This page is always a work in progress and never necessarily in order of how I do things in class.

Pop Music Class, 9/14

Discussion item: Where did "pop" music originate? What's the story?

Terms you'll need to be familiar with for this class:
  • Genre
  • Riff
  • Chord Progression
  • Form

Features of Popular Music to focus on for future criticisms:
  • Simple message (often cliché emotionally and/or lyrically)
  • Straightforward groove 
  • Catchy and repetitive melodic parts, often chant-like
  • Simple instrumental parts, though not often very band like throughout (i.e. often contains more than a simple four or five piece band could pull off by themselves)
  • Pop form (alternating verse and chorus with optional bridge)
  • Very repetitive chord progression and/or riffs
  • Often unnecessarily overloads texture with lots of "stuff"
  • Often exploits major textural changes (ex. a lot, then a little, then a lot again)  
  • Raised corny/cheesy level
  • Known to exploit another genre (especially world music)

Country Class, 9/26

Warm Up Exercise:
Write a short summary/reaction to the lyrics and musical composition. Then, guess when you think this song was written?

Blues vs. Country

Blues                                                                                    
  • Raw Vocals                                                                         
  • Raw Melody with lots of blues notes                      
  • Raw/Dirty, though often advanced instrumental technique         
  • Verse form based on a blues chord progression with sections of improvisation and/or fills
  • Gospel/church- based harmonies – often improvised
  • Electric guitar
  • Raw, often exposed, rhythms
Country
  • Refined (in respect to blues) 
  • “Good” melody that tells a dramatic story in and of itself 
  • Clean and advanced instrumental technique
  • Verse/Refrain form with instrumentals fills and, also, instrumental sections often improvised, but largely based on the melody of the song 
  • Refined and often advanced harmonies based on Western folk and church traditions
  • Acoustic instruments
  • Raw (make do with what you have) rhythms are common as well

Country Class, 9/28

Features of Country Music to focus on for future criticisms:
  • Traditionally intended for live performance alone. Therefore, all parts are conceived in country as those traditionally playable by a small ensemble.
  • "Good" (grown up...) melodies - melodies often develop and/or have question/answer phrases
  • Refined singing (though often head voice, nasal, country 'slides' and quicker vibrato)
  • Very literal storytelling often with songs of simple life feelings and activities 
  • Simple chords played with advanced fingerpicking on string instruments
  • Instrumental fills and improvisations based largely on the melody
  • Simple form
  • Use of fiddles (violins), pedal steel, banjo, mandolin, guitars, upright bass, etc.
  • Nicely executed three and four-part harmonies drawn from church and folk singing
  • Not often based on fully developed riffs, but instead simple chord progressions

Rock Class and R&B, 10/12

Features of Rock Music to focus on for for future criticisms:
  • Straight drum and bass grooves with little syncopations
  • Amplified/Electric Sound
  • Modest, but raised levels of dissonance as compared to country and blues
  • Expresses fearless human emotions,often, through primal drumming and bass & guitar playing
  • Dramatic (even melodramatic-dramatic) storytelling both literal and metaphorical 
  • Standard voice, guitar, bass and drums with an occasional second guitar and/or piano 
  • Sparsely used raw vocal harmonies
  • Raised dynamic and aggression levels
  • Strong use of guitar riffs to structure the composition
  • Modest use of improvisation 
  • Singer down hierarchy firmly in place
Features of R&B music to focus on for for future criticisms:
  • Follows popular form (Verse, Refrain, Verse, Refrain, Bridge, Refrain)
  • Almost exclusively follows chord progression, though bass and guitar play "riff-like" parts to each chord
  • Smooth, gospel-influenced vocals
  • "Tight" instrumental performances derived from roots in gospel music 
  • Mature  melodic writing often including a classical climactic pitch/phrase
  • Simple vocal harmonies derived from gospel music
  • Basic melody/vocal dominated hierarchy with all other parts as accompaniment to main melody

Examine these rap tunes in groups:

Blues (and its Legacy) Class, 9/21

Terms you'll need to be familiar with for this class:
  • Riffs (for bass and guitar)
  • Gospel
  • Improvisation/Fills
  • Call and Response
  • 12-bar Blues (chord progression)
  • "Blues" notes
  • Minor & Pentatonic (see videos below)

Features of Blues Music (and/or it's legacy) to focus on for future criticisms:
  • "Crying" Vocals and Guitar Parts, as well as, wordless vocals in general (voice imitating instruments)
  • Blues notes (in between - often sound like bended or crying notes)
  • Gospel-influenced vocalizations (see videos below)
  • Blues form
  • Songs built on minor pentatonic (blues/rock) guitar and bass riffs (see videos below for sound I'm referring to)
  • "Raw" approach, often exposed, to rhythm and form
  • Church-influenced call and response patterns, as well as harmonies, within the music
  • African-American stories revolving around "getting by"
  • Root influence of jazz, rock, soul, R&B, rap and funk
  • Along with folk music and spirituals, blues music is central to almost all popular music today

Gospel-influenced vocalizations

Songs built on minor pentatonic riffs

In what ways are the following songs representative of the blues legacy?

