Four Fantastic Fields

           This first youtube clip features a man named Clyde Casey and his percussive conglomerations with which he encourages every passerby to create a rhythm. Even though some of the participants' rhythmic inclination is not as finely tuned as his, you still see Casey putting drumsticks in their hands. I classify this as a participatory performance because Casey is not the primary actor, there is no distinction between artist and audience, and you can clearly see that Casey solely wants to see people add into the collective sound and have a good time (even the videographer joins in). With participatory music, there is a strong expectation and potential for mass participation, and there are a number of ways one can do so. Collectively dancing to the beat, singing along, adding short improvised riffs, clapping, and other activities that intensify the connection between the participants. The limitations, however, include stifling individual "talent," enduring others who might be off-pitch/out of tune/off-beat, and having to sustain an environment that accommodates people in all shades of the spectrum of skill.

            The values and goals of presentational music are quite different than those of participatory music. Instead of ensuring maximum participation, presentational music is just that--a presentation, with a distinct separation between audience and presenters and a clean-cut, rehearsed presentation. These distinctions are demonstrated by this "live" concert of Queen performing Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (as compared to the video above). Queen was focused on providing a fun, interesting atmosphere for the people attending the concert, and was not concerned about, and probably didn't want, people participating in the actual music making (audience members could have "participated" by singing along and clapping, but as far as being a part of creating music, they were not). Presentational music gives skilled musicians a chance (potential) to show off their musical prowess, but also places an expectation on the artist to not only demonstrate their ability but to also maintain the audience's attention. Since a performer is not responsible for the audience's participation, and the audience recognizes that they are not expected to participate, a barrier is formed between the two sides of the performance that comes from the minimal direct interaction, being the lead singer speaking during transitions and audience members clapping after/singing during a song.

             High fidelity is probably the most popular field of music in America today. The reason for this is that America's capitalist and "bigger = better" values run alongside the goals of high fidelity music which are creating a product for revenue and digitally engineering an album to be able to sustain a listener's attention without visual aid. This means that the artist must incorporate more rhythmic variety, bigger and better beats, exciting lyrics or themes, and unique instrumentation to the best of their abilities. While the song is meant to sound like it was and could be performed live, the various studio edits make it nigh impossible to recreate the computer corrections and additions in a live performance. Being able to download or buy an album or song off of the internet or through iTunes extends the aforementioned barrier between performer and audience to the point that I and many others end up buying countless songs by artists and bands who I don't even know what they look like.

                Studio Audio Art creates an even further barrier between the artist and the listener by basically eliminating the interaction one has with the creator. I will admit I don't know what a majority of the artists I listen to look like, and that is a product of high fidelity and studio audio art music. The isolation that the artist has from their listeners allows them to take more risks with how the music sounds, putting their faith in the chance that many will recognize their ability to create something unique, interesting, and that has never been heard before. Like high fidelity music, studio audio art not only limits but minimizes the listeners' capacity to participate in the creation of what they're hearing, and both are used widely for sales.