An artist may be having a good song but fail to capture the target audience attention depending on how it has been composed. Therefore, whether an artist wants to compose a song for recording, TV shows and commercial or music publishers, it will be meaningless if he fails to observe key methods that will ensure the audience is engaged from the beginning to the end of the song. This project has observed all the major essentials that a composer has to put into consideration to get the listeners involved. The writing of this song has been influenced by Justin Bieber. In addition to the Bieber’s influence, the project has taken care of all the crucial aspects and elements that will make the song attractive and enjoyable to the listeners. In this Album music project, the key song aspects that have been used to make it complete include electronic sound theme, two music genres for all seven tracks used in the song and Indian traditional music songs such as Harmonium, Tumbi, and Indian-Percussions. However, it may be difficult using the above mention music instruments for the electronic theme-based album.
First, this project starts by defining what musical composition is. According to Tsin & Isabel (2015, p. 725) musical composition refers to the procedure of forming or making a piece of music. This process entails integrating together all the crucial elements and parts of the music. This helps in understanding that the composer is not just creating something out of the non-existing thing. Likewise, this project enshrines its beginning from Justin Bieber’s songs. The proposed music album will focus on expressing the music theory of the writer. This theory comprises what the song composer listened and studied and would like other to listen to it. Even though the instruments and grammar used in this music are different from that of Justin Bieber, theme and beats of the music finds its roots from the lyrics of Justin Bieber.
As noted above the major objective of this project is to propose song composition based on the electronic theme. To achieve this, the project concentrates on accessing the appropriate process of songwriting. Before beginning the music composition process, this paper will go through some of the key basics necessary for songwriting. These basics comprise of the grammar of the music, the logic of the music and the rhetoric of the music. Besides, the project will engage in establishing on how the proposed music album will be composed. This will include putting into consideration the target audience as well as the instruments used to compose the song.
According to Levine & Edelstein (2009, p. 840), anyone serious about composing a good song must engage in learning musical grammar. Understanding music grammar helps the composer in reading the music notation. Some of the successful song composers such as Stravinsky, Ravel, Mahler, Debussy, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Beethoven, Bach, Justin Bieber and others made successful music because they could write and read music notion. Additionally, Yau, 2015, (p. 88) supports that all the song composers were capable of reading, writing and thinking about music notion. Likewise, this project will use the composers mentioned above as the reference when composing the song. Despite that, there are many resources to learn about music notion, this paper finds that learning from the real artists will be the best for composition of the appropriate song.
Governor, et al. (2013, p. 3120) argues that in addition to the notion of the music there are fundamentals that a songwriter has to put into consideration. For example, NatalieKuzmich (2013, p. 10) advocates that basics such as seven chords, triads, scales and music tracks are essential elements of music composition. These basics are the core building blocks. If the writer is well conversant with the music notion, then chords, triads, and scales should be the “words” of the music. To make good music, the songwriter knowledge should be beyond superficial and aural level (Gates, 2009, p. 5). In fact, the writer needs to understand what the chords are and how they sound. This proposal will take into consideration all these aspects to ensure that the song does not only focus on gaining popularity but also the language of the song is addressed.
Once, the proposed song has met the requirements of the music notion, and the songwriter can understand all the triads, scales and chords, the next phase will be learning on how to integrate these basics to create simple music and small scale. One of the fundamental aspects that differentiates a good songwriter from the rest as the ability to arrange his or her music basics appropriately (Gangelhoff, 2013, p. 52). However, this projects will differ from the same music logic that has been followed by most of the music. The continued guidelines have gotten into the peoples’ ears, and they expect to hear them whenever a new music album is released. Based on the grammar of the music and the traditional Indian instruments to be used in the song, the logic of the proposed song will be different from the usual expectations.
Rhetoric aspect finds its roots in the early human civilizations (Friedmann, 2013). It is a persuasive communication in the music. In the field of music, rhetoric focuses on expressing the convictions and intentions of the composer. This rhetoric is meant to appeal to the audience to make them part of the song. Additionally, in music is used to express different situations and genres. Given that this proposed music album will contain two genres, these genres can be well exhibited using the rhetoric element.
Based on the music composition of Justin Bieber, this paper finds, that artist has applied three combinations of rhetoric. In his music, Justin Bieber has extensively utilized ethos, logos, and pathos as the rhetoric of music (Fivek, 2012). Bearing in mind that the major purpose of the rhetoric is to present the composer’s intentions, Justin Bieber has well used this in his music. For example, in some of his music, he utilizes the aspect of pathos whereby his listeners share his feeling. He shares his emotions of suffering as well as the anxiety with his audience. Understanding the rhetoric of the music before the actual composition, helps the composure compose a song that has met are the fundamental basics of composition. This project will employ Justin Bieber’s approach to make sure the rhetoric of the music is properly communicated and expressed to the listeners.
