SC on Music Theory Print

Scam rap

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Scam rap is notable for its explicit descriptions of various fraudulent activities, offering listeners a glimpse into the world of cybercrime, financial manipulation, and identity theft. Artists often share step-by-step instructions, anecdotes, and personal experiences related to their scams. The lyrics often reflect a mix of audacity and humor, showcasing the artists’ resourcefulness and creativity in executing their schemes. Musically, scam rap typically incorporates lazy, triplet flows and rambling bars, often rapped “behind the beat”. The beats themselves may be lo-fi and minimalistic, allowing the focus to remain on the storytelling aspect of the genre. Scam rap also frequently features references to modern technology, cryptocurrency, online platforms, and the dark web, reflecting the evolving landscape of scams in the digital age.

Scherzo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The Italian word scherzo means “joke” or “jest”. More rarely, the similar-meaning word badinerie (also spelled battinerie; from French, “jesting”) has been used. Sometimes the word scherzando (“joking”) is used in musical notation to indicate that a passage should be executed in a playful manner. An early use of the word scherzo in music is in light-hearted madrigals of the early baroque period, which were often called scherzi musicali, for example: * Claudio Monteverdi wrote two sets of works with this title, in 1607 and in 1632. * Antonio Brunelli wrote Scherzi, Arie, Canzonette e Madrigale for voices and instruments in 1616. * Johann Baptist Schenk wrote Scherzi musicale (fourteen suites for gamba and continuo). Later, composers applied the term scherzo (plural scherzos or scherzi) and sometimes badinerie to certain instrumental works in fast tempos in duple meter time signature, for example: * The scherzo of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita No. 3 for keyboard. * The best-known “Badinerie” is the final movement of Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor. * Badineries in French ouvertures by Christoph Graupner and Georg Philipp Telemann. The scherzo, as most commonly known today, developed from the minuet and trio, and gradually came to replace it as the third (sometimes second) movement in symphonies, string quartets, sonatas, and similar works. It traditionally retains the triple meter time signature and ternary form of the minuet, but is considerably quicker. It is often, but not always, of a light-hearted nature. The main features include a 6/8 bar melody with one beat per bar feel.

Schlager music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

Schlager is a loanword from German (from schlagen ’to hit’). It also came into some other languages (such as Bulgarian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Czech, Croatian, Finnish, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Serbian, Turkish, Russian, Hebrew, and Romanian ), where it retained its meaning of a hit".

Central Europe#

The roots of German schlager are old. Originally, the word meant a hit or a strike. The first use of the word applied to music, in its original meaning, was in an opening night critique in the newspaper Wiener Fremden-Blatt on 17 February 1867 about The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II. One ancestor of schlager music in its current meaning may be the operetta, which was highly popular in the early twentieth century. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Comedian Harmonists and Rudi Schuricke laid the foundations for this new music. Well-known schlager singers of the 1940s, 50s and early 60s include Lale Andersen, Freddy Quinn, Ivo Robić, Gerhard Wendland, Caterina Valente, Margot Eskens and Conny Froboess. Schlager reached a peak of popularity in Germany and Austria in the 1960s (featuring Peter Alexander and Roy Black) and the early 1970s. From the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, schlager also saw an extensive revival in Germany by, for example, Guildo Horn, In Hamburg in the 2010s, Schlager fans still gathered annually by the hundreds of thousands, dressing in 1970s clothing for street parades called “Schlager Move”. The Schlager Move designation is also used for a number of smaller schlager music parties in several major German cities throughout the year. (This revival is sometimes associated with kitsch and camp.) In the meantime, private radio has brought Schlager back to the radio. Schlager Radio is a station that broadcasts its program terrestrially in Germany via transmission towers on both FM and DAB+. Stylistically, schlager continues to influence German “party pop” or “party-schlager” (e.g. “Layla”, 2022): that is, music most often heard in après-ski bars and Mallorcan mass discos. Contemporary schlager is often mingled with Volkstümliche Musik. If it is not part of an ironic kitsch revival, a taste for both styles of music is commonly associated with folksy pubs, fun fairs, and bowling league venues. In the English-speaking world, the most popular group to have included elements of schlager in their style is probably ABBA, a band that mixed traditional Swedish music, schlager, and pop-rock to create their own sound.

