OK. Great analysis of "Pines of Rome"! There you had pretty standard instrumentation used to the greatest extent. I still want to see if anyone can say for sure what that "minory" solo bass instrument was... Might be some extra credit here...
Here is your next assignment in instrumentation. These instruments aren't "supposed" to go together necessarily. How well do you think they blend? How do they contrast? Put them in order from lowest range to highest. Which stand out to you the most?
Feel free to comment on any other musical aspect you find interesting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v6j_JbOlpA&feature=related
Woo hoo! First to comment! I thought that they sounded good together. It looked like a strange jazz ensemble. The bass was cool, but it was very quiet. When the bassist would solo, the rest of the group seemed to stop playing until he was done, while they would keep playing for the banjo player. They also had a good wind section going. They used very unique instruments. I would have expected something more mainstream, like a flute or a trumpet, but they had an instrument that I couldn't recognize that sounded awesome. This group has a good blend of jazz, rockabilly, and blues.
ReplyDeleteThat was, by... Only a little bit, actually, the weirdest ensemble I've ever heard. The funny thing is, they're not supposed to sound good. They're supposed to be all like "we're gonna try this now," put a video on the internet, and then we're supposed to laugh at them. But I was all like "Whaaaaaat?"
ReplyDeleteThen that one guy had like, a bass oboe... I don't even know what it was called, but it looked cool.
The style isn't anything I've ever heard, either... It was like a little bit of rock, a little jazz, and maybe a little bit of pop. I saw what Paco said, and I kinda disagree about the blues bit. It doesn't sound like the blues to me... I'm guessing that's just the trombone or whatever that was that was making it sound like that.
I don't think any of them blend exept maybe the trombone, the bass oboe type thing, and the bass guitar. Everything else was like, "Hey, I think I'm gonna compose a song. I think I'll use... This instrument, and this one, and ooh, I like this one... And I bet this one sounds cool, even though I have no idea what it is... And then we'll put in the bass guitar. Everybody likes bass." And it actually sounded good.
at first i was surprised by the banjo...and it starts out like a country song then goes a completely diffrent dirrectioin and throws me off so there i am still trying to guesse wat type of music it was and i couldnt get it there was so much going on in the backround it sounded pretty cool! which who doesnt like something sounding cool! but then its like jazz but in the backround you hear all this stuff and it just keeps throwing me off! but i like how they change the tune of it repeatedly...actually i pretty much agree with kitty during the "which instrument part" but i dont agree with "tahts its like were suppose to laugh" they were serious...wat i was confused about was them all wearing headphones like where they listening to other music while playing this song...was this song just thrown together right there? so many questions? but really wat up with the headphones...but it sounded soo good espiecally since they had a drum but you barely hear it or anything
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a song from a really old mickey mouse cartoon. I don't know what it had to do with breakfast, but okay. I thought the banjo was an interesting choice of an instrument. It seems today you rarely see it. The guy on the flute was pretty intense too. It seemed like a very happy, peppy song. Not the usual attitude for high school students in the morning except for maybe miranda. overall, not the kind of song I would listen to, but it had interesting instrument variety. By the way the comments on the youtube page are hilarious-check them out-By the way this is Rachel Wood so I would really appreciate getting some credit this time. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWhile researching the band, i noticed that their "official" (whatever that means) genre was funk. The instrumentation was very simillar to that of Funk, EXCEPT the banjo. I found that very odd for a funky style of sound. Also, I saw that their first album was released in 1990. I was born in '94 and I don't remember this kind of music as a child in the '90's and early 2000's. Their instrumetation and style remind me (and my dad apperently) of music from the 70's. This is Sylas.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to believe that this band would be listed as funk, but whatever. When I first heard this, It seem like a cross between Ragtime Jazz and a hint of Blue Grass. (mainly the banjo and bass solos). However, the progression of the song was overwhelmingly based on jazz. For instance, I believe that in older jazz songs, each instrument or instrument section takes their own little solo throughout the song, playing within relatively the same scale or scale progression. Plus like many Jazz songs, you cant just listen to it once because there is so much going on. Another throwback to the older jazz method is that at the beginning and the end, they all play in unison the main melody before they split up into their solo acts.
