The Russolo, Varese, and Cage pieces introduced the use of non-traditional musical instruments to make music. They fascinated me, especially the Varese piece "Ionisation" because of the various uses for percussion. Coltrane's "Ascension" started off sounding like a band warming up before a performance and "ascended" into more structure, which blended the aforementioned musical and non-traditional musical elements. It's evident that future musicians picked up on this and attempted to blend musical mediums.
The Who use a lot of feedback and seemingly random guitar strumming in their live performances, as seen in the videos for "Baby Don't You Do It" and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" which could be considered a driving force for the music.
I was really struck by the overall chaos of the songs for this week, yet while being chaotic, they still meshed and sounded rhythmic. As Kriseira mentioned above, the John Coltrane piece really stood out to me as a defining piece. It combined all sorts of improvisations and irregularities (I'm thinking around minute 2), but it was very successful as an overall piece. I think opening the music industry up to imperfections allowed for the industry to evolve. Jimi Hendrix's National Anthem is a perfect example of such evolution. He completely made it his own with moments of chaos interwoven. Patti Smith's Feedback and Poetry is a performance art piece, combining her spoken word about her guitar and art and her music laden with indeterminacy and atonality. She really stuck out to me as well because we haven't really looked at a female rocker, and she is a very unique one.
Listening to this week’s music, I thought it was really interesting to see the way different noises and sounds can influence a song and change its entire vibe. The Art of Noise, Ionisation, and Water Walk showcase different non-musical sounds that can be added to music to enhance it. I really like how in John Coltrane’s Ascension, he utilizes many different instruments – such as the saxophone, horn, drum, piano, and flute, which become more and more intense as the song progresses. Because of the lack of melody, the instruments sound overwhelming and cacaphonous when played together. However, this indetermancy makes it so the meaning of the song is left up to the listener’s interpretation. Another piece that really stood out to me was The Who’s performance of Baby Don’t You Do It, which starts with some non-musical sounds (maybe radio static or even a motor), and then a repeating melody and some more instrumentals are introduced. This free jazz improvization makes the piece rhythmic and easy to follow, and the non-musical sounds add to the depth of the song. In contrast, in the original version of Baby Don’t You Do It, Marvin Gaye utilizes a mix of instrumentals as well, but the difference is that it also has vocals, which work to bring the piece together. Overall, I really enjoyed listening to the different musical techniques and the way they influenced music. I think that when incorporated with vocals, these strategies can be very effective and can really enhance the music in a positive way.
I think that Dick Cavett says it best in his interview with Jimi Hendrix: "don't you think there's a kind of mad beauty to unorthodoxy?" (to which Jimi replied with an unorthodox growling "yeah"). The focus on the use of sound for the sake of enjoying pure sound evolved from what artists like Luigi Russolo, Edgard Varese, and John Cage, to the sporadic jazz of Coltrane and the infamous guitar riffs of Jimi Hendrix. These artists and their work are all connected, in various forms, by the idea of using sound in new and innovative ways to produce unorthodox noise. And it's these sort of new techniques that allowed new artists focused on studio recording to do never-before-heard things with their music. Sadly, I think that in modern music, that appreciation for sounds as strange, simple, and oddly pleasing as the feedback from a guitar, have been lost to some extent.
When I first started watching these videos, I was very confused. Nothing that I heard held any semblance to the music that we had been listening to for the first two weeks. And to be completely honest, I did not consider any of what I was hearing to be music. I think the title of this unit sums it up perfectly; this is noise. And while John Cage defines music as noise, I do not. Once I separated the concepts of music and noise, in my head I began to make the connection to The Who’s music. I can definitely hear the influence of this so-called ‘noise’ on more traditional music such as when The Who covered Marvin Gaye’s song “Baby Don’t You Do It.’ The live version of this cover that we watched really highlights the elements of noise with a lot of guitar distortion, feedback, and just general chaos at times. I think this style works best in a live setting because audiences can actually feel the noise. When watching the two Jimi Hendrix videos, I could only imagine what those crowds were hearing and feeling. That kind of music makes the hairs on my arms vibrate and it is an unreal experience. I saw a band a couple of years ago that used old TVs during their set to create a buzzing ambiance. It was definitely unorthodox but it made their set that much more memorable and I think that’s something that many artists (recording and performing) are looking for. They want to stand out and be remembered for being unique. These non-musical sounds and chaotic methods will set any artist apart from the pop standard.
