MD5313 – SESSION TWO – Prosody

In this session we discussed rhythmical emphasis within lyrics/vocals and how it can affect the emotion/feeling of lyrics or the overall tone, following the mantra of ‘it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it’. This particularly interests me as there can be connotations beyond the words being presented to the listener conveyed by a lot vocals used or dynamics.

From last weeks session, we had our song incorporating the Tresillo Rhythm ready to present to the rest of the class which we had finished the weekend leading up this current session.

We received some very positive feedback from our peers & some good constructive criticism, the main one of which was to try and alternate the drum pattern a little more to add some more variety to each section. I did expect this though as I come from a primarily hardcore punk background of playing drums so playing something a lot lighter & more reserved is still something I am getting used to. Overall I was happy with the outcome & felt satisfied with what we came up with, considering how the rhythm is mostly used in contemporary, latin inspired pop music, I’m happy that we made it our own & gave the song a more indie pop backdrop/aesthetic.

Following this, we then started to look into prosody and the meaning of it. It’s essentially, in it’s simplest form, when the instrumental aspects of a piece of music follow it’s lyrics not just in rhythm but sonically representing what is being said. For example, if the lyrics said “Stop” and the full instrumental stopped at the same time, that is prosody. I felt very inspired by this as I admire artists who add layers of meaning right down to the simplest elements of the track and unwrapping the song to find all these hidden attributes and characteristics adds a whole new experience to listening to a song. It is something I want to delve into in more detail outside of uni and in future musical endeavours.

From the discussion of Prosody, we were tasked to get into groups of our choosing and create an original composition using it, using a theme, a word or a subject to build a song around, sonically representing it with all the elements and instruments in the group. I formed a group with Duncan & Emrys (Myself on Drums, Duncan & Emrys on Guitars). We were giving a series of words to use however we wanted to come up with something off our own backs.

We met up on the weekend following in one of the practice rooms and played through some ideas. We wanted to do something spooky with Halloween coming up and focussed in on Skeletons. I created a walking rhythm on drums and a creepy melodic section was created between both guitars. Although it fits the theme well and represents creepy skeletons well as a backdrop, I don’t think it works as prosody. However it is in a position now where we can present it to the rest of our peers and receive feedback on what we can do differently.

MD5313 – SESSION ONE – Summer Song

Our first lecture of Level 5 POM consisted of a lot of catching up and was a relatively laid back session, outlining what would be covered during the duration of the first semester right up to the deadline of the first assessment. I left feeling confident and excited about what had been assigned to us and what we would be undergoing in the forthcoming weeks and months as it felt like a progression and continuation of what we were tasked throughout Level 4.

Following this we began discussing the Tresillo Rhythm and its current over saturation & use within contemporary pop. Although it has connotations with Latin American music & culture, and is culturally appropriated for popular music with those semantics & aesthetics, its origins span multiple genres over many years. We looked at a variety of examples of it being used and having to guess the connection. Once we were familiarised with this, we were tasked for the following week to form groups and create a short song incorporating this rhythm. I formed a group of two guitarists, Duncan & Emrys, & myself on drums. Following this session we booked a practice for the Saturday proceeding it.

We spent the second half of the lecture discussing an interview with Daniel Elk (CEO of Spotify) about artists income from the streaming service and the over saturation of the service by thousands of artists, mentioning it’s no longer top 40 but top 4,3000. He also mentioned that to make a success out of it you need an ongoing relationship with your audience, be promoting and advertising a string of a consistent singles and be consistent.

What I took away from this was a feeling of fearful doubt. Although it seems like the easiest way to promote your music to the masses, I’m almost completely encouraged to release my music into the world in every other way, opening up larger opportunities and possibly showing people another, possibly better way to consume music that would actually give value to what I produce and actually allow me to receive a decent income for it.

