Category: Prompts

If you are a musician and rely on love performances in front of a live audience to make a living, being stuck at home and not able to have gigs is a major setback. In order to be successful during these hard times, musicians must resort to streaming performances live over the internet to have a chance at getting  some of that revenue back. I think a very important part in being successful during the pandemic is advertising yourself. Getting as much reach as possible is the best way to get more people to listen to your music and maybe even come watch your livestreams. Because everyone is stuck inside all the time, advertising yourself is easier than ever. All you need is a simple Instagram ad with part of one of your songs in it and you can start bringing in new fans. All you need is a linktree attached to it and you can list Apple Music, Spotify, and all of your social media accounts for people to follow. Once you have new fans hooked on your music and following your socials, you can start promoting livestream gigs. A few weeks in advance you should bring it up; on an Instagram story for example. That way people see it at the top of their feed and it stands out more. As the performance date gets closer and closer, continuing to promote it can bring in some last minute people who weren’t initially sure if they wanted to watch it. You can even sell tickets to the livestream in order to actually make some money. Something you want to avoid though is charging too much. Charging as much for a livestream as an in-person performance will likely push away potential viewers, so you want the pricing to be reasonable. If you’re a bit bigger of an artist and sell merch of some kind, you can even have that going during the livestream. Something interesting I’ve seen if merch exclusive to the livestream concert. This would definitely entice people to buy it due to the limited supply. With enough people on the stream because of advertising beforehand, there is great potential for lots of money to be made.

Dr. Munardiz considers the label of “Latin American Music” to be too broad of a term, and I 100% agree. I too believe that it should be pluralized as “ Latin American Musics” due to the countless varieties of music in each region of Latin America. Many regions have more than one style of music, and there is a ton of aboriginal cultures as well. By calling it just “Latin American Music”, it is implied that there is only one style, which could not be further from the truth. 

Latin American Music and Latin Music have similar roots to each other, but there is a main key distinction between the two.  Latin American Music is music made in countries that speak romance languages originating from Latin roots, with the most common languages being Spanish and Portuguese. These countries are south of the United States. Latin music shares similar characteristics, but the term is applied to that style of music made in the United States of America. It has been rising in popularity and has even surpassed country music and EDM.

An ostinato is a musical element containing rhythm and pitches that repeats over and over throughout a piece of music. In Latin American Musics, it is a very important part of the music. Depending on the rhythm used, it provides a basic framework for the style, as well as a groove to make the music interesting. The ostinato in these styles is a driving force that greatly encourages dancing along.

A couple examples of musical expression the male use of the common “ habanero” pattern are “Toque – Song for Olokun” sung by Fernando Hernández with Inés Sotomayor’s group, and “Ghana’e” by Willie Colon.  These sound quite different, but the habanero pattern is easily recognizable in both.

In the first piece, “Polacca” there is some particpatory discrepancy right from the beginning with the voice being slightly behind the beat of the drum rhythm underneath. Later on, about five minutes and 20 seconds in, much more apparent participatory discrepancy is present.  There is a guitar-like sound, some kind of other synth, and percussion playing all at the same time. Although simultaneous, they act on their own accord, not really following the timing of the others, until they all join in after a few seconds and play an ascending major scale. This occurs a few times.

The second piece, “Spaced Cowboy” by Sly & The Family Stone has participatory discrepancy similar to the second example from the first piece. While the verse is going on, a second voice can be heard coming through in the background slightly off of the timing of the rest of the music. I feel like it adds the effect of a slight audience participation because of the occasional off-time singing along with the melody and the more shout-like short vocalizations from the female voice. At the beginning, the synth solo is played slightly off the beat, setting a laid-back tone for the song.

The last piece of music by Potato and Totico, called “Agua Que Va A Caer” has much more apparent participatory discrepancy compared to the others, in my opinion. It begins with a steady drum groove,  but then a vocal melody enters, seemingly disregarding the background drums for the most part. The guitar solo later on in the music also does something similar. It plays quite out of time for a majority of it. In the call and response section of the music, more participatory discrepancy is heard. If you listen closely to the response, the intonation is not quite perfect in some cases.