Hey Aubrey! I agree with you, I also had hard time listening to this "music" as music and not just uncomfortable noises. But I do agree that the shock factor of this music adds a lot to its historic significance. I think at this time in the world, these young artists were so overwhelmed with all the music of the mainstream sounding so similar and boring (imagine if they were all alive now) that they felt compelled to really push the limits of what they could create. Even if we had a bad reaction to this art, at least we had a reaction -I think that's the goal of most artists.
The music for this week was a collection of unique and experimental pieces that demonstrate the influence of Avant Garde on the advancement and development of popular music. The indeterminacy employed by John Cage when he created music from a variety of ordinary items, like a rubber duck, a bathtub, and a mixer, along with the nontraditional use of traditional instruments such as a grande piano, which was broadcasted on television allowed people to see new, creative ways that music could be made and that sounds could come together to form a coherent whole. It may have been seen as absurd or comedic to some members of the audience, but it may have given others a chance to broaden their musical and artistic horizons, whether in listening to or creating music that was new, fresh, and adventurous. Meanwhile, John Coltrane’s “Ascension” featuring heavy atonality and free jazz was infused with emotion and impact that allowed for the further development of music and artistry to go beyond notions of conventionality. It was especially interesting to see Jimi Hendrix play the US National Anthem at Woodstock, and to hear the following interview where he explains how his unique performance was not meant to offend, but to honor the anthem in a way that he found beautiful, despite outside criticisms. On the other hand, Patti Smith’s “Feedback and Poetry” combined musical experimentation with socio-political commentary, as she infused the performance with her desire to have this music replace war for her generation and the future, leaving behind the horrors of the war for the “horrors” or the guitar. In this way, we can notice how artists were able to adopt these unconventional and non-musical sounds into their music, and see how each was able to add their own unique touch to their art in a way that allowed them to express themselves however they wished, and to pave the way for those to come.
It was so interesting to see the progression, yet similarity between all of this weeks' song choices. At first, when opening up the first two pieces, I denied that any of those sounds were used in actual songs, however I found I was too quick to disregard them. When moving on to Marvin Gaye's song and The Who's performance of it, I realized the similar background instruments/sounds that resided within Russolo's "Art of Noise". Although not seen as a typical form of art, Russolo really opened up a gateway to the uses of more abstract sounds within music. Growing up in a techno generation, we see a lot of EDM music being celebrated at raves, forgetting where and from what sounds music stemmed from.
I enjoyed reading the responses this week. Edgard Varese's Ionisation was oddly my favorite song of the week because of it's incorporation of an extended metaphor within the subtext of the song. Please indulge me as I uncover my interpretation of said metaphor. Ionisation refers to the process by which an atom or a molecule gains or loses an electrons. simply put, this process relies on energy. In metals, this energy comes from light (that is why metals corrode in sunlight). Now light and sound behave in similar ways because they are both waves. Light breaks electrons free from atoms in the same way sound breaks silence. "Ionization" has a "vibrational sound" which is also similar to how light behaves.
I also think that Cage's use of water in every state of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) is deeply profound. I like to think that it is about the simultaneous and spontaneous changes in life. He unapologetically breaks every rule to bring about conviction in music which one cannot help but admire.
