July 9th, 2013

7/9/13

In Class:
Explicated "Take It or Leave It" by Sublime with Rome using the following guiding questions:

[Note: these guiding questions will be helpful for your final project; I recommend that you take them down as notes.]


Discussed the notion of inherent musicianship--the idea that we are all neurologically and physiologically programmed to understand and appreciate music in certain ways. See Bobby McFerrin's pentatonic scale experiment: McFerrin uses the untrained audience's natural, instinctive musicality to demonstrate our brain's capacity to create musical expectations.

Reviewed the definition of melody: the main musical theme or idea. Viewed an animation of Bach's "Little Fugue in G Minor" to recognize the concept of melodic theme, as well as variation and modulation of that theme.

While a melody can be any arrangement of pitches in rhythm, the best melodies rely on several characteristics. As Molly Ann-Leikin puts it in How to Write a Hit Song, ideal melodies are the ones you can sing in the shower. These melodies revolve around:
     - catchiness (the 'stuck-in-your-head' element)
     - repetition (the more times it is repeated, the more likely the listener is to remember it)
     - voice leading (an untrained musician should be able to sing along--no crazy intervals, unnecessarily complex rhythms, etc.)

The best melodies integrate lyrics flawlessly, as if mimicking natural speech. This requires several techniques, specifically:
     - matching syllabic measure and inflection (while this is not a set-in-stone rule, it helps in the "weaving" process)
     - matching emotional message of the lyric with the emotional quality of the melody
     - matching points of emphasis (long notes, high pitches, and hard articulations should mimic naturally-emphasized points in spoken word)

Next, we considered the idea of chord progressions. A chord progression is a repeating pattern of chords built on different degrees of the major scale: most songs' chord progressions can be analyzed by identifying the degree of the major scale from I-vii.

A chord progression is the musical analog to a lyrical premise: it is the foundational, supportive element that allows the melody to thrive. That said, there are specific 'stock' progressions that have been used very frequently in the last 70 years of popular music. Consider I-V-vi-IV (1-5-m6-4), or the "punk progression"--its prevalence is demonstrated by Axis of Awesome in their "Four Chord Song."

Exit Ticket: What are the four stylistic perspectives of songwriting?

Homework:
Borrow a melody from a song of your choice; then, write a 4+ line stanza with lyrics that integrates the melody using the techniques listed above.