Rap Class, 10/19

Features to consider for future criticisms:
  • Important to contrast rhythmic nature of the melody against the often static background beat
  • Rhyme schemes change the accent patterns in the rhythm and, therefore, make rap styles more or less effective
  • Originated organically as an expression of real life through rhymes and record sampling. Therefore, understanding the cultural contexts and the samples used are often critical.
  • Often more closely associated to poetic rhyme schemes set to a dance/party track, than song (rock, pop, country, etc.)

Jazz Class

Jazz is a music and culture about life through  struggle and success. Often, success is only possible through working out " issues" with a collection of others. In this way, jazz music represents democracy more than other styles. Jazz is a music that reflects hard work, determination, discipline and team work. It celebrates listening, communicating and curiosity. It is a music about spontaneous energy and rhythm. At its best, it reflects all that is unique about the artist and all that is beautiful about human connections.

Features of jazz to consider for future criticisms:
  • Swing feel
  • Spontaneous
  • Conversational
  • Improvisation
  • Dynamic energy shifts
  • Introspective
  • Exploration
  • Fine details
  • Quick changes in emotion 
  • Different hierarchy 

Ambient/Electronica Class, 10/26

Features to consider for future criticisms:
Subtly evolving, textural music
Absence of strong melody and, thus, any real hierarchy comparable to popular music
Electronic, as well as acoustic, sounds create abstract "sound paintings"
Similar to the classical tradition in that ambient music is best when listened to with focus, patience, imagination and an open mind

Analyze the following songs in groups and discuss where you feel the style proves successful and how sometimes (or most of the time depending on your position) it is less so.

Classical Music, 10/31

In the Philadelphia area, on any given night, one might observe that the dining out options move from mainstream fast food like McDonalds to critically and publicly celebrated establishments like Vetri. Aside from price, list as many points as you can brainstorm that separates equisitely prepared food in fine dining establishments to those offered in fast food restaurants. Then, examine two examples of food preparation (excerpt from "Fast Food Nation" and recipe from "Top Chef Cookbook") in the commercial world and discuss. So what would be food's version of "folk" music?

Let's now turn to architecture and homes. After going through the slideshows for the following two links, what makes home #2 so much more "impressive" than home #1? Try and think through all the steps from original vision to final building?

Let's look at and discuss St. Peter's Basillica in Rome? What makes this building/creation so impressive?

World Music, 11/11

Western and Eastern Music more often than not share the following features:
  • The concept of a pulse (beat) as the most unifying aspect of the music
  • Melodies and harmonies derived from scales
  • Melodies and chords composed in phrase-like patterns


Differing features:
  • The scales that are used as the primary musical expressions
  • Social traditions such as worship and dance force the music to have different goals based on the culture
  • Different instruments, though largely the same families (percussion, wind, strings and guitar), played with different demands
  • Most importantly, the rhythmic nature of the groove
  • Different languages 
  • Slightly different tuning systems of pitches



Album Reviews, 11/21

What questions need to be asked and answered in an album review? When an album is considered musical and/or culturally significant, how might we actually prove or disprove this?

First, start with the music and lyrics (where applicable) on their own terms. Measure levels of craftsmanship, creativity, thoughtfulness, and originality within the composed and performed sounds and words as you hear and analyze them. In an album review, all tracks of the album do not have to be (and probably should not be) mentioned in detail, but at least a few tracks should and others in less detail.

Second, how does the music and words (where applicable) compare to other music within this genre (and without) from this same time period? Some times albums are important because they are part of a zeitgeist (a cultural movement/energy) and, on the contrary, because nothing of great value has surfaced from that specific time period. (i.e. Nirvana, Nevermind)

Third, who are the musicians creating and performing this music? How did they arrive at this stage? What was the process like that specifically resulted in this album (i.e. the writing and recording of the album) Do they cite other artists and musics that were pivotal in inspiring to this moment? More importantly, can you hear the sounds of other artists and musics seemingly resonating in the music? (These kinds of suggestions are tremendously helpful to readers to give them a better sense of how something might sound.) 

Finally, what is the social context of the album? This is more important when reviewing an album from a previous decade, but is still applicable when reviewing current albums. It's important to understand the issues the artists might be writing about or inspired by. Also, it's important to understand the world of listeners that the artists intended to spring the music upon.   

Extra credit (one full assignment - three points on your final grade): At home, read the review of Sgt. Pepper that has been assigned to you below (download the document that is with your name alphabetically) and note how much of the review is dedicated to each of the areas above? In other words, do they spend a significant time talking about the making of the album instead of how it actually sounds and what is actually said? How well are the other areas covered, if at all?

Last name: A-G

esquire_magazine1967_-_sgt._pepper.doc
File Size: 51 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

Last name: H-N

rolling_stone_-_sgt._pepper_review.doc
File Size: 56 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

Last name: O-Z

pitchfork_-_sgt._peppers_review.doc
File Size: 46 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

One Possible Trail of "Classical" History, 11/2 

Remember, "Classical" is a word used to cover an INCREDIBLE amount of music. Mostly it just refers to music most related to the complex tradition of composing that began in Europe several centuries ago. In this case, pieces are inspired by religion. Listen to each and make two observations while you do so. We've said that art is a reflection of life in all its complexities. Can you hear how the world was becoming more and more complex based on this chronological list starting in the 7th century or so and ending in the 20th century?

