It’s refreshing to listen to things that sound a bit more familiar! These three works were fantastic; truly pleasures to listen to. Being bit of a jazz/blues fan myself the listening for this week was bit of a treat. Yet it was challenging to listen to it in  this different context: one in which I am listening for more formal elements to pick out and in some way explain my enjoyment. Prior, it simply sounded nice and made me feel strongly, be it happy and free or sad and lonely. Now, the task seems much more difficult.

With Potato Head Blues, the polyrhytmic nature of jazz comes through with several rhythms playing at once (the piano keeping a steady bass-line as the trumpet and clarinet shows off their finesse). It’s very interesting to hear the relationships between the instruments, particularly in the middle where there is a trumpet solo, then clarinet solo, then a trumpet solo, all interspersed and punctuated by the piano. It oddly creates a tension with its start stop feeling that is resolved when all the instruments join back together at 2:35

All the pieces seemed upbeat, but I couldn’t quite tell if they were in major or minor since there was so much going on. That sort of lively movement and fluidity made them so exciting to listen to. Particularly the interplay of instruments. With take the A train, the cascading piano in the beginning and the quick horns seem to play towards a narrative as the title suggests, as if the instruments were narrating one’s journey on the A train. What caught me was the freedom of this piece, where you have crescendos, cascading notes (towards 1.50 and 2.00) and then a bounce back up and then a cocophany of sounds at 2:15. It’s fascinating to hear them playing with all these techniques, and the short notes on the piano, and have it all cleanly resolve at the end.

Confirmation was a very enjoyable piece. It was much faster and seemed so much more variable in moving in all sorts of direction. I could only imagine how hard it would be for someone to do a live transcription of this. It seems to generally lie on one scale but slides up and down and around it with ease. You particularly hear the strong bassline at around 2:20 when the saxophone seems to take a break and give the drums and bass a bit of the limelight. When listening back to Potato Head Blues one could see how the progression of Jazz very much broke forms so as to embrace the freedom and emotion of the music.

Duke Ellington’s signature song, “Take the A Train” was written by Billy Strayhorn. It was quite difficult for me to assign a form to this piece and identify various sections, because one of the main elements of Jazz is improvisation. So, I naturally found myself trying to fit it into the forms we have already discussed in class (ex. Sonata form). Overall, if I had to assign a structure to the piece I would say A-B-A.

The song begins with a very festive opening, starts with playful descending melodies scales played by the piano (0:00 – 00:05), followed by the celebratory sound of trumpets 0:06 – 0:11. The entire song maintains an upbeat tempo, due to the drums and the bass that continuously play in the background. The Introduction, or A section, spans from 0:00 to 1:40. Within this timeframe I identified two different musical themes or distinct sounds, which reminded me of the primary and secondary themes of sonata form. The primary one from 0:05 to 0:51 and the secondary one is 0:52 to 1:38.

At 1:39, a shift is marked by a number of trumpets joining in and an increase in dynamic, which signaled section B. From 1:48 to 2:15 there is a development of the piece during which elements from section A returns. At 2:16 there is another shift in the music marked by the instruments coming together once again, which initially creates a somewhat dissonant chord which is resolved at the instruments end on the same note. At 2:18 we get a return of the A section, however it is not necessarily a “true” return since it’s not identical to the beginning of the piece. Here the trumpets are  similar to the beginning, but there seems to have been a slight change in key, shifting from a higher major (0:18 – 0:22) to a lower major key (0:29 – 0:3). We also hear a quick return of the playful piano introduction, but only for a spilt second (0:45– 0:46) as a short reminder of the first A section.

Although I was very excited for this unit, I was a bit disappointed that none of the songs we are studying contain a vocal piece. In Jazz, the vocal style is very unique because it also functions using improvisation and contains many unique improvisation techniques, such as scat singing and bebop. Jazz singers were also unique because of the distinctive raspy, sultry quality of their singing.

Although delving into the genre of Jazz music, I approached the critical listening of the three provided Jazz  pieces in a similar way as the previous musical pieces which I have been exposed to throughout the semester. Beginning with the Potato Head Blues by Louis Armstrong, I immediately noticed the lack of percussion within the piece since I attempted to identify the meter. I heard a  duple meter which was predominantly created by a bass instrument. However, this meter disappeared throughout certain times of the piece and even when the bass was playing at times, the meter was not perfectly clear, due to inconsistencies in the way the bass was utilized. This made me realize that Jazz music is a genre that is often associated with improvisation. Hence, Jazz music seems to emphasize the actual performance and playing of an instrument, rather than the composition, organization and formation of a piece. The actual individual instruments are being stressed and this argument can be supported by the various solo moments within the Jazz pieces that we are listening to.

