Musical Analysis of "The Telecasters""The Telecasters" is a part of the Shakespearean Suite that dates back from 1957, also known as Such Sweet Thunder. The Suite, a 12-part piece, generally is a set of collages that each portrays, musically, one of the well-known Shakespeare characters-like Othello (who appears in the title number), Cleopatra (in "Half The Fun"), Romeo and Juliet (in "Star-crossed Lovers"). The movement that I picked up for analysis, "The Telecasters" is not different from the other movements in this aspect:"The Telecasters, represents the Three Witches (three trombones) and Iago (Harry Carney). While the programmatic premise may be tongue-in-cheek, its opposition of ...view middle of the document...
The concern, in places, was to bring up alternative ways of hearing and provide more insight into the construction of the music, and they might still be seen the result of a "learning student's 'investigations'", and might be a little far fetched and derogatory in some aspects. This is basically the case since I believe that there might be many important and relevant facts that one finds as one keeps hunting down for them, and there is no way to know if they were compositionally and consciously relevant aspects- or subconscious and listening aspects that have appeared to the analyst. However, I have tried to tie the arguments, so as to tell the "big story" behind the piece, and hope that the other factors don't stick out, but support that main storyline.The order of the analysis, and the concern, was therefore going from large scale to the details; from the most obvious to the derivation of related somewhat "not so obvious" factors. I have also tried to document, in the best way, different ways of hearing the piece, especially regarding possible connections one can make between sections (rhythmically). All in all, the analysis is an attempt to put most of the events into a hierarchical perspective.The progression of analysis topics in my paper is as follows:1)A formal analysis of the movement, including a large-scale overview of events. (Refer to Figure 2 at the back for details for form). A small discussion of what strikes the ear first in conjunction with the already discussed form follows.2)Discussion on the nature and the material of the harmony, including the use of modes, scales and blues notes; leading up to sectional generalizations about melody harmonization techniques.3)Rhythmical elements that support/ form a juxtaposition with the ongoing harmony4)The effect of textural and harmonic differences resulting from the repetitions using slight changes in the harmony/rhythm in the course of changes from A section to B section5)ConclusionLarge Scale FormThe Telecasters is a compact piece, using various ingenious ways to create tension,raise interest in a total span of 51 measures. For a closer look at the partitioning inside those sections, please refer to Figure 2.There seems to be 5 distinct sections, with the intro of 10=6+4 bars and a coda of5=3+2 bars that seem to create contrast to the melodies/ units utilized in the A,B and C sections of the piece. A is like the main theme, which is going to be repeated right before Coda, and it is also developed harmonically and texturally, and used in a different/ slightly altered rhythmical framework in the B section.There are a few musical ideas that are carefully introduced at the beginning, and later,they are interwoven into the whole texture and developed fully. Since I will get to them in more detail in the following sections, I will again, just mention the prevailing motives/ listing harmonic-melodic-rhythmic-textural ideas that stand out in the sections chronologically, by the following sh...
