"A musical piece that gets your groove on"

Being the cultural teenager that I am and having the obsession over A.R. Rahman that I have, I jumped to the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack when I chose a musical piece to analyze. Ironically, I haven't actually seen the movie because I was too young to see it when it was released, and then it kind of slipped my mind for the next 6 years. This song actually has no lyrics at all. It's just a bunch of background instruments and sound effects being meshed together in some sort of cohesive musical experience that lasts approximately 4 minutes. So it's actually pretty interesting. But I mean when aren't A.R. Rahman's songs interesting? He won two Grammys for this album alone!!!!!!! He is an insane musical genius.

The piece is called "Mausam and Escape" and it's my all-time favorite song that has to do with all things Indian, instrumental, and intense. I admire it's unexpected aspects, such as the sudden electric sitar bass drop type of thing after the serene introduction. Then A.R. Rahman adds the classical Indian bhangra, which is kind of like drums in English. (You should just travel to India if you really want to understand its cultural and musical traditions to be completely honest because it's hard to grasp by merely reading about it.) After that, it shifts into this fast-paced eastern electro hip-hop mixture of sounds which is essentially supposed to make the listener nervous or uncertain, which might be a dramatic moment in the movie, which I should probably go watch after I publish this blog post. There's some more voice recording effects, bansuri (basically an Indian flute-like contraption) notes, and orchestral violin additions that accelerate and crescendo into the climactic moment. Immediately after, it mellows down but still carries that intensity and mysteriousness as it trails off. There's no A, A', B, or C sections - it's literally just one melody being transformed and backed up and repeated over and over again yet somehow it's so addictively satisfying, so I wouldn't consider it A, A', A", because it's just A A A A, etc.


So it's pretty interesting. And here's the link to the audio.

Photo by Trey Jones

Hey everyone! I'm a senior at my local high school who's participated in musical activities for the majority of my life. Following in both my sister and brother's footsteps, I picked up the violin in fourth grade and played with my elementary school's string orchestra. Later in fifth grade, in response to my sister's advice, I switched to band and played the oboe, which I have been playing for about eight years now. When I entered high school, I joined the marching band and started the mellophone. You could only imagine how challenging it would be to learn a brass instrument after playing a woodwind double-reeded instrument for such a long time. It ended up being one of the best decisions I've made, actually. Though I've been playing the mellophone for four years and the oboe for almost eight, I feel more comfortable on the brass instrument.

I don't exactly have a particular musical interest in regards to composers or genres, but I definitely know some pieces I've played over the years that still resonate in my mind. Some of these memorable pieces include "Fantasia for Band" by Vittorio Giannini and "Snow Caps" by Richard Saucedo. The fact that I like these two extremely contrasting pieces show my wide range of musical taste, even if it's not for the music you wouldn't typically listen to on the radio. Overall, my musical experience since elementary school has greatly shaped my appreciation and understanding for all types of music.