Question 1: In the first song, describe the melody (especially saying what notes it uses - feel free to use a keyboard to help you with this).
In the first song Money Is Not All + Dub by Mike Brooks, the melody is what he is singing, if he was not singing the melody would be what he singing but as an instrument playing the melody in the instrumental.
the song structure is - chorus, verse, chorus (going back and fourth from the verse to the chorus).
The melody specificly is noted with the black notes: d sharp, f sharp, g sharp and a sharp.
Question 2: For each song, name the style/genre of the song and list three things (musical and/or sonic) that support your assertion.
Song one:
the genre is reggae, you can tell this song is reggae because of the skank beat, the off beat, the jamican accent in the lead vocals, the instruments used: guitar, keyboard, percussion, tambourine.
The melody of the song.
1. the brass syncopation.
2. there is so sustained notes in this song, and that is normal and known for reggae.
3. the skank and the off beat.
Song Two:
this song is dub a sub genre of reggae
you can hear this because the artist has cut parts of the first song and mixed them up to be in different order as the first song, there is no reverb the like the first song has. in the first song there is vocals but in this song the vocals come once in a while like backing vocals.
you can tell this song is dub because:
1. there is reverb and echoes, effects
2. the vocals come in and out.
3. the song is cut up.
Friday, 18 January 2013
Monday, 14 January 2013
Easter Gig Band Workshop Blog
Band Workshop 1 (7.1.013)
Today was our first day of band workshop, and today we worked on a reggae song so we decided to choose a famous and very good tune from the ledgend bob marley 'one love', we chose this song because it is very simple, catchy and easy to sing for the vocalists and the instrumental is very simple aswell for the musicians. We all got seperated into two groups, in my group there is sheva, danielle, matthew, garnnet, harry and immanuel. In my group we all are fairly doing something to suit our talents, me, sheva, danielle and immanuel are the singers and we went the four of us to choose who sings what and sort out harmonys for the chorus. Me and sheva are singing the chorus and in the verses doing the words in brackets to repeating after the solo singers in the verse. My singing role is to do the higher harmony. Immanuel sings the first verse, we all come together and sing the chorus, then danielle sings the second verse then we all sing the chorus as unison. Then other then the singers we have harry on guitar, andre on bass guitar, garnnet on piano and matthew on drums. Matthew was our group leader for today and he made sure we all had a fair part in the song and we all had a time to shine. I was very ill but i still got up and did my job, it feels so right with everyone, it sounds really good, were in good time, in the right key for all of the singers to be able to sing comfortably, i honestly think it was a very good rehersal and it came out successful.
Smart Targets: my target is to improve my singing vocals and work on my harmony so my vocals is on point and im hitting the right notes and not go out of tune, because in past gigs i have souned out of tune and not very good, so i am really aiming to improve on my vocals for when we perform this song.
Band Workshop 2 (9.1.013)
i was not able to attend this workshop
Band Workshop 3 (14.1.013)
Today in band workshop we got seperated in two more groups and did a cover of a funk song, we did a cover of Super freak by rick james. The people included in my group is sheva,danielle, shardae, andre, caitlyn, donavon and demver. Me, sheva, danielle and shardae are the singers, andre on bass guitar, donavon and demver on piano and caitlyn on accoustic guitar. To be honest we all struggled with this song, the singers and i felt like this song was comfortable to sing and that for our voice it just did not go well for us, we tried our best to do what we could but we all decided within the two groups that we defenatley dont want to use the song. Rehersals were a bit unfocused the singers were really focused and tried helping eachother but the others on piano and drums made it hard for us to learn our basics for the song and made too much noise so we went to another quite room and sorted it out but it still wasnt going well, but we did what we could, we never gave up.
Band Workshop 4 (16.1.013)
i was not able to attend this workshop
i was not able to attend this workshop
Today was our first day of band workshop, and today we worked on a reggae song so we decided to choose a famous and very good tune from the ledgend bob marley 'one love', we chose this song because it is very simple, catchy and easy to sing for the vocalists and the instrumental is very simple aswell for the musicians. We all got seperated into two groups, in my group there is sheva, danielle, matthew, garnnet, harry and immanuel. In my group we all are fairly doing something to suit our talents, me, sheva, danielle and immanuel are the singers and we went the four of us to choose who sings what and sort out harmonys for the chorus. Me and sheva are singing the chorus and in the verses doing the words in brackets to repeating after the solo singers in the verse. My singing role is to do the higher harmony. Immanuel sings the first verse, we all come together and sing the chorus, then danielle sings the second verse then we all sing the chorus as unison. Then other then the singers we have harry on guitar, andre on bass guitar, garnnet on piano and matthew on drums. Matthew was our group leader for today and he made sure we all had a fair part in the song and we all had a time to shine. I was very ill but i still got up and did my job, it feels so right with everyone, it sounds really good, were in good time, in the right key for all of the singers to be able to sing comfortably, i honestly think it was a very good rehersal and it came out successful.
Smart Targets: my target is to improve my singing vocals and work on my harmony so my vocals is on point and im hitting the right notes and not go out of tune, because in past gigs i have souned out of tune and not very good, so i am really aiming to improve on my vocals for when we perform this song.
Band Workshop 2 (9.1.013)
i was not able to attend this workshop
Band Workshop 3 (14.1.013)
Today in band workshop we got seperated in two more groups and did a cover of a funk song, we did a cover of Super freak by rick james. The people included in my group is sheva,danielle, shardae, andre, caitlyn, donavon and demver. Me, sheva, danielle and shardae are the singers, andre on bass guitar, donavon and demver on piano and caitlyn on accoustic guitar. To be honest we all struggled with this song, the singers and i felt like this song was comfortable to sing and that for our voice it just did not go well for us, we tried our best to do what we could but we all decided within the two groups that we defenatley dont want to use the song. Rehersals were a bit unfocused the singers were really focused and tried helping eachother but the others on piano and drums made it hard for us to learn our basics for the song and made too much noise so we went to another quite room and sorted it out but it still wasnt going well, but we did what we could, we never gave up.
Band Workshop 4 (16.1.013)
Today in band workshops we all got seperated into small groups to write our original songs with the theme 'funk'! My small group included: demver,kline, shardae and me. Last week on wednesday we had to write in our small groups original songs with the theme reggae, but today we had to write with the theme funk. Funk is different in some funk songs the song is very repetitive and repeats the same phrase or line and then improvises, or has a normal structure but repeating a phrase to make that phrase important and cathcy. One very obvious thing about funk music the chords and the background music in general is very simple and repetitive. So we started by demver on piano making some chords up we like the chords he made up with and then started working on our lyrics, me, shardae and kline were a little stuck at first but then shardae came up with a line that we got attracted to right away and we liked how it went with what demver was playing. She came out with 'sweet suga mama of mine' we decided this would be our chorus but repeating the line 4 times. So because we decided to stick to that line we had to base the rest of the song about mums and how our mums helped us through life and told us good in life. We decided to pick the song structure: verse,chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. Me and shardae and kline decided shardae sings the first verse and then I sing the second verse. Shardae came up with her verse and me and kline helped her with ideas and told her if it sounds alright and if the words are strong enough and make sense, then when we got to the verse we were really getting into the song and ideas just came out like lighting, so we made my verse really quickly. Then we got stuck a bit in the bridge so I came out with the line 'she lifted me up when I was down' and then I came out with the line 'I never thought I'd be this strong' and then shardae thought of the line '
As days went by I belived in myself' and then I ended the verse by saying 'and its all thanks to you'. By then we basically finished our song by repeating the chorus 8 times, add libbing because in funk it is known to have a lot of improvisation and add libs. We did this in litteraly 30 minuets and we all really worked well together, we got on with it really fast and finished it really quickly, and the ending touches sounded really good we felt proud haha.
As days went by I belived in myself' and then I ended the verse by saying 'and its all thanks to you'. By then we basically finished our song by repeating the chorus 8 times, add libbing because in funk it is known to have a lot of improvisation and add libs. We did this in litteraly 30 minuets and we all really worked well together, we got on with it really fast and finished it really quickly, and the ending touches sounded really good we felt proud haha.
i was not able to attend this workshop
Band Workshop 6 (23.1.013)
i was not able to attend this workshop
Band Workshop 7 (28.1.013)
Today in band workshop we all broke up into our three groups and did a cover of a blue song 'a change will come' by sam cook. My group included bianca on guitar, jacob on drums, aundre on bass guitar, harry, emmanuel and batsheva singing vocals, kline on main piano and myself doing add libs on the keyboard playing a 60's organ. This was quite a hard song to cover because the melody is quite confusing for the singers to sing, and the original singer singing this song suited it for himself so the singers harry, emmanauel and batsheva tried to fit their vocals to this song and they succeeded after a few tries. It took me quite a while to learn the chords for this song, because this song includes very complicated chords, chords i have never come across before. But once i got it i got the hang of it and was on a role and doing my job in the band good. there is 4 verses and 1 chorus in this song so the singers divided the solos into the order verse 1 - harry, verse 2 - batsheva, verse 3 - emmanuel, bridge - harry, verse 4 - emmanuel. The rehersals today for this song was very confusing and not 100 percent because we found this song quite hard to cover and we all found it hard to get used to the feel of the song, because this song is in the style of blues and we all have never come across blues and performed blues so it all felt very wierd for us.