This week's song choices were fascinating. The first three Russolo, Varese, and Cage were almost unsettling in their use of silence as an instrument. The percussion elements felt haphazardly placed in the pieces, yet they worked too well together to not be precise choices. As I got into the later songs by Marvin Gaye, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix, I still felt that sense of chaos on the music. The songs were still driven by bombastic, intimidating drums, but the silence and obscure noises are replaced by rich, distorted electric guitars with feedback to fill the previous void in sound. The guitars are overwhelming, but exciting. The songs are given life by throwing noise at listeners. Jimi Hendrix's rendition of the National Anthem showcases the full power of the electric guitar as an instrument and a voice. The talk show host he speaks with even comments that his "unorthodox" performance will upset likely upset the public. The Who, unlike the beloved Beatles, reflect this sound that rebels against the system with their abrasive sound and smashing of guitars. They never intended to be rock's "good guys."
I loved this week's songs! Growing up, I had a terribly strict opinion on what was considered "music," but more recently have started to open up to different interpretation of what can be music, which is was all this week's songs had in common. I think those earlier composers like Russolo and Cage really expanded what we can use as musical elements, which leads to music of today with industrial sounds like Nine Inch Nails employs, or how a lot of lofi music today uses static and hip-hop uses sirens. It keeps music fresh, instead of just having to recycle the same instruments and sounds over and over.
Beyond just using more things as musical instruments, in this week we also see a growth of polyphonic music that sometimes seems just like a cacophony of sounds. To be honest, the Coltrane piece reminded me of sitting in my high school's band room before a concert when everyone was tuning and practicing. This sort of sound really pushes conventional music tastes, which I think is super cool. Having so many layers allows for more musical variety that I think is needed for there to be truly new music. It paves the way for the Who and Jimi Hendrix to make these sort of chaotic arrangements.
Also just a fun anecdote: my brother and I used to blast the Jimi Hendrix National Anthem on the way to work every 4th of July. Our boss wasn't a huge fan but everyone else thought it was great :) -Sara Lim
Personally, I have always been a pretty big fan of avant garde music. The ability of the avant garde artists that we looked at this week to create compelling music using many aspects of noise was one of the most interesting things that I took out of this week. The end of ionization as well as many parts of the Coltrane piece I thought were very good examples of this. It is clear to see the influence of these displays of noise as music in the clips of Hendrix and The Who as well as how these artists affected later musical styles like punk and shoegaze. I see the 'point' of avant garde as doing something in sharp contrast to the norm. In the case of John Cage, this was against more traditional classical composer, in Coltrane's case, it was against much of the jazz world, etc. This makes it easy to see how the Who were inspired to rebel against much of the popular music being made in their day.
By including new noises and sounds that are not typically found in music, artists have the opportunity to show the beauty of everyday sounds, emphasize lyrics, and add another dimension to the sound profiles of their songs. “Risveglio di una Citta” creates an interesting soundscape that ends up sounding much like a car. It is interesting how each segment of sound still has a climax and eventually fizzles out. I loved the use of percussion in “Ionisation” because it reminds me of a pit solo I played for my marching band in highschool where it seemed to be a chaos of noise individually, but it came together to make a comprehensible tune. Having been to percussion concerts this was a familiar, pleasant experience. In John Cage’s “Water Walk” it is shown that you don’t need instruments to create music. It reminds me of the Bass people made for Skiffle bands. Cage defines music as the creation of sound because you don’t actually need instruments to make music. I like the inclusivity of that definition as well as its attainability. “Ascension” has several instruments such as cymbals, piano, and trumpet that combine in odd ways. Personally, I didn’t like it, but it seems to be an ascension towards madness. There are short moments when all the parts line up and make a tune that wouldn’t be strange to hear, but it quickly changes to become a mix of instruments, beats, and tempos. In the short moments where I could decipher a melody I wanted it to keep going with the melody, but it derailed everytime. Listening to Marvine Gaye’s “Baby Don’t Do It” afterward was like a breath of fresh air. It sounds like a typical sound even though it uses sounds like clapping throughout the song. The Who’s version of the same song had the tune, but included more drastic noises like the feedback from the guitar. It shows how The Who’s style was strikingly different than other bands at the time. In their “Anway, Anyhow, Anywhere” song the lyrics are more comprehensible. They start out playing instruments and performing in a way that is pretty standard for the time that quickly revs up into a face paced percussion spree featuring