Listening Closely to the (Perhaps) Unfamiliar

It has been said that “music is what emotion sounds like.” Although some listeners have a vocabulary that allows them to interpret music’s technique, we already share a common language to describe the emotional effect of music. Listen carefully to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture (6.1.9). Identify the emotional effects it is trying to produce and, using terms from “basic elements of music” or from your own store of language, describe as best you can the emotional impact of this piece and how it creates that impact.