Music on TV

For my assignment, I decided to watch the first hour of the Dayton Basketball game on Thursday morning. Music plays on the intro to when the analysts speak, and sometimes during the highlights that they show in the background. Music is also played when the game returned from a break. Occasionally the stadium would play music during the game. However, other than that, the only music heard was during the commercials.

Music in the Lion King

I decided to write about the music in the Lion King. Its a Disney movie, yes, but it really uses songs well to accurately depict the mood and intensity of the movie. Just because it is a disney movie does not mean it is not intense.
The first song I'll talk about is "The Circle of Life", which is played during the opening scene. This is when Simba presented to the Kingdom. It really draws you into the mindset of being in Africa. Its builds very slowly, and then explodes into triumph. The song is unique because as you are listening to it, you are viewing depictions of different african animals.
The second song is "Can't Wait to Be King." This occurs when Simba realizes and is excited to become king of pride rock. It is a very fun and uplifting tone, and gives the audience the feeling that Simba is almost invincible. It does a good job of depicting the care free attitude that most kids have about life and their anxiousness to grow up.
The final song I'll comment on is "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." This was written by Elton John specificially for the movie. This is when Simba meets Nala after they have grown up. Nala is surpised to see him, as they have been under the impression that Simba died some years ago. This is a very emotional song, and almost brings me to tears when I listen to it. It depicts the mood well in the movie as there is some uncertainty and relief at the same time. This is when they realize their feelings for each other and Simba realizes he must retake Pride Rock for himself.
Each of these songs depicts a change in the movie. I firmly believe that without these songs, the Lion King would be a much less enjoyable movie.

Music in the Last of the Mohicans

On Sunday night, I watched the movie Last of the Mohicans, based on the book by James Fenimore Cooper. This movie takes place during the French and Indian War, in which France and Great Britain battled for control of the North American colonies. It follows the story of Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachcook. This film also won the Academy Award for Sound. It has a very powerful soundtrack, and invokes deep emotion. Throughout the songs, they use dramatic violins and cellos to set the tone, often very intensely. It really helps you picture the thought of going to war with the possibility of not coming. The music swells at different points, and eventually comes to an end. The Main Title really embodies the entire music from the film. It is very dramatic and has harsh tones at different times throuhgout the music. However it does a good job of not over dramatizing it, yet always manages to get me pumped up.

Paul Lansky Computer Music

For this blog assignment, we had to listen to pieces of music composed by Paul Lansky. I chose to listen to his work entitled "Idle Chatter." It sounds like a synthesis of randomly assorted sounds at the beginning. However, once you delve deeper into his piece, the beat become quite apparent. There are repeating sounds at different points throughout the song and there is a set pattern, not just randomly generated noises. It sounded quite futuristic at times as well, because the tone of the voices changed about halfway through the piece. The sounds pitches increased as well, and actually I was somewhat frightened because the noises being produced were pretty creepy. Its interesting to see how computers can generate these different types of music, but I dont think I will be listening to this genre on my free time any time soon.

Old Fashioned Tunes

The recording I listened to was Hungarian Rag by Julius Lenzberg, performed by the New York Military Band. And I must say, the sound quality was quite poor. It sounded very tinny, and almost unbearable to listen to. I feel if I would have listened to this same piece via modern recording, I would have enjoyed it much more. The song itself is quite lively and reminds me of songs in that era which were very pepping and catchy. I am thankful that recording methods have improved tenfold since then, and we actually have quality music to listen to. I do not know what I would do if I had to listen to someone like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Bruce Springsteen if they were recorded in this fashion.

New Notation

After reflecting thoughtfully on how I would change current musical notation, I was a little bit stumped. Finally I thought that the most universal way to do this would be by color. There would be a corresponding color for each note on the scale. To deal with sharps and flats, I would probably change the shape of the note. Perhaps if a normal note was a circle, then a sharp could be a square and a flat could be a triangle. Pretty basic, yet effective.

2 Songs-- rhythm and structure

The piece of music that I listened to from NAXOS was Symphony No. 8 in F Major, OP 93. I listened to the first movement, which was described as Allegro vivace e con brio. This piece lives up to its name in the beginning, starting of with cellos playing rapidly in unison. While the rhythm is fast paced, it feels somewhat disjointed, but in a good way. The rhythm would build up with the woodwinds, and then transfer over to another set of instruments. This piece was clearly dominated by the cellos and violins, however. It sounds like it takes place in 3 4 time, but I am somewhat uncertain. It is a lively piece of musc, fast paced, and I would say more light hearted than some of his other works.

The song from my own collection that I chose was Enter Sandman by Metallica. It has a very structured sound, going from Intro-Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Solo-Outro Its in 4 4 time. This song features heavy guitar riffs accompanied by menacing vocals and deep bass sounds.