Musical Catharsis

Music reaches people at a deep emotional level, enhancing memories, emotions, and human connections. We use music to celebrate holidays and special occasions, to excite crowds at social political and sporting events; to communicate deep emotions to another person, soothe a child. Different styles of music provoke different emotional reactions, in varying circumstances as well as in individuals.

Aristotle said that “Music directly imitates the passions or states of the soul…”, Plato stated “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything; It is the essence of order and lends to all that is good, just, and beautiful.”, and Socrates said that “Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten…” These men, great thinkers of mankind, revered to this day for their innovative philosophies saw the ways in which music affected people, the emotional impact it had. Indeed it was Aristotle himself who developed the term ‘catharsis’ for the ‘purging’ of emotions, and that just what music provides us. Whether as a sympathetic echo of our deepest emotions, love, sorrow, grief, anger, joy, and fear.

Love, the abundance and great variety of love songs that continue to be created and listened to prove the emotional catharsis experienced both by the audience and the creators of love songs. Whether a song of true love, or heartache we feel a release of these emotions when a song echoes a similarity of our own experiences. Cathy Underwood’s ‘Forever Changed’ is imbued with a nostalgic love, as well as the love of an adult child for an aging a slowly fading parent. The melody and rhythm are written in a style like that of a lullaby, soft, slow, and sweet. It’s lyrics tell of a woman remembering falling in love, getting married, and giving birth to a child and how these experiences changed her. It continues with the daughter telling of her sorrow as she must watch her mother’s memories and life fade away. It is a beautiful song, and for anyone with an aging parent or grandparent it can strike a deeply emotional chord, but it isn’t a grieving song though it certainly draws grief into the emotions it evokes, but it is a love song, and draws from one a nostalgic love, and joy of a life well lived.

Forever Changed performed by Carrie Underwood

Album: Blown Away Released: 2012

Written by Tom Douglas, James T. Slater, Hillary Lindsey

“Defining music is no easy task, because its function among different cultures varies greatly. Some cultures have used music as a form of communication, while others have used it as a feature of celebratory events…While the function of music may be different culturally, the most basic definition of music is: noise that has been organized in a specific pattern…It has been shown that in the earliest stages of life we begin to respond differently to…different musical aspects” (Tilocca) The mode in which music is played helps us to determine the intended ‘feel’ of the music. Major mode is mostly associated with positive emotions, while minor mode is usually associated with negative emotions. It is believed that music works on multiple levels to evoke emotions, both physiological as well as psychological. However, there maintains an ongoing debate regarding whether music creates emotion, or simply evokes a catharsis in it’s listeners. “While listening to a piece of music, the listener can experience an abundance of different feelings and emotions. Conversely, a listener may experience no emotions at all… research strongly supports the idea that certain sound components in music dictate our emotional response to them.” (Tilocca) “If a piece of music expresses anger or sadness, we are not angry at the piece nor sad about it. If emotions require both objects and appropriate beliefs about them, and they often are differentiated in these ways, then music does not seem capable of arousing them. Second, it seems puzzling, if music arouses emotions, why listeners would want to hear sad or angry music. If we normally want to avoid sadness, why should we seek to feel sad when listening to music? Why should we not generally prefer cheerful pieces (which many listeners do not)?” (Goldman) So perhaps in this vein of thought, it is not that the emotions are a creation of the music, but that it draws from us a sympathetic resonance, a catharsis. When the music resonates with the emotions in us we are able to momentarily override our social conditioning and feel the emotions in their entirety. This can work as a purging of the negative, a reinforcement of the positive, or even to heighten feelings associated with competitiveness, rebellion, and ambition.

Music can unite, when the English were quelling the Scottish rebels they banned the bagpipes because of their use of the Scottish in heightening their passion for war. While this can be seen as either a positive or negative depending on what side a person is on, there is no denying the rush of adrenaline that can be incited with the beat of a drum. “Drums were the driving force behind the percussive din that characterized the ancient art of war. The goal was to energize your troops while terrifying your enemies with the thunderous noise you could make. Modern armies continue to march to the beat of the drum, though now the purpose of this rhythmic energy is to not only stimulate the body, but also to forge a sense of group unity.” (Folkways) The music of the drums can draw out fear, hope, patriotism, even joy, though it is simple it is powerful.

