Video Deconstruction
Friday, 9 June 2017
EXP Evaluation
EXP Evaluation
Critical Analysis
My work fits into the music industry as it attempts to provide a clear insight into the differences between Alternative & Contemporary R&B. Furthermore I originally planned for my work to look into how R&B has evolved and what characteristics have changed over generations, I touched on this but as my project went on i ended up changing this slightly to looking into the more musical elements and characteristics that caused the changes in R&B.
Finding already existing work that relates to my project was fairly difficult as I haven't come across people depicting to find the differences between alternative & contemporary R&B however I was able to find work which I briefly covered in my project. The work that I found was similar to my own was about how is masculinity challenged in R&B. The article was written around the time alternative R&B first started to become popular around 2014. The article goes on to say that, "With the emergence of alternative R&B, contemporary R&B and hip hop culture are being confronted with a subgenre that challenges its key characteristics". The articles goes onto say that could alternative R&B is challenging the views that make males more dominant than females in society. I related this to my project as this could be one of the factors that is making alternative R&B rise in popularity.
During my project I struggled with managing my time. I planned my project without taking in factors that we could be doing different work within lessons. Furthermore I also think I spent more time on my projects than research even though I wasn't able to finish all of my tracks. In addition I also struggled with finding research and other sources relating to my project.
If I could change something about my work it would be beginning to research the musical differences between alternative and contemporary R&B earlier along my project, furthermore I would try to look for more work similar to the work questioning hegemonic masculinity in R&B. In addition I would try to look into making more synths for my tracks as whilst I'm proud of the ones I was using, having separate synths for my contemporary tracks and for my alternative tracks may have allowed me to make the differences between the two genres clearer.
If I had the option I would put more time into my research rather than tracks. For my FMP I put more time into my research than tracks and I feel most of my tracks weren't as developed as they could have been so i attempted to do the opposite this year however I feel that following my ways last year could have been the way forward.
Research
My key areas of research were the musical differences between alternative & contemporary R&B, I looked into this as I wanted people looking at my work to understand some of the main differences between the two. This wasn't my plan to begin with as towards the beginning of my project I was more aiming to look into the history of R&B and look into what made R&B split into these two types of genres. Whilst I did still look into this I didn't look into it as much as I had originally planned. This changed because finding reasons why alternative and contemporary R&B split was a lot more difficult to anticipate there was little to no work on the differences so I would have to put sources I found together and come to a conclusion myself. Furthermore I also conducted research on the types of synths used in the two subgenres and decided to create my own synths.
The research methods I applied were mainly secondary forms of research as I didn't interview anyone or conduct surveys. Doing primary forms of research, interviewing especially could have made a positive impact on my project, as not many people have done work of my sort it could help by gathering information on maybe why they prefer alternative or what they think is making it so popular. The secondary forms of research I found were mainly articles and other forms of websites. The articles in particular were helpful to me as it showed me what companies and promoters think their audience thinks about types of music and artists and it allowed me form an opinion and come to conclusion from the information given to me. Furthermore another form of research I conducted was to compare the musical elements between alternative & contemporary R&B this was useful as it allowed me understand clear differences between the sub-genres and create my own music going along the guidelines I made.
I was able to synthesise my research into my projects by taking traits of music and common patterns across one of the sub-genres and include it in my own music, also I was able to make a couple synths to help me in the creation of my tracks
I feel I could have researched more topics to do with the different problems alternative & contemporary R&B face for example as I mentioned earlier looking into the issues facing alternative & contemporary R&B with hegemonic males. In addition, looking at my proposal I believe I was planning to research the wrong topics and if I had planned to research more relevant topics that had substance to them my project would have been more of a success.
I could apply to my future career, when planning ensure I'm aware that nothing always goes 100% as planned, to make sure I leave enough time to work on all aspects of my work and to research topics that might not be directly related to your project but could lead to another question answered.
