| Evaluating
Sound Objects |
| |
| Becoming an active listener
means recognizing and understanding the interacting elements of these
cultural artifacts. |
| |
| 1. The Song. |
| a. |
Melody: What is the
range of the melody? Is it in a restricted range (no extreme highs
or lows) or does it have variety? |
| b. |
Harmony: Do the chords
in this song fit a recognizable stereotype, or do you hear originality?
If so, what kinds of originality (and compared to what)? |
| c. |
Text: What is the subject
of the song? Is this a love song? Is this a political song? Does
the song tell a story? If so, what kind of story? Do the lines of
this poetry rhyme? Is the metric structure of the poetry predictable?
If not, then why not? How dense is the text? Does the song have
many ideas, or only a few? |
| d. |
Structure: How are the
building blocks of this song (verses, choruses, refrains, etc.)
organized? Does this follow song form (AABA), blues form (AAAAAA…), or some other form.
How are the parts of these blocks internally organized? (E.g., does the verse
have subsections?) |
|
| |
| 2. The Performance. |
| a. |
Voice quality: Is the
singer male or female? Where in their range do they singing? The
highest part of their range? The lowest? Comfortably in the middle? |
| b. |
Instrumentation: What
instruments are in this recording? Are particular versions of these
instruments used? Who does what in this recording? (Do we know?) |
| c. |
Energy: Are these performers
engaged in their recording, or are they just "mailing it in"?
Do the performers sound emotionally involved with the song, or do
they sound detached? What is the impact of this engagement or non-engagement
on your interpretation of the text? The song? |
| d. |
Interpretation: Do
the musicians sound to be improvising part of their performance,
or are they playing pre-composed and fixed parts. How would you
describe the style of this performance? Country? Blues? Rock? Pop?
Why? What can you identify that would support your claim? |
| e. |
How convincing is the
"groove"? How would you describe the rhythmic interpretation
of the harmony and meter through the bass and drums, the ensemble's
rhythmic-harmonic instruments (such as the rhythm guitar, keyboard,
etc. ) and any other instruments that form the song's infrastructure. |
| f. |
How does the tempo work?
Too fast? Too slow? Just right? |
| g. |
Is the pitch level appropriate?
Too high? Too low? |
| h. |
How well do the instrumental
interludes function (guitar/keyboard solos, breaks, etc.) |
|
| |
| 3. The Recording |
| Sonic
Quality: |
How "clear"
is the recording? Does the recording sound natural, or is it distorted?
If distorted, how so? |
| |
Are the
dynamics (how loud or soft) consistent, or does the volume level
change? |
| |
Which part
of the aural range does this recording occupy? Do the frequencies
range from very low to very high? Are they all high? Or is this
recording restricted to the mid-range of your hearing? |
| Balance: |
Which voices/instruments
are the most prominent? Can you hear the bass? How clearly? Have
the producers/engineers placed the instruments in the mix so you
can easily hear them? |
| |
If the
recording is in stereo, where have the producers/engineers placed
the sounds? How well can you hear them? Why? |
| Production: |
What is the organization
of the musical elements? Did this performance evolve over the course
of the recording? |
| |
Has the production crew
modified the recording (e.g., reverberation) |
|
| |
| 4. The Cultural Context |
| a. |
Who wrote the song?
Who is the producer (or producers)? The engineers? What did they
contribute? |
| b. |
Who is the publisher?
Who collects the copyright? |
| c. |
Who are the performers? |
| d. |
What is their background? |
| e. |
When and where did they
make the song-recording? |
| f. |
Who was the intended
market? |
| g. |
How well did the song
recording do on the charts? (Which charts?) |
| h. |
How would the original
audience have heard the recording? (Mechanically) |
| i. |
How would the original
audience have heard the recording? (Culturally) |
| j. |
How is the recording
we play in class similar or different from the recording in its
original context? |
| k. |
What were the social
contexts of the song-recording's creation and reception? |
|