Music, above all other arts, has a deep abiding connection. From the earliest most primitive forms to the complex modern melodies and rhythms, it is a vital part of all cultures.

 

 

Tilocca, G. (2016). Uncovering the relationship between music and emotions (Order No. 10118343). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1798895848). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.uaf.edu/docview/1798895848?accountid=14470

Goldman, Alan. “Emotions in Music (A Postscript).” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 53, no. 1, 1995, pp. 59–69. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/431737.

“Drum Sounds and Their Meanings | Smithsonian Folkways.” Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, folkways.si.edu/drum-sounds-their-meanings/world/music/article/smithsonian.

Jenkins, Philip W. Music and Emotional Expression, Temple University, Ann Arbor, 2006, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.uaf.edu/docview/304980599?accountid=14470.

Walker, Alan. “Music And The Unconscious.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 6205, 1979, pp. 1641–1643. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25438227.

Gaston, E. Thayer. “Music Education for Health.” Music Educators Journal, vol. 31, no. 4, 1945, p. 24., http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2307/3345004

Vist, Torill. “Music Experience in Early Childhood: Potential for Emotion Knowledge?” International Journal of Early Childhood, vol. 43, no. 3, 2011, pp. 277–290., www.researchgate.net/publication/257796908_Music_Experience_in_Early_Childhood_Potential_for_Emotion_Knowledge.

Folk Music

Folk music is a varied genre of music that has it’s roots in the traditional storytelling music of our ancestors. “Folk music has had a strong appeal, perhaps even mystical, for traditional rural people and urban dwellers alike for many centuries, even as it has gone through various incarnations and transformations.” (Cohen)

Folk music saw a major resurgence in America in the 50’s-60’s, this folk music reborn was strongly and almost exclusively influenced by the European roots of the groups with whom the folk movement started. Early American folk music was often anti-commercialism, anti-war, and anti-establishment. Folk music gained much popularity among war protesters in the 60’s and among the ever growing ranks of the eco-conscious.

In time, and with increasing racial co-existence, folk music saw an influx of new influences. Joining the British and western European influences that were previously most prominent, were African, Mexican, and Native American music styles, as well as an increase in the influences from eastern and northern European styles.

I have never been a fan of most folk music styles, but I do enjoy music that is influenced by the Irish, Scottish, and Northern European sounds.

Cohen, Ronald. Folk Music: the Basics. Taylor and Francis, 2012.

DEVEKIRAN, ENGIN. AUTHENTICITY IN FOLK MUSIC. GRIN PUBLISHING, 2016.

Julie Andrews

Musicians who both perform and compose their own music are undeniable gems, and those who are also lyricists are simply amazing. There are those who say that singers and musicians who create their own music are artists while those who do not are simply performers. However, a musician is more than their ability for creation. There are composers who can create beautiful music, but have no real skill at performing; lyricists who write touching poetry, but cannot create or perform music, no one thinks less of them for this, because they are creating their art. Singing, is an art in it’s own right, as is playing an instrument; every note sung or played is an intrinsically unique creation. Those performers who sing, and play their way to fame are artists, to say otherwise is akin to saying a landscape painter is not a true artist because they did not create the landscape that they painted. Without artists who perform the music created by others, those composers and lyricists who do not have talent, or desire perform would be unheard, and once an artist died their music would no longer be performed. Performers fill a critical role in the perpetuation of music’s culture and history.

Born in 1935 to vaudeville performers, Julie Andrews got an early start on her singing career. Beginning at the age of 20, she performed in various stage musicals in London and in the United States. In 1963, Walt Disney cast Julie Andrews in the role for which she became famous, Mary Poppins. Shortly following this, in 1965, she starred in The Sound of Music. These roles cemented the public’s view of Andrews, “She soon found that audiences identified her only with singing, sugary-sweet nannies and governesses, and were reluctant to accept her in dramatic roles” (Peter & Boehm).