feedback from the guitar again. The tune still lingers and they return to the chorus but the addition of noises makes their performance more interesting. Since it is a live performance they play it a little differently every time. Jimi Hendrix’s “Wild Thing” was also live and presumably not exactly like the recording. The song starts with guitar sounds that sound like a revving engine, a calm chord, and then the tune. It made it more interesting as I waited for the song to start. He holds out certain sounds and makes popping sounds to change the phrasing and add more interest to the live performance. I was very excited to hear him play the national anthem at Woodstock because it had been referenced in a few TV shows I watched. It shows how, as a performer, he had his own style. He didn’t play it in the typical style and added notes as well as feedback to create an exciting take on the national anthem. He compares to singing it in elementary school and says his way of playing wasn’t unorthodox even though it was atypical. In “Feedback and Poetry” they purposefully use feedback and reverb from a guitar and recite poetry on top of it. The feedback accentuate what she is saying about anti-violence. Personally, I liked hearing this weeks songs just because they were atypical which made them quite interesting. - Julia Alanis
I really liked listening to this week's songs. I am not used to listening o music that does not sound traditional, and I definitely have had moments in my life where I am quick to reject sounds like this. I have to admit a lot of the atypical and chaotic sounds were not my favorite, but I still really appreciated the emotion that all the performers this week really put into their music. After all, emotion and passion is arguably the most important part of being a musician. So while the sounds are not my favorite to listen to, I understand pieces like the Coltrane piece were necessary to progress music and let the public become more open to new ideas in music, and the performers definitely paved the way for more progress t be made in music. -Violet
This week’s songs were quite interesting to me. I had never heard most, if any, of these songs before, and I enjoyed being able to reimagine what in which a song must truly contain. The earlier tracks seemed very unusual to me, but were entertaining, and I enjoyed being able to hear a combination of techniques from the earlier tracks with more mainstream artists in the latter tracks. The techniques highlighted in these songs allowed musicians to utilize materials that may not have been formerly thought of as “musical instruments.” These techniques also allowed for existing instruments to be used in more nontraditional ways. Recording artists could produce more complicated and time consuming sounds for their recorded pieces, and performing artists could add a new level of variety and uniqueness to each of their performances. Through the songs that you assigned for us to listen to, it seems that musicians like The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Patti Smith all utilized these techniques quite well. Even just through their uses of more traditional instruments like a guitar, these artists were able to capitalize on these newfound uses of instruments. I look forward to listening to next week’s songs!
After finishing this week's songs, I feel like it's safe to say that the "art of noise" was ground-breaking for performers. It opened up the aspect of not necessarily performing to sound good, but performing to perform if that makes sense. The performance and the sound in and of itself brings a whole new meaning to the idea of music and expression. It was unorthodox and set the precedent for more opportunities for less traditional-styled music to played and allowed more breathing room for other ideas to take place. I think you can see this in the rock bands that began rising from avant-garde music like this. There's more wailing coming instruments, more chaos, more incoherent messages being put to the stage that are molded into art and made to represent something beyond just what was expected at the time
Hi everyone! Im Sofie Del Barrio, while listening to this weeks music, I kept asking myself "is this really music?" because some of it sounded like audio from a construction site, and John Cage's work seemed to be more performance art than music to me. But what is music? Is it just sound? If I recorded my dog barking or my mom washing dishes, could I call it a song? This train of thought reminded me of taking modern art classes and always getting to the part where the "art" turns into a toilet placed in an art gallery, or a blank white canvas or something, and then we all have to decide if we think it's art or not. I like these kinds of conversations because I think they are expansive to what we perceive as truth, but they're also frustrating because there really is no answer.
I basically realized this week that I do not know how to define music, can any of you? I would be really interested to hear some different definitions.
The Russolo, Varese, and Cage pieces introduced the use of non-traditional musical instruments to make music. They fascinated me, especially the Varese piece "Ionisation" because of the various uses for percussion. Coltrane's "Ascension" started off sounding like a band warming up before a performance and "ascended" into more structure, which blended the aforementioned musical and non-traditional musical elements. It's evident that future musicians picked up on this and attempted to blend musical mediums.