ReplyDeleteTo Trevor, if your talking about the long redish instrument, that is a bassoon... I really like the song, it has a swing feel, but without as much structure. At around 2:20 it is pretty chaotic.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the drummer every now and then, when the camera moved back a bit, and noticed that he was playing steel drums, not an actual set. I though that they would have put in an actual drummer to add an extra human feel, I could tell that it sounded, too good to be true, because it was pretty "mechanical"
Man this was a really cool song they had two instruments i have no clue what they are the long red thing and the drums that where being played never seen them before when you look at each instrument they dont look like they belong together but it sounded great
ReplyDeletehmmm... as far as instrumentation goes it was definitely a unique combination. what really set it apart for me from other jazz ensembles was the banjo, the bassoon, and the guitars (steel drums often used in sets of 3). the blend however was a amazing. i have seen many profession banjo players and that man was very good indeed. i was also unaware of the range a good bassoon player had. and the guitars.... o how i do enjoy steel drums. the tickle my ear drums when i hear them played. overall it was a mix of sound i was not expecting but definitely worked.
ReplyDeletelisting them by range i would have to say: 5 string fretless bass guitar, steel drums, bassoon, tenor sax, soprano sax, and banjo (it was a hard decision for the last 2, as i am not sure of the tuning the banjo was in and unaware of how many frets it had)
there was an instrument i did not know. it was an electronic thing with a neck and body like a guitar but had buttons down it like a wind instrument. could put it in the list simply because i did not know what it was.
over all a very good tune with a great contrast of sounds
I like your style analysis Trevor. Congrats on being first to comment! Kitty - your observations are GREAT but you should research like Sylas and find out what all those wierd instruments are! James - good response to Kitty. The headphones are so that they can hear the band and cut out the outside noises. Good research Sylas but I agree with "musicman" on the style analysis. Still I like the dates and background info. Yea! Jacob on finding out the "long red instrument!" bonus points there! Anyone actually notice anything peculiar about the percussion?
ReplyDeletelet's face it: banjo's are cool. its amazing how music can bring people and different styles together. the steel drum is something you dont typically see every day unless you listen to a lot of..i guess almost funk/blue grass/jazzy; like theyre listed..but; the "improv" or solo parts they all get sounds different, yet similar at the same time. you can tell they're playing virtually the same notes, but just in a different pattern or style. it's cool to see the flute and basoon get involved in it. this is a style we don't listen to all that often, but its still easy to tap your foot along with. the sax, i think, and the drum beat are what makes this song seem super jazzy to me. just because typical jazz has the sax. but the bass plays a really cool ragtime beat. this is a super cool song, really diverse for sure. i think the part without the bass and drums and banjo are really cool. like, it just shows you dont have to play a percussion or string'ed instrument to sound super cool.
ReplyDeleteOkay,the drumitar is my new favorite invention. Come to find out RoyEl, the man playing it, invented it so that he could play all the drums of a drum set with only a few fingers. I do have to agree with Jacob that it made the drums seem very mechanical and they definitely lacked the extra bit of dazzle a real drummer can add. This music seemed to be a conglomerate of separate solos tacked together be periods of harmony and unity.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the song had a steady tempo, and was a folk/jazz song. I could tell that there was a banjo, bass guitar, saxophone, clarinet. The tempo was at a faster pace. The Loudness of the song ranged from middle to high. There were many high pitches throughout the song. Also there were many solos throughout the piece.
ReplyDeleteI thought the ensemble between the different instruments was kinda weird but unique. I'm not really a big fan of the banjo but it was kinda cool how all the different instruments blended and came together. There was one instrument that i didn't know what it was but it sounded kinda like a trumpet in a way. Over all, i thought the ensemble was a little weird but cool how they blended and all the different solos each instrument had.
