music theory 101
Sep. 3rd, 2003 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quesarahI really like music, all kinds, all styles. There are very few genres in which I can't find one song or artist that I enjoy. That said, there are certain songs that I return to time and again, to listen and study. How did they do that? What would've happen if they'd phrased it this way, if they'd broken the phrase here instead of there? Why did she change her tone here, or he add that particular inflection?
Sarah's reading of "Lush Life" is an example of one of those songs. Billy Straythorn's is appropriately clever, but the melody is downright genius. It seems almost crazy that he had to bother putting text to it; it's one more layer in an already complex piece. How on earth is a singer to balance the rhyme, meter, and phrasing while hitting those chord changes? But Sarah does it expertly.
Hers isn't an obvious reading; she balances things thoughtfully, sometimes stressing rhyme, sometimes meter, sometimes the phrase itself, and at others a chord change. I've heard a lot of other recordings of this song, none of which particularly stand out. It's an easy song to sing passably, but difficult to sing masterfully. Sarah does just that. I've listened to this piece hundreds of times, occassionally singing along and at others simply listening. Every time, there's something to ponder, roll around in my brain. What if I changed this, how would it sound? Bloody brilliant.
Also, I think I'm coming down with a cold. Not brilliant.
Sarah's reading of "Lush Life" is an example of one of those songs. Billy Straythorn's is appropriately clever, but the melody is downright genius. It seems almost crazy that he had to bother putting text to it; it's one more layer in an already complex piece. How on earth is a singer to balance the rhyme, meter, and phrasing while hitting those chord changes? But Sarah does it expertly.
Hers isn't an obvious reading; she balances things thoughtfully, sometimes stressing rhyme, sometimes meter, sometimes the phrase itself, and at others a chord change. I've heard a lot of other recordings of this song, none of which particularly stand out. It's an easy song to sing passably, but difficult to sing masterfully. Sarah does just that. I've listened to this piece hundreds of times, occassionally singing along and at others simply listening. Every time, there's something to ponder, roll around in my brain. What if I changed this, how would it sound? Bloody brilliant.
Also, I think I'm coming down with a cold. Not brilliant.
