ Nyuhe.” Performer: Joanne Shenandoah. CD title: Matriarch -- Iroquois Women's Songs. Her record label’s webpage list of her CDs.  Melodic pattern: AABA 3 times. The “A” unit is 6 bars; the “B” unit is 4 1/2 bars

Unusual meter – obvious or under the radar?

Is the meter unusual and, even more interestingly, is it meant to be noticed?  The unusual meters of “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo a la Turk” (recorded by Dave Brubeck) call attention to themselves. “Hey, look at me, Ma, I’m jamming in 5!” The seven in Radiohead’s “2+2=5” is, I think, intended to be recognized, not necessarily as seven, but definitely as “NOT IN 4.” The title of “15-Step,” also recorded by Radiohead, tells us that we are not dancing a two-step to this one, and the music is definitely not in Kansas anymore.  Examples of unusual meter that is probably often not noticed · Queen, “Sweet Lady” – easy not to notice that this seemingly straightforward rock music is in 3! Once you listen for it, it is pretty obvious and easy to follow, but what is there to clue you in to checking the meter in the first place? (She is not really a sweet lady, by the way.) · Seal, “Dreaming in Metaphors” – easy not to notice that this smoothly flowing pop song is flowing smoothly along in 7/8 (two 2-pulse beats and one three-pulse beat in each measure), very unusual. · Tchaikovsky, second movement of the Sixth Symphony, “Allegro con Grazia.” This “waltz” movement is in 5, not the 3 of a waltz. Does the music ever cause you to wonder if there is any weirdness present?

Meeting 15, week 9, 25 March 2008

Example of data collection on a song

“Eleanor Rigby,” The Beatles.

MELODY

Example: The melody to "Norwegian Wood" (The Beatles) · repeats a general shape several times. · Repeats a rhythmic pattern several times · Moves downward · Moves by scale step = stepwise motion = “conjunct”  Other examples · “London Calling,” The Clash. Repeated notes, limited movement by step · “Got to Get You Into My Life,” The Beatles; large skips in the melody (“disjunct”)  See page 21 on “tunefulness” and the webpage on melody.

meeting 16, week 9, 27 March 2008

More melody

Bach, “Little” Fugue in G minor. Baroque melodic style: “Melody is often perceived as a continuous expansion of an idea, without short, regular phrases”  Open forms . . . a music of constant beginnings . . .  Compare with the regular phrase chunks at the beginning of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Violin Concerto (Spring, 1^st movement), with frequent sense of closure or boundaries. A very different psychological effect.

Text painting

See this webpage for detailed discussion. Text painting (.doc format) – examples of the variety of relationships between words & music.

meeting 17, week 10, 1 April 2008

a brief example – comment on a single detail

Fiona Apple, “Extraordinary Machine,” an interesting moment of duple subdivision (“and”) amidst prevailing triple subdivision

MAHLER 3 REDWOOD SYMPHONY

Sunday! DETAILS

Principles of design in music

brief version in html the PowerPoint slides (large file) the PowerPoint slides in pdf format (large file)

contrasts in music

Mozart Requiem, Confutatis movement.

Meeting 18, week 10, 3 April 2008, Thursday

The “bedside dictation” scene from Amadeus

Most of the music details and terms used are correct and are used correctly. Terms used: · Ostinato – a repeated figure in the accompaniment · Unison – all instruments playing the same notes together · Sotto voce – ‘half voice’ – very softly, hushed, distant · Arpeggio – spreading out the notes of a chord in time, often into a melody The speed of the dictation is a bit exaggerated. The moment when Salieri ‘doesn’t understand’ is nonsense; what Mozart is proposing here is totally routine and Salieri could have written down the concept in a single pen stroke.

PoD	Conclusion.

Meeting 19, week 11, Tuesday, 8 April 2008

Presentations

Joshua L. – Buddy Guy Diane M. – B.B. King Danni B. – Cell Block Tango Nick G. – “Insignificant,” Nevermore

Meeting 20, week 11, Thursday, 10 April

Presentations cont.

Cathleen P – Postal Service Andy S – “Dance of Eternity” Vicky L – Pink Floyd, “Time”

text painting example; more general, loose or poetic

The main character in Elton John's song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (1973) wanders far and wide, so the harmony wanders far away from the home key. The verse starts with simple circle of fifths chord progression, but there is a dramatic move away (to the flat VI, to use the technical description).

text painting example; more general, loose or poetic

“I Will Survive,” performed by Gloria Gaynor, 1978. Musical signs associated with the past: Ø opening chord flourish (a “diminished seventh” chord, to use the technical language) Ø circle of fifths chord progression and bass line Ø string orchestra

meeting 21, week 12, Tuesday, 15 April

Presentations cont

Joshua S Patricia Z – Rosie and The Originals, “Angel Baby” .

