Reaction to Final Concert

As with the midterm concert, I was extremely impressed by the final concert.  Everyone did a fantastic job both tightening and improving their songs and performing them.  This class has been an incredible success--it has been amazing to see the progress each of us has made as we've gotten to know each other's work intimately, and even more impressive to hear the resulting music that has come out of collaborations in this class.  Great job everyone!

Josh:  Faster from the Sun

I loved Josh's and Rosalind's voices in harmony, which fit together so well.  Having male and female voices singing together really spiced the song.  I like how Josh utilized vocal harmony throughout the entire song, rather than just emphasizing certain words or sections.

Roman:  Good St. George

It was great to see the creative lyrical work Roman could do with the assigned narrative.  I especially like the line "Ascalon, you ask a lot of me"--very clever.  In general, I was very impressed with the song's high energy level.  The melody was especially strong, as was the use of contrasting dynamics in different sections.  My favorite part was probably the short guitar break that was completely tonally unrelated to the rest of the song.  This break really caught my attention and gave the song a mystical quality that fits appropriately with the narrative off of which the lyrics are based.

 

Julie and Jeremy:  Wild Things

 Jeremy played incredibly well in our song "Wild Things."  I think our parts fit nicely together, as slower melodic lines were juxtaposed with his intricate outlining of guitar chords.  This assignment--which was to write a song together--was initially very challenging, as it was hard to know where to start.  I think it worked very well to have Jeremy come up with the guitar part while I came up with the vocal part.  I loved the guitar part that Jeremy wrote, which consisted of an unpredictable and unique chord progression that flowed together flawlessly.

 

Jeremy:  They Took the Kids Away

The lyrics of this song were fantastic.  I can tell from the performance that this was a song Jeremy felt passionate about.  Once again, I was very impressed with the control he had over his guitar, switching suddenly between different styles of playing.  It was really nice to hear variations on different chords as Jeremy finger picked and added a different note every other chord.  Jeremy's engagement with the song during his performance made it easy for the audience to connect with it.

 

Katherine and Butch:  It Rains in His Heart

Butch's and Katherine's song was very beautiful, and I especially loved Parker's and Ben's guitar and bass additions, as well as when both singers come in and harmonize together.  I still can't believe they've never harmonized together before.  The chord progression of this song is very strong.  It Is unpredictable, yet fits together smoothly.  The bridge was especially well done.  It differs significantly from the rest of the song, and uses interesting rhythmic structures, yet it still flows effortlessly to and from the chorus and verse.  The melody is also very powerful, as it immediately makes an octave leap from the fifth to the fifth above.  This song is really beautiful.

 

Rosalind and Ben:  The Ballad of Seamus Taylor

I admired the way in which Ben and Rosalind worked out their duet for this song.  It was very effective to have Rosalind sing the verses and Ben the choruses or prechoruses, instead of just switching off versus.  The harmony was great too--not overwhelming and used in appropriate places.  Structuring the song this way made it sound purposeful as a duet rather than a forced collaboration.  

 

Ben:  Pink Pills

I like the varying rhythmic layers in this song.  The drum beat is the most rhythmically intricate, the guitar chord rhythm is somewhere in the middle, and the melodic rhythm moves slower over the chords.  I loved that Ben incorporated the synthesizer and drums—they really added to the song as a whole.  This is something I could picture hearing on the radio.  My favorite part was at the end, where all instruments cut out except for a softer guitar rhythm, and Butch came in with a saxophone solo.  This part was very pretty, and added a nice contrast to the rest of the song.

 

Parker:  Easy Going, Easy Gone

Parker did a great job with the billboard 100 hit assignment.  His song was funny in its parody of an annoying Miley-Cirus type pop hit, yet it was still well-made, catchy, and fun.  I loved the synthesizer parts that Jonathan played--they were very accurately representative of a sort of computerized sound that seems to be a trend in pop music right now.  I also had a lot of fun singing this song!  It has great energy.

