Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Pentatonic May

Pentatonic May

The five-note scale for the fifth month.
A selection of  pieces with pentatonic melodies/motifs.


Saturday, April 30, 2016

The April Post - Happy Birthday

The April Post
Happy Birthday
Some interesting jazzy acappella improvisations




By Simon Akesson 
(to Jacob Collier)






by Evan Sanders and JB Craipeau 
(to Andrew Kesler)






by Simon Akesson
(to Andrew Kesler)


Tuesday, January 5, 2016

This Christmas

(posted in conjunction with the 12th day of Christmas)

This Christmas

Composed by Donny Hathaway. Released 1970.
Wistful but catchy. Interesting harmonic possibilities.
Not many remakes, possibly because of fairly complex chord progressions
and wide vocal range required.
Wikipedia entry here.



Sunday, January 3, 2016

Star Wars Theme

(in conjunction with the recent premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Star Wars Theme

Iconic movie theme
of this epic movie series.
Composed by prolific film composer
John Williams for the first Star Wars movie in 1977.
A full symphonic work. Rich texture. Memorable melody lines.
Bold brassy fanfare with abundance of macho suspension chords and cascading fourths.
Interesting mystique-sounding chords and woodwind lines in second part.
Effective use of all sections of the orchestra.
More information in Wikipedia entry here.

Happy New Year!


A nice summation.
Happy New Year!