Born on 13 March 1962 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Terence Blanchard is an American composer and film scorer. He began playing piano at the age of five, and began the playing trumpet at age eight. As a child, Blanchard played trumpet alongside Wynton Marsalis in summer music camps. In high school, Blanchard started studying at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) under Roger Dickerson and Ellis Marsalis Jr.. From 1980 to 1982, he studied under Paul Jeffrey and Bill Fielder at Rutgers University while on tour with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. In 1982, Marsalis selected Blanchard to replace him in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Blanchard served as the band’s trumpet player and musical director until 1986, becoming a key figure in the …show more content…
It was released in 2007 as part of the album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina). This piece was performed in a studio by Blanchard, Aaron Parks on piano, Brice Winston on tenor saxophone, Derrick Hodge on bass, Kendrick Scott on Percussion, and the Northwest Sinfonia, conducted by Blanchard. The piece starts out with eight bars of low-range percussion, specifically soft mallets used on the floor tom on a drumset, with contract in a higher octave from the triangle, with conga coming in in the seventh measure to end the first phrase. They use some form of a synthesized drone that drops out when the piano comes in in the ninth measure. The percussion continues, and the piano comes in with the first form of melody that we hear in the piece, still staying at about a mezzoforte dynamic. In the piano part, there is a form of anticipation in the moving line, coming in on the and of a beat, just ever so slightly before the cycle repeats. After eight bars, there is a piano timpani hit, and Blanchard comes in with a vocal line that soars above the piano and percussion line (both in volume and octave). The bass part is audible as well, with time being kept in the conga part. Then, the vocals drop out and the piano and oboe take over with a melodic line for a few bars. Then, the vocals come back in, with Blanchard doubling on trumpet, with the anticipated piano line now changed into chords …show more content…
I am listening to a studio recording of this song. This song was released on the album Flow in 2005, then arranged for full symphony orchestra on his 2007 album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina). I will be listening to that version of the song. The piece starts out with a woodwind and string prelude. Then, the prelude decrescendos, then stops completely, making the way for the solo piano to come in at a mezzoforte dynamic with the melody line. The piece is shifted down a half step in key, with the melody's starting note going from G to F#. It’s solo piano for sixteen bars, then the tenor sax comes in at a mezzopiano dynamic in the middle of his range, making it easy to blend with the right hand piano line. Lower strings are also heard at a piano dynamic, adding harmony in a lower range (with some countermelody and fills) to the tenor sax/right hand piano part. Soft mallets are being used on the cymbals to add an occasional percussive color, but only at a pianissimo dynamics, as not to interrupt the main theme. When Blanchard comes in on trumpet, the cymbal work comes up to a mezzopiano dynamic with tom work as well. The melody line changes as well, and the full string orchestra is in at this point adding a dark color to this new melody line. Then the melody comes back in in the piano, tenor saxophone, and upper strings at a mezzoforte dynamic, different from the dynamic they were at earlier. They
Afterwards the same guitar roars in for half the time it did before as Mr. Collins proceeds to go into the first verse of the song. After the first verse he returns back to the chorus this time with additional vocals that lags behind his every word and ends with the guitar roar once again that comes predictably at the same time. The first words to his second verse starts with the singer's voice tweaked up a bit with the reverb machine. The prophet and a host of warm instruments continuously ascends with every whole note for a total of four measures in a harmonious fashion, but returns back to the tonic key after the fourth keystroke. In closure of the last verse the song increases from a (p) piano to an (mp) mezzo forte. An intense eleven strikes on a live drum set introduces the climax of the song, which then cancels out the sound of the electronic drum set, yet introduces the sound of a brass instrument that appears every two or three measures.
The piano plays the main themes, and it was absent from playing before. The piano plays two octaves in the treble register. There is a viola in the background playing a counter melody, which slows towards
Edward Kennedy Ellington, American jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist, is considered to be the greatest composer in the history of jazz music and one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. He composed over 2000 works and performed numerous concerts during his musical career. A compilation of some of his most popular music is collected on a CD called "The Popular Duke Ellington." Ellington personally created most of the music played by his orchestra. He often wrote pieces for specific players with distinctive musical styles in his band, such as "Concerto for Cootie" (1940) for fellow musician and trumpeter, Cootie Williams. With the help of American trumpeter James "Bubber" Miley, Ellington often incorporated in his music the jungle effect.
To start, the first movement of the piece is in sonata-allegro form. It opens kind of abruptly, and starts with a three-note motive. The piece seems to be rapidly picking up and getting louder as it goes on. As the movement continues more towards the end, it starts to slow down and becomes more calming. We can hear the original three note motive come back again at the end.
A light-footed bass walking, well aligned with the patterned snare-drum accents, invites Seabrook to dynamically contribute in “Part 2”. His chromatic risings are interrupted by meddling circus-like orchestrations, which, in turn, leads to the cavernous reverberations liberated by Peck’s tuba.
