Similarly to Noh, opera is a bit more than just music. Opera is a story given to the listener, a majority of which is done in sung form. What causes it to stand alone, and not just be a "play," is its distinct use of human voice throughout the songs, and, as a more recent change, always involving orchestrated music (though plays will sometimes use an orchestra, it isn't always guaranteed). As another similarity to Noh, it is also a classical style that is not performed often anymore. A good example of this music is "Nessun Dorma" by Giacomo Puccini (performed in Turnadot), a popular composer in the 18th and 19th century.
Throughout the song, it is apparent that the singer is the forefront, and holds the melody, as the instruments are barely audible throughout the performance (which is not a problem with the recording made). The instruments are mainly used to accent the singer throughout the song, never quite being a notable player in the piece until after the singer has completed his part in the piece. The singer consistently keeps singing throughout the piece, with a few, large, cadences between the phrases being sung. The song keeps a slow tempo throughout, only changing when a dramatic end to a phrase drew near. The song is homophonic, though the singer is loud enough that it is almost a monophony.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Avatar
Avatar is the newest "big" movie in quite some time. So much so that there are self-help forums for the people who can't live without the thought of not being on Pandora. Part of what made the movie so interesting was the unique soundtrack that was used throughout the movie. Composed by Wanda Bryant it was designed from the ground up to be a unique existance. As if the music was actually from another world (stressed greatly in the interview: http://www.music.ucla.edu/blog/2010/02/02/avatar_ethnomusicology/ ). Within the music of the movie there are several distinct sets of sounds for each of the groups. In this case, I am comparing the sound differences between the formal film score (as given by the main theme), and the Na'vi (as given by "Jake's First Flight").
Though they are very similar in musical composition, they are very distinguishable in style from one another (and not just because one features singing and one does not). In the Na'vi theme, the use of membraneophone and aerophone is extremely prominent, while the main theme focuses mainly on chordophones (and electrophones... though those are also made to sound like chordophones some of the time). In a similar sense, the main theme is also very "pop"-centric, like many western influenced songs are, while the Na'vi theme tries to shy away from electronic sounds (though a keyboard is most likely used). In both cases, however, the melody is very easily distinguishable (nor particularly complex), and stays heterophonic throughout the song.
Though they are very similar in musical composition, they are very distinguishable in style from one another (and not just because one features singing and one does not). In the Na'vi theme, the use of membraneophone and aerophone is extremely prominent, while the main theme focuses mainly on chordophones (and electrophones... though those are also made to sound like chordophones some of the time). In a similar sense, the main theme is also very "pop"-centric, like many western influenced songs are, while the Na'vi theme tries to shy away from electronic sounds (though a keyboard is most likely used). In both cases, however, the melody is very easily distinguishable (nor particularly complex), and stays heterophonic throughout the song.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Musical Ethonography
Introduction
The event that I went to for RadioUTD was not much of an event, it was a basic part of their musical life. RadioUTD is made up from their broadcasts and dances, so their holding of one doesn’t speak of anything out of the ordinary. The broadcast that I went to was held on the fifth of March (2010), and was held in the Student Union at 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The broadcaster for the event was Andrew Godefry (though, I went early enough that I heard a little bit from the person before him, though I didn’t catch his name at the time). His performance, Duderonomy, is based on Hip-Hop, Rock, and everything in between.
Music
Much of the music is distinctly American stylized (though, not all of it comes from America), and follows the general stylisms: homophonic with a melodic tonal center, a non-complex melody, and highly pulsatile (though the last one can be attributed that much of it was “music that you can dance to”). Probably the most characteristic about the culture was the pulsatile nature of the music. When asked, neither Godefry nor Leyla Aksu (the Musical Director for RadioUTD), were able to come up with something non-pulsatile. This can be directly attributed to the station’s big attraction, its dances. Non-pulsatile music is much harder to use in influencing motion in the listeners, and would thus not be used very much in the broadcastings of the station. Similarly, the homophonic and melodic nature of the songs can be attributed to the American audience that the broadcast is being made out to.
Performers
Though there isn’t much being seen by the audience, the performers are far from doing a performance. While the event was going on, Godefry was constantly flipping through CDs, updating the music list, keeping track of what the comments about the broadcast were, making comments during the intermission between certain songs, and a million other things that I probably didn’t notice. While this was going on, however, Godefry was in no state of rush during the ordeal, going between places without much of a rushed haste in his pace. Similarly, he was able to converse with the other performers during the broadcast, as well as the audience, without losing his stride in the performance. However, no form of cues was given between the broadcasters during the performance. Each artist was left to his or her own means in deciding what would be done while the performance was under-way.
