Instrumentation Activity 

For This assignment, you will do a short survey of music you like, in order to see if there are any trends in the instrumentation/texture used in those examples.  We have learned what instrumentation/texture are, and what they influence, now we will examine what kind of impact they has on your musical tastes. 

Example:
Song Artist: Don't Forget me , Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Instrumentation:  Drumset, Electric Guitar x2,  Lead Vocals, Background Vocals, Bass, 
Genre:  Rock
​Subject Matter: Depressing song - about a man who is lonely, feels alone in the world
Similar to others by artist: Very Similar to other songs by RHCP
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Instructions:
1.  Make a list of 5 of your favourite songs.  These could be current, all time favourites etc. 5 songs that you dig listening to! 

2. For each song give the following characteristics:
    -  Instrumentation (list what your hear, use research to check)
    -  Genre (use research to double check)
    -  Brief description (a few words) of    Subject Matter ; or , what the song is about  

3.  Examine your the characteristics for your songs and answer the following questions: 

•      Do you notice any trends in Genre/Instrumentation?  
•       Do any of your songs share characteristics in regard to instrumentation/genre?  Are there similarities or are they all completely different? 

4.  Put your songs in order according their textures.  Put the Thickest texture at the top, and the thinnest at the bottom. 

• Was it easy to order them? do your songs all have drastically different textures? or mostly the same?

Timbre Listening Exercise

For the Song List, Try to decipher how many Timbres you are hearing in the song.  We will Listen to the first 1-2 minutes of each selection. 
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• The ultimate point is to come up with a number, so you don't necessarily have to name the instruments (although this is good...) , but tally every time you are hear a new timbre​
• Count Every different Timbre you hear ! Even if it is not present the entire time.  ​
• Be specific when you are tallying.... For example, you might hear an electric guitar, and an acoustic guitar, even though these are both guitars they are different timbres. (also for male vs. female vocals etc.) ​
• Name the instruments if you can! 

For Each Each Song   :  Song Name,  Number of Instruments/Diff. Timbres,  List of Inst. (best you can do), Genre

Song List
1.    The Needle and the Damage Done - Neil Young
2.    Im Through With Love - Chase Sanborn
3.    Between The Bars  - Elliot Smith  
4.    Love Yourself  - Justin  Bieber  
5.     I Could Die For You  -   Red Hot Chili Peppers 
6.    I Was Doin Alright  -   Dexter Gordan
7.    Mrs.   Jackson    -  Outkast
8.   Creep   -   Radiohead
9.   Something About Us    -    Daft Punk
10 .    Just The Two of Us    -   Bill Withers
11.   Fantasy   -  Earth Wind and Fire 
12.  Let it Be    -    Beatles  
13.    Eleanor Rigby  -   Beatles
14.     LandSlide   -    Fleetwood Mack
15.    Kissing My Love    -   Bill Withers  
16.   It aint What Cha' Do   -    Clayton Hamilton Orchestra

?'s To Think About 

• What factors make it harder to decipher a # of Timbres

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• Are there Specific Timbres you prefer to others?   
• How Many Timbres is too Many? ----->
  •  What do WE (general) like?, is there a standard ? Different For everybody?
  • what do you think is the 'average' number of Timbres we would typically hear on the radio? 

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• Can we relate anything about Instrumentation /  the Textures created to Genre? 

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• Generally speaking, are we thinking about Instrumentation / the individual instruments when listening to a song? ​