Amazing Grace Youtube Comparison Essay

Amazing Grace – YouTube Comparison The words to Amazing Grace were written by John Newton (Ferris and Worster). The piece is played in triple meter (Ferris and Worster). It is usually performed slow (adagio), with the volume falling somewhere between moderately soft (mezzopiano) and moderately loud (mezzoforte). The combination tends to give the piece a somber, and yet comforting, quality. According to our text book, Music: The art of listening, the melody uses a pentatonic scale, which means it uses a “five-note pattern within the range of an octave” (Ferris and Worster). For the first example, I went with my Scottish half and chose ‘Amazing Grace Bagpipes”. This video is of a company of bagpipers playing Amazing Grace at a funeral. The piece is played slowly (adagio). The dynamic level is initially moderately loud (mezzoforte), with the entire company playing three verses of the song. They end with a solo of just the first line, played softly (piano). The rhythm throughout the piece is slow (adagio). The theme is repeated three times, once per verse. The cadence is obvious, as the bagpipes pause at the end of each line, with a longer pause at the end of each verse. This version’s harmony reflects consonance, the tone is smooth and comforting. The texture is monophonic.
The ‘Amazing Grace Bagpipes” video is considerably shorter than the “Amazing Grace in Cherokee - Native American” recording. The bagpipe version is very simple, bagpipes only. The other uses a more complicated style, instruments along with vocals. Even though both are done mostly with a moderate volume, the bagpipes are moderately loud (mezzoforte) whereas the Native American version is performed moderately soft (mezzopiano). The cadence is not as obvious in the second piece as with the bagpipes. The ‘Amazing Grace Bagpipes” recording’s texture is monophonic where the “Amazing Grace in Cherokee - Native American” video’s is