Expressive Qualities in Music

When writing a musical composition, a composer has lots of options to keep the listener engaged in the listening process.  He can vary the dynamics (loud/soft); he can change the tempo (fast/slow); he can raise or lower the pitch (high/low); he can start out in a minor key and modulate to a major key; he can add instruments; change the voicings; write a descant above the melody - the possibilities are endless! A trained ear is required to be able to hear vertically instead of horizontally (the way most of us listen to a song). 

My students have been working on honing their listening skills over the past few weeks as we have listened to and thoroughly analyzed a patriotic piece of music.  We listened to several different recordings of "America the Beautiful" to try to determine what the composer did to make each version sound unique.  Here is what we discovered...

Example 1 was a recording from the "Music Connection" CDs we have in our classroom library
Example 2 was a recording by Lee Greenwood (country music artist)
Example 3 was a recording from "Celebrate America" by Twin Sisters Music
Example 4 was a gospel version from the "Music Connection" CDs

Each arrangement was uniquely different.  The piece was set in various genres (hymn-like, country, jazz and gospel).  The instrumentation was chosen specifically to give the piece a certain sound or feel.  The vocalists were chosen for the same reason (some were children; some adults; one singing a solo; others in a choir or ensemble).  This lesson made for interesting listening, vigorous discussion and prompted a spontaneous movement presentation by a small ensemble of students...



Until next time...