HIST 390 Blog Posts

Today (or should I say yesterday since I’m a day late), class began with the usual boring yet necessary discussion of the syllabus, class expectations, la di da…

Then came the unexpected. This is a history class right? Suddenly my teacher plays Katy Perry’s song Firework, and asks us what’s wrong with the song. Understandably, I was confused and began to wonder if I’d entered the wrong classroom, even though the title of the syllabus (in bold print) read HIST 390, The Digital Past.

Then he played another song, much older (in reality, maybe a few decades old max.), that unfortunately I cannot recall at this moment. The difference was noticeable then. When comparing a modern song to say another song from the 60s or some such era technologically deprived, we arrive at a common, if not often consciously thought conclusion; they sound different.

The “how” of this was quickly explained by the professor as volume control. Turn up the volume of an old(er) song, and there are quite a few noticeably quieter points in the song, due to the softness of the singer’s voice; yet Katy Perry’s song remains “static”, as my teacher explained.

This is where the concept of history comes in. In the past (i.e. anytime before the most recent decades), music was dynamic – meaning that the volume of the song varied, no matter the setting on the radio/stereo/MP3/etc. that was used. Nowadays, even when the singer is whispering, the lyrics remain as loud as when the singer is bellowing (this demonstrated when Katy Perry went from talking normally to full out screaming, with fireworks shooting from her chest, without a hitch in the volume).

Now, the question for tonight is why did music change so much? Honestly, I haven’t the foggiest. My assumption is that when the technology became available, people just wanted to play around with it to see what would happen. When it caught on that people liked to be able to make out the lyrics of the song at its quietest moments, it became more commonplace. Simply put, people like loud music. But, to each their own.

To anyone who reads this, don’t be afraid to post your own opinions, or even do some research and reply. Have a good start to the beginning of the semester!

This entry was posted on August 28, 2018 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.