- Analysis of the song “Crazy Blues” (Recorded August 10 1920) by Mamie Smith and her Jazz group (arizona.edu)
- What musical elements were executed by the musicians?
In the song “crazy blues” the musicians executed several musical elements such as rhythm, timbre, tempo, pitch and harmony. In the song, the trombone plays first, followed by the clarinet and the violin. The instruments are all in tune and the pitch of the musician combines well with the instruments.
- What style did they play in?
The music style is jazz. This is evidenced by the improvisation, blue notes, polyrhythm’s and several swung notes (Southern, 24).
- What tempo was used?
The tempo of the song is adagio which is slow and stately. The song is sung at ease. This is evidenced by the number of beats per minute which roughly lies in the region of 66-76 beats per minute (bpm) (Straus, 27)
- What was the form?
The song “crazy blues” has a strophic form. This is so because the song comprises of well-composed and distinct verses. It has repeated sections with fairly small changes (Straus, 32).
- What was your response?
I liked the song. It is has a very distinct ancient feel and the voice of Mamie Smith as she delivered that song is just wonderful. The slow tempo of the song and the instruments used create good harmony making the song pleasant to listen.
- Analysis of the song “There’ll be some Changes Made” (recorded March 21 1932) by The Boswell Sisters (arizona.edu)
- What musical elements were executed by the musicians?
In the song “There'll Be Some Changes Made” the musical elements present are varying tempo, harmony, rhythm, pitch and timbre. In the song, the clarinet plays first; the saxophone then plays second, the guitar and the trombone play simultaneously afterwards.
- What style did they play in?
The song is in Jazz style of music. It combines some African-American styles of improvisation, beats and also some European through the use of clarinets, trombone, trumpet and other European musical instruments.
- What tempo was used?
This song has different tempos. At the beginning, it is fast-paced and the tempo is allegro –it is fast and lively about 120-168 bpm (Straus, 35). At the third verse, the tempo slows down to a grave tempo which is slow and solemn.
- What was the form?
The song is the Variations Form. Sections where the musicians sing “change in the weather am going to change then am going to change” are repeated severally. As such, there are several recognizable instances and sections of the song.
- What was your response?
I did not like the song very much. It is very soft and slow to the point of sounding like a sorrowful song.
- Analysis of the song “Shag” (recorded September 15 1932) by The New Orleans Feet warmers (arizona.edu)
- What musical elements were executed by the musicians?
In the song “Shag” the musical elements present are varying melody, tempo, harmony, rhythm and pitch. The trumpet plays first followed by the saxophone in second. The song is in tune with all the instruments playing in harmony with each other.
- What style did they play in?
The song is in acoustic style. The instruments mostly the trumpet and the trombone used produce sound that is not electrically amplified (Southern, 41). Only instruments and some human sounds are combined to make the music.
- What tempo was used?
This song plays in very high tempo. It sounds like a presto where the beats are very fast in the range of 168 to 200 bpm (Straus, 36).
- What was the form?
This music is in a Dance Form where there are several repeated sections (plenty of music to dance to) with several dance steps in each section that one to.
- What was your response?
I liked this song very much. It is lively and once can easily dance to it. It made me cheerful and its perfectly played instruments are in harmony with each other and the melody is fantastic.
- Analysis of the song “Caravan” (recorded December 19, 1936) by Barney Bigard and His Jazzopators (arizona.edu)
- What musical elements were executed by the musicians?
The musical elements present in this song are melody, harmony, dynamics (loud or soft), pitch (varying from high to low) and rhythm in which there is a specific time pattern in the playing of different instruments. The first music instrument to play is the trumpet followed by the saxophone. As other instruments like the trombone join in, the song gets in tune.
- What style did they play in?
The style of music is acoustic because the music is composed of instrumental sounds that have not been electrically modified.
- What tempo was used?
The tempo used is moderato with about 108 to 120 bpm. The tempo is uniform throughout the music piece.
- What was the form?
This song is basically in the ternary form. It has two distinct parts comprising of different beats and one of the beats is changed at some point thereby yielding to the ternary form.
- What was your response?
I liked the song. It has uniform slow beats and then at some point the beats change and the pitch goes high which is interesting. The combination of saxophones, trumpets and other similar instrumental sounds forms really pleasant music.
- Analysis of the song “Honeysuckle Rose” (recorded January 31 1938) by Quintette du Hot Club de France (arizona.edu)
- What musical elements were executed by the musicians?
The musical elements executed by the musicians in this song were rhythm where the song adheres to a certain time element in terms of beats. Melody is present as a combination of rhythm and pitch. The first instrument to play is the violin followed by the guitar. The song has gets in tune when the two instruments are played in tandem.
- What style did they play in?
This music piece is also an acoustics song where there are only sounds from different musical instruments and those sounds have not been electrically amplified.
- What tempo was used?
The tempo used in this music was allegro moderato where the pace is moderately quick at about 112 to 124 bpm. It is also uniform throughout the song.
- What was the form?
This music piece is in the Binary Form common in western classical music.
- What was your response? I did not like this song as much. I found the beats monotonous and nothing really stands out from the song.
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Works Cited
Southern, Eileen. The music of Black Americans: a history. 2nd Ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1983. Print.
Straus, Joseph Nathan. Elements of music. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
web.cfa.arizona.edu/keithp/mus231/audio
