Byrne describes the accepted theory of artistic creation as a quick burst of passion. He basically says that people think artists will just randomly get a thought in their head and have to write down the lyrics. He also says people think these lyrics will be perfect and formatted into a 3 minute song. But his own theory is a complete 180 from this actual theory. He believes that we make things because the opportunity is there. But this doesn't mean the music is meaningless and written just to make money, it still displays emotion and can relate to it's audience. All music is tailored to fit a given context, and he says that this is usually done unconsciously. Work is created to fit a venue specifically. As an example he says " That holds true for other arts as well: Pictures are created that fit and look good on white walls in galleries just as music is written that sounds good either in a dance club or a symphony hall." He then goes on to explain more examples by talking about a club, that his written music was first performed and heard in. The clutter in the club and the small space are described as a perfect venue for the music that he played. The venue was fit perfectly to the music, just like his example with the gallery.
When he goes on to talk about African music he touches on the instruments first. He believes that the instruments used in this music were what was locally available to them, meaning the materials used to make the instruments were of a This music is generally percussive and works better outdoors. This is because the music is made up of intricate layered rhythms. In a closed space this music would sound mashed together. This is where Medieval European differs from African music sonic-ally. Medieval music is played in huge cathedrals. In cathedrals a note can be played and it can hang in the air for more than 4 seconds. This would cause African notes to sound jumbled and clash. Music that used longer notes evolved from this.
It's assumed that much of Western Medieval music was simple and had only a few key changes. Complex harmonies had not been developed yet by composers. But these types of notes and keys would have sounded horrible in a place like this anyways. Byrne first touches on Bach a classical music composer. His music was first performed in smaller spaces. Organs were played there and the sound outcome for this space was very good. This space made the single organ sound very strong and it makes it sound way larger. In this environment mistakes were also covered up very easily. Byrne also goes onto describe a concert he went to in a Brooklyn hall and the band was in the middle of the floor with people dancing around them. This type of music was developed in smaller more intimate venues. These rooms were filled with people, the elaborate dress ware made for sound deadening which played along with the décor. This helped Mozart's music very clear and you could hear all of it's detail. But with people dancing the music needed to be louder so the only way to do that was make the band bigger.Opera began in new places that consisted of booths or stalls rather than rows of seats. The audience was very vocal during the performances and would talk through out the performance. The venues weren't specifically built to accommodate the music specifically, they just made the bands bigger to produce louder music. This music was meant to be played in smaller areas but as time went on the halls got bigger and bigger. It was very hard to wow the back row audience and to do that it took a lot of power.
Musicians in Jazz started spiking up after late classical music. This music was typically played in venues were a lot of dancing could happen. These musicians soon found that they were running out of notes to play for the people to dance to. So to change this they learned to stretch out and extend a popular section and jam over these cord changes while maintaining the same groove. The instruments were also modified to play over the loud audiences. They used banjos and trumpets, until amplification and microphones came into use.
Around 1900 classical music was taken way more seriously, people were now required to sit still and not talk during the performances. Since the audience had to be quiet and the music didn't have to be so loud they could change the way it sounded. This music now had extreme dynamics and every detail could be heard. Jazz that was played in these same halls were also taken seriously as well.
Artists could now play catchy tunes that stuck with the audience.
Byrne describes the effects of the introduction of recorded music and radio as obviously deeply impacting music. Mostly everyone could afford to listen to any music they wanted to right at home. This new device, the phonograph replaced some of the earlier venues like the concert hall and opera house. Because of this new technology people weren't just sheltered with one type of music they could listen to everything. But the performers now had to write for two very different audiences, live and recorded music. Audiences who heard a song on the radio wanted to hear the same song live and expect it to sound the same. With the new demand for music artists began adapting to this. With the invention of microphones that recorded the artists. Singers no longer had to have extremely good lungs to be successful in the music world. This was known as crooning. (Questions 7&8)
This created disc jockeys who could perform anywhere without the actual artist being there. They played at various venues, generally where dancing was happening. Eventually a certain venue was made just to pay this type of non-live music, known as discos. Discos usually used technology to make the beats and the way people danced effected the way the music was played. But this music didn't really sound good at home only over loud sound systems. Music began playing in stadiums and arenas and disco wasn't successful in this type of environment it sounded mashed and chaotic. But metal worked fine. This music was used to make anthems and be loud and was to be played in gatherings.
Hip hop separated itself from all other music and turned to a completely different venue, your own personal car. The bass was maxed up and was meant to sound loud and good in your vehicle. But hip hop originated from dance orientated early hip hop or jazz.
As music has been ever changing more technology developed to bring the own personal portable music called the Walkman cassette player. That included interchangeable tapes and personal head phones. You can hear every little detail perfectly and its loud and clear, but other people won't hear it. You can hear little things like the pausing of a persons breath, the start and stop of other instruments and it's very easy to identify which instrument is being played.
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