by: B.J. Bowen
Series: Musical Murder Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: September 14, 2022
Publisher: Camel Press
When temperamental conductor Felix Underhayes is killed before a rehearsal of the Nutcracker ballet, everyone realizes the show must go on. At an already crazy time of year, things become more complicated when Emily Wilson's nephew, percussionist Charlie McRae, is accused of the crime.
Emily's sister, Kathleen, and their mother arrive to help prove Charlie's innocence, but in spite of their best intentions, their efforts do more to hinder the police investigation than to help.
To secure justice for her nephew, can Emily juggle performances and family dynamics, while she dodges a demented killer who wants to silence her?
Many Musings, Mostly Musical: What Contributes to Feeling in Music?
by B.J. Bowen
In the second in my Musical Murders series, Ballistics at the Ballet, my protagonist, flutist Emily Wilson, often responds to her mood in the music she practices. She recognizes that the music can affect the mood of her students, too. Emily has experienced this musical effect and uses it. Are there real, technical reasons for it?
There are many things which contribute to the feeling music conveys. The first of these is the mode a particular piece is in. Is it major or minor? Major modes have a particular pattern of half steps and whole steps. If this pattern is altered by lowering the third note, the piece is in minor. Thus, if C, D, E, F, G, A and B, for example, are used through the piece, it’s major. But if the third step, the E, is lowered to E flat, it’s minor. There are two more forms of minor, but what the ear hears is that lowered third. These notes can be used in any order, but the piece remains major or minor, depending on whether E or E flat is used. Happy music tends to be major, like the Wedding March of Mendelssohn. Sad music tends to be minor, like “The Sound of Silence,” by Simon and Garfunkel.
The tempo, or speed, is also important to the feeling of a piece. Happy works, such as Marches, tend to be fast—allegretto, allegro, presto, prestissimo, and vivace. Sad pieces tend to be slow—largo, larghetto, andante. Think “Stars and Stripes Forever” vs. “Danny Boy.”
Where the accents are placed can also affect the feeling of a piece of music. To see the truth of this, simply repeat the word perfect and perfect to yourself. The meaning changes. The same is true in music. The feeling changes depending on where accents are placed.
Then there is the mystic, the feeling an individual musician puts into the music. This is what makes one musician’s version different from another. Thus Dolly Parton’s version of “I Will Always Love You” is very different from Whitney Houston’s rendering of the same song. “Yesterday” differs when Paul McCartney sings it, and when other artists cover it.
To put all of these together, listen to Mahler’s First Symphony, Third Movement. In this movement, Mahler uses the children’s song, “Frere Jacque (Are You Sleeping Brother John?)”. But instead of a happy children’s song, it becomes a sad funeral dirge when he slows it down and puts it in the minor mode. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the work, here is a link: Christoph Eschenbach - Mahler - Symphony No.1 [3/5] - Bing video
Did you listen to the example? What did you think? Comment below.
As I opened the stage door, I heard Felix shout, “No!” followed quickly by a shot. My ears rang with the sound. It had to have been close…
A few fraught seconds later the exit door slammed, the ensuing silence broken only by Felix’s moaning. I decided the threat had gone and moved across the entry and down the hallway, toward Felix’s dressing room.
The prima ballerina’s door was closed. Next to it, the premier danseur emerged from his dressing room. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” I crept cautiously forward, the dancer following.
The next door, Felix’s, stood open. He lay on the floor, groaning. And bleeding.
The danseur turned ashen and his chin trembled. “What . . . what . . .”
I spotted a cummerbund hung over a chair. “Take that cummerbund and press it over the wound on Felix’s chest. I’ll call 911.”
I pulled the phone from my pocket. “Send an ambulance and police to Fleisher Hall. A man’s been shot.”
The danseur knelt on one side of Felix, pressing the cummerbund to the conductor’s chest. I knelt on the other, holding Felix’s outstretched arm, his hand in mine. “It’s okay.” I tried to reassure him. “Help will be here soon.”
Felix whispered, “Tell her she’s the only one . . .”
A few fraught seconds later the exit door slammed, the ensuing silence broken only by Felix’s moaning. I decided the threat had gone and moved across the entry and down the hallway, toward Felix’s dressing room.
The prima ballerina’s door was closed. Next to it, the premier danseur emerged from his dressing room. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” I crept cautiously forward, the dancer following.
The next door, Felix’s, stood open. He lay on the floor, groaning. And bleeding.
The danseur turned ashen and his chin trembled. “What . . . what . . .”
I spotted a cummerbund hung over a chair. “Take that cummerbund and press it over the wound on Felix’s chest. I’ll call 911.”
I pulled the phone from my pocket. “Send an ambulance and police to Fleisher Hall. A man’s been shot.”
The danseur knelt on one side of Felix, pressing the cummerbund to the conductor’s chest. I knelt on the other, holding Felix’s outstretched arm, his hand in mine. “It’s okay.” I tried to reassure him. “Help will be here soon.”
Felix whispered, “Tell her she’s the only one . . .”
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B.J. Bowen is a musician and free-lance writer whose love of music was awakened by her mother, who played the flute. After discovering her lips were the wrong shape and failing miserably as a flute player, at the age of eleven Ms. Bowen began studying oboe, and has since performed and recorded on both oboe and English horn with professional symphonies and cham[1]ber groups throughout Mexico and Colorado. Her inspirational articles have appeared in Unity Magazine and Daily Word, and she won Honorable Mention in the 2018 Focus: Eddy Awards for her article, “Letting Go with Grace,” published in Unity Magazine. Drawing on her quirky fellow musicians and orchestral experiences, she created the mystery series, “Musical Murders.” She lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with two canine friends, and has a song for any occasion.
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I am trying to get into the mystery genre and since The Nutcracker is my familys favorite story and ballet - the reading Gods must be trying to tell me something! I'd love to read this story! Cheri M
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Enjoy!!
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