1.
Introduction
2. The Musical Environment
3. Loudness and Dynamics
4. Crescendo and Diminuendo
5. Sound Envelopes
6. Foreground - Background
7. Listening Structures
8. Notating Sounds
9. The Listening Space
10. Radio Composition
11. The Design Team
By using only the volume control, this exercise explores foreground middleground and background relationships.
Compose a ONE minute piece for four FM/AM radios, using only the volume control, the on/off button and the tuning dial for station changes. You may wish to assign different stations to each radio or have the stations changing. If so, be specific regarding the stations you want to hear: eg, FM104.1, AM873. short wave, etc. Use the following symbols for each activity:
| crescendo: |  |
| decrescendo: |  |
| various levels of loudness: |  |
| moving tuning dial at various speeds and amplitude: |  |
| moving tuning dial and getting louder: |  |
The following score (musical signs organised to communicate a meaning) is an example. Each vertical line represents a period of time within which sounds are to be placed (this will enable cueing). Each performer is to articulate the sound required with respect to the visual placement of the sound in the five second space. For example, the following score means that:
Radio One performs a crescendo for five seconds followed by approximately four second rest finishing with a loud volume in its last second.
Radio Two performs a series of intermitent bursts with various dynamic shapes.
Radio Three rapidly oscillates the tuning dial.
Radio Four explores crescendo and decrescendo finishing with a cescendo combined with a dial change.