I strongly agree with the alternate title for music theory being “the harmonic style of 18th century European musicians”. This is basically the extent of what is covered in all modern music theory classes you take at any university. It’s all Bach, Mozart, Brahms, but never any composers from places other than Europe. Even if you have to remain in the 18th century for theory classes, there are tons of other composers that aren’t white men. Take for example, Hampartsoum Limondjian, an Ottoman Armenian composer who lived from 1768 – 1839. Because of the music education I’ve received, I have unfortunately never heard of him, but he made great contributions to Armenian classical music. He created his own notation system that became the main system for Western Armenian and Ottoman music in the 18th century. He is responsible for writing out six books worth of Turkish music from the 1700s using his notation system. This wouldn’t be possible using Western notation due to the 14 tones per octave in said music. Another non-European composer from the 18th century is Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia. While most of his music was inspired by the Western classical style, his music did have an influence from traditional South American style. If we move backwards from the 18th century, specific composers become harder to find, but musical traditions from all over the world can be discovered. Hundreds of years ago, a lot of countries had a unique musical style, even if it might be similar to neighbouring places. I think that by studying only 18th century European music, we are missing out on the full definition of music. There are tons of music traditions that we haven’t even heard of despite them being around for maybe even thousands of years. Not every style has to be enjoyed, but I strongly believe that many more should be included in “music theory” to broaden the term past European music. Before writing this prompt, I had never heard of the 2 composers I mentioned, despite their large contributions to music in other parts of the world. This needs to change.

I did my repeated listening with “My Melancholy Baby” by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Most of the time when I listen to new music, I just lay down, close my eyes, and listen to the entire album from start to finish. Because of this, I pick up quite a few details on the first try as I’m used to this way of hearing music. Despite this, I did hear some very smaller details come through once I got to my last few listens. I noticed especially the subtle interaction between the soloists and the rhythm section. The soloist would play and phrase and leave some space in between the next. In that space, the pianist would either play something as a response as a continuation of the line or repeat the same rhythm the soloist just played. There is also a ton of interplay between the rhythm section and the soloists when playing simultaneously. Another really small detail I never noticed until near the end of my listening was from 2:37-2:40. It is extremely faint in the background, but it sounds like someone is talking right before the head comes back in. I can’t make out what it says at all, but maybe it has something to do with the melody coming back in? It’s very interesting that even though I thought I had heard everything, one small little thing came out of nowhere, and now I can’t unhear it.

I think that playing music of the past can be completely ethical, as long as you don’t try to pass off the music as your own. If you were to perform one of these works that have disappeared, I believe it is only ethical if you give credit to the original artist, almost like they’re your “ghost writer”. You wouldn’t play something by Bach, for instance, and claim that you composed the music yourself. You should credit the original writer, possibly as a lesser known composer so the name doest come out of nowhere, to remain ethical. If you act like you created all of the music yourself and even became famous, people could somehow find out you actually didn’t, you would be seen as a fraud and a liar. This could end up tarnishing the reputation of the music itself and it could even lose all of its artistic value as a whole.

With easy multi-tracking technology of today, you can easily create and release music with multiple parts, and not have to worry about only performing things for only solo instrument or a polyphonic instrument with voice. It’s difficult to list all of the music that I think should be performed, but here are a few:

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor – J.S. Bach

The Girl From Ipanema – Stan Getz

Confirmation – Charlie Parker

Dubula – Traditional Xhosa

Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles

Purple Rain – Prince

La Vie En Rose – Edith Piaf

This is only a small amount of music from the past that I believe would be very important to play in the modern day. I think that these cover a few different cultures, as well as a fairly wide time period.  The list of music would go on and on for much longer if I included pieces from more cultures. None of this music is necessarily more important than others, its just the first few I came up with while thinking of historically important music.

 

 

 

When comparing the two versions of The Goldberg Variations from 1955 and 1981, something that stood out to me was the difference in emotional playing. In the 1955 recording, it the playing seems almost ‘mechanical’. Everything is perfectly precise, and it doesn’t seem like much liberty is taken in the performance. The 1981 version, on the other hand feels a lot more emotional to me. The first section is long and drawn out, taking more than a minute longer to finish than the older recording. In the next section, the later recording feels much heavier and more aggressive, especially in the bassline. It has a sort of percussive sound to it. When listening to the same section in the earlier recording, it is much faster and has a very driving feeling. its like watching an elephant race in the 1981 recording, and an elegant horse race in the 1955 version. In terms of texture, there is a major difference between the two versions. The 1955 recording sounds to me like one single instrument covering all the different parts, but the 1981 recording sounds more like multiple instruments. The right hand acts as the violins and in a typical baroque group, while the left acts as the upright bass. In the 1955 version, I don’t feel the separation as much and it sounds more like just one performer. Overall, I enjoy the 1981 version more than the 1955 version, mostly based on the large expressive difference between the two.

For my golden record contribution, I believe it would be very beneficial to demonstrate the vast versatility of musical instruments, particularly the saxophone. This would provide any extra-terrestrial life that happen upon the record a glimpse into the expressive ability of a musical instrument, as well as how much the playing style of a single instrument can vary throughout the globe. The following 3 selections show exactly that, even just a few seconds into each recording.

Joc de doi – Nicusor Tunea Band

This is an example of unique style of saxophone playing that is common in Romania. It consists mostly of extremely fast double-tongued notes, but the playing style remains very relaxed. This style is frequent at Romanian weddings and other large gatherings.