This work comprises three tunes, each of them lasting around five minutes. To shape it, Adler reunited his quintet composed of vibraphonist Matt Moran, guitarist Jonathan Goldberger, pianist Santiago Leibson, and bassist Rob Jost.
Being a jazz standard and commonly played by a military and other marching bands, this piece was first composed by Benny Golson and was first recorded for Blue Mitchell’s Riverside album Big 6 on July 2nd and 3rd, 1958. This piece was influenced by New Orleans marching bands, and “starts in long meter form and transforms back into regular time. From Leonard Feather's point of view, “the theme with its slight bugle-call orientation, has a period quality that ties the work
This was in a ternary form with the main scherzo in contrast with the trio and then returning to scherzo. The opening theme is comprised of wind instruments followed by horns playing loudly. The scherzo returns with a repeat of the opening winds. The strings then take over in pizzicato and then ending with a repeat of the first movement into the fourth movement. The transition from the third into the fourth movement was said to be one of the most famous in all of classical music. The fourth movement is in sonata form with a fortissimo ending. It is a compressed version of all three previous movements. The tempo increases to presto and harshly stops with a dominant cadence. With a recap crescendo. I chose to put the third and fourth movements together because they have a lot in common and have a bridge connecting the two. They seemed to be linked together better than any of the other movements had to another. The ending was beautiful but did leave me wanting
The first movement, “Langsam, schleppend. Immer sehr gemächlich,” had a range of varying melodies and dynamics. This piece starts off with a seven-octave drone in the strings on A, while the violins use harmonics for the highest registers. This first part is a repeating pattern of gradually descending notes. It’s similar to the Jaws theme, where there is a two-note leitmotif. This two-note leitmotif is developed in the woodwind family which starts off the movement very eerie. The next part is nature themed. It is quickly interrupted by clarinets along with muted trumpets. After this, the horns are introduced with a slow and mellow melody which was played very soft, which I believe was pianissimo. The horns get interrupted by the trumpets playing a fanfare-like ceremonial tune. The trumpets started to
This recording follows the standard form of Jazz music. After the first chorus, the second chorus starts when the band members begin improvising. Although I can still hear a little similarity as the previous sections, the performers are mainly improvising
...lightning, and an earthquake, all imitated by the orchestra [m. 25]; and closes with dignified resolve in a slower accompanied recitative [m. 47].”
The brass plays an ascending sequence, followed by pizzicato notes played by the strings, and an ascending and descending scale on the harp. Strings and oboe play the rhythmic melody, whilst the trumpet plays fanfares in syncopation. The oboe is then replaced by the flute. There is an ascending scale played by the strings, then the brass section repeats the string and oboe melody with cymbal crashes at cadence points. The orchestra then plays a loud melody with cymbal crashes and drum rolls. There is an interrupted cadence, followed by crescendo with cymbal crashes and a brass ostinato. The piece ends with a perfect cadence.
...chestral introduction with an imperfect cadence. A strong rhythmic ¾ allegro passage, with sequences and descending scales is played by the orchestra, with timpani and cymbals. The music modulates, and a short, quiet woodwind passage is then alternated with an orchestral passage with dotted rhythms, creating a `terraced dynamics' effect. Part B begins with a major clarinet melody accompanied by pizzicato strings. A minor flute sequence follows, and is followed by a repetition of the oboe melody. A string sequence is then played, imitated by the oboe. There is a crescendo, then the rhythmic orchestral melody returns, alternated with a short flute passage. There are suspensions, descending scales and a crescendo, followed by a strong rhythmic passage with the timpani playing on the beat. Imperfect cadences are played, before the piece finishes with a perfect cadence.
After listening to the piece (Channel 3 YouTube., October 6, 2008) I analysed the piece is divided in 5-6 sections that have a fairly narrow range but the overall range is very wide because most of the piano keys are put to use (Margaret, E., March 25, 2013). The tempo is slow with a lot of push and pull and a rubato is noticeable
... then plays allegro passages of semi quavers, accompanied by timpani and descending scales in the woodwind. The clarinet, takes over the main melody whilst the cello accompanies with sequences. The French horn takes over the melody, accompanied by the strings. The flute briefly plays the melody before the cello plays octaves, accompanying the woodwind as they play a reprise of the DSCH theme and the timpani crashes. Repeating the themes in the first movement, the cello plays the DSCH motif followed by the "tate ta, tate ta" rhythm in the strings. The horn then plays the theme in augmentation, whilst the cello plays passages of ascending and descending scales, and the theme is heard again in the strings. The movement builds up with the motif appearing increasingly often in the woodwind and strings and climaxes with octaves by the soloist and a boom from the timpani.