“Where the Old Meets the New”In the following essay I will show a technical and emotional comparison of two very different songs, the first is "Dietrich Fischer Dieskau Der Lindenbaum Die Winterreise" by Franz Schubert and "Not Today" by Twenty One Pilots. Then I will discuss some similarities between the music of the past and modern music. These songs, more than a century apart, have very contrasting applications, but surprisingly share some common themes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayAs I listened carefully to these two pieces, I picked up on some technical aspects that each artist/composer used skillfully. The first was the use of dynamics. Both songs had obvious blissful, joyful harmonies as well as increasingly intense harmonies. The use of crescendo and decrescendo, piano and forte, major and minor were very important elements for each of these songs. One similarity I noticed was during the more dramatic section of the pieces. The highlighted theme of poverty was represented by an internal struggle to escape bad memories/experiences. I found it quite interesting that even though years and years have passed since Franz's piece was composed, we are still writing poems that revolve around similar ideas and have parallel meanings. Another technicality was the use of tools. Franz, being a Romanesque composer himself, has fallen into the stereotype of the solo piano genre, while Twenty One Pilots is a completely new story. Placing this band in a normal genre is like trying to make a child sit still, it's not going to happen. That said, however, it has parts of indie, rock, pop and even flashes of rap. Twenty One Pilots uses instruments such as organ, piano, electric guitar, trumpet, drums and also has some background singers. It may seem like a mess, but in my opinion they somehow manage to put it all together to make some really great music. Finally, I would like to discuss rhythm, structure, and lyrical structure. Franz seemed to have a homophonic structure while Twenty One Pilots had a polyrhythmic structure. Additionally, the use of polyharmony was present in "Not Today" due to the different background instrumental backing melodies and background singers in harmony with the protagonist. The pace was quite slow in Franz's piece, which is a relative term, I'm aware, but compared to Twenty One Pilot, whose pace was practically jumping off the walls, it lacked sparkle. As for lyrical structure, Twenty One Pilots had some apparent rhymes, but they weren't consistent throughout the song. Franz's piece also doesn't seem to have a coherent rhyme, but in my defense I don't speak German. I tried to listen carefully and get the meter, but the rhyme scheme seemed rather distracting. Once the technicalities are completed, the musical and emotional comparison begins. After listening to Franz's “Dietrich Fischer Dieskau Der Lindenbaum Die Winterreise” several times and studying the translated lyrics, I personally interpreted this piece as a nostalgic look back. As he passes the lime tree, he is reminded of all the most wonderful memories he has captured. But as the song progresses, his precious memories go from sweet to bitter. The internal struggle continues for a while, until it strangely dissipates. It ends by coming to the conclusion that you just have to let go and move on from the hurt. Let go of your haunted past and build a bright future along the way. As for Twenty One Pilot's "Not Today," it arrives.