Audiance
Though there was an audience, the audience was not in visible. Almost everyone that was listening to the performance through the Internet broadcast provided by RadioUTD. Though they might not be visible, the massive majority of the people attending the broadcast were students from UTD (with several faculty members from UTD as well). In that regard, the people who are UTD students/faculty are “insiders,” and the non-UTD students/faculty are “outsiders” (though, in the interview with Godefry, he made a great point that the radio welcomes everyone). The reaction during the performance was rather limited due to the lack of a visible audience, though the comments/requests made to the station while it was a rather noticeable reaction to the songs being played. Similarly, because of the requests that were made to the station there was a high level of communication between the audience and the performers, not to mention the talk sessions that were held in-between certain songs.
Time and Space
The office that was used by the radio had a definite impact on the actions made by the performers. Due to the small nature of the office, the CDs were arranged all along one of the walls, making the arrangement extremely important. While there were many CDs, due to the alphabetical organization, they were quickly found among the many different CDs with relative ease (this was most notable when Godefry was quickly deciding which song to use next in the performance). However, despite the office being perfectly made for the performers, it is not the case for the viewers (assuming they want to watch the performers while it is all going on). Due to the office’s location in the Student Union, it is almost impossible to really have a spot to sit and view the performance as it is going on live. However, this is most likely for its main, online, viewing. While the actual physical location is not designed for viewing, the website is an extension of the main University of Texas at Dallas website, and is easily accessed. Similarly, due to the WiFi around the campus, it is quite easy to listen in to the performance as it is being done.
Conclusion
While the actual performance was done a bit on the fly (what with all of the requests made by the audience, and the performers deciding on songs as time went on), the actual event was anything but. The actual location was pivotal to having the music heard by the largest group possible, and served as the backbone of the entire performance. Without the webspace involved, the performance would not have made it to the double digits in listeners most likely. That is heavily due to the audience being made up of students. Due to time constraints that students are most likely having, they would not be able to effectively go to any form of live performance, but would be able to listen to the performance if they would be able to stream it from the web (most likely not having a radio, outside of their car, to listen to). The performers took advantage of the “lulls” while a song had just started to prepare for the next one coming up, to update the information about the song being played, or to reply to comments made by the listeners. The time of the event, however, had a very opposite effect on the performance. Due to it running from 2:00 -4:00 PM, many of the students would be in classes and unable to listen to the performance. This meant that the listeners either had morning or night classes, and the performance might have been altered due to that being the case (though, that is something that I would need to take more time to study the culture than was given in this regard).
Citation
Dudeoronomy. Andrew Godefry. University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas. March 5, 2010.
Godefry, Andrew. Personal Interview. 5 March 2010.
Aksu, Layla. Personal Interview. 5 March 2010.
The event that I went to for RadioUTD was not much of an event, it was a basic part of their musical life. RadioUTD is made up from their broadcasts and dances, so their holding of one doesn’t speak of anything out of the ordinary. The broadcast that I went to was held on the fifth of March (2010), and was held in the Student Union at 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The broadcaster for the event was Andrew Godefry (though, I went early enough that I heard a little bit from the person before him, though I didn’t catch his name at the time). His performance, Duderonomy, is based on Hip-Hop, Rock, and everything in between.
Music
Much of the music is distinctly American stylized (though, not all of it comes from America), and follows the general stylisms: homophonic with a melodic tonal center, a non-complex melody, and highly pulsatile (though the last one can be attributed that much of it was “music that you can dance to”). Probably the most characteristic about the culture was the pulsatile nature of the music. When asked, neither Godefry nor Leyla Aksu (the Musical Director for RadioUTD), were able to come up with something non-pulsatile. This can be directly attributed to the station’s big attraction, its dances. Non-pulsatile music is much harder to use in influencing motion in the listeners, and would thus not be used very much in the broadcastings of the station. Similarly, the homophonic and melodic nature of the songs can be attributed to the American audience that the broadcast is being made out to.
Performers
Though there isn’t much being seen by the audience, the performers are far from doing a performance. While the event was going on, Godefry was constantly flipping through CDs, updating the music list, keeping track of what the comments about the broadcast were, making comments during the intermission between certain songs, and a million other things that I probably didn’t notice. While this was going on, however, Godefry was in no state of rush during the ordeal, going between places without much of a rushed haste in his pace. Similarly, he was able to converse with the other performers during the broadcast, as well as the audience, without losing his stride in the performance. However, no form of cues was given between the broadcasters during the performance. Each artist was left to his or her own means in deciding what would be done while the performance was under-way.