In 1997 Julie Andrews had a surgery to remove throat nodules, during which her vocal chords were damaged. Andrews continued acting in various films, but would no longer sing. In 2001 she starred one of the most successful films of the year The Princess Diaries, she reprised her role in 2004 in the Princess Diaries 2, in the film she sings, but in a sing-song speaking sort of way, none the less, the beauty and richness of her voice is even in this limited form of singing. Since then she has appeared primarily in family movies and as a voice actor for animated films.

 

The Sound of Music composed by Richard Rogers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein

In the Sound of Music the depth and breadth of Julie Andrews’ singing voice is abundantly clear. Her voice imitates the sweeping hills and valleys of which she is singing, rolling between deep tones and crescendos. This exultant combination gives rise to feelings of joy and pleasure in the natural world around us.

Love Me Tender composed by Lionel Newman, lyrics by George R Poulton performed with Johnny Cash

While this song keeps fairly midrange for Julie Andrews, it emphasizes the sweet delicateness of her voice. The song has a slow lovely tempo, giving it a romantic feel as it rolls along with the lyrics.

Your Crowning Glory composed by Larry Grossman, lyrics by Lorraine Feather performed with Raven-Seymone

In this cameo of Julie Andrews singing voice there is a sing-song effect but only in a few places does she actually sing, staying carefully in her undamaged lower range. Still the smooth and regal beauty of her voice is there. She sings in smooth tempo sections interspersed with bouncier rhythmic speaking. Later joined by Raven-Seymone the tempo is sped up and the rhythm is a little jazzier.

Stirling, Richard. Julie Andrews: an intimate biography. St. Martins Griffin, 2009.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/julie-andrews-richard-stirling/1102241285?ean=9780312564988

Peter, Tommy, and Volker Boehm. “Biography.” IMDb, IMDb.com, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000267/bio .

 

 

 

Svensk Folkmusik

 

The sounds of Swedish folk music could easily be mistaken for the music of Scotland and Ireland, the historical intermixing of the Celtic and Norse peoples led to a sharing of instrument styles, as well as musical sounds and textures. The instruments primarily used in Swedish folk music are the nykelharpa, latfiol, sakpipa, accordion, and flutes. While modern musicians often include other instruments, such as the guitar and clarinet, in their performances, the traditional instruments are what gives Swedish folk music it’s unique sound.

            The nykelharpa is a string instrument similar to a violin, sometimes referred to as a keyed fiddle, and similarly played with a bow. Unlike the violin, “[T]he modern chromatic nyckelharpa has 16 strings: 3 melody strings, one drone string, and 12 sympathetic vibration (or resonance) strings” (nylelharpa.org). The nykelharpa has sets of keys attached to posts called tangents, these posts press the strings to allow certain notes to be played, the way a violinist does with their fingers. The sympathetic strings on the nykelharpa are not directly played but resonate with the melody strings creating a sound that almost sounds as if multiple instruments are being played instead of just one. The latfiol is a type of Swedish fiddle which like the nykleharpa makes use of sympathetic strings, though it only has two. The sakpipa is a Swedish bagpipe, it is a smaller and simpler type of bagpipe than the Scottish bagpipes, or the Irish Uilleann pipes.

Två Konungabarn played by Myrkur Oksemorder

I love this piece, it really shows the unique sounds that are produced by the nykelharpa.

Griselda Sanderson explains some of the unique features of the nykelharpa.

Thor Ahlgren & Simon Olofsson performs two south swedish tunes (skåne) at Skurups folkhögskola. This video really shows how different the sakpipa are from the Scottish and Uillean pipes, both in their simpler sound and their function.