Technical/Practical Skills
My research informed my practical work because I was able to make synths from the research I conducted and include them in my tracks. Moreover I was also able to find the differences between the sub-genres and make sure the differences were clear within my music.
I developed my skills to create synthesisers through Logic, we had touched on the subject in class but really fine tuning them to be included in my project definitely is a skill I has developed. In addition I also had to develop my skills in music theory as I'm not too confident in my music theory, this was a way to work on it so I could work on a melody corresponding the chords within my tracks.
I feel my practical skills have developed quite well over the past few years but I do feel I could develop them further, I still could work on my music theory as I think that is something I am lacking in greatly.
Presenting Your Work
I chose to present my work through soundcloud and soundcloud only, this is because it's very easy to share sound cloud tracks through other forms of social media e.g twitter, Facebook and a wide range of other platforms. Furthermore on soundcloud you can fine tune the audience that will hear your music through the use of tags and assigning the track genres.
My presentation method is a very popular and common practise many of today's popular artists started off through soundcloud and still use soundcloud as their platform to upload their music on, a key example would be Bryson Tiller. Whilst many people believe uploading to soundcloud is pointless as people can stream your music for free, it's one of the easiest way for your music to spread and many artists start off this way then later on go to platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.
My method has been successful in reaching my target audience since I was able to choose what audience would be able to listen to my music. Furthermore being able to share my music on twitter has been a huge help.
Project Management
I feel I could have managed time management within my EXP track a lot better, this would have helped me to finish my tracks and add more research to my project. In addition I also feel I could have handled balancing my research and practical work a lot better, if I had put more time into research atleast then the research I had done would back up my tracks more making the differences clearer to see.
My biggest challenge for my EXP would have to be my time management. However finding sources relating to my project was also an issue. Our lessons changing for a week towards the end of the project made me have to change course and prioritise my tracks more than I had liked to.
I didn't use too much of the access timevto book studio rooms or production rooms because most of our access time was during our lessons then we had a slot on Fridays, I made use of access time by prioritising these days to work on my practical as I would find it easier to research outside of college.
I have not completed all of the work I would have liked to fit this project as I wasn't able to do as much research as I had initially planned and I didn't finish the final track. This is due to my time management and having to change direction towards the end of the project.
Problem Solving
The biggest technical problem I faced was my USB formatting whilst in the process of transferring my practical between computers however since i had access to the computers I was using on another day I was able to transfer my work on my google drive which is what I had been doing for my research.
The theoretical problems I faced during the EXP would be that I had to revisit learning musical theory as I wasn't 100% sure on my circle of fifths and I needed this to work on the melodies within the majority of my tracks.
The research methods I applied were mainly secondary forms of research as I didn't interview anyone or conduct surveys. Doing primary forms of research, interviewing especially could have made a positive impact on my project, as not many people have done work of my sort it could help by gathering information on maybe why they prefer alternative or what they think is making it so popular. The secondary forms of research I found were mainly articles and other forms of websites. The articles in particular were helpful to me as it showed me what companies and promoters think their audience thinks about types of music and artists and it allowed me form an opinion and come to conclusion from the information given to me. Furthermore another form of research I conducted was to compare the musical elements between alternative & contemporary R&B this was useful as it allowed me understand clear differences between the sub-genres and create my own music going along the guidelines I made.
I was able to synthesise my research into my projects by taking traits of music and common patterns across one of the sub-genres and include it in my own music, also I was able to make a couple synths to help me in the creation of my tracks
I feel I could have researched more topics to do with the different problems alternative & contemporary R&B face for example as I mentioned earlier looking into the issues facing alternative & contemporary R&B with hegemonic males. In addition, looking at my proposal I believe I was planning to research the wrong topics and if I had planned to research more relevant topics that had substance to them my project would have been more of a success.
I could apply to my future career, when planning ensure I'm aware that nothing always goes 100% as planned, to make sure I leave enough time to work on all aspects of my work and to research topics that might not be directly related to your project but could lead to another question answered.
