Welcome to the final post of this series! This post features the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. When I read the prompt about a movie with significant musical content, this is the first movie that came to mind. I watched this movie many, many times when I was little. Even before I watched the movie, I had my own rainbow coat because I loved the story of Joseph so much. If you have not watched this movie before, please take the hour and sixteen minutes to watch it. The music is very diverse and you will most likely find at least one song that you enjoy.

This is the story from Genesis about a man who can dream and interpret dreams. He is forsaken by his jealous brothers and sold as a slave. He is bought and is then framed for a crime that he did not commit. Joseph then spends years in jail. The pharaoh has a dream that Joseph interprets. During the famine that Joseph helped prevent in Egypt, his family comes to beg for food. He later reveals himself to his family and is reunited.

The music is the driving force for this movie. The story is completely told in song. Even the parts in between the main songs are mostly sung by the narrator. The songs are varied in genre, tempo and key. These songs are inspired by country, opera, rock, and even one is inspired by the French language.

I chose a 20 minute segment to focus on for this post. If you don’t watch the full movie, please take time to watch this segment now. Please start at 17:35 and watch until 38:00.

For the song “Poor, Poor Joseph”, there is a very strong rhythm. The melody has a full orchestra feel, but I did hear drums, violin and trumpets. The tempo is medium to fast throughout. The timbre is rich because it has a strong intensity and range. It is both blue and orange as far as colors. It is blue because it is sometimes sad and slow, but it is also fast and joyous.

“Potiphar” has a constant rhythm. The melody has bass, bassoon and symbols among other instruments. It has a slow to medium tempo and an average timbre. The intensity is less than “Poor, Poor Joseph” and has a good range. Ir is red and green because the song deals in love but also riches.

“Close Every Door” has a slow tempo and the melody is simple in the beginning with a harp. The color is purple because it is sad but there is also underlying hope. The timbre especially in this song is amazingly rich. The enunciation is incredible and always gives me good bumps. There is also a swelling orchestra. There is also a bit of harmony at the end when Joseph is singing with the children.

“Go, Go, Go Joseph”has a faster tempo. The texture is smooth and fluid. The rhythm is strong and consistent. I hear a drums especially in this song. Hand clapping is also used in the song. The timbre is strong due to the intensity and the impressive range of the singers. The song is yellow because this song radiates hope.

The film uses a score as opposed to a soundtrack. There aren’t any leitmotifs because the music is constant and does not just represent a character here and there. Some of the songs and melodies are used twice during the movie. The music sets each scene and it can build the tension. Time moves at a normal pace in the movie even though years pass. The hour that one spends watching this movie just flies by. The music is diegetic because we can see the singers and that their mouths are moving. The music fits into the movie and does not counteract what is happening.

For my personal response, analyzing the music did change the way i view the movie a little. I liked thinking about what color(s) the songs were. Because color is such an important part of this movie, I find it appropriate to think about the color of what the song represents. I am not sure that this will change how I view future movies. I did enjoy this particular experience because I got to watch a movie I had forgotten about. Every time I watch this musical, I have the biggest smile on my face. I love the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber and I am grateful to be able to spend time watching this again.

Thank you friends for going on this journey with me. I hope you learned as much as I did!

Works Cited

Lloyd, Webber A, and Tim Rice. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Borough Green, Sevenoaks, Kent: Novello, 1975. Musical score.

Welcome to the first of two blog posts that will wrap up the class. This first one is focused on revisiting some of the listening logs I did that were submitted separately.

The first song I want to visit is titled “Barbara Allen”. One of the things that I noticed is that it sounds to be an older recording. It sounds like it came from a record. I believe I hear a guitar as the accompanying instrument. The rhythm is very consistent and predictable. The melody is very pleasant and simple as it is just the guitar playing and the singer. There isn’t a harmony present in this song. The tempo isn’t very fast or slow, it goes at a nice pace. The singer does not have a very wide range in this song, and has a medium intensity. I do want to mention again that this is a folk song and because the tune is the same melody over and over again, the song can be as long or as short as the singer desires.

This is a folk song that is also a ballad. It tells a story like many songs. This intersects with other songs I will talk about. While all the songs tell a story to some degree, this song tells the story very clearly. It is a very linear story with a beginning and a definite end. Other songs might focus more on a concept or theme, while some songs are made to express a story.