The style of fiddling used by Swedish players is one of the ways in which Swedish music varies from that of the Irish and Scottish. “Swedish fiddling is rich in grace notes, rolls and trills, double string unisons and drones, and notes raised or lowered by quarter tones…Rolls in Swedish music are not unlike those in Irish music, but the trills which are a very characteristic feature in Sweden are never heard in Ireland.” (Haigh)

Carol Ann Wheeler: A Demonstration of Different Fiddling Styles

These instruments, together with the accordion create a hauntingly beautiful sound, giving Swedish music a sound that makes the listener think of the way it would sound played out over the fjords of Sweden. The deep and clear resonation of music played out over vast mountains and valleys on a cold crisp winter morning. “Swedish folk music evolved out of music for dancers in the courts and later in the countryside, where villagers gathered on icy winter nights and in the long, eerie twilight of Swedish summer. It has a lilting, dynamic quality reminiscent of Celtic music and a propulsive energy akin to the barn dance-driven sounds of Appalachia. But Swedish tunes, unlike their brethren to the west, are often written in time signatures based in phrases of three, lending them unusual buoyancy; players—generally fiddlers—stretch and contract these rhythms for a suspenseful, slightly off-balance feel. Tunes range from the furious and notey to the measured and stately, but like the whirling couple dances to which they owe their form, all share a sense of perpetual movement, of the centrifugal force generated by two bodies in motion.” (Mason) “Early Swedish music was primarily constituted by ballads and kulning, or herding calls. Kulning is a song typically sung by women for the purpose of calling sheep and cows down from the hills upon which they graze…Kulning’s vocalizations are marked by many quartertones and halftones – which are often referred to as “blue tones” – leading to a haunting, ghostly effect.” (Fredriksson)

I enjoy both Irish and Scottish music, but not as much as Swedish folk music. I really think that the ethereal sound of the slow songs, the deep resonance of the stronger tunes are beautiful, and the lively polska gets my toes tapping every time with it’s dance friendly rhythms.

Lyricist: Mikael Wiehe  Song: Flickan Och Kråkan, 1984  Singer: Sofia Karlsson

Song: Alla Gossar  Performed by: Triakel

 

Björnberg, Alf, and Thomas Bossius. Made in Sweden: studies in popular music. Routledge, 2017.

Fredriksson, Joan. “The Evolution of Swedish Folk Music.” The Evolution of Swedish Folk Music | Swedish Press, 1 Aug. 2016, www.swedishpress.com/article/evolution-swedish-folk-music.

Gällmo, Olle. Swedish bagpipes, www.olle.gallmo.se/sackpipa/.  

Mason, Amelia. “Väsen-And Its Nyckelharpa Virtuoso-Make Old Time Swedish Folk Music Fresh.” Väsen-And Its Nyckelharpa Virtuoso-Make Old Time Swedish Folk Music Fresh | The ARTery, www.wbur.org/artery/2014/10/15/vasen-nyckelharpa-swedish-folk-music.

Norbeck, Henrik. “Swedish Traditional Music.” Swedish Traditional Music – Svensk folkmusik, 1998, www.norbeck.nu/swedtrad/.

Chris Haigh. “Scandinavian Fiddle.” Fiddling Around the World, www.fiddlingaround.co.uk/scandinavia/.

Ternhag, Gunnar, and Mathias Boström. “The Dissemination of the Nyckelharpa The Ethnic and the non-Ethnic Ways.” STM-Online, no 2, vol. 253, no. 5021, 1999, pp. 740–741., doi:10.1126/science.253.5021.740.

“What is a Nyckelharpa?” Nyckelharpa.org, www.nyckelharpa.org/about/what-is-a-nyckelharpa/.

The Origins and Evolution of American Country Music

 

American country music comes straight from the heart and soul of the everyday working men and women of the United States. It’s origins are in the deep south and it’s influences range, from old world folk music to the soul music of African slaves. The lyrics of American country music speak to the daily toil and hardships of life, the love and loss found in human relationships, and the pleasures to be found in simple country living.

