1. Choose a song or piece of music that you are already familiar with, and that features a singer. Any style of music is fine, as long as it has one main singer (rap is also fine).
2. Review this Spotify playlist (Links to an external site.)and pick ONE track to use for this comparison exercise along with your song. If you prefer, you can also skip the first step above and use two songs from this list instead.
3. Listen carefully to both tracks several times, with special attention to the timbre of the voices. Write a response of roughly two paragraphs addressing these questions, and comparing the way vocal timbre is used in each song:
How would you describe the qualities of each vocalist’s sound? Does the vocal quality change over the track or is it consistent? How does each vocalist’s sound relate to the feeling or message of the song? How does it relate to the other sounds and timbres used in the song (instruments or electronics)? The point is to focus on the vocal timbre in each track, and think about what it has to do with your own experience of the song overall.
Length is not a substitute for quality; revise your writing for clarity and concision, as well as grammar and spelling. At the top of your assignment, please list the 2 songs you used, and share a link to the one you chose (unless you chose both from the list).
We recognize that writing about music is challenging, but you will do well on this assignment as long as your response reflects careful listening and thoughtful consideration of the questions above.
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