Movie Music

I watched the movie 300 to listen to the movie's soundtrack for this entry and I found that the music made a huge impact on the way I watched the movie. I found that I would be more excited as climatic parts approached. I also felt that it made the scenes seem more thematic and more exciting, even for parts that were nothing but walking or talking, I found to be more interesting. I definitely think that music plays a huge role in the way that people watch movies and enjoy the experience.

Music Video Journal

For this blog entry, I watched the MTV-U channel which actually played music and music videos, which absolutely shocked me considering it's a subsidiary of MTV. I watched a couple videos and watching the videos helped me realize who the music is targeting. The one that I remember well is the song "5 Minutes to Midnight" by Boys Like Girls. The video was a "candid" video with occasional scenes of the band playing/singing the song. This video made it clear the video was for the late high school into college crowd and the idea of having fun on a summer night. The lyrics stated it as well, but the video added a nice element to the song and made it an enjoyable song to watch and listen to, a rare occasion in today's musical world.

Magnetic Tape Manipulation

I listened to "Pendulum Music" by Steve Reich and though it's not the type of music I would usually listen to, I do consider it to be music. The definition given at the beginning of this year regarding music was an organized pattern of sound and silence. It sounded exactly like a heart beat on a terror movie track. I then listened to the radio to get a sample of what is considered "popular" today and from what I could tell, the majority of the garbage...I mean music....that is played is recorded using multi-tracking which essentially allows anyone with a computer to create a song that would most likely be considered popular. Multi-tracking allows for a lot of unique (not always good) sounds to be produced.

Historical Recording

I couldn't figure out how to search the Library of Congress so instead I listened to a recording of Frank Sinatra's "My Kind of Town" that was an original recording. I noticed that the sound was a little fuzzy but I felt it enhanced the song because it gave it a quality that could only work for music from before the Beatles. I know the explanation is confusing, but it feels like to me that after the Beatles, the sound of music improved and that's how it should be for that music, but Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby all sound so much better when it's an original recording. There was little amount of bass and was short on the treble which gave it almost a neutral tone in a way. I definitely enjoy the sound quality of the song.

Alternative Music Notation

When given this assignment, I sat for awhile thinking about a way to notate music differently and make it easier to read, learn, and play. I thought of using numbers or letters originally, but I felt that it was too similar to the way it is currently. I sat for awhile longer and thought, and I think that using colors for the brass instruments might work the best. Assigning the three primary colors to each valve and then notating it on either standard sheet music or going high tech and having it on a screen seems to me to be a relatively easy and effective way of notating music. As for instruments like flutes or clarinets, I think that a color system would be too complex, so I would think that maybe doing letters and numbers could potentially work, but making it easy to read could pose some big problems for those that have to play the instruments.

Organization of Music

For this assignment to determine the rhythm I listened to the song "Sunday Afternoon" by Lucky Boys Confusion. It didn't take me very long to decide what form the rhythm was in, and very quickly I determined that it was in duple form. This didn't surprise me because almost all the music today and all the music I listen to is in duple form. I then chose Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 as my classic piece. The time is in 3/4 time so I would consider the rhythm to be in tuplet form because at times it sounded like 6/8 time and tuplets are commonly found in 6/8 time. The structure of the 2nd movement sounded like it is in A-B-a-C form because it was essentially the same theme, just repeated and varied just enough to make them different.

Guitar in Music

Doing this assignment was a lot easier to do than listening to the classical music. Not because I dislike classical music, but being able to pull the sound of a guitar out from the standard instruments used in country, rock, pop, and jazz music (the four categories that I chose to listen to) is a lot easier than trying to differentiate between a flute and a piccolo. I first listened to the pop station because that type of music is hands down my least favorite to listen to and the hardest for me to attempt to enjoy. The songs I heard were a lot more based around beats and whatever could be produced on a computer, so in the time I listened, I heard few songs that actually used a guitar. The times the guitar was present, it was used to attempt to make the song "rock" in the most vague sense of the word, and only playing two chords makes it difficult to say the the guitar played a very big role. I then listened to jazz next and it was refreshing to hear music played with actual instruments. The guitar's role in the jazz music was not very in your face but it was definitely a crucial role in making the music sound the way it does. The guitar enhanced the tone and rhythm of the piece, helping create at times a sadness in some songs, or conveying the joy in others. Getting into both the rock and country genres, there was no doubt as to what role the guitar played in them. The guitar is a very necessary tool in those types of music as can be heard with just a few moments of listening to either. In songs such as "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC, it is hard to argue that the absence of a guitar would ruin the song. In various country songs too, the guitar is what can make or break the song. In my findings of what I consider to be music, the guitar is a very integral role into the song. Three of the genres I listened to were improved by the use of the guitar, with the fourth genre just being awful to begin with. Eric Clapton or B.B. King could play their hearts out, but that still wouldn't make the Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana good.