Country music can trace it’s history to the 1920’s, when the technology of recordings and radio brought folk musicians across the United States the opportunity to have their music heard on a wider scale.  While the music industry often referred to these styles of music as ‘old time’ or ‘hillbilly’ music, they found that it’s popularity began to reach beyond it’s rural, small town roots. “The subsequent history of hillbilly music prior to 1941 cannot be neatly summarized nor really evaluated with any assurance. Even to sketch in its broad aspects is difficult. Too much of the information stems from the statements, activities, and opinions of recording and radio executives, and it is a proven fact that they were groping in the dark, did not know what they had… Early hillbilly music was strongly based in the country string band, frolic, and banjo-minstrel tradition, though the recording companies sampled almost every thing available, even the Sacred Harp … There was no stylistic uniformity, though to the outsider it seemed so. Instrumental styles ranged from simple to relatively complex, from self taught guitar strums to somewhat complex banjo styles. (Wilgus 162)

Through the 1920 and 30’s country music began to absorb the cowboy tradition giving uniformity and seriousness to country music, but it still lacked mass appeal and was seen as music for the lower classes. The population shifts of World War II boosted country music into the mainstream, and the mix of class and culture in the military gave it a wider exposure. In the 1940’s country music was recognized as a burgeoning genre by Billboard, and by the late 40’s country and pop artists began to cross genres.

The 1950’s brought a new style of country music, this new form infused country songs with the rhythms and vitality of rock and roll, while keeping the sound and lyrical styles that people had come to identify with country music. “First recorded in the North, it erupted in Memphis in the form of rockabilly, with Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins… Just as country-western music in the fifties was attempting to shed the last of its rural and low-class trappings and become urban middle-class music, national taste turned back to the grass roots, to the folksy.” (Wilgus 173)

Country music continues to walk a fine line between pop/rock and folk country, with many artists bouncing back and forth at will. “Within the hierarchy of American music, however, country perennially struggles for status and legitimacy.” (Tichi 01) This struggle is somewhat due to the fluidity of style and influences crucial to the genre and also in part to it’s continued categorization of being the music of the lower class. However country music continues to grow in popularity, and develop the nature of it’s sound with the fluctuations in the culture of it’s listeners. The country music of the 2000’s is a wild blend of folk, bluegrass, blues, latin, pop, hip-hop, rap, and R&B, showing the truth of it’s nature as the music of the common man

Fiddler Eck Robertson records “Arkansas Traveler” One of the first country music artists to make a recording 1922

Gene Autry “Riders in the Sky” 1949

Elvis Presley “Blue Moon of Kentucky”  1954

Johnny Cash “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” 1958

Dolly Parton “Islands in the Stream”

Garth Brooks “Friends in Low Places”

Jason Aldean “Hicktown”

Sam Hunt “Body Like a Back Road”

“Dolly Parton & the Roots of Country Music.” Special Presentation: Country Timeline (Dolly Parton and Country Music): Dolly Parton and the Roots of Country Music (Performing Arts Encyclopedia, The Library of Congress), memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/dollyparton/dollyparton-countrytimeline.html.

Flippo, Chet. “Country & Western: Some New-Fangled Ideas.” American Libraries, vol. 5, no. 4, 1974, pp. 185–189. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25619448.

Malone, Bill C. Singing cowboys and musical mountaineers: southern culture and the roots of country music. University of Georgia Press, 2003.

Peterson, Richard A., and Paul Di Maggio. “From Region to Class, the Changing Locus of Country Music: A Test of the Massification Hypothesis.” Social Forces, vol. 53, no. 3, 1975, pp. 497–506. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2576592

Tahmahkera, Dustin. “‘An Indian in a White Man’s Camp’: Johnny Cash’s Indian Country Music.” American Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 3, 2011, pp. 591–617. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41237568.

Tichi, Cecelia. “Consider the Alternative: Alt-Country Musicians Transcend Country Music Stereotypes.” The Women’s Review of Books, vol. 18, no. 3, 2000, pp. 14–15. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4023646.

Wilgus, D. K. “Country-Western Music and the Urban Hillbilly.” The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 83, no. 328, 1970, pp. 157–179. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/539105.