ReplyDeleteThe Who use a lot of feedback and seemingly random guitar strumming in their live performances, as seen in the videos for "Baby Don't You Do It" and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" which could be considered a driving force for the music.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI was really struck by the overall chaos of the songs for this week, yet while being chaotic, they still meshed and sounded rhythmic. As Kriseira mentioned above, the John Coltrane piece really stood out to me as a defining piece. It combined all sorts of improvisations and irregularities (I'm thinking around minute 2), but it was very successful as an overall piece. I think opening the music industry up to imperfections allowed for the industry to evolve. Jimi Hendrix's National Anthem is a perfect example of such evolution. He completely made it his own with moments of chaos interwoven. Patti Smith's Feedback and Poetry is a performance art piece, combining her spoken word about her guitar and art and her music laden with indeterminacy and atonality. She really stuck out to me as well because we haven't really looked at a female rocker, and she is a very unique one.
ReplyDeleteListening to this week’s music, I thought it was really interesting to see the way different noises and sounds can influence a song and change its entire vibe. The Art of Noise, Ionisation, and Water Walk showcase different non-musical sounds that can be added to music to enhance it. I really like how in John Coltrane’s Ascension, he utilizes many different instruments – such as the saxophone, horn, drum, piano, and flute, which become more and more intense as the song progresses. Because of the lack of melody, the instruments sound overwhelming and cacaphonous when played together. However, this indetermancy makes it so the meaning of the song is left up to the listener’s interpretation. Another piece that really stood out to me was The Who’s performance of Baby Don’t You Do It, which starts with some non-musical sounds (maybe radio static or even a motor), and then a repeating melody and some more instrumentals are introduced. This free jazz improvization makes the piece rhythmic and easy to follow, and the non-musical sounds add to the depth of the song. In contrast, in the original version of Baby Don’t You Do It, Marvin Gaye utilizes a mix of instrumentals as well, but the difference is that it also has vocals, which work to bring the piece together. Overall, I really enjoyed listening to the different musical techniques and the way they influenced music. I think that when incorporated with vocals, these strategies can be very effective and can really enhance the music in a positive way.
ReplyDelete- Kate Latham
I think that Dick Cavett says it best in his interview with Jimi Hendrix: "don't you think there's a kind of mad beauty to unorthodoxy?" (to which Jimi replied with an unorthodox growling "yeah"). The focus on the use of sound for the sake of enjoying pure sound evolved from what artists like Luigi Russolo, Edgard Varese, and John Cage, to the sporadic jazz of Coltrane and the infamous guitar riffs of Jimi Hendrix. These artists and their work are all connected, in various forms, by the idea of using sound in new and innovative ways to produce unorthodox noise. And it's these sort of new techniques that allowed new artists focused on studio recording to do never-before-heard things with their music. Sadly, I think that in modern music, that appreciation for sounds as strange, simple, and oddly pleasing as the feedback from a guitar, have been lost to some extent.
ReplyDelete- Preston Patam
When I first started watching these videos, I was very confused. Nothing that I heard held any semblance to the music that we had been listening to for the first two weeks. And to be completely honest, I did not consider any of what I was hearing to be music. I think the title of this unit sums it up perfectly; this is noise. And while John Cage defines music as noise, I do not. Once I separated the concepts of music and noise, in my head I began to make the connection to The Who’s music. I can definitely hear the influence of this so-called ‘noise’ on more traditional music such as when The Who covered Marvin Gaye’s song “Baby Don’t You Do It.’ The live version of this cover that we watched really highlights the elements of noise with a lot of guitar distortion, feedback, and just general chaos at times. I think this style works best in a live setting because audiences can actually feel the noise. When watching the two Jimi Hendrix videos, I could only imagine what those crowds were hearing and feeling. That kind of music makes the hairs on my arms vibrate and it is an unreal experience. I saw a band a couple of years ago that used old TVs during their set to create a buzzing ambiance. It was definitely unorthodox but it made their set that much more memorable and I think that’s something that many artists (recording and performing) are looking for. They want to stand out and be remembered for being unique. These non-musical sounds and chaotic methods will set any artist apart from the pop standard.
