Exploring Music in Context:

Section 1- Exploration of diverse Music

Introduction:

I have chosen to study Music for listening (AOI2) and performance and Music

Technology in the electronic and digital age(AOI 4) for my exploration. I am interested

in the musical nature and how the music production utilize different features of genera

to present vastly different Music. Specifically discover how modern pop music

combined 90s sound into its productions, genres such as disco, funk, r&b, which helps

expand my musical knowledge diversity. The exploration process would also improve

my compositional and production technique since I will be learning new musical

knowledge applied to my music writing.

For Area of inquiry 1, I chose 24K magic by Bruno Mars as the focal point of my

research. Bruno Mars has a unique approach to his Music; his minimalistic style to his

arrangement and production separates his music style. He's also into sampling sounds

found in disco and funk tracks during the 90s and incorporating those elements into his

tracks. For Area of inquiry 2, I chose to analyze Take Five written by Dave Brubeck.

Cold jazz is a modern jazz style that arose after world war 2; the genre started growing

during the late 40s and 50s; the genre was unpopular during the time until the creation

of "Take Five" the song attracted loads of attention and started the trend of cold jazz. It

is considered one of the most iconic pieces of the genre. The Music's masterfulness is

worth investigating, so I have chosen this song as the focus of my second Area of

inquiry.
Area Inquiry 1:

The song I have chosen is 24K Magic by Bruno Mars; Bruno mars is a famous

American songwriter known for his retro style of modern pop music. He writes in a

very diverse range of genera; his music style ranges from rock, pop, funk, R&B, Hip-

hop. Bruno Mars started a band called Smeezingtons, which produces and writes songs

for other artists with a emphasis on retro elements. After he started producing for him

self we can see he’s more retro and vintage production style with his Music, which we

will further discuss in a later section.

To capture the sound of the 70s, Bruno took on a "less is more" approach to the

production of 24k magic. The intro of the song starts with a highly tuned and synth-like

vocal (0：00-0：25); the sound is created through an vocal effect unit known as the talk

box; it can be understood as an effect unit that modulates the singer's voice. The sound

effect was viral during the 70s. Talk box works by first playing the note of choice on

keyboard, then the talk box changes as the tone of the singer to create such effect. The

tuned vocal is layered with an 80s soft pop synth pad with a sharp attack, then layered

with another vocoder layer, harmonizing the vocal. To create movement within the

instrument, each of the instrument has a slight vibrato towards the end of each chord;

this production technique humanizes the synth elements, making it less robotic. Fmin9

(11) Cmin7 DdMaj7 Gmin7 C7(♯ 9♯ 5) Then, when getting transposing into the next

section, Bruno uses this tape stop effect combined with a descending bassline transpose

smoothly into the verse of the song.

As mentioned in the previous section about his production style, his "less is more"
Figure 1

approach can also be seen in the track's groove. There are simply four elements in the

drum groove, a snare, a kick, a high hat, and an open high hat. On the other hand, the

bass line helps create movement with a pitch bend on every long bass note. The drum

pattern interacts with the bassline, from the recreation of the bass and drum groove, we

can immediately notice the use of doubled kick on every third beat, the kick lines with

sixteenth-note of the bass line. The double kick has two functions: first, to accent the

bass note to make the low-end clearer in the mix. This technique is commonly used in

HipHop; putting a kick on the start of each 808 bass to accent the bass gives the sound

a sharp attack. The second primary function is for the track's movement, the nature of

disco the tracks requires small elements to maintain the ongoing movement. The offbeat

kick keeps the audience on their toes, feel more engaged with the song's forward

moving groove. The same can be seen in the bass section as he uses dotted quarter notes

to create ongoing movement with the bassline. Less is more can be seen in the drums

as the song’s entire drum groove only consist out of 5 elements.