Confirmation – Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker’s Confirmation is a great example of the saxophone being used in the musical genre known as jazz. This particular example is of a style called “bebop”, which originated in the 1940s. Bebop is characterized by fast notes, improvisation, complex rhythms, and very interesting harmonic structure.

Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra – Henri Tomasi

Classical saxophone is a style of playing that relies on very precise rhythms, accurate pitch, and a beautiful, light sound. Technique is very important in classical as everything must be perfect as possible to match the written music as closely as possible.

 

• Looking back at the “bones of summer” how have you engaged or created art? If you haven’t engaged or created art, please describe why.

When thinking of the word “art”, the first thing that pops into people’s mind is painting or drawings. A couple years ago I took a dual-credit class to challenge myself with something new. I was able to experiment with a completely new thing and it was an interesting process. The painting process is interesting in that you start from nothing until you put the brush on the canvas. What starts as just straight lines can become a road running through the country side. Random small brush strokes become bushes, and from dabs of paint emerge luscious white clouds. A form of art I connect a lot more with however is musical improvisation. When someone improvises music, they are speaking directly from their soul. When playing without worrying about sounding impressive or playing crazy lines, one can express every emotion they are feeling in the given moment through the melody they create. The difference between these forms is that one can be permanent, while the other is only there while the solo lasts, like a conversation. You might remember certain elements of a conversation, but you’ll never remember every single word exactly, same with improvisation. I feel that improvisation as an art is more of “present” art form, representing how you feel at the time, and physical art like painting or drawing is more a representation of how you might have felt in the past.

• What things, if any, surround you that you consider powerful?

I consider music in general to be an extremely powerful thing. It has been around for tens of thousands of years, and continues to change and develop every day. It is something that every single person in the world can enjoy in one form or another. There are almost unlimited genres, especially when some are combined into new ones, like jazz and rock together form a type of fusion. All over the globe, music can be extremely different based on the culture  those musicians grew up in. Over here in North America, most music falls into a system with major and minor scales, while for example, India, uses scales such as Asavari and Todi, an entirely different sound. While music may sound completely different depending on where you are in the world, it will still be music, which can be appreciated by all. To really understand the full power of music, one needs to be exposed to a huge variety of genre from across the globe. No one has to enjoy every single bit of music out there, but learning how it sounds coming from other cultures can be very powerful.

• Over the next couple of days, take note of the dominant sounds in areas that you consistently walk. What are the sounds you notice most of all? Be specific.

Because of the whole global pandemic going on right now, I haven’t been able to go out and walk as much as I would normally, especially since the university isn’t open, but I’ve still picked up tons of sounds day to day. The place I walk around the most at is work. I’m surrounding by different pools, with sounds coming from each of them. The biggest one has hidden grates along the side to control waves, and they always make a constant sucking sound. On the other side of the pool, The floor grates make a higher pitched dropping sound, like rain falling on a glass skylight. Splashes from people swimming can also be heard as the perform different strokes, with butterfly being the loudest. During the family swims, the calming sounds of the water moving back and forth are replaced by talking and laughter of the kids and their parents enjoying some time out of the house. When everyone leaves right before closing, the sounds change once again. Spray bottles are heard as the cleaning begins, and the carts of equipment being rolled away sound like tiny trains moving along a track. When I finally get outside after a shift, everything is quiet. All you can hear is the wind rustling through the trees, and the occasional car starting up. Interesting how much a soundscape can change just by moving a few metres from where you were for so long…

• How do you relate to the phrase “free time only works if you steal it?”

With the program I’m in at university, I constantly am stuck with a full course load. This week I’ve had at least one assignment due every day, as well as tons of zoom meetings to attend. Free time can be hard to come by, unless you put in the effort needed to achieve it. I’ve just started learning the guitar, and its made me realize how little free time I have right now. Every little break of time I have nothing to do, I find myself wanting to play it. To steal more free time, I need to get everything done faster than usual. Every minute I shave off of how long an assignment takes me, the more free time I’ll have to practice. Because of the extra effort it takes to steal free time, motivation to be productive with it is higher. Learning a new instrument can be a challenge, but the extra drive you get from stealing those precious minutes can be very inspiring.

• Do you have any other takeaways from the film?

A big take away I got from this film is that doing something you love for a living keeps you young. At the beginning of the film, Leslie Laskey says “I don’t feel like I’m 90 years old,” and you can see this in the way he goes about his work. He loves what he does, and never seems to get tired from it. When he found the old burnt hinges in his neighbour’s fire pit, he came up with an idea for a painting. Despite being 90, he still has an incredible imagination because his work didn’t age him. He was never stuck typing away at a desk at a normal 9-5 job. Instead, he pursued a career as an artist, teacher, and a poet. If you enjoy what you do to make a living, you won’t grow old and tired like everyone at their day jobs, retiring in your 60s like most people. If you can find a way to work doing what you love, you can end up like Laskey, working happily well into your golden years.