Maple Leaf Rag

Every time I listen to Maple Leaf Rag, I always get Charlie Chaplin vibes. The timbre of the notes are short and light, as if they’re on tippy toes. The syncopation of the low-key melody contrasting with the high-key melody works great to provide a lot of character and very characteristic of ragtime. The song rises and falls in the pitch of the notes, almost feeling like it’s making a point across – like the climax of the story is occurring. Written by Scott Joplin, it proved to be one of the most famous ragtime music in history and laid the foundation for future iterations.

Written in an AA BB A CC DD structure, Maple Leaf Rag provides a march rhythm with the bass melody of the left hand. The right hand plays the off tune high melody. I would describe the harmony of the piece to be chromatic – rising up and down as the music progresses and bounces off the marching rhythm of the lower keys on the left hand.

Maple Leaf Rag falls into many categories of Candelarai’s streams of music culture. It earned Joplin the title of King of Ragtime due to its immense popularity and created a basis in which future ragtime iterations would rely upon. Ragtime music is also an influencer on the later future jazz.

The Super Mario Bros. Main theme song was composed in 1985, very close to 100 years after the composition of Maple Leaf Rag in 1899. The theme song for the immensely popular game Super Mario Bros. features very similar syncopation. It is stated that the theme song for the game was influenced by ragtime music – having similar melodic cues such as the polyphony of the two low-key and high-key melodies.

Zydeco Sont pas Sale

Performed by Clifton Chenier, his brother Cleveland Chenier, and John Hart, Zydeco Sont pas Sale represents the Creole/French music culture of zydeco in southern Louisiana. The instrumentation of the piece consists of the traditional washboard and accordion with the drums supporting them. A simple instrumentation set up like this makes it easy for people to play zydeco type music in social settings, involving family and friends. The tempo of the song is very fast with Clifton leading with vocals.

This form of music fits into the stream of Candelarai’s of Folk and ethnic music as zydeco represents the mixture of French and Creole culture. Because of the historical influence of being a fast tempo and dance-driven song that was played in social settings, zydeco played a large rule in the future of blue, hip hop, and rock and roll.

One of the influences of Clifton Chenier’s song is Don’t Mess with my Toot Toot by Sidney Simien, aka Rockin’ Sidney. Considered his biggest hit, Rockin’ Sidney performed various R&B, zydeco, and soul music in the 1950s. His song Don’t Mess With My Toot Toot takes a lot of cues with traditional zydeco, which can arguably be awarded the father of modern zydeco. Sidney’s song follows Clifton’s renditions with a drum and an accordion. They provide very similar melodic cues and tempo – fast and upbeat, maintaining a lively dancing mood.

That’s All Right

My initial listening log was transfixed on the fact that I was surprised this song was not an Elvis Presley original but rather it was a rendition by him from a different artist. Upon my new listening, I notice sort of the subtle influences of zydeco in this piece. As mentioned before, zydeco influenced a variety of modern musics, including Rock and Roll. The instrumentation of the song That’s All Right is clearly far from the traditional zydeco makeup, but the timbre and tempo of it is very familiar to zydeco. Instead of the traditional washboard pushing the tempo, they produce a similar result and sound with the light tapping of the drum sticks. It plays off beat along the main melody of the vocals. The guitar melody followed by the drum sticks hitting twice really replicates the feel of the washboard sound in Clifton’s song.

That’s All Right fits into the rock and roll stream of Candelarai’s streams, because of the genre. However, as I mentioned in my re-listening of it, it follows very subtle throwbacks to folk and ethnic streams of zydeco.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is a timeless classic since the 1800s and has a deep root in Christian communities and hymns. Written by John Newton, Amazing Grace has been a global phenomena all across nations and the world. Amazing Grace has a versatile collection of instrumentation, performed with strictly choir to a full orchestra. There have been countless of renditions used in a variety of moments – from celebration to grief. The more I search up about the history, the more rich the history and story behind it. The controversial story behind how John Newton used to be a slave trader proves well into Christian beliefs of redemption, as a song like this was written by someone with sinful pasts redeeming themselves. It’s very interesting that it can be played with the traditional pentatonic scale that many African American songs are based off of – perhaps there could be a linkage to Newton’s history with slaves.

Amazing Grace fits nicely as Popular Sacred Music in Candelarai’s streams. It has proven to stay as a global phenomena of Christian hymns throughout countless years. It has a powerful impact and has been deeply imbedded in Southern religions groups.

There has been so many great songs that have branched off of Amazing Grace. One of them is My Chains are Gone by Chris Tomlin. Very similar to Amazing Grace, Tomlin’s song is a Christian Hymn. It shares the similar tempo and timbre of worship, gospel, and slow paced. It primarily focuses on the vocalist with piano/guitar/violin background. It shares the similar characteristics of having versatility of instrumentation.

Ko-Ko

My initial listening log impressions of this song was comparing it to white noise – almost like the noise from TV when it loses connection. The lack of “unified” flow of music – almost as if every instrument is sort of doing its own thing. There are several instruments that compose of the instrumentation in this iteration – piano, trumpet, alto sax, bass, and drums. I think the two key components here are the drums and the alto sax. It’s got a very noire feel to it – almost as if the music itself is black and white. Almost like mumbling, the main wind instrument plays the notes very quickly and connected. The drums play a jittery and fast paced tempo that provides constant upbeat push.