The actual composition of the song requires skills, enough practice, right technique, and imagination to create a great masterpiece. The observation of all these basics helps the songwriter compose a professional sounding song. The imagination side relies on writer whereas the technical sides depend on the techniques, instruments, and basics applied by the composer. When it comes to song composition, everyone has different experiences, emotions, and beliefs. All these elements play crucial role on how the song will appear. For example, in the proposed music album the combination of different genres, music instruments, and seven tracks makes the music unique. Even though there are common that songwriters widely used while composing their songs, this paper suggests the adoption of the following steps in the proposed music album.
It is important to note that music starts in mind. Having a clear mind helps the writer bring his or her creativity and conscience in the music. Mindset composition begins with the hitting of the inspiration to compose a song (BicknelL, 2009, p. 262). This will require the writer to take note of the key content to be used in the song. Upon completing this step, the writer will engage his or mind in searching for the right backing track. This will be followed by brainstorming for the suitable instruments that can suit the writer’s lyrics. It should be noted all this is happening in mind. In the proposed album music all this has been accomplished, and the only thing remaining is to actualize the music and make it available to the audience.
The above-discussed step was only happening in mind. The next stage will be to establish a beat where the lyrics will be written over. This project uses the traditional Indian instruments to set the beat of the song. Indian-Percussions, Tumbi, and Harmonium give the music appropriate beats necessary to get the two genes of the music through.
Tumbi instrument is used to play simple but enjoyable music tunes that have characteristics of timbre. It finds its origin in Northwestern Indian state of Punjab. The instrument has had an amazing career in the field of music, and it has been widely used by Indian expatriates in United States and the United Kingdom. The Tumbi instrument is made of a small wooden and resonator made of pumpkin. The pumpkin is covered by the skin that is attached to its lower end. At the upper side is a peg that supports a single string. It is this string that is passed to the wooden part to determine the beat as well change the pitch of the music.
Source: https://www.india-instruments.com
Indian Harmonium comes in various designs and sizes. However, they almost produce the same beat. Also referred to as pump organ because of its shape, it is used to generate sound by allowing the air to flow through a vibrating piece of think contained in a frame. The usage of this instrument gained momentum in the 19th century when it was being used in private homes and smaller churches. The produce tonal range and volume that improves the beat of the music. Besides, both volume and instrument tone can be adjusted to select the beat appropriate for the music. Since its invention, the tool has been used widely in Canada and USA. Besides, artists and pianists have recognized it as one of the best instruments to be used in the field of music.
Source: https://www.google.com
In addition to the above two instruments, the music album will utilize Indian Percussions to make the beats of the music more enjoyable. This percussion can be altered to change the performance of the music. They are either worn on wrists, ankles or hanged on the drum. Given the type of the proposed music album, it will be appropriate to use a repercussion that involves performing on it to produce a sound. Upon analyzing the available percussions, this paper finds that Tabla is the right instrument to use the music. Tabla is a pair bowl-shaped drums. They are typically found in North India. The bowl on the right is called Dayan, and it is in the form of large coffee-cup that is made of wood. The other one on the left side is called Bayan and has a shape of an oversized teacup. It is made of either burnt clay or metal. This instrument has been used by the artist both inside and outside India. The striking of the two drums produces an appealing pitch and meets that captures the attention of the listeners.
Source: https://chandrakantha.com
Based on the instruments used, this project will use mixed melody for the proposed music album. This melody of the song will be designed in the manner that it will be able to change the notes and chord of the song. Additionally, the melody and harmony to be used in the music album will be linked with two genres to make them presentable to the audience. Each harmony will be following the beat as produced by the instruments. On the other side, the melody in the music will be moved in smaller steps than the harmony voices. This will make sure both the melody and harmony tones follow the chord tones. Therefore, the tone of the melody will be determined by both the frequency of harmony and beats applied in the song. This will make song deliverable by an ingraining variety of voices such as with a male voice as the main singer and female backing voices. Alternatively, it will make it possible for the female voice to be the main singer with the backing of the male voices. The choices of the melody and harmony in this song make it possible to have more several melodies and harmonies.
Upon completing all the steps mentioned above, the next step that will follow is to compose the song. In the earlier discussion, this paper noted that fundamentals should be ingrained in the song composition. In this stage, all the music basics will be implemented. The project will focus on the English grammar. Even though the music emphasizes on using two music genres, this will not change the grammar of the music. The genre of enjoyable listening will be achieved by appropriate grammar that will communicate the intentions and convictions of the composer perfectly. On the other side, the genre of dancing will be exhibited through the Indian traditional music instruments. The combination of the three instruments will produce beats and pitches that will only make the listeners enjoy dancing to the music, but it will also appeal to the audience to listen to the song.
