This year, I was really nervous about doing music major as I had not continued with music in Year 8. But surprising myself, I actually really enjoyed each unit. My favourite unit was the 'all that jazz' unit because jazz is one of my favourite genres! I enjoyed the musical passport unit because I got to explore all different types of music from all over the world AND have authentic live performances! Personally, I really enjoy learning about other cultures, and I feel that this unit was the perfect platform to explore the world. Although I did not overly enjoy the "what a classic" unit, I did learn about the progressive development of music over time, which i think is really important. I think knowing such things are important because it allows us to understand the kinds of music we have today, and can help us understand the types of music to come in the future. I have learnt so many new things throughout each of the units and I have also learnt and understand different types of terminology I never new before. I think my favourite memory of this year is, during the all that jazz unit when I actually improved for the first time and it worked!! It really boosted my confidence in this subject. Next year, I do not think I will be continuing with music major, but I will definitely still make music for fun. I also may even join the pop choir, depending on how my extra curricular activities come together.
In today's lesson everything about my composition changed. I completely abandoned the idea of an aggressive tribal piece and actually took an unexpected liking to a lullaby that I found by complete accident. There was something about the soft and warm way the instruments were played, which were completely parallel to everything I had heard before, and it just stuck. So instead of invasive and aggressive poly rhythms and lower scale chords, I have opted for much kinder sounds. I have still used poly rhythms and chords from E minor (now A, E and G) but they have been played in a way I would never have thought of had I come across the old song (I actually found the CD at the back of the wardrobe). Although I could not find the exact one, a similar composition can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD-HLyebLOo
I feel that the effectiveness of this piece is far better than what I was originally aiming for, and I feel I have encapsulated a big part of what African music is about- family and community. Today I had a lot of work to do as I have missed a few lessons. I have decided to focus on traditional African Tribal or folk music. This style of music requires a very syncopation/poly-rhythmic structure so, for now, I want to experiment with all different types of percussion. The tonality of African Folk music is arranged in a series of chords, mostly found in the E minor scale. I am trying to implement three or four different sections of percussion- one continuous, consistent beat and two or three differentiating beats. I want to incorporate the E minor chord, G chord and the B minor chord too because I think it suits my chosen music type the best. In terms of instrumentation, I want to stick to jamaba (traditional African drum) marimba, some vocals, and other drums of varying pitches. Although the variety of instruments is limited (and I'll most likely add in thinks as i go), i think i can create a very authentic piece that is faithful to the genre of African folk music. Today, going back over what I had sort of started last lesson (which i missed more than half of), I really did not like what I had made.
During the course of the lesson I deleted my work about four times because it was not to a standard that I was happy with. I hope that I will be a bit more productive next lesson. Today the South American (Andean) band, Inca Marca came in to play for us. This performance was hands down my absolute favourite as I find the more bohemian and 'natural' sounding music more engaging. The pan-flute is the instrument that is most unique to the Andean music, and we learnt about the two different techniques used to play it, and how it affects the sound. One method made the notes much louder and crisper, and one method made the notes very diluted with the breath of the musician. I also learned about how the more traditional percussion were made out of livestock hooves, and there were instruments such as the Bamboo Quena and the Bombo drum that were used in history and in the performance.
Although I really love this genre, I feel as though I still need to do more thorough research before I choose what style to go with. That being said, I really loved the earthiness and uniqueness of this genre, and I want to integrate that into my own composition. I think that folk music that is "felt" and known rather than seen or read is best conveyed in a more natural kind of style. This lesson, after learning a bit about South American geography, culture and history (and Miss Heggie's year 7 geography teacher) we played an Andean piece El Condor Passa. Although this composition had a written melody, all other components of it were improvised in a multilayered, poly rhythmic expression. I was one of four percussive drums used during this piece. I really tried to focus in on playing in the off beat to add to the different rhythms that would traditionally come through in folklore music. What I really liked about playing in this way was how each member of the ensemble had to feel the song and just roll with what everyone else was doing. Although I gave starting and ending guidance, that was the only structure the composition had. I think this lesson really encapsulated the essence of folklore music- feeling rather than seeing. Although it will be a challenge, i really want to incorporate this into my own composition.
