Musical Meaning Blog Drama

Module 2 Blog Entry

September 13, 2022

Topic: Music and Drama

Jackson Kordos

1) Beethoven : Symphony No. 9, Daniel Barenboim

Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven is considered by many to be his greatest piece. It is an ending of all of the work that he had compiled. This piece relates to our module topic in many ways. It was written between 1822-1824 in the romantic Baroque era. This piece was also written in a minor key which was picked up earlier in the baroque era. Beethoven was inspired to wrote this song off of the poem “Ode to Joy” by Friedrich Schiller.  By this time Beethoven was completely deaf but he still wanted to perform his work. The tone of this piece, being his final piece, is very emotional which directly relates to the drama aspect of this module.

This song holds a deep meaning to me. Beethoven was my grandpas favorite artist and I have grown up listening to him ever since I was a baby. My grandpa was a big fan of symphony No. 9 and always had it playing when we would go over to visit. I feel like his genre of music influenced me as I grew up and I will always remember the emotion the song holds. It also stands out to me because it is different than the rest of his work because it has people singing verses, unlike his other pieces of work where they are just instruments. The Movement throughout the whole piece is gentle and builds up for the finale which no one knew that it was going to have a chorus or vocal singers. The tone of the song is joyful and the tempo is slow. In the fourth movement, all of the first three themes are combined into one for the final fourth movement. The movements are conjunct and flow smoothly. In the fourth movement the vocal aspect is introduced and the slow pace is stopped and interrupted. 

2) Zach Bryan : Heading south

When choosing a song, a few came to mind, but Heading South by Zach Bryan was the one that stood out the most to me. This was the first song that I had ever heard him play and I was instantly hooked. This piece relates to music and drama, same with many other of his songs. This song is a contemporary opera, it is very minimalistic with only four chords for the entire song. He also sings in a recitative tone with little guitar played while he is singing, it sounds like he is telling a story as he sings.   

This piece holds a lot of meaning to me. This song was what got me invested into Zach's work and many other artists like him. It opened up a new genre of music that I had never heard of. This song is one that I could listen to on a bright sunny day or driving in my car when it is rainy or gloomy. He was inspired to write this song when he was stationed in the navy and was his first major hit when he streamed it on YouTube.  I feel like many people enjoy this song because you can hear his passion in his voice. In the video you can see how much effort he is putting into the song which I feel is also part of it.  The story in itself is about not letting others choose what you are and standing up and choosing your own path, which is something that I truly believe in. The minimalist tone of the song is what I favor the most. It is simple enough to really take in the words that he is singing. The song has a chorus that is repeated twice throughout where the name of the song, “Heading South” is derived from.