Technical/Practical Skills
My research informed my practical work because I was able to make synths from the research I conducted and include them in my tracks. Moreover I was also able to find the differences between the sub-genres and make sure the differences were clear within my music.
I developed my skills to create synthesisers through Logic, we had touched on the subject in class but really fine tuning them to be included in my project definitely is a skill I has developed. In addition I also had to develop my skills in music theory as I'm not too confident in my music theory, this was a way to work on it so I could work on a melody corresponding the chords within my tracks.
I feel my practical skills have developed quite well over the past few years but I do feel I could develop them further, I still could work on my music theory as I think that is something I am lacking in greatly.
Presenting Your Work
I chose to present my work through soundcloud and soundcloud only, this is because it's very easy to share sound cloud tracks through other forms of social media e.g twitter, Facebook and a wide range of other platforms. Furthermore on soundcloud you can fine tune the audience that will hear your music through the use of tags and assigning the track genres.
My presentation method is a very popular and common practise many of today's popular artists started off through soundcloud and still use soundcloud as their platform to upload their music on, a key example would be Bryson Tiller. Whilst many people believe uploading to soundcloud is pointless as people can stream your music for free, it's one of the easiest way for your music to spread and many artists start off this way then later on go to platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.
My method has been successful in reaching my target audience since I was able to choose what audience would be able to listen to my music. Furthermore being able to share my music on twitter has been a huge help.
Project Management
I feel I could have managed time management within my EXP track a lot better, this would have helped me to finish my tracks and add more research to my project. In addition I also feel I could have handled balancing my research and practical work a lot better, if I had put more time into research atleast then the research I had done would back up my tracks more making the differences clearer to see.
My biggest challenge for my EXP would have to be my time management. However finding sources relating to my project was also an issue. Our lessons changing for a week towards the end of the project made me have to change course and prioritise my tracks more than I had liked to.
I didn't use too much of the access timevto book studio rooms or production rooms because most of our access time was during our lessons then we had a slot on Fridays, I made use of access time by prioritising these days to work on my practical as I would find it easier to research outside of college.
I have not completed all of the work I would have liked to fit this project as I wasn't able to do as much research as I had initially planned and I didn't finish the final track. This is due to my time management and having to change direction towards the end of the project.
Problem Solving
The biggest technical problem I faced was my USB formatting whilst in the process of transferring my practical between computers however since i had access to the computers I was using on another day I was able to transfer my work on my google drive which is what I had been doing for my research.
The theoretical problems I faced during the EXP would be that I had to revisit learning musical theory as I wasn't 100% sure on my circle of fifths and I needed this to work on the melodies within the majority of my tracks.
Friday, 2 June 2017
EXP- Progress Reports - Week 13
Week 13
Targets - This week I plan to finish all research and literature review by Tuesday, then my bibliography will follow shortly as I'll have all the research done and won't need to add anymore to that. I plan to do this by the latest Thursday so I'm not leaving everything till the last day.
Summary - I was able to finish all my research and literature but I finished them on Wednesday, I left my bibliography till Thursday as I was still checking if there was anything I could add. I also added extra case studies.
Summary - I was able to finish all my research and literature but I finished them on Wednesday, I left my bibliography till Thursday as I was still checking if there was anything I could add. I also added extra case studies.