During the second bridge section (2:50-3:07), Bruno designed a breakdown,

essentially a half-timed version of the original song; this section breaks down the built-
up energy and changes the song's vibe, a switch up, introduces a new section that’s

drastic different from the original vibe. This arrangement is found in many modern pop-

funk tracks such as Levitated by Dua Lipa, Blinding Light (MV version) by The

Weeknd. In the break down Bruno uses his vocal as the lead instrument. Each of the

vocals is interlocked with each other creating a chain effect of vocal, and with the

control of reverb hits creating this giant spatial feel. The bridge is introduced the line

"break it down like this," the line has two layers, with one distorted vocal gradually

pitching and slowing down and one layer of reverbed vocal. The gradually pitching and

slowing down vocal helps introduce the more slowed down vibe of the bridge. To

reinforce the spatial vibe, the section uses much-reverbed vocal one shot, such as

"whoo," "What is that sound," with the exception of the phrase "come on now." After

"come on now," they sharp cut the reverb and then directly followed by this double kick.

The reverb cut helps accent the kick, the execution of the reverb is outstanding,

providing both clarity and spatial feel in the section. The instrumentation and drum

groove are also explicitly simplified for this section. With an arpeggiated synth panned

in a circle shape, and only a simple synth pad is playing the chords. The drum groove

changes entirely from the four-on-four rhythm, now on the third upbeat and the fourth

beat. This kick playing on the third upbeat catches the listener off guard helps accent

the fourth downbeat kick, acting as a preparatory beat.

Through 24k Magic, we can get a taste of how the "less is more" approach is a

powerful yet complicated technique that requires a lot of effort and ingenuity; we also

see the talent Bruno is as an artist.

The area of inquiry two is Take Five by Dave Brubeck; the piece is in cool jazz.

The type of music is characterized by its much lighter tone and relaxed tempo than other

jazz styles such as bebop. Dave published the song on the album "Time Out," During

the time, a program known as "Jazz Ambassadors," and Dave Brubeck as one of the

musicians on tour, he first handily experienced music throughout Europe and

discovered the use of irregular time signature. Much traditional music in the middle

east uses a time signature such as 9/8 or 5/4. These types of time signatures were pretty

uncommon in the US. After the tour ended, the new music he experienced inspired him

to create a jazz album that used a novel time signature, which leads to the creation of

Take Five.

Take five is in E minor and has a steady 170 bpm. The song is in the time signature

is known as irregular time signature. Take Five stands out compared to other cool jazz

songs because of the irregular time signature. During the time, most pieces are written

in 4/4-time signature, also known as common time. Irregular time signature helped

create a continuous feel because the irregular amount of beat within each measure can

not be evenly distributed. All of the measures in the piece can only be split into two

uneven chunks. The same extending groove can be found in Mission Impossible theme

song. The extra beat continues the movement of the music creating this unique groove.

The groove is separated into a group of three-quarter notes than a group of two. The

meter of taking five combines waltz and two-step together, adding a funky twist to the

song from a dancing standpoint.

with Joe Morello, who created the drum groove. However, with the extending drum

groove, it was hard for Brubeck to find a melody. Instead, he wrote a VAMP, a short

one to two bar passage that is usually repeated throughout the arrangement. The piano

rhythm helped complete the drum rhythm with a 123 and 12 rhythm. Then the

saxophone was written by Paul Desmond, which created the theme melody of the song

that played throughout the song.

introduction, then the main section is followed in ABA form. After song goes into a Sax

and Drum solo section. The section is a freestyle section specifically designed for the

two instruments. Then it comes back to the song's theme, followed by a coda to end up

the music. The analysis will follow the song's structure, which will all be discussed

further in the next section.

3 2
5 5
(Brubeck n.d. Take Five) (Brubeck n.d. Take Five)

The song starts with the 5/4 drum groove; the same drum pattern plays through the

intro section until the drum solo. The drum pattern can be simplified into a kick on the

first beat and rest with an open high hat and cymbal. As seen in the drumbeat, the

uneven five beats per bar catch the audience’s attention gives the feel of continuation.

