I want to provide a little experience in estimating musical energy. I’ve given a taste of this sort of experience in my first SoundPost, and referenced the theory behind it in a couple of essays as well. The study here is very similar to something I’m carrying around to schools, where participants have the advantage of sharing thoughts stimulated by the process. I’ll follow up in a future blog with more exploration of the ideas.
Here’s a hint of what is to come. You will be presented a series of musical examples played on clarinet whose energy I ask you to estimate, and to compare energies from example to example. I use Google Forms to deliver the examples so that you can compare your responses to those received already. In a succeeding blog post, I’ll follow up with discussion of what you have experienced, provide a view and some commentary on the results generated, probably reference a few comments received, and point to future posts that will elucidate thoughts more fully.
Here’s the link for the little study. Be sure to follow all the way to the end, as I have open-ended questions for you there. And if you’re curious, here’s a link to some background information.