Schnitzelbank

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

Schnitzelbank literally means “scrap bench” or “chip bench” (from Schnitzel “scraps / clips / cuttings (from carving)” or the colloquial verb schnitzeln “to make scraps” or “to carve” and Bank “bench”); like the Bank, it is feminine and takes the article “die”. It is a woodworking tool used in Germany prior to the industrial revolution. It was in regular use in colonial New England, and in the Appalachian region until early in the 20th century; it is still in use by specialist artisans today. In American English, it is known as a shaving horse. It uses the mechanical advantage of a foot-operated lever to securely clamp the object to be carved. The shaving horse is used in combination with the drawknife or spokeshave to cut down green or seasoned wood, to accomplish jobs such as handling an ax; creating wooden rakes, hay forks, walking sticks, etc. The shaving horse was used by various trades, from farmer to basketmaker and wheelwright. A Schnitzelbank is also a short rhyming verse or song with humorous content, often but not always sung with instrumental accompaniment. Each verse in a Schnitzelbank introduces a topic and ends with a comedic twist. This meaning of the word is mainly used in Switzerland and southwestern Germany; it is masculine and takes the article “der”. It is a main element of the Fasnacht celebrations in the city of Basel, where it is also written Schnitzelbangg. Schnitzelbänke (pl.) are also sung at weddings and other festivities by the Schnitzelbänkler, a single person or small group. Often the Schnitzelbänkler will display posters called Helgen during some verses that depict the topic but do not give away the joke.

Schottische

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Argentina#

In Argentina, the schottische (chotis) was introduced by Volga German immigrants and also evolved and mixed into , an Argentine folk music genre.

Australia#

Australian composers of schottische music include Christian Helleman and Henry Marsh.

Brazil#

In Brazil, the schottische (xote) has largely developed in the north-eastern area, especially the Sertão, where it has created variations such as and , which are usually grouped in the denomination. All of these rhythms are typically danced in pairs, being xote the slower and simpler style of dancing, in which the couple alternate left-left-hop-right-right-hop steps.

Schrammelmusik

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Schrammel brothers#

In 1878, the brothers Johann Schrammel (1850–1893) and Josef Schrammel (1852-1895), musicians, violinists and composers from Vienna, Austria, formed an ensemble with guitarist Anton Strohmayer, son of the celebrated composer Alois Strohmayer. The Schrammel brothers played two violins, accompanied by Strohmayer on a double-necked contraguitar. Inspired by both urbane and rustic traditions, the three musicians performed folk songs, marches, and dance music, most often for audiences at wine taverns (Heurigen) and inns around Vienna. At first the trio called themselves the “Nussdorfers” after the village of Nussdorf where they often performed. In 1884 clarinetist joined the group, which soon enjoyed phenomenal success under the name “Schrammel Brothers Specialities Quartet” (Specialitäten Quartett Gebrüder Schrammel). The ensemble was invited to perform in palaces and mansions as “Schrammel euphoria” gripped the Viennese elite. So great was the Schrammel brothers’ popularity that some earlier folk music forms, such as the Wienerlied dialect song, came to be known as Schrammelmusik as well. The Schrammels’ popularity eventually extended throughout Europe and in 1893 they were invited to perform at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Schrammels composed more than 200 songs and music pieces in just seven years. Johann Schrammel died in 1893, followed two years later by Josef. Each brother was 43 years old at his death, and both died of nephritis.

