Download MUSIC LITERACY FACT SHEET

MUSIC LITERACY FACT SHEET
TITLE 1. Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind
2. From “When Icicles Hang
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------STYLE PERIOD/GENRE
1. Contemporary
2. Choral music
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COMPOSER/ARRANGER/EDITOR 1. By John Rutter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COMPOSER INFO
1 Composer John Rutter was born in London in 1945 and studied music at Clare College,
Cambridge. His compositions embrace choral, orchestral and instrumental music, and he has
edited or co-edited various choral anthologies including four Carols for Choir volumes with
Sir David Willcocks and the Oxford Choral Classics series. From 1975 to 1979 he was
Director of Music at Clare College, and in 1981 he formed his own choir, the Cambridge
Singers. He now divides his time between composition and conducting and is sought after as
a guest conductor for the world’s leading choirs and orchestras. John Rutter’s music has been
widely recorded and is available on many record labels.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TEXT
1. William Shakespeare
2. From “As You Like It
3. “Blow, Blow,
Thou Winter Wind” is a poem from the Shakespeare play As You Like It. This poem is an example of a
type of figurative language called personification. When writers personify, they give human
characteristics to their subject.
If you look carefully at this poem, you will see that it is not actually about the winter wind at all.
Shakespeare reveals his true meaning in the middle of the poem with the line “Most friendship is
feigning, most loving mere folly.” He is saying that people are often not true to their “friends” or “loved
ones,” or that their friendship or love is not real. He uses the idea of a winter wind, which could be
painful, to communicate how much more painful the false love and friendship is. So, when he says of
the wind, “Thy tooth is not so keen,” he means that the pain caused by the wind (in the case, the wind’s
metaphorical “tooth” can cause pain by biting) is not as hurtful as the emotional pain of the untrue
friend or lover.
The personification is evident in the description of the wind. It is said to have a “tooth” and “breath.” It
is also said to be less “unkind” than the untrue friend. These are human attributes rather than aspects
of the wind. He uses the wind as a contrast to an aspect of human life; therefore, he needs to personify
it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SOUND
1.accompanied – piano 2. SATB choral music
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HARMONY 1. Simplistic 2. minor
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------MELODY
1. The melody is supreme 2. Voiced in unison girls and guys parts
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RHYTHM
1. Piano creates rhythmic movement
2. Repetitious
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GROWTH/FORM
1. Strophic (song form) – verse, refrain, verse, refrain
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TIME SIGNATURE
1. 3/4 meter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------KEY SIGNATURE
1. f minor
2. 4 b’s
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------IMPORTANT TERMS/SYMBOLS/SIGNS
Legato – smooth, connected
dolce – sweetly
espressivo - expressive
mp, p, mf, f
dim. (diminuendo)
Poco rall. (poco rallentando) – a little slowing to the end
(crescendo) – gradually get louder
NOTEWORTHY