Assignment One:

Reflective Commentary

This section of the course has been extremely interesting in terms of developing my knowledge and understanding of various genres, styles and techniques.  This module has enabled me to further challenge my ideas of what constitutes music and has given me the opportunity to explore the works of many composer who were previously unknown to me.

Whilst I would consider myself to have a relatively good knowledge of the more popular genres of music, I found Part One to be good introduction to the world of Jazz and Opera and performers such as Davis and Coltrane alongside composers such as Messiean and Britten.   Studying modern and classical techniques together led me to question whether ‘classical’ music as we know it, was actually just the ‘pop’ of its time.

In addition to this, my studies of Noh, described by The-noh.com (n.d.) [online] as “a total art form comprised of drama, music and dance elements”, enabled me to gain an insight into the long cultural heritage of Japanese music and ‘hayashi’. 

Whilst studying Narrative & Dialogue through the OCA I had the opportunity to begin exploring film scores.  However, this section has allowed me to develop a much further insight into the necessity and importance of a great music score. Within this exercise I had the opportunity to study both the soundtrack and score of Jaws (1975), which gave me a much deeper understanding of how the music and images must intertwine, backing up Bucari’s (2012:3) point that:

“film music was born along with motion pictures; starting with the silent film era, where music was somehow the ‘verb’”.

My research into the elements of the orchestra was an interesting challenge as I have previously had very little experience of the string and brass sections.  However, whilst listening to many works by these orchestral families, I discovered quite a few infamous pieces, which I have heard through advertising, TV or film. 

However, it was the project on contemporary composers that posed my greatest challenge, whilst providing the most enjoyment.  Having very little previous knowledge of minimalism, new complexity, choral music and micro tonality, I found this an extremely worthwhile exercise in developing my understanding of these styles and techniques.  Further to this, it has been a source of inspiration for pioneering musical change and has actually led me to question the more traditional approaches. 

Whilst completing my independent research project on Terry Riley, I discovered a whole new understanding and respect for the minimalism movement and its flexibility within different pieces.  It was interesting to learn how Riley himself has used repetition to such a powerful effect, and his famous In C, described as “the first masterpiece of minimalism and the work that ushered in a new musical era” Service (2013), has helped to shaped the way that modern music is written.   

Whilst writing my own definition of what music is at the beginning of this section, I described music as 'an emotion’.  However, after studying so many different styles and techniques I would now to choose to add that music is 'an emotion’ or idea’.  By this I mean that although some of the most powerful music written relies heavily on the emotion of the composer, it is possible to remove ‘emotion’ from the process and replace it with a spark of change or innovation.