Sound Recording

The song I listened to from the Library of Congress was "Pretty little dark blue Eyes" performed by Charles P. Lowe. It is an instrumental piece including both the xylophone and the piano. The sound quality of the recording was not very good. In the beginning of the piece you could barely hear any music over the static. Towards the end of the piece the piano grew louder but I was never able to hear the xylophone. From what I heard of the song, it had an upbeat tempo that seemed as if it were played in major. Although the sound quality of the piece was not very good I understand why so many people were excited about the production and use of sound recordings at that time.

Music Notation

Today's notation has worked for centuries and I believe that it's a good system that is relatively easy for musicians to learn and understand. But if I were to come up with my own system I would use something that is completely universal such as colors. The 7 colors of the rainbow would be used for the 7 notes A-G. Also how the note is shaded in would represent a 1/2 notes, 1/4 notes, and so on. The shade of each color would determine if the note is sharp or flat. The use of colors would be great because colors are universal but there are so many shades of each color that there may be some confusion amongst musicians. It would also be hard to correctly and legibly shade in the note to represent some of the smaller notes such as 1/16 notes. I believe that the notation we use today works best.

Structure of 2 Songs

The song I listened to from my own collection is "Smile" by Uncle Kracker. The song is upbeat and has a happy feeling to is so I believe it is played in major. The tempo was moderate, most likely around 80 beats per minute. The structure of the song is A B A' B C B' B where A represents the verses and B represents the chorus. C represents a bridge that occurred towards the end of the song right before the last chorus was played. The texture of the song is homophonic with vocals accompanied by a piano, drums, and guitar. From the structure it is obvious that the form the of the song is repetition with some change.
The song I chose to listen to from NAXOS was a Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2 by Beethoven called "Allegro molto piu tosto presto." From the name one may think that this piece is extremely fast but I found it to be about 120 beats per minute. The structure of the piece was A B A C. From this structure I determined that the form of the song is repetition with some change. The C represents a part of the piece where the tempo increased dramatically. The texture of the song was homophonic and the melody was conjunct or comprised of steps.

Electrophones

While listening for electrophones within four different genres of music I was surprised how much each of the genres incorporated such instruments. Even while listening to the country station I could hear the use of the electric guitar. But as I suspected the use of electrophones was very minimal on the country station. Most of the songs incorporated the use of the acoustic guitar rather than the electric guitar. I also listened to a rock station. One of the songs I heard was "Walk this Way," by Aerosmith where I could definitely hear the use of an electric guitar. Most of the other songs played on the rock station included electrophones such as the electric guitar, bass, and keyboard. The third station I listened to was a pop station. I heard the new popular song by Miley Cyrus called "Party in the USA." The use of a synthesizer was very prominent in this song as well as the electric guitar. Most of the other songs played on the pop station included the use of synthesizers and other electrophones such as the electric keyboard. The final station I listened to was a rap station. As I suspected none of the songs I heard on the rap station included the use of electrophones.

Aerophones

I played clarinet for 4 years when I was in grade school and I still recognize the sound of one in classical pieces. While listening to DPR I heard many pieces that included the clarinet as well as many other aerophones. Another instrument I could clearly recognize in many of the pieces was the flute. In one piece I listened to, the flute was very prominent and was accompanied by clarinets as well as oboes. I also listened to a piece that used the trumpet to produce a very upbeat tempo. This piece also included a tuba I believe. The last piece I was able to listen to was mostly played by string instruments. I couldn't make out any trace of aerophones throughout the piece.