Band Workshop 8 (30.1.13)
Today in band workshop we all got seperated onto our little groups to write an original song in the style of blues. Today in my group was demver,kline, aundre and myself. We sorted out the roles in the band to be me singing, kline on piano, demver on violin and aundre on bass guitar. Kline made up a chord sequence witch we all liked, then demver followed with violin doing harmonys to the piano and all sorts of add libs, aundre followed with bass guitar but for me singing i found it hard to find a melody and to sing a melody over it, i just stood there thinking and thinking till demver helped me by playing the melody on the violin so i practiced that melody he played by humming it again and again. I then came up with the phrase: 'i wake up this morning, i see my baby, his smile on his face, makes me go crazy'. They all liked it and we only had time to stick with that phrase, so i guess its fairly hard to make up an original song in the style of blues, but we managed to make up something decent.
Band Workshop 9 (4.2.013)
Today in band workshop we all separated into two groups to cover the song heartbeat by the band knife, when we all heard this song today we really liked it. This song is in the genre of electro, so the instruments would change, the piano players had to play on the keyboard and use the electro synth effect and one piano player played normal piano, the drummer had to play on the electrical drums so it would sound like an electro drum beat. The singers just did their usual thing and learnt the melody and sang it in their own way.
In my group was: shardae, immaunel, darlene, caitlin, kline, garnnet, yemisi, jacob and joe.
me,shardae, emmanuel, darlene and caitlin did the singing, we sorted out the solos and harmonies for the chorus, we decided darlene to do the first verse, me and caitlin to share the second verse and shardae to do the bridge and in the chorus's we all sing together adding harmonies.
yemisi was on a mini synth keyboard playing single notes, joe was on electric guitar, jacob was on the electric drums, garnett and kline were on piano, kline on normal piano and garnett on keyboard with the synth effect.
Today was very successful and easy because the band got the hang of the instrumental easily and the singers learnt their parts in the maximum time of 20 minuets, including adding harmonies to the chorus and going over the whole song in another room so we get used to it and know what were doing.
Band Workshop 10 (6.2.013)
Today we all got seperated into our small groups to write an original electro song.
My group included shardae, demver, shannon, la-shaun and aundre. Demver was on the synth piano, aundre was on bass guitar, la-shaun was on the electro drums and me, shardae and shannon were the singers. Demver made up some chords witch were really catchy so then aundre played along with the bass guitar and la-shaun did a simple beat, while me, shardae and shannon tried to think of a melody and lyrics. I tried to work with the octapad but we all didn't really like the sound of it so we decided to leave it out. Shannon came up with simple chorus and put a electro feel to it by going I I I I fe fe fe feel li I ike, so repeating the first sylibols of every word. We didn't get to far because we found it hard and had to clue what to sing about and how to structure it but with what we came up with, is really cathchy and makes us want to dance. When we performed it to everyone they liked the vibe of it and started moving to it.
Band Workshop 11 (25.2.13)
Today in band workshop we decided who is covering the songs from each genre of music, each week 2 groups covered the same song, so today we found out who is covering witch song, i am going to cover superfreak and a change will come and for a change i will be playing piano. Superfreak was not easy to work with, for the musicians they found it easier, the drummer was in control of the beat, the main piano player did the riff witch is very repetitive and easy to play because it is so simple and so repeitive, the bass guitar player did a basic bass riff, and i played the keyboard doing a very simple 2 chord riff, doing a response to the main piano riff. The singers sorted out who is singing what because new people joined the group, they went over the melody and sorted out a few harmonies. Our aim for this song was to keep in time with eachother, keep in tune, keep the pitching right. So the piano players have to work with eachother, the main piano playes the riff, and the keyboard responses to it with 2 chords. To be able to suceed this smoothly and correctly they both have to practice it at home and remember it, and while practicing with the drummer remember the timing they have to play in. The drummer does his thing and plays the drums and in some moments follows the rest of the band but it is natural for the band to follow the drummer because the drummer keeps us in time, so the drummer has to make sure he knows how to keep the drums in time. The bass player follows the drums like the rest of the band, the bass player has to know the melody as well so to be able to suceed playing the melody he has to practice in his own time the bass in the song and the timing he has to go with. The singers do most of the work because they sing the song and natrually people follow the lyrics and the melody of the song, so they have to make sure they are in tune and are in key with the piano because the singers natrually listen to the piano thats if there is a piano involved with the song, they can make sure they do this by doing vocal exzcercises that include tuning their voice and getting their ears used to the tuning, listening to the song a lot of times to get the melody in their head and be able to natrually sing it without hesitating. So if all the band practice everything they need the song will sound good and sound confident.
Band workshop 12 (27.2.13)
today we worked on our original songs, we chose the strongest and tightest songs and we chose 3 and the 3 songs we chose was 'shadows gone' (reggae), 'new day' (electro song) and the third song the group who wrote it decided it was not as strong so yemisi said she will write a new blues song.
my group worked on our strongest song 'sweet sugar mama of mine' (funk song) this song is upbeat and very catchy so we worked on it and worked on the harmonies and how long we should keep it.
every group worked on their strongest song so each group gets to perform one original style song.
at the end of the class we all had to perform our one chosen original song, my group performed sweet sugar mama of mine it was not very strong, we did not know what we were doing, we felt a bit insacure about what is going on so towards the end we just messed up.
Band workshop 13 (4.3.13)
today our tutor olly was ill and could not come in so he trusted us to all work together and practice our songs, we all ended up messing around and not knowing what to do, was lazy and was not sure on what to do, could not be bothered to do anything, i personally tried to get everyone together and practice but no one listened to me so i gave up and went to practice what i needed to do on my own and also i managed to get shardae to go over the harmonies because i was not very sure on the harmonies i was not 100% sure on my harmony and was not hitting it right away.
Band Workshop 14 (6.3.13)
today is original song day and all the groups came together to practice their original songs, like before my group practiced 'sweet sugar mama of mine' very few times and we had a debate on how to end the song, we chose how many times we should repeat the chorus to end the song and then we decided to end the song with doing the chorus 3 times and changing octave while building up from one chorus to another then when the last chorus game in the top octave me and shardae could hit we went back to the normal octave and repeated the chorus about 4 - 6 times but every time we went through the song the number of times we sing the chorus at the end changed.
when we performed the song to the class it started off well but when it got to the octave changing it went alright me and shardae looked at each other with worried faces but we kind of hit the notes right and then when it came to repeating the chorus we all looked at demver playing the piano to see when he will stop the piano because we got confused and did not know when to stop singing, so again we messed up at the end not knowing how many times to sing and ended up confused.
Band Workshop 15 (11.3.13)
today olly told us the final songs we will we singing for next weeks gig and ends up all the songs i was working on was not strong enough to be performed, one love, heartbeats and tropicala was chosen to be performed for the covers and the originals were 'shadows gone', waiting for you night and day, sweet sugar mama of mine which i futured in and baby dont come round here no more.
for the first hour we went over the covers so i had nothing to do but i watched and saw mistakes being made and people forgot their harmonies, did not know what they were doing and the gig is next week so it is very bad that this is happeneing we should be ready by now.
for the second hour we did the originals songs for once sweet sugar mama of mine went well but could of been better but we finally finished the song without mistakes.
Band Workshop 16 (13.3.13)
today we found out the set list which is:
1. heartbeats
2. shadows gone
3. baby dont come round here no more
4. waiting for you
5. sweet sugar mama of mine
6. tropicalia
7. one love
today we just went through the set and there was very bad mistakes like taking too long to set up songs and move to the next song, people using song sheets, people still forgetting their words and harmonies, people not performing. so our gig is next week and the state of this set is really bad and were all really nervous and feel like we cant do good next week, but because i am in one song my attitude is staying positive and for what i have to do i will do my best and perform my heart out, i know what im doing i just need to make sure im comfortable with the harmonies and train my voice so i can hit the notes right and not flat.
everyone else need to learn their lyrics and practice at home their harmonies and what they need to play and also meet with each other and work on harmonies.
Performance Day (18.3.13)
today was our performances and i could only make the afternoon one so i had to make a huge effort to perform really good in sweet sugar, i feel like i did really good, performed with energy and sang the best i could, the harmonies worked really well and everything went perfectly, we listened to demver and ended the song correctly and there was no problems.
the first song went alright, the vocals were not so strong and people were not showing any emotion to the songs. the instrumentals went good.
the second song went really good one of the best ones, this song was really strong and organised everyone knew what they were doing and everything sounded really nice and tight together.
the third song the timing was really off the whole song was off time and the singers were put off and everything did not go well if i am honest, hopefully for the second performance they fixed the problem.
the fourth song was okay, it went really smoothly and had good energy.
sweet sugar my song as i said went really good.
we decided to take out tropicalia because no one was happy with it and everyone agreed as a group it was not strong enough and everyone would of just messed up so they just ended the set with one love which went really good had a lot of energy, harmonies were on point, and donavon brought up the energy by performing his heart out and related to the song.
overall the set had its ups and downs but overall it went good and the crowd reacted good to our songs but all i have to say is for future performances the class has to put more effort in rehersals so before a performance there is no worries and everyone is feeling strong about the songs they are doing.
for this performance people did not give 100 percent and no one was ready and no one was bothered and it showed throughout the rehersals but were all lucky that when it comes to the actual performance we all raised our game and it all went good accept for a few bits.
