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.
