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. |
Scout de BohunMusic is Expression Archives
November 2016
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