Michael Jackson is a solo singer most of the time, however, in the song Man in the Mirror he has a choir in the background towards the end of the song. In the beginning he has a higher one part harmony in the beginning. It is still Michael though and doing his own harmony in the beginning. But the second verse he has a lady do harmony. When they change hits, that is when the choir comes in with parts alto from to soprano. The choir is ad libbing Michael in what he saying. There isn’t much bass with the choir, until the end with the tonic chord. Michael wanted this to be an anthem of his life and hopefully send a message to listeners. The harmonies, he would want them to be tight to send shivers for the listeners. He wants it to impact us in a way.

Joeys ability to roll all over the piano like no ones business is just unbelievable. He has a gift that is rare and hard to wrap my mind around. This talent is not common because he just rolls around with out any knowledge of music theory, and Joey just starts improving. Me doing jazz for years, I still have a hard time improving and soloing. On the other hand I believe you can measure talent to a certain extent. Some people have to work really hard while others can just pick up natural. Joey’s talent is just different because he picks up piano while listening to records, and playing by ear is special talent. Even though he’s a professional, I believe he is humble person not wanting credit. I have never met someone like that, but I do have a friend who is just good at trumpet. Music just comes easy for him, and I have to work extra hard to become good. But no one like Joey.

Mozart, a very well known and talented composer has many good symphonies. He used sonata form which was very popular in the classical era, and had an interesting background. December 1769, Mozart and his father left his mother and sister back home, while they went to Salzburg Italy. His dads musical career was over and his mother was too old to show her artistic talent. Mozart wrote out an entire score with from memory with only a few mistakes. Three years later, Mozart starting writing for churches and a couple of operas. He rented out ballrooms, and big venues to do his solos and second job. In 1784, Mozart proved himself during five-week period, he did 22 concerts, five of those was his own music and performed. During the Austria war, his concerts and events were not well attended. Moved back in with his family and thought it would be cheaper, but turns out expense was still hi for Mozart. Very smart composer who never gave up, and very talented man.

I got information on https://www.biography.com/musician/wolfgang-mozart.

First off, Seasons of Loves is literally one of my favorite songs, and it also takes me back to high school when we played that song before every football game. We all lined up and gave massages during that song to get our body loose. Anyways, I love seasons of love example. The first example I have a hard time getting into because there isn’t much going on instrumentally. I normally recognize when it’s powerful with the music. It takes me awhile to get into it, but what the singer is very talented. The first example has a lot of vibrato because that is basically all they do. The pitch bends back and forth and it is very noticeable. Seasons of love uses some of it to fit in especially with the ad libbing. When I listen to music, there isn’t much vibrato, but that doesn’t mean it happens.

My song has a little dynamics, but it isn’t drastic at all. It stays at a mezzo forte to a forte, but during a key change is when Michael gets into it. That is when he is getting fully into the song, or maybe call it the breaking point. The choir is staying a little under what the main singer is. being in band, having dynamics is definitely makes music more interesting. It makes it interesting because I don’t want to hear same level of music, and it gives it movement. The timbre is soft and kinda black as the color. The piece is talking about the wrong things in the world and that is the color he is trying to correspond with. When he finds a solution, that is when the key change happens it becomes a different color. It is a very direct key change, and doesn’t take long. n

I found a couple of selections to do with painting a picture from my piece and also a German piece. In my piece Man in the Mirror, there is the beginning of the verse saying, “theres kids in the street with nothing to eat, who am I to be blind pretending to see their needs” this paints a good picture of our every day lives. When we see homeless people we try to pretend not to see them even at a stop light. Michael Jackson paints the picture that we need to help change the world.

Also in a German piece by Franz Schubert Erlkönig, the composer paints the picture that a witch was trying to get the son of the King, but the dad kept ignoring him. The son was screaming and frighten by the kidnapper, but dad just went along with his day. At the end of the song, the son was in his arms when he died. The piece ends there and its a very goo painting on the composer.

These pieces I have really enjoyed because even though it is in a different language it still has texture that makes it enjoyable. The word painting helped a lot but it was cool to see their facial expressions. The cricket piece did better visualizing the cricket better than the Est bel et bon. There wasn’t a language barrier at all because it was such a amazing piece to listen to all the parts supporting the main melody. Even though watching them was better because again the facial expressions they put in the singing. The cricket was a little better because its a lot more back and forth with the different parts.

My piece I picked is Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror, which is a very famous piece with a bunch of melody and harmonies. Michael has a unique style of pop, and he has a short melody with a bunch of harmony and a choir in the background. The upbeat song is flowed tightly with some very fun chords. Texture has polyphonic with a lot of lines and melody.

This is a different genre of music and it is very diverse. I don’t really like the eagle dance music as much, but if I saw it live and in front of me, then I would enjoy it better. Looking at the book doesn’t do its justice to prove the culture. I respect the culture because I lived in Oklahoma for many years and was born there as well. So with that, I would for sure have an open mind with the music and culture. Seeing the dancers would help a little, but I believe it was hard for me get engaged in what I was listening to. The youtube link was kinda cool. Not only did they sing together in a big arena where sound bounces off. I thought it was funny they couldn’t clap in time, but could sing in time. I’m in jazz band, and I have a solo for a blues piece. It’s really hard to improve because I have to have different set of ears and knowing what the general style is. I liked how he just went with the flow and the style of the music. There wasn’t just one melody to listen to because that gets boring pretty quick. Bobby did everything with his throat and mouth which was really impressive. This was different because it has more melody and skips with notes. While Eagle dance was just same thing over and over again.

Hidegard piece is a very freeing and since it’s about victory then it makes it more free in what the vocals do. I’m not a huge fan of this particular piece until the victory happens and the voices go up in a vocal range. I tried to get into it in the beginning, but just couldn’t since there is no since of time. When I looked at the lyrics, I actually liked what the piece was saying and was really cool. The Princes Leia theme is such a beautiful piece, and John Williams does a marvelous job composing for movies. Since I’m in band, I love classical music and have a great deal of respect on whats going. There is tons of melody going on when the strings are playing the melody and french horn is taking the harmony. In band, that is an important part of music is the harmony. The Imperial March is the popular march and it is such an incredible piece. I love the two pieces that John Williams does in the movie, and its kinda the same with Hidegard piece with the victory kinda feel. That is the main difference and the feeling of we made into the music. I still respect all three pieces because it’s music.