Thoughts from Today
Our current unit is Music Since 1945 class is Minimalism. Of course, we started off by listening to music of Philip Glass and Steve Reich, which was great, but today we moved on to Michael Torke which was awesome! We also listened to some music from John Adams, who is one of the greats in American minimalist composition. Listening to a lot of minimalist music and discussing it today made me think about some questions.
1. How would my listening experience be different if I played a different instrument as my main instrument?
I’ve heard a little about this from talking to some of my musical friends, but it seems like people who play either cello or double bass tend to listen to the bass line when listening to a piece, or at least find it easier to pick it out. In Music Theory, I often find it difficult to hear the bass line of a piece (partially because it’s so low, but partially because I don’t usually listen to or play bass lines), but apparently cellists do not usually have that problem. Between my previous discussions with cellists/bassists about listening to bass lines and then the mention today of the immense percussion in minimalist music because of the Gamelan inspiration, I got thinking about how listening from a different perspective would change my listening experience. If I was listening as a percussionist, would I find the music more interesting or would I automatically tune in to the percussion parts? If I was listening as a cellist, would I automatically listen to the cello part? French horn? Clarinet? I’m really curious because I feel like as a violist, it’s pretty hard to tune into the viola part, so I find my ear wandering back and forth between different lines and instruments unless I actively pick a part to listen to.
2. Does giving your piece a creative/not standard title inhibit the listener’s imaginative experience while listening?
While listening to works such as “Ecstatic Orange”, “Bright Blue”, “Yellow Pages”, and “Short Ride in a Fast Machine” (all of which we listened to in class today), I find myself trying to relate the music back to the title. For example, in “Ecstatic Orange”, I found myself thinking about different shades of orange and cultural perceptions of orange. However, if the piece had simply been titled “Movement 1″ and the whole group of pieces (including “Bright Blue”) was titled “Suite for Orchestra” instead of “Color Pieces for Orchestra”, would I have listened differently? Would I have decided that each section was a different color? Would I have found many different colors within one section? Would I have come up with a totally different story? I am very torn on the issue of if a work should be given a creative title. I feel that it inhibits my personal creativity and imagination while listening to a piece, because I’m trying to find the title within the work. However, I also understand that the composer is representing his/her/their personal experiences and meaning behind the piece, which is important. This relates back to the debate about whether the composer’s intent or the listener’s perception is more important, which I am also unsure about.
Any opinions?