ReplyDeleteHey Aubrey!
DeleteI agree with you, I also had hard time listening to this "music" as music and not just uncomfortable noises. But I do agree that the shock factor of this music adds a lot to its historic significance. I think at this time in the world, these young artists were so overwhelmed with all the music of the mainstream sounding so similar and boring (imagine if they were all alive now) that they felt compelled to really push the limits of what they could create. Even if we had a bad reaction to this art, at least we had a reaction -I think that's the goal of most artists.
The music for this week was a collection of unique and experimental pieces that demonstrate the influence of Avant Garde on the advancement and development of popular music. The indeterminacy employed by John Cage when he created music from a variety of ordinary items, like a rubber duck, a bathtub, and a mixer, along with the nontraditional use of traditional instruments such as a grande piano, which was broadcasted on television allowed people to see new, creative ways that music could be made and that sounds could come together to form a coherent whole. It may have been seen as absurd or comedic to some members of the audience, but it may have given others a chance to broaden their musical and artistic horizons, whether in listening to or creating music that was new, fresh, and adventurous. Meanwhile, John Coltrane’s “Ascension” featuring heavy atonality and free jazz was infused with emotion and impact that allowed for the further development of music and artistry to go beyond notions of conventionality. It was especially interesting to see Jimi Hendrix play the US National Anthem at Woodstock, and to hear the following interview where he explains how his unique performance was not meant to offend, but to honor the anthem in a way that he found beautiful, despite outside criticisms. On the other hand, Patti Smith’s “Feedback and Poetry” combined musical experimentation with socio-political commentary, as she infused the performance with her desire to have this music replace war for her generation and the future, leaving behind the horrors of the war for the “horrors” or the guitar. In this way, we can notice how artists were able to adopt these unconventional and non-musical sounds into their music, and see how each was able to add their own unique touch to their art in a way that allowed them to express themselves however they wished, and to pave the way for those to come.
ReplyDeleteIt was so interesting to see the progression, yet similarity between all of this weeks' song choices. At first, when opening up the first two pieces, I denied that any of those sounds were used in actual songs, however I found I was too quick to disregard them. When moving on to Marvin Gaye's song and The Who's performance of it, I realized the similar background instruments/sounds that resided within Russolo's "Art of Noise". Although not seen as a typical form of art, Russolo really opened up a gateway to the uses of more abstract sounds within music. Growing up in a techno generation, we see a lot of EDM music being celebrated at raves, forgetting where and from what sounds music stemmed from.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the responses this week.
ReplyDeleteEdgard Varese's Ionisation was oddly my favorite song of the week because of it's incorporation of an extended metaphor within the subtext of the song. Please indulge me as I uncover my interpretation of said metaphor.
Ionisation refers to the process by which an atom or a molecule gains or loses an electrons. simply put, this process relies on energy. In metals, this energy comes from light (that is why metals corrode in sunlight). Now light and sound behave in similar ways because they are both waves.
Light breaks electrons free from atoms in the same way sound breaks silence. "Ionization" has a "vibrational sound" which is also similar to how light behaves.
I also think that Cage's use of water in every state of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) is deeply profound. I like to think that it is about the simultaneous and spontaneous changes in life. He unapologetically breaks every rule to bring about conviction in music which one cannot help but admire.
