Rhythm in Buckley’s Hallelujah is pretty consistent through most of the song. The majority of the song is an ABAB rhythm, with a little variation in the climax of the verse. The beginning starts with the electric guitar doing a variation of the rhythm, and even has some harmony in it. The verses and chorus are sung with that consistent rhythm playing. It isn’t about till three fourths of the way through the song does he begin to play variations of the melody while improving with his guitar. After he goes back into the same rhythm again while he sings the remaining verses and chorus. Through out the whole thing while playing that ABAB rhythm he will occasionally add something slightly different in it to keep the song from getting boring.

            The form in Hallelujah is fairly cut in dry, though Buckley does do quite a bit of improvisation which complicates it. It opens with the first verse “I heard there was a secret cord…” which then goes into the chorus “hallelujah, hallelujah.” It goes into the second verse “well your faith was strong…” and then into the chorus again. Then into the third verse “baby, I’ve been here before…” and into the chorus. Then into the fourth verse “well, there was a time…” and then the chorus.

            Then rather than moving into the fifth verse, he begins to do some guitar improvisation, which adds spice to the form, and adds emotion to the song. This could also be considered the bridge of the song. He goes into the fifth verse “maybe there’s a God above…” and then into the second chorus which is similar to the other one, but ever so slightly different.

            The form is fairly consistent and is similar to the form of most songs. It goes V1, C, V2, C, V3, C, V4, C, B, V5, C2. If I were to use cookies to explain this I would say it starts with a classic Oreo, which movies into a thin mint. Back to an Oreo but this time it’s double stuffed. Then back into a thin mint, which then goes into an Oren thin and back into the thin mint. It goes to an Oreo mini, then to the thin mint once more. To make a bit of a change the song goes to a frosted animal cookie, then to a mega stuffed Oreo. And then ends it all off with a mint thin mint.

I can only ever dream of having the talents of Joey Alexander. He has such a gift the music just comes so naturally to him. I think this kind of natural talent happens so very rarely, though I don’t think you can measure talent because all people have had different opportunities in their lives. Joey’s abilities are so natural compared to even grown musicians, and his improve skills are incredible. I have met many talented vocalists in my life that can sound so amazing so effortlessly, and I think that is similar to what Joey can do.

I searched Mozart pieces on YouTube to find a video titled The Marriage of Figaro, so listened to it. I liked it a lot compared to other classical, orchestral music we’ve listened to. It had so many different melodies, and dynamics which makes it so light-hearted, and fun to listen to.

I then went back to the textbook and read the pages about Mozart’s life. I also went to www.britannica.com which had a lot of information about his life. He seemed like such an interesting man, with a genius mind. His home life as an adult seemed to be steady to, with a wife and six children.

I like both these examples of music a lot! I am heavily involve with theater today, and have been for many years. I have seen rent before, so it was exciting to get to listen to a song I had heard before and was very familiar with. The Musetta’s Waltz reminded me of the kind of musical I enjoy watching, and performing in (thought in English of course). I am classically trained in voice and so have experimented and learned a lot about vibrato from my years of lessons.

            In the Waltz there is obviously more room for vibrato because it is opera singing, where as seasons of love is not. Both songs had lots of vibrato in them, though it was a lot more apparent in the Waltz because of the dramatic sound, high pitches, and long held notes. I am a fan of both vibratos, but listening to the vibrato in the Waltz is so satisfying for me to listen to, because it sounds so healthy, crisp, and clean.

The dynamic changes is Hallelujah aren’t super dramatic, but they are certainly there. While Buckley is singing there aren’t many dynamic changes until the words are more dramatic and the melody gets higher. The music gets louder as the song gets more dramatic. During the guitar solos in the songs there quite a few more dramatic changes as it will get softer and louder as the solo goes on.

            I think the few, subtle dynamic changes in the song make it more interesting, even if the people listening aren’t aware it’s happening. I believe dynamics are necessary for any song to be an interesting, good song.

            Timbre is a bit harder for me to hear rather than dynamics but I could sense a bit in this song. While Buckley is singing the guitar plays a melody over and over again and doesn’t really follow the rhythm of his voice. The guitar is essentially in its own world as he sings. It is definitely subtle timbre, but it is there. Again, I think it changes this song for the better, and would change any song for the better.

There’s a very obvious, well known word-text relationship in this song. When Buckley says “it goes like this, the fourth the fifth, the minor fall, and the major lift,” the music follows him. It follows him to the fourth and the fifth, and falls to the minor with the words, and the major with the lyrics.

Also when the lyrics start to get intense the melody and his singing get slightly like and forte. After it gets intense he will go back to the previous melody, pitch, and dynamic as the words resolve out.

            I almost think the melody and texture aren’t necessarily supposed to match. I think their supposed to juxtapose each other a bit. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of emotion in both the words and the music because there’s a lot of music in both of them.

I enjoyed both pieces very much. They were fun and light hearted compared to some of the other songs we’ve listened to and I’m really starting to enjoy listening to polyphonic texture.

I think the words help slightly with the humor in these pieces, but I’ve found that seeing them sing almost adds to the humor more as you can almost see it on their faces.

I don’t think the language was a barrier. Of course it would be nice to understand what they were saying in a language I understood, but I also just enjoy listening to the music and getting to hear it in it’s original language.

I did enjoy watching the singers perform rather than just listening to the song, because again you could see the humor in their faces, rather than just hearing it. They also looked like they were having a lot of fun and were very into that piece.

The style of this song is quite different from most songs that are very popular nowadays, and has a very different message from many songs today. The first word that comes to my mind when thinking about the melody of this song is legato, its very drawn out and soothing to the ears. It’s a simple melody, with complex lyrics that make the melody sound deeper than it is, and though Buckley’s tone may change and the lyrics get intense, the melody stays consistent through the whole song.

The texture is similar to the melody. When choosing between thick or thin to describe this piece, I’d have to choose thin texture, though that doesn’t mean the song doesn’t have complexity, the song is very complex and has a deep meaning. The texture seems almost a little too shallow for the lyrics in this song, and the way Buckley sings (not to say I don’t like the texture, I love it).

I didn’t love the Eagle Dance video a whole lot. I think different cultures and different traditions are fascinating and I love learning about them, I just personally didn’t like how it sounded. It was really loud and sounded more like shouting than singing to me, and I could tell they didn’t have any cut offs or start together. It’s not the kind of music I listen to for pleasure. I think watching the video with the dancing helped me to see more of what it’s supposed to look like, though I still didn’t love it.

I enjoyed listening to Bobby Mcferrin’s song a lot better because of how smooth is sounded compared to the Eagle Dance. Bobby’s song sounds more like music to me than the Eagle Dance video cause that’s the id of music I’m used to listening to. Bobby’s music almost sounds satisfying to me and sounds like it takes a lot of talent to do, not that the Eagle Dancers didn’t work hard for their song.