 

Ben:  Coathanger

This song is catchy and interesting.  It has many different sections with different chord changes, but all utilize the technique of singing with a slower rhythm over a faster harmonic rhythm.  I love how the song switches back and forth from major to minor mode.  My favorite part is the repeated line "she's come not full, she is a vacuum,"  which gets higher in pitch each time, eventually reaching the climax line, "she is a void."  This may not have been intentional, but Ben seemed to have something scratchy in his voice, which actually was very effective in adding intensity to the song.

 

Rosalind:  Fish and Lobster

This song was very cute.  I love how Rosalind began this song a cappella, yet the implied chord harmonies were still apparent as she outlined them with arpeggio.  It was nice to see the progression of this song's creation.  The first time we heard it in workshop, it was entirely a cappella.  At the concert, Rosalind had added some piano harmony.  The harmony was slight and subtle, which was nice, because it really emphasized her voice which was definitely the most important aspect of this song.

 

Parker and Jonathan:  Fjord

I loved this song, which I've had stuck in my head ever since.  Parker and Jonathan both have very different musical styles, and it was great to see what they could do together.  The song was incredibly complex musically, yet it is still very catchy and very solid.  I love how they used different drum beat patterns for different sections of the song, as well as their periodic changes of time signature.  I especially liked the transition from the section that I think was in 5/4 to the section in 6/8.  It was unexpected, but very cool sounding.  Like Rosalind's and Ben's duet, this duet was split up very well.  I especially liked the parts where Parker and Jonathan were singing separate lines that overlap each other, each in a slightly different register.

 

Jonathan:  Neverland

This song was very reminiscent of its inspiration, Miss American Pie.  At the same time, it is an independent and unique song, so Jonathan's interpretation of this assignment was certainly a success.  I was very impressed with the transition riff that is played between the chorus and the following verse.  The riff sounded difficult to play, but Jonathan and Jeremy played it well and together.  In general, Jeremy's guitar playing was a nice component of the song that added an extra dimension.

 

Roman:  Hotline Again

This song is very pretty, even if its content is supposed to be somewhat somber.  Roman's addition of the cello was a beautiful touch, and it really made this song stand out.  I also liked how Roman added an extra beat in certain places--it contributed to the general lyrical mood, which described a sense of unease, discomfort, and sometimes anger.  The extra beat did not allow the listener to settle into the song, but rather to feel a bit on edge as did the narrator of the song.

 

Julie:  Worry Away

This song was well done, especially considering the difficulties that can arise when many musicians are performing at once.  The harmonies sounded great, as did Ben and Parker on guitar and bass.  I especially liked how Ben embellished the bass part slightly.

 

Josh:  O Holy Night

Josh's rendition of this song was absolutely beautiful.  He successfully demonstrated how a musician can take a traditional song that most people know and completely personalize it without changing any of its fundamental elements.  Very well done.

 

Josh:  All Ye Shackled Men

It was effective to have everyone participate in this last song, creating a strong and forceful sound. It was also great to hear and see Josh perform slightly differently as he sang in that belting style.  His vocal intensity seemed to be influenced by the lack of guitar in front of him, which likely allowed him to focus entirely on his vocals.  The song came across very soulfully and passionately.  Performing this piece a capella added a great contrast to the other songs, and provided a strong finish to the concert.

Summary of Work This Semester

Over the course of the semester, each of us wrote at least ten songs.  Below, I will summarize those songs.

1.  Spinning Me.  I wrote this song over the summer, and brought it into class.  I wanted to write a song that closely resembled the genre of "funk," which is a favorite of mine.  I had originally written the song on acoustic guitar--it's purpose was to add to the repertoire of songs I could perform on the street (one of my summer jobs), and so it had simple guitar accompaniment and a  vocal part that would demonstrate my abilities.  I started experimenting with the song in garage band, though, and ended up finding a bunch of pre-made loops that fit the song well, and so I turned it into a funk song.  Overall, the song was pretty simple, but it was a good experiment to write a song in a genre other than what I am used to, as well as to find other accompanying instruments besides the simple guitar parts I've gotten used to writing.

