There have been a few occasions where I've heard snippets of a piece of music and it won't leave my head until I track down the title and artist/composer. This may have happened to you, too.
The first occasion of this that I can remember was when I was watching an episode of "House." Dr. House is trying to come up with a diagnosis for his patient-of-the-week with his team by listening to the sounds of the patient's heart. They are in a locker room because the acoustics are better. Before and after the team comes in to hear the heart sounds, House is listening to an aria sung by a tenor. Only a small part of the aria was played, but it was the best part and I really liked it. Then I had that part stuck in my head for days.
Do you know how frustrating it is to have an unknown tune stuck in your head?!
I asked a few singers (well, sung the melody to them) who didn't know for sure, but somewhere along the line I figured out that it was sung by Luciano Pavarotti, the famous tenor. I don't speak Italian so I couldn't look up the lyrics. So, in desperation, I went to the book store and got a CD of Pavarotti's "Greatest Hits." I was fully prepared to listen to the whole damn thing to find this melody.
Turns out it was the first track (huzzah!) and it was an aria from Puccini's Turandot (an opera) called Nessun dorma. This piece is worth listening to. A few times. Or more. It starts off simply, but swells at the end to a divine combination of an emotionally-charged high note from the tenor and full, rich chords from the orchestra. Even though it was written before 1926, it sounds like something that could have been written ten years ago. It's now one of my favourite pieces.
Another song I just had to get out of my head (and into the CD player of my car. Hahaha) was first heard while browsing around a neat, Indie shop in Iowa City. The music they were playing featured a woman's voice accompanied by harp. To me, she sounded odd, vocally. A bit like a cross between Mae Questal and Lisa Simpson. Another customer was in the store at the same time and started commenting on the song with the clerk. All I managed to catch from the conversation was the name Newsom.
Yay for the Interwebs! To track this one down I went to Google and searched "harp Newsom" and the results came back with Joanna Newsom. But then I wanted to find the song that caught my attention while in the store. So, YouTube to the rescue, I searched her and, because it was one of her more popular tunes, was able to hear Cosmia, from her "Ys" album. Her music is interesting. She uses lots of polyrhythms (more than one rhythm at a time) and has an unusual way of phrasing her lyrics, which read like epic poems. Plus, she accompanies herself on a pedal harp, which can be a refreshing sound after hearing nothing but guitars everywhere else.
With some resourcefulness (and an open ear), it's possible to find good music from nowhere!
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