In-Class Audio Exercise

Analyze the work in a short paragraph, discussing the elements of the work and how you imagine the sounds were derived/created. What particular sounds or noises can you detect in the piece? List as many as you can.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE- SOMETIMES

Guitar strum, soft singing, bass guitar in the background. Definitely electric guitar, btw. Bass is somewhat distorted. I can hear the strum pattern- you can hear the pick on the strings. I can picture all the different parts being recorded in the studio, and then put together. The lyrics are barely distinguishable because the guitar is very loud. 

Towards the end, the voice merges into an electronic synth type audio. It goes along to the tune- behind it, you can still feel as though the hum of a human voice exists. There’s a beat of an electric sounding drum, also. Like a drum pad. 

IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE NO 1 JOHN CAGE

Sh*t this is cool. Odd, electronic, high pitched alien hum. Then a musical instrument, like a “da duh dum”. Oh, probably some sort of percussion- metal? A ding now, and then more of the percussion, and then what sounds like a gong. Now an ever-present ding of a moving vehicle, or a warning, or something. Oh god, there’s so many sounds. Now actual musical piano keys, but back to the cymbal clash. That’s what it is, a cymbal!!!! The most present things are the alien hum, the cymbal, and whatever was used to make the crescendo of metallic sounding tunes. Now a very clear, unsettling piano audio. Still the hum in the background. Long, drawn-out lower hum, quickly turns into a higher hum. Still the metallic crescendo, and now the warning car sounds again. Only in the right ear, another hum moves in- sounding like it’s moving into the ear. Piano again. All of these sounds have been established, at this point. The very very low sound of like…. When you turn a speaker on but it doesn’t have any sound playing yet? Or an amp. Just that sort of low electronic buzz. Now added plucking of strings, hard. 

How would you characterize the work and why? Does it function as art, music, or as an environment/space?​

MY BLOODY VALENTINE- SOMETIMES

It functions as music, for sure. In listening to it, I almost feel (or sense?) variations in lighting. Like, it makes me feel like a dark room with moody shifting lights of blues and purples. That's a type of atmospheric feeling that music can achieve.

IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE NO 1 JOHN CAGE

Art. I wouldn’t even say environment, necessarily. Or music. It doesn’t put you anywhere in specific- it’s like it asks you to make what you will of it. The overall piece definitely has an unsettling presence, which is more of an artistic effect than musical. 

Finally: briefly, what is the difference between noise, sound, and music to you? Don't look it up; just write a brief synopsis of your understanding/interpretation of the terms.

Sound is all around us. It's anything that's sensed with our ears. In my definition, sound encompasses noise and music and everything else.

The difference between noise and music to me is that noise is just any sound that exists without intention. Music, on the other hand, is made with a purpose. It might be made to be listened to, to share, to celebrate, to connect, to communicate. Even the birdsong is music in the way it's shared to the world.