The performer’s role in classical music

Glenn Gould, J.S. Bach, Goldberg Variations variations, 1955, 1981. Comparing the two recordings of the first variation: 1955 Ø faster Ø two parts (left hand and right hand) more equal, as if in a conversation Ø mono 1981 Ø slower Ø top line (right hand) is singing like a soprano diva who is accompanied by a Ø beer drinking tuba player in the bass line (left hand) Ø stereo

reactions to instrumental music by Mozart

example: Mozart String Quartet No. 16 in Eb Major, K. 428, first movement. (c. 1783) Played by the Artis Quartet (1989). some words: Fantasia, up and down hills, transitions, unpredictable, many different melodies, contrasts, boring , interesting

meeting 22, week 12, Thursday, 17 April

Mozart

powerpoint slides; the same thing in pdf format.

Mozart examples and comments

Charles Rosen (a great pianist & author) comments ‘What was incomprehensible ever?’ Two threads running through Mozart: a perfectly realized conventionality (the ‘perfect realization of the expected pattern’) – music that is beautifully normal – and ‘poly-vocal’ multi-stylistic musical collisions that can go unrecognized by later audiences. To most of us, it just all sounds like Mozart or, even worse, just generic ‘classical music.’ (By “poly-vocal” I mean that the piece has multiple musical personalities, as when a fanfare is answered by frilly music.) Mozart sometimes combines different styles of music, or just very different textures or gestures, and this was confusing to some of his audience. This sort of musical humor, characterization and even violence seems lost to later generations of listeners as Mozart becomes a prettified confection. Robert Levin tries to get it back for us. Robert Levin DVD. Mozart on the fortepiano. (Mozart Piano Sonatas K. 279, K. 280, K. 281 on Fortepiano Vol. 1, includes a CD and the DVD) Key points Performer choices · how should knowledge of historical instruments change interpretation? · Improvisation & spontaneity Mozart is a rude bad boy. How? The unexpected combination of different ideas; the number and density of those ideas Accepting Levin’s point that Mozart is a bad boy and is musically rude, why? Mere personality or artistic quirk? Or did Mozart have something to say about his world? I find evidence of that in his great operas, such as Don Giovanni. Scenes from Don Giovanni, an opera by Mozart, film directed by Joseph Losey; the ‘catalog aria,’ sung by the character Leporello. The complete DVD is highly recommended.

		These class notes are out-of-order from what was presented in class.
More on Mozart	Scenes from Amadeus. Opening scene from The Marriage of Figaro, opera by Mozart, video of staged production.  While the play and the film Amadeus are full of invention and are not documentaries, I feel the segment of the film that I showed probably is a fair representation of Mozart's personality, given the historical record. The cackling laugh and scatological humor perhaps deflected attention away from his serious political and social feelings. Evidence of these ideas is found again in his opera The Marriage of Figaro.  Are those feelings encoded in his instrumental music? My example is the opening of a string quartet (a composition for two violins, viola and cello) known as the Quartet in E-flat Major, K 428. This is one of the group of six string quartets that Mozart published with a dedication to Haydn, and so they are sometimes referred to as "the 'Haydn' quartets." (Obviously this is potentially confusing since Haydn himself wrote many string quartets.) Mozart had already written a good number of string quartets, but he was very impressed with the level of accomplishment in quartets by Haydn, and Mozart worked hard to incorporate Haydn's level of sophistication in his own music. Later, Beethoven was particularly influenced by these six quartets by Mozart.  For many people today, all Mozart is easy listening and probably boring background music. This is the attitude that Robert Levin so vigorously argues against. In his day, some of Mozart's music was considered very difficult listening, and some pieces were even regarded as incomprehensible. When I first heard these quartets, so highly esteemed by musical scholars and string quartet players, I must confess that I found them rather boring and impenetrable. What was so special about these pieces? They didn't seem to have any hooks to draw me in. I don't know what changed in me, but one day, when I put these pieces on as background music, something in my brain clicked and I suddenly had a sense of the complex web of thematic connections in the music. It is this density of ideas that was off putting to audiences then.  Does this music and its webs of musical signification have any relation to Mozart's feelings about society? I don't know and I don't think anyone ever will. But I do feel that Mozart is saying something about the complexity of life and what he was saying did made some audiences uncomfortable. A question worth thinking about for the final exam: What of Mozart's view of the world, his feelings about the human condition, and his personality can we detect in his instrumental music?

Mozart is not God

A dissenting opinion about Mozart from critic Norman Lebrecht.

Sonata form KEY READING

Critic & composer Greg Sandow holds forth on the significance of sonata form. Grasping the outlines of sonata form is only the beginning of interpreting the piece. He comments on the first movements of the Beethoven 5th and 6th (The Pastoral) symphonies and significance of sonata form in general. From a draft of his book in progress, posted on the web.

A Mozart score

The score of the Mozart String Quartet No. 16 in Eb Major, K. 428, first movement, in Powerpoint with comments on form..

meeting 23, week 13, 28 April

Sonata Form

Examples of sonata form.  Sonata form evolved in the 1770s in a community of listeners, performers and composers without being described with words as a set form until 50 years later.  Understanding & following sonata form is [a range of possibilities] · Not important o Evidence: Cook experiment, history, personal anecdote · Crucial to getting the meaning & purpose of a piece in sonata form o o Evidence: hundreds of musical works; audience reactions then and now · Only the beginning in grasping the meaning of a piece in sonata form o o Evidence/argument: See Greg Sandow’s insightful comments In-class writing assignment: what is sonata form?

meeting 24, week 13, 1 May

1 MAY 2008

Last day to bail out of class with only a “W” on your transcript.