ASSESSMENT 01 PERFORMANCE

Band: wavygravy
Song: inevitable

Band Roles:
Haydn A – Guitar, Drum Sequencing, Equipment Booking
Haydn B – Vocals, Lyrics
Adam – Synth/Keyboards, Room Booking
Zara – Vocals, Session Recordings

I believe our performance went very well & we successfully performed our original piece. We received positive feedback & reflected on all of our performances, but among our group we concluded that we could have used the stage more effectively & worked on our stage presence. I agree with this thoroughly but I am happy with what I achieved as stage presence & self confidence involving performance is where my main focus for improvement lies. This is something I want to develop & improve & I firmly believe the performance was a good first step to doing so. I am happy with the original piece given the amount of time we had to write it & get it to a performing standard, but if given more time I feel like we could use it to build up the song with more layers & textures to emphasise the spacey, dreamy sound we set out to achieve at the start.

SESSION #10 – REHEARSAL DEVELOPMENT

After performing our latest iteration of our piece minus Haydn B, we got some good feedback on what alterations we can make ready for the Assessment performance including Guitar tone, instrument levels & what we could add to fill the song out even more. I feel as if my confidence is starting to build up & I am now going to put all my time into my guitar parts to build my confidence in myself even more. I’m happy that we’ve settled on a track to use & it sounds even better each time we play it.

We’ve had two practices this week, one on Wednesday & one on Friday just to fine tune everything we’ve got. I believe we are good to go & ready for the assessment on Monday.

SESSION #9 – REHEARSAL DEVELOPMENT

Ready for the performance of the new iteration of the track, we came in for the Monday session. We got everything set up & performed what he had come up with over the weekend. I had really bad nerves & made a few mistakes because of it, but overall I believe it went fairly smoothly. Our feedback was helpful as it discussed what could be changed with the drum machine beat & what Adam could do more of on the synth. At the end of the session we were told to bring a tech spec to the next session of what we would need for the following Monday.

Although I preferred the newer version of our second piece I still felt it couldn’t trump the first piece at all. I also felt it didn’t really fit into the Synth Pop/Dream Pop style we aimed for at the beginning. We discussed this as a group & decided to rework the first piece completely to fit this sound. We not only worked on the track as soon as the session finished but also booked a practice for the Friday & Sunday during the week.

After both sessions we had a more refined song, we changed the Drum Machine for Logic Pro X on my laptop as the we had access to more interchangeable drum sounds & we started piecing together the structure with various chord progressions & transitions.

I felt more confident with this track & was happy to work with it. Although the genres we worked within were not ones I had experience in before or listened to much, I found it really enjoyable to play & write stuff for the track.

SESSION #8 – LYRICS

I was unable to attend the 8th Monday session & Haydn B. was absent also, therefore the group was unable to perform. We did however organise a practice for Thursday evening booked by Adam.

We tried working on something different as some members were unhappy with the track we had last week. Although what we came up with was simple enough, I felt it wasn’t as unique as the previous piece. It followed the same instrumental line up & textural layers but felt more empty. From this we discussed getting a drum machine more seriously as it would fill the sound out a lot more. I booked it out not just for the band but as I wanted to use it for solo stuff too. It made what we had sound more fulfilled & more like a track.

Over the weekend I worked on the track more & altered the chord progression a little more with finger picking instead of strumming which complimented the beat provided by the drum machine massively. I sent what I came up with to the Instagram group chat & we were all happy with what we had & so they could practice in their own time, ready to perform for Monday’s session.

SESSION #7 – COLLABORATIVE PLAY

After the YFP week, which I used to tie all the loose ends of the band & form a rough presentation to give a better idea of how we would execute this assessment, we were giving the first half of the session to give these presentations. With Jess having recently left the course & Haydn B. away during the YFP week we only had the 3 of us to do so & didn’t have a finalised idea of what we wanted from the band, however we mentioned this & also mentioned how although we have rough ideas, we were waiting till we were all in the practice rooms to fully formulate & staple ideas.

Once the presentations were finished, we discussed Stage Presence & what it means to perform. This included stage confidence & what you can do to combat nerves which is something I suffer with quite drastically & want to work on to completely eradicate them.

We did a series of Rhythm games & warm ups to fight nerves & to warm us back into working within these sessions as well as get us more comfortable around everyone.

From this session we were told to bring an up to date iteration of the piece of music our group had come up with. We planned to meet up on the Wednesday afternoon & work on something. What we came up with was a very Spacey, Psychedelic piece with no drums, two guitars with heavy reverb, falsetto vocals & spacious synth. I liked the sound of what we had come up with & I took advantage of the reverb pedal & used as many of the features on it as possible to create something unique.

