Variety Of Musical Texture Throughout The Concert example essay topic

Jazz is the kind of music that makes me want to do one of two things. Depending on the mood of the jazz, sometimes I feel like relaxing and just listening to the music and letting it run through me. Other times I feel like getting up and dancing as if I have not a care in the world. The jazz concert I attended on at SLO Brewing Company on October 6, 2001 inspired me to do both of these due to the variety used by the musicians in dynamic, rhythm, tempo, and many other aspects of music.

The group consisted of three individuals called the Anthony Wilson Trio. The instruments included an electric guitar, a percussion set, and an organ. The three sounds were creatively combined to make for a wonderful concert. The first aspect of the music I recognized was the volume, or the dynamics.

It ranged from forte during the climactic moments to mezzo piano during the calmer parts, but mostly remained in this range throughout the concert. There were also several instances of crescendo and decrescendo, which served to build up tension or slow the piece down, respectively. The next element I discovered was the pitch of the music. Relatively speaking, I would estimate that the majority of the pieces were on the high side of the pitch, and therefore frequency, scale.

The range of pitches was moderate, but as stated previously, mostly higher notes were used. The rhythm and tempo of the music that evening varied widely throughout the concert and even within the songs themselves. The songs would unexpectedly slow down or speed up creating specific effects which embellished the songs by taking the audience by surprise. The tempo varied between andante and allegro, rarely speeding up or slowing down to the extremes of the tempo scale. The beat and meter of each song was fairly difficult to distinguish. The meter tended to be irregular and seemed to change throughout the song.

In addition, the usage of several syncopation's made the task of finding the beat even more difficult, but also may have been more distinguishable to an ear more musically trained than my own. The harmony of the music seemed to carry mostly consonant sounds interspersed with a few dissonant moments. The concert contained both melodic styles of staccato and legato, legato being slightly more prevalent. There was also a variety of musical texture throughout the concert, homophonic being the most common, but a small amount of monophonic and polyphonic textures as well.

A few aspects I found intriguing about the jazz concert included the percussionists use of metal, bristle-like brushes on the drums which had a calming effect on the particular pieces in which they were used. The percussionist also used, in addition to traditional drumsticks, a set of drumsticks with white, soft-looking pieces on the end, creating a muted effect on the drums. The percussionist also performed numerous extended solos, which I found unbelievably amazing and felt it necessary to tap my foot along with each solo, although it was difficult due to the randomness of the beat. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance by the Anthony Wilson Trio and the setting in which it took place.

It was a very casual concert with a small audience, giving it more of a personal feeling. Attending this concert certainly inspired me to attend more concerts of its type and to be open to all types of music..