We Three Kings

We Three Kings Assignment

We three kings- Christmas carol

Villancico's arrangement of 'we three kings' differs from other versions of this song. In the introduction there is a use of a brass section. I personally think the arranger chose this as it adds to the traditional concept of Christmas. Most of the song is an a-ccapella sung in Unison with a three part harmony using bass, tenor and male alto tones. These three part harmonies give the vocal lines more texture and it feels like there's not much space as its all filled out. As its an all male choir the texture is deep and thick which is expressed by the natural reverb caused by recording in a hall or church. Furthermore, the arranger has an organ playing a bass line which can be heard in the chorus and last verse. This has been done to add more depth in to the arrangement and make it more interesting to the listener.

We three kings – Ella Fitzgerald

The main changes in arrangement in this particular version is the change in the key. The recording is swung which is mainly Ella Fitzgerald's style and obviously suits her. This is many of the reasons why the arranger has swung the tempo as its made to suit her preferred style. There is a piano in this version playing 7ths and 9ths in a swung time. There are many techniques the arranger has used to make this version contrast to the others. There is a lot of space in this arrangement which keeps it quite basic but interesting as it allows the music to not get too confusing.

We three kings – Kamelot (recording)

In this arrangement, Kamelot changes the genre to fit his particular style of music. There is a distorted guitar that plays the lead melody of 'We three kings' and has a solo. The distortion of the guitar,solo and the drumming pattern turns this into a rock genre as that is rock stylistics. Although it favors a rock genre it also has elements of classical in it such as the use of strings. In the verse 'God rest ye Children' it is in unison which is very different to the other versions. At the end of the arrangement there is a tempo marking of 'Rit and Rall' which means to slow down gently. Even though it goes back to its normal tempo then finishes the arranger purposely does this to alert the listener that the song is coming to an end.

At the end of this arrangement, there is a Ritardando or Rallantando, towards the end, but this does not continue to the very end. A Ritardando or Rallantando (Rit. And Rall.) is the Italian tempo marking, meaning to slow down gently. The length of a ritardando is extended by a dashed, horizontal line. This line does not continue to the end of the arrangement, for it soon picks up its normal tempo, and then finishes. The arranger has done this to signify to the listener that the end of the arrangement is near, so this is very much a marker that the listener recognises.

What the world needs now (Choir and Lead sheet)

On the lead sheet the arrangement is not swung but is very static. There are no notations or any tempo markings. This helps the player play correctly and the given tempo correlates to this expression in the performance. The arrangement of the lead sheet is also very simple as its only written for left hand. The chords are put above the stave but these are block chords which can not be exciting.

The choir sheet is in SATB which gives the arrangement different textures and easier harmonies.

 

Greatest love of all

The key signature of this piece is in E flat major in the lead sheet. The lead sheet only provides the melody. However the rhythm is very tricky. There is also a repeated section in this arrangement this makes it easier to read and play as they'll be less pages to play through. The greatest love of all piano sheet looks much nicer as it has things such as 'slowly with feeling' as a tempo marking giving more flavor to the piece and giving the player more of a challenge and knowledge of the piece. There are many dynamics in this piece which rise and fall from pianissimo to fortissimo with help from the crescendos and diminuendos along the way. The arrangement has done this to provide interest and diversity in this piece.

 

Elements of a Score; Philip Arranging

Stevie Wonder- Sir Duke

a) G#M(G sharp Major) is the second chord in Sir Duke to play this chord you have to play G#, B and D# together.

b) Bar 14, there is a minum and a quaver both pitched at G# with a slup on top; this makes the performer play the notes together more smoothly. Which means holding the note for 2 1/2 beats.

c) The notation on Bar 21 means 'No Chord' so that means you play what is written and do not improvise over chords because there are no chords to improvise over.

D) The notation on Bar 28 of 'D.C al Coda' which means 'Go back to the beginning' in Italian, it basically means repeat from the beginning to an indicated place and then play the tail.

E) The mark 'X3' at the end of bar 32, this means to the player to repeat everything between the colons. 'X3' also means to repeat every 3 times over.

F) On Bar 37 shows a breath after the first crotchet of the bar. even though after a crotchet it is a semi quaver rest this means that the breath should be held for only a quarter beat as the score is in 4/4.

Is She Not Passing Fair?

A) The tempo marking on the first bar of the score 'Allegro Molto' means the scores tempo should be very quick and played brightly .

B) The 'brace' and the 'bracket' on bar 5 connects two staves to each other. This is done to show the player that they have to play both staves by themselves simultaneously. A brace connects a treble clef to a bass clef, whilst a bracket connects single staves of multiple instruments together.

C) The notation saying 'Dim' on bar 9 is short for diminuendo which means to gradually decrease in volume.