Audiance
Though there was an audience, the audience was not in visible. Almost everyone that was listening to the performance through the Internet broadcast provided by RadioUTD. Though they might not be visible, the massive majority of the people attending the broadcast were students from UTD (with several faculty members from UTD as well). In that regard, the people who are UTD students/faculty are “insiders,” and the non-UTD students/faculty are “outsiders” (though, in the interview with Godefry, he made a great point that the radio welcomes everyone). The reaction during the performance was rather limited due to the lack of a visible audience, though the comments/requests made to the station while it was a rather noticeable reaction to the songs being played. Similarly, because of the requests that were made to the station there was a high level of communication between the audience and the performers, not to mention the talk sessions that were held in-between certain songs.
Time and Space
The office that was used by the radio had a definite impact on the actions made by the performers. Due to the small nature of the office, the CDs were arranged all along one of the walls, making the arrangement extremely important. While there were many CDs, due to the alphabetical organization, they were quickly found among the many different CDs with relative ease (this was most notable when Godefry was quickly deciding which song to use next in the performance). However, despite the office being perfectly made for the performers, it is not the case for the viewers (assuming they want to watch the performers while it is all going on). Due to the office’s location in the Student Union, it is almost impossible to really have a spot to sit and view the performance as it is going on live. However, this is most likely for its main, online, viewing. While the actual physical location is not designed for viewing, the website is an extension of the main University of Texas at Dallas website, and is easily accessed. Similarly, due to the WiFi around the campus, it is quite easy to listen in to the performance as it is being done.
Conclusion
While the actual performance was done a bit on the fly (what with all of the requests made by the audience, and the performers deciding on songs as time went on), the actual event was anything but. The actual location was pivotal to having the music heard by the largest group possible, and served as the backbone of the entire performance. Without the webspace involved, the performance would not have made it to the double digits in listeners most likely. That is heavily due to the audience being made up of students. Due to time constraints that students are most likely having, they would not be able to effectively go to any form of live performance, but would be able to listen to the performance if they would be able to stream it from the web (most likely not having a radio, outside of their car, to listen to). The performers took advantage of the “lulls” while a song had just started to prepare for the next one coming up, to update the information about the song being played, or to reply to comments made by the listeners. The time of the event, however, had a very opposite effect on the performance. Due to it running from 2:00 -4:00 PM, many of the students would be in classes and unable to listen to the performance. This meant that the listeners either had morning or night classes, and the performance might have been altered due to that being the case (though, that is something that I would need to take more time to study the culture than was given in this regard).
Citation
Dudeoronomy. Andrew Godefry. University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas. March 5, 2010.
Godefry, Andrew. Personal Interview. 5 March 2010.
Aksu, Layla. Personal Interview. 5 March 2010.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
RadioUTD post 2
The real difficulty in gathering information about the culture isn't due to any problem on their part, but because of their prowess in conveying music. Unlike many of the other options available, RadioUTD has such a wide range of differing music that it's hard to pin down aspects that actually fit throughout the entirety of the program. While there might be a similarity within the music of one of the performers, that similarity will crumble when the next one makes it to the station. Because of this, the actual amount of valid information (musical theory-wise) is rather sparse, and despite having been to a broadcast and having interviewed two of the performers I still feel like I'm on square one.
Though the major problem is due to the breadth of the music involved, there are some technical issues in gathering information. While there is a broadcast, there is no way to find out what has been played by the station, both before and after the current song (at least as far as I have been able to find. If there is one, the lack of visibility is a problem). This means that there isn't any way to quickly gather information about what is being played in-bulk, and only allows for directly listening through all of the songs being broadcasted from start to finish (which doesn't work if there are any time constraints). Next is the lack of update management, specifically the lack of RSS feed to their various updates. In order to find out what is going on at the radio, the site itself must be accessed directly, rather than being able to quickly check as to whether or not there was a change since the last time it was accessed.
Though the major problem is due to the breadth of the music involved, there are some technical issues in gathering information. While there is a broadcast, there is no way to find out what has been played by the station, both before and after the current song (at least as far as I have been able to find. If there is one, the lack of visibility is a problem). This means that there isn't any way to quickly gather information about what is being played in-bulk, and only allows for directly listening through all of the songs being broadcasted from start to finish (which doesn't work if there are any time constraints). Next is the lack of update management, specifically the lack of RSS feed to their various updates. In order to find out what is going on at the radio, the site itself must be accessed directly, rather than being able to quickly check as to whether or not there was a change since the last time it was accessed.
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