EXP - Bibliography
Bibliography
References
AllMusic. (2017). Alternative R&B Music Genre Overview | AllMusic. [online] Available at: http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/alternative-r-b-ma0000013375 [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Genius. (2017). Alternative R&B is the next chapter to a sleeping genre?. [online] Available at: https://genius.com/discussions/247498-Alternative-r-b-is-the-next-chapter-to-a-sleeping-genre [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Henry, J. (2017). Realizing R&B's Identity Crisis: An Analytical Research Paper. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/21506327/Realizing_R_and_Bs_Identity_Crisis_An_Analytical_Research_Paper [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Journals.sagepub.com. (2017). Resistant masculinities in alternative R&B? Understanding Frank Ocean and The Weeknd’s representations of genderEuropean Journal of Cultural Studies - Frederik Dhaenens, Sander De Ridder, 2015. [online] Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1367549414526730 [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Mayer, E. (2017). When words fail: Alternative R&B, radical codes, and the power of language. [online] Kbia.org. Available at: http://kbia.org/post/when-words-fail-alternative-rb-radical-codes-and-power-language#stream/0 [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
R&B, T. (2017). Trend of the Year: Alt R&B. [online] Spin. Available at: http://www.spin.com/2012/12/trend-of-the-year-alt-rb-2012-frank-ocean-weeknd-miguel/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Rubenstein, H. (2017). Alternative R&B: Much more than bump’n’grind. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/alternative-rb-much-more-than-bump-n-grind-9142021.html [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Soul-patrol.com. (2017). "ALTERNATIVE R&B", "NEO SOUL", "RETRO SOUL" - WHAT DO THESE TERMS MEAN ?. [online] Available at: http://www.soul-patrol.com/funk/mike/alt.htm [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Tiki-toki.com. (2017). History of Alternative R&B. [online] Available at: http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/730116/History-of-Alternative-RB/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Wardy, F., Ikirmawi, S., Wardy, F., Akintoye, B., Qureshi, A., staff, g., Shutti, G., Cole, J. and Santos, V. (2017). The limits of the 'Alternative R&B' genre | gal-dem. [online] gal-dem. Available at: http://www.gal-dem.com/limits-of-the-alternative-rnb-genre/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
Wolfson, S. (2017). How R&B got its groove back. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/29/how-r-b-got-its-groove-back [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017].
EXP - Broader Contextualisation
Broader Contextualisation
One of the articles I found whilst only short relates to my work and sparks a lot of thought is this one:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1367549414526730. Whilst my project is about the differences between Alternative and Contemporary R&B, this focuses purely on the issues facing masculinity when it comes to the sub-genres. The article talks about how Alternative R&B isn't the traditional macho male and that the artists they mention question what it is to be an male artists in the genre of their field.
Another article that was helpful to me would have to be this one http://kbia.org/post/when-words-fail-alternative-rb-radical-codes-and-power-language#stream/0/. It talks about race being involved in the word R&B and in the 1950's and there being "no material musical difference between rock & roll and R&B. The distinction was almost purely racial. not musical" This refers to make research about indie rock. What if the only real difference is the name or if they opened up the name to Alternative R&B and Indie Rock would there be any noticeable difference like Contemporary R&B and Alternative R&B?
Whilst my project is based on Alternative & Contemporary R&B, this website helped me expand my view as some people refer to Alternative R&B as Indie R&B. http://fortune.com/2014/06/06/indie-r-b/. It talks about how Indie R&B and some Alternative R&B artists even though thought to be the same struggle to get the publicity they think they deserve purely because they classify themselves as Indie R&B. This could be due to people not caring for Indie R&B or just not hearing about it enough to want to research it.
Also this paper opened my eyes and allowed me to think about multiple possibilities. https://www.academia.edu/21506327/Realizing_R_and_Bs_Identity_Crisis_An_Analytical_Research_Paper. It talks about there being an identity crisis on R&B and why it keeps changing to meet popular demand. But that is its answer, R&B will keep evolving to meet peoples expectations so it will never truly die out.
EXP - Literature Review
Literature Review
This article talks about the Alternative R&B and how it became such a big sub-genre, it also talks about possibly why the sub-genre started and who started in this movement. It was able to spark thoughts as to why the genres spilt and whether there were any major differences. As i struggled with finding differences this article helped in making me look for individual elements and events that the article talks about that could have possibly started the sub-genres dividing.
