Year 10 Level 2 Technical Award in Music Technology Unit 02 Creating Music Name: A History of Music Styles Since 1950s
Popular Music since 1950 This booklet will cover: R n B / Soul / Disco Rock / Punk Rock Reggae EDM/Hip-Hop Common Elements Primary Chords: Chords I, IV and V Chromatic Semitone movement Blues Notes The flattening of certain notes. In Blues normally the 3 rd, 5 th and 7 th. Flattened 3 rd Lowering the 3 rd of a scale by a semitone (e.g. E Eb). Dissonant A clashing sound. E.g. playing two notes a semitone apart. Syncopation Playing on the off beats. 7 th Chords Chords which include the 7 th note. Often in Blues or popular music this is the flattened 7 th. E.g. C E G Bb for a C7 chord. Improvise Making up musical ideas spontaneously Vibrato Quivering of shaking effect caused by small rapid changes to a note Slide A quick finger movement, passing from one note to another. Common on the guitar. Riff Repeated musical pattern. Can also be known as an ostinato. Fusion The blending of 2 musical styles together e.g. Rhythm n Blues or Bhangra (Club and Indian) Melisma using extra notes to extend a syllable of a word e.g. swee-ee-ee-eet. Backing Vocals Backing singers singing call and response with the main vocal or harmonising with the Main vocal Acoustic not amplified. Pitch Bend Moving a note up or down by an interval between a semi tone and a tone and a half. Often Used on the guitar by pushing a string upwards with a finger of the fretting hand. Reverb Technique used on vocals and guitars to give the impression of sound bouncing off the walls of a Room, Hall or larger space. Gives a fuller resonating sound. Distortion An overdriven sound where the clean sound breaks up often used on guitars. Echo Can be used on a vocal to give a repeating effect to the voice part. Chorus Used to create an impression of a thicker sound. As if more than one guitar playing. Can sound dream like too. Scalic A melody pattern moving in step Triadic A melody pattern moving in 3rds. Like a broken chord. Four on the Floor where the kick drum from a drum kit is used to play on each beat of a four beat pattern. Back Beat Where beats 2 and 4 are played on the snare drum. 4 / 4 Four main beats (single one beat notes) are played to each bar. 6 / 8 Each bar is divided in to two main beats and these beats are divide in to 3. E.g. 123, 456. Blues Blues is a musical genre and structure that has influenced many contemporary forms of popular music. Its roots are initially in Africa though came about in its most common form through Afro-American music. 12 Bar Blues 12 Bar Blues formed the basic structure upon which blues pieces are composed and performed. It used 3 different chords with 4 beats on each chord. The chords are I, IV and V from a major scale E.g. C, F and G from C major.
The typical sequence for a 12 bar is: C / / / C / / / C / / / C / / / F / / / F / / / C / / / C / / / G / / / F / / / C / / / C / / / The 12 bar sequence is repeated for each verse. Improvisation would also take place within this structure and style. Blues Notes A melodic feature of blues is the use of blues notes. These are chromatic notes, usually flats. In a C Blues scale the blues notes might be: C Eb F Gb G Bb C When used in the melody the blues notes add a sad quality, particularly when they clash or are dissonant with the harmony. This is at the roots of blues music. Rhythm Blues is normally over a steady four beat rhythm. However, it is often given a syncopated feel with notes being played off the beat. Instrumental and Vocal Techniques Blues lyrics are expressive and emotional. They often tell of hardship and bad luck. To add expression in the music, singers and instrumentalists often slide between a blue note and an ordinary note of the scale (e.g. Eb to E or flat 3 rd to major 3 rd in the key of C major). This produces the effect similar to sighing in human speech. Singers and instrumentalists may also add vibrato to add a trembling emotional quality to the sound. Popular Music since the 1950s Rock n Roll This was a mixture or fusion of R n;b and country and western. Fast, loud with energetic syncopated rhythms. Performers like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard became R n R legends. Although originally using string bass and piano, R n R helped to set up the typical combination for the pop music instrumental combo of lead and rhythm guitars, bass guitar and drum kit. Gospel and Soul Gospel had its roots in African-American church services, where it developed from religious songs called spirituals. Performed by choirs or groups of singers, gospel music combines European hymns with call and response patterns and syncopated rhythms from West African music as sell as melodic features from blues music. Its main features are: A powerful singer, often improvising over a choral background The use of Melisma sliding from note to note Other emotions added by shouting Clever vocal arrangements with rich harmonies (use of extended chords).
