Esperanza Spalding: Samba Em Prelúdio (from the album Esperanza) (For component 3: Appraising)

Transcription

1 Esperanza Spalding: Samba Em Prelúdi (frm the album Esperanza) (Fr cmpnent 3: Appraising) Backgrund infrmatin and perfrmance circumstances Perfrmer Esperanza Spalding was brn in Prtland, Oregn, USA, in Active in music frm an early age, she graduated frm vilin t duble bass, studying at the Prtland State University, and later at the Berklee Schl f Music. She has wrked as a slist and sessin player in a variety f musical styles, but is best knwn fr her fur sl albums Junj (2006), Esperanza (2008), Chamber Music (2010) and Radi Music Sciety (2012). She has wn fur Grammy awards, including Best new artist in 2011, where she was in cmpetitin with Flrence and the Machine, Mumfrd and Sns, and Justin Bieber. Esperanza has wide musical tastes, and her wn cmpsitins shw influences frm jazz, blues, funk and Latin-American music especially Brazilian styles. On the album Esperanza she sings in English, Spanish and Prtuguese. Cmpser Rbert Baden Pwell Aquin ( ) was a Brazilian guitarist and cmpser wh played a majr part in the bssa nva explsin in the 1960s. His music mixed Brazilian rhythms with cmplex jazz harmnies. Lyricist Vinicius de Mraes ( ) was nt nly a famus pet and the lyricist fr sme f the bestknwn Brazilian ppular sngs, but als a career diplmat. During his lng career, he wrte the Oscar-winning film Black Orpheus and wrked with cmpsers Ja Gilbert and Antni Carls Jbim, creating the lyrics t bssa nva classics such as The Girl frm Ipanema. Nte: These set wrks guides are Pearsn s interpretatin f the set wrks and every effrt has been made t ensure these are apprpriate fr use in the classrm. There may be ther interpretatins which are als valid and any such differences wuld nt be cnsidered errrs, r require any updates t the guides.

2 The sng and its genre Samba em Preludi, written in 1962, is a bssa nva. Bssa nva means new trend in Brazilian, and was ne f the mst ppular musical styles f the late 1950s and early 1960s. The style mixes elements f Brazilian samba with jazz. Lyrics The lyrics are in Prtuguese. (In sme versins, verse 1 is sung by a man and verse 2 by a wman.) Translatin Verse 1 Withut yu, I have n purpse Because withut yu, I dn t even knw hw t cry I m a flame withut glw, a garden withut mnlight Mnlight withut lve, lve withut being given Withut yu, I m just lvelessness A ship withut sea, a field withut flwers Sadness that ges, sadness that cmes Withut yu my lve, I m n ne Verse 2 Ah, what saudade, what desire t see ur life rebrn Cme back, my dear My arms need yurs, yur embraces need mine I m s alne, my eyes weary f staring int the distance Cme, behld life Withut yu, my lve, I m n ne Perfrming frces and their handling The frces used here are simple female vice, acustic guitar and acustic bass guitar. The acustic bass guitar is a larger versin f the acustic guitar, but with fur strings, tuned t E, A, D, G (like the duble bass and bass guitar). Esperanza Spalding sings and plays the bass here, but there is n specific credit fr a guitarist. A secnd acustic guitar part appears in the guitar sl, althugh it is simplified and played by ne guitarist in their live perfrmances. The vcal line is lw in the female range, using the chest register. It cvers a range f a minr tenth (an ctave plus a minr third) frm E belw middle C t the G abve. The wrds are set syllabically, with ne musical nte t each syllable f text. The vcal line cntains many leaps, and als sme quite cmplex rhythms triplets, semiquavers, rests. Esperanza s perfrmance keeps clsely t the printed pitches f the scre, but there is variatin in the perfrmance f the rhythms and f the temp a perfrmance technique knwn as rubat. Nte: These set wrks guides are Pearsn s interpretatin f the set wrks and every effrt has been made t ensure these are apprpriate fr use in the classrm. There may be ther interpretatins which are als valid and any such differences wuld nt be cnsidered errrs, r require any updates t the guides.

3 The bass part is active and des much mre than play the rt f the chrd. The very pening f the piece features a virtusic bass sl with use f duble stps, wide leaps, rapid semiquaver passages, a mrdent and a harmnic. In places, during verse 1 (befre the acustic guitar enters), the bass appears t be playing tw parts, with lwer bass ntes alternating with higher chrds, rather like a ragtime pian accmpaniment. The acustic guitar jins the accmpaniment frm bar 23 nwards and plays a virtusic sl between Verse 2 and bar 89. In its accmpaniment rle, the guitar pays a mixture f plucked chrds and small meldic passages, sme f which cver the lng ntes at the end f vcal phrases. There are als passages (bars 25 27) where the guitar line seems t imitate the vcal part. Structure Bars 1 3 Intrductin Flrid bass guitar sl. Bars 4 19 Verse 1 (A) An eight-bar idea repeated with changed ending the secnd time. The last nte verlaps int the next sectin. Bars Link Bass sl picks up the temp t mve int the bssa nva rhythm fr verse 2. Bars 23 Verse 2 (B) A 16-bar idea, repeated and changed the secnd time. 54 Bars 55 Guitar sl Played ver chrds f verse Bars Vice and bass duet Bass plays vcal part frm 4 11 (A) while vice sings bars (B). D.S. t end Cda sectin Secnd half f verse 2 fllwed by repetitins f the last line. Guitar and bass play flrid riffs during the last held vcal nte. Tnality The key f the piece is B minr. Many bssa nvas use minr keys. Despite the cmplexity f sme f the harmny, the music des nt mdulate (change key). Texture The intrductin is mnphnic (a single line f music) apart frm a cuple f dublestps (tw ntes r mre at nce). The texture here is mstly hmphnic (tune and accmpaniment), but nte that the bass part at times becmes almst meldic enugh t be a meldy in its wn right. The passage at bars is plyphnic (tw r mre separate meldic lines at nce) as the tw meldies f the piece are cmbined. Nte: These set wrks guides are Pearsn s interpretatin f the set wrks and every effrt has been made t ensure these are apprpriate fr use in the classrm. There may be ther interpretatins which are als valid and any such differences wuld nt be cnsidered errrs, r require any updates t the guides.