Today in band workshop we all broke up into our three groups and did a cover of a blue song 'a change will come' by sam cook. My group included bianca on guitar, jacob on drums, aundre on bass guitar, harry, emmanuel and batsheva singing vocals, kline on main piano and myself doing add libs on the keyboard playing a 60's organ. This was quite a hard song to cover because the melody is quite confusing for the singers to sing, and the original singer singing this song suited it for himself so the singers harry, emmanauel and batsheva tried to fit their vocals to this song and they succeeded after a few tries. It took me quite a while to learn the chords for this song, because this song includes very complicated chords, chords i have never come across before. But once i got it i got the hang of it and was on a role and doing my job in the band good. there is 4 verses and 1 chorus in this song so the singers divided the solos into the order verse 1 - harry, verse 2 - batsheva, verse 3 - emmanuel, bridge - harry, verse 4 - emmanuel. The rehersals today for this song was very confusing and not 100 percent because we found this song quite hard to cover and we all found it hard to get used to the feel of the song, because this song is in the style of blues and we all have never come across blues and performed blues so it all felt very wierd for us.
Band Workshop 8 (30.1.13)
Today in band workshop we all got seperated onto our little groups to write an original song in the style of blues. Today in my group was demver,kline, aundre and myself. We sorted out the roles in the band to be me singing, kline on piano, demver on violin and aundre on bass guitar. Kline made up a chord sequence witch we all liked, then demver followed with violin doing harmonys to the piano and all sorts of add libs, aundre followed with bass guitar but for me singing i found it hard to find a melody and to sing a melody over it, i just stood there thinking and thinking till demver helped me by playing the melody on the violin so i practiced that melody he played by humming it again and again. I then came up with the phrase: 'i wake up this morning, i see my baby, his smile on his face, makes me go crazy'. They all liked it and we only had time to stick with that phrase, so i guess its fairly hard to make up an original song in the style of blues, but we managed to make up something decent.
Band Workshop 9 (4.2.013)
Today in band workshop we all separated into two groups to cover the song heartbeat by the band knife, when we all heard this song today we really liked it. This song is in the genre of electro, so the instruments would change, the piano players had to play on the keyboard and use the electro synth effect and one piano player played normal piano, the drummer had to play on the electrical drums so it would sound like an electro drum beat. The singers just did their usual thing and learnt the melody and sang it in their own way.
In my group was: shardae, immaunel, darlene, caitlin, kline, garnnet, yemisi, jacob and joe.
me,shardae, emmanuel, darlene and caitlin did the singing, we sorted out the solos and harmonies for the chorus, we decided darlene to do the first verse, me and caitlin to share the second verse and shardae to do the bridge and in the chorus's we all sing together adding harmonies.
yemisi was on a mini synth keyboard playing single notes, joe was on electric guitar, jacob was on the electric drums, garnett and kline were on piano, kline on normal piano and garnett on keyboard with the synth effect.
Today was very successful and easy because the band got the hang of the instrumental easily and the singers learnt their parts in the maximum time of 20 minuets, including adding harmonies to the chorus and going over the whole song in another room so we get used to it and know what were doing.
Band Workshop 10 (6.2.013)
Today we all got seperated into our small groups to write an original electro song.
My group included shardae, demver, shannon, la-shaun and aundre. Demver was on the synth piano, aundre was on bass guitar, la-shaun was on the electro drums and me, shardae and shannon were the singers. Demver made up some chords witch were really catchy so then aundre played along with the bass guitar and la-shaun did a simple beat, while me, shardae and shannon tried to think of a melody and lyrics. I tried to work with the octapad but we all didn't really like the sound of it so we decided to leave it out. Shannon came up with simple chorus and put a electro feel to it by going I I I I fe fe fe feel li I ike, so repeating the first sylibols of every word. We didn't get to far because we found it hard and had to clue what to sing about and how to structure it but with what we came up with, is really cathchy and makes us want to dance. When we performed it to everyone they liked the vibe of it and started moving to it.
Band Workshop 11 (25.2.13)
Today in band workshop we decided who is covering the songs from each genre of music, each week 2 groups covered the same song, so today we found out who is covering witch song, i am going to cover superfreak and a change will come and for a change i will be playing piano. Superfreak was not easy to work with, for the musicians they found it easier, the drummer was in control of the beat, the main piano player did the riff witch is very repetitive and easy to play because it is so simple and so repeitive, the bass guitar player did a basic bass riff, and i played the keyboard doing a very simple 2 chord riff, doing a response to the main piano riff. The singers sorted out who is singing what because new people joined the group, they went over the melody and sorted out a few harmonies. Our aim for this song was to keep in time with eachother, keep in tune, keep the pitching right. So the piano players have to work with eachother, the main piano playes the riff, and the keyboard responses to it with 2 chords. To be able to suceed this smoothly and correctly they both have to practice it at home and remember it, and while practicing with the drummer remember the timing they have to play in. The drummer does his thing and plays the drums and in some moments follows the rest of the band but it is natural for the band to follow the drummer because the drummer keeps us in time, so the drummer has to make sure he knows how to keep the drums in time. The bass player follows the drums like the rest of the band, the bass player has to know the melody as well so to be able to suceed playing the melody he has to practice in his own time the bass in the song and the timing he has to go with. The singers do most of the work because they sing the song and natrually people follow the lyrics and the melody of the song, so they have to make sure they are in tune and are in key with the piano because the singers natrually listen to the piano thats if there is a piano involved with the song, they can make sure they do this by doing vocal exzcercises that include tuning their voice and getting their ears used to the tuning, listening to the song a lot of times to get the melody in their head and be able to natrually sing it without hesitating. So if all the band practice everything they need the song will sound good and sound confident.
Band workshop 12 (27.2.13)
today we worked on our original songs, we chose the strongest and tightest songs and we chose 3 and the 3 songs we chose was 'shadows gone' (reggae), 'new day' (electro song) and the third song the group who wrote it decided it was not as strong so yemisi said she will write a new blues song.
my group worked on our strongest song 'sweet sugar mama of mine' (funk song) this song is upbeat and very catchy so we worked on it and worked on the harmonies and how long we should keep it.
every group worked on their strongest song so each group gets to perform one original style song.
at the end of the class we all had to perform our one chosen original song, my group performed sweet sugar mama of mine it was not very strong, we did not know what we were doing, we felt a bit insacure about what is going on so towards the end we just messed up.
Band workshop 13 (4.3.13)
today our tutor olly was ill and could not come in so he trusted us to all work together and practice our songs, we all ended up messing around and not knowing what to do, was lazy and was not sure on what to do, could not be bothered to do anything, i personally tried to get everyone together and practice but no one listened to me so i gave up and went to practice what i needed to do on my own and also i managed to get shardae to go over the harmonies because i was not very sure on the harmonies i was not 100% sure on my harmony and was not hitting it right away.
Band Workshop 14 (6.3.13)
today is original song day and all the groups came together to practice their original songs, like before my group practiced 'sweet sugar mama of mine' very few times and we had a debate on how to end the song, we chose how many times we should repeat the chorus to end the song and then we decided to end the song with doing the chorus 3 times and changing octave while building up from one chorus to another then when the last chorus game in the top octave me and shardae could hit we went back to the normal octave and repeated the chorus about 4 - 6 times but every time we went through the song the number of times we sing the chorus at the end changed.
when we performed the song to the class it started off well but when it got to the octave changing it went alright me and shardae looked at each other with worried faces but we kind of hit the notes right and then when it came to repeating the chorus we all looked at demver playing the piano to see when he will stop the piano because we got confused and did not know when to stop singing, so again we messed up at the end not knowing how many times to sing and ended up confused.
Band Workshop 15 (11.3.13)
today olly told us the final songs we will we singing for next weeks gig and ends up all the songs i was working on was not strong enough to be performed, one love, heartbeats and tropicala was chosen to be performed for the covers and the originals were 'shadows gone', waiting for you night and day, sweet sugar mama of mine which i futured in and baby dont come round here no more.
for the first hour we went over the covers so i had nothing to do but i watched and saw mistakes being made and people forgot their harmonies, did not know what they were doing and the gig is next week so it is very bad that this is happeneing we should be ready by now.
for the second hour we did the originals songs for once sweet sugar mama of mine went well but could of been better but we finally finished the song without mistakes.
