After having listened to Louis Armstrong’s “West End Blues” on your own and with the Voice Thread lectures, write a short analysis of the recording. You can use the listening chart that you developed to guide your writing. In your analysis, use musical vocabulary and apply some of the listening skills you have worked on.
- For the paper, write one paragraph that describes the ensemble, identifying all of the instruments of the ensemble. Use vocabulary of rhythm and tempo to describe the whole ensemble’s performance. Identify the meter of the music and the song form.
- In the next paragraph, explain, in detail, the form of the music. Describe which instrument “takes the lead” and which instruments are accompanying the lead for each chorus. In each new chorus, describe the change in lead instrument and which instruments leave the chorus. For example: “In the first chorus this instrument is the lead… Later in the third chorus, a new instrument takes the lead.”
- Last, explain what is interesting or meaningful to you about the recording and the experience of close listening. This paragraph can be subjective and from your perspective, but you may include historical information about Louis Armstrong or jazz to support your discussion.