Soul music is a mix of R n B and Gospel. It uses saxophones, brass, electric guitars and drums from R n B while keeping the vocal style (and sometimes the addition of the organ) from Gospel music. It features a powerful solo voice with vocal harmony. Also features solo improvisation and vocal effects to emphasise certain words of phrases. Disco Disco is a style of up tempo dance music which combines 4 / 4 time with a fast tempo, four on the floor rhythms, guitar driven energy (16 th note patterns) over a syncopated bass line. The arrangements are usually embellished with rich orchestral ideas. The structure is normally verse and chorus and the lyrics are often about the love of dancing. Disco uses the Four-on-the-floor which is a drum style where the bass drum plays on all four beats of the 4/4 bar and the hi-hat cymbal plays on the off beats. Folk Folk music is still around today (popularised now by bands like Mumford and Sons). The melodies tend to be simple and work with just a few instruments of voices the music was rarely written down and learnt mostly by ear. A lot of funk melodies are based around a pentatonic scale and the instruments used are fiddle, pipe, tabor/bodhran, accordion and bagpipes. The music can often be in a compound time like 6 / 8. Mumford and Sons first two albums are known for their folk influenced sound, created by their use of instruments such as the banjo and double bass. Many of their songs are ballads. Popular Song Structures Popular Song forms normally include the following: Intro; Beginning. Normally an instrumental section leading into the 1 st verse or chorus. Verse The first vocal of a song. Normally the lyrics tell the story telling part of the song Bridge forms a link between verse and chorus. Can be instrumental or vocal and normally uses different chords to both verse and chorus. Chorus (sometimes preceded by a pre chorus). Contains the hook or main message of the songs Middle 8 A middle section of 8 bars in a song structure with different chords/melody to previous section. Instrumental A solo section for a featured instrument often guitar or saxophone. Outro or Coda Ending. Can be a vocal fade, instrumental. May use material from the chorus. Rock Music Rock Music evolved from R n R during the 1960s, with the music being more guitar domintated. Like a 12 bar Blues Rock songs tended to be based around the chords I, IV and V nd sometimes VI. Songs were often in 4 / 4 with a steady drum rhythm and followed a verse-chorus structure. Rock music often used power chords. Types of Rock are hard rock, punk, heavy metal, progressive rock, glam rock and psychedelic Rock. Listen to Penny Lane by the Beatles This was released in 1967 and is named after a street in the band s home city of Liverpool. The song has a simple verse/chorus structure. Unusually though the key for the verse is different to the chorus. The verse is in B major and the chorus A major. Answer the following questions: 1. How does the piece start that is unusual with popular song structures?
2. Complete the instrumental elements in the table below for the first part of Penny Lane. Song Sections Key Instruments Verse Part 1 B Major Verse Part 2 B Major Chorus A Major Verse Part 1 B Major Verse Part 2 B Major Listen to Whatever you want Status Quo Status Quo are one of the most successful bands in rock music with over 60 chart hits. Whatever you want was written by Rick Parfitt (rhythm guitar) and Andy Bown (keys) and was released in `1979, reaching number 4 in the UK charts. 1. How does the song start? 2. How many beats are there in a bar? 3. Name the type of chord played by the rhythm guitar. Minor Chord Major Chord Power Chord Diminished Chord These two 8 bar sections make up the whole song. Some of the structure is shown below. Now complete the spaces left. Song Sections Intro Part 1 Intro Part 2 A Section A Section A Section A Section B Section (Middle 8) Vocal/Instrumental Element Eight bars of driving power chord of D Listen to I can t get no Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones 1. Describe the effect or technique used by the guitars in this excerpt. 2. What term best describes the short, repeated guitar melody heard at the beginning of the music Scale Sequence Riff Triadic 3. What term best describes the rhythm of this guitar melody?
