Student Projects


1			The Author discusses the use and importance of sound and silence in the creation of effective music, Tension building and the release from tense moments help to build musical excitement. In the music you most enjoy (your “favorite” songs or pieces), how does the composer or performer use silence and rate (speed) of forward motion for dramatic affect? In a piece of music that you dislike (if you have one), listen to how silence and forward momentum are being used. Is the use different here then in the music you said that you liked?




2			While “great” Music is time and culture specific, occasionally music appears that has qualities that allow it to live on through future generations. Today what are the ingredients that you and your friends consider to be essential to a “great” piece of music? List on paper all of the individual ingredients you can think of that a “great piece of music” should have. Then name five pieces from the last 50 years, which can be simple songs or larger works, that you believe are considered by most people in this country, across generations, to be “great” pieces of music. Compare these pieces to your checklist of “great” ingredients. How many items from your list show up in each of these works? Is there an average number that all these “great works possess? Now list the top five most popular new songs in your area and put them to the same test. Do any of them possess the average number of ingredients necessary to perhaps be considered “great” to a future generation of students like you?




3			Try an easy exercise in Perceptive listening. Listen to a song you know well that has words and do the following: how do the musicians use the instruments they are playing to illustrate the meaning of the words being sung? The word “hate, or anger” with loud crashing drums or guitars, a lyric about “happiness” accompanied by high soaring flute lines and sparkling cymbals etc. Listen for musical depiction and be specific!

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