Seachanges
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Violin
Cello
Piano
Flute/Piccolo
Percussion – Gong, cymbals, tambourine, bass drum
Percussion – Crotales, maracas, guiro, marimba,
rainstick.
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Prominence to percussion instruments
Players asked to play maracas
All 5 players play maracas at end
String players make percussive style sound
Left hand pizzicato
Snap pizzicato where string slaps quickly back against
fingerboard
Col legno – strings played with wood of bow
Sul ponticello – above bridge and sul tasto – bowing on
fingerboard
Cello strummed like a guitar
Clusters played on piano
Strings play harmonics
Harmonics played on cymbal
Cymbal arco – played with bow
Double stopping – play two or more notes at same time.
» Atonal
» Some sections have a tonal centred on open
notes of strings C, G, D, A
» Section 5 Eb unusual tonality
» Loosely rondo form
» 3 different musical ideas
˃ 3 note cell – G,A,C
˃ Rhythms associated with Dance Macabre
˃ Quotation from Dies Irae
Section
Bar
Compositional Material
Tonal
Centre
Introduction
1
3 note cell
G
A1
17
Inversion of main melody
G
27
Main melody and inversion
G
B
46
Danse Macabre (Totentanz)
A2
74
Main Melody
C
92
Dies Irae
A3
128
Main Melody
Eb
Coda
141
Danse Macabre and Dies Irae
C-A
Atonal
D
Atonal
Introduction
Feature
Tonality
Bars 1-16
High Pitch
G
Harmonics
Rests
Extreme Dynamics
Tremolo Cello
LH Pizzicato
Sparse texture
A1
Features
Tonal Centre
Divided into 2 parts
Inversion
G
Based on 3 note cell
Harmonics on strings
8ba (octave lower)
Tremolo Violin
Arco Cymbal
Col legno battuto
(back of bow)
Subtraction Principal
A1
Features
Tonal Centre
Divided into 2 parts
Subtraction Principal
G
Based on 3 note cell
15ma (up double octave)
LH pizzicato
Violin main melody with
cello inversion
Totentanz (46-73)
Features
Tonalty
Tempo Changes
Atonal
Strumming violin like guitar
Sustaining Pedal
Sul tasto – play on
fingerboard
Subtraction Principal
A2
Features
Tonalty
Bars 74-91
3/2 time for string players
And 6/4 for remaining
instruments
Tonal Centre D
Subtraction Principal
Tremolo on strings
Rainstick
Tremolo Flute
Dies Irae
Features
Tonalty
Bars 92-127
Canon at a bar distance
between marimba and
violin
Atonal
20 bars of canon with
percussion instruments
Inversion and retrograde
Pizzicato LH
Dies Irae
Features
Tonalty
Bars 128-140
Addition Principle on piano
Eb Tonal Centre
Subtraction Principle on flute
3 note cell on marimba
Totentanz rhythm from b134
Coda
Features
Tonalty
Bars 141-174
Introduces familiar material
C-A
C chord formed by strings
Piano chords derived from 3 notes cell
Strumming violin
Glissando Strings
Tremolo on piano
» Inversion – turn upside down
» Subtraction principle – begin with 6 notes, then
repeat leaving one out to 5 then 4, 3, 2,1
» Addition – adding notes
» Augmentation – to make note values longer
» Diminution – shorten the values of notes
» Canon – a melody imitated by one or more
parts
» Retrograde – melody played backwards
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Unusual time signatures – 7/4, 5/4, 8/8, 10/8
Changing time signatures
Rhythms associated with Danse Macabre
Tempo Changes – between 80 and 120 bpm
Cross rhythms b163 and b166-167
Complex rhythmic patterns b76-84
Rhythmic counterpoint between maracas b7072