October 3, 2012
IN PAIRS
You will be tasked with a presentation that combines music, images AND information.
You will do a brief profile on a genre of music.
You will choose one band/singer from that genre and you will give an overview of that artist and his/her career. (hint - dead, old people have more info on them)
You will review one song in some depth - decide why or why not this is good? Remember all the parts - we only did four. (corresponds to instruments)
You will then compare that GOOD song with a poor song by the same band - try to explain what is wrong here.
Recommend (and quickly explain why they are similar) a few similar bands in the same genre that you think might be good.
Maybe choose an artist you don’t know yet, or that fits into a genre you don’t know.
egs
Miles Davis (jazz)
James Brown (soul)
Elvis (first white rocker)
Little Richard (influenced Elvis)
JohnnyCash (he was a cross over
hit)
The Beatles (they were the most important band ever)
Madonna (key 80s pop and use of video and image)
David Bowie (genius, strange music, image)
Velvet Underground (super influential, never got famous)
Frank Sinatra (huge in the 40s-70s)
You will be tasked with a presentation that combines music, images AND information.
You will do a brief profile on a genre of music.
You will choose one band/singer from that genre and you will give an overview of that artist and his/her career. (hint - dead, old people have more info on them)
You will review one song in some depth - decide why or why not this is good? Remember all the parts - we only did four. (corresponds to instruments)
You will then compare that GOOD song with a poor song by the same band - try to explain what is wrong here.
Recommend (and quickly explain why they are similar) a few similar bands in the same genre that you think might be good.
Maybe choose an artist you don’t know yet, or that fits into a genre you don’t know.
egs
Miles Davis (jazz)
James Brown (soul)
Elvis (first white rocker)
Little Richard (influenced Elvis)
Johnny
The Beatles (they were the most important band ever)
Madonna (key 80s pop and use of video and image)
David Bowie (genius, strange music, image)
Velvet Underground (super influential, never got famous)
Frank Sinatra (huge in the 40s-70s)
October 2, 2012
Groove - bass guitars and bass
instruments
groove is another part of the rhythmic power of music
usually the groove is locked in with the drums and/or percussion
the idea that we will start with comes from a “walking bass”
the bass is felt as well as heard, which makes it critical for dancing
the bass and percussion can work OFF each other in interesting ways to generate a LOT of power and strength in a song
not just in funk or soul or black music
most of the rock we listen to utilizes groove
Riffs, Hooks and Runs
there are lots of ways to say this, and you could count chords, power chords, all kinds of other things, but we will say that this is basically about riffs
repeated musical patterns of notes that stick in the head and drive the song up high
guitars and keyboards (you could include horns, woodwinds, etc)
sits above the beat and groove, is coming out it and has a rising power from that setting
it can cut through and soar above a song - it is one of the most important things in music
some bands literally only have riffs -
this is a lot of the music shivers come from
Melody
for many people, this is the bread and butter of a song
this is what little girls like and mainstream audiences like - they work together
the voice of the singer IS the song for so many people
the singing and the lyrics and the tone and the attitude and all these elements of that character are part of this
any great singer brings a very specific “something” to a song performance - a quality or difference and skill and X factor and so on
a strong voice sells the song regardless of its quality
“interesting” is crucial
however, some singers are just amazing and sing perfectly
groove is another part of the rhythmic power of music
usually the groove is locked in with the drums and/or percussion
the idea that we will start with comes from a “walking bass”
the bass is felt as well as heard, which makes it critical for dancing
the bass and percussion can work OFF each other in interesting ways to generate a LOT of power and strength in a song
not just in funk or soul or black music
most of the rock we listen to utilizes groove
Riffs, Hooks and Runs
there are lots of ways to say this, and you could count chords, power chords, all kinds of other things, but we will say that this is basically about riffs
repeated musical patterns of notes that stick in the head and drive the song up high
guitars and keyboards (you could include horns, woodwinds, etc)
sits above the beat and groove, is coming out it and has a rising power from that setting
it can cut through and soar above a song - it is one of the most important things in music
some bands literally only have riffs -
this is a lot of the music shivers come from
Melody
for many people, this is the bread and butter of a song
this is what little girls like and mainstream audiences like - they work together
the voice of the singer IS the song for so many people
the singing and the lyrics and the tone and the attitude and all these elements of that character are part of this
any great singer brings a very specific “something” to a song performance - a quality or difference and skill and X factor and so on
a strong voice sells the song regardless of its quality
“interesting” is crucial
however, some singers are just amazing and sing perfectly
October 1, 2012
Be A Music Critic/Maker
a music maker sometimes just “does it”
a music critic has to think about the different elements, or he/she isn’t doing anything
an informed musician is going to be a better music critic than a music critic who can’t play
we want to be able to identify elements of good music and think about them objectively and be able to then decide what is good and what is not and explain why
we can THEN go on to think about what we like and explain why
once we know those elements that make us like something, we can use them to make our own songs, or write our own reviews, or MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS
What did Lobb notice in his first listen to the first .44 of Call Me Maybe?
The vocals stick out - the rhymes are very clear and pop the ends of the verses
there is no other melody line - the only instrument in the “front” of the song
the musical element of her melody is standing out - the tone and pitch is very musical
she’s rushing forward in her singing style - has a forward energy
The rhythm is really just “that rhythm” - heartbeat (at least at the start) - this is pretty simple and it doesn’t give me much
however, the singer works all around the rhythm with a very rhythmic singing style - polyrhythm
Parts of a Song (as Mr. Lobb would say - a true musician may well tell you Mr. Lobb was dead wrong)
Beat.
this is the heartbeat of the song - the guts, the mother at the center.
this is the time of the song
it is usually created by the most basic instrument - percussion (drums)
there is a giant industry all built around the beat - this is one of the key elements of most popular songs - we can thank Africa for our appreciation for beat
the slave trade implanted an African culture directly into Western European culture in a place called North America - one of the key cities where this happened was New Orleans
a whole blast of exciting new energy in music came from this mixing of cultures - many other
cultures got mixed in here also
a music maker sometimes just “does it”
a music critic has to think about the different elements, or he/she isn’t doing anything
an informed musician is going to be a better music critic than a music critic who can’t play
we want to be able to identify elements of good music and think about them objectively and be able to then decide what is good and what is not and explain why
we can THEN go on to think about what we like and explain why
once we know those elements that make us like something, we can use them to make our own songs, or write our own reviews, or MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS
What did Lobb notice in his first listen to the first .44 of Call Me Maybe?
The vocals stick out - the rhymes are very clear and pop the ends of the verses
there is no other melody line - the only instrument in the “front” of the song
the musical element of her melody is standing out - the tone and pitch is very musical
she’s rushing forward in her singing style - has a forward energy
The rhythm is really just “that rhythm” - heartbeat (at least at the start) - this is pretty simple and it doesn’t give me much
however, the singer works all around the rhythm with a very rhythmic singing style - polyrhythm
Parts of a Song (as Mr. Lobb would say - a true musician may well tell you Mr. Lobb was dead wrong)
Beat.
this is the heartbeat of the song - the guts, the mother at the center.
this is the time of the song
it is usually created by the most basic instrument - percussion (drums)
there is a giant industry all built around the beat - this is one of the key elements of most popular songs - we can thank Africa for our appreciation for beat
the slave trade implanted an African culture directly into Western European culture in a place called North America - one of the key cities where this happened was New Orleans
a whole blast of exciting new energy in music came from this mixing of cultures - many other
cultures got mixed in here also
