CMU205 Musicianship: Week Two 30/09/14

Work in Lecture

Within this session, I learnt a lot more about myself as a performer via the task we have been assigned to prepare for Week 3. We were provided with words, either from a poem or another form of literature to use creatively within our own devised piece. The task has provided us with the opportunity to really show what we are capable of as performers. Within my group, we were given this section of text;

'I've been to the mountain top. I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land'.

We wanted our devised piece to make our listening audience question society. The text is a short extract from an extremely famous Martin Luther King, Jr. speech titled 'I've Been to the Mountaintop'. Our group decided to challenge ourselves musically and create an African themed piece. Using 'Grasslands Chant' from the musical The Lion King as inspiration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0xW6xtEmdw), we decided to create a song using some of the provided section of the speech as well as potentially incorporating other sections; http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm.

Last week we discovered that various different cultures and genres come together through music so we thought this performance would be effective; especially with the meaning behind the speech. African music is often used as a celebration and a communication of hope; this aspect is reflected within the speech. Even in the darkest of times in history, there is always hope, and we want the piece to reflect this. African music expresses the mood of the people and evokes emotion. The beat of the African drum is the “heartbeat of the community” and its rhythm is what holds the dancers together (http://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/african-traditions.html). Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech brought people together, similar to the way African music does.

We learnt last week that 'music is organized sound' (Levitin 2008: Page 14) so the fact that the group have created a concept and given the piece context gives us the chance to develop the organised sound into music with meaning.

When creating the piece, we decided that we needed a starting point to work from. We planned which instruments to use after carrying out research into the chosen genre as well as considering what is on offer within University facilities (African Treasures 2014). Many instruments included within traditional African music fall under the percussion category, resulting in us deciding to use drums within our piece. We have also decided to incorporate a piano or keyboard so that we can put a modern twist on tradition and provide a melody for the vocals to follow. African music includes a lot of repetition and layering so we thought it may be effective to repeat certain sections of the speech. We could introduce each section separately to create numerous layers and add texture to the piece. As well as lead vocals singing the chosen sections of the speech, we are also layering the piece using backing vocals chanting.

Using Audacity software, we are able to record all of the separate parts and put them together to create our original song. As a group we have thought about and planned which order the instruments will enter, to keep our audience interested. We have also discussed including everyday objects to give the piece more depth and add personality. For example, using tables as drums etc. We are going to record the piece and play it in Week Three's lecture to the rest of the group and hopefully what we have imagined will come to life and be successful.

Screenshots of the music we created (without vocals) to portray our planning and progression are seen in Fig.2, 3, 4 and 5 displayed below: