Four Fields of Music Making

Participatory Music:

Participatory music is a field of music in which there is no distinction between the artist and audience.  In other words, everybody collectively participates in this field of music.  Rather than focusing on the listening, participatory music focuses on "the doing".  Everyone is expected to perform, regardless of age or ability.  That being said, participatory music places special emphasis on the level of participation and social bonding.  Because of the emphasis on togetherness, participatory music is the least hierarchical and most democratic type of music making.  While participatory music has the potential to induce social bonding, its individual virtuosity is limited.

The example below is a scene from the movie Pitch Perfect (skip to 0:40).  There are two types of participatory music: simultaneous and sequential.  The beginning of the clip exemplifies sequential participation because every group takes turns; however, the clip merges into simultaneous participation when the entire group joins in on one performance.  As you can see at 3:47, when everyone stops participating the music becomes less fun and successful.  At 4:10 the participation picks up again and by 4:40, everyone is participating.  You can see the energy in the area increase as more and more people participate.




Presentational Music:

Unlike participatory music, there is a clear distinction between the artist and audience in presentational music.  Presentational music focuses on the listening rather than "the doing".  This field of music allows greater artistic freedom, is strictly rehearsed and features transparent textures (the ability to hear individual sounds).   A successful presentational musician must be able to provide and sustain interest from an audience.  In this style of music, the audience is expected to interact with performers following the frame of the performance.  While presentational music has the potential to exhibit clarity and individual virtuosity, its participation is very limited.

Below is a video of Michael Bublé preforming his song "Everything" at a concert in Madison Square Garden.  This clip clearly distinguishes artist and audience and is a perfect example of presentational music.




High-Fidelity Music:

High-fidelity music is a recording that indexes live performances.   The sound is expected to make up for the lack of visuals and preserve feelings of liveliness.  This field of music has a lot of control over the finished project.  High-fidelity music emphasizes producing a commodified object.

Below is a recording of Michael Bublé's "Everything".  Through an indexical relationship, this recording should serve as a sign to Bublé's live performance in the clip above it.  As you can see, the recording sounds very similar to Michael Bublé's live version of the song.



Studio-Audio Art:

Studio-audio art is similar to high-fidelity music in that they are both recordings; however, unlike high-fidelity music, studio-audio art has no expectation that it could be performed live.  This field of music is associated with electro-acoustic music and is abstract from the known world.   While there is maximum control over the finished product in studio-audio art, human interaction is limited.

Below is a video clip of T-Pain's "Buy U A Drank".  Below that is a clip of the same song performed live.  As you can see, the sounds produced in the first video have no expectation of being performed live.