One Hour of Television

On Friday, November 20, I watched an hour of television from 1:48-2:48 and noted all of the music that I heard while watching. When I st/.arted watching, one of my favorite shows, Malcolm in the Middle, was on. There was background music throughout the show that was faint and not long-lasting. For the credits, the theme tune was played also. The next show that was on was The Bernie Mac Show, and I heard the introduction theme song. When I saw the first few seconds of the episode, however, I changed the channel to Nickelodeon because I had seen that episode the previous day. On Nick, Spongebob Squarepants was on. In this episode, I heard the odd, cartoonish background music, and Mr. Krabs and Spongebob sang a song together. Another episode of Spongebob was on next, and I heard the same background music.
In this hour of television, probably 90-95 percent of the commercials had some kind of background music in them. Some of the commercials I saw that had music in them were for Burlington, Alka seltzer, Movies on Demand, Dave Dennis Jeep Dodge, Walmart, Jam Band Musical Microphone for babies, Style Lab Jewelry Design, Legos, Nintendo DS, and Tony Hawk Ride for gaming systems. After this hour was completed, I was shocked at how much music I hear on TV on a daily basis and never recognize it.

Movie Music

The movie I watched was a Disney classic: Mulan. I have been watching this movie ever since I was a little kid, and I think what makes it so good is largely due to its soundtrack. In my opinion, the Mulan soundtrack is one of the best Disney soundtracks available right now. There are four main songs featured in this theatrical masterpiece. "Honor To Us All" is the first one and is performed in the beginning when Mulan, her mother, and her grandmother are trying to get her ready to go see the matchmaker. This song fits well because a central theme is Chinese traditions and values, and this song about bringing honor to one's family is symbiotic with the theme.
The second song is called "Reflection" by Christina Aguilara and is sung after Mulan's meeting with the matchmaker. She is pouring out her feelings about how she doesn't know where her life is heading and what meaning her life has. This was all sprung upon her because the matchmaker said she was hopeless and would never bring her family honor.
The third song comes about during the climax of the movie, and it is called "I'll Make a Man Out of You." At this point, Mulan joined the Chinese army in place of her father so that he would not get killed. She poses as a man and trains to battle the Huns, and at the point of this song, the soldiers are training like warriors and are finally getting everything right. The general in charge of his troops had a lot of doubts and didn't think he could make men out of them, but he finally does. Right after this song, they go into battle against the Huns.
The fourth song, "A Girl Worth Fighting For," happens when the troops are marching around the Chinese countryside in their armor. This song is pretty funny, because the men in the army are singing about the women they would like to have, not knowing that Mulan is indeed a woman.
Each of these songs represent a milestone in the movie. They are fantastic songs, and along with these, there is much more background music played in the movie that rocks as well. I would highly recommend seeing this movie.

Old Time Recording

I listened to "You Rascal You" by Clarence Williams from 1931 on the Library of Congress website. The piano is the only musical accompanyment, and it is fairly faint in the background. Clarence William's voice is a little raspy, but not due to him but due to the recording. For being from 1931 though, this recording is pretty authentic and clear. The lyrics of this song are very repetitive, because he says "you rascal you" probably 25-30 times in 3 minutes. I found the meaning of the song to be quite funny considering the upbeat feel to it. He is talking to the man who hit on or cheated with his wife, saying he is going to kill him just for fun, but the song sounds happy. He is obviously angry and upset, but the piano and the pitch of his voice sure don't show it.

New Way to Notate Music

Currently, there are a few innovative ways of notating music other than the most commonly used bar line form. In class, for example, it was discussed that for a flute, there is a notation in which there are pictures blacking out the holes that should be covered with the fingers. This pictorial method of notating music is one of the innovative ways of notating music, and I came up with another way of doing so. Instead of using the normal "dot and stem" approach to writing notes, these notes could be written as letters. For example, an A note would simply be represented with a capital "A". To differentiate between whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and so on, a color-coded system would be implemented where a red "A" could stand for a whole A note. This system would obviously take some studying and getting used to, and it's not perfect, but its a potential idea.

Rhythm and Structure of Two Songs

The first song I listened to was on the NAXOS Online Resource. I listened to the first part of Sometimes I Feel Alive entitled "There is a Moon Sole" from the CD Julian Wachner: Choral Works Vol. 1. The structure that I could best fit to this song was of the form ABCAC. As far as the rhythm goes I think the song's meter is in 4/4 but then speeds up to 4/8.
The second song I listened to from my collection entitled Good Morning by rapper Chamillionaire. The background accompanyment is from Tom Petty's song "Free Falling," so the song is essentially a mashup. The structure of the song is of the very simple form ABA'BA''B, as most hip-hop songs are formatted (I listen to a lot of hip-hop) in which A is the different verses and B is the chorus. The rhythm was approximately 4/8.

Listening for Electrophones on 4 Different Radio Stations

I listened to four different radio stations for an hour in order to hear electrophones. The first station, 99.1 FM, is a country station and during the 15 minutes I listened to it, I heard 3 songs, none of which used any electrophones.
The second station, 103.9 FM, is a rock station. Of the 4 songs I heard on here, one of them used an electrophone, namely, a synthesizer. The song Jump by Van Halen was played and a distinct synthesizer was played throughout the entire song. The famous sound of this song is made by its synthesizer.
The third radio station, 94.5 FM, plays top 40 songs. Once again I heard no electrophones played. The final station, 102.9 FM, is a Hip-Hop/R&B station and of the 2 songs I heard (too many commercials), one of them used a vocal synthesizer: Bartender by T-Pain ft. Akon. T-Pain is famous for using this vocal synthesizer in his songs.

One Hour of Classical Music on 90.9 FM (#3)

On October 1 I listened to an hour of Classical music on 90.9 FM. Four pieces were played during this time, the first composed by Franz Joseph Haydn called Scherzando #1 in F Major. This piece was heavily string-oriented and I could not distinguish any wind instruments being played.
Henry Purcell composed the second piece, Fairy Queen, which consisted of four movements. The wind instruments I heard were the oboe, trumpet, and either a flute or a recorder.
The third piece was composed by Giovanni Bottesini called the Double Bass Concerto #2 in B Major. As could be expected the double bass was focused on in this piece, accompanied by other string instruments. I heard no winds in this piece.
The Petite Symphony by Charles Gounod was the fourth and final piece I heard, and it was this piece that used the most wind instruments. In this long, four movement piece, I heard the clarinet, bassoon (which produced a very low sound), flute, oboe, and horns, which could have been French horn or trumpet. This concluded my hour of listening.