ReplyDeleteThis was AMAZING...I loved every second of it. The mood was happy it brought me joy. I could feel the music. Now what was interesting was the individual instruements getting their own solos and they all were terrific it shows that any instruement can be played in anyway. This music reminds me so much of Louisiana for it's new orleans sound. If I'm not mistaken it sounded like a mixture of bluegrass and southern jazz which made it so much more happy. the instruements used were so diverse yet they fit together like a glove. I thought this was amazing and i loved it.
ReplyDeletei liked the jazzish feel to it. you feel it like trevor said. its like the music calls you get up and dance. it give off happy waves that really reacts to your soul. it alittle like what trevor is saying. though i love the look on some of the instruments, they look trippy and shinly. (sorry if there are miss spelled words:( )
ReplyDeleteThe instruments blended pretty well, even though those particular instruments do not usually go together. They had the right sounds to make it work. These instruments contrast because they had such different sounds. From lowest to highest, it is bassoon, percussion, guitar, saxophone, banjo, and the small instrument that had keys that looked like a flute that one of the men was holding. The instrument that stood out to me the most was the saxophone because it seemed to have the melody and it was the most clearly heard.
ReplyDeleteI love how they put the banjo in it, with the saxophone, the eletric guitar, and I think it was a alto saxophone or a alto clarinet. Its a blend of jazz and old fashion county which I totally love and I love how they blend to make a amazing harmony. I think that it is a perfect blend of musical magic. I am now amazed that the banjo is still being played... I wonder if Sam can play the banjo, lol ;-P. I hope you pick a song of classical music!!!...
ReplyDeleteI cant wait for the next!!!
ReplyDeleteit is quite obvious what instruments that are in this song from the video they have the banjo, bassoon, bass, metal drums, tenor, and soprano saxophone. the genre of the song was hard to find out but it sounds like a mixes of blues and country. the harmony is various from a solo to nearly the entire band playing the song in tight note grouping. the song has a low and almost difficult to track melody because the timbre sounds so mushed up that you think their is only one instrument playing.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a mix between bluegrass and jazz. I really like how they were able to mix in the banjo with the saxaphone and the bass because they seem to stand out the most. I also thought it was really funny when they showed to people dancing, because they were really bad. This piece sounds like something you would hear on an old cartoon.
ReplyDeleteThese instruments don't necissarily NOT blend, but they don't really BLEND either... if that makes sense. First of all, before this video i had never seen a SynthAxe before so that was pretty cool. I think the instrument that most stands out is the sax! My favourite instruments in this were the basoon and bass guitar!
ReplyDeleteThe instruments played in this song are the guitar, tenor saxophone , soprano saxophone, trumpet, banjo, bassoon. There was also a drumitar (which is a modified synthaxe rigged to play percussion samples instead of a synthesizer.) The artist picked the instruments because when they are played they can easily blend together. They complement each other even though they’re not all usually found in bluegrass it’s the way they are played that makes them sound good together. The bassoon stands out to me the most because it’s the odd one out that’s usually not played in a song.
ReplyDeletegangsta swag
ReplyDeleteThis song had an interesting blend of jazz and bluegrass. Maybe even a little gangsta swag. my favorite instrument was the bass. I really like the solo mainly because of how diverse it was. Usually the bass instrument isn't a very important one. It usually just keeps the beat. The way this base was played was really cool. It just was played very nicley. I also like the basson just because it is very random. Hardly ever do you see a basson in a band. Usually those are for orchestras. It was a change in the music that I usually listen to and it was cool.
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This is totally New Orleans style jazz. From the first two seconds I could tell. The audience obviously cannot dance...I'm just saying. The guy on the bassoon, saxophone, and the funny looking trumpet/flute looking thing are amazing they sound so good together. At the end i heard bits of reggae in the middle of all that jazziness! My favorite has to be the sax though!!!