D) The notation 'Ped' on bar 22 means to press the pedal on the extreme right so it sustains the note.

E)The notation 'Colla Parte' on bar 33 means to tell the player to follow the rhythm and tempo of the soloist or vocal.

F) It says 'a tempo' on bar 44 this means to tell the player to return to the original tempo that was stated at the beginning of the score

Censorship In the Middle East

Censorship in the middle east

Music and society have always been intimately related. Music reflects and creates social conditions which could be controversial or an impede social change. Even the development of recording techniques in the latter half of the 20th century has revolutionized the extend to which the majority of people have access to music besides the Middle East. It is very easy for someone like myself in the UK to access the internet and listen to all kinds of music, 24 hours a day, at the touch of a switch. This is all refers to Globalization which is able to exchange world-wide cultural resources around the world and includes advances in transportation and telecommunications.

The Middle East are not yet globalized and the government intend on keeping it like that. They are also not technologically advanced as the rest of the world. The government has censored the internet which simply means they have limited the internet access. This is very unfortunate to the musicians in the Middle east countries who have a huge passion for music and want to seek different music as there is no access to the latest music, news and trends. Even watching a music video on the internet is very difficult and the downloading speed is poor. 
But why do the Middle East countries have censorship laws? Is it simply for the fact that they are afraid of musical expression? and therefore oppresses it. The government also fear they will loose control and power of their people so by limiting the internet they are not able to stand up to the government or protest as its very difficult to communicate because things are usually handled my social websites. Some of this is also due to religious beliefs 'religious/social/cultural censorship'. A decade ago many artist were threatened and sometimes killed by extremist religious forces. A lot of threatening is still happening in the Middle East now-a-days mainly through the Taliban and the Iranian state. Furthermore, censorship by the Islamic government prevents Islamic citizens from finding out or learning about the past current failures and abuses of the government that could start up a protest or riot against them. Many users saw the Internet as an easy way to get around Iran's strict press laws. 

Musical instruments and computers for music soft wares had to smuggled in to the country. Citizens had to use these equipment in sound-proofed rehearsals rooms at certain hours of the day. The government also banned use if instruments in the country which caused an underground music scene to be formed, this is where artist hosted there own illegal gigs and sold tickets on the black market. Even though this was risky and dangerous the Iranian citizens did pay a lot of money to purchase instruments and musical soft wares. With technology becoming a neccesity to create music, the people in Iran would find it extremely different to keep up to date with the new programmes and soft wares.

Most musicians from Iran tried to escape to somewhere where music was not banned. The band 'Take It Easy Hospital' had to find refuge in the UK after being caught by the police for creating music. Going back to there had there lives at danger especially when there film 'No one knows about the Persian Cats' was played at the Cannes festival. The film represented the country in a negative light so the idea of going back to Iran was IMPOSSIBLE.

Even though censoring music shouldn't be allowed it did help them develop their cultural sides and help them appreciate music more. Whilst us  people in the UK do not understand the worth of having music there at your disposal as we are saturated in it. Music now being very easy to access and also very cheap it is hard to think of a life where music could be censored. Politics is definitely one of the main reasons for the underexposure of music in the middle east. The education curriculum makes sure music lessons are very limited, they insist on the classical/cultural route so the children do not habe a creative mind to try anything different, they do not have the chance to explore the different genres and styles that music has to offer.

The idea of censoring music in Iran doesnt not allow citizens to develop their own beliefs and thoughts, it is basically controlling people. This defintely should be stopped and given the light it needs to show people the different ways people are living due to dictatorship.


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Disco

The Joy of disco

    Disco started in the late 1960's it was aimed at the people who were valued less in society. An example was the homosexuals who found life very hard by being discriminated from the law, society and the general public. It was said that homosexuality was a mental illness and was very shameful. This was reflected from the bible as it states that "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination."

Not only did homosexuals have no rights but also women didn't have equal rights as men did. This was because of the whole 'housewife' image still being taken as a view by society. It was almost as if homosexuals, women and black people where in the same boat with not having equality.
Disco was a dancing music culture that accepted those who wanted to get away from the critical world. By dancing it was an easy form of expression and it was a necessity for crowds that needed escapism for the judgmental public.
 For a while disco and gay liberation enjoyed a synergistic relationship. Years later Stonewall, gay clubs, which had been sites of repression and supervision, became something related to liberated zones. Through Disco, gay men felt sexually legible to each other. There was also a thriving drug subculture, particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights. They took drugs such as cocaine, poppers and Quaalude etc. The drugs caused a lot promiscuity and public sex. Disco became kind of a main reason in a hedonist's menu for a night out.

