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Blog #3

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 Earl Sweatshirt- Riot! Earl Sweatshirt's song "Riot!" is far from a quintessential impressionist piece, but after listening to more classical impressionists (Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel most notably), I realized that the scattering, melodic style that Debussy frequently employs was also very prevalent in the end song off of Earl Sweatshirt's album  Some Rap Songs,  released in November 2018 .  Notably, this is his most-streamed song off of this album, and one of the most-streamed songs in his entire discography. This speaks to how impressive and well-produced his sample of the song of the name by South African jazz artist (and close friend to his father) Hugh Masekela, from Masekela’s 1969 vinyl release  Mace And Grenades / Riot  is .  Traditional impressionist pieces frequently are done on the piano or other classical instruments, but his use of the sample is done in a much more avant-garde fashion, with a rhythm that isn't easily discernable an...
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Blog #2

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Benny Goodman- Sing, Sing, Sing      Benny Goodman was an American big band leader and clarinetist who from 1936 to the mid-1940s led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. Goodman's bands started the careers of many jazz musicians. During an era of racial segregation, he led one of the first integrated jazz groups, his quartet, and quintet. He is most famous for his performance at Carnegie Hall in 1938 and the live recording of it is deemed to be "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music" (Eder,  AllMusic) , and was the first jazz album to sell over a million copies. Benny Goodman would be considered by many to be a virtuoso and is still known as the "King of Swing" for his contributions to jazz and big band music. Additionally, this piece features Gene Krupa playing the drums which was his groundbreaking performance and gave a uni...
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Blog #1

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 Amore Mio Aiutami- Piero Piccioni This piece is the definition of classical drama. The melody's melodramatic, almost wistful nature leaves the listener in a dream-like trance. It harkens back to the late Baroque and Romantic opera eras in which layered, polyphonic harmonies and expressive melodies are used to transport the listener into the world of the composer. What makes this piece so jarring is the fact that it is not a composition by somebody long ago, but instead was released the year after my dad was born, in 1969. This piece is the main theme of the Italian Commedia dell'arte film Help Me, My Love, written, directed, and starred by the acclaimed Italian actor Alberto Sordi. This film stars the main characters, Giovanni and Raffaella, who are happily married for ten years, but their relationship goes into crisis when Raffaella falls in love with another man, a handsome forty-year-old man she knew during the concerts of chamber music she weekly attends with her mother. I...
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