Schuhplattler

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History and style#

One of the earliest accounts of the Schuhplattler may date from 1030 AD, when a monk in the Tegernsee Abbey of Bavaria described a village dance containing leaps and hand gestures. Over the centuries, the form gradually evolved as farmers, hunters, and woodsmen practiced it in the isolated towns and villages of the Bavarian and Tyrolean Alps. Sometimes, it was performed as a partner dance, with couples doing a Ländler and then splitting up so the girls could twirl in their colorful Dirndln as the boys showed off their . At other times, just the boys were onstage, arranged in a circle, square, or line, ing wildly for the audience. These two approaches are sometimes distinguished as the Schuhplattlertanz and Schuhplattler proper, but the “boys’ dance” is at the core of both forms and is most often described. The immediate precursors of today’s Schuhplatter were the 18th-century minuet, quadrille, and Française, but unlike these courtly and highly stylized dances, the early of the common folk were free of rules. The young men improvised their leaps, stomps, and acrobatic figures “as it struck their fancy.” Acrobatics were an important part of the dance at least by the 1820s, when boys began balancing on the shoulders of their partners and stamping their feet rhythmically on the ceiling! Early Schuhplattlers often highlighted the towns where they were invented or imitated the various professions of the performers, such as the (miller’s dance), the (wood cutter), and the (bell dance). The music was generally in three-quarter time, like the Ländler, and was performed on the zither or the guitar, and by 1830s, the accordion or concertina. In 1838, the Empress of Russia was honored with a Schuhplattler by the residents of the bath town of Wildbad Kreuth, and the aristocracy, fascinated by the strange costumes and quaint pursuits of the common folk, began taking an interest in the dance. Many consider the real birth of the modern Schuhplattler, however, to be King Maximilian II of Bavaria’s excursion through the Alps in 1858, when locals performed the dance for him, and he fell in love with it. In 1886, French traveler Hugues Krafft wrote of the Schuhplattler: On Sundays and holidays one sees couples dancing to music on larger town squares everywhere—preferably the Ländler, a leisurely waltz popular among girls and boys. The biggest attraction, however, even for the local farmers, is always the Schuhplatter. It … begins with forming a circle. Then, while the girl is briefly separated from her partner and continues to follow waltz steps, the boy must perform a number of difficult movements to the beat of the music. He turns around on his axis, slaps his thighs and legs, falls to his knees, jumps in the air and throws his hat as he lets out a joyful whoop… Those who master the dance are cheered with vigorous applause. By the late 19th century, traditional costume clubs () were being established throughout Bavaria and Tyrol, and soon these groups spread to German communities in America and elsewhere. Since the mission of these clubs was to preserve the age-old customs, lore, and dress of the German and Austrian Alps, the Schuhplattler became a central part of their programs. The were often strict and exacting about how the dance was to be performed and how club members were to dress, although new Schuhplattler groups sprang up after the second world war that were less tied to the older forms.

Science fiction opera

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

List of science fiction operas#

The following is a partial list of science fiction operas. *Karl-Birger Blomdahl (1916–1968): Aniara (based on the poem of that name by Harry Martinson) *Viktor Ullmann (1898–1944): The Emperor of Atlantis *Eef van Breen (born 1978) ’u’, the first opera in Klingon *Gavin Bryars (born 1943): Doctor Ox’s Experiment (based on the book by Jules Verne) *Søren Nils Eichberg (born 1973): Oryx and Crake (based on the novel by Margaret Atwood) *Philip Glass (born 1937): The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 and The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (based on the books by Doris Lessing), 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, and The Voyage *Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Il mondo della luna (The World of the Moon), 1777 *Leoš Janáček (1854–1928): The Makropulos Affair (based on the play by Karel Čapek), premiered 1926; and The Excursions of Mr. Brouček to the Moon and to the 15th Century (1920) *Karel Janovický (b 1930): The Utmost Sail (1958) a one act opera inspired by the launch of the satellite Sputnik in 1957. It concerns the crew of a space ship flying into space and watching the Earth being consumed in a nuclear holocaust. *Lorin Maazel (1930–2014) 1984 (based on the book by George Orwell) *Tod Machover (born 1953) Valis (1987) (based on the novel VALIS by Philip K. Dick) *Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007) A Bride from Pluto (1982) and Help, Help, the Globolinks! (1968) *Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) Le voyage dans la lune (based on the book De la terre à la lune by Jules Verne), premiered 1875. *Poul Ruders (born 1949) The Handmaid’s Tale (based on the book of that name by Margaret Atwood) *Howard Shore (born 1946): The Fly (based on David Cronenberg’s 1986 film) *Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) Licht (based on The Urantia Book) * Steven Andrew Taylor’s Paradises Lost after a short story from Ursula K. Le Guin’s collection The Birthday of the World * Michael Tippett’s New Year (1989), which features a spaceship and time travelers from the future.

Science fiction podcast

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Genre and subgenres#

Science fiction podcasts often focus on themes such as time travel, space exploration, robots, and artificial intelligence. For instance, science fiction podcasts focused on time travel include Snap Judgement, A Winkle in Time, and Black Box. Examples of science fiction podcast centered on space travel are The Hyacinth Disaster, Wolf 359, Arca-45672, and Voyage to the Stars. An example of a science fiction podcast focused on robots is Electric Easy. SAYER and Chrysalis are two science fiction podcast that focus on Artificial Intelligence. Prominent science fiction podcasts that focus on fictional politics, conspiracy theories, journalism, and crime are Welcome to Night Vale, Andromeda, and Wellspring. The Apocrypha Chronicles and Girl in Space are two science fiction podcasts that explore indigenous futurisms.