Reggae Style Focus Reggae music developed from three existing styles of music mento, ska and rock steady. Mento had a lively syncopated accompaniment usually played by acoustic guitar, banjo and hand drums. It had 4 beats to a bar. Ska influenced by rhythm and blues music with words being quite serious. It combined mento and calypso but adding a strong accent on the off beats the second and fourth beats of a bar, or the back beats, which would not normally be emphasised. Sometimes two half beats were played on the back beat to create a much livelier feel. Rock Steady - this was a slower version of ska. As the pulse was slower the off beats were often played on every second half beat. Bass parts became more melodic (tuneful), however some bass parts also played around just the half beats of the second and fourth beats. An example of a Reggae beat is below: Beat 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + Chord E C G E C G E C G E C G The first song to use the term reggae was by The Maytals Do the Reggae from 1972. The first international exposure of Reggae came through Jimmy Cliff, when he starred in a film where the soundtrack was reggae. Many reggae songs have fairly simple bass riffs which were played throughout the soung: one such is Night Nurse by Gregory Isaacs, using chords next to each other of Am and G. Beat 1 2 3 4 1 2 + 3 + 4 Bass A E A A E E A As well as guitars, and drum kit, the sound of the organ is a key part of the accompaniment in reggae music. No Woman, No Cry was first released on the album Burnin in 1973 but it was the album Live! which became really popular. It s chord sequence and bass line are instantly recogniseable. Beat 1 2 3 4 1 2 + 3 4 1 2 3 + 4 + 1 2 3 + 4 Bass C B A F C F E D C G A B Africa is another Reggae Song, recorded by The Mighty Diamonds in 1976. This has many typical features of Reggae as seen in the music of Bob Marley. It is in 4/4 and is written for vocals, drums, bass and guitar. There is no organ in this track, however, there is the inclusion of saxophone and trombone which create a brass section. As with many songs there can sometimes be a serious theme, in this case reflecting Rastafarian beliefs. Again the 2 nd and 4 th beats are being emphasised as is typical with this music. The song structure comprises of three long verses and an instrumental section with short in between sections which are versions of the verse intros. The drums and bass form a typically repetitive and simple rhythmic backing for the vocal. Percussion is also added to by the guiro. This instrument has its roots in African music (a long gourd with grooves which a stick is scraped across the top of). Additional percussion instruments like the guiro, tambourine, congas were often used to enhance the sound of the drum kit. The guitar plays a typical reggae rhythmic pattern of repeated off beat quavers. Contrasting this repetitive rhythmic backing the vocal has a looser, more syncopated rhythmic feel. This is similar to Roni Size s Dirty Beats ; in each case a simple repetitive rhythm section contrasts with a rhythmically more complex vocal.
Listen to Fallin by Alicia Keys (a modern R n B singer/song writer) 1. Which tempo indication best represents the speed of Fallin? 60bpm 90bpm 120bpm 150bpm 2. How many different chords are in the chord sequence 3. What is the tonality of the song? 4. Describe the melodic pattern played in the piano part 5. List 3 ways in which musical variety is achieved in the song. i. ii. iii. Hip Hop Musical Elements: Loop Repeating a musical pattern over and over Synthesiser Normally a keyboard instrument. Sounds are created through filters and tone generators. Synth sounds are give music a more electronic feel Drum Machine Electronic/sampled drum sounds. Patterns can also be programmed in and triggered Samples Taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument Vocoder Synthesiser for the voice Sequencer Software for recording and playing back music Arpeggiator - Creates fast broken chord patterns while holding down notes of a chord
Hip-hop is a style of music which emerged in New York during the 1970s when DJs began to Loop percussion breaks taken from funk or rock songs to create powerful rhythmic beat for their audiences to dance to. In Hiphop terms the beat is everything but the vocals. It is often built in layers, including the basic audio loop of a drum track or midi drum patterns, a bass line, supporting orchestration such as a synthesiser and a variety of sound samples. The shortest beats are usually 8 bars long, but can be looped to produce beats of any length. One feature of the music is the break, where the drum (or electronic/computer-generated sound) plays a short solo. This was later accompanied by rapping, where the performer, often the DJ, speaks rhythmically and in rhyme to the beat. Hip-hop musicians have experimented by using different genres of music to create exciting beats, and to develop different styles of hip-hop. Listen to Good Life by Kanye West Notice how the beat is built up using different loops, including a synthesiser and electronic drum and rhythm effects. Over this there is rapping with the voices electronically changed in places. 1. What term best describes the synthesiser melody heard at the start of the piece? 2. What term best describes the tonality of this song? Major Minor Modal Pentatonic
EDM Listening to EDM and recognising key features Listen to 1969 1. How many beats in a bar? 2. How many different chords are there? 3. Are these major or minor chords? 4. How many different drum parts are there (main parts) 5. Describe the drum part that plays throughout? 6. What notes is the bass playing? 7. How would you describe the rhythm? 8. What creates the melody content for this piece? 9. How many bars is this? 10. What links/introduces the melody content? 11. What is the vocal loop that enters at the end of the track? 12. What effect can you hear continuously?