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Title: HUMOR AND ICONICITY IN MUSIC by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen


1
HUMOR AND ICONICITY IN MUSICby Don L. F.
Nilsenand Alleen Pace Nilsen
2
Music and Dance are Everywhere
3
AUTO-TUNE THE NEWSBrian Williams Rapson Jimmy
Fallons Tonight Show
  • https//www.youtube.com/watch?v-YCeIgt7hMsfeatur
    eyoutube_gdata_player

4
BALLET TROCADERO
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vaIQyZo1PeFA

5
Contemporary Musicals
6
Contemporary Joke BandsTenacious D and Flight
of The Conchords
7
Country Music
  • Dueling Banjos Roy Clark and Buck Trent
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v4gw0fxuIvBM

8
Some Fun Musical Links
  • Fit as a Fiddle and Ready for Love
  • https//www.youtube.com/watch?v-Badf0ctYQo
  • Make Em Laugh from Singing in the Rain
  • https//www.youtube.com/watch?vSND3v0i9uhE

9
Contemporary ParodyWeird Al Yankovic
10
  • Weird Al Yankovic Eat it
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vZcJjMnHoIBI
  • Weird Al Yankovic Fat
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vt2mU6USTBRE
  • Weird Al Yankovic White and Nerdy
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vN9qYF9DZPdw

11
Musical Point of View!
12
Flash Mob at the University of Minnesota
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?featureplayer_embedd
    edvuH8FvERQHtM

13
(No Transcript)
14
Music and Magic
  • Cognate with chant are such words as Encanto,
    enchanted, and a Jewish Cantor.
  • This is why there is an Encanto Park in Phoenix.
  • It is enchanted.

15
A FEW HISTORICAL NOTES
  • In the 1600s, the Italians developed their Opera
    Buffa, leading the way to comic opera, which in
    France became the Comedie Française and in
    Germany the Komische Oper.
  • Karl Haas says that in England it led to John
    Gays The Beggars Opera, (1728), and in the
    1850s and 1860s to Offenbachs satirical
    masterpieces.

16
HUMOR IN CLASSICAL MUSIC
  • Humor in classical music has a long tradition as
    shown by such playful vocabulary items as the
    French gavotte, which like the Irish and English
    gigue or jig is music for a fast-moving dance.
  • A scherzo is a musical joke while a cappricio is
    a composition that is irregular in form and
    usually lively and whimsical.
  • A divertimento is a light and entertaining
    instrumental composition.
  • And a rondo is a composition whose principal
    theme is repeated three or more times in the same
    key, interspersed with subordinate themes.

17
Musical Satires and Parodies
  • CHEAP FLIGHTS
  • http//www.youtube.com/embed/HPyl2tOaKxM
  • PIANO JUGGLER 1
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v07brW206D84
  • MECHANICAL GUITARS
  • http//www.youtube.com/embed/XlyCLbt3Thk?rel0
  • IGOODESMAN AND JOO
  • http//cartoonando.blogspot.com/2008/04/1000-posts
    .html

18
IRONY IN MUSIC
  • In Mozarts The Abduction from the Seraglio,
    Rossinis The Barber of Seville, and
    Offenbachs Orpheus in the Underworld, dramatic
    irony comes into play as characters become
    victims of Tricksters and suffer from
    misidentifications and misunderstood events.
  • An extra irony in relation to Offenbachs
    Orpheus is that one of its musical sequences
    was so lively that it became famous throughout
    Paris and the world as The Can Can.

19
Leroy Anderson
  • TYPEWRITER BY LEROY ANDERSON
  • http//www.metacafe.com/watch/803796/the_typewrite
    r_song/

20
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
  • In his Pulitzer-Prize-winning Godel, Escher,
    Bach An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas Hofstadter
    compares Johann Sebastian Bachs fascination with
    acoustic loops to artist M. C. Eschers
    fascination with visual loops in which a
    waterfall appears to become its own source.
  • In his Endlessly Rising Canon, Bach seems to be
    drawing to a conclusion but instead slips out of
    the key of C-minor and into D-minor. This false
    ending ties smoothly into a new beginning where
    Bach repeats the process and returns in the key
    of E, only to start over again.

21
Hofstadter on Bach (continued)
  • Hofstadter says that these successive
    modulations lead the ear to increasingly remote
    provinces on tonality, so that after several of
    them, one would expect to be hopelessly far away
    from the starting key.
  • And yet, magically, after exactly six such
    modulations, the original key of C-minor has been
    restored?

22
Johann Sebastian Bach
23
P. D. Q. Bach, A Musical Satirist
  • P. D. Q. is purported to be the last of Johann
    Sebastian Bachs 20-odd children.
  • He was discovered by Peter Schickele, the first
    person to occupy the General Electric Chair at
    the University of Southern North Dakota at
    Huppel.
  • Peter Schickele keeps unearthing various P. D. Q.
    Bach schleptetas and pervertimentos.