Band Workshop 16 (13.3.13)
today we found out the set list which is:
1. heartbeats
2. shadows gone
3. baby dont come round here no more
4. waiting for you
5. sweet sugar mama of mine
6. tropicalia
7. one love
today we just went through the set and there was very bad mistakes like taking too long to set up songs and move to the next song, people using song sheets, people still forgetting their words and harmonies, people not performing. so our gig is next week and the state of this set is really bad and were all really nervous and feel like we cant do good next week, but because i am in one song my attitude is staying positive and for what i have to do i will do my best and perform my heart out, i know what im doing i just need to make sure im comfortable with the harmonies and train my voice so i can hit the notes right and not flat.
everyone else need to learn their lyrics and practice at home their harmonies and what they need to play and also meet with each other and work on harmonies.
Performance Day (18.3.13)
today was our performances and i could only make the afternoon one so i had to make a huge effort to perform really good in sweet sugar, i feel like i did really good, performed with energy and sang the best i could, the harmonies worked really well and everything went perfectly, we listened to demver and ended the song correctly and there was no problems.
the first song went alright, the vocals were not so strong and people were not showing any emotion to the songs. the instrumentals went good.
the second song went really good one of the best ones, this song was really strong and organised everyone knew what they were doing and everything sounded really nice and tight together.
the third song the timing was really off the whole song was off time and the singers were put off and everything did not go well if i am honest, hopefully for the second performance they fixed the problem.
the fourth song was okay, it went really smoothly and had good energy.
sweet sugar my song as i said went really good.
we decided to take out tropicalia because no one was happy with it and everyone agreed as a group it was not strong enough and everyone would of just messed up so they just ended the set with one love which went really good had a lot of energy, harmonies were on point, and donavon brought up the energy by performing his heart out and related to the song.
overall the set had its ups and downs but overall it went good and the crowd reacted good to our songs but all i have to say is for future performances the class has to put more effort in rehersals so before a performance there is no worries and everyone is feeling strong about the songs they are doing.
for this performance people did not give 100 percent and no one was ready and no one was bothered and it showed throughout the rehersals but were all lucky that when it comes to the actual performance we all raised our game and it all went good accept for a few bits.
Unit 34.1 & LSA
I am going to talk about these 4 artists: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and Amy Winehouse.
All four of these artists have a reason for why they are all so famous and successful. Why? Because each of these four artist have a unique image and sound they have created, each artist writes their music in completely different ways, different styles and setting, each of the artists songs have a different effect, give off different effects and sounds.
So i am going to look deeply into each artist and explain to you how each artist writes their music, why the effect of their music is given off and every single reason that leads to what makes their image of an artist and why everyone likes them and supports them.
Michael Jackson:
We all know Michael Jackson is known to be the "king of pop", for michael jackson to be known as the "king of pop" he worked very hard and started working hard from the age of 5 or 6 witch was in 1964 when he joined the band 'the jackson brothers' witch included himself jackson and his brothers: Marlon, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine, in this band jackson was a background musician playing the congas and the tambourine.
The jackson 5 band made these few hits: 'i want you back', 'abc', 'i'll be there' and 'the love you save'.
These songs are written with the song block structure, verse, repetitive chorus, short instrumental, verse, chorus, long on going instrumental to end the song, they used add libs in these songs and michael sings lead and the others in the group sing in unison and the intro's of the songs, after the chorus and ending the songs, the songs had a repetitive instrumental and add libs. The genre of 'jackson 5' was r'nb/soul, they gave their songs that effect of genre by using the instruments: guitar, bass guitar, trumpets, congas and percussion, adding ad libs to their songs, using a repetitive chord sequence going on and on, then changing the chords a little in the chorus.
The jackson 5 lyrics were quite cheesy and catchy very suitable for their age group because at the time they were the youngest group out there and their music gave the motown effect going on in their songs and their image. how did they do this? by their style of clothing witch was very funky and colourful, their hair was very big and bushy, their dance moves, and most importantly their songs their songs were very up beat and good to dance to, the chords and the instruments used give this effect on their songs.
The lyrics the jackson 5 had in their songs is talking to a girl and trying to satisfy her and win her love, but they did this in a very cheesy and simple way example 1:
'ABC'
ABC
Easy as
one, two, three
Or simple as
Do re mi
ABC, one, two, three, baby, you and me girl!
ABC
Easy as
one, two, three
Or simple as
Do re mi
ABC, one, two, three, baby, you and me!
the lyrics in the chorus of this song abc is basically telling the girl our love can be easy as abc, one two three, do re mi, baby you and me girl (repeating this twice).
the verses in this song is basically talking about and telling the girl how she is going to school and is learning things she has never learnt before and why they learn things but he is going to teach her about love so they related love and school as if they are trying to teach her about love and make it all sound easy for her.
The lyrics in this song gives the cheesy effect and makes the song catchy, the chorus is what makes the song most catchy because of the simple chords and repeating the same words again to get the message in peoples head and get them wanting to sing it naturally (ABC
Easy as
one, two, three
Or simple as
Do re mi
ABC, one, two, three, baby, you and me girl!) x2.
example 2:
'i want you back'
Oh baby give me one more chance
Won't you please let me
Back in your heart
Oh darlin I was blind to let you go
But now since I see you in his arms
I want you back
Oh I do now
I want you back
Ooh ooh baby
I want you back
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Na na na na
so in the chorus of this song 'i want you back' the lyrics are trying to win the girl back because the man let her go and he regrets it so the lyrics 'Oh darlin I was blind to let you go
But now since I see you in his arms
I want you back', so this chorus is a bit more wordy then the song 'ABC' but they both are talking about a girl and are trying to get the girl.
their lyrics in most of their songs and their meanings were about girls either how they love the girl and want her, or how they want her back, anything towards a girl.
but the way they did their songs was very catchy and made their songs repetitive and catchy, when they do this and gives the effect on the song to be catchy and hard to forget because when they repeat it it makes it catchy and easy to remember. The music gives more colour and makes the songs even catchier because the melody and chords give the tone and tune and the way they used simple major chords in their up beat songs to make it catchy and good to hear.
From jackson 5 michael jackson moved on and grew up to have a much more mature and different sound in his career of song writing, he started writing all these songs about all sorts of different things, used different instruments in different songs, changed his style, mixed up, but he did not mix his style up to much, just gave a different effect to each song, and each song he released became a number 1 hit and michael jackson never failed to impress his audience with his music.
From: pyt, earth song, dirty diana, thriller, man in the mirror, they don't care about us, black and white, your not alone and heal the world, each of these songs michael jackson gave a different message, and put a different effect to each song, changed around his song structure, the feel of his songs, some of these songs are catchy and makes people want to dance then others give a good message and make people emotional etc..
Michael jackson was a seriously unique and talent man, his music was very unique because of the changes of his music and different effects in his music and the emotion he put in the songs you could really notice it in the songs. Michael would add 'ooos', come on, his vocals would change to screams, chimone, all these different words and sounds witch what made him unique and michael jackson. All these sounds and words showed in the specific song his emotion and the effect he was trying to make to the song.
here are four examples of his songs and how he wrote them, what effect they give, why he put certain things in the songs, and these four different songs are completely different because they all have a different feel and a different emotion and message to give to the song and for the audience to hear and understand.
1.P.Y.T:
the song p.y.t by michael jackson is a very groovy and a dance song, its about a girl (pretty young thing - p.y.t).
Instruments used: some sort of synth, electric guitar, vocals, percussion, piano.
Key: B minor
Styles in this specific song: R&B, Club/Dance, Dance-Pop, Funk, Pop Rock, Urban.
the instruments are very colourful in this song, the synth is doing the chord sequence so michael can build the melody over it, different synths are added in the bridge and more are added in the chorus then they stop and goes back to the single synth.
Song Structure: intro (talking), verse, chorus, 2nd verse, chorus, breakdown, chorus.
in this song michael jackson is referring to a girl and how they can both make things right, and how he wants to love her and she needs love and care.
all the styles mixed together in this song are attached and you cant say what in the song is witch style because they all mix up together and form into one, the instruments, the rhythm, the drums, the synth, the lyrics, chords, specific lines and add libs in the song, the song structure, it all adds up.
this song is dance-pop because of the beat and the rhythm of the synth it makes you want to dance and shake your head etc..
the chorus in this song is catchy and michael specifies the (P.Y.T) pretty young thing, (T.L.C.)
Tender Lovin' Care, and he repeats I Want To Love You (P.Y.T.)
Pretty Young Thing
You Need Some Lovin' (T.L.C.)
Tender Lovin' Care
And I'll Take You There, but on the second time he ends the chorus with ill shake you there.
in this song he has a breakdown witch is just music and add libs and calls the p.y.t's to say na na na na.
2.EARTH SONG:
the earth song is about the earth and everything that is going on the bad stuff going on, and asking what about these things that we dont care about, he emphasis's the words 'what about' because he is giving out a message because most people dont realise these things and what is actually happening with these things.
