Friday, October 29, 2010

Creating a Tragedy

For the upcoming tragedy project, wherein we must create a piece of media that we believe embodies tragedy, I chose to create a song. I chose music because I believe the progression of sound through major and minor is a great and beautiful representation of tragedy. As a song moves from calm to sad and minor, creating a sound of dissonance, then moves into a happy major lift inspiring catharsis, and then slowly moves back into mellow and slightly minor, it creates a story of emotion following that of tragedy. I believe music is a great medium to represent tragedy, especially when instrumental. This is because it sets the stage with the emotional rollercoaster, and allows the person listening to connect to it personally, letting whatever tragic experience(s) they've had be projected onto the emotional flow of the music. It is this connection makes music so deep and impacting, which is why I believe it is the perfect medium, whereas others may tell a great tragic story, but if a person is unable to relate to it, it will not be as profoundly appreciated. So, I am choosing to write instrumental song on the guitar that follows the 'rollercoaster' pattern I described earlier, to depict tragedy as best I can.

2 comments:

  1. I agree! Music is an incredible medium for generating emotions in an audience. I like how you mentioned that major and minor contrasting sections and the transitions that connect them control the series of emotion that flow through the listener. Also, the lyrics play a large part in the emotional connection between audience and song. If the lyrics match the tone of the song, the emotions projected are magnified tenfold. I look forward to listening to your piece.

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  2. You are very right about tragic music. It indeed has a very strong emotional connotation, and switching between major and minor chords provides a good tragic theme. Imagine watching a movie with no music. The high emotional moments would not feel nearly as important.

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