2.  Me and You.  See Prior Post.

3.  Counting On Tomorrow.  See Prior Post.

4.  Lovely with Rosalind's Bridge.  See Prior Post.

5.  Rosalind's Wake Up with My Bridge.  See Prior Post

6.  Sally.  See Prior Post.

7.  Wild Things.  This song was a product of the assignment in which we were instructed to work in pairs to write a song.  This assignment was initially challenging.  I was paired with Jeremy, and it was difficult to know where to start when working with someone else I've never worked with before.  Luckily for me, Jeremy had been working on a chord progression, and a really beautiful one at that.  We didn't have to change anything.  I came up with a melody, and we worked together on lyrics.  The lyrics were the most difficult part.  Writing lyrics alone is difficult enough when one is not inspired by something to write about, but writing with someone else proved to be even more challenging.  Jeremy and I both have very different styles for writing lyrics, so we attempted to approach this task by choosing a general idea to focus our lyrics on.  We chose the movie Where the Wild Things Are, which had just come out, and wrote lyrics about some of the major themes.  Neither of us were too satisfied with our original set of lyrics, but for the final concert we edited them and I feel more confident with the final product.

8.  Stronger Than Reason.  This song responded to the assignment in which another student assigned us a narrative to inspire a song.  Ben assigned my narrative, but his assignment was a little unconventional.  He instructed me to write a set of lyrics about anything, and then translate them online into Japanese and then to English again, back and forth until the translation had met an equilibrium.  The product would be the lyrics used for the song.  I decided my original lyrics should resemble a cheesy love song--I wanted to have the simplest lyrics to start with and see how crazy they would be when translated.  The resulting lyrics were very nonsensical.  I wasn't that happy with the final song product, as I felt it was too over-the-top in silliness.  Before the final concert, however, I recorded this song, and changed up just a few of the lyrics to make it flow better.  The lyrics still make no sense, but they made a bit more musical sense.  I had recently been studying schizophrenia in a psychology class--one of the symptoms of which is the production of "Word Salad," which is grammatically correct, nonsensical sentences.  I justified my nonsensical lyrics by imagining they were written by someone who was severely schizophrenic and in love, trying desperately to communicate her affection while handicapped by this cognitive disability.

9.  Ain't So Bad.  This song fit the assignment to write a "Billboard hit."  I chose to write in a style that I've seen as somewhat trendy these days--female singer-songwriter types writing about their emotions and using lots of vocal ornamentation.  My song was very simple and predictable in structure and chord progression, as are most pop songs I know of, and I performed it using a cheesy pop percussion loop.   

10.  All Be Gone.  See Prior Post

Analysis Project

For my analysis project—which involved analyzing certain qualities of an established song and incorporating those qualities into an original composition—I studied the song “In the Waiting Line” by Zero 7.  This is one of my favorite songs, and I attempted to pick apart what distinguishes this song from others in terms of such factors as genre style, instrumentation, tone, vocal style, vocal harmonies, song structure, chord patterns, and density of the music.

         The distinct qualities that I picked out of In the Waiting Line are as follows.  The genre is reminiscent of R&B, but it has more modern and electronic instrumentation, and it incorporates elements of the psychedelic.  The instrumentation creates a full sound, yet the overall feel is dreamy, soft, and calming, aided by the soothing quality of the vocals.  There is a pattern of four chords that repeat over and over, and interestingly, these chords are the same in both the verse and the chorus.  They are broken up by different chords in the pre-chorus, as well as in the bridge.  In terms of instrumental solo lines, there are distinctive instrumental riffs that are recognizable and repeat over and over.  The choruses incorporate multi-part vocal harmonies, that build slightly in the second chorus.  All the vocals blend well and with each other and with the music itself. 

         In my song, I incorporated many of these elements, including the chord structure (four repeating chords that are the same in the verse and chorus—broken up by different chords in the prechorus and bridge), distinctive instrumental riffs, and vocal style/vocal harmonies.  I used a beat that, while it is different from In the Waiting Line, it produces a similar feel of slow R&B.  I originally had greater instrumental density in the piece by adding synthesizer chords similar to In the Waiting Line, but based on suggestions from the class, I removed the synthesizer altogether so that the instrumentation is much more simple and bare than that of In the Waiting Line.  Generally, the structure of my song is very similar to that of In the Waiting Line (verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-solo-chorus-chorus).  