The logic in the music should be arranged in a manner that the song connects with the audience (Niland, 2012, p. 24). In this project, the logic will flow with the beats and the voice of the singer. This will be different with what the expectations of the majority of the listeners. From the arrangement, tools, and basics applied in this song, it is clear that this music album brings a change in the field of music. The application of the traditional instruments in the electronic theme based song inculcates a different and unique approach to composing songs in the industry of music. Traditional and modern music basics make this music the best.
On the rhetoric aspect, the music will focus on communication and expressing the intended message to the listeners. All the seven tracks in the music aim to send singers intentions and feelings to the audience not only for the dancing purpose. According to Chan (2006, p. 22) apart from enjoyment music can be used to educate, inform, highlight issues in the society or communicate the co-composer intentions to the certain audience. Likewise, this music album will not only entertain the people, but it will also express the composer’s message to the listeners. This is why the writing of this song greatly influenced by the artistic work of Justin Bieber who has used to connect his feelings with that of the audience.
After ingraining the music fundamentals, the next step with to compose in separate forms. It is crucial to note that the whole music cannot be composed at once. It has gone through steps to test whether all the basics are included and can function well. In this phase, the project will engage in combining the separate elements such as texture, tempo, rhythm, harmony, and melody together. This gives the song composer time to explore each basic of the song to ascertain whether his or her intended melody, harmony, rhetoric, logic, grammar, tone, beat and the pitch of the music have been achieved. This will make sure the music produced makes sense even though the listeners may fail to notice the simple music form that the composer has applied.
This is the last part of composing the song. Functional harmony is the tonal variation used according to the either major or minor keys. In this project phase, all the group harmonies will be put together to help in recognizing the forces driving the progression and the flow of the music. Upon accomplishing this task, the chord progressions will open up. In the proposed music album all the three major harmonic functions have been considered. Tonic which is the home key has been used to start and end the music. This means the first and the last chords in the song are similar. Secondly, the dominant function has been used as the second to last chord. In fact, it is the tense chord in the proposed music album. Finally, the predominant function has preceded the dominant chord. The application of the three functional harmonies in the music makes the song complete and ready for the listeners to enjoy.
This project will not be successful without taking into consideration the necessary equipment. Below is the list of equipment to be used in the implementation of the project:
|
Month |
Date |
Day |
Recording and Production Activities |
|
July |
10 |
Monday |
Recording |
|
12 |
Wednesday |
Creating Track |
|
|
13 |
Thursday |
Recording the Rhythm |
|
|
17 |
Monday |
Recording the Harmonies |
|
|
18 |
Tuesday |
Recording the Melodies |
|
|
22 |
Saturday |
Editing and Mixing Process |
|
|
24 |
Monday |
Mastering Process |
References
Bicknell, J., 2009. Just a Song? Exploring the Aesthetics of Popular Song Performance. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 63(3), pp. 261-270.
Chan, Z., 2006. Essay Composing a song to teach about dengue fever. Lancet, 3(2), p. 22–23.
Fivek, E., 2012. Justin Bieber Rhetorical Analysis. [Online]
Available at: https://sites.psu.edu/fivekrcl/2012/10/04/rhetorical-analysis-essay-draft-1/
[Accessed 3 July 2017].
Friedmann, J. L., 2013. Music as Rhetoric. [Online]
Available at: https://thinkingonmusic.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/music-as-rhetoric/
[Accessed 3 July 2017].
Gangelhoff, C., 2013. Art Music by Caribbean Composers: St. Kitts and Nevis. The International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 19(2), pp. 50-54.
Gates, E., 2009. Clara Schumann: A Composer’s Wife as Composer. The Kapralova Society Journal, 7(2), pp. 1-11.
Governor, D., Hall, J. & Jackson, D., 2013. .Teaching and Learning Science Through Song: Exploring the experiences of students and teachers. International Journal of Science Education, 35(3), pp. 3117-3140.
Levine, L. J. & Edelstein, R. S., 2009. Emotion and memory are narrowing: a review and goal-relevance approach. Cognition Emotion, 2(3), p. 833–875.
NatalieKuzmich, 2013. Composing Educational Music for Strings in the Canadian Context: Composer Perspectives, Toronto: The Downtown Vocal Music Academy of Toronto.
Niland, A., 2012. Exploring the Lives of Songs in the Context of Young Children’s Musical Cultures. Israel Studies in Musicology Online, 10(2), pp. 27-46.
Pettijohn, T. F. & Ahmed, S. F., 2010. Songwriting Loafing or Creative Collaboration?: A Comparison of Individual and Team Written Billboard Hits in the USA. Journal of Articles in Support of the Null Hypothesis, 7(1), pp. 1-6.
Tsin, Y. P. & Isabel, 2015. Composing Songs for Teaching Science to College Students. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 3(10), pp. 724-726.
Yau, A., 2015. Malaysian Teachers’ Perspective on using songs in English Language teaching. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 5(2), pp. 87-89.
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