https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm Made with whimsy en-us 2017-12-03 22:46:05 UTC 2024-10-14 18:25:31 UTC hello@padlet.com jacobsparks https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212666804 This book overall taught me so on not only how to listen to different aspects of music and how to apply them to music, but to expose myself to new music and to analyze music in a way I never thought I would. He taught me to try and make sense of a song when I am listening to it. What is the artist singing about? Why is he or she singing and why does this song matter to them? Is the song a message to someone or are they proving a point? And Ratliff tells us to dig deeper to understand the artist or producer and see how this song reflects from their past or emotions they feel from a certain even that happened in their life. One thing Ratliff taught me that meant the most to me was that there is something special and unique about every song. Even the most unpopular and horrible song that no one likes could still be seen as something special that still speaks within it's melody.
I think Ratliff's topic on how loudness is important in music today made the most sense to me and I liked that chapter the best. He explains how as the world has become more exposed to loudness in everything from busy city streets to monster concerts that will rock you out. He was totally right when he said on page 180, "Loudness makes it even more extraordinary, through an almost spiritual power." This is true and we see that in music today. More and more music is becoming louder and it intensifies the sound in our ears and we feed off of it. Which makes it problematic when it comes to silence. Complete silence in songs and just soft and fragile music is seen as almost unheard of nowadays and people cherish it. Ratliff showed me that it is good to unravel and listen to music that relaxes the listener instead of "hyping" them up. This book definitely showed me to appreciate music even more than I already have been. To listen for things like the slowness, the virtuosity, the stubbornness of a single note and it's importance, and of course the loudness and also the quietness of musical pieces and how important it is. ]]> 2017-12-03 22:49:35 UTC https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212666804 jacobsparks https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212671665 I put this song on here because it starts off very slow and it highlights Ratliff's pointers on how loudness is all around us. This song goes against his usual loud and popular music. Most of this album is mainly surrounded by how soft spoken and and light the instruments are played. It allows the listener to slow down and reflect on what Drake is speaking to them about.]]> 2017-12-03 23:27:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212671665 jacobsparks https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212673007 This song just simply highlights, like i explained in my summary, how listeners feed off of loudness. As a college kid, this song is still popular today even after all of these years and I think it is from the energy created in the lyrics and the intense playing from the rest of the band. It is poured out on to the kids who listen to it and they get an energy "high" from it and it makes them feel good afterwards. ]]> 2017-12-03 23:39:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212673007 jacobsparks https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212707837 “We think of pieces of music from a distance as blocks of time, but can we hold more than a second or two in our minds? And are we—with all music, to some extent—waiting around for some pinpointed extraordinariness to happen? Not”
-Ben Ratliff


For me, ways of listening meant not platforms, but kinds of listening experiences that could link up examples of music that were really far apart, maybe from different centuries or continents, or from different traditions, that in a genre way had absolutely nothing to do with each other. But my assumption is, and my theory is, that listeners are much broader than they are assumed to be by companies like streaming services.

-Ben Ratliff when he reviews his book after completing it. ]]> 2017-12-04 04:57:46 UTC https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212707837 jacobsparks https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212708332 Article on a review of Ratliff's book "Every Song Ever" and Ratliff himself talking about the book.]]> 2017-12-04 05:01:33 UTC https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212708332 jacobsparks https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212708552 2017-12-04 05:03:22 UTC https://padlet.com/jacobsparks/jng8rz6v1etm/wish/212708552