Ethnography of Performance Essay - 685 Words

Ethnography of Performance During a musical performance many elements to be looked are not easily recognized by the average critic. A musical performance has multiple interactions taking place between the music, text, performers, audience, and space that all can contribute to a great performance. Overwhelming majority of the audience does not realize so much can be looked at during a single performance. At a performance by the University of Maryland Marching Band I was able to analyze the Musical Sound, Contexts of the Performance, and Interpretation of the Performance. When analyzing musical sound there are many factors to pay attention to during the performance. Important things to listen for are the pitch, scale, timbre, tone†¦show more content†¦During the performance there were many overtones and one fundamental tone, which deals with the timbre and tone quality. â€Å"The overtones produce additional sounds that enable us to distinguish between different instruments even when they are sounding the same pitch†(Kaemmer:60). The tone quality of the performance was very good. The music sounded evenly distributed and it was very easy to hear the sounds of the various instruments. The band played two songs and one song had a slow rhythm and the other had a faster rhythm. Rhythm means more than a basic beat (Kaemmer:65). During the performance there was a steady rhythm. Also during the performance there was a section of the song that sounded different and after about ten seconds the song goes back to its previous sound. That sound was a melody. Melodies are combination of pitches and rhythm patterns that produce a distinctive line of sound (Kaemmer:62). When the band first began to play the song started in a low tone and the music began to escalate and it reached a climax where the loudness of the performance was at its peak. Once at its peak the music began to get softer and lower. This is an example of a linear form of the performance. Linear form means a performance h aving a definite beginning and ending. The overall musical sound of the performance was delightful and pleasing to the ears. The context of a musical performance is another key part of anyShow MoreRelatedExamining the Views of Ethnographic Writers Essay1183 Words   |  5 PagesThe ethnography of musical performance poses many complex problems to ethnomusicologists. 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