1) Early Chant - Salve Regina (Anonymous)

3) Infusion of Instruments and Emotion - Agnus Dei (Bach)

5) Building Tensions - Locus Iste (Bruckner)

7) Looking Forward By Looking Back - Te Deum (Part)

2) Chant Evolves into Parts for Choir - Ave Maria (Josquin)

4) Growing Sense of the Dramatic - Lacrimosa (Mozart)    

6) 20th Century Dissonance - Symphony of Psalms (Stravinsky)    

8) Broadening Views - Tehillim (Reich)

Final Project Discussion, 12/2

I've given you a full detail of this assignment in your Grading Documents. Below, I've demonstrated how your project should be laid out exactly. (As this is just a demonstration of a project, I eventually just add -etc.- to the descriptive portions.) Name:
Class Time:
Final Project

Step One
Artist: 50 Cent
Artist background:
Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent, was born in South Jamaica (Queens), New York in 1975. A former drug dealer and multiple gunshot survivor, 50 Cent's lyrics document the cruel realities of "gangster" life and celebrate the material excesses that come with being a commercially successful rap artist. Musically, 50 Cent is known for skillful deliveries of often witty lyrics and straight forward and danceable beats. His music is more popular and commercial than artistically significant. (Biographical facts borrowed from Wikipedia's 50 Cent page.)
Artist's track: In Da Club, 2003
In Da Club features a rhythmically awesome hook of syncopated orchestra hits, a straight drum beat and a quasi-complex vocal part.  Though there is a minimal amount of parts, what's there is rhythmically woven together in such a clever fashion that the result makes for a perfect party song. The remainder of the track moves in and out of little to less in terms of texture all the while making sure to satisfy the dance floor. The delivery of the lyrics are rhythmically challenging and creative, the orchestra moves from bigger to smaller  during the changes in form and a new-age James Brown guitar riff heats up the already boiling pot of rhythmic stew every now and then. Subject wise and lyrically, it's all, " I'm into having sex, I ain't into making love," all the time.

Step Two
Connection to a major  influence  within the genre:
Jam Master Jay from Run DMC, Found in an interview with 50 Cent conducted by Ian Youngs of the BBC News that was published on 12/23/2002.
Artist background: Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay the DJ for the legendary rap group Run DMC, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1965. Through much practice and experience,  Jam Master Jay became one of the most technically gifted party DJs in Queens. Jay's success was a result of his unique turntable talents, his ability to play drums, bass and guitar and his natural feel for the hip hop way of life.
Artist's track: It's Tricky, 1987
It's Tricky is a brilliantly simple and clever party song where Run and DMC rap  back and forth in spitfire fashion about inconsequential events. (I met this little girly. Her hair was kind of curly. Went to her house to bust her out. I had to leave real early.) Though the rhymes are basic Rhyming 101 examples, the party nature of the rhythms and stripped down instrumentation of the track paved the way for all party hip hop music that followed. Most notably in the instrumentation of this performance is the guitar riff borrowed ( without  permission) from the Knack's My Charona. 

Step Three
Connection to a blues artist born before 1920:
Fifty Cent learns to count musical bars from Jam Master Jay. Found in interview previously cited.
Jam Master Jay sampled James Brown's Funky Drummer on Run DMC's Beats to the Rhyme from 1988. Found on WhoSampled.com.
James Brown got his start performing in the famous Chitlin' Circuit where John Lee Hooker was also a regular performer. Found in James Brown bio on Wikipedia.
John Lee Hooker was a blues musician born in 1917. Found on John Lee Hooker's Wikipedia page.
Artist background: John Lee Hooker etc.
Artist track:  Boogie Chillen' (1948)
Boogie Chillen' is a blues etc.

Step Four
Connection to an artist of the World music genre:
2009's Crack a Bottle featured a sample of Mais Dans La Lumiere by the Israeli artist Mike Brant. Found on WhoSampled.com.
Artist background: Mike Brant etc.
Artist track: Mais Dans La Lumiere, 1970
Mais Dans La Lumiere is etc.

Step Five 
Connection of artist to a composer of the European or Russian Claasical tradition:
Fifty Cent learns to count musical bars from Jam Master Jay. Found in interview previously cited.
Jam Master Jay was a party DJ in Queens and influenced by Africa Bambaata. Found on JMJ's AllMusic page.
Africa Bambaata's famous track Planet Rock uses two samples from the German electronic artists Kraftwerk. Found on WhoSampled.com.
Kraftwerk was influenced by the experimental German composer Karl Stockhausen. Found in the book Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop.
Karl Stockhausen is a European composer of the Classical tradition.
Artist background: Karlheinz Stockhausen is a hugely influential etc.
Artist track: Gesange der Junglinge, 1956
Gesange der Junglinge is an electronic work based on the biblical story etc.