Musical Meaning Blog

Musical & Drama

September 11, 2022

This post will be about the different styles of western music, as well as their connection to Western Music. With a new era of music that Western Music provided, we will take a look at the elements that made the music so extraordinary.

Western Music Example: "Symphony No. 40 in G minor"; Composer - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    

    This is a direct representation of the Western Art Music Tradition due to it's wide range of different instruments, ranges, texture, and expression. There is a numerous amount of instruments that work together to keep the texture moving rapidly, or to slow it down. By changing the tempo as well as the beats, Mozart is able to control how his audience feels when listening to the music, whether it be almost panicked or relaxed because of the sudden changes in the music.

    

    I believe this piece represents life for most people. In an overall sense, everybody throughout life goes through their ups and their downs, with the ups being very panicky and fast, enjoying what is occurring and letting it take you. Life seems to move so fast, as the music does within this symphony, and when the music is so fast your heart is pumping rapidly, you feel excited for what is next, enthralled about what you are experiencing. But, with the highs, also come the lows. The lower points of the song, where there is a slower pace, with less "action" is when you are waiting for life to pick back up. These lows within the song emphasize that not everything is meant to be fast, when the tempo is slower, we feel less energetic, less ready to take on the challenges that lay ahead. However, the lows do not stay forever, as within the symphony there becomes a sudden rapidness, such as at 22:22, when there all of a sudden becomes bursts of highs and lows. I believe the piece demonstrates that life is full of highs (fast tempos) and lows (slow tempo), but that you never know when your next high or low be.

    With a mix of the different tempos mixed throughout the piece, it helps to control the audiences expressions, by making them cheerful with the fast tempo and calmer during the slower tempos. With a full melody joined with many different notes, this symphony is the epitome of the style of Western Music. The rhythm is both articulated and unarticulated, as there are moments when the beat is repeated, and others when the beat is all over the place, and you have no idea where it is heading. 

Alternative Rock Example: "Hurt"; Johnny Cash

    

    This song is a great example of music & drama because it shows, through the music, the pain that is felt by the singer. With a strong use of different elements including tempo, texture, rhythm, and expression. With the songs slowness, Cash's monotone singing, and the background instruments, Cash is able to express how he felt, as well as make the audience feel the same as he did, dark and gloomy. Without a true shift from sad to happy, the song keeps the audience in a state of sympathy and empathy, and for some, a relatability factor.   

    This song is a reference to the decades long drug addiction that faced Johnny Cash. Though written by Trent Reznor, the song still speaks to an extremely high amount of people who suffer from drug addiction, and even reaches those who have never even experienced drugs. This is possible due to the different variations and style that Johnny Cash puts into the music. With a monotone singing voice joined in company with a slow tempo and few sequences of lots of notes, the song is able to control the audience's emotions. Although the lyrics add quite a lot to how sad the song is, referencing the needles that he would inject, the pain he experienced, or the people he let down, the song would not have such a sad personification if not for the different factors within the music. The homophony texture, with the guitar backing up Cash's singing, does not take anything away from the song, but instead adds to the pain that he experienced.  The rhythm is articulated as it consistently repeats, but this does not take away from the emotion that is put into the listeners, as it is a rhythm that still adds to the overall theme of the song. The melody is also extremely recognizable, with a small range that does not extend very far. Overall, the songs different factors help to show the pain that Cash and other people who may have struggled with addiction have faced.