Scottish folk music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Development#

There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in Scotland in the Late Middle Ages. This includes the long list of songs given in The Complaynt of Scotland (1549). Many of the poems of this period were also originally songs, but for none has a notation of their music survived. Melodies have survived separately in the post-Reformation publication of The Gude and Godlie Ballatis (1567), which were spiritual satires on popular songs, adapted and published by the brothers James, John and Robert Wedderburn. The only song with a melody to survive from this period is the “Pleugh Song”. The first clear reference to the use of the Highland bagpipes is from a French history, which mentions their use at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547. George Buchanan claimed that they had replaced the trumpet on the battlefield. This period saw the creation of the ceòl mór (the great music) of the bagpipe, which reflected its martial origins, with battle-tunes, marches, gatherings, salutes and laments. The Highlands in the early seventeenth century saw the development of piping families including the MacCrimmonds, MacArthurs, MacGregors and the Mackays of Gairloch. There is also evidence of adoption of the fiddle in the Highlands with Martin Martin noting in his A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland (1703) that he knew of eighteen players in Lewis alone. Well-known musicians included the fiddler Pattie Birnie (c. 1635–1721) and the piper Habbie Simpson (1550–1620). There is evidence of ballads from this period. Some may date back to the late Medieval era and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century, including “Sir Patrick Spens” and “Thomas the Rhymer”, but for which there is no evidence until the eighteenth century. Scottish ballads are distinct, showing some pre-Christian influences in the inclusion of supernatural elements such as the fairies in the Scottish ballad “Tam Lin”. They remained an oral tradition until increased interest in folk songs in the eighteenth century led collectors such as Bishop Thomas Percy to publish volumes of popular ballads.

Scottish Gaelic punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Punk in the Welsh language, particularly the bands connected with the Anhrefn record label, was an early inspiration to the Gaelic punk scene in Scotland. The Scottish rock band Runrig’s first album (Play Gaelic) in 1978 is considered to be the first notable modern Scottish Gaelic-language music album; other than Ultravox’s 1984 album “Lament”, which contained some Gaelic lyrics in the song Man of Two Worlds, and mid-1990s grindcore band Scatha, from Tomintoul who featured Gaelic in several of their songs, there were no further albums of modern music all in Gaelic until spring 2005, when Oi Polloi and Mill a h-Uile Rud both released all-Gaelic EPs. They are occasionally active, although they have not released any new material in some time. Oi Polloi, from Edinburgh, Scotland started performing in English in 1981. They released a Gaelic EP, Carson?, in 2005, followed by an all-Gaelic LP, Ar Ceòl, Ar Cànan, Ar-a-mach, in 2006, and the all-Gaelic LP, Dùisg!, in 2012. Their live set features a mix of English and Gaelic material, although they tend to favour the Gaelic material when they play in Scotland. At some concerts in Portree and Stornoway, all of their songs and stage banter were in Gaelic. The backgrounds of the musicians in the subgenre are diverse, from Tim (Mill a h-Uile Rud), who hails from Seattle in the United States, to Anna Rothach (Nad Aislingean and Oi Polloi), who was born and raised in South Uist. The uniting feature of all of these bands is that most of the Gaelic-speaking members have spent some time at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, a Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye. In DIY-punk style, the Gaelic punks started out by teaching each other the language at Gaelic for Punks classes; first held at the Edinburgh European City of Punk festival in 1997. After these individuals gained fluency, they took advantage of scholarships available at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, and there has been a small, but steady, stream of punks at the college ever since. The Gaelic punk band Mill a h-Uile Rud were featured in the BBC arts documentary series Ealtainn, which followed them on a tour of Europe and filmed them at concerts in the Gaelic-speaking heartland of the Isle of Lewis. The Scotsman, a national Scottish paper based in Edinburgh, regularly covers the Gaelic punk scene, and the American publications Maximum Rocknroll and Punk Planet have carried features on the subgenre.