The next song I would like to visit is called “Amity”. This song is less than a minute long, but it is extremely pleasant to listen to. This is a spiritual song. I do want to make correction to the listening log, I thought I heard music, but what I was really hearing was the harmony. The rhythm is slow and deliberate. There is a four-part harmony in this song. It is separated out between bass, tenor, alto and sopranos. The tempo is a little faster than the previous song but I wouldn’t consider it to be a quick tempo. The timbre in all the voices is rich and strong.

This spiritual is tricky to find how it fits into the musical web because it is so short and is also sung a-capella. It does have a very strong harmony that is also found in “Walk This Way”. “Amity” is special in that we hear a four part harmony. This gives it a very lyrical feel to it.

Next is “Rock Around the Clock”. This is a fast paced rock song. The music that is played has a full band behind the singer. I hear a trumpet of some kind, piano, something that makes a clicking sound and a number of stringed instruments. The rhythm changes up throughout the song. The melody is complex with many layers thanks to the many instruments. There isn’t a harmony in this song as it is just the one singer. The tempo is very quick. The singer has some timbre. The range isn’t especially wide, but it does have a strong intensity.

This is one of three rock songs I will discuss in this post. These songs all share rich music and strong singers. Generally speaking with these three songs, there is one singer. However, we did discuss that “Walk This Way” has a harmony present.

The next song is called “Good Rockin’ Tonight” It is a little slower than the previous rock song, but it is rock nonetheless. I hear trumpets and some stringed instruments as the main musical component to the song. The rhythm is consistent and has a strong beat to it. The melody is interesting because it has instruments fall in and out of the song. The tempo is at a medium-fast pace. The singer has a rich timbre to his voice due to the impressive range and character he brings to the song.

The final song I will visit again is called “Walk This Way”. Of the five songs, I knew this one the best. There is a lot going on in the song when one listens critically. As far as instruments, there is guitar, drums, and some artificial sounds from the DJ. The rhythm is consistent and has a strong beat. The melody is in line with what we typically think of rock. There is some harmony. The tempo is quick. The singers have a rich timbre due to the intensity and range they are able to reach.

I wanted to wrap up the musical web segments here. Overall, these are at the very base, songs. Most have a tune, but not all. We can group these songs into folk, spiritual, and rock. Many of them have at least a two part harmony to add texture and color to the song. Many are smooth and fluid. I would say “Walk This Way” has more of a rough texture as some parts are presented differently. I am referring to when “Walk This Way is sung, it doesn’t sound as fluid as the rest of the song.

These songs are all similar in that they came from an artist who wanted to spread a message. Whether that message is about lovers, or rocking out showing someone how to act, these songs get a point across. We can also see how a harmony can add complexity to a song, as seen in “Amity” and “Walk This Way”. It should also be pointed out that instruments are not always needed in order to create a song. “Amity” only uses harmony. “Barbara Allen” only uses a single stringed instrument as accompaniment. While instruments can add to a song, it can also cause the lyrics to be lost. “Walk This Way” has lyrics that go quickly and can be difficult to hear what is being said. This may be in part due to the melody. “Good Rockin’ Tonight and “Rock Around the Clock” have a good balance between instrument and lyric.

I hope this has inspired you to think differently about music. I know that when I listened to my playlist today, I started thinking more about the music and what makes it a song. See you in the next and final post!

Hi everyone! I have a free choice on what I wanted to do for this post. We recently had a module on Jazz and how it came to be. I found this very useful timeline on the history of Jazz. http://www.jazzinamerica.org/jazzresources/timeline I was inspired to look more deeply into the history of Jazz due to a documentary we watched as a class for a discussion post.

To begin talking about Jazz, we first need to go to 1619 when slaves were first sold in America (The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz). This is important because Jazz was not possible until the abolition of slavery. As we move forward, we see that ragtime music was the first in the timeline of how Jazz came to be. I personally love piano rags, I think they are very fun to listen to and sound very bright. I really enjoy listening to the Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. I have embedded the video below for your listening pleasure. I especially like this video because you can see the hands moving across the keyboard.

It isn’t until 1917 when Jazz first makes an appearance. This is when an all white group, called The Original Dixieland Jass Band, recorded the first Jazz pieces. It was also during this time when free black people began to move north. The first Jazz song recorded is called Lively Stable Blues. While listening to a documentary titled “Gumbo” regarding Jazz, it was said that you can’t have Jazz without Blues. (Ken Burns Gumbo)

I really enjoyed the Gumbo documentary because it was stressed that Jazz is an improvisational art. It is so special how one person can start on a Blue style song, and other join in to create Jazz. A group doesn’t have to have prepared songs, they can make it up on the spot. I think that is really what makes Jazz so special. It was born out of an oppressed culture as a way to express feelings and to speak a different language.

