Four Fields of Music Making

In this clip, an example of a participatory music performance is shown in a Jewish service at temple is shown where everyone in the congregation is participating in the prayer. Everyone participating simultaneously with their praying give a great example of the group involvement that is prevalent in this form of music making. Since it is a prayer service, group involvement is valued above all to give everyone a chance to pray to god. With this, everyone is able to participate and have as much of an opportunity to achieve a flow state as anyone else. It doesn't matter what everyone's level of music talent is in the video, all that matters is that everyone is there for the same purpose of praying. However, as a participatory performance the more musically talented people aren't able to stand out as all the voices blend in the cloaking effect.



An example of a presentational music performance is shown in this live performance of the song "Boston" by Augustana. Augustana is presenting his music live for an audience, and due to this the goal of his show is to keep the audience engaged and interested. Due to this, the songs for this show were rehearsed ahead of time and they don't have to worry about audience involvement. Since they don't have to worry about a larger group of people participating in the show with no rehearsal, they can also have more variation in their music and have more freedom with their performance. This form of performance also values transparent textures, allowing every instrument and other contribution to the musical performance distinguishable from one another. However, since there is a much lesser degree of audience involvement, the level of flow achieved from this performance will most likely be lower than participatory music performances. There will also be less social bonding due to the focus on the artist in this more hierarchical form of performance, which can take away from the overall experience.



This recording of "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis is a high fidelity performance as it is a recording that has indexical significance to a live performance. Because of this, people who listen to this type of music value feeling like they are listening to their music live. There tends to be a pretty good amount of variation of sound in the song and, as a recording, the studio engineers tend to have the majority of the control in making the song and the value is placed on selling it. However, since this form of music isn't live, there is a lack of audience interaction which can take away from the experience and lessen the chance of the listener achieving a flow state.



"Devil's Den" by Skrillex is a great example of studio audio art because it is recorded and could never be played live.  This makes the music very abstract in the sense that artists of studio audio art tend to add sounds and twists to their music that couldn't be replicated in any sort of other performance. This reveals the value of the artist having a large amount of control over the product to make it sound however they desire. Due to the style of this form of music, the song will have no authenticity and little to no human interaction even in performance.