Medieval Instrument Listening Journal- Shawm

The medieval instrument I have chosen is the shawm. The shawm is a big part of the medieval era. It is a double reed instrument. The tone of this instrument is sort of piercing. The music coming out of it is a bit shrill, and it sounds like it is quite loud. Just from this small excerpt played with the shawm, it does not seem like a wide range of dynamics are possible, seeing as how this was played at mezzo-forte the entire time. The range is fairly large, as the shawm seems to go into two octaves throughout the excerpt.

Requiem Mass in D Minor- Lacrimosa by Wolfgang Mozart and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt

This song is Requiem Mass in D Minor- Lacrimosa, by Wolfgang Mozart. The era it is is classical. It's musical elements and structure is as follows:

Melody: The song is mostly conjunct, moving step-wise. The range is fairly large, particularly when the female voice starts low and builds up during the chorus, slowly going higher and higher.

Pitch: The entire song is in D Minor. 

Rhythm: The song mostly remains at a consistent tempo throughout. It is at a moderate pace throughout the whole piece. 

Timbre: The instruments in this song seem to be violin, male and female voices, flute, and clarinet. The tone of the piece is dramatic throughout, and it builds tension as the piece goes on. 

Texture: There is an ostinato with the violins in the background throughout the whole song. It seems to be polyphonic, as there are multiple parts for the voices, but they harmonize with each other. 

Dynamics: The song begins at piano and quickly crescendos to the end of the first phrase. The voices remain at piano. throughout the song, the quietest it reaches sounds like pianissimo, and the loudest it reaches sounds like forte. The song ends on a crescendo.

 

This song is Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C# Minor, by Franz Liszt. The era it is is romantic. It's musical elements and structure is as follows:
Melody: The song is very disjunct, and has a large range throughout.
Pitch: The entire song is in C# Minor.
Rhythm: The tempo in the beginning is slower, and gets faster at the parts in the song that are more whimsical. At about 5:00 minutes in, the song speeds up, then slows down. However the song is at rather fast at about 6:00 minutes in, when the tone changes to make it much more vibrant and lively. At 8:00 minutes in, the song is at it's fastest.
Timbre: The instrument in this song is a piano. The tone is dark and mysterious at first, but gets rather whimsical at about 2:10 minutes in, then reverts back to dark and ominous rather quickly. The piece seems to contrast itself in many ways. At 6:00 minutes in, the song becomes light and airy and overall happy. At 8:00 minutes, the piece gets rather frantic, moving extremely quickly.
Texture: The piece seems to be monophonic, as it has one main melody accompanied by a harmony in the background.
Dynamics: There are accents above a few notes in the first few measures. The piece starts off as piano, then with the few dynamics eventually remains at piano. There seem to be crescendos at different points in the piece, particularly when it so drastically changes it's tone. At 8:45, there is a decrescendo as the song begins to come to it's end. The song ends with the dynamic of piano, and the only time the song is forte is at the parts that seem frantic and where the tone changes, such at 6:00 and 8:00 minutes in.

Similarities and Differences Between the Two:
Both pieces are in a Minor key, though the Rhapsody is in C#, and the Requiem is in D. The Liszt piece makes much more use out of dynamics and range than the Mozart piece, despite only using one instrument whereas the Mozart piece has far more. The Mozart piece is far more disjunct, jumping around, while the Mozart piece tends to go step-wise, making it more conjunct. The difference between the two eras is very prominent and evident.

Part Four

These are pictures of the analysis I did of the first 17 measures of "Moonlight Sonata". 

Part 3 Deciphering the Score

Titles/Forms: Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight"

Tempos: Adagio Sostenuto- a slower tempo. 

Stylistic Instructions: Sempre pp e senza sordino- very quiet throughout and without dampers; dampers meaning the pedal on the piano. 

Techniques: Pianissimo is written twice, to remind of how quiet this part of the piece is supposed to be. 

Articulation: No text, so nothing to articulate. No specific dynamics besides the two pianissimos are present. 

Part Five: Communicating Your Discoveries: Moonlight Sonata

What makes this song unique is the way it is structured, and how the composer put it together. For instance, there are a bunch of little rule-breaking, unique things that make it special. The very first note is a tonic note, and the tonic note is supposed to go to a predominant chord if it is the note the piece starts off with, but Beethoven wrote the tonic to go to a dominant chord, the seven chord. It is similar to other music we have discussed in class because it is from relatively the same era as many of the other pieces we have looked at, classical. It is different from some of the music we have looked at in class because it tends to break a lot of the rules there are when it comes to writing music. The aspect of this piece that I find the most enjoyable is it's tone, and timbre. The way it sounds as if it was only meant for a piano, and then suddenly violins are in the background, perhaps a flute, and the ominous "oh"s of a female voice cause chills through the listener.

Part Two Aural Analysis- Moonlight Sonata

Moonlight Sonata is by Ludwig van Beethoven, and was completed in 1801. It is a classical piece. As for musical elements:
Melody: The first movement has a smaller range than the next two, though the third movement has the largest range out of all of them. The first and second movement are fairly conjunct. The third is more disjunct than the first two.
Pitch: The first movement is in C# Minor. The second movement is in D flat Major. The third and final movement is back in C# Minor.
Rhythm: The song is split into 3 movements. In the first movement the tempo is Adagio sostenuto, which is a slower tempo. The second movement is Allegretto, which is a fairly brisk tempo. The third and final movement is Presto agitato, which is played quickly and with excitement.
Timbre: The instruments played in this piece are the piano, the violin, the flute, and a female voice, as far as I can tell. The overall tone of the piece is dark, and somewhat mysterious.
Texture: The piece seems to be monophonic, as it has one main melody and is accompanied in the background by the violins and the occasional female voice.
Dynamics: The first movement is the softest of the three. The second movement is soft in the beginning, and then crescendos. The third movement is the loudest of the three, with many crescendos in it.

Song Choice for Extended Analysis Project

For the extended analysis project we have to do in class, I chose Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. I chose this song because I really love how rich and mysterious it sounds, and I feel I will not grow bored of it. It does not seem to be too complicated, and I am excited to use this piece.