What is Bossa Nova?
Bossa Nova in itself is a music that revolves around the dance of samba that originates in Brazil. Bossa Nova even though it’s derived from Samba, it can be said that it also focuses more on the melodic tones rather than percussion itself. Samba within Bossa Nova attributes to rhythmic patterns and brings out a feeling that is felt in the music of former African slave communities. Samba's primary emphasis is on the second beat in various songs, which carries through to Bossa Nova. Typically there are also two measure patterns that contain syncopation into the second measure in most pieces. It’s with these patterns and structure in the rhythm that creates a "swaying" feel rather than the "swinging" feel of jazz. An example of the “swaying” feel described earlier is with Bossa Nova composer Carlos Lyra who represents this in his song "Influência do Jazz". In this piece the samba rhythm accompanying the Bossa Nova music creates a feeling in which the audience moves "side to side". Then in contrary to Bossa Nova, Jazz has a feeling that moves instead from "front to back". Bossa Nova also has influences from the blues genre as well, although the most popular Bossa Nova pieces lack the 12-bar structure characteristic of typical blues music. Other factors that differentiate the two genres include the statement, repetition and rhyming resolve of the lyrics that exist in the Blues Genre. In early Bossa Nova pieces the lyrical themes and length of the songs (lasting usually around two to four minutes). Bossa Nova’s song structure is normally different from European and North American popular music's typical format of two verses followed by a bridge then a closing verse (AACA structure). Whereas Bossa Nova pieces almost always have not more than two lyrical verses while also many lack a bridge (typically similar to an ABA structure rather than including a C). Sometimes in the earlier recordings there are less than two minutes in the compositions themselves. Also even some pieces have single lyrical verses that were just repeated. Finally thematically the lyrical themes are in Bossa Nova consist of women, love, desire, and the memories of being young.
Who is Aaron Copland?
Copland also took Emily Dickinson’s (A poet) lyrical language in her works with brief leaps in vocal lines within his pieces that compliment aspects in her poems such as pauses and dashes among stanzas. It’s also said by Vivian Perlis (an American music historian that "the songs are unusual in style with irregular meters and stanzas, wide jumps in the vocal lines, and difficult passages for the pianist that present special challenges." In order for Copland to better capture Dickinson’s character, he visited the poet’s home in Amherst, MA which allowed him to take in the atmosphere of the place in which Dickenson spent most of her hours writing her own works.
