Blog 3, Music and Experimentalism
Blog 3, Music and Experimentalism
November 30, 2022
Jackson Kordos
This
piece, "etude aux chemins de fer", is written by Pierre
Schaeffer. This is related to module 6. We see in this module
that Schaeffer was the one who introduced tape music in the 1940s. In this piece
you can hear the different pre-recorded sounds that he uses. You can hear whistles
and bird-like sounds that then transition in to what sounds like a train. He
uses these sounds to create a wide abstract song that is unlike the rest. These
sounds are collaged together to create the whole piece. The meaning that this
piece holds for me or other viewers was hard to grasp when I first started
listening. There are so many random bits and pieces that all come together at
once, making it hard to focus at first. After I listened a few more times I stopped
trying to think and just let it flow. I started imagining the sounds in my head
of what they would be, and that is what I think other audiences would do as
well. Being able to just listen and imagine in your head what is being played
is what I think people hold close. I’ve seen this example in my own life as
well. I listen to Pink Floyd, and in their album, “Dark Side of the Moon”, you
can hear tape music. In the song “Time”, you can hear different clocks that are
being combined together. Whenever I listen to that introduction, I visualize
the clocks. It is a hard concept for me to explain, but it has opened my eyes
to the variety of this style of music. When listening to this piece, the
beginning section sounds like a train on tracks. The tempo picks up then it stops
and changes to a bird-like sound. We then hear whistles and what sounds like a
crushing sound. The song is all over the place, but I can recognize almost
every single sound that is being played.
https://youtu.be/JkhX5W7JoWI
Looking
for a song for this assignment was not that hard for me. Like I mentioned
earlier, Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands. I had already mentioned the
song “Time” and I thought that another one that would correspond very well with
this module is the song “Money”. This song relates to the chapter because in
the beginning the band uses prerecorded sounds on pocket change falling. They
then take that and use the sound of a cash register sounding “Ka Ching”, and
collage that throughout the entire song. This would be an example of Musique
Concrete because they are taped sounds of something that is happening. This song
holds a special meaning to me because this came from one of the first Pink
Floyd albums I had ever listened to. I started listening because my uncle
always used to play them on the speaker when he was in his workshop, and it reminds
me of that memory whenever I listen to their music. I’ve also always been
intrigued by the backstory of this song. The song shows that money is the one thing
that that can either save or kill you, either from greed or from poverty. The idea
that money is the “American Dream” is not all what it seems. Money can destroy
countries and cause the downfall of empires, it can also corrupt people who
have too much or have too little. We are reminded of this throughout the song
as we hear the clinking of coins in between verses. The tape music that is
being displayed in this song is experimenting with different sounds to combine.
The creation of different sounding music is seen throughout this song and the
album. We also hear the guitar as it solos in the song and the bass as well.
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