Song Structure: intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse 2, pre-chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus(key change), breakdown.
instruments used: piano, electric guitar, violins, tambourine, voice, unison quires, sounds of nature(to emphasis and give the song the natural earth effect to show that this song is about nature and the earth itself.
key: Gb major
styles: pop/rock
tempo: slow
metronome: 80
The song starts with sounds of nature, sounds of the forest and a earth sound, then the piano kicks in. through the first verse there is a simple piano, then the pre chorus the violins kick in and build up, then in the chorus the tambourine comes in to add a beat and harmonys are added and violins. Second verse guitar comes in and backing vocals going 'ooo' violins, pre chorus the sound gets louder, and the chorus drops with a loud and strong drum beat and strong backing vocals. Bridge goes quite again and then michael starts screaming and the chorus comes in strong again with harps added. Key change (this gives the song a very strong message and effect because the key change and the loudness of the instruments shows emotion and and life like the earth is is trouble and everything is going crazy. Then michael starts screaming this really gives an emotional effect on the song because it shows he is really emotional about the earth and it really hurts him and while he is screaming he is asking about literally everything in the earth and no one gives a damn about them.
3.DIRTY DIANA:
Michael based dirty diana on a girl called diana who he makes sound like a prostitute who is dirty because of the way she seduces men and the way she acts with michael etc. He is talking about how he is fed up with her ways and he dont like it and is telling her no but she wont let him turn back etc.
Song Structure:Intro, verse 1, pre-chorus, chorus, verse 2, pre-chorus, chorus, breakdown, verse 3, pre-chorus, chorus, breakdown.
instruments: effects, electric guitar, piano, symbols, percussion, violins.
Key:Bb major
styles: pop, rock
tempo: moderately
metronome: 104
the songs starts with the sound of smoke, audience, machines, like michael is in a live show, music builds up, with guitars, violins, stronger percussion, the instrumental gets stronger and stronger throughout the song. Michael sobs in bits of the song because he is showing pain about this girl diana because this girl diana is dirty and she doesnt really love him and she hurt him. Towards the end michael starts screaming, showing his pain and anger, saying, nooooo, come on, dirty diana NOOOO. This girl diana is basically seducing him and wont let him go and he is telling her noooo. And that is why he calls her dirty diana.
4. THRILLER:
thriller is a thrill song about spooky stuff, ware wolfs, zombies and all of that, michael is talking to a girl about spooky stuff and all these scary things that happen after midnight, talks about how people feel and get scared want to scream because this is thriller.
Song Structure: intro, verse 1, pre-chorus, chorus, verse 2, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, verse 3, chorus x2, break down.
instruments used: piano, guitar, synths, effects
key: C sharp major
tempo: moderately
metronome: 112
styles: r&b, club/dance, dance-pop, funk, urban.
this song starts with footsteps and wolfs howling to give off a thrill because it is ment to be a thriller song so the intro gives that effect straight away, the song builds up after each chorus, and after the last verse, the chorus repeats twice and there is a breakdown witch really gives the effect that the song is spooky, a deep spooky voice of a man talks and talks about spooky things, the scarey creatures make sounds, organs play very strongley, michael add libs repeats the words thriller, thriller tonight, woo hoooo, then the song ends with a very spooky and deep laughter and then a door shuts.
Stevie Wonder:
stevie wonder is a artist that works around the styles: soul, pop, r&b, funk and jazz.
he was born blind.
his most famous hits are: superstition, 'signed,sealed,delivered (im yours)', isnt she lovely, sir duke, i just called to say i love you, i wish.
stevie wonder used a very basic and strong drum beat and a strong snatchy guitar, trumpets, bass guitar, a repetitive chord sequence witch is the guitar.
in most songs stevie wonder would talk about love and happiness.
in stevies most famous hits they are up beat and have a good feel to them, the song structure is very simple, either a verse, short chorus, instrumental or chorus and very long instrumental, they have a basic and repetitive chord sequence going on.
1.SUPERSTITION:
this song stevie wonder is talking about superstition and how it is not the way and not a good thing to follow and have.
song structure: intro, verse, short chorus, verse 2, short chorus, verse 3, short chorus, instrumentals.
instruments: guitar, trumpets, percussion, vocals.
key: Eb minor
tempo: moderate funk
metronome: 100
styles: motown, funk, soul, r&b, pop-soul
the starts with the guitar playing the chords and then the verse comes in and then the short chorus and it goes the same way throughout the song, with little instrumentals inbetween the verses and the choruses. this is song is basically verse, chorus, instrumental. the message stevie is trying to give is that superstition is not good and then gives examples of why it is bad, and then sais 'when you believe in things you dont understand and you suffer, superstition aint the way.
2. ISN'T SHE LOVELY.
this song is about stevie wonders daughter he is saying how she is lovely and precious, he is so happy and he is thankful to god, and she is lovely made from love.
song structure: chorus/verse, the melody is the same and it stays the same no structure change.
instruments: guitar, harmonica, bass guitar, percussion.
key: F amjor
tempo: moderately
metronome: 60
the song starts with a baby crying this gives the effect that the song has to be something to do with this baby crying, so then when he start singing he is saying 'isnt she lovely...' so we know he is talking about his daughter, the baby crying in the begging makes it obvious and effective.
in this song he keeps talking about how beautiful his daughter his and precious and he is so happy he has her, he loves her, and he thanks god, and he has recieved a wonderful gift.
the chord sequence stays the simple the effect this gives is that it keeps the song simple and makes it catchy, makes the song easy to remember.
the instrumentals fill up space in the song.
3. SIR DUKE
this song is talking about music and how it is a world of its own and everyone loves it and no one will never quit, music will go on forever.
song structure: intro, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus x2, instrumental, chorus x3.
instruments: guitar, bass guitar, trumpets, percussion.
key:B major
tempo: moderately
metronome: 108
this songs starts with the trumpets doing a intro, then it goes to the chord sequence witch is the guitar, it goes from verse to chorus then verse to chorus x2 then a instrumental again, then the chorus x2 again. the instrumental of the trumpets gives an effect to the message in the song because the song is about music and the instrumental is catchy. the bass guitar and trumpets makes the song motown because in them old days motown was all about funk and dance, so stevie wonder in this song has a catchy trumpet intro with other motown elements like the bass guitar, guitar and percussion, the way the percussion is in the song, the beat it gives.
Stevie wonder has a basic way of writing songs in the way where it is very simple so example:
intro, verse, short chorus, verse, instrumental. some songs it is just the same melody with different verses, or verses with a change of melody and chords for a very short chorus.
his instrumental point of view is always guitar, bass guitar, trumpets and different ways of a percussion. the music and the feel with the instruments he gives in his songs show the effect of the message he is trying to give, he makes his message very clear to his audience. his music is always about something happy and love, something that means to him.
Bob Marley:
Bob marley is known to make reggae very famous and very successful, his music style is reggae and rocksteady. Bob marley based his music on society, reality, to stay strong, to keep together and that everything is going to be alright.
Bob marley was famous for his jamaican image and putting it into his music and making it reggae based. His music is really relaxing and easy going, his message through his songs are very true and obvious in a way that his message in his songs is what everyone should be thinking in their heads and to stay positive.
Bob marley's most famous hits is: no woman no cry, one love, jamming, get up stand up, could you be loved, three little birds.
in each and everyone of these songs had a very strong meaning and message.
no woman no cry - in this song he is talking about woman and to not cry, to not shed tears not to worry about the bad, keep strong on your feet, everything is gonna be alright.
one love - 'one love, one heart lets get together and feel alright' those words he is saying we all have one love and one heart lets get together and be happy, feel alright. and he is saying is there a place for that hopeless sinner who hurt mankind, its not fair but oh well lets get together and feel alright.
jamming - in jammin he is saying were jammin there is no rules and no vows lets just jam and i hope you like jamming to, i hope it lasts because i like jamming, nothing will stop us and nothing will get in our way we are going to relax and jam.
get up stand up - this song is saying to get up and stand up for your rights, dont give up the fight.
could you be loved - this song is saying love will not leave us alone, asking could u be loved? we all have a mind of our own, dont let anyone change you, be yourself.
three little birds - this song is talking about waking up to sunshine and three little birds are on his doorstep singing sweet songs and singing him the message "Don't worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!
Every little thing gonna be all right. Don't worry!"
see as you can see bob marley always would talk about good life, and to keep strong and to never back down, his lyrics in his songs are so catchy and good to sing because its positive and up lifting 'dont worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright'.
1. NO WOMAN NO CRY:
this song is talking about woman to keep strong and to not shed any tears, not worry about the bad, NO WOMAN NO CRY!!
song structure: intro, chorus, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, bridge, chorus, instrumental, verse 2, chorus.
instruments: harmonica, percussion, guitar, bass guitar, piano, vocals, backing vocals, harmonys.
key: C major
tempo: relaxed reggae
metronome: 70
in this song you can feel the relaxing vibe the song gives from the drum beat and the harmonica, its very slow on the metronome 70, the guitar in this song is doing the chord sequence but very quitely, and the harmonica is following the chords and does an add lib. the drums is really off beat but the guitar and the harmonica is keeping the song in time. The chorus gets repeated a lot of times because thats the most important message bob marley wanted to get out and repeat to make it catchy and in reggae they tend to repeat the chorus and the same verse. And there is also harmonies to the chorus.