Thanks for reading everyone! I only have two more blog posts in store for you so I hope you have enjoyed reading thus far.

Bibliography

Jazz series Gumbo Ken Burns. USA/UK. 2000

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz http://www.jazzinamerica.org/JazzResources/Timeline/1940/1949 2019

In this film, African-Americans, Creoles and Whites are mostly depicted in this film. It is about how Jazz came to be. A motif that is often said in the film is that Jazz is a improvisational art. The people that are depicted are very resilient because they often faced degrading circumstances.

The music sounds soulful. The music is often a saving grace for those who were enslaved. On Sundays, they were allowed to sing and dance. Sometimes, the slave owners would come and watch the singing and dancing. Because of this, minstrelsy came to be. This was were white people would paint their faces black and put on “comedy” shows that make fun of a people and culture.

I enjoy how there are periodic parallels drawn between music and gumbo. One parallel is the roux of a gumbo to the blues. You need blues in order to have jazz. Jazz is mostly found in New Orleans, but did travel up to Chicago. These songs were played anywhere and everywhere.

The songs changed over time between what was happening to the culture of a people and their situation. Jazz wasn’t really a possibility until abolition happened. The music culture shifted from field songs, to spirituals, there was a tangent of minstrelsy, Jazz came around along with the blues and ragtime.

I never considered that Jazz was an improvisational art. It is beautiful that one could start playing, and others would join and you could create something so unique and special together. You didn’t have to know a certain number of songs, you just had to know your instrument well and what song was in your soul. I enjoyed this movie and look forward to my next post.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and I will see you next time!.

The main group of people who are depicted in this film are African-American people who were involved and lived through the civil rights movement. Some people who are included are an aid to Martin Luther King Jr. , a civil rights movement organizer and leaders. Some images that are shown are racial violence and peaceful protests.

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The music sounds very soulful. Every word is so filled with emotion. Whether that be joy, sorrow, pain, the emotion is shown for all to hear. Some of the songs are there to pass the time during a protest, and some are hymns to sing in church. There was one person who said that the music was a way to express themselves as a people.

These songs are all used in various locations. As far as geographical location, this mostly focused on Alabama. As mentioned previously, some songs are used in church, some in protests, and some just in the street as the times called for a song. Toward the ends, at the death of Martin Luther King Jr., the people that walked with his body, followed the train. They sang all the songs they knew that he had taught them for protests.

The culture has changed drastically since the civil rights movement. However, somethings remain the same. Music is still used to express oneself , it is still used in a religious context as well. Socially, we have grown as a society and as a world. We are far from perfect, but my hope is that we will continue to better ourselves.

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One bit that stood out to be was when they were talking about Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder. A phone could not be used without going through to the operator. This was an issue because the operator heard the gunshot, went out and looked up on the balcony where he lay, and she had a heart attack on the spot. It makes you wonder if she didn’t go out to look, would he have received the help he needed in order to live?

That’s it for this post! I hope you enjoyed my movie review. Until next time!

I want to talk about a recent conversation I had in my life in regards to a discussion post I just wrote about the other day. My goal is to express myself in the most respectful way possible. I would like to talk about minstrelsy shows. To be clear, I do not think it is appropriate to mock a group or culture in any manner. I grew up in a white, conservative Christian setting. From a young age, I was taught to see people as people. It was instilled on me that it didn’t matter how able someone was or how they looked, what mattered was who they were on the inside and how they treated people.

When I started reading in my class about minstrelsy groups, I was appalled. I understand it is from a different time, but it still shocks me how terribly people can treat each other, past and present. This is something that I just read about yesterday, but the thoughts keep coming back to me. My friend asked about my class and I told them about what I had just read about. In the discussion post, I didn’t feel like there was anything for me to contribute because I have never seen or even heard of this concept before. The friend is from another generation, and they pointed out my white upbringing.

The friend talked about their African-American friend who got pulled over one time while my friend was in the car. He pulled out his licence and took the keys out of the ignition, and my friend looked at him saying “What are you doing?” He said that he has to do things differently than my friend. Similar to me, my friend initially was “color blind”, in other words not really registering when someone has a different skin color. The African-American friend told my friend that he was proud of his skin color and wanted my friend to recognize it.

Back to the minstrelsy groups, this ignited a whole new conversation that I had with this new friend. I feel like it helped that they were from a different generation. They have lived longer and had more life experiences than I have. It saddens me that this ever happened in the first place. Because it is still such a new concept to me, I haven’t been able to identify any cultural or musical points where this is still present and seen. I hope that I will not see this in my day to day life. If I do however, I plan to say something about it.