Program music

Berlioz. Textbook CD example. DVD in class.

Process Music

Process music features constant development with processes that are easily (?) apparent to an attentive but not necessarily trained listener. The piece itself trains the listener on how to listen to it. This process music topic is part of an overall theme of the listener’s relationship to following instrumental music. Sonata form, program music, and process music are three examples. To paraphrase Diane, ‘getting listeners to think about the music, instead of just enjoying it.’ Of course some people enjoy thinking about music, too.

Links

The Steve Reich at 70 website has many interesting pages. In class, we used the Music for Pieces of Wood and the Drumming pages. NPR interview from 2005.

Steve Reich music for 18 link

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CHVMVDhC-UA   A promotional video for a recording of Music of 18 Musicians. ‘The piece became a lifestyle.’

meeting 25, week 14, 6 May

Program music

Smetana – Textbook CD example.

Tchaikovsky

Performance of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony (on DVD).  Keeping Score DVD documentary on Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony preparing a performance of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. In-class writing assignment: what are some of the moods, thoughts and feelings you get from the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony? From the documentary, what are some of the feelings and emotions that Tchaikovsky was going through when he composed this music? In your opinion, are those thoughts and experiences reflected in the music?  If you missed this class or if you need additional extra credit, do the following:

Tchaikovsky Extra Credit

Watch the full hour documentary on Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, Keeping Score: mtt on music. This is on reserve in the library. (VT 1597)  Note the names of three of the orchestra musicians interviewed in the film, what instrument they play, and what their comment is about Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony.  For each of the four movements, summarize what Michael Tilson Thomas says about the music. For each of the four movements, give an example of him giving an opinion, and give an example of some factual statement he makes about the music. Do you agree with the opinion that he gives about the music?  Typed and double-spaced, this should take about two or three pages. If turned in on or by 20 Nov, this is worth 3 in-class writing assignments (15 points max); if turned in after that, it is worth one assignment (5 points).  Listen and watch the complete performance!

8 May 2008 [webpage corrupted as it was saved]

Approaches to Listening

Two (at least!) approaches to listening [1] an aware sort of listening; listening with memory; listening with a model in mind. Sonata form, program music (Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique; Smetana, The Moldau), process music (Steve Reich). Sonata form is usually regarded as an example of “absolute music,” instrumental music that does not have a program. “Program music” is often positioned as the opposite of “Absolute music,” but to my mind they are merely different approaches to a similar objective; giving a particular meaning to instrumental music. As you listen to a piece in sonata form, in some way you are being asked to compare it to your knowledge of sonata form. Similarly, as you listen to a piece of program music, it you are being asked to compare the evolution of the music to a story. A piece full of additive or phasing processes, such as Steve Reich's Drumming or Piano Phase, asks you to trace the musical story of processes as they develop.. [2] the “swept away” approach. My examples: Tchaikovsky, Schoenberg, Ferneyhough, Feldman, Bach.

the life-like emotional sweep of Tchaikovsky

I don't think Tchaikovsky would approve of most music appreciation classes. The emotional sweep is what it is all about. Philosopher Suzanne Langer called music ‘the tonal analogue of the emotions;’ that certainly seems to be Michael Tilson Thomas's opinion of Tchaikovsky as his music sweeps through the up-and-down emotions experienced in life.

Schoenberg The Expressionist

Schoenberg is rarely categorized with Tchaikovsky, but his music, feverish with emotional intensity, seems to me to be in pursuit of similar objectives. While the musical materials themselves are worked out within a dense web of musical signification, Schoenberg seems much more interested in their emotional impact, rather than positing a listener who is analytically comprehending all of the moves that the music is making. I feel this is the point that Charles Rosen is making in the documentary shown in class.

the penultimate week; 13 May 2008

Overwhelmed by Ferneyhough

For me, the music of Brian Ferneyhough is always trying to throw me off as a listener. The materials are interesting enough to engage me as a listener, but the music is constantly consuming itself and proposing new rules for its own behavior. This seems to me both a tactical and an ontological difficulty. Any pattern or form that becomes too predictable in a way becomes false and gets in the way of whatever truth truly new music has to offer. Listening example: String Trio (1995)

Difficulty and The Arts

rough notes in a webpage on Steiner’s concept of difficulty; my PowerPt presentation (pdf).

Morton Feldman and the Defeat of Memory

Morton Feldman created many pieces of extreme length that are based on the unpredictable repetition and development of narrowly focused ideas. By being so long, and featuring such microscopic and yet unpredictable variations, my listening mind gets lost. Both his music and his writings about his music seem to indicate this kind of escape from analytic listening was his objective, also on the route to some kind of experience that is otherwise unobtainable. Listening Example: Piano and String Quartet (1985), performed by the Kronos Quartet and Aki Takahashi. Nonesuch recording.

poem read to illustrate contingent difficulty

“Dog,” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, c. 1958. Published in his book A Coney Island of the Mind.

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Spring 2008

DC Meckler

MUS 202 Course website