Familiar:
Billy Joel
Piano Man click here
Time:5:41
Billy Joel
Uptown Girl click here
Time:3:23
Billy Joel
The Longest Time click here
Time:4:05
Billy Joel
We Didn't Start the Fire click here
Time:4:06
Okay, so I picked another group of music from the same person, this time Billy Joel. Hopefully you have all heard his music but it not you are missing out. He really is one of my favorites, I don't think I could even pick which of his songs is my favorite. I am choosing to talk about Piano Man but all the songs are great. Piano Man starts of with just the piano and then the harmonica comes in bringing more texture to the song. There are dynamic and pitch changes throughout the song. I think the song is largely homophonic but I feel sometimes with the piano and harmonica it is more polyphonic. There are times when it is just the piano so I guess it uses monophonic texture as well. The harmonica is my favorite part is just adds to much to the song. It is fun to watch him play the piano in the video because he really is an accomplished artist and has even written some classical songs. Enjoy!!!
Unfamiliar:
Jazz and Conversation Suite click here
Time: 2:11:38 ( first 15 minutes of songs)
So the first song One Scotch One Bourbon One Beer I have heard before but not in a Jazz sound. I really liked it this way. The next song had a really nice sound with the brass taking the lead. It was polyphonic and very smooth sounding. They had some nice piano sounds as well and it wasn't a solo by the piano but it was taking the lead or out front. The next song has female singers. There was a lead female vocal with several more women singing back up. It sounded like World War 2 era music to me, kind of a boogie woogie bugle boy sound to it. Brass seems to be used a lot in this music. Around 10:00 another song starts and this one has male and females singing. The music on the background provides harmony but does not overpower the singers at all. When the brass gets louder throughout they stop singing and it takes the front. I love old movies from this era so I really enjoyed these songs. The final song I listened to started with out with drums and then went into horns and the melody. This one was just instrumental like the second and it had a really nice sound.
Jazz and Conversation Suite was definitely your traditional jazz! It was very good. I personally could listen to jazz all day. Old and new. I agree with everything you said about it. I think that jazz is one of the most interesting types of music because there is always so much going on! Its never monophonic! At least I do not believe I have ever heard a jazz song be anything close to monophonic. Most of the time there is a saxophone doing something crazy in the background of a whole slew of other instruments! Thank you for sharing!!!
ReplyDeleteI have heard Piano Man before and I liked it then and I like it now. This is a song I will most likely always like. He is very talented on the piano and it is fun to watch. I would agree with you in that it is homophonic through most of the song. The harmonica is a very fun unique instrument, he used it well in this song, it fits well with the piano. I think that in the beginning where the harmonica comes in for the first time the texture might be homophonic because he is not singing and the piano is accompanying with chords behind the harmonica. Later in the song, the percussion keep the slow tempo along with the piano and harmonica playing. He plays the piano with a lot of passion and when watching I can tell he loves singing and playing. I also hear the dynamic changes throughout the song. I forgot how much I loved this song, thank you for sharing!
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