That’s all for this post; I hope it was interesting for you to read. See you in the next post!

For the next section of my class, we were asked to write a movie review. The movie is all about the song “Amazing Grace” and the unbelievable impact it has had everywhere for so long. Very quickly, it is apparent that this song is shared among several cultures. As far as groups, within the first ten minutes we see African-American, Southern, a family from Scotland, and a folk singer.

The music sounds fairly consistent across the various cultures and groups. Some add character to the song, and some stick to what we would consider the original version.

This song is performed in a range of locations just as diverse as the people who sing it. We see that it is performed at family gatherings, as a spiritual in churches, and for recordings. There was also a part where people were coming out to register to vote, and the song seems to have given them strength and courage to try to register to vote.

The music culture seems to have changed over time in that this song was written originally as a hymn based on John Newton’s own personal life. He was a slave trader and came back to the church and wrote hymns. He had a wretched life, but later found grace. It has grown beyond the church though. It can be used at family gatherings as well, through thick, thin, happy and sad. It was even sung at the end of Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday concert. This was a rock concert, but a soloist sang Amazing Grace and many people even sang along with her. The melody has changed a bit over time. The more recent versions have more sliding and moving notes. There has also been shape-note versions.

This particular assignment was emotionally challenging to me. Just a few weeks ago, I went to my grandfather’s funeral. His wife’s name was Grace. At her funeral eight years ago, we sang Amazing Grace. We also sang it at my grandfather’s grave site (her’s as well). That memory is still pretty raw for me, and every week I am reminded of his passing. I saw the title of the movie and knew I would be fighting tears the whole way through. It is nice to see this song that is sung from a place of happiness and spirituality rather than a place of mourning. There is this one boy who is interviewed, and his mom cried when she heard Amazing Grace. When he asked why she was crying, she replied that she was just so happy and remembered things from long ago. It’s so interesting how a song can make me cry, and a stranger cry, for completely different reasons.

That’s all for this post friends, see you in the next post! May you have grace in your life.

Hello Readers!

Welcome to the second post about Blues artists. In this post I will be telling you about Bessie Smith and what she has contributed to the blues scene. Smith was born in Tennessee in 1894. Her father died shortly after her birth, followed by her mother and two brothers. Smith and the rest of her siblings were raised by her aunt. As previously mentioned, Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey were in the same performance group, the Moses Stokes troupe. Ma Rainey became a mentor to Smith for a number of years.

She had a tough time in her career due to the Great Depression. The economy was in turmoil, and that means that people didn’t have money for leisure activities, such as going to see a performance. During this time she separated from her husband and quit working with her recording label, Columbia.(biography.com 2019) She loved performing, and she couldn’t just stop. She started touring again and was later picked up by another label. Her life was cut short at age 43 with a car accident.

Biography.com Editors, Bessie Smith Biography, A&E Television Networks, April 2019, https://www.biography.com/musician/bessie-smith

Now that we have a little background on Bessie Smith, let’s look at a couple of her songs that made her famous. The first one I came across was Downhearted blues. One thing I noticed was the song has a decent range. The tempo is moderate and fairly bright. Her voice is rather powerful and has timbre. It is a 12 bar blues song with the addition of a few stanzas at the beginning for flavor. The topic is about love and being mistreated and needing to be treated properly. She has a piano to sing along with. I would say Downhearted blues has a wave-like contour to it.

The next song I picked to discuss is St. Louis Blues. One thing I noticed right away is that this song is neither a 12 bar nor 8 bar blues song. The beginning is in a 12 bar blues organization, however it does not continue throughout the song. This song might be closer to a cross between ballad and blues. The range isn’t very wide, however it is in a higher register than an average range. There is a very strong timbre to her voice. This song also has a wave-like contour. I did notice in the lyrics that there is a lot of dialect that is present. Standard American English is not used in this song.

Alright everyone that is it for this post. Thank you for reading about two powerful women in the early Blues era in music history!

Hello readers!

This is the first of two posts for the next module in my course. I chose to research Ma Rainey, a great early blues performer. Her birth name is Gertrude Pridgett and was born in 1886. In 1900 she was a performer at the Singer Opera House in the local talent show. She later moved on to bigger and better things. In 1912 she was in the Moses Stokes troupe and met Bessie Smith (spoiler alert: Bessie Smith is the subject of the next post!). While it is likely that Rainey mentored Smith to some degree, their styles are unique enough from each other that it is unlikely that she taught her much.

