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The Expressiveness of Billie Holiday

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Billie Holiday had the fantastic ability to put soul into her jazz music, showing the world her musical personality. Without a music education, Holiday was still able to use her “go with the flow” personality in order to climb higher up in the music industry. This big personality shines bright in this interview of her describing one of her first auditions. Around the two minutes and thirty seconds marker, Billie describes how in the audition her accompanist asked her what key her song was in, and Billie’s perfect response is this: “I dunno man, just play it!”. This is a prime example of the kind of performer Holiday was. Her personality flavored her music every time she sang. This was expressed through many ways, such as her manipulation of tempo and phrasing, her improvisation, and as Frances Rowe describes it, her ability to be vulnerable onstage. She was truly a one-of-a-kind performer.     Holiday’s innovative manipulation of tempo and phrasing used to express
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How Composers have Influenced Each Other

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Igor Stravinsky once suggested, “A good composer does not imitate, he steals.” Since the  early development of composition as a field of study, composers have observed and commented on each other’s work. Child prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was arguably the most well known composer of the European Classical Period. He often copied the work of his mentors, as well as fellow composers he admired. Specifically, Johann Sebastian Bach greatly influenced Mozart’s style of counterpoint, of which Bach was a master. Joseph Haydn acted as a mentor figure for young Mozart, as the two would complement and pay tribute to each other’s work. In 1772, Mozart composed a series of six Quartets, dedicated to and in the style of the older composer. In Mozart: a life, author Peter Gay explains, “Mozart’s admiration for Haydn was perfectly genuine: just as Haydn esteemed Mozart above all other composers, so Mozart returned the compliment in full”(77). Borrowed ideas in musical compositions are not
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Music as a Function in Society

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Music’s function within society is highly dependent on the environment in which it is performed. While music composed by the child-prodigy Wolfgang Mozart is now primarily listened to in formal settings with the audience's undivided attention, during his lifetime, the audience was usually preoccupied with other activities. In his book Mozart , Peter Gay explains that during Mozart’s childhood, his family would perform at parties while audience members would listen “at best intermittent[ly],” (14). Gay goes on further explaining, “In Mozart’s day, music, sacred music alone excepted, was still largely mere entertainment,” (14). In Salzburg, during Mozart's life, music acted more as background music than anything else. Music’s function within that society has now evolved into being used as main entertainment in formal settings in addition to how it was used previously. In concert halls and a few restaurants, such as Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley , music is the primary focus of enter
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