         Finally, I attempted to incorporate lyrical themes that were similar to In the Waiting Line.  I’ve interpreted the lyrics of In the Waiting Line as generally being about criticizing the wasting of time based on routines and patterns we have all developed.  I tried to vaguely emulate this idea in my own lyrics.

         Overall, I think my song shares many essential qualities with In the Waiting Line.  I am somewhat concerned that my song resembles it too closely, though.

Midterm Concert

I was incredibly impressed with the midterm concert recordings.  The quality was fantastic, and all of the performances were tight and captivating.  It was also very refreshing to have such a wide variety of genres and musical styles.  I think it was also very beneficial to have people in the class performing on songs other than their own.  It aided the songs they performed on, provided musical skills that one performer alone may not have possessed, and it provided the performers with an opportunity to engage more directly with a classmate’s work.  I think the length was also appropriate—having just two or three songs allowed songwriters to focus on perfecting those songs prior to the concert rather than spreading their energies too widely.  It was also a good length in terms of maintaining the audience’s attention without boring them.  Overall, I think the format of the midterm concert worked incredibly well and should be repeated in the final concert in terms of collaborative performances, length, and recordings.

Roman:  Rocking Chair

I really liked how this song was structured.  Different sections in the song were distinguished by different guitar rhythms and dynamics.  The parts of the song where the guitar cut out altogether were especially effective.  Dynamics in this song in general really made the song interesting and enjoyable to listen to.

 

Ben:  Small Things

I really loved Ben’s cover of All the Small Things.  This is a song I grew up with, but never really listened to carefully.  Ben’s cover, done in a completely different genre than the original, drew out some qualities of the song that would not have been noticed in the original.  Most notable were the lyrics.  Because the original song and music video were sort of silly with high energy, the lyrics didn’t seem too important.  Ben’s slower interpretation of the song as well as the emotion he put into the melody and the lyrics really brought meaning to the words.

 

Julie:  Sally

I am pretty happy with how this song came out.  I’m so glad Josh was willing to play guitar on this song, especially since the song was based on his assignment for me, which involved a certain style of guitar playing that he is very familiar with.  Rosalind’s harmonies really added something special to the song.  I really enjoyed working with this assignment, as it got me to write in a style that was outside of my comfort zone, but that I ended up really liking!

 

Josh:  New Song

I loved the interaction of the guitar part and the vocal part in this song.  The sort of minimal guitar part, which just outlines chords with individual notes, contributes to the soothing quality of the song that is characteristic of Josh’s low, soft vocals.  Switching back and forth between vocals and harmonica produced a swaying, rocking feeling that made the listener very relaxed and was very enjoyable to listen to.  This would work well as a lullaby.

 

Parker:  Valley Bridge

My favorite part of this song is the melody of the verses.  I love how it goes from “ground” to “ceiling” abruptly, and then gradually drops back down to ground.  Because this melody was so striking, I think it was very effective to repeat it throughout the verse.  The song held the listener’s attention despite it’s repetition, in part because of the interesting melody, but also because of the rhythm and timing of the melody and where strong beats and weak beats fall.  This song is very pretty, but still attention grabbing.

 

Rosalind:  My Madness (with Julie’s bridge):

I know Rosalind said she wrote this song a while ago, but I really like it and am glad she brought it back to work on more.  It was fun to write a bridge to this song, as it was challenging to write a bridge that was distinct from the rest of the song but that would still fit with Rosalind’s unique style.  I think she did very well integrating the foreign bridge into the rest of the song in this performance. I thought the harmonies in the last choruses added something nice to the song, but I wish she kept the “na na’s” that she had in the original because that was one of my favorite parts!

 

Jeremy:  Astral Companion

This is probably my favorite of Jeremy’s songs so far.  I really liked what he did with the lyrics, which had multiple constraints based on the assignment he was given by another student.  The quality of the music fit the lyrical content very well, as the background was sort of busy and ethereal.  Jonathan’s piano parts added color to the song, and it made the song sound much fuller with Jonathan playing piano in a higher register and Jeremy playing guitar in a lower register.

