Byrne Theory

Fantastic Five.

1.     How does Byrne describe the commonly accepted story of artistic creation, and how does his own theory differ from it?

What he is saying is that everyone is talented in some shape or form, it is up to the               specific person to find that talent, whether it be in singing, playing a guitar, drums, or just rhythm in general.  

2.     What are the sonic differences between African folk music and medieval European music?

African Tribal music has more of a rhythm and beat with the folk music with handmade instruments.

Mali-African Tribal Music

The Medieval Music-Archers & Swordsmen

3.     How does Byrne describe the difference between the original audiences of classical music and opera versus what we tend to think of as the audience for this type of music today?

The difference is for all three, they all come from different areas of the world, and were used more in the Western Civilizations. Opera music has had so much more of the more relaxed and people that liked living in the country, and preferred to listen to the performers voices, having a good time while talking and eating during the performances. Today it is socially acceptable to be loud, rowdy, and still have a good time, because the music is louder than before, and is meant to entice a personal feeling that you are allowed to show. As before, you were not allowed to speak, eat, or disrupt the performance what so ever.

Boston Symphony Orchestra-Remembrances

Andrew-Lloyd Weber-The Music of the Night

The Verve-Bitter sweet Symphony

4.     What accommodation did jazz musicians make to their playing to make sure dancers were happy? Can you think of other styles of music that have addressed this music in different ways?           

They added flair to the jazz scene to make the dancers happy, techno music, and disco all evolved into a higher paced, more emotionally driven genre of music that people really liked.

Charlie Parker-Funky Blues

5.     How did the behavior of classical audiences change around 1900? To what does Alex Ross contribute this change?

The audience was no longer allowed to shout, eat, or chat during the performance. He made the statement clear in order to keep the lower classes out of the concerts since they were too noisy. The general consensus was that the classical music genre was for a “higher class” person, therefore weeding out the middle and lower class people to attend the concerts.

Giacomo Puccini-One Fine Day

6.     What effect did the change discussed in question 4 have on the type of music that composers could write?

Composers could write new catchy style of music for their audiences to listen too, with new instruments led to a new sound and eventually a new genre.

Lizzie Miles & Sharkey-A Good Man is Hard to Find

7.     How does Byrne describe the effects of the introduction of recorded music and radio on the sense of place?

We can adapt and change to a place, or we can adapt from listening to music in the car to listening to music on the radio. In today’s generation we do the same thing, except with I-pod’s, MP3 players.

Blue Sky Boys-Brown Eyes

Hank Williams-Pan American

8. How did crooning exploit the new technology of microphones?

It made the voices more interesting and be heard easier than others. Even with a rowdy crowd people can still hear the musician, the guitars, drums and the singer does not have to yell in order to be heard over the percussions, or guitar riffs.

John Mellencamp-R.O.C.K. In the U.S.A.

Johnny Cash-A boy named Sue

Alice Cooper-School’s out

9.     What are the differences in audiences, acoustics, and styles for disco and arena rock?           

They can have a wide audience, from country to folk listeners. Disco had more of a                       fun relaxed and upbeat feel while rock sounds more like aggression and raw emotion at some points. Different types of dancing came about through these genre such as The Robot, The Funky Chicken Dance, and YMCA for Disco, and Rock became more of an aggressive style called Moshing/Slam Dancing.

Hank Williams Jr.-Kaw-liga

Rick James-Super Freak

Commodores-Brick House

Iron Maiden-Run to the Hills

10. How is contemporary hip hop distinct from the beginnings of hip hop, according to Byrne?

Contemporary hip hop was not like the dance oriented hip hop. It evolved into music that is best played with heavy bass, such as in a vehicle with really nice stereo system. 

Eurythmics-Sweet Dreams

11. What are the particular acoustic qualities of MP3 music heard through headphones? Can you think of any examples of the type of music Byrne describes but doesn't name?

The mp3 acoustic qualities were good back then, they are better not however it was pretty much a private concert for yourself. Rock/heavy Metal is a good example that works well. Not everyone wants to hear the music you like, being that everyone today has many options of music to like, so the headphones help you listen to your kind of music, without disrupting others around you.

Avenge Sevenfold-Nightmare

Slayer-Angel of Death

In summary:

All through time there has been music, all different kinds, and from all different ethnic groups of life. Therefore there is a huge range in types of music, ranging from tribal music, to today’s modern hip hop, or rock and roll. Time has developed different technology which has also evolved the music scene. From microphones, to mp3 players, all through history there has been advances in music, and there is no reason to believe there will be no more advances.

The music lover attending classic concerts in the early days, had to keep quiet, no eating or talking was allowed for a few different reasons. One was to keep the “lower class” people out of the concert, and another reason was there was not as sophisticated sound systems like we have today. Now we can be loud, rowdy, eat, drink and pretty much be free to express ourselves at the concert we are at, and it is totally acceptable, and encouraged.

Technology has also changed the way we listened to music, from radio, to Walkman’s to I-pods and mp3 players. Before radio, to listen to music you had to go to a concert hall. Then the radio waves came through and played music, so everyone could hear the music from the luxury of their own homes, although the selection of music was slim, it was still better than not listening to music at all. Today we have the internet to stream music, I-pod’s to download anything we want from every genre of music, and of course still have the live concerts like back in the early days, just modernized to fit today’s lifestyles.