On the surface, one might not think that the great Italian opera La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi and the acclaimed indie group Dinosaur Jr. have much in common. One concert, for instance, took place in an intimate performing arts center to an attentive and quietly reverent audience while the other in a loud, rough-and-tumble rock venue to a lively and informal audience. Indeed, there may appear to be no similarities between the effortlessly skilled classical stylings of the UNT College of Music and the deliberately ramshackle indie sound of Dinosaur Jr. However, with these two concerts, we see Christopher Small’s concept of “musicking” in full effect and, critically, two different forms of the same musical elitism.
In his novel Musicking: The …show more content…
The usual stereotypes came into mind: the fancy dress, the unintelligible lyrics, the opera glasses, the stifling formality and pretension, and the deep, unmitigated boredom of the proceedings. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the intimacy of UNT Opera’s interpretation of La Traviata. The acoustics in the Murchison Performing Arts Center, for instance, were great. Immediately, I could sense a strong sense of reverence towards the proceedings, as the audience were clearly familiar with the work and the composer. Although a lot of the audience leaned towards the older side, there was a fair amount of young, hip people at the show. Many of them clearly knew each other from past UNT Opera performances. Some were dressed formally, but most were dressed casually. The lights dimmed, and a hush instantly fell over the …show more content…
In true 1990s grunge style, the song relies on “loud-quiet-loud” dynamics. The verses are quiet and understated, while the chorus increases in tempo and loudness. It also makes full use of J. Mascis’ laconic, nasally drawl to contrast with the fullness of the sound. The song also plays with consonance and dissonance; while the verses are consonant, the guitar in the chorus becomes much more distorted and therefore more dissonant. Although the song is homophonic, the primary melodic line is not driven by the vocals. Instead, it is the blistering lead guitar, which plays several improvised solos throughout the course of the
In his novel Musicking: The …show more content…
The usual stereotypes came into mind: the fancy dress, the unintelligible lyrics, the opera glasses, the stifling formality and pretension, and the deep, unmitigated boredom of the proceedings. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the intimacy of UNT Opera’s interpretation of La Traviata. The acoustics in the Murchison Performing Arts Center, for instance, were great. Immediately, I could sense a strong sense of reverence towards the proceedings, as the audience were clearly familiar with the work and the composer. Although a lot of the audience leaned towards the older side, there was a fair amount of young, hip people at the show. Many of them clearly knew each other from past UNT Opera performances. Some were dressed formally, but most were dressed casually. The lights dimmed, and a hush instantly fell over the …show more content…
In true 1990s grunge style, the song relies on “loud-quiet-loud” dynamics. The verses are quiet and understated, while the chorus increases in tempo and loudness. It also makes full use of J. Mascis’ laconic, nasally drawl to contrast with the fullness of the sound. The song also plays with consonance and dissonance; while the verses are consonant, the guitar in the chorus becomes much more distorted and therefore more dissonant. Although the song is homophonic, the primary melodic line is not driven by the vocals. Instead, it is the blistering lead guitar, which plays several improvised solos throughout the course of the