2. ONE LOVE:
in this song one love the song is about bringing people together to feel alright, saying we have one heart and one love to lets get together and feel alright, no need to feel bad and be sad, and also sais if you praise to the lord and thank him for being here you will feel alright.
song structure: intro, chorus, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus x2.
instruments: strum, guitar, backing vocals, piano, reggae percussion.
key: Bb major
tempo: moderately slow
metronome: 76
this song like his others is relaxed reggae, very slow and relaxing, chorus is repeating on itself, two verses, harmonies in the chorus, and backing vocals in the first 2 lines of each verse. everything that is going on in the song, so the guitar, the strum, the off beat, the repeating of the chorus, is repeating on its self and stays the same and very simple, that is the life of reggae and this song really shows the relaxation of the song the instruments give that effect and the simple chorus and verse.
Amy Winehouse:
amy whinehouse is a soul, r&b, jazz and blues artist, she was most famous for her songs: back to black, tears dry on their own, rehab and valerie. Amy winehouse would write her songs about love and even how people tried to send her to rehab because amy winehouse was addicted to drugs.
Amy winhouse's songs would have a good use of instrumental, colourful songs in the way where her song structure is intro,verse,chorus,verse,chorus,bridge,chorus,breakdown and a chorus to end the song.
the instruments amy winehouse would use in her songs is piano, guitar, tambourine, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals. Amy winehouse's songs were in time, in the verses she would have a simple drum beat then in the chorus it would build up.
1. BACK TO BLACK:
in this song amy is talking about how she loves this guy much but its not enough, she would get on without her man, how he liked the sexual life and to get high, and in the chorus she is talking about how he goes back to his other girl and she goes back to black as in nothing.
song structure: intro, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus x2, bridge (instrumental), chorus x2.
instruments: piano, guitar, tambourine, percussion, bells.
key: D minor
tempo: moderately
metronome: 130
with this song the verse and chorus change because from the verse to chorus the chorus builds up adds violins, then after the second verse and the chorus it goes into.. black, black, black, the music goes all sad and emotional and this makes the song effective because it shows the emotion and shows she is sad because it goes all sad and quiter then the rest of the song.
2. REHAB:
now this song is about how people try to make her go rehab but she sais no and she doesnt want to, and she explains why she does what she does as in drinks and does drugs and what she feels, and she talks about her man ray and how she doesnt want to lose him but he thinks shes depressed.
this song has a different song structure then her other songs the song structure in this song is: chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus.
the instrumental in this song is very colourful and by that i mean a lot is going, there is trumpets witch is more noticable then other things going on in the song, there is violins, faint backing vocals, the chords start very simple and then other instruments like the trumpets and bells, build up together. You can hear a massive difference between the verse and the chorus instrumental wise, with the verse its where there is most instrumentals and where everything comes together but in the chorus its more simple and goes down.
these different four arists are very different to eachother how? because with michael jackson he mixes up his style and uses different song structures in each song and every song has a different feel so one song is about nature, the other is about his girl, the other is about how bad he is, the other is about saving the world etc..
michael has a sense of screaming and adding these add libs to show his emotion in the songs.
to start the songs really soft then build up to make it overly emotional and strong.
with stevie wonder he is more funk and more simple then michael jackson he uses practically the same instruments in each song the same song structure, but in some occasions its a bit different but not majorly, stevie wonder talks about things that make him happy and his loved ones and his love life. Also he repeats the same line or the chorus, where michael jackson tells a story through his songs.
Then with bob marley it goes to reggae witch is more relaxed and bob marley talks about thinking positive and to have a good time and not worrie about the sinners. His music is very the same in every song of his, nearly the same tempo and just by listening to the intro u would know its a bob marley song because he uses the same instruments and style as in every song.
Then last but not least amy winehouse is the most modern out of all of them she started very much in the 2000's her music is more heading to blues and her songs are about love and her emotions like how people tell her to go to rehab when she doesnt want to. She talks about how she drinks,and all her boyfriends, her use of music is always different but stays in the style of soul, r&b and blues, but in each of her songs the chords sequence are different and the instrumentals tell a different story by their strength.
The way these four artists construct their songs are very majorly different, in the way of style, the message they want to give in their song, the song structure, the way they use their instruments etc.
michael jackson mixed the styles, pop, pop-rock, funk, r&b, club/dance and urban. He mixed up these styles throughout all his songs, some songs are slow pop, r&b, funk and pop mixed together, michael jacksons music was constructed in a unique way you could never tell what his specific style was and in every song he changed up the genre of style, the song structure, every style has a specific song structure in general, so in some of his song he used the funk song structure and others he used the song structure of the style pop. But with bob marley he constructed his songs in one way and only that way of reggae, so comparing michael jackson to bob marley, bob only sticked to reggae, sticked to the song structure of reggae, his lyrics always talk about how to be happy, protests about something, talks about the politics side of the world and the way people are treated, but with michael jackson he talked about all sorts of things, like michael went from one to another, style to another, message to another completely different feel that is just a feel good song. But then with stevie wonder, his style was specifily funk and stayed to funk, funk is repetitive and the song structure repeats itself and thats what stevie wonder did but in some songs he wanted to give a message so he put some verses in. Stevie talked about love and good things in life most of the time, he constructed his song to be feel good songs, catchy songs, funky songs. But with amy winehouse she sticked to the style of jazz, the melody she gave in her songs, the instruments and drum beats she would add in her songs, the lyrics she used were about love and heartbreaks, jazz is known to construct songs about love, and amy winehouse did it very strongly.
So you can see how these four artists compose and construct their songs differently by their genres of style, what they talk about in their lyrics, the song structure, the instruments, and the melodys they give.
All four of these artists have a reason for why they are all so famous and successful. Why? Because each of these four artist have a unique image and sound they have created, each artist writes their music in completely different ways, different styles and setting, each of the artists songs have a different effect, give off different effects and sounds.
So i am going to look deeply into each artist and explain to you how each artist writes their music, why the effect of their music is given off and every single reason that leads to what makes their image of an artist and why everyone likes them and supports them.
Michael Jackson:
We all know Michael Jackson is known to be the "king of pop", for michael jackson to be known as the "king of pop" he worked very hard and started working hard from the age of 5 or 6 witch was in 1964 when he joined the band 'the jackson brothers' witch included himself jackson and his brothers: Marlon, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine, in this band jackson was a background musician playing the congas and the tambourine.
The jackson 5 band made these few hits: 'i want you back', 'abc', 'i'll be there' and 'the love you save'.
These songs are written with the song block structure, verse, repetitive chorus, short instrumental, verse, chorus, long on going instrumental to end the song, they used add libs in these songs and michael sings lead and the others in the group sing in unison and the intro's of the songs, after the chorus and ending the songs, the songs had a repetitive instrumental and add libs. The genre of 'jackson 5' was r'nb/soul, they gave their songs that effect of genre by using the instruments: guitar, bass guitar, trumpets, congas and percussion, adding ad libs to their songs, using a repetitive chord sequence going on and on, then changing the chords a little in the chorus.
The jackson 5 lyrics were quite cheesy and catchy very suitable for their age group because at the time they were the youngest group out there and their music gave the motown effect going on in their songs and their image. how did they do this? by their style of clothing witch was very funky and colourful, their hair was very big and bushy, their dance moves, and most importantly their songs their songs were very up beat and good to dance to, the chords and the instruments used give this effect on their songs.
The lyrics the jackson 5 had in their songs is talking to a girl and trying to satisfy her and win her love, but they did this in a very cheesy and simple way example 1:
'ABC'
ABC
Easy as
one, two, three
Or simple as
Do re mi
ABC, one, two, three, baby, you and me girl!
ABC
Easy as
one, two, three
Or simple as
Do re mi
ABC, one, two, three, baby, you and me!
the lyrics in the chorus of this song abc is basically telling the girl our love can be easy as abc, one two three, do re mi, baby you and me girl (repeating this twice).
the verses in this song is basically talking about and telling the girl how she is going to school and is learning things she has never learnt before and why they learn things but he is going to teach her about love so they related love and school as if they are trying to teach her about love and make it all sound easy for her.
The lyrics in this song gives the cheesy effect and makes the song catchy, the chorus is what makes the song most catchy because of the simple chords and repeating the same words again to get the message in peoples head and get them wanting to sing it naturally (ABC
Easy as
one, two, three
Or simple as
Do re mi
ABC, one, two, three, baby, you and me girl!) x2.
example 2:
'i want you back'
Oh baby give me one more chance
Won't you please let me
Back in your heart
Oh darlin I was blind to let you go
But now since I see you in his arms
I want you back
Oh I do now
I want you back
Ooh ooh baby
I want you back
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Na na na na
so in the chorus of this song 'i want you back' the lyrics are trying to win the girl back because the man let her go and he regrets it so the lyrics 'Oh darlin I was blind to let you go
But now since I see you in his arms
I want you back', so this chorus is a bit more wordy then the song 'ABC' but they both are talking about a girl and are trying to get the girl.
their lyrics in most of their songs and their meanings were about girls either how they love the girl and want her, or how they want her back, anything towards a girl.
but the way they did their songs was very catchy and made their songs repetitive and catchy, when they do this and gives the effect on the song to be catchy and hard to forget because when they repeat it it makes it catchy and easy to remember. The music gives more colour and makes the songs even catchier because the melody and chords give the tone and tune and the way they used simple major chords in their up beat songs to make it catchy and good to hear.
