Snapdragon

OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE THE BARI SAX!

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound of Snapdragon. It was more melodic than other songs we’ve listened to for this class in the past. It had obvious recurring motifs, like the slow trill between minor seconds and then resolving, or leading to the tonic. However, sometimes it led to the tonic but then never went to the tonic. The middle part is what I had originally expected to hear for this piece. The beginning of the middle part occurs when the bari sax starts playing growl tones at two pitches. While the bari sax is doing this, there are numerous percussion instruments accompanying. Then we reach what I consider the final segment of the piece. It is much like the first part of the song, but percussive instruments are more prominent.

In the song, percussion instruments are used like they would be in conventional music, which surprised me. The song used toms, cymbals, and bells. In the beginning of the song, the tombs act as a sort of counter melody to the baritone saxophone and the chimes/bells are either mimicking the bari sax or playing something to accompany them. Towards the middle of what I consider the “First Part”…

Here’s how I process this piece in my head

First part – very beginning until the saxophone starts doing growl tones (around the 4 minute mark)

Second Part – 4 minutes to about 6:50

Third Part – The ending melodic part

…the cymbals start to accompany. They are not as prominent as the other percussion parts, but still there and very important. They are more audible in the third part of the song where we get this high hat accompany part that gives the song a jazzy-samba feel. I would say it has a jazzy feel throughout the song, but the bari sax is just a jazzy sounding instrument to me. I would say the main part of the percussion in this tune is to give it that samba feel that pleasantly surprises the audience.

In the middle part, the bari sax starts doing double tones with a growly sound. Since the music segued well it still felt like part of the piece and it belonged there. And the transition out of it was also very well done, but it was still a very strange part of the piece. The drums stayed semi-consistent which is good for the melodic aspect of the piece and makes it easier to transition in and out of this mysterious middle part.

Aside from the obvious noises you hear in the middle part, there are also some parts that are there that just add a certain feel to this middle part. The sound that sticks out to me the most is the sound of air blowing or waves. I think this was added in the middle part to give it a soothing sound and not overwhelm the audience. Without it, I think that the middle section would have been very aggressive and  would have served no progressive and contrasting element to the piece.