Hannah's Musical Adventures

The song "What a Wonderful World" was originally sung by the famous jazz singer Louis Armstrong, and was composed by Bob Thiele and George Weiss. Although the song is popular now, it wasn't always. "What a Wonderful World" was not appreciated as much when it was first released somewhere between 1967 or 1968 (sources disagree which year), especially in the United States where it was written. According to Songfacts,   In America, this song became a beloved standard, but when it was first released in 1968, it barely dented the charts, peaking at #116. It was more appreciated 20 years later when it was used in the Robin Williams movie Good Morning, Vietnam ; the song was re-released to coincide with the film, and this time charted at #32. Armstrong's jazz style can be clearly heard in his performance of "What a Wonderful World." Lyrics The words which the writers used in this song are simple, yet meaningful. Rick Moore, in an article he wrote for Ameri

The Cast of Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye  is a television show in which a character who is deaf uses her ability to read lips at her new job with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.), and her hearing dog comes along too. The main character, Sue Thomas, is based on a real person of the same name who is also deaf and really did work for the F.B.I. Making its first appearance in 2002, the show itself is loosely based on her time working there. During the opening credits of each episode, the show's theme song plays. The theme song for Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye  is an excerpt of "Who I Am," as sung by Jessica Andrews. "Who I Am," written by Brett James and Troy Verges in America, was released in early 2001. Please click here for the full song. One musical element of "Who I Am" that I would like to discuss is the lyrics. The lyrics of this song portray a sense of confidence. The type of confidence I'm talking about is a conviction that the

  The Beginning Elvis Presley, often called the "King of Rock and Roll," was born on January 8, 1935 in Mississippi. He learned to play the guitar as a kid and he sang for the same reasons anyone would sing. This included singing in school and in talent shows, but it wasn't until around 1953 that people recognized there was something different about his singing. Elvis began singing demos for recording studios. It took some time for the recording companies to recognize his talent and why they should record him instead of other singers at the time. Although he co-wrote some of his songs later in his career, at that point he didn't write songs. He was only singing what others were writing and singing. Elvis sang the music he had heard and become familiar with throughout his life up until that point. According to Peter Guralnick, author of the book  Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley,  Elvis had a "lack of confidence" when he was recording his demo

Traditional West African music is not just one type of music. Today we will explore two different types. Let's begin this musical journey by watching the Northern Illinois University School of Music's percussion ensemble perform a version of the music from a traditional African dance called  Zaouli . The next stop on this trip is to watch the dance performed in a traditional setting. While it is not completely clear when or by whom this song was written, it originates from the Ivory Coast region of West Africa. Ivory Coast is also known as the country of Côte d'Ivoire. Like much traditional West African music, Zaouli is well known for its rhythmic properties and its use of percussion instruments. Doris Green, in a book called African Dance: An Artistic, Historical, and Philosophical Inquiry, wrote, "The dance activity is essentially fast movements of the feet dictated by the rhythm of the drums for the Zaouli figure." Sometimes these rhythms are polyrhythmic in na

I was a little girl when I first heard my mom play her flute. I thought it had such a unique and pretty sound. What I didn't know then is that humans have been playing similar instruments for a long time. Although instruments resembling the flute have been around for thousands of years, the modern flute was not introduced until much later.  Renaissance Flutes Picking up the story during the Renaissance, we see that during this time flutes were still relatively simple instruments. They were cylinders of various sizes (to produce different ranges of pitches) and these cylinders had holes in them so that the flutist could manipulate the sound. These flutes were typically made of various types of wood according to Kate Clark and Amanda Markwick in their book,  The Renaissance Flute: A Contemporary Guide.  Here is an example of what a typical flute sounded like during the Renaissance: The piece that these gentlemen are playing was composed in the Netherlands during the 1500s by Clemens

Countless versions of the holiday classic song "Little Drummer Boy" have been produced by many different people over the years. According to Kelly O'Sullivan in an article that she wrote for Country Living, this song, "was first recorded by the Trapp Family Singers in 1951." While they were the ones who first recorded this beloved song, it is unclear who first wrote the song and where they did it. One of my favorite renditions of the song was released in 2013 by the band For King & Country. For King & Country is an American based group, although they have traveled around the world to perform, and the founding members of the band are originally from Australia. Timbre Most bands generally have their own specific sound. For King & Country is no different in this respect. As seen (and heard) in this example, For King & Country uses a lot of different instruments in their music. I really enjoy the unique sound this combination of instruments gives to