Loud and Clear

Information:

• Source: Approved Measures Notebook
• Key: C Major
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:24 min
• Pages: 3 Pages

I am convinced that delivering an uncomfortable truth, it is far more effective when is done loud and clear through music.

IN CONSTANT CHANGE
Music changes. It always has. People change, too, although they don’t always like to admit it. Every generation seems to believe that the music of its time is somehow special. The previous generation doesn’t understand it, the next generation will probably ruin it, and someone will inevitably complain that “they don’t make music like they used to.”

And perhaps they are right. Music has always been a rather accurate witness to what is happening around it. Culture, technology, fashion, politics, and even the way people live their everyday lives eventually find their way into music. In other words, music is not really just music. It is a mirror. And mirrors, as we know, can be surprisingly honest.

Music from previous centuries - what one of my students once called “old music” - has had a rather interesting afterlife. It turns up in movies, television shows, commercials, and other places where you might not expect to find it. My own introduction to Burgmüller came from an especially unlikely source: Beauty Shop, the 2005 film starring Queen Latifah.

In one scene, Burgmüller’s Etude No. 2, Arabesque in A minor is played. I had never heard it before, I noticed it immediately. It turned out, Burgmüller had found his way into Hollywood long before I found my way to Burgmüller.

Burgmüller’s 25 Progressive Etudes had been a staple of piano education for generations. Mature in sound. These were pieces written to introduce children to the piano. At first, I thought little of it. After all, they were piano exercises.

Children played them, teachers assigned them, and generations of pianists grew up with them. But the more I listened, the more I began to wonder whether we had changed something along the way. Perhaps the music had not changed at all. Perhaps we had.

FROM FAR AND WIDE
Music can tell us, loud and clear, about its composer, but it can also serve as a mirror of society and entire cultures around the world. Moreover, when it manages to make a difference in people’s lives, it screams even louder. No other form of art has such a powerful hold on people or the unique ability to unite them from far and wide.

In today’s world, thanks to the technology available at our fingertips, we can enjoy full concerts of both new and old music. Suddenly, the accessibility of music being published is almost instantaneous, reminding us how quickly art can move in the modern world.

Music has the power to contradict, insult, provoke, and confront, and yet, we are often more willing to forgive and accept its message. In this way, music can sometimes do what words cannot. At the same time, it has the power to inspire, heal, soothe, and provide comfort _ and, surprisingly, we respond just as passionately to that message.

LOUDER THAN PLAIN WORDS
I have made a small list of music that I can think of off the top of my head that had changed the way I see the world. They made me think, question what had been established, and stimulated my curiosity. These songs and works spoke to me more loudly than plain words ever could _ about the lament of death, government lies, love, lost, religious control, and even world history.

1- Act of contrition by Madonna
The reversed sounds and the backwards gospel choir one hears in the song create the eerie, disorienting atmosphere that makes the entire track feel like a “black mass” version of “Like a Prayer.” The song is a loud whisper of disobedience and a clear message of impenitence mask as a prayer to a God.

2.- Heroes de la Antartida by Mecano
A song that tells a complete historical story. It combines history, literature, tragedy, irony, patriotism. But near the end of the song, everything changes, and the shift is devastating.
No gravestones
No discussion
No God
No queen
Only eternal snow
The patriotic and religious language collapses, leaving only the indifferent Antarctic landscape. An existential tragedy that all humans have to face.

3.- The four seasons by Vivaldi
Facing the world could be one of the hardest things, but when I do it along side the four seasons, suddenly everything is possible. The four seasons has become a clear landmark of the Baroque era. What a gift! It is one of the most recognizable pieces of music ever composed and I cannot think living life without it.

4.- Unravel by Bjork
Soft and vague is what makes this song a loud and clear statement of grief and hope, good and evil, contemplating being between love and a broken heart. Every single time I listen to the song, I discover a new meaning, a new layer of pain.

5.-Famine by Sinead O'Connor
This song opened my eyes to history, rap rhythms, politics, Irish melodies. The loud message Sinead delivers with such boldness makes me question much of what I thought I knew _ but more importantly, everything that has been hidden. This song makes me wonder if that deep emotional response I get every time I listen to it, means there is something Irish within me after all.

Through music, composers have made bold statements reflecting social and political upheaval, sexual revolutions, injustices, and even deeply personal ideas. Music opens our eyes to the world in ways that words and actions cannot. New technology continues to transform how music is created, forcing us either to adapt or to be left behind. In short, music can_ and will_ change opinions on any subject to the very core, reaching into the center of our deepest emotions.

LISTEN AND DISCOVER
Burgmuller’s Etudes are beautiful, comfortable to play, and full of great ideas. In this post, I’m sharing a piano-cello piece that includes a snippet from Etude number 1, Opus 100. I borrowed the opening measures and blended them into the piano part, letting Burgmuller’s theme flow in my composition.

Whenever you have the opportunity, I encourage you to listen to the music of Burgmuller. Each Etude in Opus 100, delivers a specific message, even though they were originally written as educational tools. I invite you to listen and discover_ if you haven’t already_ whether one of this Etudes might speak to you in a way that plain words cannot.

Sheet Music Archive

Published Score.
The complete work is available for consultation and download.