Histories of disco emphasize the antagonism between rock and disco. But just like disco that was used to express and escape from an oppressive society by those who were oppressed, Punk was also invented by working class people so they could escape the Thatcher government. Nevertheless, unlike disco which was a dancing joyous genre for expression, punk was an escapism of anger. 
The reason why the working class punk rockers were so angry was because the Thatcher government had caused a recession which meant there were no jobs so there was no source of income. Punk rockers also hated disco because everybody enjoyed and danced to it whilst rock was going down the drain at the time. The era of disco ended in 1979 when an event called 'Disco Demolition Night', which was held at the Chicago White Sox stadium. It quickly became one of the worst sports disasters of the century when disgruntled rock fans wrecked the stadium screaming "Rock Sucks!" while racing to get the disco records burned and blown up.

Disco can also be compared to a more recent movement in music, to censorship in Iran. There are many similarities within this field.  With Disco, homosexuals were segregated by there own American government and weren't allowed to express there sexuality. The Iranian government censored all the music that was not cultural to the Iran's, the government were not giving them rights to express themselves and listen to popular music. The similarities they have is not being able to have rights as the government stopped them. 

Also both Homosexuals of America and Iranians stood up to their oppressors. The Stonewall riots began in 1969 on June 28th. This was a riot by the gay members against a police raid. It started at 1:20am in the morning where four undercover cops entered the bar and started arresting people for performing homosexual behaviour. The homosexuals refused to go to the police and thats where everything became explosive. They stood up to the police and fought for equality.
Till this day from the 1980's popular music is still banned from Iran. Reasons being is that the government fears the radical spread of western music, therefore they think it will invade the cultural revolution. They fear the people of iran will start a political revolution which would mean a war against the government. However, Iranian musicians still rebel and sneak in popular music instruments in order to play them. They also throw private gatherings to show their music which is very risky as Iran's are not allowed to be in groups. Furthermore, they wait days to download JUST an introduction to a song because the government controls the internet to the country which means that all software available to download music works very slow. The Iran's are rebelling which they believe is fighting the oppression.

Both movements show that it is important to fight for your rights, equality and most importantly FREEDOM.

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My action plan; westking music

History of Electronic music; House Music

Before electronic music many composers tried to create different technologies for musical purposes. There were creations such as the 'Telharmonium'(an electromechanical instrument) developed by Thaddeus Cahill in the early years 1898-1912. Another example of an early electronic instrument was the 'Theremin' which was invented by Leon Theremin. Music would have surely gone down another route if these people did not experiment with the electronic sounds using noisemakers etc. Genres such as Synth pop, Techno and House music would have probably not been created.

In the 1940's and 1950's the development of electronic music grew even bigger as Halim El-Dabh was the first known composer to record sounds using a cumbersome wire recorder and then processed the sounds using echo, reverbation and voltage controls etc. At this period of time composers got an understanding of visible waves and the very beginning of synthesisers.
In the 1960's more computers began to create an impact on electronic music. Synthesisers were used to create electronic sounds also new genres appeared such as Acid etc. Also this was the period that pop and rock musicians began using electronic instruments. Developments around these times led to new genres such as synth pop. The main people to use this type of genre was the Eurythmics, Talk Talk and Spandau Ballet etc. The style later did lose popularity in the mid-1980's.

The 1980's was the birth of MIDI and also this is when House music was born. At the very beginning House music was basically known by repetitive 4/4 beats and synthesized basslines. It has similar characteristics to Disco music(which influenced house music) but obviously more electronic and minimalistic. House music now-a-days varies a lot in style and influence as it ranges from soulful to deep house using more electronic instruments. It has fused with many other genres creating fusion subgenres such as Euro house, tech house and electro house. Many more house musical elements included the range being between 118 and 135 bpm it is usually mid-tempo now-a-days but back in the early years house music tended to be slower. The main and common element of house is a prominent kick drum on every beat which is usually generated by a drum machine or sampler. Producers use a various of different sound sources for bass sounds in house on a synthesizer such as Roland SH-101 etc. It wasnt a matter of time before house music started hitting the clubs and charts, It emerged into the UK mainstream pop market in the mid-to-late 80s.

Going back to the early 1980's, Chicago clubs and radio DJs were playing various styles of dance music. The electronic dance song 'On and On' produced in 1984 had element that became staples of the early house sound. 'On and On' is sometimes stated as the 'first house record'. Deep house origins come from jazz and soul music. The early 1990's additionally saw the rise in mainstream US popularity for house music. Madonna's song 'vogue' was known to bringing house mainstream.

In the late 1980's-1990's in Britain the genre got even more bigger in raves and clubs and it continued to grow and change. 'Release the pressure' by Leftfield introduced dub and reggae into the house sound. Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 200s, producers like Daft Punk and Stardust began producing a new sound out of Paris's house scene. They together thought of something which was known as the French House movement combining more soulful elements with the melodies of obscure Funk.

