samba em preludio Flashcards
structure
Melody Verse 1 (A) bars 4–19
An eight-bar idea (bars 4–11), repeated with a different ending, in bars 12–19.
o The first (or second) note of each phrase descends by a semitone or a tone in a
long downward sequence.
o The music descends almost beneath the female vocal range, to a low E, at bar
11.
o The melodic line moves, unusually, mostly by leaps of a third and occasionally of
a seventh, in bars 8–9.
o All phrases have a span of a seventh, apart from the first, which spans a minor
sixth.
fusion
fusion of cuban and Jazz
Instrumentation
female voice, acoustic guitar and acoustic bass guitar.
female voice
- The vocal line covers a range of a minor tenth (an octave plus a minor third) from E below middle C to the G above.
- Syllabic
- vocal line contains many leaps, and also some quite complex rhythms – triplets, semiquavers, rests.
- Uses variation in the performance of the rhythms and of the tempo – a performance technique known as rubato.
acoustic guitar
- The acoustic guitar joins the accompaniment from bar 23 onwards and plays a virtuosic solo from bar 55- 89.
- In its accompaniment role, the guitar pays a mixture of plucked chords and small melodic passages, some of which cover the long notes at the end of vocal phrases.
acoustic bass guitar
- The bass part is active.
- Intro features a virtuosic bass solo with use of double stops, wide leaps, rapid semiquaver passages, a mordent and a harmonic.
- during verse 1 (before the acoustic guitar enters), the bass appears to be playing two parts, with lower bass notes alternating with higher chords, rather like a ragtime piano accompaniment.
Rhythm - Verse 1
- Vocals: frequent triplets, rests separate most of the phrases here – mostly quavers
- Acoustic bass guitar: syncopated, only occasionally (bars 6, 9, 10, 14 and 17) using a typical bossa nova-type rhythm.
Rhythm - Verse 2
- Vocals: longer note values - (includes quavers, crotchets and minims), A few triplets, some bossa nova rhythms
- Acoustic bass guitar: plays more of a ‘standard’ bossa nova rhythm – dotted crotchet and quaver pairs – although still with some syncopations and quaver movement.
- Acoustic guitar: The guitar part also adds to the rhythmic interest, with both syncopated and un-syncopated passages.
Rhythm - Guitar Solo
- Ornamentation - Grace notes - pulloffs
- Mostly conjunct
- Triplets, quintuples, sextuples
- Some dotted rhythms
Rhythm - Voice and bass duet
- Vocals: less syncopated, a few triplets
- Acoustic bass guitar: frequent triplets – mostly crotchets and minims
Tempo:
- The tempo during bars 1–3 bars is very free, and it is difficult to recognise a strong pulse.
- Verse 1 has a slow tempo, with much rhythmic rubato (freedom taken with the tempo).
- The tempo almost doubles at bar 19, where the bass guitar begins the bossa nova tempo.
- A free tempo returns at bar 113 for finale – last 2 bars.
Metre
The piece is (apart from two bars, - bar 3 (5/4) and bar 113 (6/4)) in 4/4 quadruple time
Tonality
B minor
Texture
- The introduction is monophonic (a single line of music) – apart from a couple of double-stops (two notes or more at once).
- The texture in the rest of the piece is mostly homophonic (tune and accompaniment) but note that the bass part at times becomes almost melodic enough to be a melody in its own right.
- The passage at bars 89–104 (voice and bass duet) is polyphonic (two or more separate melodic lines at once) as the two melodies of the piece are combined.
