That Kid Named Ethan -UAL Level 3 Music Tech @esmithhrc-blog - Tumblr Blog

In today's rehearsal, we put together a cover of "You" by The 1975, ready for our performance on the 1st of April in the atrium. The cover consists of a 1970's type synthesiser, clarinet, 2 guitars, a bass, a full drum kit, and 2 vocals harmonising. It is Indie/Alternative, and very mainstream so the audience will like it.

28/1/16

Today, we completely mastered our Punk song and Reggae song after several hours of rehearsal. We also began writing our original hip-hop song "The Anarchy", as a big protest against David Cameron and the politicians in power. It is in the key of D minor and contains piano, and distorted guitars. Ricki and I both rap.

28/1/16

House has been around since late 70's/early 80's, and has original sounds, using real and electronic drum machines. Now it's made on DAW. House songs are repetitive, but full in sound with a lot of intrumental tracks. The common time signature is 4/4. The genre originated from a Chicago club. Garage is same as house but quicker with more complex beats. Again, the common time signature is 4/4. Its main impact was in the early 2000's when Craig David & Artful Dodger came along, but has slowly evolved to house music with Disclosure. With drum & bass, most of the producers were on heavy drugs. This electronic genre began in the late 90's, and changed from Jungle to Drum & Bass because of advanced technology. Genres such as trap and grime extended from drum and bass. If you listen, it's almost as if the rapper has selected a drum and bass song, slowed down the tempo, developed it no further, and used the beats to rap over.

27/1/16 - Drafting A Performance Plan

We have 3 songs of different genres prepared - reggae, punk and hip-hop.

Our first song is a punk song called “Rebellion”, which I wrote in complete revellion to David Cameron and his “democracy”. It reflects the true meaning of punk, and the instrumental is heavy and hard-hitting.

Our second song is a reggae song, “The Revival of Mary Jane”, and holds the same distorted guitar as the punk one, with a clean guitar over the top, to a slow tempo & simplistic reggae beat. Slightly grunge, but with a natural Reggae vibe. It is about marijuana.

Our final song is a self-titled hip-hop song called “The Anarchy”. We are currently writing it, however it will be insane, heavy, controversial, truthful, meaningful and hardhitting.

Lighting for punk - tends to be flashing, slightly strobey. Could possibly have slight strobes of different colours.

Lighting for hip hop - changing colours. Standard, dark lighting with different colours popping in.

Lighting for reggae - subtle change of colours, but the lighting doesn’t decrease or increase.

27/1/16

Irish Folk Music Aodán Coyne & Shane Hayes - The Silver Spear / The Tamlin (Glasgow Reel) Guitars are tuned in DADGAD. Strumming patterns varies on different time signatures. Mostly written in key of D & G. Guitar is used to drive the piece, accordions are used commonly for melody. Guitar and accordions compliment each other. Key changes from major to minor. Introduction chord. Play chords octave higher occasionally to change things up. Usually played on steel string guitars. Hornpipes, polka's are played in 4/4. Derek Ryan - Waltz With A Hero Waltz's are played in 3/4. Fingerpicked guitar. Piano. Strings. Drums. Vocals, usually harmonised by something else - a 2nd voice. Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Instrumental Outro structure Key changes in instrumental, melody of (usually chorus) played on another instrument. Nathan Carter - Spanish Lady, Holy Ground, Westmeath Bachelor (The Quays,Galway) Medley. Structure similar to Waltz. Though slightly more complicated. Instrumentals in between to link songs. Harmonies. Upbeat. 4/4. Use of the whole drum kit, no limit. Nathan Carter - Home to Donegal Influenced by culture. Ballads. Lyrically based upon the Irish Famine - 19th Century, Ireland ran out of potatoes, Ireland spread around to other countries. Usually written in Irish language, and then translated. Slow tempo. Time signatures varies, 3/4 or 4/4. Piano, strings, guitar, harmonies vocally, mandolin. Same structure as a Waltz. Second voice varies. 3/4. Patsy Watchorn - Grace Rebel song. Massive conflict between Ireland and England, causing the split between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland - throughout 1900's and ending in 1998. Focus on voice. Story telling.

15/1/16

Hip-Hop - 1983 808 Drum Machine Grandmaster Flash - White Lines (Don't Do It) Hip-Hop - 1984 Def Jam records formed - Rick Rubin Hip-Hop - 1986 Beastie Boys released "Licensed to Ill" on Def Jam records. First white rappers. 1988 "Yo! MTV Raps" was created in the UK. 1989 A Tribe Called Quest formed, who took samples of funk. 1991 N.W.A release "Niggaz For Life". Controversial and political. They released the song "Fuck The Police". Cypress Hill come along and released their debut album as a political campaign to legalise cannabis. 1993 Dr. Dre releases "The Chronic" which went multiplatinum 1994 Common released "Resurrection", bringing in a new era of intelligent lyricists. 1995 Tupac signs to Death Row Records. East Coast vs West Coast rivalry began. East: Run DMC, Puff Daddy, Jay Z, 50-Cent, Busta Rhymes West: 2Pac, Coolio, Ice-T, People Under The Stairs, Snoop Dogg. 1996 Tupac Shakur murdered, shot. 1997 The Notorious B.I.G murdered, shot. 1998 Lauryn Hill releases "Doo-Wop (That Thing)" and her debut album. 1999 Eminem releases his debut EP "The Slim Shady EP" which sold 4 million copies. Neptunes form - Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo. N.E.R.D form - Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Today's lesson was spent looking at the history of rap music, as well as covering 99 Problems successfully. Also, we composed a hip-hop song called "Dystopia", which is about our personal experiences of being bullied.

