New Notation

Note notation has remained pretty much unchanged since it was first conceived. Beethoven uses the same notation as composers today and probably tomorrow. I do not think this is a problem because this allows every one who has been taught music the ability to read everything that has ever been composed. Also its universal across the world, so there is no language barrier. I do not think there is a need for a new notation, but I do believe there are better ways to show these notations. Like guitar hero I think music should move across a screen. If you look at the notation of most popular composers, its a mess. It is very easy to get lost in all the notes, and hard to get back into rhythm. Moving the notation across a screen may elevate some of these problems.

Two Songs

The first song I chose to listen to was from my collection and it is called "Contagious" by Trapt. This song has a medium to fast tempo at about 100 beats per minute, and it is homophonic. This song had a very linear note pattern therefore it was conjunct. Contagious is played in a very distinct pattern which consisted of A, B, A, B', B being the chorus.
The piece I chose from Naxos was, "No. 1: Modere" by George Taylor. Unlike the first song, this piece had a slow tempo, with maybe only 70 to 80 bpm. The song was conjunct because the notes fell in a pretty linear pattern rarely jumping around. The piece was played in a minor key because it had a depressing sound that wasn't upbeat or happy sounding. As far as a pattern went I could not find one. Nothing seemed to repeat.

Electrophone; the electric wave

As I chose to do earlier in the year, I listened to four radio stations from my home town. These radio stations included, 92.3 (Rock - Alternative), 107.9 (Hip-Hop), 99.5 (Country), and 98.5 (80's Rock). For the most part, these stations aren't very similar and they play a wide variety of genres, but each station is effected by electrophones in one way or another.
92.3 has two very popular electrophone, that is within almost every song that is played. These electrophones would be the electric guitar and the electric bass guitar. After listening to nearly an hour of this station, I heard two songs that didn't have a single electrophone in it, and these were acoustic songs. I also heard a few songs that included synthesizers, but these were limited.
For the second station, 99.5, there were less electrophones. I think there were less electrophones in this station due to the type of genre it is. Country music is an acoustic based genre. I did hear a few electric guitars, and maybe an electric keyboard or two, but for the most part is was all acoustic.
107.9 is a Hip-Hop station, therefore every song I heard was done almost exclusively with an electrophone. I can honestly say I don't think I heard one song that used an instrument other than an electrophone. Every beat was composed by an electrophone.
Lastly, 98.5 was ruled by one electrophone in particular. This electrophone was the electric guitar. Since this is an 80's rock station there was nothing but guitar solos and power cords. Every song had one electric guitar, if not more, and at least one electric bass guitar as far as I could tell. This genre is hugely reliant on electrophones. Overall, I think every genre of music within the last three decades has been effected by electrophones.

Aerophones Classic Style

Listening to 88.1, I noticed aerophones in just about every piece. From the beginning to the end, I don't think there was a time when I didn't hear any aerophones. These areophones ranged from flutes, to oboes, to trombones, and every thing else in between. These instruments usually played very large parts when it came to the melody of the music. They set the tempo for the piece and emphasized the high points and low points within the piece. I believe aerophones might be the most important family of instruments out of all the families.

Keyboards

When people think about instruments that have had huge effects on music, the guitar usually gets most of the glory. In all reality, I believe the keyboard has had more of an effect on music than any other instrument. Think of any band in almost any genre of music and I'll bet they use a keyboard. After thinking about this I went through my Itunes and literally almost every song I put on had a keyboard in it. Even Heavy metal songs had a large keyboard parts they were noticeable.
Along with being a large instruments for bands, keyboards compliment the voice very well, therefor they are great instrument for vocalists such as Elton John. Keyboards also have such a broad range of sounds they can create that they can be used with out even being noticed. They can be played as drums, keyboards, clarinets, and almost any other instrument you can think of. With these kind of capabilities its no wonder the keyboard is such a widely used instrument.

In the radio

I chose to listen to four very different radio stations for a total of an hour. I chose to listen to stations from my home town online because I'm not familiar with any local radio stations, and plus I found out that I don't actually own a radio in my apartment. The stations I chose to listen to were, 107.9(Hip-Hop), 99.5(Country), 92.3(Rock/Alternative), and 98.5(Classic rock). Each of these stations are very different from each other, So therefore the guitar plays a different role in each one.
I would say the guitar stood out the most in 98.5. This is because there were many guitar solos, and the guitar was the instrument that led the songs and stood out above all other instruments. Most the classic rock songs used power cords and the guitar sets the melody for the rest of the band.
The next two stations had a good amount of guitar in them also. 92.3 and 99.5 both had a large quantity of songs where the guitar was the stand out instrument. 99.5 used the acoustic guitar most of the time, just because that is the style of country music. 92.3 consisted, for the most part, of just the electric guitar. This station was full of repetitive power cords. There wasn't much as far as guitar solos go, and I would say the drums equaled the guitar as far as the most outstanding instrument within the song.
lastly 107.9 was the only station that lacked guitar. I don't recall hearing one song in the entire time of listening to it, that contained a guitar, or any other instrument other than a synthesiser. There was a complete lacking of instruments and each of the songs were just artists. There was not one song that was performed by a band of group of artists.

88.1 Daytons Classical station

Listening to 88.1 The DPR, I heard a few different pieces. I believe it was 3 whole pieces and 2 partial pieces at the beginning and end. The pieces all had similar set ups. Each piece started in a slow melody with mostly chordophones, which then slowly crescendo into a fast melody composed of a combination of all the instrument families. The chordophones I heard consisted of, but weren't limited to, violin, cello, maybe a harp, and definitely the piano. One thing I did notice tho, is there is a lack of membrano phones. Throughout the entire hour, I heard maybe two minutes worth of membrano phones.