I believe Ko-Ko lies right dab in the middle of the Jazz and its Forerunners stream of Candelarai. It’s a perfect example of the jazz culture and the culmination of all the historical changes in music that led up to this. I linked Whiplash’s final performance of Caravan which is very similar to the scope of Ko-Ko in respect to the timbre and mood of the piece. The drums and the wind instruments bounce off each other very similarly.

The main take away from this semester that I have gained to appreciate is the connection of music with the people. From the historical contexts to the expression of ideas, music has a way of providing a beautiful medium for people to share and empathize. It was very interesting to see the transitions that we saw from folk to blues to jazz to rock, etc. and how they all played into each other – streamed into each other – like a musical web of evolution.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: a piece forever ingrained into our nostalgic subconscious, through it’s whimsical portrayal of the cult classic book series. Directed by Chris Columbus, with music by John Williams, the film follows Harry Potter, an orphan boy who is amazed to find out at the age of ten that he is a wizard, and his misadventures with his two friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. The film guides the audience through Harry’s first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the mystery that lies within the school.

The book, that the film is based upon, presented a magical world left to reader’s imagination to create, in a sense, allowing each individual to form their own depiction of Hogwarts. And though, this aspect did make the book beloved by many, this left a difficult task for Chris Columbus and John Williams: how can the fanciful imagination of millions be conveyed in a single movie?

The way the film achieves this feat is through the use of its musical score and unlikely instrument pairings. For example, many musical compositions within the movie include a soli section featuring the celeste and contrabassoon. The celeste is a type of piano that sounds like light, delicate bells resonating over long stretches of time, whereas the contrabassoon is a woodwind, one of the lowest pitched instruments in the orchestra. Both instruments are not commonly used in conventional musical scores, let alone paired together, however, the juxtaposition of the low somber tones of the bassoon and the whimsical melody played on the celeste offers a light and mysterious emphasis to the overall film.

Additionally, the score of the film adds to the tension of each scene as the plot progresses. Music seems to accompany every moment, and sometimes every movement, and is utilized to punctuation the actions of Harry Potter. For instance, when Harry, Hermione, and Ron defeat an escaped troll that was wandering the halls of Hogwarts (Troll Scene and Orchestration), the music crescendos as the troll stumbles toward them, each step accented by trumpets. And as the trolls begins to slow down and collapse, the orchestra masterfully ritardando and ends the chord progression on a tense B minor. 

Conversely, the absence of music plays a huge role in the movie as well. In the film there are setting were Chris Columbus opts to have no music accompanying the scene. When Harry is at Kings Cross Station, the Dursleys’, and the zoo, there is no musical score to accompany his misadventures. This is because these are considered “normal places”: no magical occurrences supposedly happens in these areas. When music is introduced into these scenes, it because magic occurs and the contrast is used to highlight the playful nature of magic in Harry’s life. 

In order to fully understand the vital role music plays in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it is important to break down the first minutes of the film and the use of leitmotifs through the soundtrack “Hedwig’s Theme”.  Thematically, “Hedwig’s Theme” is the most iconic score in Harry Potter: it is a piece most recognizable, even by those who have never seen the film. 

The Hogwarts Letter

John Williams establishes the unique melody as the central theme of the movie by repeating the melody time and time again: different variations of Hedwig’s Theme appears ten times within the first 18 minutes of the film: the scene begins with Harry receiving the mail for the Dursley’s. The music whirlwinds into a progression of 32nd notes foreshadowing a mysterious event or something about to change Harry’s life. As Harry reads that the letter is addressed to him and his strange living arrangements (The Cupboard Under the Stairs), the melody of Hedwig’s Theme plays with the full force of the orchestra, punctuating arrival of the letter, signifying its magical nature. However, as Harry enters the dining room with his adopted family the piece suddenly decrescendos to an eerie hum and then music is removed from the scene when Harry interacts with the Dursleys’. As the scene progresses, over the course of many days, letters are delivered to the house addressed to Harry Potter, each delivery accentuated by a new variation of Hedwig’s Theme, some with quickened tempos, others with whimsical 16th note progressions emulating The Flight of the Bumblebee. However, each variation is contrasted by the somber movement performed by the brass and woodwinds at a lower tone, as the Dursleys intercept the letters so that Harry never receives the invoices. At each instance the letters arrive, the dynamics of the orchestra increase, until the final letter scene when Dursley home is flooded with letters: with no underlying harmony, the Hedwig Theme resonates at a fortississimo at fills the scene with tension and magic as it becomes more clear that it is inevitable for Harry to receive and open the letter. 

Overall, analyzing the musical impact of the scores written by John Williams made me appreciate the subtle complexities of the film. Music is often used a method to set the mood and tone of a piece of media, however I never consider the significance and the thought that went behind the placement of scores. I found it interesting how the absence of musical accompaniment can play a vital role in plot and story telling.