Jazz

The rhythm and tempo of the music that evening varied widely throughout the concert and even within the songs themselves. The tempo varied between andante and allegro, rarely speeding up and slowing down to the extremes of the tempo scale. The meter tended to be irregular and seemed to change throughout the song. The percussionist also performed numerous extended solos, which I found unbelievably amazing and felt it necessary to tap my foot along with each solo, although it was difficult due to the randomness of the beat. The concert contained both melodic styles of staccato and legato, legato being slightly more prevalent. climactic moments to mezzo piano during the calmer parts, but mostly remained in this range throughout the concert. The percussionist also used, in addition to traditional drumsticks, a set of drumsticks with white, soft-looking pieces on the end, creating a muted effect on the drums. Attending this concert certainly inspired me to attend more concerts of its type and to be open to all types of music. There was also a variety of musical texture throughout the concert, homophonic being the most common, but a small amount of monophonic and polyphonic textures as well. The range of pitches was moderate, but as stated previously, mostly higher notes were used. In addition, the usage of several syncopations made the task of finding the beat even more difficult, but also may have been more distinguishable to an ear more musically trained than my own. There were also several instances of crescendo and decrescendo, which served to build up tension or slow the piece down, respectively.

The beat and meter of each song was fairly difficult to distinguish.

The harmony of the music seemed to carry mostly consonant sounds interspersed with a few dissonant moments.

A few aspects I found intriguing about the jazz concert included the percussionists use of metal, bristle-like brushes on the drums, which had a calming effect on the particular pieces in which they were used.