I want to move on to her legacy and what she stood for. Her messages were strong, clear, and were well received because she talked about the every day life of African-Americans. I liked this specific quote I came across in the source I have cited at the bottom in regards to the subjects she sang about, ” in short, the southern landscape of African-Americans in the Post-Reconstruction era.”(biography.com 2019) Her music inspired many poets and artists such as Langston Hughes. Ma Rainey was very true to herself and her culture. She commanded attention from her audiences and helped them really to feel her music and messages.

Biography.com Editors, Ma Rainey Biography, A&E Television Networks, April 2019, https://http://www.biography.com/musician/ma-rainey

The best way to get to know a singer is by looking at their music and how they send their messages. The first song I will talk about is Ma Rainey’s Bo-Weavil Blues. This is a standard 12 bar blues song. This is identifiable based on the lyric pattern of A-A-B. This is a great way to emphasize a few points while breaking up the monotony with a new line in each stanza. The music is at a moderate pace, I believe I hear piano and saxophone as the main instruments that support her tone of voice. I also hear a trumpet that fills in the silence. She has a strong timbre as her voice is very strong and conveys a lot of emotion; and the music has a wave-like contour to it.

The next song I wanted to discuss is called Shave ’em Dry: This is an 8 bar blues song. There is one line that is repeated throughout the song in each stanza at the end. The tempo is a little faster in this song than in Bo-Weavil Blues. The repetition is still present as in most blues, but it is not as in your face as a 12 bar blues. I would say that the range is around average, there aren’t any extreme high or low notes. The music that is accompanying her voice is rather bright at well. I believe I hear guitar as the main supporting sound.

With all that said, I do believe it is time to close this post. I learned a lot about Ma Rainey while i researched more about her and her music. She seems like she was a real inspiration during her time and well past her death. Stay tuned for the next post on Bessie Smith.

Thank you for taking the time to read and have a wonderful day!

I will start with my family’s relationship with music. Mostly, my family just listens to music. I am the only one in my immediate family who can play an instrument (the piano). My grandfather, who passed away a couple weeks ago, was able to play the piano and cello. He played by ear, meaning he didn’t read music while he played. He couldn’t read music, but he know how to string chords together in a wonderful way. My brother would play Lego Rock Band with me. I usually played an instrument and he would sing. This is funny to me because I was in chorus all through middle school and before then I would sing in choir. He has a good voice though, and we always had so much fun playing.

My relationship with music is actually kind of forced. While I love music, I need it to get through most days. I have a disorder called Misophonia. This means I am sensitive to specific sounds. This is caused from a differently wired brain. For me, I have a direct wire from sounds to emotions and memories. I have a lot of negative memories with these sounds and it is almost traumatizing each time I hear it. But you would never know this just by looking at me. I have had Misophonia for ten years now. When I first became aware of the disorder, all my trigger sounds felt so loud and terrifying. My triggers are anything to do with the mouth, nose, and throat, eating and drinking, fingernails, dishes, and continuous beeps (microwave/ cars).

Music has been a safe place for me. 99% of the time, music does not contain my trigger sounds. There are two songs that I have listened to that the singer clears their throat. Why they think this adds to the song is beyond me. When I hear my triggers, it makes me upset. Emotions range from anger to sadness. Because of medications, therapies, and knowing myself, I have better control over my disorder now than when it first appeared. When I became aware of it, sitting at the table with family to eat dinner was worse than torture. I would eat quickly then run to my room to listen to music to try to get the triggers out of my head. It got to the point where I would say I wasn’t hungry, and then eat after everyone was asleep. I didn’t go to family functions, out to eat at a restaurant, movies, almost anything social. Music was my only friend.

As for my taste in music, I prefer songs that have a strong beat and rhythm. They make me happy generally. I like anything that will make me smile and makes me want to dance. This isn’t really a preference for Misophonia, it is just what I like.

I wish I could say that my family has a rich culture that is rooted in music, but I can’t. My family history is bland. I have listened to a number of songs in Spanish thanks to my Spanish minor and four years of Spanish classes in high school. I had a teacher for two years that adored Shakira. We listened to many of her songs.

I loved reading through the responses that some of my classmates had about music in their family. One student expressed how she tends to compare most Hindi songs to this one specific one from a movie. Another one listed out some songs that are near and dear to her heart. I knew two of the songs that she listed because they are pretty iconic. It was great hearing about how music was so involved in their family’s lives.

That’s it for this post! I know that this longer than my last post but I felt that it was important to share my disorder so that it would make more sense as to why music is so important to me. Music has done a lot to help me survive through some days, and I am sure it will continue to help.