For my familiar music I listened to two songs by Scotty McCreery, "I Love You This Big" Duration: 4 minutes 9 seconds and then "See You Tonight" Duration 3 minutes 50 seconds. However I am only going to talk about "See You Tonight." The song starts off with a guitar playing and the bass of course. Scotty has a really deep bass voice. The drums accompany his low voice almost like a punctuation on some of the lyrics. It sounds like an acoustic guitar through the song mostly but the bass takes over a bit too. I do believe that an electric guitar is played too. The beat isn't slow in the beginning, its moderate and then it takes off. I have heard this song so many times that I just want to scream the lyrics with the music up loud.
Link: http://youtu.be/dFlv4O7VE-A
For my unfamiliar music I listened to "Unexpected Melody (Miles Mix)" by Von Mondo. Duration: 4 minutes 10 seconds. The music started with a slow tempo and began to speed up but it doesn't increase a ton. It sounds like they are using a maraca like instrument but I think its probably the drums, in the back ground and a keyboard over it. Then a few more instruments are added in. A female vocal and I believe a trumpet but I am horrible at trying to decide what instrument it is off of sound. Its got a calm feel to it and the notes flow together. It has an incomplete cadence where the note seems final and then the female vocals begin again and the music trails off to its finish. The melody is beautiful and it makes you think that it could pick up the tempo at any time but it really doesn't increase a lot from the beginning.
Paige,
ReplyDeleteI do like some jazz but this song didn't really do much for me. It seemed to have a little of a techno or funky sound to it. I picked out a lot of the same instruments in the music you did. The piano in the background and trumpets. Also something like maracas or something you would shake like that. The ladies voice was nice but it was like she was just moaning or something I couldn't pick out any words but from the name I assume she was Spanish speaking.. There was also not enough change in the melody for me. It was like it just kept doing the same thing over and over and her voice came in every once in awhile. I do give you credit for getting me to listen to something so different :). I think the song tempo would be considered andante but I am not sure. It was moderately slow to me.
You know...I actually watched Scotty win American Idol from start to finish. As much as I will say he has quite a lot of natural talent as far as his voice goes...I've never been a fan. It could be simply because I don't like much country. Or perhaps it's because he seems to be a one trick pony to me. However, hit list charts don't lie and so far he's a winner.
ReplyDeleteThe maracas seem to be an instrument that isn't heard in modern mainstream much. I can also say I've never heard a jazz song with the maracas included. You're not alone in not being able to identify certain instruments in songs. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one with that problem in the class. I also have a hard time separating the sounds of instruments from each other when more than one is playing. I'm sure that as the class goes on things will get better though. As they say practice makes perfect. Keep up the good work ^^
Paige,
ReplyDeleteScotty's vocal timbre in this song reminds me of early Dierks Bently. Maybe that's just me . . .?! So much of country's "sound" now-a-days seems to have such a pop flavor that it's hard to call it "country" anymore. Regardless, it's a fun summer-ish song that's got a clean sound to it, without a lot of heavy texture.
The Von Mondo piece sounds like a house hip-hop mix to me, with nearly all of the music being created by digital sounds, and not real (acoustic) instruments sitting in a recording studio. The percussive sounds ("maracas") are created with a beat-box, or drum box - it's all digital. Peggy is correct in that it has a "techno" sound to it. This type of music is often perceived as house dance/hip hop or dance-trance music. I believe the instrument that you're hearing is a muted trumpet, but one that has been "digitized" with some computer aid. Good ears on this one!! :)
~JM