From jackson 5 michael jackson moved on and grew up to have a much more mature and different sound in his career of song writing, he started writing all these songs about all sorts of different things, used different instruments in different songs, changed his style, mixed up, but he did not mix his style up to much, just gave a different effect to each song, and each song he released became a number 1 hit and michael jackson never failed to impress his audience with his music.
From: pyt, earth song, dirty diana, thriller, man in the mirror, they don't care about us, black and white, your not alone and heal the world, each of these songs michael jackson gave a different message, and put a different effect to each song, changed around his song structure, the feel of his songs, some of these songs are catchy and makes people want to dance then others give a good message and make people emotional etc..
Michael jackson was a seriously unique and talent man, his music was very unique because of the changes of his music and different effects in his music and the emotion he put in the songs you could really notice it in the songs. Michael would add 'ooos', come on, his vocals would change to screams, chimone, all these different words and sounds witch what made him unique and michael jackson. All these sounds and words showed in the specific song his emotion and the effect he was trying to make to the song.
here are four examples of his songs and how he wrote them, what effect they give, why he put certain things in the songs, and these four different songs are completely different because they all have a different feel and a different emotion and message to give to the song and for the audience to hear and understand.
1.P.Y.T:
the song p.y.t by michael jackson is a very groovy and a dance song, its about a girl (pretty young thing - p.y.t).
Instruments used: some sort of synth, electric guitar, vocals, percussion, piano.
Key: B minor
Styles in this specific song: R&B, Club/Dance, Dance-Pop, Funk, Pop Rock, Urban.
the instruments are very colourful in this song, the synth is doing the chord sequence so michael can build the melody over it, different synths are added in the bridge and more are added in the chorus then they stop and goes back to the single synth.
Song Structure: intro (talking), verse, chorus, 2nd verse, chorus, breakdown, chorus.
in this song michael jackson is referring to a girl and how they can both make things right, and how he wants to love her and she needs love and care.
all the styles mixed together in this song are attached and you cant say what in the song is witch style because they all mix up together and form into one, the instruments, the rhythm, the drums, the synth, the lyrics, chords, specific lines and add libs in the song, the song structure, it all adds up.
this song is dance-pop because of the beat and the rhythm of the synth it makes you want to dance and shake your head etc..
the chorus in this song is catchy and michael specifies the (P.Y.T) pretty young thing, (T.L.C.)
Tender Lovin' Care, and he repeats I Want To Love You (P.Y.T.)
Pretty Young Thing
You Need Some Lovin' (T.L.C.)
Tender Lovin' Care
And I'll Take You There, but on the second time he ends the chorus with ill shake you there.
in this song he has a breakdown witch is just music and add libs and calls the p.y.t's to say na na na na.
2.EARTH SONG:
the earth song is about the earth and everything that is going on the bad stuff going on, and asking what about these things that we dont care about, he emphasis's the words 'what about' because he is giving out a message because most people dont realise these things and what is actually happening with these things.
Song Structure: intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse 2, pre-chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus(key change), breakdown.
instruments used: piano, electric guitar, violins, tambourine, voice, unison quires, sounds of nature(to emphasis and give the song the natural earth effect to show that this song is about nature and the earth itself.
key: Gb major
styles: pop/rock
tempo: slow
metronome: 80
The song starts with sounds of nature, sounds of the forest and a earth sound, then the piano kicks in. through the first verse there is a simple piano, then the pre chorus the violins kick in and build up, then in the chorus the tambourine comes in to add a beat and harmonys are added and violins. Second verse guitar comes in and backing vocals going 'ooo' violins, pre chorus the sound gets louder, and the chorus drops with a loud and strong drum beat and strong backing vocals. Bridge goes quite again and then michael starts screaming and the chorus comes in strong again with harps added. Key change (this gives the song a very strong message and effect because the key change and the loudness of the instruments shows emotion and and life like the earth is is trouble and everything is going crazy. Then michael starts screaming this really gives an emotional effect on the song because it shows he is really emotional about the earth and it really hurts him and while he is screaming he is asking about literally everything in the earth and no one gives a damn about them.
3.DIRTY DIANA:
Michael based dirty diana on a girl called diana who he makes sound like a prostitute who is dirty because of the way she seduces men and the way she acts with michael etc. He is talking about how he is fed up with her ways and he dont like it and is telling her no but she wont let him turn back etc.
Song Structure:Intro, verse 1, pre-chorus, chorus, verse 2, pre-chorus, chorus, breakdown, verse 3, pre-chorus, chorus, breakdown.
instruments: effects, electric guitar, piano, symbols, percussion, violins.
Key:Bb major
styles: pop, rock
tempo: moderately
metronome: 104
the songs starts with the sound of smoke, audience, machines, like michael is in a live show, music builds up, with guitars, violins, stronger percussion, the instrumental gets stronger and stronger throughout the song. Michael sobs in bits of the song because he is showing pain about this girl diana because this girl diana is dirty and she doesnt really love him and she hurt him. Towards the end michael starts screaming, showing his pain and anger, saying, nooooo, come on, dirty diana NOOOO. This girl diana is basically seducing him and wont let him go and he is telling her noooo. And that is why he calls her dirty diana.
4. THRILLER:
thriller is a thrill song about spooky stuff, ware wolfs, zombies and all of that, michael is talking to a girl about spooky stuff and all these scary things that happen after midnight, talks about how people feel and get scared want to scream because this is thriller.
Song Structure: intro, verse 1, pre-chorus, chorus, verse 2, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, verse 3, chorus x2, break down.
instruments used: piano, guitar, synths, effects
key: C sharp major
tempo: moderately
metronome: 112
styles: r&b, club/dance, dance-pop, funk, urban.
this song starts with footsteps and wolfs howling to give off a thrill because it is ment to be a thriller song so the intro gives that effect straight away, the song builds up after each chorus, and after the last verse, the chorus repeats twice and there is a breakdown witch really gives the effect that the song is spooky, a deep spooky voice of a man talks and talks about spooky things, the scarey creatures make sounds, organs play very strongley, michael add libs repeats the words thriller, thriller tonight, woo hoooo, then the song ends with a very spooky and deep laughter and then a door shuts.
Stevie Wonder:
stevie wonder is a artist that works around the styles: soul, pop, r&b, funk and jazz.
he was born blind.
his most famous hits are: superstition, 'signed,sealed,delivered (im yours)', isnt she lovely, sir duke, i just called to say i love you, i wish.
stevie wonder used a very basic and strong drum beat and a strong snatchy guitar, trumpets, bass guitar, a repetitive chord sequence witch is the guitar.
in most songs stevie wonder would talk about love and happiness.
in stevies most famous hits they are up beat and have a good feel to them, the song structure is very simple, either a verse, short chorus, instrumental or chorus and very long instrumental, they have a basic and repetitive chord sequence going on.
1.SUPERSTITION:
this song stevie wonder is talking about superstition and how it is not the way and not a good thing to follow and have.
song structure: intro, verse, short chorus, verse 2, short chorus, verse 3, short chorus, instrumentals.
instruments: guitar, trumpets, percussion, vocals.
key: Eb minor
tempo: moderate funk
metronome: 100
styles: motown, funk, soul, r&b, pop-soul
the starts with the guitar playing the chords and then the verse comes in and then the short chorus and it goes the same way throughout the song, with little instrumentals inbetween the verses and the choruses. this is song is basically verse, chorus, instrumental. the message stevie is trying to give is that superstition is not good and then gives examples of why it is bad, and then sais 'when you believe in things you dont understand and you suffer, superstition aint the way.
2. ISN'T SHE LOVELY.
this song is about stevie wonders daughter he is saying how she is lovely and precious, he is so happy and he is thankful to god, and she is lovely made from love.
song structure: chorus/verse, the melody is the same and it stays the same no structure change.
instruments: guitar, harmonica, bass guitar, percussion.
key: F amjor
tempo: moderately
metronome: 60
the song starts with a baby crying this gives the effect that the song has to be something to do with this baby crying, so then when he start singing he is saying 'isnt she lovely...' so we know he is talking about his daughter, the baby crying in the begging makes it obvious and effective.
in this song he keeps talking about how beautiful his daughter his and precious and he is so happy he has her, he loves her, and he thanks god, and he has recieved a wonderful gift.
the chord sequence stays the simple the effect this gives is that it keeps the song simple and makes it catchy, makes the song easy to remember.
the instrumentals fill up space in the song.