This week's song choices were fascinating. The first three Russolo, Varese, and Cage were almost unsettling in their use of silence as an instrument. The percussion elements felt haphazardly placed in the pieces, yet they worked too well together to not be precise choices. As I got into the later songs by Marvin Gaye, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix, I still felt that sense of chaos on the music. The songs were still driven by bombastic, intimidating drums, but the silence and obscure noises are replaced by rich, distorted electric guitars with feedback to fill the previous void in sound. The guitars are overwhelming, but exciting. The songs are given life by throwing noise at listeners. Jimi Hendrix's rendition of the National Anthem showcases the full power of the electric guitar as an instrument and a voice. The talk show host he speaks with even comments that his "unorthodox" performance will upset likely upset the public. The Who, unlike the beloved Beatles, reflect this sound that rebels against the system with their abrasive sound and smashing of guitars. They never intended to be rock's "good guys."
ReplyDeletethis is ben
DeleteI loved this week's songs! Growing up, I had a terribly strict opinion on what was considered "music," but more recently have started to open up to different interpretation of what can be music, which is was all this week's songs had in common. I think those earlier composers like Russolo and Cage really expanded what we can use as musical elements, which leads to music of today with industrial sounds like Nine Inch Nails employs, or how a lot of lofi music today uses static and hip-hop uses sirens. It keeps music fresh, instead of just having to recycle the same instruments and sounds over and over.
ReplyDeleteBeyond just using more things as musical instruments, in this week we also see a growth of polyphonic music that sometimes seems just like a cacophony of sounds. To be honest, the Coltrane piece reminded me of sitting in my high school's band room before a concert when everyone was tuning and practicing. This sort of sound really pushes conventional music tastes, which I think is super cool. Having so many layers allows for more musical variety that I think is needed for there to be truly new music. It paves the way for the Who and Jimi Hendrix to make these sort of chaotic arrangements.
Also just a fun anecdote: my brother and I used to blast the Jimi Hendrix National Anthem on the way to work every 4th of July. Our boss wasn't a huge fan but everyone else thought it was great :)
-Sara Lim
Personally, I have always been a pretty big fan of avant garde music. The ability of the avant garde artists that we looked at this week to create compelling music using many aspects of noise was one of the most interesting things that I took out of this week. The end of ionization as well as many parts of the Coltrane piece I thought were very good examples of this. It is clear to see the influence of these displays of noise as music in the clips of Hendrix and The Who as well as how these artists affected later musical styles like punk and shoegaze. I see the 'point' of avant garde as doing something in sharp contrast to the norm. In the case of John Cage, this was against more traditional classical composer, in Coltrane's case, it was against much of the jazz world, etc. This makes it easy to see how the Who were inspired to rebel against much of the popular music being made in their day.
ReplyDeleteThis was Charlie (:
DeleteAlso, I wrote composer instead of composers.
DeleteBy including new noises and sounds that are not typically found in music, artists have the opportunity to show the beauty of everyday sounds, emphasize lyrics, and add another dimension to the sound profiles of their songs. “Risveglio di una Citta” creates an interesting soundscape that ends up sounding much like a car. It is interesting how each segment of sound still has a climax and eventually fizzles out. I loved the use of percussion in “Ionisation” because it reminds me of a pit solo I played for my marching band in highschool where it seemed to be a chaos of noise individually, but it came together to make a comprehensible tune. Having been to percussion concerts this was a familiar, pleasant experience. In John Cage’s “Water Walk” it is shown that you don’t need instruments to create music. It reminds me of the Bass people made for Skiffle bands. Cage defines music as the creation of sound because you don’t actually need instruments to make music. I like the inclusivity of that definition as well as its attainability. “Ascension” has several instruments such as cymbals, piano, and trumpet that combine in odd ways. Personally, I didn’t like it, but it seems to be an ascension towards madness. There are short moments when all the parts line up and make a tune that wouldn’t be strange to hear, but it quickly changes to become a mix of instruments, beats, and tempos. In the short moments where I could decipher a melody I wanted it to keep going with the melody, but it derailed everytime. Listening to Marvine Gaye’s “Baby Don’t Do It” afterward was like a breath of fresh air. It sounds like a typical sound even though it uses sounds like clapping throughout the song. The Who’s version of the same song had the tune, but included more drastic noises like the feedback from the guitar. It shows how The Who’s style was strikingly different than other bands at