Presentational Music

In presentational music one group of people is providing music for another group of people.  There is a separation between the artist and the audience’s only interaction with the music is listening.  Concerts are an excellent example of this. The entire point of concerts is for groups and artist to perform live for their fans.  The following clip is of a Glee live concert. The stadium is packed with hundreds of cheering fans as the cast performs an exciting rendition of the song “Valerie” up on stage. The cast and the audience are clearly separated by the stage and while they may cheer and clap for the cast, the audience takes no other part in the performance. The performance that the cast puts on has no other purpose than for the audience to listen and enjoy it.  The cast provides the audience with entertainment by enthusiastically singing the song. They sustain the interest of the audience by adding dancers, lights, and other special effects to keep them watching.

Presentational music, while often very entertaining, is not without its drawbacks. Presentational music is for the most part always live music. When music is done live, the artist has little room for mistake. Presentational music also varies greatly. This means that a song can never be performed in the same way twice and more often than not sounds different then a recorded version. This fact can make it hard for the artist to please their audience at a live performance when the live version of the song varies too much from what they are used to hearing. However, it is not all bad.  Presentational music also has much potential.  The greatest potential in presentational music is the performance. The performers of presentational music have a large amount of artistic freedom. Since the artists are not responsible for the participation of the audience in the music making, they are able to strictly rehearse their performance.  These rehearsals and the artist’s freedom to perform the song the way they intended it to be heard often results in a fantastic performance.  

High-Fidelity Performance

High-fidelity performance is musical sounds heard on recordings that index live performance. These recordings represent what a performer actually does in a live performance. Every mp3 download, iTunes song, cd, eight track, and so on are a high-fidelity performance.  Most music we listen to today is a high fidelity performance. There are no real visual aspects to high-fidelity performances. The recording you are listening to is only a representation of the live performer or group. The music must be able to preserve a since of “liveness”. The sound of the recording makes up for the lack of visuals with variation.  The clip below of Queen’s hit song Bohemian Rhapsody is an excellent example. There is a large amount of variation in this song that makes up for the lack of visuals. It starts out with a soft melody with only the band members’ voices. Then as the song continues, the complexity increases with the addition of more instruments and changes in vocals. What was once a soft melody evolves into a true rock anthem with the assistance of a guitar solo in the middle.  It regresses from rock anthem back down to a soft melody by the end of the song.  

High-Fidelity music also has some limits. The most obvious limit would be the lack of visuals. While the sound makes up for the lack of visuals with variation, it is never the same as the real thing. In high- fidelity performance, studio engineers have the most control in the music making process. This greatly limits the artist’s creative freedom. However, high-fidelity performance also has some pros. The studio engineer is able to manipulate and layer the different parts of the song in a way that would not be possible in a live performance. The value of high-fidelity performance is placed solely on making a product to sell.

Studio-Audio Art Music

 Studio audio art music is recorded music with no expectation that it should or even could be performed live. Studio audio art music is made up of a combination of sounds that are generated by a computer.  The sounds in these songs can typically not be reproduced using any kind of instrument. With studio audio art music there is no need for any other human interaction other than the person on the computer composing the music. A great example of this is techno music. This song is an example of studio audio art music because all of the sounds heard in the song were generated from a computer. 

It is not possible to recreate a live version of this song using any instrument.  

Studio audio art music also has limits. This music can never be played live like music that is made using natural instruments.  It also has several possibilities. Studio audio art music is free from the idea of authority and offers maximum control to the creator of the music.  The values of studio audio art music are also very different. The finished piece is abstract and it is associated with electro acoustic music. There is also very little human interaction in the making of this music.

Participatory Music

In participatory music there is no distinction between artist and audience. People are not only welcomed to join in they are expected to. Every one performs and takes part in some way. Musical ability does not matter. The music is judged not on the quality but on participation and the collective feeling of participation. It does not matter if the music sounds good at all. The only thing that matters is that everyone partakes and has a feeling of social bonding. There are two types of participatory music. Simultaneous participatory music is when everyone participates together at the same time. Sequential participatory music is when everyone takes turns performing.  The movie clip below is an example of sequential participation. The clip shows a group of friends at a karaoke bar. When you go to a karaoke bar it is expected that everyone takes a turn singing. Whether you are musically inclined or not does not matter. The point in singing is not to make good music but to be part of a group and bond.  The entire group of people participates in the performance at some point or another. 

Participatory music also has limits. There is no structured rehearsal of participatory music and it cannot be planned out. There is no control over the level of participation; therefore, there is no control over how successful the performance will be.  Participatory music also has some good possibilities. There is always the possibility of forming a great social bond within a group of people. There is the possibility of creating an amazing and unique performance with a group.  The values of participatory music are different too. It is the least competitive type of music making and musical talent is not necessary. The participation of every one is essential regardless of musical talent. The performance does not have to flow well or have a good rhythm to be considered good. The only criterion the performance is judged by is participation. As long as everyone partakes it does not matter what the performance sounds like.