Theodore Kim
V00960161
Music 116
Dr. Patrick Boyle
November 11, 2020

Blog Prompt 7

“Polacca” exhibited participatory discrepancies in the voices heard early on in the piece. Their voices were not always metronomically aligned. Thus, certain voices had to add or take away time in some places to stay with the beat. There was lots of room for variability in the voices’ intonation, so participatory discrepancies were likely exercised to achieve the desired results. In the parts where one syllable was rapidly repeated for a short time, the singer was possibly waiting for the beat at which to end, rather than aiming to speak a specific number of syllables. Negotiation would have been required between the singer and the beat, so that the intended rhythmic effect of the repeated syllables would be achieved, while still ending on the correct beat. Around four minutes and thirty-seven seconds into the piece, a slight increase in tempo occurred. Each performer must have had to negotiate tempo in that moment, to raise it, and stay together at the same time. 

In “Spaced Cowboy,” there were moments when the singer would become metronomically detached, before rejoining the main beat. These mainly occurred before the rapid melodic leaps upward (which sounded like yodeling), in which the main singer briefly adopted a speech-like style and rhythm that was often independent from the main beat. These departures and arrivals to and from the primary beat and rhythm demonstrated participatory discrepancies. 

“Agua Que Va A Caer” exhibited participatory discrepancies in the way the main singer played with rhythm, and sometimes sung in an improvisatory manner. The main singer provided rhythmic variety while staying with the rest of the performers. The drums may have done a similar thing by creating rhythms on the fly to stay with the ensemble, or to create rhythmic interest. Both of these endeavours required rapid rhythmic negotiation.

My biggest takeaway from this activity is that there are likely numerous participatory discrepancies in a performance that listeners cannot detect, and that are only perceptible to the players. While listeners may not always directly perceive participatory discrepancies, they certainly provide authenticity, and a ‘human touch’ to performances.