Compare And Contrast Popular And Classical Music Concert

After attending both a “popular” and “classical” musical concert it is easy to see the differences between these two genres of music. While attending these events, I noticed a wide variety of differences including the music being played, the atmosphere, the number of people attending and the expectations of the audience during the performance. As we talked about in Turino’s “Music as Social Life” earlier this semester both of the performances were presentational, placing a divide between the performer and the audience (Turino). In this essay, I will discuss my experiences at the performances, analyze a specific piece from each of the concert’s, identify musical elements within the piece and assess the role of the music in society. While both

The atmosphere of this performance was completely different from that of the “popular” musical performance. There weren’t hundreds of people all crowded around each other dancing or singing, but a half full auditorium of quietly seated people. The expectations were vastly different; you were expected to stay seated and only applaud at the end of each piece. Unlike the Flume concert you could hear the slightest noise, a drop of a pen would have likely caused a distraction to the whole audience. Another difference was the accompaniment of programs for the performance, which outlined the artist, pieces being played and some background knowledge of the performing artist. Llupa performed five pieces including Piano Sonata No. 3, Uninterrupted Rests, For Away, Six Encores and Drei Klavierstucke. For Away by Toru Takemitsu was a melancholy piece with a slow tempo. This song had a wide range of notes with many cadences throughout the piece that added to the “creepy” tone of the song. As we talked about in class this piece would be known as a “structured listening” piece (Andrew Dell 'Antonio). While the meaning was still to connect everyone together with the music, this concert was more about the music being played than the interaction of the audience with the performer. This performance was strictly presentational as it was “prepared by musicians for others to listen to”