Analysis #2 “Come on Eileen”

Dexy’s Midnight Runners isn’t a name you’ll hear often today, and most people you ask will have never heard the song “Come on Eileen”, but most people who grew up in the 80’s will be familiar with the song if not the band. Dexy’s Midnight Runners were an English pop band whose music challenged the standard of American mid to early 80’s bubblegum and pop rock music. ‘“No matter how many times I’ve heard ‘Come on Eileen’, it’s still thrilling…It’s like four songs in one, like a mini opera. It just all works. It’s a fantastic mix of subject matter and the excitement is mirrored in the music.” (White 131)

“Come on Eileen” was co-written by Kevin Rowland and Jim Patterson with Billy Adams. The song uses some unique and inventive methods to offset different sections of the song, including both tempo and key changes. The blues and celtic mix in this song is played out by the violins and banjo with a somewhat pop style piano mixed in. The entry to the song is a distinctly celtic sounding fiddle style melody, it’s soft and sweet giving no indication of the music to follow. Then we get a sudden and distinct thrumming da-dada-da-dada, if you’re not expecting it, it can really throw you off, there is something about it though that starts a feeling of excitement. The thrumming continues in the background and the fiddling begins again with a catchy repetitive riff. A piano has also joined in with a similar thrumming beat to that of the banjo. This rhythm, melody, and key repeats twice, then there is a glissando and the key changes. The rhythm and melody continue as before but the key change is subtly dramatic. The melody is repeated twice and is punctuated between repeats by vocals with a singsong chant of ‘come on Eileen’. The melody repeats through the first verse. The lyrics of the first verse are, to many American listeners, distinct but unintelligible, the accents of the singer blending the vowels and consonants. When the song gets to the pre-chorus it begins to cascading increase in tempo, then at the chorus the rhythm and tempo have changed and once again the key changes. The chorus ends and there is a little banjo riff, that has always reminded me of a lower pitched version of a ‘breaking news’ ditty,  is played twice. The key returns to that of the first verse for the second verse, but the tempo is still the fast pace introduced in the first pre-chorus. The second repeat of the chorus almost seems slower at this point though it is played at the same tempo as the first time around, it starts to feel like a chant. The next section of the song slows way down, and slowly accelerates again into and through the pre-chorus, and has a distinct can-can style sound to it. Then there are two repeats of the chorus as the song fades out followed by a coda that is an entirely different song, a sweet little bit of a folk song that is tacked on at the end, ‘Believe me, if all those endearing young charms’ a popular song written in 1808 by Irish poet Thomas Moore, which is also the source of the lyrics of the first verse.

The song is unique, but it works. “[T]he live debut of ‘Come on Eileen’ was accorded a rousing reception.” (White 129) It’s success saw it reach number one on American top 40 charts.

White, Richard. Dexys Midnight Runners young soul rebels. Omnibus, 2006.

The Internationalist Review of Irish Culture. Edited by Andrea Binelli et al., Yorick libri 2007

 

 

An Analysis of Moonlight Sonata

Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”, Piano Sonata 14 in C# minor Quasi Una Fantasia, evokes, for many, moonlit nights and a soothing even romantic evening, but that’s only part of the story. Sonata 14 is one of two sonatas composed as part of Beethoven’s Opus 27 in 1801, dedicated to the Countess Guilietta Guiccicardi. His opus was composed at a time in which Beethoven was suffering from increasing hearing loss. He wrote in a letter to a boyhood friend that “…you can hardly imagine how gloomy, how sad my life has been during the last two years, my poor hearing has appeared to me everywhere as a ghost, and I have fled – from the people…”. Beethoven, however, refused to resign himself to his fate, “I shall grab my destiny by the throat, it will certainly not manage to overcome me completely.” (Beethoven Haus)

Beethoven was a composer known for pushing boundaries and upsetting the status quo with his music. Beethoven’s “sonatas display a marked individuality that pushes at the generic and stylistic boundaries of the classical genre.” (Jones) He “he created a new subgenre, the fantasy sonata…” (Jones) Sonata 14 is composed in three movements, each has a distinct character, leading it’s listeners gently through a story like experience. The first movement of the sonata, Adagio sostenuto, is the most evocative of the three movements. It is the first movement’s haunting music and ability to bring to mind moonlit nights that led to the sonata’s common title of “the Moonlight Sonata” long after Beethoven’s death. The music of the first movement begins slowly and is played softly, like slipping into a fantasy. Chords are set off with a triplet rhythm played simultaneously, four times per measure as the chord is sustained. This crucial background is played on the beat, and sets the mood for the piece.

