Textures and Acoustic Environment
Track 1:
Is the instrumentation and texture of the music suitable for the acoustic environment? Why?
The horn and drum sections are very large. All those instruments together are creating a lot more vibration than if it would be just one instrument. Because this is an open space and there is hardly any walls where the sound could bounce off and reverberate, you need a lot of vibration to create a sound that can be heard by everyone on the tribunes as they are far away.
The texture is homophonic. the horn section is playing the main melody line and the drums are accompanying them with rhythm. The texture is alright for the environment because there is only one melody playing. Because the area is big it would not be a good idea to play more melodies at once. The vibrations of the different melodies would have to travel far and bounce back at the building. This means a lot of the sounds would get lost and there would be a lot echo. If you are creating a complex melody structure it would sound messy because different sounds would arrive at different times. Everything would get out of proportion and overlap.
As the camera (and its microphone) moves around the band, do you notice any difference in the sound? Describe the difference.
You hear when the camera is filming the back of the people playing the instruments, the sound sounds a lot more softer, muted and with more echo. This is because the sound vibrates forward, bounces off the building and travels back to the person filming. It takes longer to get to him so more sound gets lost as sound does not travel in just one direction and some of the waves arrive at the microphone later than others, which causes the echo.
When the camera is at the front, the sound is much louder, sharper and dryer than when he was at the back because now the sound travels straight into the microphone and no sound gets lost.
Track 2
In the first 1 minute and 13 seconds you hear 3 different textures. Describe them, including how many and what type of voices are present.
1st structure
5 voices present, 2 soprano, 1 alto, 1 tenor, 1 bass
The structure in the first 30 seconds of the video is homophonic. Even though all the voices are singing different harmonies and some of the parts have slight melodic differences, there is a clear melody line that all the harmonies are accompanying.
2nd structure
5 voices present, 2 soprano, 1 alto, 1 tenor, 1 bass
The structure between 30 and 50 seconds is polyphonic. The voices split up and start singing different melody lines, but do still sound good together.
3rd structure
2 voices present, singing unison in alto
The structure between 50 and 1:13 is monophonic. They are singing the exact same melody line and there are no harmonies involved.
Describe the acoustic environment in which it is being performed.
Is the music appropriate for this environment? Why?
'Miserere' was written in the late Renaissance period and in this excerpt it is performed in a sacred building, for example a church, cathedral or monastery which is an appropriate environment. A sacred building has a lot of stone surfaces with very high ceilings. This allows the sound waves of the voices to travel and bounce off all those surfaces. This creates a long reverberation that is clearly noticeable. Because this reverberation can last up to four or five seconds, notes that have been previously sung will still hang in the air. It is for this reason, that typical characteristics of Renaissance music are slow moving, long notes and rarely used dissonance so harmonically simple, which you can recognise in this song.
Track 3
Describe the texture of the music.
The texture of this piece of music is homophonic. In the intro, the the acoustic guitar and the drum sampler provide accompaniment for the synth, whom is playing the melody line. The drums do this by playing the rhythmic section and the guitar by playing chords. After the intro, the vocals take over from the synth with a different melody line, but the synth jumps in with again another melody line in the vocal breaks. In the chorus, the synth plays a counter melody which interacts with the vocal melody, but you can still hear that the vocals are the centre of attention. Later in the song, the synth plays a solo and after that the vocals take over again. It is homophonic because the vocals and synth are not playing their distinctive melodies at the same time.
What is the effect of the acoustic environment on the music?
Because all the instruments are recorded with the microphones you see close to the instruments, the sound has to be very clear and dry as a lot of reverberation would make the recording sound messy. That would be because some sound waves go straight into the mic and others travel to the walls and back into the mic which would cause too much delay. This is why there are wooden walls and carpeted floors, whom basically 'soak up' the sound waves so there is less that travels back. Another thing to notice is that the room is fairly small, compared to, for example the cathedral in the previous video. Because the sound wave take less time to travel forth and back there will be less notice of reverberation because it is closer to the actual sound.