This utilization of solo instruments is also present in Charlie Parker´s piece called Confirmation.This piece does possess percussion, creating a fast duple meter which persists throughout the whole piece. In my opinion, the way in which this Jazz piece is structured is through the different instrumental solos. The fact that different instruments receive a solo, sort of expresses a sort of competition among the different instruments within the piece, where one instrument attempts to out – do or out – perform the other instruments within their respective solos. Hence, a sense of conversation or communication among the instruments is communicated within this piece in particular.

Now that we are listening to Jazz, there are many new developments as well as connections the music has to past pieces we have reviewed. For this post, I will focus on “Confirmation” by Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train”. The two greatest similarities these pieces have with those we have studied are its organization and thematic reoccurrence.  Like the string quartets, these jazz ensembles are set up like conversations, only between spirited individuals rather than reasonable individuals. Like the sonatas and endless pieces we have observed, jazz pieces usually start with a main theme and build off of it in solos and developments. Take the A Train develops the main theme, and Charlie Parker solos off of his.

More than anything, jazz brings an intense focus on the players themselves rather than the composition. The emphasis is not on the composer or even the composition, but the player’s take on the pieces, and the band itself. Without a conductor, the connection between the player’s is integral to the development of the piece. The bass and piano dictate the chord structure, which builds a foundation which the melody, solo, or harmony build off of. The percussion maintains the feel and tempo of the beat, and cues major musical occurrences (starting a soloing, repeating a bar, switching movement). The piece is not about music itself, or symbolizing anything, but muses on the feel of the interaction of the ensemble.

Finally, jazz is not about the composition, but the player’s take. A jazz standard is a standard not because of how impressive it is, but because it memorably solidifies the audience into a chord structure. What is really important about jazz is the ability for players to express their musical ideologies within the chord structure, as is evident in Parker’s solo and the trumpet solo at 0:50 in Take the A train. We are not awed by the chord structure or themes, but the talent and improvisation of the actual players. The focus is on the individual skill, not the musical composition. It’s a conversation where everyone shows off!

Following a very brief piano intro, Charlie Parker and his saxophone take over with a wild and very entertaining string of dynamic playing. The playing in this segment seems to be all over the place yet there also appears to be a complete sense of control. The constant and rapid changes in dynamics, and chord really take the listener through an unpredictable sequence where they never know whats coming next and it is very entertaining. Then, right around the 2:00 mark the sax takes a break and allows the different pieces of the ensemble to each have a quick solo feature. However, we all know who the star of this work is and at the 2:35 mark the sax is back. After another 20 seconds of wild playing the track ends with a playful strum on the bass string instrument.

I found this piece very enjoyable right from the beginning. I believe that this is largely because it had more of a fun and good times feel to it. This contrasts, in my opinion, to the pieces that we have studied up to this point in the course in which a strong understanding of the music is almost necessary to fully enjoy. I had a very difficult time attempting to compare the structure of this piece to the types we have discussed in the past. This piece didn’t seem to follow any of the same structures and almost seemed to have a very improvisational feel to it. All in all I found this piece to be a very nice change of pace.

With the exception of Ives, Gershwin, and Cage, European composers seemed  to dominate this course, since Europe had more time to construct its own musical identities. But I was particularly excited for this weekend’s assignment, since jazz is a classic “American” genre, and key figures in this movement such as Louis Armstrong evoke a great degree of nationalist pride among Americans.

“Potato Head Blues” seems to be an inappropriate title for Louis Armstrong’s composition. I thought that it was too fast to be considered a “blues” yet simultaneously too slow to be considered a “bebop.” Armstrong found somewhat of a middle ground between the two, as he incorporates fast melodic solos juxtaposed with slower elements.

“Potato Head Blues” begins with two counter melodies. One is notably faster than the other, and it almost feels like an unending melody, never taking a short pause to signal an end to the listener. There appears to be another trumpet serving as a “bass line” for these two counter melodies. Following the introduction is further development, which transitions into the trumpet clarinet duet. The clarinet solo in particular builds up a great degree of tension. Here, we lose meter and expectations. It almost seems improvisatory, similar to the harpsichord solo that we heard in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto. However, unlike the harpsichord solo, this tension almost seemed exciting, and the release of tension was exalting.

I really liked how Armstrong added contrast to this piece. In addition to the introductory counter melodies, he juxtaposed really long notes with very short ones. Furthermore, at the end of his trumpet clarinet duet, he includes a short banjo solo at 1:46, which added dimension and suspense to the piece.

At 2:34, we finally get a return to the full jazz ensemble, and the ending is absolutely exalting. The riffs that we heard in the introduction and the solos are presented once again and although there appears to be counter melodies once again, it sounds cohesive and unifying.

Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train,” is free flowing, relaxed and loose feeling, yet the parts all fit so well together. Unlike all the previous pieces we have listened to, “Take the A Train,” along with all the other jazz songs were immediately and easily enjoyed. Yes, I also enjoyed pieces such as Mozart’s Symphony 41, Putnam’s Camp, and several other pieces, but this was different. Whether it be the familiarity I have with jazz, or the catchy chorus, “Take the A Train” was simply easier to listen to on the sensuous plane.

That being said, listening on the musical plane, we can hear many elements that are found in this piece that originated hundreds of years ago. In fact, it felt like the form briefly resembled the Sonata Form: there was an exposition of the theme, and then it was developed, mainly by Ellington, and then the recapitulation, where we here the original theme again. Throughout the development, or improvisation, we hear bits and pieces of the theme, that is immediately altered. This improvisation can be related to the development of Bach’s Concerto, where Ellington is showcased with a simple bass line and percussion backing him.

Of course, this piece strays away from older music in many ways. One element I found most interesting, was the key of the song. It wasn’t major, but didn’t have the same “sad” feeling that minor keys have. The quick tempo, driving bass, and swung notes create an easygoing and overall happy feeling. However, what I think separates this piece the most, is that unlike the meticulously drawn out symphonies and operas of the past, the performer is showcased in Jazz, not the composer or writer. Ellington performs this piece how he wants to and it reflects his feelings and emotions to the extent that you can almost picture him smiling as he played his saxophone.

Listening to Pierrot Lunaire is akin to reading absurdism: there are certain familiar elements that anchor the piece but its art and creative process are ephemeral and lost to me. The music was clearly not written to be aesthetically pleasant, as Zehme, Schoenberg’s patron, points out. She wanted to express emotions so extreme that she felt that singing was no longer an acceptable medium with which to explain them in an honest natural way. That explains the soprano’s eerie, witch-like timbre that is not unpleasant by itself, but is definitely uncanny combined with the atonal, arrhythmic composition of Schoenberg.

As I read through the resources and the poems and listen, I notice and begin to identify many details of all kinds of musical devices such as polyphony, word painting, imitation which make the piece into a Wagnerian-like total music opus. Remarkable that Schoenberg composed this out of a simple request for a piano accompaniment to a set of translated poems. This is undoubtedly a masterpiece of musical expressionism whose subtleties escape me and the critics that first reviewed it at the premiere in 1912. What I can say is that he admirably reflected the eerie, supernatural theme of the moon in a listener who knew nothing about the work beforehand.

At first, Pierrot Lunaire sounded confusing, erratic, and eerie.  Schoenburg’s peice is also rhythmless, and it also combines that atonality. This creates completely dissonant, alien, and illogical sounds, and this conveys a deep and memorable dysphoric emotion. I think this music perfectly captures the anxiety and turmoil in reaction to the nationalism and militarism in the early 20th century, leading up to the First World War. In a stream of consciousness, the Pierrot Lunaire depicts small vignettes that show the decrepitude of modern life. Music, up to this point, has mostly had organized structure based on a pattern or the lyrics (such as recitative opera). An exception could be made for chants, which flows according to the words of the chant. Because Schoenburg was an expressionist, we can safely assume that the entire structure of his pieces are dictated by the emotions. He frees himself from conventional expectations of music and explores the most primal and chaotic emotions.

I loved the 4th poem about the chlorotic laundry maid. In comparison to the rest of the piece, it is relatively calm, and at times it is carried out in a whisper-like fashion. It seems pretty clear the lyrics evoke images of purity: the maiden, her silver paleness, the white sheets she has washed. However, the scene depicted has an obscene modern twist. (If we are to trust the resource page’s translation,) Cholera contaminates the entire scene. With the discovery of the microbe model of disease, clean and white no longer meant purity and safety. Therefore, the scene of the maiden is transformed into eerie and sickly. This twisted scene is what is depicted in the music.

Greenberg arguments that Pierrot Lunaire sounds the way it does for expressive reasons, so that understanding the poetry will explain the sounds of the music. In effect, this piece is replete with word painting. For example, at 14:25, when the vocalist sings about a “murdering memory”, she begins to gasp and is accompanied by an accelerated rhythm from the string instruments, before she much more loudly sings about “gloomy, black, gigantic butterflies” which have killed the sunshine. Meanwhile, the atonality and dissonance in this piece complicate the audience’s expectation and understanding.

The text by Greenberg also states that this piece is the soul of modernity and that it will always sound like that. This commentary was interesting to me, particularly as it elaborates on similar discussions we have had in class – what constitutes “modernity” and how can composers in a musical genre create/follow up after such a piece? The text states that music must be relevant to its time, so then possibly the criterion for judging a piece as perpetually modern must be made within this contextual framework.