Second Assignment: April 19th

Bouba and Kiki

Just a side note: Today in science, I learned a word that somewhat captures the essence of what we have been discussing. The word is "synesthesia," a condition in which people see something when they here a sound.  One example came from my science textbook. One of the images below is a"bouba" and one is a "kiki."  Which is which?

The vast majority of people pick the image on the left as kiki and the image on the right as bouba.  Perhaps the sharpness in the sounds if the k's in kiki presents contrast from the evoked emotion of a blob from the sound of bouba.  Could this work the opposite way?  Do some composers take inspiration from something that they see and turn it into a composition.

Fear in Music

1) I think I speak not just for myself but for many when I say that fear is kind of an abstract feeling that comes in different forms.  There could be sudden fear, when someone creeps up on you.  That kind of fear also mixes in with the idea of surprise.  You could also have fear without surprise, a stressful fear where you know something could be coming and you are constantly alert.  One example of this is if you did something wrong and are afraid you will get caught.

2) The tempo of a piece written to evoke fear would be continually changing.  At one point, you are relaxed at a slow to moderate tempo, and moments later it could all build up into something very fast.

3) The dynamics would follow the tempo in my piece. In the calm beginning, a dynamic of piano or mezzo piano would work. As the tempo rose and fear built, it could gradually move up to fortissimo.  The articulation could do the same thing, starting out short and crisp and later becoming very heavy and accented.

Mozart's Fantasia No. 3, K. 397

 This piece is a bit of a mystery, but that's exactly why I chose it.  It's meaning is open for interpretation, but Mozart probably wanted it that way.  This piece lacks any specific musical format, but he may have had a sort of anguish turned jollity that he wanted to express as a story beyond formatting boundaries.  The dark opening section is a complete contrast from the playful ending.  However, Mozart died before this piece had finished being written.  The last ten seconds or so were composed by one of his disciples.  It's hard to know whether he would have switched back to the original theme or conjured up something different all together