Favorite Song

For this assignment, I had a tough time choosing one song that I would consider my favorite. I enjoy so many different types of music that choosing just one proved to be near impossible, which is why it has taken me until now to write this entry. I listen primarily to country artists and bands like Lucky Boys Confusion and The Dog and Everything, bands local to Naperville, IL (where I'm from) but after awhile, I opened my search to bands such as Something Corporate, 311, and O.A.R. but I was still at a loss. I then moved onto King, Clapton, Hendrix, Van Halen, AC/DC and before I knew it I was back to square one of searching my iTunes library to find what I would consider my favorite song. It's a little unconvential considering the time of year and the weather outside, but I would consider "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra to be one of my top songs of all time. I could list the subjective reasons for liking this song and write this entire entry listing them, but talking as objectively as I can, this song is amazing. The timbre of the orchestra by itself is very colorful as each instrument obviously sounds different and adds a different feel to the piece, but specifically the noticeable difference in timbre and texture begins roughly 30 seconds into the song when the sadness of the cello, guitar, and flute are replaced with the intensity of the electric guitar playing one melody line and the rest of the string section playing another, as the bells play and add even more range to the piece. To me, it sounds as though the song is played in a minor harmony because it doesn't have a very happy feel to it. The melody comes off to me as sad because of the song starting off minor and continuing that throughout the piece. It follows a very stepwise pattern of notes as there isn't much, if any, major skipping of notes/octaves in the song. The song is very rythmic and is in 3/8 time, which makes it have a quick feel. I would consider it to be homophonic (though the many sounds make it seem polyphonic) because though there are many different sounds, they are all playing the same melody. The absence of lyrics makes it so much easier to hear individuals instruments too. Although it is August and 80 degrees outside, this song is really transcends the weather outside and the time of year which makes it one of my favorite songs of all time.