the time. In their “Anway, Anyhow, Anywhere” song the lyrics are more comprehensible. They start out playing instruments and performing in a way that is pretty standard for the time that quickly revs up into a face paced percussion spree featuring feedback from the guitar again. The tune still lingers and they return to the chorus but the addition of noises makes their performance more interesting. Since it is a live performance they play it a little differently every time. Jimi Hendrix’s “Wild Thing” was also live and presumably not exactly like the recording. The song starts with guitar sounds that sound like a revving engine, a calm chord, and then the tune. It made it more interesting as I waited for the song to start. He holds out certain sounds and makes popping sounds to change the phrasing and add more interest to the live performance. I was very excited to hear him play the national anthem at Woodstock because it had been referenced in a few TV shows I watched. It shows how, as a performer, he had his own style. He didn’t play it in the typical style and added notes as well as feedback to create an exciting take on the national anthem. He compares to singing it in elementary school and says his way of playing wasn’t unorthodox even though it was atypical. In “Feedback and Poetry” they purposefully use feedback and reverb from a guitar and recite poetry on top of it. The feedback accentuate what she is saying about anti-violence.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I liked hearing this weeks songs just because they were atypical which made them quite interesting. - Julia Alanis
I really liked listening to this week's songs. I am not used to listening o music that does not sound traditional, and I definitely have had moments in my life where I am quick to reject sounds like this. I have to admit a lot of the atypical and chaotic sounds were not my favorite, but I still really appreciated the emotion that all the performers this week really put into their music. After all, emotion and passion is arguably the most important part of being a musician. So while the sounds are not my favorite to listen to, I understand pieces like the Coltrane piece were necessary to progress music and let the public become more open to new ideas in music, and the performers definitely paved the way for more progress t be made in music. -Violet
ReplyDeleteThis week’s songs were quite interesting to me. I had never heard most, if any, of these songs before, and I enjoyed being able to reimagine what in which a song must truly contain. The earlier tracks seemed very unusual to me, but were entertaining, and I enjoyed being able to hear a combination of techniques from the earlier tracks with more mainstream artists in the latter tracks. The techniques highlighted in these songs allowed musicians to utilize materials that may not have been formerly thought of as “musical instruments.” These techniques also allowed for existing instruments to be used in more nontraditional ways. Recording artists could produce more complicated and time consuming sounds for their recorded pieces, and performing artists could add a new level of variety and uniqueness to each of their performances. Through the songs that you assigned for us to listen to, it seems that musicians like The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Patti Smith all utilized these techniques quite well. Even just through their uses of more traditional instruments like a guitar, these artists were able to capitalize on these newfound uses of instruments. I look forward to listening to next week’s songs!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
After finishing this week's songs, I feel like it's safe to say that the "art of noise" was ground-breaking for performers. It opened up the aspect of not necessarily performing to sound good, but performing to perform if that makes sense. The performance and the sound in and of itself brings a whole new meaning to the idea of music and expression. It was unorthodox and set the precedent for more opportunities for less traditional-styled music to played and allowed more breathing room for other ideas to take place. I think you can see this in the rock bands that began rising from avant-garde music like this. There's more wailing coming instruments, more chaos, more incoherent messages being put to the stage that are molded into art and made to represent something beyond just what was expected at the time
ReplyDelete- Kailani
DeleteHi everyone! Im Sofie Del Barrio,
ReplyDeletewhile listening to this weeks music, I kept asking myself "is this really music?" because some of it sounded like audio from a construction site, and John Cage's work seemed to be more performance art than music to me. But what is music? Is it just sound? If I recorded my dog barking or my mom washing dishes, could I call it a song? This train of thought reminded me of taking modern art classes and always getting to the part where the "art" turns into a toilet placed in an art gallery, or a blank white canvas or something, and then we all have to decide if we think it's art or not. I like these kinds of conversations because I think they are expansive to what we perceive as truth, but they're also frustrating because there really is no answer.
I basically realized this week that I do not know how to define music, can any of you? I would be really interested to hear some different definitions.