a pentatonic tune: jasmine flowers of the sixth moon

• Apr 8, 2011 - 18:34

i got this out of a book. i enjoyed the melody and thought i'd share it with you.

verses 2 and 3:

2. White jasmine flowers of the Sixth moon are fair,
Lovely lass has never been found.
Flowers and lasses should never be alone;
Sad is the lovely lass who's never, never found.

3. White jasmine flowers of the Sixth Moon are fair,
Lasses alone are sorry and sad.
Lovely flowers should be blooming side by side.
When will the lass be found and never be alone?

I find the text jumps around a bit and restates lyrics that have already be expressed. maybe it's like this because it's in translation? kind of depressing but i didn't find the music reflected that.

Attachment Size
Jasmine Flowers of the Sixth Moon.mscz 2.99 KB

Comments

The melody is in a mode. How suitable for a Asain poem . I enjoyed this. It doesnt quite feel like it ended but I think that is ok in our times. I am sure that was how u meant it to sound to complement the words. I should try some haikus .Rorem and many other Americans composers have. Thanks for the inspiration.Definitely need to write more for voice & keyboards or percussion. Now I have just come to with a million ideas! thanks Again!

In reply to by rokr258

I think it's actually a C pentatonic, although it is modal since "g" is the tonic.

I like mixolydian because you can insert it easily into 80s songs I play without completely disrupting them. A whole tone scale, for instance, creates all kinds of notes outside the key you are in, so maybe too much tension coming from that.

So what modern composers should I be listening to? Right now I'm hung up on this Ravel piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehQMe57TPPM

I have the same problem with jazz: most all of what I listen to is from the 50s-60s.

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