Dynamics & Mood

Dynamics and Mood

The piece Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel),composed in 1814, is a very powerful piece of music that features only a voice and a piano. The words of the song are those of a young woman who is yearning for her lost lover. The piano represents Gretchen’s spinning wheel. I think that the spinning wheel represents her mind thinking continuously of her lost love.

The composer communicates the way that the young woman feels with the extensive key change in the voice of the performer. In the first stanza the words speak of her peace being gone and that she will never find peace again and the melody is simple and in minor key. Her voice gets higher as she speaks of her shattered mind. Only during stanza five does the spinning wheel stop as she is remembering the manly physique of her lost lover, and then it starts up again when she comes back to reality and again speaks of the peace being gone. Her voice hits the highest note of the song on the word "die" when is thinking about kissing him.

In the piece Celebrity by Charlie Parker, composed sometime around 1940, it starts out kind of low key on the drum. He then comes in with the saxophone with a very upbeat tune that hits many different high notes. In the midst of the song comes a very intense drum solo. I think that in this piece the composer is creating an upbeat atmosphere, influencing happiness and dancing in the audience.

Each of these pieces are from very different times, but both give a feel for what the composer is trying to communicate to the audience through the music by intense melody and dynamic shading.

References

Understanding Music Fifth Edition (2008) Jeremy Yudkin of Boston University- Pearson Prentice Hall