4 Harmny The harmnies are essentially tnal. They shw the influence f jazz and f American ppular sng in being quite cmplex. Despite this, the mvement f the chrd rts is still based arund chrds I, II, IV and V. There are frequent chrd extensins where extra thirds are piled up n tp f the triad t prduce sevenths, ninths, elevenths and thirteenths. Other types f chrds are used diminished seventh (bar 35); flattened fifth chrd (bar 44). Chrmatic chrds (cntaining ntes utside the scale f the hme key) are used C 7 (bar 31) and C and F majr chrds (bars 27/28). Althugh cadences are nt used here in quite the same way as in classical styles, the ends f sectins tend t land n either chrd V (bar 11) (at the halfway pint f the verse), r n the tnic with a mre cnventinal V I perfect cadence (bars 52 53). The chrd prgressins smetimes create a descending chrmatic (by semitne) mvement in the bass line (bars 30 38). Meldy There are tw main meldies in this sng, heard separately at first, and then cmbined at bars Verse 1 (A) bars 4 19 An eight-bar idea (bars 4 11), repeated with a different ending, in bars A series a phrases, linked by a cmmn rising arpeggi (brken chrd) shape (bar 4). The first (r secnd) nte f each phrase descends by a semitne r a tne in a lng dwnward sequence. The music descends almst beneath the female vcal range, t a lw E, at bar 11. The meldic line mves, unusually, mstly by leaps f a third and ccasinally f a seventh, in bars 8 9. All phrases have a span f a seventh, apart frm the first, which spans a minr sixth. Bars is a repeat f bars 4 9, hwever, the meldy is develped thrugh rhythmic changes. The meldy changes in bar 18, where a jazzy flattened fifth (F ) is used t prepare fr the descent t the tnic. Verse 2 (B) bars The nte values have dubled here, with the increase in temp at bar 19, s the apparent increase in phrase lengths is false. A 16-bar idea (bars 23 38), repeated (like (A)), with a different ending, in bars In cntrast t (A), this meldy is almst entirely cnjunct (stepwise) in mvement. Nte: These set wrks guides are Pearsn s interpretatin f the set wrks and every effrt has been made t ensure these are apprpriate fr use in the classrm. There may be ther interpretatins which are als valid and any such differences wuld nt be cnsidered errrs, r require any updates t the guides.

5 Bars descend t the leading nte (raised seventh nte f the scale A here), answered by a rising and falling idea in bars 27 30, which in itself is related t the ending f verse 1 (see bars 17 18). Bars are in sequence with 23 26, a furth higher. Bars repeat the flattened fifth idea (frm the end f verse 1) twice, the secnd time in sequence, a nte lwer (this is t mve away frm the tnic, in rder t set up the repeat). Bars repeat 23 38, but with the last phrase (36 38) mitted. Temp, metre and rhythm The temp during bars 1 3 bars is very free and it is difficult t recgnise a strng pulse. Verse 1 has a slw temp, with much rhythmic rubat (freedm taken with the temp). The temp almst dubles at bar 19, where the bass guitar begins the bssa nva temp. A free temp returns at bar 114. The piece is (apart frm tw bars) whlly in 4/4 quadruple time, althugh the change f temp frm bar 19 nwards tends t make the piece frm there n sund as if it is mving in tw minims t a bar (2/2). The rhythms f the vcal meldy in verse 1 are quite cmplex, althugh never syncpated enugh t lse the sense f beat. There are frequent triplets, and rests effectively separate mst f the phrases here. The bass part in verse 1 is cmplicated, making mre use f syncpated rhythms than the vcals and nly ccasinally (bars 6, 9, 10, 14 and 17) using a typical bssa nva-type rhythm. In verse 2 the vcal line is mstly in lnger nte values, but the start f the ntes tend t be ff the beat, syncpated a quaver befre the beat smetimes. There are fewer triplets in this sectin. Frm bar 23 the bass part plays much clser t the standard bssa nva rhythm dtted crtchet and quaver pairs althugh still with sme syncpatins and quaver mvement. The guitar part als adds t the rhythmic interest, with bth syncpated and un-syncpated passages. Frm bar 89 the vcal rhythms f verse 2 are less syncpated, perhaps in rder t fit in mre easily with thse f verse 1 (in dubled nte values). Nte: These set wrks guides are Pearsn s interpretatin f the set wrks and every effrt has been made t ensure these are apprpriate fr use in the classrm. There may be ther interpretatins which are als valid and any such differences wuld nt be cnsidered errrs, r require any updates t the guides.