Week Four 14/10/14

Work in Lecture

The main focus in this weeks lecture was on the musical technique of improvisation. Instantly there was a mental block within the group because people were not confident with not having a structure or lyrics to follow but with improvisation, there is no right or wrong answer; everything you do is creative. Bobby McFerrin, an extremely famous and talented improvisation artist, said in an interview in 2011 that 'The first thing you must learn how to do is to open your mouth and sing, and keep going. That's it. And anybody can do that' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIIVoVRx1tA) The technique of improvising is simply an on the spot response to something else that is happening. It can be present in all three areas of the arts; dance, drama and music. It also occurs in every day life as conversations are improvised; people respond on the spot to what someone else has said or done. There are three areas that must be considered within a successful improvised piece:

1. A collective goal or a central idea
2. A pre-discussed set of rules for the piece
3. Suitable 'space' for the improvisation to happen

The genre of jazz is very well known for the use of improvisation. One example is performer Lois Armstrong, as displayed in Fig.8;
 

'Armstrong was the first great innovator in jazz. He was responsible for the increased prominence of improvisation and he developed the concept of an extended improvised solo (i.e., chorus) based on the chord changes of a song, always shaping his extemporized melodic lines with an innate sense of proportion and growth.' (Cooke 2013)

                                                                                                               Fig.8

 

Another example from the genre of jazz is Ella Fitzgerald. Her ability to scat sing over music is breath-taking to watch. In the clip displayed below there are absolutely no words used within her improvisation, just sounds, jumping around in both pitch and tempo to keep the piece interesting and energetic;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekmwIStfR0o

Even though there was evident structure within the performance, the whole thing was completely improvised. As a jazz performer, she will be familiar with the layout of a 12 bar blues melody and is therefore able to do whatever she desires over the top of the music. After analysing the piece, it is clear that a lot of repetition is used. She plays around with sounds, even mimicking the musical instruments playing, and then returns to a repeated section. I personally thought it was extremely effective to use scat singing as words would not be as impressive.

Another example which I found particularly interesting, within a completely different genre, is the pop artist Freddie Mercury. He used improvisation to connect with his viewing audience and get a response from them. In the video displayed below he used various sounds and scats to encourage the viewing audience to repeat him;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjh3-JE0S-A

Improvisation can be used for numerous aspects and develop a number of techniques in a performer as shown in Fig.9;

Fig.9

An exercise we carried out as a whole group was named the 'Vocal Circle'. This is illustrated in Fig.10;

Fig.10

The group were requested to lay on the floor with their legs straight and palms facing upward in order to be completely open. We used breathing and making sounds to create a piece that sounded harmonious. The recording of the group is displayed below;

We also carried out a task which involved us tuning into each other via improvisation using instruments. We were given a motif to follow which was called 'Storm' and created our piece using this idea within the collaborative composition. We created a set of 'pre-discussed' rules which included which musician started and how the piece ended, in between that was purely improvised. We decided that it would be most effective to have the instruments come in as the music progressed, creating a crescendo effect similar to how a storm progresses. The instruments featured within the group reflected the sounds of the storm we wanted to create. For example, drums for thunder and symbols and bells for rainfall. After having very negative feelings towards the task, we were pleasantly surprised at how well the end product turned out;

We also looked at and explored a very different and abstract mode of writing within the lecture; chance procedures. As I personally struggle with writing music myself, I found this extremely interesting. Although there is an element of pre-planning when it comes to chance writing, all decisions within the music are left simply to chance. For example, if you cannot make a decision when writing, roll dice to decide for you. Another example which I thought was a really compelling idea was to use a puzzle such as a Sudoku. The numbers could be used as notes as well as them deciding how long each note should be played for. John Cage is a very good example of a chance writer. He uses household objects to create sound as well as using books such as an ancient Chinese text named 'I Ching' to decide what to create. His pieces are particularly abstract and rather strange-sounding but extremely clever. He believed that the music was not all that important, the concept of the music was the main thing to focus on. As well as this 'It has been stated on various occasions by various authorities that Cage was more a philosopher than a composer, that his ideas were more interesting than his music.' (Pritchett 1993)

After this lecture, I feel a lot more open and prepared to improvise and use chance writing. These methods may help when creating my own piece if I am ever struggling to create music or lyrics. By the end of the session, rather than feeling afraid to improvise, I felt that I had the freedom to do what I wanted using improvisation because the improvisors do not feel tied even to any set units of pitch or time; there is not any scale or regular beat to which they play (Small 1999: Page 306). This technique provides more room for creativity and the opportunity for a trial and error system; if something works, keep it, if something does not work, do not use it again.

 

Fig.11  

 

Individual Vocal and Instrumental Work

 

When focusing on my independent instrumental and vocal development, I gave myself three points to work on and improve;

1. Working on knowledge when it comes to the theory of music. I was advised to potentially pair up with Devin as she also wants to work on her theory knowledge.
2. Learn to play the piano and develop my skills on this instrument. This could be paired up with learning theory as I will be able to understand the instrument I am learning a lot more and be able to successfully play the instrument by following a theory book.
3. Develop my ability to write songs. I could listen to artists that inspire me musically and take note of what I like about their music as inspiration to write music myself.

As the weeks progress I am hoping to develop my skills and improve generally as a performer and a musician. The more knowledge I have, the more my skills will develop which will contribute to my final group and individual performances.