University Music Course: Detailed Musical Critique Assignment

This assignment is a detailed musical critique of a classical piece, likely composed by Jervy Hou. The analysis begins by identifying the piece's period as classical, dating from 1775-1825, and explores the mood and feeling it evokes, describing it as calming, stress-relieving, and uplifting. The critique examines the music's tempo, noting both slow and varying speeds, and identifies changes in rhythm and harmony. It highlights aspects of a classical music concert, such as sophistication and emotional impact, and points out repetitions in melodies. The analysis identifies the piano, violin, and bass guitar as the instruments, and notes two distinct melodies. The rhythm is described as simple with syncopation, featuring a melodic pattern with repetition. The performance is considered relaxed and touching, and it evokes a memory of the Titanic movie. The piece is also described with visual images that make the rhythm memorable. The assignment concludes with references to support the analysis.

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Name:
Course
Professor’s name
University name
City, State
Date of submission

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Musical critique
What kind of music is this? What period does the piece belong to? (Classical period)
This is a classical music piece by Jervy Hou. The period of the classical music dates back in the
1775- 1825 which are dates generally accepted in Western music. However, classical music is
used to describe western musical style from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century (Classical
music, 2010)
.What is the mood and feeling you get from this piece of music?
This piece of music brings calmness, relieves stress, improves one’s mood and most of all brings
happiness to the soul. As classical music is supposed to bring a feeling of relaxation, it therefore
goes without saying that the music should be soft to the listener’s ears. The piano sound is so
smooth and soft to the ears (Riggs, 2008)
Is the music fast or slow?Different speeds?
The music is slow, but has diffent speeds throughout the song. As the music starts the rhythm is
fast , at the middle and at the end it is slow.
.Are there any particular changes? How would you define these?
There are changes in rhythm and a strong harmonic rhythm . As the song progresses, one can
hear the pace of the music increasing.
Some things to enjoy in a music concert
The things that one would enjoy in a classical musical concert are that it is musically

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sophisticated and has coherence. Therefore, one enjoys softness, the emotional effects that the
transitions evoke, the significant use of harmonic qualities of instruments that bring the rhythm.
The musical piece triggers a flow of energy which consequently brings calmness of nerves.
Are there repetitions of melodies?
In this piece, there is a repetition of melodies as it is a rhythm that is being repeated (D'Cruz,
2010)..
How many instruments you can hear? Identify these..
I can here three instruments. The most notable in the melody is the piano. It dominates the
rhythm with its simple but dense rhythm. Although the piano takes the heavy beat you would
hear a slow bass guitar in the background upon maximum concentration. The last musical
instrument is the violin. Violins have a distinguished sound different from other instruments like
the guitar (D'Cruz, 2010).
Is there just one melody or more?
There are two notable melodies. The first melody is dominating while the second can be heard
from the background in a deep rhythm. They may be mistaken for another but they are really two
different rhythms.
Is the rhythm simple, dense, complicated?
It is a simple rhythm which involves syncopation. This is when a strong harmony in music is
placed on a weak rhythm or beat.
What major patterns you can define?

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I can only define one pattern. It is the melodic pattern where there is a fixed pattern and a strong
theme or pattern is placed to it in a repetitive sequence. The repetition is exact (Classical music,
2010)
What do you feel about the performance? Is it emotional? Relaxed?
The performance is relaxed since it is repetitive and exact to the point.
Does the whole performance “touches” you?
Yes it does. Although it is more relaxed than emotional as earlier stated, it is southing to the soul
and makes one feel good.
There is more than one instrument playing. The first is the piano which is conspicuous and the
second is the violin in the background (Classical music, 2010). There are two instruments having
this conversation.
How does the performance make you feel?
The performance makes me feel relaxed and emotional.
A memory that can be connected? Storytelling..( just write any memory )
It reminds me of the Titanic movie, where the band was playing the music at a dinner before the
ship sank (Grant, 2004).
Visual imaging…images that describe the performance…
There are a lot of visual images that describe the performance. The visual image and the piano
will make the rhythm memorable

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References
Classical music. (2010). New York: Metro Books.
D'Cruz, A. (2010). Musical instruments. London: Wayland.
Grant, M. (2004). The rise and fall of the Broadway musical. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press.
Riggs, K. (2008). Classical music. Mankato, Minn.: Creative Education.