My first video clip is an example of participatory music. While taken from the movie Hellzapoppin', the scene very clearly depicts a participatory experience. The clip starts out with one man playing the piano. Another joins in on string bass, and more and more join until a small band is jamming to an upbeat jazz song. Then more people join in, taking turns swing dancing(sequential participation) then all dancing at once(simultaneous participation) and clapping in time to the music. This is participatory music because everyone joins in and is expected to join in. There is no audience because it is not a performance--everyone is participating in spite of ability (although all of them are extremely talented in this case). This song has a feathered beginning because everyone joins in at different times.
This field of music is great because everyone is involved, creating a sense of communitas and flow. However, because everyone is expected to join in, the music and dance must be repetitive, without much variation and often the quality of the music suffers because even those with little experience join in (although, again, that is not an issue in the clip).
Everyone is expected to join in for participatory music because the culture values social bonding and a sense of community over the quality of the music or dancing.
Presentational Music
This is a clip of Louis Armstrong performing "Hello Dolly" for a live audience. Armstrong sings and plays trumpet with a band. This is an example of presentational music because there is a distinction between Armstrong and his audience. Armstrong performs and shares his talent with the audience. He may feed off the enthusiasm of the audience, however, the audience does not take part in the music-making.
Presentational music allows artists to demonstrate their skill and express themselves as individuals. Listeners may appreciate the art and perhaps find similarities with the artist and other listeners with common taste in music. On the other hand, presentational music does not allow everyone to participate; it is a showcasing of the talent of one person. This may result in comparisons of the skills of others and feelings of inadequacies.
The artist is expected to perform exceptionally and entertain the audience while the audience is expected to listen rather than participate and appreciate the skill of the artist. This suggests that the culture values virtuosity in individuals, creating celebrities which others are meant to look up to and respect.
High Fidelity
My next clip is a recording of the song "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest. This is high fidelity music because it is a recording. It keeps a sense of authenticity because it is indexical of a live performance experience. The recording is created as much to share music and ideas as to be sold in order to make money.
High fidelity music allows portability. Participatory and Presentational music can only be enjoyed at certain times in certain places but high fidelity music allows it to be enjoyed in many places. It also allows the artists to profit from the sales of the recordings. The limitation is that this type of music is only a representation of music; it is only a recording, not the actual thing.
High fidelity music is expected to be good quality and with a certain amount of variety to make up for the lack of visuals. High fidelity music is common in capitalist cultures because it emphasizes gaining wealth from the sale of music in a tangible form.
Studio-Audio Music
My final clip is the song "Cinema" by Skrillex. This song, like all dubstep, is studio-audio music. Studio-audio music is often computer generated music that is recorded without the expectation that it can or will be performed live. "Cinema" is mostly computer generated so it can only be performed as a recording.
Studio-audio music can be abstract sonic artwork that can be created by an artist who has complete control over the final product of the song. Because of this, however, there is no social interaction or sense of community.
With studio-audio music, it is expected that it can never be performed live and is abstract, unconnected to the known world. The cultural value of this type of music is that an artist can express him/herself and sell the recordings for a profit.
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