Human beings have for the longest time composed songs to express their feelings and pass various themes to those people around them. The music that has been written has followed some set guidelines regarding instrumentation, pitch, voices, melody among other musical components. The musical themes though may change from one era to another the purpose of the music almost remains the same with the musicians expressing their inner feeling. Consequently, the perfect combination of the musical elements makes such musical compositions stand the test of time and remain evergreen and interest future generations. This essay aims at exploring one song from the period between 1890-1940 by highlighting the song's instrumentation, pitch, dynamics, harmony, melody, form, and structure in an in-depth analysis. The song which will be focused on in this essay is Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman.
The 1920’s witnessed a Jazz age where Jazz music and Jazz dancing style was the main music of the time spreading in the US, Britain, France and elsewhere in the globe. It is during this Jazz Age in 1937 when Benny Goodman released Sing Sing Sing which was Jazz music.
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Instruments and voices used in the song
This song by Benny Goodman which lasts for 8 minutes and 43 seconds uses a variety of instruments which made it be such a great jazz music of the 20th century. Some of the instruments employed in this composition include trumpets, clarinet, trombones, alto saxophones, tenor saxophones, piano, bass, guitar, and drums. These instruments when combined produced a rich composition that has outlived the test of time in addition to having won Benny a Grammy Hall of Fame. Benny Goodman’s song uses a variety of voices which are blended in such a unique manner to give this composition a rich texture in pitch, harmony, and melody. The voices used include tenor contributed by saxophones, alto by the saxophones and bass voices.
Pitch, dynamics, harmony, melody, texture
Music requires proper use of pitch, dynamics, harmony melody and texture so as to get a deep listening by the audience. Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman is one example of music which has invested in these musical elements which led to this song getting into Grammy Hall of Fame. The gorgeous combination of voices and instruments gives this song a moderate pitch which is neither too high nor too low. The music employs various dynamics which includes the combination of instruments which gives this composition quite an edge in its Jazz category. The use of various musical dynamics such as correct use of pitch creates such a beautiful piece which encompasses various musical elements of this era. The instrumentalists who play the various musical instruments use different musical chords which have helped in bringing harmony to this song (Cachia, 2015).
These chord progressions include A major, B flat G E major G and C-sharp major. The combination of these instruments in the various musical voices creates such a beautiful melody which is mainly by skip and step although there are a few leaps in the varied instrumental solos that catch the attention of the listeners. Additionally, the melody of this song is disjunct with a wide range caused by the use of various instruments which tend to reach very high and very low notes (Cachia, 2015).
Form and structure of the song
This song starts with an eight bar for drums which then to an A section with 32 bars with the form of AABA consisting of four phrase bars within the E minor. The B section of this song is in G major using the G chord and the D chord. Various instruments interchange within this song as each instrument takes several bars before allowing the next instrument to come in (Kyra, 2015). In the last ten bars, the whole band comes together to play the melody in harmonious unison.
In conclusion, music compositions are essential since they give the music composers and artists a chance to make known their feelings. The essay has focused on Benny Goodman's Jazz song Sing, Sing Sing which was composed in 1937. This song made use of various instruments among them trombones, bass, saxophones, clarinets and drums which played a vital role in giving the song its pitch, harmony, and melody. Additionally, the song has two parts, A and B each using various chords and keys where the different instruments interchange with all of them combining in the last ten bars.
References
Cachia, E. (6 May 2015). Jazz Investigation: Benny Goodman, Sing Sing Sing. Retrieved from http://year9musicmajor.weebly.com/ella-cachia/jazz-investigation-benny-goodman-sing-sing-sing-sing-httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv3mj4dpnal_k.
Kyra (27 April 2015). Musical Investigation: “Sing Sing Sing” Introduction . Retrieved from http://ibinvestigates.blogspot.co.ke/2015/04/introduction_27.html.
