Samba Em Preludio by Esperanza Spalding

Question 1

intro bars

Answer 1

• bars 1-3

Question 2

describe the introduction.

Answer 2

• opens with ad lib, virtuoso, bass solo which makes use of arpeggios, wide leaps, rapid semiquaver passages, a mordent and a harmonic

Question 3

tempo of introduction

Answer 3

• free tempo - difficult to recognise a strong pulse

Question 4

instrumentation of ‘samba em preludio’

Answer 4

• female voice - alto
• acoustic guitar
• acoustic bass guitar

Question 5

introduction - playing techniques, rhythm and ornamentation

Answer 5

• mordent - e.g. bar 1
• end of b.1 - double stopping in acoustic bass guitar - playing multiple strings together
• acoustic bass guitar - arpeggios
• bar 3 - harmonic and pause

Question 6

how many main melodies are there in the song?

Answer 6

• two
• v1 and v2, which are then combined after the guitar solo

Question 7

introduction - harmony + tonality

Answer 7

• b minor - 2 sharps
• minor key is typical of a bossa nova
• complicated harmony - piece doesn’t modulate - stays in the same key throughout

Question 8

introduction - texture

Answer 8

• monophonic - apart from a couple of double stops
• HOWEVER texture of entire piece is mainly homophonic

Question 9

what language are the lyrics in?

Answer 9

• portuguese - typical of bossa novas

Question 10

verse 1 - stanza 1 bars

Answer 10

4-11 (8 bars)

Question 11

v1s1 - melody, melodic range

Answer 11

• melodic phrases use a rising arpeggio - b.4
• first/second note of each phrase descends downwards in a long downwards sequence
• melody line goes down v.low for a female vocal down to a low E
• vocal line covers the range of a minor tenth (octave and minor third)- using chest register
• melody mostly moves in leaps of a third/seventh - unusual

Question 12

v1s1 - tempo

Answer 12

• slow
• much rhythmic rubato

Question 13

v1s1 - rhythm and accompaniment

Answer 13

• bar 9 - bossa-nova type rhythm
• bass in v1 is complicated, making more use of syncopated rhythms than the vocals and only occasionally (b.6,9,10,14+17) using a typical bossa nova-type rhythm

Question 14

v1 - instrumentation

Answer 14

• no acoustic guitar - only introduced in v2
• acoustic bass guitar
• vocals

Question 15

how is acoustic bass guitar played - v1s1?

Answer 15

• played more like a guitar with arpeggios and double stopping to provide a chordal accompaniment - polyphonic feel

Question 16

acoustic bass guitar

Answer 16

• larger version of acoustic guitar, but with 4 strings, tuned to E,A,D,G (like the double bass and bass guitar)

Question 17

verse 1 stanza two bars

Answer 17

• 12-19 (8 bars)

Question 18

v1s2 - vocal line

Answer 18

• mostly leaps and complex rhythms
• triplets and semiquavers
• rests used effectively to separate most phrases

Question 19

v1s2 - accompaniment

Answer 19

• active bass part
• some places in v.1 -> bass appears to be playing two parts before acoustic guitar comes in - lower bass notes alternating with higher chords - like a piano accompaniment

Question 20

v1s2 - word setting, vocal melody

Answer 20

• syllabic
• 1 musical note to each syllable of text
• vocal melody based on broken chords/arpeggio figures
• melody notes are often the highest note of the extended chord - b.14,15+16

Question 21

what are bars 12-17 comprised of?

