Tubist of Time wrote:This is a word in the music world that has several different definitions, especially us brass and woodwind players. What I want to know, however, is the musical genre/technique known as air. As in "Air and Bouree" or "Air on a G String." What makes an air, an air? The two pieces listed above are very much different, so what guidelines does a piece of music have to follow to be considered an "air?"
What I take an "air" to mean is a melody or simple melodic idea, which one then proceeds to beat to death with tools known as "variations".
Tubist of Time wrote:What I want to know, however, is the musical genre/technique known as air. As in "Air and Bouree" or "Air on a G String." What makes an air, an air?
air = designation for a song in which all stanzas of the text are sung to the same music; the chief voice part or melody in choral music (as opposed to a dance, etc)
Tubist of Time wrote:What I want to know, however, is the musical genre/technique known as air. As in "Air and Bouree" or "Air on a G String." What makes an air, an air?
air = designation for a song in which all stanzas of the text are sung to the same music; the chief voice part or melody in choral music (as opposed to a dance, etc)
Which, by the way, is precisely what Italian "Aria" means. In more formal settings, such as Bach's Goldberg Variations, the initial statement of the theme is also known as the "Aria" or "Air".
Chuck(G) wrote:Just thought I'd throw in my two pfennigs...
Which I'll not only beat to death with variations, but thrash to within their life with a rondeau, and then put them on the rack with an exposition, which I'll use to fuel an atonal coda...
windshieldbug wrote:Which I'll not only beat to death with variations, but thrash to within their life with a rondeau, and then put them on the rack with an exposition, which I'll use to fuel an atonal coda...
Und now, ve haff ze crab through ze looking glass...
--Dr Klauss Domgraf-Fassbaende on Bruno Heinz Jaja
The two pieces listed above are very much different, so what guidelines does a piece of music have to follow to be considered an "air?"
