Blog Assignment #8

Eric Whitacre’s “Sleep” features many dynamic changes throughout the song. The song itself describes the different stages of sleep and the journey to a state of deep sleep; or as some speculate, death. In the opening phrases, the dynamic level is soft but slowly becomes more forte, it is almost as if sleep is slowly towards the listener. The next few measures of the song stay relativity mezzo-piano, as the words describe the setting and mood. Then, the dynamic level changes to mezzo- forte with each phrase having a crescendo, decrescendo to add an eerie tension to the song. The lyrics continue to describe the descent into a deep sleep and because of this, the dynamic levels gradually become louder as more tension grows. There is a struggle between the character that is sleep and the person sleeping but then the person seemingly surrenders. This leads to the climax of the song and the dynamic levels; the person is entering the deep sleep. The final piece of the song is where the word “sleep” is repeated over and over with a lower dynamic level each time until the words are inaudible. Similar to the the way sleep came towards the listener at the start of the song, sleep is leaving and getting father away until the end. The timbre of the song only changes a few times in my opinion. The beginning of the song has an eerie feeling that makes the listener uneasy. Then it changes to a tense and harsh feeling as the person is fighting sleep. When peace finally wins, the feeling is somewhat placid because there is surrender from the person sleeping.