VE on Music Theory Print

Vè

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

History#

It is used primarily in satirical poems, and is also performed with the accompaniment of percussion instruments. It is often used to make humorous observations about a certain topic, as a form of social criticism. A vè poem or song consists of rhyming couplets, in which the final syllable of every other row rhymes with the final syllable in the next row. The rhyme scheme () is therefore : #xxxa #xxxb #xxxb #xxxc #xxxc #xxxd :etc. The following is an example of vè, in which the words that rhyme are highlighted. Some examples:

Vedic chant

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

Tones#

Vedic chantings use 4 tones – (middle tone), (lower tone), (higher tone) and (high tone extended). These are usually marked with intuitive marks – an underline for (), a small vertical line above the letter for () and two vertical lines for ().

Pathas#

The various pathas or recitation styles are designed to allow the complete and perfect memorization of the text and its pronunciation, including the Vedic pitch accent. Eleven such ways of reciting the Vedas were designed – Samhita, Pada, Krama, Jata, Maalaa, Sikha, Rekha, Dhwaja, Danda, Rathaa, Ghana, of which Ghana is usually considered the most difficult. The students are first taught to memorize the Vedas using simpler methods like continuous recitation (samhitapatha), word by word recitation (pada patha) in which compounds (sandhi) are dissolved and krama patha (words are arranged in the pattern of ab bc cd …); before teaching them the eight complex recitation styles. A pathin is a scholar who has mastered the pathas. Thus, a ghanapaathin has learnt the chanting of the scripture up to the advanced stage of ghana. The Ghanapatha or the “Bell” mode of chanting is so called because the words are repeated back and forth in a bell shape. The sonority natural to Vedic chanting is enhanced in Ghana. In Jatapatha, the words are braided together, so to speak, and recited back and forth. The samhita, pada and krama pathas can be described as the natural recitation styles or prakrutipathas. The remaining eight modes of chanting are classified as complex recitation styles or Vikrutipathas as they involve reversing of the word order. The backward chanting of words does not alter the meanings in the Vedic (Sanskrit) language.

Venetian polychoral style

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

History of the style#

The style arose in Northern Italian churches in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and proved to be a good fit for the architectural peculiarities of the imposing Basilica San Marco di Venezia in Venice. Composers such as Adrian Willaert, the maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s in the 1540s, wrote antiphonal music, in which opposing choirs sang successive, often contrasting phrases of the music from opposing choir lofts, from specially constructed wooden platforms, and from the octagonal bigonzo across from the pulpit. This was a rare but interesting case of the architectural peculiarities of a single building encouraging the proliferation of a style which had become popular all over Europe, and helped define the shift from the Renaissance to the Baroque era. The idea of different groups singing in alternation contributed to the evolution of the stile concertato, which in its different instrumental and vocal manifestations eventually led to such diverse musical ideas as the chorale cantata, the concerto grosso, and the sonata. The peak of development of the style was in the late 1580s and 1590s, while Giovanni Gabrieli was organist at San Marco and principal composer, and while Gioseffo Zarlino was still maestro di cappella. Gabrieli seems to have been the first to specify instruments in his published works, including large choirs of cornetti and sackbuts; he also seems to be one of the earliest to specify dynamics (as in his Sonata pian’ e forte), and to develop the “echo” effects for which he became famous. The fame of the spectacular, sonorous music of San Marco at this time spread across Europe, and numerous musicians came to Venice to hear, to study, to absorb and bring back what they learned to their countries of origin. Germany, in particular, was a region where composers began to work in a locally modified form of the Venetian style—most notably Heinrich Schütz—though polychoral works were also composed elsewhere, such as the many masses written in Spain by Tomás Luis de Victoria. After 1603, a basso continuo was added to the already considerable forces at San Marco—orchestra, soloists, choir—a further step toward the Baroque cantata. Music at San Marco went through a period of growth and decline, but the fame of the institution spread far. Although the repertoire eventually included music in the stile concertato, as well as the conservative stile antico, works in the polychoral style maintained a secure place in the San Marco repertoire into the 1800s.