Last Tuesday (4/10/16) Miss Dixon gave a very in-depth introduction to Balkan folk music and we listened to two different versions of Ajde Jano. One by Nigel Kennedy and one by Vasilija Radojcic. Both versions of the song had similar characteristics such as their time signature (7/8), tempo and the words that were sung, but the actual instrumentation was very different. The rendition by Vasilija Radojcic sounded much more traditional and sounded like something you would find in Serbia. The instruments used in her version were: vocals, accordion, bass, violin, and a wood sounding percussion. In Nigel Kennedy's version, there is a very Turkish feel to the song. There is a larger emphasis on the accordion and on the bass and a flute has been added to the instrumentation. This completely changed the feel of the song as it felt more modern and fast paced.
After watching both videos, we had a go at performing them ourselves, once with clapping and once with our actual instruments. After this lesson I realized that I really like this style of music, and when I perform my own, I want to incorporate vocals, percussion and a fast paced tempo. On Monday (10/10/16) a Romanian Folk band, called Vardos, came and performed for us. Although I missed the first little bit of the lesson I didn't miss out on much. They performed a range of different songs from all over Romania and Hungary, and had a really good performance presence. The lead violinist, in particular, made the performance quite enjoyable (almost comedic) as she was constantly making faces and moving around and talking in a way that made it interesting. There was also a violin/bass player and viola/accordion player in the band. All these instruments sounded so good together and I really enjoyed the performance. Although their perspective of Folk music is not my most favourite genre, I would like to incorporate their amazing performance skills to make my performance enjoyable. Attached is my final reflection and composition. :)
Today was the last class to work on our composition, and I have significantly altered my romantic piece. Last week, I wanted to focus on four main things (expressiveness, harmony and melody as my focus, dissonance and motifs), and I feel I have effectively achieved 3/4 of these things in the romantic style. What I don't feel turned out too well was the expressiveness of my piece and that's really disappointing as it is a very large component of the romantic style. I think happened because I was very focused on choosing my notes and trying to not write a crotchet heavy piece as well as staying true to pieces actually written in that time. I find that I , by nature, tend to really try to hone in on what I feel is most important in the task, and do those bits as well as I can, often neglecting things I deem as not a priority. Although I really do think expressiveness in music is really important (especially for romantic style compositions), I thought everything would fall into placeToday I changed my piece substantially. This was because after reflecting upon my own listening, and receiving feedback from Miss Heggie, I realized my interpretation more closely resembled something out of the 20th/21st century style, which is not what I am aiming for. I want to do the Romantic style, and as I have repeatedly mentioned, because i found the romantic style to be more expressive and interesting to my musical taste. I added in long and chordal notes as both the melody and the bass and removed any unnecessary dissonance (this factor was particularly making my composition sound 20th/21st century). I made all my decisions today, based on examples I have heard of the romantic period, as I really want to stay true to the style I have chosen.
Very important factors of romantic pieces that I want to use in my own composition include
Today, my main focus will be on composing my orchestral romantic piece, in particular focusing on brass and percussion. The reason for this is I discovered that these elements are an integral part of the Romance period, and do make a difference to the tone and feel of the piece. Although most of the Romantic pieces I have listened to do not incorperate overt percussion and brass sounds, I can imagine a large benefit to using these elements.
I would also like to focus my attention on dissonance and varying my tempo as this is another important part of the Romantic style pieces. I want my composition to be as expressive and tell a story, because this is what the Romantic style is for. I mentioned in my last reflection that I was inclined to choose the Romantic style because of the way I felt whilst I was listening to different sample pieces. I believe that music is a form of expression and I want to be abel to make my audience feel something when the listen to my composition. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I got quite a lot done today. I tried to really focus on dissonance and varying my tempos and paying special attention to brass instruments, and i think i have reached a good level of productivity and stayed true to the Romance Styles. Next lesson i will finish my composition and make sure it works with what i want. |
Scout de BohunMusic is Expression Archives
November 2016
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