SESSION #6 – ASSESSMENT PREP

At the beginning of our 6th session was our performances of the Mapped Campus Walk piece. Aside from a few mistakes due to nerves it played out relatively smoothly & was fairly well received by the class. If I could do anything differently I would more time into our route with textures & dynamics in mind, working on both in more depth & not focussing so much on how the song sounds overall but how it’s representing the journey.

Once we finished the performances, we started discussing the module assessment in more detail, its criteria & what we are supposed to present by the deadline. We were asked to form groups, more so bands, within the class, discuss what influences & figure out what the band will be. This meant what genres the group would perform, what each member contributes, an identity & create a presentation to show all of this.

I formed a group with Haydn B. (Vocals, Guitar), Zara (Vocals), Adam (Synth/Keys) & Jessica (Vocals). Although it was ideal to have an actual performing drummer, I’ve wanted to stray away from Drums & focus on Guitar as it is my primary, first instrument & I want to develop it further whilst I work on my Drumming independently. We started discussing genres, what we could use to create a song such as drum machines & laptops & what our timetables were like.

After creating a Spotify playlist to exchange influences, we came to an agreement that we wanted to perform within the realms of Indie Rock, Synth Pop & Dream Pop with influences such as Tash Sultana, Turnover & The Marias. Although 2 of the members were unable to practice during the YFP week (Week 7), we decided Wednesdays were appropriate for us to practice, that Adam would book out rooms whilst I would book out equipment, Haydn B. would work on lyrics & Zara would record the sessions. We used the name ‘Wavy Gravy’ as a working title whilst we focussed more solely on the music itself as opposed to identity. One thing I want to develop from these sessions is my stage confidence & presence.

SESSION #5 – FORM

In our fifth session, we looked at narrative & rhythm, how words work around a song & may or may not cling to particular beats whilst leaving others empty. This also involved song repetition, variation & structure, the different sections of a song & what they all build up together to make. We also looked into polyrhythms as a class. This is an area of music I’ve worked with previously in my solo projects & really enjoy working with.

We were tasked to perform a serious of hand claps in different time signatures to see how they syncopate or overlap & what sounds & rhythms we received out of it.

This spawned this weeks task which was to take a walk around campus & sonically represent the areas we walk through with music. We had to display the textures of the environment, the size, the colours – every aspect with dynamics, structures, rhythm. It was within the same groups we had for the last project & we started planning instantly amongst ourselves. We decided to get a practice in on the Friday & Sunday, as well as mapping out our walking mentally.

We mainly worked with dynamics & textures, although we didn’t have Kayde in the Friday practice, we still managed to come up with a good structure to follow our walk. We did manage to all get together for practice on the Sunday & tied all the loose ends.

SESSION #4 – MELODY

On our 4th Monday session, we started out by performing our song following the ‘Groovy’ criteria. What we came up followed the tropes given to us during the last session & sounded authentic. Although there was a few mistakes on my behalf & the absence of Robyn, I was happy with the outcome, we got some good feedback & criticism. This was all helpful as I haven’t played within these genres boundaries or working with the tropes associated so I had to kinda learn off my own back how to fill out the Explicit Beat Layer & what sounded authentic.

Once all the performances were finished, we started looking into melody. We learnt what a melody is, how melody is a combination of rhythm & pitch & that it’s a musical unit. We discussed unstable & stable notes, the concept of contour in a song, chord variations & worked within these fields in Logic to get a better understanding of them.

We were then tasked to ‘Write an original diatonic melody, in any major key, that contains four two-measure
phrases, with the following creative restrictions:

1. the first phrase must begin on a stable tone and end on an unstable tone.
2. the second phrase must begin on an unstable tone and end on a stable tone that resolves the last note of the first phrase.
3. the third phrase must begin on an unstable tone and end on an unstable tone.
4. the fourth phrase may begin on either a stable or an unstable tone. it must end on a
stable tone that resolves the last note of the third phrase.

This interesting as scales & chords are something I want to develop my knowledge on in the duration the course. It was interesting to hear to the affect that unstable & stable notes can have on the overall tone & mood of a song. I worked on a synth-pop esque track as it sounded authentic & was out of my comfort zone. Overall I am happy with the outcome.