So Much More to Music

The Four Fields of Making Music and Habits of the Self

Participatory Performance:

 



          This clip of contra-dancing is an example of "the doing" in participatory music. There are no distinctions between the artists and the audience. As one watches, he can tell there is a strong emphasis on social bonding here. This dance involves the whole audience and everyone is expected to perform and join in. Basically, there are no wall flowers in this act. Participatory music values the degree of participation. There exists no competition in this type of music making. As one watches they can maybe even start to see the "Flow" state taking place in the performers as they move with the music and their partners.

Presentational Performance:

         
         This is a clip of Little Feat performing the song Spanish Moon live. In this live footage, we can see that in the time this was recorded, real music was taking place. Real instruments, real singing. It is also noticeable that there is one group of people providing music for another group of people, we can see the obvious difference between the artist and audience. Although there is some audience dancing taking place, that is simply a reaction of their sustained interest in the show. For the audience, music is for listening. They are not held obligated to participate in dancing or clapping, etc. and nor are the artists held responsible for audience participation. This performance has been rehearsed multiple times for this sole reason to please the crowd. In this type of music making, the artist must keep a variation and sustain listeners interest. Their performances combine an extraordinary vocal virtuosity with a great sense of presentation.

High Fidelity Performance:

     
         Easton Corbin's "All Over the Road" is one example of most all the recorded pieces we have on our iPods of high fidelity music making. This piece, for example, could be preformed live. A band could be assembled that would be capable of playing and singing this song. When we hear this song, it resembles what Easton actually does in a live performance. We discovered though, the actual recording through definition is not music, when actually, the real music is what it was as it was getting recorded. The sounds in these types of recordings also have to make up for the lack of visuals through variation to keep the listener engaged. High Fidelity music making is the recording of any piece of music, it is only a representation of his live music. High fidelity recordings' values are placed on a commodified object, the artists goal is to make money.

Studio-Audio Art Performance:

          Although this song could get me pretty amped up, Pursuit Of Happiness (Steve Aoki Dance Remix) is a prime example of studio-audio art. Studio-audio art cannot not be preformed live. There are no instruments to be played, it is solely all computer generated, minus Kid Cudi's voice. This type of music making is abstract sonic art, the producers have maximum control of the finalized product. Studio-audio art is free from the idea of authenticity as well. Artists of this music making can sell their tracks but they have very little human interaction, hence, it is all computer generated. When Steve Aoki even puts this on for a crowd it is a recording of Kid Cudi, Kid Cudi is not even there. Therefore, it is solely manipulated recordings being played through very, very loud speakers.