Nit Picks, Pet Peeves and Guilty Pleasures 1.3: Reviewing The Review

Reviewing the Review Part 4a: The Rubric

Category 1: Musically Speaking

This category as a whole looks at how adept the writers are at creating intriguing musical lines that are both musically complex and exciting, but also musically fulfilling and appealing.

Musicianship: Musicianship is a pretty common subject for the analysis of a musical work. My personal interpretation of an album’s “musicianship” looks directly at the musical ability and talent of the performers on the album. How technically proficient are they? Do they play things that are above the average for that type of performer? For guitarists, this might be the the ability to play really complex lead lines or solos. For singers this category might reward performers who deliver a performance that demonstrates an impressive range and vocal quality. The main thrust of this category is that high scores are given to albums in which the individual performances really stand out and show that each performer is at the top of their respective class. A musicianship score may also increase for a group that shows knowledge of complex time signatures or advanced harmony, and likewise will decrease for a group that treads over the same musical ground that has been covered a thousand times. This category as looks at (to a lesser degree with studio music) the ability of the band to play together coherently and in time.

Musical Cohesiveness: “Musical Cohesiveness” May be one of the most uncommon and unclear categories on this list. Musical Cohesiveness looks at a groups ability to weave together cohesive and appealing lines in a way that sounds like music. This category is meant to counteract “Musicianship” because so many groups today write entire albums showcasing their virtuosity, but pay little attention to how strong and appealing their melodies are. This can be summarized in one simple rule: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. The obscure metal band “Behold the Arctopus” (check them out in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq89wxYlKtM)* is a perfect example of a band that would receive a high musicianship score and a rock bottom “musical cohesiveness” score. They can play their instruments like nobodies business, but they couldn’t write a good riff to save their lives. The musical cohesiveness score rewards bands that string strong melodic sections together smoothly, like Mastodon on Rush who are able expertly switch between vastly different sections and time signatures without sacrificing a cohesive and appealing sound. Many bands that receive high Musicianship scores, get poor Cohesiveness scores, so the trick is to balance the two categories to get the maximum effect, and create a sound that is both appealing, and complex.

Stay Tuned for the Next Segment of Reviewing the Review part 4- Category 2: Song Presentation.