24
P. D. Q.An Antidote to Our National Inferiority
Complex
  • P.D.Q. Bach (Peter Schickeley) has a wider appeal
    than standard classical musicians because of his
    musical parodies.
  • Notice the bassoon is in two parts.

25
  • PETER SCHICKELE (PDQ BACH)
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vmY0CFaracVE

26
  • Carrot Clarinet
  • http//www.youtube.com/embed/BISrGwN-yH4

27
There are many classical composers famous for
their humor
  • Ludwig Van Beethoven satirized local musicians in
    his Pastoral Symphony where he portrayed a
    sleepy village in which the musicians doze off,
    wake up, play a few notes, and then doze off
    again.
  • BEETHOVENS PASTORAL SYMPHONY
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?va9HWo4THnHA

28
Ludwig Van Beethoven
  • 3-YEAR-OLD CONDUCTING BEETHOVENS 5th SYMPHONY
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v0REJ-lCGiKU
  • 7-YEAR-OLD PLAYING BEETHOVENS RAGE OVER A LOST
    PENNY
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v0CED7cijODg

29
Victor BorgeOur Greatest Musical Clown
  • Early in Borges career when he was doing a piano
    concerto, the conductor lost his place in the
    musical score. Borge, a talented and serious
    player, stood up from his piano bench, walked
    over to the conductors stand, pointed to the
    right place in the score, and then returned to
    his piano bench to finish the concerto. The
    strength of the applause was a turning point in
    Borges career.
  • One of Borges most popular gags was to look
    befuddled as he examined a musical score and
    tried to play it. After some false starts and
    pondering, he would realize it was upside down,
    so he would turn it over and play the piece
    masterfully.

30
Victor Borge and Muppets
31
More on Victor Borge
  • Borge would shift slyly from a piece of classical
    into a piece of popular music.
  • He also played pop culture pieces, e.g. Happy
    Birthday to You as if it had been composed by
    Bach or Brahms.
  • Wordplay was a favorite as when he said that a
    particular piece he was playing by Rachmaninoff
    was written in four flatsbecause the composer
    had been so poor he had to keep moving while he
    was working on it.
  • He announced another piece as being composed by
    Bach, but he couldnt remember whether it was
    Johann Sebastian, or Jacques Offen.

32
  • VICTOR BORGE
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vBcV19rylSZc

33
  • Frederic Chopins Raindrop Prelude
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v6OFHXmiZP38

34
  • Dizzy Fingers by Zez Confrey
  • https//www.youtube.com/watch?vMGKcXv0FeCE

35
Phyllis Diller, who died at age 95 in August of
2012, was a pioneer for women stand-up comedians.
She used her long cigarette holder much like
conductors use batons, only she was managing the
audience rather than the orchestra.
36
George Gershwins An American in Paris (Note
the Paris Taxi Horns in the Percussion Sections)
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vRos66y1aZ-E

37
In the 1870s through the 1890s, this led to the
Gilbert and Sullivan operas
  • The Gondoliers,
  • H.M.S. Pinafore,
  • Iolanthe,
  • The Mikado,
  • Patience,
  • The Pirates of Penzance,
  • Prince Ida,
  • Ruddigore,
  • The Sorcerer,
  • Trial by Jury,
  • and The Yeoman of the Guard.

W. S. Gilbert
Sir Arthur Sullivan
38
  • THREE LITTLE MAIDS FROM SCHOOL (GILBERT
    SULLIVAN)
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vmXWkIZUPmDY

39
Antonin Dvorak
  • The expressively cross-sensory sounds of the
    Painted Desert in Antonin Dvoraks New World
    Symphony.
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v2q8eq66Krv0

40
Ferde Grofé
  • Ferde Grofés bump de bump de dadada of his On
    the Trail from the Grand Canyon Suite.
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vbVKVB0MImOg

41
Georges Friedrich Handel
  • SILENT MONKS SINGING HALLELUIA CHORUS
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vZCFCeJTEzNUfeature
    related

42
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
  • Franz Joseph Haydn was distressed by the number
    of people who fell asleep while listening to his
    chamber pieces.
  • So he wrote Symphony Number 94 (The Surprise
    Symphony) in the key of C using a slow tempo and
    soft and repetitive sequences.
  • At the end of each stanza, he modulated the music
    to the key of G and ended with a resounding
    fortissimo chord guaranteed to wake up anyone who
    might be dozing.
  • HAYDNS SURPRISE SYMPHONY
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vlLjwkamp3lI

