By Lori Spencer
A fanfare is a bold and brief piece of music used to announce the coming of an important person or event. You’ll hear them at sporting competitions like the Olympics, at military and official government ceremonies, and often in movies or TV shows as opening theme music.
Featuring dotted rhythms, repeated patterns and a harmonic series of notes, fanfares are generally brass- and percussion-dominant. This is both to get the listener’s attention and impart a sense of importance to the event…
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