Cross-modal Listening Clip

This video clip is an example of a structural visualization in the form of a cross-modal listening clip (Webb, 2010) of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence remix by Mike Shinoda. A CLC is a music-driven visual media file that could be uploaded to video sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, or even TikTok. The visual aspect of the CLC content is derived from and representative of the musical properties (structural, textural, rhythmic, melodic, et cetera) of the musical script that it is intended to represent (Cook, 2001). In each section, I provided time stamps in minutes/seconds, list the sections of the song: intro, verse, chorus, breakdown, bridge, drop, lift, and so on, identify and describe structural building blocks of the remix, and identify salient instrumental, vocal, and electronic instrument choices made by the artists.

I made this cross-modal listening clip as part of a a teaching and learning unit for preservice music educators that explores the compositional process known as the remix. A remix incorporates existing recordings as the basis for new musical material, and from these elements such as audio segments and/or entire songs, transforms the music through editing, effects, or new musical material (Kuhn & Hein, 2021).

If you’re interested, you can check out the entire project here that includes lessons plans, resources, student examples, as well as my conceptual framework that situates this teaching and learning unit on the remix.