Timed Blog Post #2- Amsterdam Folk song ("Tulpen uit Amsterdam") Exactly 30 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85027636&v=85U-77_5lWk&x-yt-ts=1422503916 <- The piece I used.

This song is a folksong from Amsterdam, in The Netherlands. It therefore has been influenced by the Western folk traditions, which we can clearly hear in the piece, through its constant time signature (3/4), clear key signature, and clear structure (verse, chorus, verse, instrumental, verse).
The song begins with an instrument that sounds like a woodblock being hit in a perpetual semiquaver rhythm, as well as an oboe that plays the same rhythm. These two play on the mediant note for 6 semiquavers, then move down to the supertonic for 6 semiquavers, and finally resolve at the tonic note, where the oboe does a slide, descending and then ascending to lead into the accordion's melody. This is accompanied by the woodblocks being played in demisemiquavers, which increases the interest through its more interesting rhythm. At 0:03 the accordion comes in with sequantial descending arpeggios, whose lowest note gets higher with every arpeggio, to lead into the vocal part, by ending, just like the oboe before it, on the tonic. This creates a sense of coherence within this opening section. At 0:07 the voice comes in with an upbeat (or anacrusis) comprised of two crotchet beats. Its melody begins by descending a fifth, to the subdominant. Then at 0:15 it repeats this, but starting one note lower this time, and thus finishing on the mediant.

Timed Blog Post (exactly 30 mins)- Ravel Violin Sonata 1st Movement (First 3 minutes)

Ravel was a 20th century French Impressionist composer, and we can hear this in this piece. First of all, the extensive use of very varied, and sometimes very dissonant harmonies is reflective of the 20th century. The impressionistic style, created by the rich, emotional aspect of the piece, which is caused by the harmonies and varied dynamics, (from roughly pp to f), as well as the fact that it seems to be portraying something, perhaps a river or lake (popular topics for 20th century French Impressionist composers) and its extensive use of rhythm was also very commonly implemented by French composers of the time, and particularly Impressionist ones, such as Debussy or Faure.
The piece is in 3/4, and consists of a solo violin accompanied by a piano, who's part is so diverse and melodic that it is almost a counter-melody. At the beginning of the piece the piano has an introductory passage that begins on what sounds like the tonic, before it falls, with triplet motion, and at 0:06 plays a lilting, but stagnant few bars, before ascending at 0:11 into the violin's entry. At 0:14 the violin comes in with dissonance to the piano, that is slightly tense, because the piano had been so assonant and simple in its short melody. With this slight tension Ravel begins the piece, and we see that the rest of it is usually slightly tense in its harmonies, making this opening a foreshadowing to the Sonata.
The piano's octave quaver movement (0:14 onwards) provides a steady harmonic basis for the violin, and it sounds as though through the two, Ravel is depicting a body of water, with its rippling surface (the piano) and brightly coloured exotic fish (the violin) within. (The exoticness of the fish comes out through the weird harmonies, not 'normal' in our Western society, thus perhaps these fish are from another country).
The rhythm in the piece is generally comprised of quaver movement, until 1:08, when the violin recedes, and the piano has only crotchets. This continues for a few bars, giving rest to the music, as it has just had a climax at about 1:00 (following an ascending violin sequence comprised of crotchets, where the harmonic rhythm had been faster than usual).

Ravel- Le jardin Féerique

This piece is from Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and is clearly a piece of Impressionism, due to the fact that it conjures the image of a quiet garden on a warm Summer's afternoon, through its use of the strings  being the predominant sound. The title also gives an indication that it is an Impressionist piece, because it tells us that the piece is about a garden full of fairies.
The piece begins with the strings playing long notes in what is almost homophony, but for the fact that the different instrument parts move at slightly different times. We can also hear lots of non-harmonic notes in this section, for example a suspension at 0:05 and a retardation at 0:25. This adds to the slightly tense, but still fairly mellow atmosphere that this beginning has. From about 0:28 to about 1:27, we get a very gradual crescendo, accompanied by the instruments' pitches getting higher and higher, which builds tension. At 1:18 the crescendo comes to a large, sustained, minor chord. This dies away and at 1:28 one of the violins has a solo, accompanied by just two vibraphones playing in parallel thirds in homophony, which gives the section a very light feel, especially as it is juxtaposed with the huge climax before it. This texture continues until 2:01, when more strings come in. At 2:27, a diminuendo brings the piece back to its usual calmness, as the strings recede by playing piano. At 2:51, a crescendo brings us into the penultimate section of the piece, where the strings play homophonically, as well as the bass clarinet (?), which maintains a steady crotchet-moving bass-line. This section's steady rhythm builds to 3:07, when bells come in with steady staccato quavers that underpin the other instruments here, giving this part a more dramatic feel, due to the denser texture and greater variety of articulation. Here the strings repeat the melody that they had previously, although at a slower tempo to indicate the end of the piece. The piece ends on a large tonic chord.


The piece