Listening Skills - Final Assessment - Acoustic Environments

• 1. Acoustic environments are places where a performance / recording take place. Different type of music are suitable for different environments. Sound is characterised by the interaction of sound between the sound and the space, but the space is also dependent on things like being empty or full of people etc. Reflection, absorption...etc

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  2. Cathedral - Hard surfaces, will be a large space, with high ceilings. It will have long reflections that mean that sounds will naturally have a long sustain. 

  
  

  1. Outdoors - may not be any immediate reflection (possibly very long ones if sound is loud and bounces off buildings or hill sides). There may be ambient noise of nature and spontaneous background noises. 
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  3. Small Club - Low ceiling, small space, when full of people is a really dead space (not a lot of reflections off the walls). Audience often quite close to speakers. Audience will hear combination of sound direct from stage and also from PA. Can generate quite a lot of natural bass. 
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  5. Large Outdoor Venue / Festival - Most of the sound the audience will hear from the PA. Sound quality depends a lot on where you are positioned. If too far away the audience can experience some severe reflections off hillsides. Hard to generate natural bass as there are no walls, large speakers to try and compensate. 

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  2. Musical Textures - Pieces of music can be one or a mixture of different textures. 
  3. Monophonic - This is where one or more instrument or voice play the exact same melody. E.g. A school choir, solo violin
  4. Homophonic - This is where this is where there are 2 or more parts moving together in harmony. E.g. A piano playing the accompanying chords to a singer. 
  5. Polyphonic - This is where multiple melodies happen at the same time. Most band music is polyphonic as it combines chords, melodies, riffs and harmonies. 

  more info on musical texture  CLICK LINKS TO LISTEN TO 3 EXAMPLES OF MUSIC AND WRITE ABOUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ACOUSTIC ENVIRONMENT AND THE MUSIC. 

  
  

  1) GREGORIAN CHANT - What type of texture is used in this music? Where do you think it is performed? What makes the venue suitable for the texture of the music? How could it sound in other acoustic environments? 
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• 2) AFRICAN - What type of texture is used in this music? What makes the venue suitable for the texture of the music? How could it sound in other acoustic environments? How was the 
• audio recorded for this video?

3) JIMI HENDRIX - What type of texture is used in this music? What makes the venue suitable for the texture of the music? How could it sound in other acoustic environments? How was the audio recorded for this video? How does it vary from the studio version? 

4) State which acoustic environment you would place these types of music in and explain why. Talk about how you would record them so that you got a mixture of sound from the instruments as well as the sound of the acoustic environment. 
a) Percussion Jam
b) Solo violin with piano accompaniment 
c) Punk band
d) Choir

Some acoustic environments to choose from (but feel free to include your own ideas)....small club, festival (outdoors), Cathedral, studio, concert hall. 

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• P4: learners’ descriptions will address the way that different textures – instruments and voices – are affected and respond differently depending on the acoustic environment in which they are placed. Descriptions will be as before, accurate, relevant and full, using correct technical terms throughout.
  
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  • M4: learners will, in addition to the descriptions given for the pass criteria, explain why certain textures respond to different acoustic environments the way that they do. As before, learners are expected to use the correct technical terminology throughout. 
    
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  • D4: learners will comment critically on the textures used and how they work within the acoustic environment chosen for the specimen recordings or performances. Learners will provide solutions and use the correct terminology accurately throughout.