The Flight of the Hummingbirds Over Viva Cepeda The Latin Jazz quintet, Marimjazzia, performed a concert at The Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham on June 3rd. It featured Juan Alamo on marimba, guiro, shakers, bongo, and pandero; Steve Anderson on piano; Pete Kimosh on acoustic bass; Beverly Botsford on conga drums, shakers, wind chimes, and cajon; Brevan Hampden on a drum set; and Cristina Alamo on vocals. The repertoire included a wide range of styles including Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Peruvian, and Afro-Puerto Rican Jazz. Of the many pieces the group played, the two most astounding ones were “Hummingbirds”, demonstrating an iconic layered intro, and “Viva Cepeda”, showcasing collective improvisation of the band. “Hummingbirds” is an original piece written in the style of Afro-Peruvian jazz, which utilizes a 6/8 meter. It starts with a monophonic solo rubato on the marimba, where the tempo quickly and unpredictably slowed and sped. The melody progressed to a series of …show more content…
Though it contained many elements similar to “Hummingbirds” like the double time and tremlo, this piece featured several unique devices too. Foremost, it began with a call and response between the marimba and bass. The piano started playing with a distinct Latin montuno as a counter melody, but later progressed to more a stochastic tune as present throughout “Hummingbird”. “Viva Cepeda” also featured a descending tritone on the marimba and was notable in its quoting of Jingle bells. At the end of the piece the vibraphone made the same call as in the intro, with the bass producing the same response. In the second call, the piano joined the marimba in block harmony, while the resultant response was a chaotic, avant-garde-like flurry of dissonant notes and beats without a coherent rhythm played by the entire band. The piece then closed with a press roll on the
A never ending struggle for survival and revelation when everything is taken away finding what is left to care for. Father Benito captured the essence of Hummingbird and the conquered fate she endured. In the end Father Benito the same priest who listened from the beginning to the end respected and with his recordings on paper the memory of Hummingbird's song will never die as his thoughts fade into the night with a final thought, “His question was answered when he reminded himself that he had captured her word on paper and that her song would live on in Anahuac forever” (Limon 217). The final though of this book validated all that Hummingbird wanted which was her story to be heard. An emotional story griped with enticing character development
This movement was also in complete sonata form, like the first, but started out with a fugue, containing timpani solos and then later concluded with an abrupt
In Song of the Hummingbird by Gracie Limon, It’s clear by chapter three that Father Benito and Hummingbird are starting to reach an impasse. He could no longer hold his tongue “This woman who had a way of prying out thoughts and feeling of which he was not aware”. With her story of transgression, incest and murder her sin was to be forgiven in eyes of the lord, but she wanted Father Benito words. His thoughts conflicted, so he was surprised that the words he spoke were forgiveness. At this point, Hummingbird feels ready to start the next level of her story. I liked in the dialog that it express every insecurity Father Benito went through when saying he forgives her. To me, he seems that he can no longer stand to hear more like he wants to sing
... began the piece, and the beat of the drum was frequent. After the introduction, the rest of the musicians joined. The pianist also had a solo part with the companion of the drum. The pace of the song was moderately fast, and the song ended with a climax.
“Flight Patterns,” by Sherman Alexie, tells an interesting story of a man named William, who is a Spokane Indian and lives in Washington State with his wife Marie and five-year-old daughter Grace. William struggles with living between the traditionalist American and Indian worlds by appearing confident and assured, but on the inside, he is actually weak, fearful, and has an abundance of obsessions. He loves his job and hates it at the same time, He needs to fly for his job, but flying scares him since the terrorist attacks that happened on September 11th. He seems very indecisive and unassured at times. He stays in the same hotel chain, eats at the same restaurants, and has the same exercise routine while
Sherman Alexie’s short story “Flight Patterns” is an intriguing story about many themes, including identity, stereotypes, and the illusions of society. The story is written from an American Indian’s viewpoint and provides and interesting and different perspective on identities and relations in America after the terrorist attack on Spetember 11, 2001. The main character William, a native American man who has a wife and a daughter named Marie and Grace respectively, leaves his family for a business trip. On his way to the airport, he encounters a black taxi driver, named Fekadu, who tells him his story. He is not sure whether or not he should believe it but by the end of their trip together William realizes how much he loves and cares for his
The Song of the Hummingbird, written by Graciela Limon, is a novel telling the story of Huitzitzilin an Aztec survivor whose kingdom fell to ruin by her nation's blind reliance on God. The book features Huitzitzilin as the narrator of the story and Father Benito as a naive journalist of sorts. As the story begins, Father Benito meets Huitzitzilin while he’s taking confessions in the church. Through this transaction; Benito is told by the head of the church to take note of the history Huitzitzilin has to tell, while absolving her of her sins. As Benito begins to hear her story, his irritation and discomfort with hearing it becomes clear. He fidgets, buries his head in his hands, and at times even threatens to leave. The reasons for this comes from what Benito knows from history books and the teaching of his faith, Huitzitzilin begins to pick up on things as she tells her story. She uses this to mess with him at times and to distance him from the mindset that he’s just a tool for his god’s word. When the story draws to a conclusion, Benito sees Huitzitzilin story for what it is, he and his people are no different than hers, yet they treated them as savages.
