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.

Electrophones

For our assignment, I listened to country, rock, jazz, and pop stations. The country station featured little electrophones. I think I managed to hear an electric guitar during a select Keith Urban song, but other than that, it remained dominated by the acoustic guitar among other instruments. The rock station I listened to featured at least an electric guitar in each song, and I believe I was able to pick out a keyboard or two as well. I was hoping to catch The Doors "Touch Me", featuring the keyboard quite extensively, but unfortunately I did not. On the jazz station, smooth rhythms from an electric guitar dominated the scene. Keyboards were also featured at certain interludes. For any of the stations that I listened to, the jazz station by felt the best effects from the electrophones, as it was so smooth and felt very natural. The last station I listened to was pop. Miley Cyrus was featured on this station and I believe I heard a keyboard in her song. Other songs on this station did utilize some keyboards as well among other electric sounds, but it was hard to tell if those were made by a guitar or were synthesized.

Aerophones on WGUC

This assignment proved to be more difficult than initially expected. While it was easier to pick out chordophones, aerophones were exceedingly difficult. I did notice aerophones, it was just more difficult to distinguish between themselves.

The first piece was by Franz Joseph Haydn, called Scherzando #1. At first, there were no aerophones playing. Then what I believe to be a clarinet came in a played a somewhat melancholy tuned. It was promptly followed by a flute medly which was really spectacular. I had never focused on listening to flutes before, and the transition from note to note for each was incredibly smooth.

Next was a piece by Henry Purcell, called Fairy Queen: Suite. To my untrained ear, the first movement seemed to primarily feature a clarinet accompanied by selected chorodophones. The rest of the piece featured many chordophones, and from what I could tell they were bassoons and oboes, but I am uncertain. They played in unison beautifully, making it the music lively yet bringing a unique tone to that is unmatched. They came in slowly, but gradually picked up the pace throughout the piece until it climaxed.

The last piece I listened to was by Giovanni Bottesini, called Double Bass Concierto. This piece featured minor aerophones at selected times but for the most part it was dominated by chordophones.