Byrne Questions

1) Byrne described the commonly accepted story of artistic creation as such: The accepted narrative suggests that a classical composer gets a strange look in his or her eye and begins furiously scribbling a fully realized composition that couldn't exist in any other form. Byrne thinks the path of creation is almost 180 degrees from this model. He believes that we unconsciously and instinctively make work to fit preexisting formats.

2) European music is meant to be played in large, stone cathedrals while African music is more open air.

3) Byrne described the audiences today as this: classical audiences were no longer allowed to shout, eat, and chat during a performance. One was expected to sit immobile and listen with rapt attention. Ross hints that this was a way of keeping the hoi polloi out of the new symphony halls and opera houses.

4) The instrumentation of jazz was also modified so that the music could be heard over the sound of the dancers and the bar racket. Banjos were louder than acoustic guitars, and trumpets were nice and loud, too. 

5) Around 1900, according to music writer Alex Ross, classical audiences were no longer allowed to shout, eat, and chat during a performance. One was expected to sit immobile and listen with rapt attention. Ross hints that this was a way of keeping the hoi polloi out of the new symphony halls and opera houses.

6) Until amplification and microphones came into common use, the instruments written for and played were adapted to fit the situation. The makeup of the bands, as well as the parts the composers wrote, evolved to be heard.

7) In the sense of place, music could now be completely free from any live context, or, more properly, the context in which it was heard became the living room and the jukebox — parallel alternatives to still-popular ballrooms and concert halls.

8) Crooning exploited the new technology of microphones. Crooning was a new kind of singing back then. It wouldn't have worked without a microphone.

9) Disco is intended for audiences inside of clubs while arena rock is intended for arenas.

10) Early hip-hop is for dance while  contemporary hip-hop is written (or at least the music is) to be heard in cars.

11) Byrne describes the acoustic qualities of MP3 music as such: with headphones on, you can hear and appreciate extreme detail and subtlety, and the lack of uncontrollable reverb inherent in hearing music in a live room means that rhythmic material survives beautifully and completely intact; it doesn’t get blurred or turned into sonic mush as it often does in a concert hall.