Music and Romance

The topic, romance, and the two playlist entries connect because the lyrics to both songs speak about love and loving someone in a  relationship. Romance is defined as a feeling of excitement towards love, and the lyrics in both playlist entries, such as “all of me loves all of you” align with that definition. Specific musical characteristics are not shown, but the social context relates to the topic because “all of me” is written about the singers wife, who he feels romantically towards.

If I were to write about this topic, a musical characteristic I would look for in songs is a higher pitch, and faster tempo. I believe these characteristics portray the excitement about love that is romance. With a pleasant and high pitch sound, the listener hears and feels what it is like to be so in love and so happy when you act romantically. I would also look for lyrics that talk about loving someone and positive feelings towards another person. Lastly, I would look for a social context of someone who is feeling romantic, and has or has had someone they felt strongly enough about to be romantic. Having the social context involve a romantic love story would connect to the topic. Both of the songs I selected fit this description.

Childish Gambino released a song in 2018 names “This is America”. The popular artists song became popular and widely known due to the song itself, video, and message. The message put across was to speak out about racial discrimination towards African- Americans. Some interpret certain scenes in the video as a message stating that American gun laws are more protective than laws protecting people themselves. Also, some believe the video points out that entertainment has been used as a way to get our minds off of political conflicts and bigger world problems. Many speculate that Gambinos dancing in the video displays the distraction from political and societal issues, through the entertainment industry. This song is listened widely for musical enjoyment, the message is underlying and many people do not notice the lyrics relating to the message. Repetition is used to reinforce important lyrics and made the song catchy and widely appealing. Some repeating lines are “ Don’t catch you slippin now” and “Look what im whippin now”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY

The Sema ceremony brings people together to connect with G-d. It is a worship ceremony with singing. In order to spiritually connect with G-d, people dance to the Mevlevi Sufi music. The first part to the ceremony included improvisation on the ney or flute (Mevlevi slides). This is called Taksim. The second part on the other hand is composed rather than being improvised. This part is named Peşrev. The slides mention that the ceremony allows for people to “Experience the direct spiritual union with God”.

A well known piece of music is Amazing Grace. The words and melody make it easy to learn, and it is usually sung in a church prayer setting. Usually there are multiple people singing as well as instruments used in the process. Both amazing grace and the sema ceremony are used to connect people to G-d and are played in religious settings. They are also very similar in their slow tempo. The differences they may have is the amount of instrumental and lyrics.

In my culture, there is a dance associated with it called the horah. This dance is performed at any celebration such as a wedding or bat mitzvah. You may see these dances take place in Israel and other parts of the world. The dance needs a group of people to participate, and can include up to hundreds of people and layer circles of dancing around each other. This dance encourages togetherness and inclusion and bonding. As you can see, the people in the video are locked hands which forces them to feel more comfortable with each other.

The song is played with joyful and upbeat music to encourage the celebration and keep up a good mood overall. As people watch and see the infectious joy the dance creates, more and more people join and there is no limit to how many people can partake. The “Hava Nageela” song is usually played with this dance, and is included in the video. The dancing is to the beat of the music. The genre is tied to my culture because I see it very often and is performed in events I attend such as weddings and other celebrations.

I think I would feel most comfortable in a symphony orchestra concert because of my familiarity with it. Throughout elementary school I participated and attended concerts similar to this, exposing it to me from a young age. I would feel least comfortable at a Hindustani classical performance because I am not familiar with this type of music and concert setting, however it seems like an interesting type of concert to be an audience member at. It seems as if the Audie ce members can have a closer connection to the performers, due to the lack of theatrics such as lights and dancers, etc. As a listener at a symphony I would feel comfortable enough to express my feelings with applause, but also have silence to be able to enjoy the music during their performance. This is different from typical pop concerts because during these concerts fans are yelling, screaming, and recording during the entire concert. This can make it difficult to listen to and appreciate the music.

I chose 1.21 Gigawatts from Back to the Future (1985) as the clip i’d like to speak about. A teenager in the clip has traveled back in time to when his own parents were teenagers. By doing this, he is changing sequen=ces of events which can influence the future. To reverse this, he needs the help of a scientist to bring him back to the future. During this clip, they attempt to find out how to bring him back to the future.
The diegetic sounds taking place in the clip is the sound of the video rewinding and forwarding. Also, the crumpling of the paper that is being held is diegetic. The footsteps between the characters are also diegetic. Diegetic sounds are sounds the characters in the film can hear. The nondiegetic sounds include dramatic music in the end of the clip which increases in intensity and loudness. Non Diegetic sounds are sounds only the audience can hear.
The music makes the audience more nervous, due to the worry the characters are experiencing. Then, it shows the excitement of the screen because the scientist has come up with how to send the boy back to the future. I think the musical characteristic of increasing tempo and loudness is it important to show the importance of the event and the information the scientist discovered. This also can mirror a conjunct melody, because the distance between beats is short.

I have chosen the loop machine as a technological instrument of music. The purpose of the loop machine is to add layers to music and develop a song further and further as the song continues. The machine loops a prior line of music and overlaps it with further singing or music throughout the song. It seems like a smaller version of a keyboard, and is held and used during a performance. In order to use it buttons and signals must be used throughout the performance to allow it to keep changing the music. Although I do not have any experience with this technology, I have seen many foreign country singers use it in their live performances. 

This piece of music is named “toy” performed by Netta, an Israeli singer. She won the Eurovision contest against many other countries with this piece. This technology made this singers performance stand out and seem unique to people. This is what contributed to the performers winning Eurovision and other singing competitions. It is an uncommon instrument used during live performances and shocked many audience members.

I have researched both Kyrie (monophonic) and Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass and used slides and notes from class to learn about their connection to Texture, Timbre, and Dynamics.

First, texture refers to how different parts of music fit in together. Monophony can describe the texture of a single musical line being used without the accompaniment of other musical parts. Monophony is used in kyrie (monophonic) because there is one lead singer without other noises and parts of music. On the other hand Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass uses Polyphony as its texture. This piece of music includes several voices which change the sound of the music and adds layers. These two pieces of music contrast in the way they sound because of the layers of voices, and different pitches used.

Timbre refers to what makes an instrument unique in terms of its sound and colors. In these two pieces of music, neither have instrumental backgrounds. This emphasizes the voices of the singers as well as the pitches and volumes they use. This makes this music unique, and more simple compared to pieces of music with lots of instrumental layers and emphasis.

Dynamics consider the volume of a note or point in music. Kyrie is monophonic and keeps mainly the same low pitch and medium volume throughout the entire piece. This keeps the music simple and recognizable. On the other hand, Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass has two voices in which are both much higher pitched than the prior piece of music. Also, in this piece the pitches slightly change from high to slightly lower, not keeping one simple note throughout the song. Also, the volume in which they perform this piece is much higher.

During the Medieval times, which took place between 400 and 1430, Western notation was first created to record music. However, commoners music which was created without being notated was lost. Lyrics and melodies were first introduced such as polyphony. It excites me and interests me that subtle and simple music was created because it was the very beginning of the creation and notation of music. I expect this music to lack layering and range of pitch due to the fact that it was the first ever music created.

I decided to listen to Hildegard of Bingens (1098–1179) music. The piece named ”Voices of Angels – Voices of Ascension” sounded a lot like what the textbook described it to be. Most of the music contained one single voice without any background noises or layering. The sound of the singers voice was subtle and remained mainly the same high pitch throughout the piece. There was one single singer for the entire piece, who sang slowly and gracefully.