14/1/16

In today's rehearsal we proceeded to develop our acoustic original, "Porcelain Heart". I wrote the lyrics with Olivia, based upon personal experiences and feelings from yesterday and today. The key of the song is B minor, and it begins with a finger picking guitar. Gradually, bass and drums come in along with keyboards and vocals. It is about a boy (or girl) who has broken up with their partner after being together for over a year, and about his/her feelings.

7/1/16

Today we looked at acoustic guitarists such as Tommy Emmanuel and Newton Faulkner, and how they can transform a full song into a piece just by using acoustic guitars and vocals. It was incredible and inspiring to watch. In our band we covered a song called "A Part of Me" by Neck Deep, as well as write our own original acoustic song "Cast Away", to introduce us to playing acoustic songs in bands.

6/1/16

Today during our first rehearsal session in our new bands, we managed to create a potential base of a new Reggae song inspired by "London Town" by Modestep.

Calypso - What is it?

During the early to mid 20th century, in Trinidad and Tobago, Calypso - a style of Afro-Carribean music - originated. The rhythms used can be traced back to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 1600s according to Wikipedia.

In the early days Calypso used bamboo pieces and rattles, however now modern Calypso musicians use drums, flutes, guitars, saxophones, and rattles for accompaniment.

It is another main inspiration for Reggae music.

Mento - What is it?

Mento is a type of folk music that originated in the late 19th century in Jamaica, and was one of Reggae’s influences musically. Mento usually features acoustic instruments such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a type of cajon. The rhumba box produces bass. Mento singers frequently used calypso songs and techniques as they both use topical lyrics with humorous slants based upon poverty and other social issues.

Reggae - What is it? Where did it come from?

Reggae is a musical genre which began during the late 1960’s in Jamaica. It is a music style that was strongly influenced by traditional Mento and Calypso music - as well as Jazz and R&B (Rhythm and Blues) - and then went on to influence genres such as Ska and Rock Steady. People would gather together in streets and in halls to listen to music through sound systems (groups of disc jockeys, engineers and MC’s playing Ska, Rock Steady or Reggae music through large stacks of amplifiers).

The instruments commonly used in reggae songs consist of guitar, drums, organ, percussion, horns, vocals - however, the bass guitar's role in reggae music is to provide a solid, full sound to the song. It’s the glue that holds the other instruments together, and it brings everything to unity.

One of the most famous reggae musicians is Bob Marley.

6.1.16

Today during our first rehearsal session in our new bands, we managed to create a base of a potential new Reggae-core song inspired by “London Town by Modestep”.

It consists of the chords G min, D min, Eb maj, & C min, and we are yet to figure out the bpm.

Liv - Vocalist

Ethan - Vocalist, Guitarist & Keyboardist

George - Guitarist

Owen - Bassist

Olgierd - Piano

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Here is a new song which I am in the process of developing and fully creating, which uses Polyrhythms within each drum, as well as the rhythm of the guitars conflicting with the drums.

Polyrhythms

06.1.16

According to wikipedia, polyrhythms are the simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms, that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic conflict may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhythm), or a momentary disruption.

An example of a song with polyrhythms would be “Dancers To A Discordant System” by Meshuggah, as the lead guitars rhythm conflicts with the rhythm of the drums and rhythm guitar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J4Ye7nRT0s

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Peer Assessment - Ben Neacy

Ben Neacy is a great contribution to our band BEIJ. He completes the pieces, gives each song that extra layer with his keyboard/ambient sounds, defining each track perfectly to help create the perfect sound for us.

He always listens to what everyone has to say, and gives his own opinion in amongst everyone else’s contributions. He brings life to the band with his ideas, even if they are not so good. Without Ben, musically we wouldn’t be the same as he brings inspiration from his style of house music into the piece by changing up chordal techniques, rhythm patterns, as well as melodies.

He is a great team player, and has no problems in taking constructive criticism. Despite the fact he always plays the keyboard even when we aren’t playing anything, it sometimes enables us to hear out any improvised things and eventually helps us create a potential new song.

Overall, the band wouldn’t be the same without Ben. He is one of the main creative musicians within our group, and he also knows what he is doing when he is told to do something - obedient, but not controlled.

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That Kid Named Ethan -UAL Level 3 Music Tech