ReplyDeletelove the jazz beat fast 4/4 beat and bajo just adds that extraemotion then the bass guitar solo comes in and hits the spot great trumpet jazz i would probably wake up to this the saxophone is fav though
ReplyDeleteTo me, I think this song has a kind of a "saturday morning" fun craziness type feel to it, like when you wake up and watch cartoons and be silly with your family and stuff (: so that coouuld be why the title has to do with breakfast because it kind of feels like a morning song. In my opinion, the banjo added a silly, or maybe even a country type feel to it and the sax and the clarinet added a jazz type of feel to it as well as the bass clarinet.The drums provided a steady, kind of happy sounding beat. And I think the bass guitar was just thrown in there to give a beat to go with the drum, I don't really feel like it contributed much to the tone or feeling of the song. But anyways, I'm really not sure that there is a message to this song... maybe it's just saying you should stop and be goofy at breakfast once in awhile? Hah, I dunno. overall, it wasn't a bad song (: it's likable.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very fun piece with classic oldies instuments. It like the trumpet and the long tube clarinet thing.
ReplyDeleteThe Trumpet stands out the most in the beginning, but soon the clarinet takes the show partnered with a banjo. These instraments are not normally played together, but they pull it off. The blend is good, but there are so many instraments with that "solo" sound that the melody WAY sticks out. That, I believe, is what they were going for. I like it.
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asdfjkl; Kaitlyn pham said it all! Banjo's are pretty COOL. I wouldn't listen to this on a normal bases though, becaust to me it sounds like it should be background music to a type of cartoon. I do however like the blend and randomness of the instrument and the jazzy mood/vibe it gives off. The musicians outfits add a nice touch too.. hahaha
ReplyDeletethese instruments are not something that i would think would go together. They do though they actually sound very cool. I think that the instruments are banjo, bassoon, bass, metal drums, tenor, and soprano saxophone... I think that the bassoon stands out to me the most... I like it. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe instruments blended really well. They are all unique intruments that I would not have thought would go together. I like how it started out with the banjo and gradually went from sounding plain to AWESOMENESS with the bassoon, saxophone, percussion, bass, clarinet, and that keyboard thing that one guy was holding. I think it has a jazz/funk type of style because of some of the swing effects from the saxophone. The instrument that stood out to me the most is the saxophone.
ReplyDeleteI love it!!! This is a pretty sweet dixie setup goin here!!! The people in the crowd got way into it... Something i noticed concerning the percussion was you can here a trap kit playing but you can only see a percussionist on the steel drums. The steel drums make the song so much more beast!!! These are without a doubt the most unusual instruments that i would ever imagine sounding good together.
ReplyDeletei really liked it.and to juli,it was a soprano sax, I googled it!! but my fav instrument was the banjo.it has always been my intrament b/c i think it is cool that something that resembles the guitar sound totally different.i also liked the basson,it was really cool when it had a solo in the middle.even though I never knew what it was. It kept me entertained,and it is now my new fav song!!! :0
ReplyDeleteOk so...here's what happened. Some guy threw a bouncy ball into a music store, and had to write a song incorporating everything that the ball hit. He wrote the song and then got his buddies together to go play for the dancing impaired at a small auditorium. They met a sweet bass player on the way there and he melded all the other instruments together in a way no other bass player could. I love the Jazz feel of this, even though it has some of the oddest jazz instruments ever, a bassoon and a banjo.
ReplyDeleteLove the bouncy ball theory. Was that the blue bouncy ball you won in Piano Lab? :)
ReplyDeleteI really love jazz. its one of my favorite. The banjo is awesome. THe bass guitar solo was what made the song for me. Jazz is one of those genres that make you smile. The sax sounds cool when it goes up and down. I thought all the instruments blended really well together.
ReplyDeleteHey, It's Logan.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know about this song. It confuses me. I like jazz and all but is it necessary to have this many instruments? I'm not saying it doesn't go together, I like how it blends, they manage to do that well. I also liked the bass, that could have been all i needed to hear. I guess i just like my music simple.
ReplyDeleteI think the instrements work well together. The lowest instrement is the bass guitair then the oboe and then the saxophone after that the banjo.
ReplyDeleteThis song is fun makes you want to dance. The song blends in an odd way I think in this song it’s all about the timing. If they all played their parts at the same time it would be a mess but it’s like their talking through the instrument. One instrument plays a rhythm then another instrument answer in its on sound and rhythm. the banjo stands out the most.
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