 

Jonathan:  Jenny and the Ghost

I love how this song starts with a very simple piano part and chords, and gradually gets more and more complex, including some atonal sections.  Jonathan’s use of contrasting vocal dynamics adds a lot of color to this song.  His accompanying piano parts also effectively illustrate the content of the story that Jonathan’s lyrics are telling, as if the music is taking us through the emotions and experiences that Jenny is going through throughout the course of this song.  This song is incredibly complex and well-done, especially considering that it uses only piano and voice.  I would love to see a music video for this song.

 

Rosalind:  Grow

This song is really pretty.  Ben’s guitar playing added a lot to the sweet quality of Rosalind’s singing and piano playing.  This is another song I would play as a lullaby, as it is both beautiful and calming.  I love how the vocal melody moves slowly over the faster rhythm of the background.

 

Ben:  Citalopram

The most striking part of this song is the contrasting rhythms of the vocals and the guitar part.  It utilizes hemiola, with the guitar rhythm sounding as if it is in 4/4 and the vocals sounding as if they are in 6/8.  The vocals periodically shift from this implied 6/8 rhythm to the song’s actual 4/4 timing, which keeps the listeners on their toes.  Despite the rhythmic complications, this song is very catchy—I think it could work really well with a full band, with bass and drums added.

 

Josh:  Dawn’s Broken Crutch

I love how Josh explains the context in which he writes his songs before he plays.  In this one, he describes his experiences on a fire escape.  His song conveyed an image of the “sunrise” that I would imagine Josh seeing from this fire escape.  I also love his use of whistling—it gives the song a very earthy and humble quality.

 

Julie:  Me and You

This song was based on one of the first assignments, and I had sort of put it away.  I thought it was fine, but kind of boring.  I think it really came alive at the concert, though, because of Ben’s bass playing and Jonathan’s drumming.  Adding a beat and bass line to this song gave it a lot more energy, which was crucial in a song with so much repetition. 

 

Jeremy:  Stays the Same

Jeremy very effectively creates a more intense or less intense sound with his guitar technique.  During the less intense parts, he plays quieter and with finger picking, delicately outlining the chords.  During the more intense parts, he plays full chords, and plays louder.  He utilizes his vocals to the same effect.  He has incredibly admirable control over his guitar, stopping it altogether during crucial parts of the song, and smoothly transitioning between contrasting sections.

 

Rosalind:  He

This is probably my favorite of Rosalind’s songs so far.  She did an incredible job with the lyrics considering all the seemingly silly prompts, such as using the word “carrot.”  I think having a constraint on the number of words (I think it was 35) actually made the song much more powerful.  In contrast to many of Rosalind’s other songs which often have coherent narratives, this song had more of an abstract narrative, which was emphasized through repetition.  The use of dorian mode contributes to the “epic” quality of the song, as does the “G” played/sung by everyone in the class.  This G, played on the offbeat, creates an image of the protagonist walking through the desert.

 

Parker:  Arizona

Parker did a fantastic job with this assignment, which was to write a song in a style he was unfamiliar with.  The style he picked, which was sort of jazz/bossa nova, was a great contrast with all of his other work.  He really captured the essence of the genre, and I am shocked that he has never played in that style because he performed it so well.  I also loved his lyrics.  This genre can come off as somewhat cheesy, but Parker's lyrics added many interesting twists.

 

Ben (with Jonathan's bridge):  Roll Back to You

This is one of my new favorite songs.  I loved Ben’s original, and Jonathan’s contributions only added to the appeal of this song.  Ben’s original had a very folkish quality, and was very catchy.  I loved the bridge that Jonathan added, as well as the piano parts.  The guitar part and piano part fit very well together.  I also thought the vocals of the song were divided up well.  Instead of just having Jonathan sing the bridge that he wrote, the two split up the song so that it flowed together well. 

 

Roman:  Tribute

This piece was very well done.  It was great to hear Roman open up to the audience about a subject that was clearly very personal to him.  The style—telling a story over a repeated musical background—can be very hard to pull off, but Roman’s passion and investment in the content of the story made it sound very “authentic” and personal.  Roman is a great story teller.