The continuative feel comes from the unevenness within every measure. With the drum

groove then added was the Piano. The piano section is playing two repeated chords,

known as the Vamp (Root). Simply from the drum

type of 5/4 beat used in the song; however, in combination with the Piano's rhythm, we

can see the rhythm within each measure is separated into 3 and 2 (See Visual). The

underlying bass rhythm clearly shows the use of the unbalanced rhythm. The Piano is

playing the chord progression I – V (Ebm7 – Bbm7) repeatedly. Then the Sax Melody
was added playing in E minor Dorian. Essentially, it is E natural minor with a raised

6th. The main melody is played by the Sax, the use of Dorian scale helped a particularly

smooth and jazzy melody, as the tone of the scale is unique to Jazz music. Sax as an

very expressive instrument also helped to create a very smooth experience to the

audience

Then in section B, the tonal centre shifts into the relative major key Gb Major, with

an IV-V IIIm-Vim progression. It's widespread for jazz songs to use relative major and

minor keys as the transformation between different key signatures is one of the elements

that differentiate Jazz style apart from other music genres. Though most Jazz songs

sound very complicated in their harmony, they usually have straightforward chord

progression such as II – V – I. It is the use of common chords to changes between key

Figure 4
signatures that add colour and complexity to the harmony.

As we can see, Take Five is an iconic piece of jazz, not only because of the

compositional aspect of the song but also because of Dave Brubeck's experimental spirit.

He cooperated with elements that are not original to Jazz music and made the song

sound relevant, and became the most iconic cool jazz single of all time. The talent he is

one of it's kind.

-
Creating Exercise: Down Town

I wanted to create a track that emulates a 90s disco dance vibe. To create the

sensation of a retro track, distinctive elements define the sound of a disco track, such

as four on the floor, memorable bass groove, synth element, sampled vocals, and more.

I started my track with the basic drum groove, four on the floor kick, and a clap on each

second beat, and a high hat on the off beats. I layered the clap with first a human clap,

then -an airier clap to give some high end, and a snare to give more body to the clap,

layered together to make the clap more present.

Bass Progression

Then I added the bassline. The doted notes contributed to the forward movement of the

bass. I also used octaves as it’s commonly seen in disco bassline, the bassline repeats

twice, with the ending vary by ascending and descending scale. I added a chord

progression complimenting the bassline, the chords consist out of two patterns.

Chord Progression

The first pattern is a long-sustained chord played with a spacy organ sound, and the

second pattern is a bright synth sound that hits on the offbeat, which interacts with the
bassline contributing to the movement of the track. Also, I added a soft pluck sound and

processed it with reverb to make the sound more ambient while keeping the

arrangement interesting. At last, I found a vocal sample in Arcade and arranged the

vocal chop to fit with the track as the song needed the main attraction.

Performing: Take Five – Dave Brubeck

The piece I chose to perform is take five by Dave Brubeck. As the song was

composed for a jazz band, I had to compose an adaptation to the violin. Violin being a

solo instrument, it's logical to design an adapt the trumpet section of the arrangement.

The two instruments have very similar registers, making the adaptation possible to

achieve. Because I'm simulating trumpet with violin, there are several areas of

consideration. First, as the trumpet is a wind instrument, they have a lot of control over

the dynamic of the sound. When performing with violin, I also need to emulate a similar

tone though the use of crescendo and decrescendo. Also, since the song is a jazz piece,

it's essential for me to play the solo with a jazzy swing to bring out the song's calm and

relaxed feel. I also designed several portamento for the purpose of; first adding variation

to the arrangement, as the main melody is repetitive, second to make the my playing

sound loosen and laid back. Towards the end I added a higher octave version also in the

purpose of keeping the arrangement interesting.

1. (0:00-1:00) Creating Expert 1 – Down Town

2. (1:00-2:03) Stimulus for Performed Adaptation – Take five – Dave

Brubeck

3. (1:55-4:43) Performing Expert – Take Five – Dave Brubeck

Upload 3: Track List

1. (0:00-1:23) Reference Expert 1 – 24K Magic – Bruno Mars

2. (1:24-3:00) Reference Expert 2 – Take Five – Dave Brubeck

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y22Dx3jvafY.

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https://smabellakoppenaudio.wordpress.com/2015/07/02/genre-analysis-jazz/.

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