Theory in the Wild

Osito De Felpa is a  Bolero-style song by Maria De Jesus Valdez that was released in 1974. Its age and release outside the U.S. have made it difficult to find information  about it online. I will mainly look into the movement of the chords as well as the lyrics and how they are expressed by the music.  Chord Progressions The song is in the key of A, starting with an initial chord of D (IV), moving to a G (bVII), A (I), F# (III or a V7/ii that I may not have caught correctly), Bm (ii), E (V), and back to A (I). This chord progression can be taken as two similar progressions tied by the F#, then resolve to I.  There’s a quick chord progression starting at a C#m (or iii) that moves chromatically down to Bm (ii). The harmonic rhythm moves fast, but just for a short while. The result of the moving progression leads back to the tonic (A), which is directional and somewhat unstable. It’s also interesting to see a major seven (the G#), even though that could just be my ...

    In Menuet I and II from Johann Sebastian Bach's Second  Suite for solo cello, distinctive melodic ideas seamlessly flow into one another. The seamless transitions are supported by the melodic contour and harmonic structure of the piece. The way the melody and harmonic structure work together also helps us understand the piece's form. One example of this is seen at the very beginning of Menuet I. The melody's contour begins with a four-bar phrase that descends towards a half cadence. Then the following four-bar phrase has a melody that ascends towards another half cadence. We also see a similar phrase structure at the beginning of Menuet II. The first four-bar phrase in Menuet II begins with the melody ascending and then descending to a half cadence, similar to the way the melody in Menuet I moves. Additionally, the second four-bar phrase starts by descending but then moves to ascending towards another half cadence. Both Menuet I and II start with a similar melodic con...

The song “Playing God” by Polyphia falls within the instrumental progressive rock genre, and makes use of different textures and grooves to solidify its AAB form. The chart below is an overview of the structure, which was determined by chord progressions and repeating melodies.       The first  supersection A, specifically  a section to a section  (0:00 to 0:14), includes a good example of textural layering. Take note of how it starts with 1 guitar with a "muted" sound. At the end of measure 4, three notes of a higher register take on a much brighter sound. From then until the section repeats in measure 9, backing strings come in and gradually build in dynamics. In measure 9, the new section adds a second guitar and sounds much brighter. From here on, the rest of the song will generally maintain a consistent timbre. (The audio is below the transcription.) Transcription  excerpts are by Noam Wright.      Another example of a c...

The form of the Thom Ritter George Bass Trombone concerto is a single movement concerto with an ABA' form.  Although the larger form isn’t unusual in any way, the periods and phrases within the periods are weird to say the least. There’s a piano only slow section in the beginning of the piece that plays a melodic idea (A), and then the bass trombone comes in with an extended and modified version of the piano theme (A’).                                          This is one of the few stable sections in a consistent key (F Minor), and the upcoming fast sections have frequent key modulations that are often distantly related to on another Now the form of the second group (group B) within section A is complicated, here’s a cropped picture of it. Within group B a second melodic idea or theme is introduced (B in diagram).  In this there are already many distantly related key modul...