3. SIR DUKE
this song is talking about music and how it is a world of its own and everyone loves it and no one will never quit, music will go on forever.
song structure: intro, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus x2, instrumental, chorus x3.
instruments: guitar, bass guitar, trumpets, percussion.
key:B major
tempo: moderately
metronome: 108
this songs starts with the trumpets doing a intro, then it goes to the chord sequence witch is the guitar, it goes from verse to chorus then verse to chorus x2 then a instrumental again, then the chorus x2 again. the instrumental of the trumpets gives an effect to the message in the song because the song is about music and the instrumental is catchy. the bass guitar and trumpets makes the song motown because in them old days motown was all about funk and dance, so stevie wonder in this song has a catchy trumpet intro with other motown elements like the bass guitar, guitar and percussion, the way the percussion is in the song, the beat it gives.
Stevie wonder has a basic way of writing songs in the way where it is very simple so example:
intro, verse, short chorus, verse, instrumental. some songs it is just the same melody with different verses, or verses with a change of melody and chords for a very short chorus.
his instrumental point of view is always guitar, bass guitar, trumpets and different ways of a percussion. the music and the feel with the instruments he gives in his songs show the effect of the message he is trying to give, he makes his message very clear to his audience. his music is always about something happy and love, something that means to him.
Bob Marley:
Bob marley is known to make reggae very famous and very successful, his music style is reggae and rocksteady. Bob marley based his music on society, reality, to stay strong, to keep together and that everything is going to be alright.
Bob marley was famous for his jamaican image and putting it into his music and making it reggae based. His music is really relaxing and easy going, his message through his songs are very true and obvious in a way that his message in his songs is what everyone should be thinking in their heads and to stay positive.
Bob marley's most famous hits is: no woman no cry, one love, jamming, get up stand up, could you be loved, three little birds.
in each and everyone of these songs had a very strong meaning and message.
no woman no cry - in this song he is talking about woman and to not cry, to not shed tears not to worry about the bad, keep strong on your feet, everything is gonna be alright.
one love - 'one love, one heart lets get together and feel alright' those words he is saying we all have one love and one heart lets get together and be happy, feel alright. and he is saying is there a place for that hopeless sinner who hurt mankind, its not fair but oh well lets get together and feel alright.
jamming - in jammin he is saying were jammin there is no rules and no vows lets just jam and i hope you like jamming to, i hope it lasts because i like jamming, nothing will stop us and nothing will get in our way we are going to relax and jam.
get up stand up - this song is saying to get up and stand up for your rights, dont give up the fight.
could you be loved - this song is saying love will not leave us alone, asking could u be loved? we all have a mind of our own, dont let anyone change you, be yourself.
three little birds - this song is talking about waking up to sunshine and three little birds are on his doorstep singing sweet songs and singing him the message "Don't worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!
Every little thing gonna be all right. Don't worry!"
see as you can see bob marley always would talk about good life, and to keep strong and to never back down, his lyrics in his songs are so catchy and good to sing because its positive and up lifting 'dont worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright'.
1. NO WOMAN NO CRY:
this song is talking about woman to keep strong and to not shed any tears, not worry about the bad, NO WOMAN NO CRY!!
song structure: intro, chorus, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, bridge, chorus, instrumental, verse 2, chorus.
instruments: harmonica, percussion, guitar, bass guitar, piano, vocals, backing vocals, harmonys.
key: C major
tempo: relaxed reggae
metronome: 70
in this song you can feel the relaxing vibe the song gives from the drum beat and the harmonica, its very slow on the metronome 70, the guitar in this song is doing the chord sequence but very quitely, and the harmonica is following the chords and does an add lib. the drums is really off beat but the guitar and the harmonica is keeping the song in time. The chorus gets repeated a lot of times because thats the most important message bob marley wanted to get out and repeat to make it catchy and in reggae they tend to repeat the chorus and the same verse. And there is also harmonies to the chorus.
2. ONE LOVE:
in this song one love the song is about bringing people together to feel alright, saying we have one heart and one love to lets get together and feel alright, no need to feel bad and be sad, and also sais if you praise to the lord and thank him for being here you will feel alright.
song structure: intro, chorus, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus x2.
instruments: strum, guitar, backing vocals, piano, reggae percussion.
key: Bb major
tempo: moderately slow
metronome: 76
this song like his others is relaxed reggae, very slow and relaxing, chorus is repeating on itself, two verses, harmonies in the chorus, and backing vocals in the first 2 lines of each verse. everything that is going on in the song, so the guitar, the strum, the off beat, the repeating of the chorus, is repeating on its self and stays the same and very simple, that is the life of reggae and this song really shows the relaxation of the song the instruments give that effect and the simple chorus and verse.
Amy Winehouse:
amy whinehouse is a soul, r&b, jazz and blues artist, she was most famous for her songs: back to black, tears dry on their own, rehab and valerie. Amy winehouse would write her songs about love and even how people tried to send her to rehab because amy winehouse was addicted to drugs.
Amy winhouse's songs would have a good use of instrumental, colourful songs in the way where her song structure is intro,verse,chorus,verse,chorus,bridge,chorus,breakdown and a chorus to end the song.
the instruments amy winehouse would use in her songs is piano, guitar, tambourine, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals. Amy winehouse's songs were in time, in the verses she would have a simple drum beat then in the chorus it would build up.
1. BACK TO BLACK:
in this song amy is talking about how she loves this guy much but its not enough, she would get on without her man, how he liked the sexual life and to get high, and in the chorus she is talking about how he goes back to his other girl and she goes back to black as in nothing.
song structure: intro, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus x2, bridge (instrumental), chorus x2.
instruments: piano, guitar, tambourine, percussion, bells.
key: D minor
tempo: moderately
metronome: 130
with this song the verse and chorus change because from the verse to chorus the chorus builds up adds violins, then after the second verse and the chorus it goes into.. black, black, black, the music goes all sad and emotional and this makes the song effective because it shows the emotion and shows she is sad because it goes all sad and quiter then the rest of the song.
2. REHAB:
now this song is about how people try to make her go rehab but she sais no and she doesnt want to, and she explains why she does what she does as in drinks and does drugs and what she feels, and she talks about her man ray and how she doesnt want to lose him but he thinks shes depressed.
this song has a different song structure then her other songs the song structure in this song is: chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus.
the instrumental in this song is very colourful and by that i mean a lot is going, there is trumpets witch is more noticable then other things going on in the song, there is violins, faint backing vocals, the chords start very simple and then other instruments like the trumpets and bells, build up together. You can hear a massive difference between the verse and the chorus instrumental wise, with the verse its where there is most instrumentals and where everything comes together but in the chorus its more simple and goes down.
these different four arists are very different to eachother how? because with michael jackson he mixes up his style and uses different song structures in each song and every song has a different feel so one song is about nature, the other is about his girl, the other is about how bad he is, the other is about saving the world etc..
michael has a sense of screaming and adding these add libs to show his emotion in the songs.
to start the songs really soft then build up to make it overly emotional and strong.
with stevie wonder he is more funk and more simple then michael jackson he uses practically the same instruments in each song the same song structure, but in some occasions its a bit different but not majorly, stevie wonder talks about things that make him happy and his loved ones and his love life. Also he repeats the same line or the chorus, where michael jackson tells a story through his songs.
Then with bob marley it goes to reggae witch is more relaxed and bob marley talks about thinking positive and to have a good time and not worrie about the sinners. His music is very the same in every song of his, nearly the same tempo and just by listening to the intro u would know its a bob marley song because he uses the same instruments and style as in every song.
Then last but not least amy winehouse is the most modern out of all of them she started very much in the 2000's her music is more heading to blues and her songs are about love and her emotions like how people tell her to go to rehab when she doesnt want to. She talks about how she drinks,and all her boyfriends, her use of music is always different but stays in the style of soul, r&b and blues, but in each of her songs the chords sequence are different and the instrumentals tell a different story by their strength.
The way these four artists construct their songs are very majorly different, in the way of style, the message they want to give in their song, the song structure, the way they use their instruments etc.
michael jackson mixed the styles, pop, pop-rock, funk, r&b, club/dance and urban. He mixed up these styles throughout all his songs, some songs are slow pop, r&b, funk and pop mixed together, michael jacksons music was constructed in a unique way you could never tell what his specific style was and in every song he changed up the genre of style, the song structure, every style has a specific song structure in general, so in some of his song he used the funk song structure and others he used the song structure of the style pop. But with bob marley he constructed his songs in one way and only that way of reggae, so comparing michael jackson to bob marley, bob only sticked to reggae, sticked to the song structure of reggae, his lyrics always talk about how to be happy, protests about something, talks about the politics side of the world and the way people are treated, but with michael jackson he talked about all sorts of things, like michael went from one to another, style to another, message to another completely different feel that is just a feel good song. But then with stevie wonder, his style was specifily funk and stayed to funk, funk is repetitive and the song structure repeats itself and thats what stevie wonder did but in some songs he wanted to give a message so he put some verses in. Stevie talked about love and good things in life most of the time, he constructed his song to be feel good songs, catchy songs, funky songs. But with amy winehouse she sticked to the style of jazz, the melody she gave in her songs, the instruments and drum beats she would add in her songs, the lyrics she used were about love and heartbreaks, jazz is known to construct songs about love, and amy winehouse did it very strongly.
So you can see how these four artists compose and construct their songs differently by their genres of style, what they talk about in their lyrics, the song structure, the instruments, and the melodys they give.
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