Imagine living in a civilization that practiced beautiful ritual dances and ceremonies. Then one day, that civilization does not exist anymore because another civilization decided to conquer them. In the novel “Song of the Hummingbird,” written by Graciela Limo, an Aztec women named Huitzitzilin, which means Hummingbird, tells her life story to a Father Benito Lara, along with confessing her sins from her lifetime. I find this novel to be very informative because it tells the reader the truth on what actually happened between the Spaniards and the Aztecs. As I read this novel, I could picture the events in my head as Huitzitzilin described them. The lesson I appreciated the most is that one should not give up on something they believe in, just like how Huitzitzilin did not stop believing in her religious beliefs, even though the Spaniards want her to transition.
The idea of writing at any school level or in life is seen more as a grueling task than enjoyable experience. In the novel, Bird by Bird, the author Anne Lamott is speaking to a generation of writers, who may be struggling with the process. The content is rich with stories to help the writer analyze his or her own life to add it to their writing style, a concept that may be hard for some people. Bird by Bird is an effective book, because Lamott includes not only writing tips, but a sense of humor along with life advice.
The piano plays the main themes, and it was absent from playing before. The piano plays two octaves in the treble register. There is a viola in the background playing a counter melody, which slows towards
Hummingbirds rely on plant nectar to supply the necessary energy for their highly energetically and expensive flying and feeding behaviors. Hummingbirds obtain energy from the nectar of flowers using their tongue and it is thought that up to half of the tongue is made up of cartilage making it easier to direct and control and in turn more efficiently eat. (Tamm, Gass 1986). Hummingbirds have the ability to drink their own weight in nectar only in a matter of hours (Tamm, Gass 1986) and in order to meet their daily energetic needs they must visit several thousand flowers a day (Tamm, Gass 1986).
There are two main rhythmic ideas that are present in this piece. The first is the regular rhythmic pulse in the pianos and mallet instruments
The piece opens with an allegro, minor melody with cymbal crashes and timpani rolls. There is a short pause then a major trill. Harp glissandos then accompany a legato oboe melody, which is repeated with a pizzicato string bass. The melody is then repeated by the whole orchestra. There is a crescendo with the tim...
... then plays allegro passages of semi quavers, accompanied by timpani and descending scales in the woodwind. The clarinet, takes over the main melody whilst the cello accompanies with sequences. The French horn takes over the melody, accompanied by the strings. The flute briefly plays the melody before the cello plays octaves, accompanying the woodwind as they play a reprise of the DSCH theme and the timpani crashes. Repeating the themes in the first movement, the cello plays the DSCH motif followed by the "tate ta, tate ta" rhythm in the strings. The horn then plays the theme in augmentation, whilst the cello plays passages of ascending and descending scales, and the theme is heard again in the strings. The movement builds up with the motif appearing increasingly often in the woodwind and strings and climaxes with octaves by the soloist and a boom from the timpani.
...chestral introduction with an imperfect cadence. A strong rhythmic ¾ allegro passage, with sequences and descending scales is played by the orchestra, with timpani and cymbals. The music modulates, and a short, quiet woodwind passage is then alternated with an orchestral passage with dotted rhythms, creating a `terraced dynamics' effect. Part B begins with a major clarinet melody accompanied by pizzicato strings. A minor flute sequence follows, and is followed by a repetition of the oboe melody. A string sequence is then played, imitated by the oboe. There is a crescendo, then the rhythmic orchestral melody returns, alternated with a short flute passage. There are suspensions, descending scales and a crescendo, followed by a strong rhythmic passage with the timpani playing on the beat. Imperfect cadences are played, before the piece finishes with a perfect cadence.