Scottish hip-hop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In the 1980s, elements of hip-hop culture had spread to Scotland. Scottish actor and stand-up comedian Johnny Beattie claimed to be “Scotland’s first rap star”. His song “The Glasgow Rap” was released in 1983 and received some chart success at the time. In the late 1980s artists such as II Tone Committee, Bill Drummond, Krack Free Media, Dope Inc and into the early 1990s with Blacka’nized, NorthernXposure, Zulu Syndicate, Eastborn, Major Threat, All Time High and UTI (Under The Influence) laid the groundwork for a Scottish hip-hop subculture, rapping consciously about their own lives and problems in their own voices rather than emulating American rappers of the time. The first Scottish hip-hop on vinyl was The Frontal Attack, released by Dope Inc in 1991. In Glasgow, Steg G & the Freestyle Master were producing work that added a west coast twist to Scottish rap. thanks to the creation of battle events in both Edinburgh & Glasgow by Nity Gritz, co-hosted by Werd (S.O.S) This even culminated in a Scotsman becoming the de facto UK battle rap champion when Soul became the Don’t Flop champion in 2015. Indeed Flyting was a medieval Scottish poetic tradition of ritualised insult battles between poets, which reached its peak i the 15th and 16th century.. These duels, like the famous one between William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy, were public competitions of verbal wit and creativity, with insults often focused on cowardice or other personal failings. The practice is considered a precursor to modern rap battles, though it was rooted in a more formal, courtly tradition of structured verse. Several artists within the hip-hop community also became galvanised by the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The likes of Loki and Stanley Odd championed the Yes vote. The former emerged as an activist and cultural voice on behalf of the hip-hop community, while the latter went viral with their single “Son, I Voted Yes”. Elsewhere, several acts within the scene broke into the mainstream. The likes of Hector Bizerk and The LaFontaines earned prestigious slots at the T in the Park festival, as well as widespread critical recognition. Meanwhile, Young Fathers, a hip-hop group from Edinburgh, achieved UK-wide success with their album “Dead”, for which they won the Mercury prize. While Edinburgh’s Madhat McGore pushed the music further down south, working with English acts and appearing on Charlie Sloth’s BBC Fire in the Booth. Eastborn toured Europe, Australia, the US and China, as well as being a guest slot presenter on BBC 1xtra. Edinburgh Born Rob Mitchell leads Abstract Orchestra, a British hip-hop orchestra that are known for reworking classic American hip-hop and working with both UK and US artists. In July 2015, the Audio Soup festival in Dunbar became the first to dedicate an entire stage to Scottish hip-hop artists.

Screamer (march)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Screamers were mostly composed in a 60-year period (1895–1955). Circuses were in need of music that would stir the audience into a frenzy, as four-footed animals galloped across the ring. Ringmasters sought screamers because march music was a prominent part of American music at that time, and their quick tempo was what their inciting role demanded.

Musicality#

Circus marches are faster than a normal military march, often 130 to 150 beats/minute. Although screamers tend to follow the march form, they are often abbreviated, and additions, such as a quick cornet call introduction to a new melody, are included. A typical screamer lasts a minute to three and a half minutes. Screamers are a very demanding type of music, due to their extremely fast and advanced rhythms, especially the low-brass parts. Double and even triple tonguing is often required in order to play these rhythms. The trio in “The Melody Shop” is a good example of this. Many screamers have two prominent melodies playing at once. Although this is not unusual in a march, screamers tend to go further with this. The low-brass section can be playing a long, stately melody, while the woodwinds can be moving along with a phrase of 16th notes, or vice versa. Due to the circumstances in which screamers are played, dynamics tend to stay at a level forte. Unlike some military marches, piano is rarely used.

Screamo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Screamo is a style of hardcore punk-influenced emo with screaming. Screamo uses typical rock instrumentation, but is notable for its brief compositions, chaotic sounds, harmonized guitars, and screaming vocals. Screamo is characterized “by frequent shifts in tempo and dynamics and by tension-and-release catharses”. These lyrics are usually introspective, similar to that of softer emo bands. Some groups were also unusually theoretical in inspiration: Angel Hair cited surrealist writers Antonin Artaud and Georges Bataille,

Scrumpy and Western

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

SC on Music Theory Print

Scam rap

Characteristics#

Scherzo

Origins#

Schlager music

Etymology#

Central Europe#

Schnitzelbank

Etymology#

Schottische

Argentina#

Australia#

Brazil#

Schrammelmusik

The Schrammel brothers#

Schuhplattler

History and style#

Science fiction opera

List of science fiction operas#

Science fiction podcast

Genre and subgenres#

Scottish folk music

Development#

Scottish Gaelic punk

History#

Scottish hip-hop

History#

Screamer (march)

History#

Musicality#

Screamo

Characteristics#

Scrumpy and Western

See also#