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Listening Report on John Luther Adam’s Become Ocean

 Sarah Kumar

Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath

The Future of (American) Music

05 Mar. 2023

Listening Report on John Luther Adam’s Become Ocean

            The composition starts off with a slowly rising sound, reminiscent of the way waves start to form and develop in the ocean. The woodwind instruments are going up and down the same pattern, and then the brass instruments come in at once, again reminding me of a wave that has formed and is collapsing back into the ocean. The harp signifies the receding of the waves and the calming of the ocean, before the string instruments pick up pace again and the brass instruments come in to create more depth in sound. Even the movement of the conductor and the musicians on the string instruments move their arms up and down like a wave, thus visually supporting what the sound is trying to convey. The percussion instruments add to the sound of ocean as they remind me of drops of water that make sound on the ocean’s surface.

The title Become Ocean hints at something or someone becoming the ocean – or rather, a part of it. It speaks of the environmental changes that occurred and are still occurring to this day and that in the end, as the conductor in the beginning of the piece said, everything will return – or become – the ocean again (Become Ocean 03:05). The rising and falling of the instruments can therefore both mean the rising and falling of waves as well as the expanding of the ocean as it continues to grow. The ocean covers about 71 percent of the earth’s surface, and it is not so far-fetched to think that this amount will keep growing and covering more of the earth.

At about halfway into the video, the orchestra grows quieter and more subdued. Only a few string instruments and the piano can be heard, softly playing. As the sound picks up in volume again, the harp comes in, and the string instruments grow louder again. After the previous softness of the instruments, it almost feels like a new beginning, as if the ocean has succeeded in absorbing everything on earth and is starting over fresh. The last third of Become Ocean continues on rising and falling in volume with the woodwind instrument and harp in the foreground. And like before, the string instruments rise in sound before receding again, like waves, with the soft sounds of the drums in the background bringing in the depth of the ocean. It evokes a feeling not dissimilar to actually looking at the ocean and seeing its enormous size and movement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Herzogenrath, Bernd. Become Ocean. Google Drive – Reader FUTURE OF MUSIC, 8 Feb. 2023, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FeBiOML1M5uZ5oAGdxQaa0hxA1EOclss?usp=sharing. Accessed 5 Mar. 2023.
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