Answer 21

• a repeat of bars 4-9
• melody is developed through rhythmic changes
• bar 18 - melody changes - jazzy flattened 5th

Question 22

link - bars

Answer 22

• 19-21
• 3 bars

Question 23

link - tempo and harmony

Answer 23

• tempo almost doubles - b.19
• bass guitar begins bossa nova tempo

Question 24

verse 2 stanza 3 bars

Answer 24

• 23-38
• 16

Question 25

v2s3 - function of the bass

Answer 25

• sets the bossa nova groove
• bar.23 - bass part plays much closer to the ‘standard’ bossa nova rhythm - dotted crotchet and quaver pairs

Question 26

v2s3 - rhythm, tempo

Answer 26

• piece - apart from 2 bars - wholly 4/4 quadruple time - although tempo changes from bar 19 onwards - tends to make the piece sound like 2/2
• fewer triplets - less busy

Question 27

v2s3 - harmony, texture, instrumentation

Answer 27

• bar 23 - acoustic guitar joins and chord symbols appear on the score
• 25-27 - guitar line imitates the vocal part
• chords influenced by jazz - lots of extended chords - such as Em7, G13
• altered chords - b31
• slash chords - b34

Question 28

v2s3 - melody

Answer 28

• uses almost completely stepwise conjunct movement
• vocal line is mostly in longer note values - start of the notes tend to be off-beat, syncopated a quaver before the beat sometime
• sequences - b35/36

Question 29

verse 2 stanza 4 bars

Answer 29

• 39-54
• 16 bars

Question 30

v2s4 harmony, rhythm, accompaniment, cadences

Answer 30

• guitar parts adds to rhythmic interest - syncopated and unsyncopated passages
• main chords - mostly tonal - based around chords I, II, IV, V
• occasional chromatic chords (outside key sig) -> C maj + F maj (b.43/44)
• each section ends with a perfect cadence
• accompaniment - guitar plays a mixture of plucked chords and small melodic passage
• b51 - another jazzy flattened 5th in melody
• diminished chords, extended chords, flattened 5th chords

Question 31

guitar solo - bars

Answer 31

• 55-87
• 2x 16 bars

Question 32

guitar solo

Answer 32

• improv - flamenco style
• virtuosic, complex rhythms and ornamentation like grace notes and pull-offs
• common in jazz - 32 bars long - oveer 2 sets/choruses of the 16-bar chord sequence of v.2
• second acoustic guitar is dubbed in guitar solo

Question 33

16-bar chord sequence

Answer 33

1. Bm7
2. Bm7
3. C#m7 ^b5
4. F#7
5. B7/F#
6. B7
7. Em
8. Em
9. C#m7^b9
10. F#7
11. A# dim7/B
    12.Bm7/A
12. G# dim 7
13. G# dim 7
14. G13
15. F#7

Question 34

verse 3 bars

Answer 34

• 88-104
• 16 bars
• vocals and bass duet

Question 35

v3 - instrumentation, tempo

Answer 35

• guitar drops out
• tempo still maintained - bossa nova

Question 36

v3 - vocal rhythms, texture, harmony, melody

Answer 36

• bar 89 onwards, vocal rhythms of v.2 - less syncopated
• voice and bass duet - polyphonic with 2 clear melody lines - V.2 being sung and V.1 played on bass
• melody from v.2 in vocals
• melody from v.2 in bass
• very sparse texture in places - intimate feel - counterpoint at times - b.99 - flattened 5th sequence
• b.100 - descending semitone movement in bars

Question 37

b.103

Answer 37

• D.S Al Coda
• dal segno al coda
• go back to the sign (b.39) and continue to the coda mark (b.51) and then jump to the coda (b.105)

Question 38

D.S repeat bars

Answer 38

• verse 2
• bars 39-52
• 4th stanza

Question 39

coda bars

Answer 39

• 104 to end
• 11 bars

Question 40

coda-end

Answer 40

• consists of 2 last repetitions of the last line of the lyrics
• over a 4-bar turnaround sequence
• quintuplet demi-semi quavers - bar 111
• guitar flourish - bar 113- 6/4 - free tempo returns for final guitar flourish- changes to 6/4 to accommodate notation

Question 41

turnaround

Answer 41

• series of chords that helps bring chord progressions back to the tonic key - usually found at end of a tune

Question 42

final chord and time sig

Answer 42

• Bm13
• 4/4