43
Franz Joseph Haydn
44
Haydns Farewell Symphony is another example
of Haydns humor.
  • He wanted to communicate that the musicians were
    lonely for their wives and needed to go home for
    the summer.
  • So as the symphony draws to its end, various
    musicians put out the lights on their music
    stands and departed.
  • Audiences were amused at the gradual diminishing
    of the orchestra, but they understood his
    message.
  • This same technique was later used in The Sound
    of Music as the von Trapps left the stage and
    were smuggled out of the theater past the Nazi
    guards.
  • HAYDN FAREWELL SYMPHONY
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vK0ligH6PCW0

45
JOSEPH HAYDNS MUSICAL JOKE
  • Joseph Haydns String Quartet Opus 33, Number 2
    is called The Joke.
  • This is because it has so many false endings
  • PRESTO MOVEMENT FROM JOSEPH HAYDNS THE JOKE
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vLDkWBzH6dkE

46
Noras CATcerto
47
Scot Joplin
  • SCOT JOPLINS PEACHERINE RAG ON RECYCLED BOTTLES
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vk26nt3Y4cmg

48
Tom Lehrer Musical Parodies and Satires
  • One of the best known satirists is Tom Lehrer,
    who as a Harvard Professor in the 1960s began
    getting attention for some forty musical parodies
    and satires.
  • He has written songs about poisoning pigeons in
    the park, hometown perverts, and charred bodies
    in a nuclear holocaust.
  • His most controversial piece is The Vatican Rag
    with its bow your head with great respect
    andgenuflect! genuflect! genuflect!

49
Chico and Harpo Marx Shooting the Keys
  • In the early and mid-1900s, when Chico Marx
    played an arpeggio on the piano, he would play
    all of the notes but one, and then would point to
    that key with his index finger and using his
    thumb as a trigger would shoot the key.
  • Harpo Marx would also shoot the keys, but he
    was famous for playing glissandos (sliding
    music), and for getting his finger stuck between
    the keys.
  • We old-timers thought about Chico and his
    shooting of the keys when we saw Mr. Bean
    playing his one-note solo as part of Britains
    opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics.

50
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
  • Mozart was a contemporary of Haydn, and his The
    Village Musicians is also known as A Musical
    Joke. This is because he composed it as a grand
    burlesque of the nonprofessional playing that was
    done by amateur community bands of his day.

51
  • PAPAGANA/PAPAGENO (MOZARTS MAGIC FLUTE
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v87UE2GC5db0

52
Jacques Offenbach
  • HOKUM W. JEEBS PLAYS Offenbach
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v4q38R0MtNHYlistPL
    23E8C9830E320E60

53
Johann Pachelbel
  • PACHELBEL RANT
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJdxkVQy7QLM

54
Sergei Prokofiev
  • http//www.wnyc.org/story/256987-peter-and-the-wol
    f/

55
Monte Pythons Song that goes like this
  • Eric Idle Song that goes like this.
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?v2ddwK8Py2pY

56
Gioachini Rossini
  • The flourishes and strikes in Rossinis The
    Thieving Magpie.
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vUs_6fXZpt-c

57
Mark Russell, a Piano-Playing Comedian
  • During the 1980s and 90s, Mark Russell used his
    musical abilities to become a well-known
    political commentatortalking and playing the
    piano, first in night club settings and then in
    performance halls.
  • During Reagans presidency, he took the tune of
    My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean and changed it
    to
  • My ship of states practically grounded
  • for want of a policy plan.
  • I deny all the chargesunfounded
  • since the state of my ship hit the fan.
  • Bring back. Bring back. Oh bring back my
    Teflon to
  • me, to me.

58
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
  • In his Carnival of the Animals, Saint-Saëns
    parodies the can can melody from Jacques
    Offenbachs Orpheus in the Underworld.
  • Ogden Nash added words to Saint Saenss iconic
    Carnival of the Animals.
  • The can-can is normally performed at breakneck
    tempo, but in Saint-Saens Tortoises, the parody
    is played painfully slow by low-register strings.
  • TORTOISES
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vAHvqaRaDzQE

59
Camille Saint-Saens
60
Camille Saint-Saëns
  • DANSE MACABRE BY CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vEcOZmtbLRP0feature
    related

61
Johann Strauss
  • LAUGHING SONG (JOHANN STRAUSS DIE FLEDERMAUS)
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vnpLZNoRoH2MNR1

62
RICHARD WAGNER
  • Even in the most serious operas, composers
    include light moments for comic relief. For
    example in his Ring Cycle, Richard Wagner has
    the young Siegfried turn the brown bear loose on
    Mime so that he and the audience can relish in
    the dwarfs fright.
  • And one of the funniest lines in all of opera is
    the dramatic irony when Siegfried slices open
    Brunnhildes breastplate with his armor-piercing
    sword, and exclaims, Das ist kein Mann! (This
    is not a man?)

63
Tempe Community Chorus
  • http//www.tempecommunitychorus.org/gallery

64
Four Really talented Ladies
  • http//www.reshareworthy.com/amazing-quartet-blew-
    audience-away/HlDc3TMGOGULZGi4.01
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