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.

Keyboard Effect on Music

Since the beginning of recorded time, music has played a very large role in the progression of mankind, and that was how it was for the longest time, but with the invention of the keyboard man played a role in the progression of music. The keyboard originally started as a very basic instrument that sounded very similar to a harp more than the piano we know today. The keyboard allowed for more diverse types of music to be produced and allowed for far more complex music as well. When the keyboard was first introduced, it was a very basic sound and instrument, but as time passed and the keyboard progressed, so did the music. Without the keyboard, classical, jazz, rock and roll, even techno music would not be around today.

Classical Music 2

I listened to the hour of classical music today, again on dpr.org, to listen for what chordophones would be present in the different pieces I heard. Of the 4 pieces I heard in the hour, I am pretty confident of the fact that I heard a couple different chordophones that I was able to identify for sure. In the first piece, the dominant instruement I heard was the piano, seeing as the piece was Piano Concerto No. 3 in C-minor, but I also heard other stringed instruments, namely the violin and a cello. The other 3 pieces sounded similar to me in that the chordophones were the "standard" instruments, again like the violin, cello, concert bass. I'm sure there were other instruments that were present, but I am not too sure of what I heard.

Classical Music

After listening to an hour of classical radio today online on dpr.org, I only listened 4 different pieces seeing as 2 of the songs were over 20 minutes apiece, but I heard many different instruments in each piece. I heard numerous woodwind instruments including numerous flutes and clarinets, but I am pretty confident I heard all types of woodwinds in the pieces I heard. I also heard very strong brass sections in the pieces, namely trumpets and tubas standing out to me because I used to play those 2 instruments, so I could tell their sounds easily. I also think that I probably heard french horns and trombones, though their sound was not as apparent to me. The woodwinds had the warm (obviously) woody sound, and the brass had a very (you guessed it) brassy sound. I enjoyed listening to the classical music a lot actually because the overall sound of orchestras playing together is something I find to be very complex but very intruiging.

Tone

The tone I created sounds to me like a bad hard drive in a computer, or at the right volume if you stand in the other room, sounds like the landing gear on an airplane being put up.