Journal #43

Today we have to write about John Coltrane's song "Blue Train", which is a jazz song from the Modernism period of writing. This song shows a lot of different feelings and emotions in it through the tempo of the song and the range of notes that they play. In the beginning, the music starts out very slow, and it makes one really get into the music. I can picture the person in a small jazz club, playing their instrument with the drums and the piano in the background. I can see all of the people slowly closing their eyes and swaying along with the music. It quickly picks up speed, and the picture in my mind changes to a picture of people that are in rags for clothing all being together and celebrating something so they are dancing to the music. They are all extremely happy, and the beverages are definitely flowing. They have some people sitting on the side and just watching, but most of the people are dancing in the middle. They are being swung every which way, and their feet are moving at incredible speeds. The music then slows back down, and after a while the piano is the instrument that can be heard the loudest. This makes me feel like I am at an elegant party where the music is there on the side and everyone is socializing and talking to one another with flutes of champagne in their hands. The women are wearing beautiful dresses and the men are dressed in tuxedos. The music then speeds up again, but the piano is still the most easily heard. It is incredible how the transitions from slow to fast come so easily to them, because many people would not be able to make everything sound so smooth. Their group must have practiced this piece quite a bit, because it sounds absolutely perfect. They must have practiced incredibly hard when they were younger, and it definitely paid off.