The melody of the sonata’s first movement begins in the fifth measure, the sound reminiscent of raindrops slowly beginning to fall on the surface of a still lake. After a few measures, the mood begins to change, the rhythm part begins to strengthen and there are moments of dissonance in the chords. The melody takes a different tone evoking images of lightning strikes, while the chords bring to mind rumbles of thunder. This continues for several measures, then the ‘storm’ relents and returns to the soft tones heard at the beginning of the piece, a ‘drizzle’ accented by being in a slightly higher range of notes. At around measure 17 there is a call-and-answer pattern that is played between the rhythm and melody, which echoes the sound of soft distant thunder. At around measure 32 a series of ascending notes begin in the melody part, played in a slightly quicker manner than the rest of the movement, as if raindrops are falling from the leaves of trees with the movement of the wind. The melody descends back to the previous rhythm, and returns to the original melody. From this point, there is a repetition very close to what is heard at the beginning of the piece. The movement closes with what sounds like a rain storm ending a slow drifting off of notes. Whether it was intended to sound like a brief mild evening rainstorm, or not, the first movement with it’s consistent background rhythm and counterbalancing melody do a fine job of evoking such images.

Automatisering, Roffel. “Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 14 ‘Moonlight’: description — Classic Cat.” Classic Cat – the free classical music directory, www.classiccat.net/beethoven_l_van/27-2.info.php. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.

Beethoven‐Haus Bonn Digital Archives. Bonn: Beethoven‐Haus Bonn. URL: http://www.beethoven-haus-bonn.de/sixcms/media.php/75/kurz_mondschein_engl.pdf

Jones, Timothy. Beethoven: The ‘Moonlight’ and other Sonatas, Op. 27 and Op. 31. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Lynch, Andrew L. “Kaleidoscope.” “Writing Moonlight: An Analysis of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Opus 27 No.” by Andrew L. Lynch, University of Kentucky, uknowledge.uky.edu/kaleidoscope/vol6/iss1/8. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.

 

This is Who I am

My name is Leah Rego, I’m a full-time contractor at the USPS, a UAF student, a wife, and the mother of five wonderful children between the ages of 19, and 7, two big dogs, and one very spoiled cat. I spent most of my childhood growing up in North Pole, then went out to see the world. I lived in the San Fransisco area, Naples (Italy), northern Virginia, southwest Maryland, and San Diego, then I ended up back home in Alaska.

My interest in music started young, my mom has always told me I started humming before I could talk. I was in my first choir when I was four years old, and continued in choir until I graduated high school. I also took a couple of years of piano when I was in elementary school. I cannot read music beyond the basics (despite private lessons, and a failed attempt at learning it in college), but I can play relatively simple music by ear, and I can sing anything I hear that can be transposed into my range. I love most types of music, especially classical, and I prefer contemporary music to be something I can sing with. My favorite piece of music is Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The pianist in the embeded video plays it not just with technical perfection, but with the emotional perfection the piece was intended to be played with. Even in the occasional moments of dissonance, her playing prevents those moments from jarring the listener out of the mood, which is an unfortunately a typical occurence when listening to other pianists play the piece.

I am a double major of secondary education and English, yes, I am studying to be that often dreaded thing, a high school English teacher. I love reading. I am a big fan of Shakespeare, especially his comedies, and enjoy many other classical writers works as well. I strongly dislike and disapprove of the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck, I find it to present a very derogatory picture of people with special needs, especially those with intellectual disabilities. I find it disturbing that in the teaching of this novella, that aspect is rarely part of the discussion. For lighter reading I enjoy mysteries, fantasy, and especially science fiction. My particular favorites are alien invasion/space operas, and apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic novels. One of my absolute favorite authors is John Ringo.

My movie/tv preferences are similar to my reading preferences, I love action, science fiction (I am a Star Wars AND Star Trek fan), apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, and movies based in the Marvel and D.C. worlds. One of my all time favorite movies, is The Day after Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid.

I am a big fan of classical art work, particularly that of the Romantic Era, such as that below.