In the Bottoms Suite: Honey Humoresque

Robert Nathaniel Dett
Piece Duration: 1:26

About this Piece

(Starts at 7:46)

Program Note: "This piece depicts scenes and moods in the lives of Black Americans, along the river bottoms [low-lying land along a river] of the Southern United States. It was composed in 1913, during Dett's tenure at Lane College. Having been inspired by Dvorak's inclusion of traditional folk melodies in larger forms, Dett, in 'In the Bottoms,' made use of characteristics indigenous to Black folk music. Dett felt that not only that Black folk melodies were worthy of being used in art music, but that they themselves could be expanded to become larger forms. It was not, however, until several years later that this concept clearly became his objective." - Debra A. Miles

Sheet Music: (Pg. 52, PDF Pg. 10)
https://vmirror.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c8/IMSLP64680-PMLP131763-Dett_In_the_Bottoms.pdf 

Fermata: Follow along with the score to see how fermatas are used in Honey Humoresque!

Table of Contents - Featured Movements:
Prelude - Night
His Song
Honey Humoresque
Dance Juba

Notable Passages

Time Stamp: 7:46 — 8:03
Description:

Two types of syncopations are found in the first few measures!

  1. The left hand plays eighth-quarter-eighth syncopations
     
  2. The right hand plays sixteenth-eighth-sixteenth syncopations on the 2nd beat of each measure

(Found on PDF Pg. 10, measures 1-3 and 9-11)


Keywords: Syncopation
Keywords Featured in this Piece