Questions Artist performance: Dixie Chicks

name: Not Ready To Make Nice

1. Describe how the following musical
elements are being embellished/
developed throughout the
improvisation:

1.a) Rhythm- eg. Use of repetition, syncopation,
note durations.
Repetition is used in the verses and the chorus.
The time signature is in 4/4 time and is played
adagio at the start and picks up the tempo as it
moves into the chorus to andante.
1.b) Melody- ascending descending repetition,
intervals, scales, modes, shape/stepwise motion
and leaps.
The songs moves in steps but contains
interval leaps. The song can be
described as following yet energetic. The
ornamentation contains melisma as well
as vocal slides. Two part Harmonies are
used in the chorus between the three
girls, the song ascends and descends
equally throughout the performance

The song starts off with a soft passage
then gradually gets louder the end
chorus becomes the loudest point of the
song and then it returns to the soft
passage in the end line.
1.c) Dynamics- crescendo, decrescendo, accent,
loud and soft passages

1.d) Tone- clean, processed, articulation. The lead singer extends the length of
some of the lyrics and has an open loose
mouth when pronouncing words.
2. Identify potential OHS risks or challenges
posed by the performance style.

The only OHS that could potential cause damage
and injury would the cables and chords for the
instruments but as I cannot see how they are
placed on the stage I cannot count them as a
risk.
3. Describe how the musicians interact
with the other band members.
The band members of the Dixie Chicks
interact by looking at each other and using their
voices and instruments as cues.
4. Describe how the musicians
communicate with the audience before,
between and after performances
All three play and sing with a lot of emotion
especially the lead singer who uses hand and
body gestures and facial expressions to deliver
the emotion in the song.
5. What cues musical or visual were used
to start or end improvised sequences of
music?
The violin player will lower and raise her
instrument depending on what section she is
playing this tells the other members where she is
in the song. The lead raises and lowers her arms
in the more intense sections of the song. The
banjo player and the violin player tend to glance
at each other during the song more whereas the
lead tends to focus on the emotions of the song
and direct that to the audience.
6. Describe the use of rhythm, dynamics,
texture, used by the accompanists whilst
the solo is being performed.
The accompaniment moves in similar motion as
it is in a homophonic texture. The timing is in 4/4
the same as the singer sings it and also follows
the dynamics of the solo performer.