Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Listening Blog #5 – “The Thriller! Rag” – May Frances Aufderheide

Instrumentation: Piano

Texture: The texture of the song is homophonic: a solitary melodic line with accompanying chords moving simultaneously. For a song with only one instrument, the texture is very thick: this is due to the interplay between the left and right hand parts –maybe they are playing complementary parts of the same chord? I’m not exactly sure. The bass part/left hand is also played quite heavily, giving it a fuller feel and texture.

Range: The range is fairly standard for this piece: although there is a lot more jumping around in the bass part than the treble part. Also, one of the chord progressions near the end goes pretty low.

Tempo: The tempo is quite fast and upbeat. It stays pretty constant throughout the song. The treble part shows some subdivision, (2 notes for every beat of the bass part).

Meter: The meter is duple beat, as the song displays a fast constant “march” beat.

Volume: Fairly loud. I noticed that the performer grows in volume when they are approaching the opening chords of the left hand that signifies either a repetition of a previous section or a new section. Overall, it seems that the bass part is playing louder than the treble part which, from my knowledge of piano, is somewhat unusual: in classical piano, the treble part is always supposed to take precedence. Here, I would say the two parts share in equal volume, if not louder volume in the bass part.

Other: The timbre of the song is joyful/happy/exuberant – probably because it stays largely in major key. The full chords that occur near the end of the piece are very dramatic, providing a contrast to the “quaint” (and quiet) final ending chords. This song is very much in the “ragtime” piano tradition: I think it must be the combination of the chord progressions and the jauntiness of the moving bass line.

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