Is the instrumentation and texture of the music suitable for the acoustic environment? Why?
The horn and drum sections are very large. All those instruments together are creating a lot more vibration than if it would be just one instrument. Because this is an open space and there is hardly any walls where the sound could bounce off and reverberate, you need a lot of vibration to create a sound that can be heard by everyone on the tribunes as they are far away.
The texture is homophonic. the horn section is playing the main melody line and the drums are accompanying them with rhythm. The texture is alright for the environment because there is only one melody playing. Because the area is big it would not be a good idea to play more melodies at once. The vibrations of the different melodies would have to travel far and bounce back at the building. This means a lot of the sounds would get lost and there would be a lot echo. If you are creating a complex melody structure it would sound messy because different sounds would arrive at different times. Everything would get out of proportion and overlap.
As the camera (and its microphone) moves around the band, do you notice any difference in the sound? Describe the difference.
You hear when the camera is filming the back of the people playing the instruments, the sound sounds a lot more softer, muted and with more echo. This is because the sound vibrates forward, bounces off the building and travels back to the person filming. It takes longer to get to him so more sound gets lost as sound does not travel in just one direction and some of the waves arrive at the microphone later than others, which causes the echo.
When the camera is at the front, the sound is much louder, sharper and dryer than when he was at the back because now the sound travels straight into the microphone and no sound gets lost.
Track 2
In the first 1 minute and 13 seconds you hear 3 different textures. Describe them, including how many and what type of voices are present.
1st structure
5 voices present, 2 soprano, 1 alto, 1 tenor, 1 bass
The structure in the first 30 seconds of the video is homophonic. Even though all the voices are singing different harmonies and some of the parts have slight melodic differences, there is a clear melody line that all the harmonies are accompanying.
2nd structure
5 voices present, 2 soprano, 1 alto, 1 tenor, 1 bass
The structure between 30 and 50 seconds is polyphonic. The voices split up and start singing different melody lines, but do still sound good together.
3rd structure
2 voices present, singing unison in alto
The structure between 50 and 1:13 is monophonic. They are singing the exact same melody line and there are no harmonies involved.
Describe the acoustic environment in which it is being performed.
Is the music appropriate for this environment? Why?
'Miserere' was written in the late Renaissance period and in this excerpt it is performed in a sacred building, for example a church, cathedral or monastery which is an appropriate environment. A sacred building has a lot of stone surfaces with very high ceilings. This allows the sound waves of the voices to travel and bounce off all those surfaces. This creates a long reverberation that is clearly noticeable. Because this reverberation can last up to four or five seconds, notes that have been previously sung will still hang in the air. It is for this reason, that typical characteristics of Renaissance music are slow moving, long notes and rarely used dissonance so harmonically simple, which you can recognise in this song.
Track 3
Describe the texture of the music.
The texture of this piece of music is homophonic. In the intro, the the acoustic guitar and the drum sampler provide accompaniment for the synth, whom is playing the melody line. The drums do this by playing the rhythmic section and the guitar by playing chords. After the intro, the vocals take over from the synth with a different melody line, but the synth jumps in with again another melody line in the vocal breaks. In the chorus, the synth plays a counter melody which interacts with the vocal melody, but you can still hear that the vocals are the centre of attention. Later in the song, the synth plays a solo and after that the vocals take over again. It is homophonic because the vocals and synth are not playing their distinctive melodies at the same time.
What is the effect of the acoustic environment on the music?
Because all the instruments are recorded with the microphones you see close to the instruments, the sound has to be very clear and dry as a lot of reverberation would make the recording sound messy. That would be because some sound waves go straight into the mic and others travel to the walls and back into the mic which would cause too much delay. This is why there are wooden walls and carpeted floors, whom basically 'soak up' the sound waves so there is less that travels back. Another thing to notice is that the room is fairly small, compared to, for example the cathedral in the previous video. Because the sound wave take less time to travel forth and back there will be less notice of reverberation because it is closer to the actual sound.
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