In the 2000's it was proclaimed in 2005 to be 'House Unity Day' in Chicago bringing all the originators of house music together. Today, house music is celebrated and showcased at many venues and can be heard on popular radio stations such Radio 1, bbc 1 extra etc. House music has now become mainstream again with producers like Daft Punk and David guetta etc. You'll hear many DJ's today blending all sub-genres of house. Electro house is still very popular in Australia, Europe and North America, and now this genre has produced acts that are touring the world.

Bibliography

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_music#Electronic_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_house_music

Microphones

1)  As a general guideline, it can be said that dynamic microphones are best suited for live sound work, and that

condenser microphones are more suited for use in a recording studio.

Give technical and practical reasons for why this may, or may not, be a valid statement (include diagrams if

necessary).

This is definitely a valid statement as a condenser microphone is too sensitive to be used for live work and are going to be more prone to feedback(they have unnaturally hyped high-end) and will pick up the band which won’t be a pleasant sound. Furthermore, you’d have to tell with phantom power which may or may not be full of 48V voltage making it to the stage. They are more suited in studio work as they are generally acknowledged to be the best microphones for recording vocals, acoustic instruments, and indeed all sources where subjective sound quality and musicality are essential.

Dynamic microphones are best suited for live work as they are most effective when working with relatively loud sound sources that don’t contain a lot of very high-frequency detail. They have no internal amplifier and do not require batteries or external power. They’re also really tough which makes them brilliant for live work. The dynamic mics could be cardioids or uni-directional’s which means that the mic has one area in which it picks up sound which means unlike the condenser it will not pick up the sound of the whole band in one mic.

2)  What are the three main polar patterns found on microphones? Describe the differences and give examples of how each could be used.

The three main polar patterns; Omni-directional, Bi-directional and Uni-directional.

The Omni-directional picks up sounds evenly from all directions; it is useful for capturing ambient noises. The smallest diameter microphone gives the best omni-directional characteristics at high frequencies. This is great for studio work. The most common uses of an omnidirectional microphone involve groups of singers or instrumentalists. This equipment can also be useful for meetings and events where there may be many speakers but a single microphone to capture the sounds from several angles.

The Bi-directional uses a figure 8 pattern and picks up sound from two opposite directions. A possible way you could use this mic is for an interview where two people are facing each other with the mic between them.

The Uni-directional picks up sound predominantly from one direction. This includes cardioids and hypercardiod microphones. An example of this is recording a teacher’s lecture in a classroom in a scenario where only the lecture of the teacher needs to be recorded without any noise coming from the students behind. Uni-directional microphones have great application when a sound source can stay put in front of the microphone to record only that sound source and no other.

3)  Dynamic and condenser microphones are the two most commonly used type of microphone found in the studio. Can you name any other types? Also include their basic technical features and how, or why, they might be used.

Ribbon microphones are another type of microphones found in studios, it used a string of foil rather then a coil of wire in the diaphram. It doesn't have a huge output but it picks up high frequencies. It is good for studio work to record acoustic instrumentals because it doesn't need external power.

Another type of microphone is a fiber optic it converts acoustic waves into electrical signals by sensing light intensity. They have proven especially useful in medical applications, such as allowing radiologists, staff and patients within the powerful and noisy magnetic field to converse.

4) Give suggestions as to what you might use the following microphones for and explain your answer:

a) Audix D6

b) SE Electronics titan

c) microtech gefell M300

For an Audix D6, i would use this for recording lower frequencies such as the bass amplifiers and bass drums. The D6 is lightweight, compact and easy to position. It has a balanced output allow for interference-free performance.

An SE Electronics titan  is a large-diaphragm condenser microphone. It needs phantom power(48V) in order to be powered up. It is ideally suited for percussive recordings, including stuido use for drums, picked guitar, kick drum and slap bass etc.

The microtech Gefell M300 is great for recording instruments such as the parts of the drum kit and pianos atc. It is a compact cardioid condenser so therefore it would mainly pick up sounds directly from the front. It is good as it gives a very clear detail of the sound from the instrument/s.

5) When using microphones, why is a mic pre-amp necessary? What features would you expect to find on a

professional pre-amp (either standalone or as a part of a mixing desk)?

A mic pre-amp is definitely necessary as the sound created needs to be amp'd up to a specific line level which is the main role of the pre-amp. It comes with 'Gain' so you can control how much sound that goes through the pre-amp. You will see a meter(on the top of the mixer) that indicates when the sound is being too pushed. There is a DAW button to make sure so the performers can hear through the mixer and also phantom power that should be switched on for condenser microphones in order to power, which is known as 48V on the mixer. Also there is a low frequency switch and a HI-Z which needs to be put on when recording other instruments.