 

Josh:  Hands In Our Pockets

This song was very cute and funny.  I love that Josh sang this by himself to a group of strangers—that’s pretty gutsy.  I would have loved to see their reactions.  Once again, his explanations prior to performing really aided in the appreciation of the song.

Wild Card: Assignment 4

My assignment for Parker is the following:

Write a song in a style or genre that is completely different from what you usually write.  You are encouraged, but not required, to write using a different instrument than usual and/or for someone else to perform.

My assignment from Josh was to write a song using a simpler harmonic rhythm that incorporated bass notes into the chords, while providing rhythmic contrast in the melody and lyrics.  This was challenging for me based on my limited experience with guitar, but I think it really opened up possibilities for my writing.  I really like the sound of the bass notes, and have realized I've only not included them before because I would just focus on vocals and find whatever simple guitar part would fit.  This assignment has inspired me to try to focus more on the guitar part, and to find creative and interesting ways for the guitar part and vocal part to interact.  The following is my song for this week, called "Sally"

Lyrics [written with each word capitalized, as instructed : ) ]

I Saw Sally By the Side Of the Road

Searching For Her Head

Said I Don’t Know Quite Where It Goes

But I Hope It’s Getting Fed

And I Don’t Know Where the Hours Went

Must’ve Melted In the Sun

Along With Cars And Money Spent

And Prayers For Everyone

Oh, And Take Your Time

Under the Moon These Knots Unwind

I’ve Got Boxes On the Sides Of My Mind

And They’re Filled Up To the Brim

With Thoughts and Dates and Dreams and Plans and Things

And the Lights Are Getting Dim

Sally’s Spinning and She’s Spilling Her Load

It’s A Purple-Yellow Goo

She Said Let’s Walk Right In the Middle Of the Road

So I Emptied Mine Out Too

Oh, And Take Your Time

Under the Moon These Knots Unwind

Rickety Reason, Skip Down Yellow Lines

I May Be Insane, But You Don’t Seem To Mind

Sally’s Lookin’ For the End Of the Sky

With a Flashlight and a Chord

She Said I Know It’ll Be Alright 

‘Cause I’ve Seen This All Before

Writing Someone Else's Bridge: Assignment 3

Rosalind and I were paired for this assignment, so we exchanged songs for the other to add/change the bridge.  The song I gave to Rosiland is called Lovely:

Writing a bridge for Rosalind's song was an interesting experiment. Rosalind's song has a very specific style, and I wanted to maintain the continuity of her style through the bridge while still making it distinct from the rest of the song. I ended up using some chords that she used previously, and trying to incorporate some new chords, such as a B natural.

Adapting Melodic Structure: Assignment 2

I chose the jazz standard Cry Me a River  to analyze its melodic structure and mimic aspects of that structure in my own composition.  Below is a photo of the chart I made of the song structure, along with some of the elements that stood out to me that I sought to incorporate into my song.  (Unfortunately, the image is appearing backwards...  I haven't found a way to fix that, sorry!)

            

Some elements of the structure that stood out to me, and that I sought to incorporate into my song, were the following:  The piece starts on the supertonic above the "ceiling" (tonic); it travels from "ceiling" to "middle" (dominant) and then to "ground" (tonic), then lingers in the "middle;" it incorporates a lowered second; it ends by tonicizing the mediant, implying that the key has shifted to the relative major.  

For my song Counting On Tomorrow, I tried to keep the general structure of movement of the melody.  I started on the second and had the song move from ceiling to middle to ground, then from ceiling to middle, and end by tonicizing the mediant.  I also played around with the tensions created by both the second and the lowered second that are used in Cry Me a River.  

Counting On Tomorrow

Chords:  am   C   G   D

am   C   G   D

am   C  G   D

F     G   C--

Who can change if just they will

Optimism in a pill

Close your eyes and just lay still

Counting on tomorrow

 

The monster in the mirror speaks

Says I know what makes you weak

Don’t think I have any say

But it’ll be okay some other day.

 

No peace

Don’t go, please

No, stay

Don’t go away

See it’ll be okay some other day.

 

Some other

Some other day

Some other day

Some other day