Venezuelan merengue

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

History#

The origins of the word are controversial. For some people, the word merengue comes from the French word “meringue”, a confection made from whipped egg whites. However, this concoction is called suspiro in Venezuela. There is a stronger link to a Haitian popular dance with that name. Another theory links the name to African words like “muserengue” or “tamtam mouringue”. In Caracas, the term merengue rucaneao designated a way of dancing with couples holding and often featuring exaggerated hip movements (which added to the craze and subsequent controversy). Dances were paid affairs, with popular prices being “a locha” ( cents) or “a medio” (25 cents) in dance halls known then as mabiles. Live accompaniment consisted of four solo instruments: trumpet, trombone, saxophone and clarinet and rhythm instruments such as the cuatro, bass and percussion (which, depending on the size of the ensemble, could be as simple as a scraper, or incorporate maracas and even a snare drum) . Travelling groups known as cañoneros walked around the neighborhoods staging impromptu performances for tips. The name “cañoneros” comes from their marketing approach, which included firing a carbide charge from a blank cannon made of a thick, hollowed-out bamboo cane.

Venezuelan rock

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

1950s#

First steps for rock music in Venezuela started by the oil industry jump in the late 1950s and can be traced to the band Los Flipper, The Thunderbirds and Los Dangers, where after , it would be part with Henry Stephen of Los Impala, a band from the prominent crude oil city Maracaibo and the first South American group with a high reputation and considerable impact in other continents (pretty much of his career in Spain). In Caracas, Los Holidays released several albums, and were the first Latin-American rock band to travel and work in Europe. Los Holidays main vocalist, Wolfgang Vivas went on to a solo career, as did guitarist/vocalist Franklin Holland (Van Splunteren) who later joined the American band Gary and the Playboys, and created a new and very original Proyecto Franklin Holland in Caracas, 1984, releasing several well received albums on the Sonografica label. Then came up bands like Los Dinámicos, Los Clippers, Los Darts, Los 007, Los Supersonicos and Los Claners who followed the British and French rock patterns. Bands such as Los Memphis of Pablo Manavello y Los Buitres of , Ladies WC or Azúcar, Cacao y Leche focused on progressive and even the fusion stage of rock. Las Cuatro Monedas introduced in Venezuela the Jamaican rithms as reggae and ska.

Verbunkos

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

Slovácko verbuňk#

The Slovácko verbuňk is also an improvised folk dance in the South Moravia and Zlín districts of the Czech Republic, and was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.

Verdiales

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

Etymology#

The word verdiales is usually connected with the olive-growing landscape of Málaga. One common explanation relates the name to a local variety of olive or to the green appearance of olives in the region, from Spanish verde, meaning green. The term also refers to rural districts and settlements associated with the tradition, especially the area of Los Verdiales, north of the city of Málaga. In musical usage, verdiales is both plural and collective. It may refer to the genre as a whole, to particular songs and dances, or to the festive event in which they are performed. The expression Fiesta de Verdiales designates not only a musical performance but a larger social event involving singing, dancing, costume, ritualized competition, local identity and communal celebration.

Verismo

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

History#

A short story by Verga called (), then developed into a play by the same author, became the source for what is usually considered to be the first verismo opera: Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni, which premiered on 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Thus begun, the operatic genre of verismo produced a handful of notable works such as Pagliacci, which premiered at Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on 21 May 1892, and Puccini’s Tosca (premiering at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900). The genre peaked in the early 1900s, and lingered into the 1920s.

Verse anthem

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

Vesnianky

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

History#

For the ancient Slavs, the year began in spring, and the March chronology was preserved until 1409 (Nestor the Chronicler began his Tale of Bygone Years based on this chronology). The New Year began with the revival of the surrounding nature and with the awakening of Mother Earth from her winter sleep, with the first plowing and sowing. Spring was greeted joyfully and magnificently, with songs, dances, and games. These songs were called vesnianky. Later, during the Christian era, as the church fought against paganism and banned any entertainment and secular singing during Lent, in some regions vesnianky were sung during Easter. In the twentieth century, in Western Polissia (Pinshchyna), the ritual of expelling Winter was performed on Easter. In Podillia, apparently because spring was already fully coming into its rights at Easter time, there was no need to call it out at all, so the emphasis of spring rituals shifted to the field of dancing and games.