This website was able to help me as it talks about the title of Alternative R&B and the title of R&B in general, it explains that some artists may not have claimed to be making Alternative R&B but people just decided for them. It also goes over the term "indie rock" which some artists feel more comfortable with but opens doors to another type of sound completely. It made me think of the possibilities that Alternative R&B got some of its influence from rock and that whilst many people think that Alternative R&B is a relatively new sub-genre that it could trace back further than we think.
This article believes that R&B was not the same as it used to be during the 90's phase of R&B and that alternative R&B came to offer something new and brought back the spark in R&B. This article was good for challenging my own thoughts, it made me think about the effect alternative R&B has had over the past few years and how huge it has become in a short space or time. Whilst I don't believe R&B during the 90's phase was boring it is true that Alternative R&B wouldn't have been so popular without some people believing this.
This article played a key part in my research. It speaks about the type of R&B being around when my generation was growing up and a few years before that being popular and about the typical love song, then alternative R&B springing up surprising everyone and everyone loving it. This influenced my project my sharing the same views at me to begin with, this being the first article I found, it made me think about the reasons that cause these events to take place.
EXP - What Caused R&B To Split?
What Caused R&B To Split?
Introduction
It is said that R&B dates back to the 1960's, however there were always signs there would be a music of this creation during the 1800's when people who were enslaved felt they needed a way to express themselves through music. Over the years R&B has definitely changed in many ways and this could be due to the demand of R&B fans, it could be due to the world events or it could just be due to newer generations adding their touch to the music. However one question that we are faced with today, is why is there Alternative R&B and Contemporary R&B?
Alternative R&B
People mainly say that Alternative R&B is due to artists and fans alike being bored of Contemporary R&B, which is understandable but untrue. Whilst Alternative R&B is a newer concept of R&B and adds sounds most people thought had no place within R&B, Contemporary R&B is still what people see as classic R&B and can never be replaced, so why is there talk that Contemporary R&B is all but finished? This is because publishers like the Independent think "The girls and guns formula of traditional R&B has grown tired" and that "a new wave of talent has arrived to reinvent the form and challenge listeners." This statement is interesting as many of the artists who join in with Alternative R&B also have had or still have some investment to Contemporary R&B. Frank Ocean for example has different songs that fall in to either brackets. On the contrary most people believe that it is the younger people of today who find themselves enjoying Alternative R&B, so perhaps Alternative R&B is just something of the newer generation, however that doesn't mean there would be no more Contemporary R&B. The thought of Alternative R&B becoming the new "wave" is clearly affecting Contemporary R&B Artists as well, artists like Usher have begun changing their style so they aren't forgotten, by this I don't mean changing to the Alternative R&B side but attempting to connect with the younger generation, we can see this from the video below.
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is seen as the older generations R&B and whilst it's true that music has changed quite a lot since the 90's when the "bump'n'grind" era was at its peak, many of the younger generation still find themselves listening to this music and would as go as far to wish for this type of music to come back. Even with all this talk about Alternative R&B eradicating Contemporary R&B, Contemporary R&B is still viewed as the mainstream sub-genre. Due to Contemporary R&B being older and having the history in the music industry, I believe it will always be a popular genre.
Conclusion
My conclusion is that R&B split into these two types of genres because the newer generation wanted a different kind of sound from the party anthems we were being bombarded with. Alternative R&B allows for more thinking as it has space in the song. Whilst Alternative R&B does still have many love songs it definitely doesn't have as many as Contemporary R&B, whether thats because Alternative R&B is older or because it's just not the younger generations style, Alternative R&B subjects can be about almost anything.
Contemporary R&B is seen as the older generations R&B and whilst it's true that music has changed quite a lot since the 90's when the "bump'n'grind" era was at its peak, many of the younger generation still find themselves listening to this music and would as go as far to wish for this type of music to come back. Even with all this talk about Alternative R&B eradicating Contemporary R&B, Contemporary R&B is still viewed as the mainstream sub-genre. Due to Contemporary R&B being older and having the history in the music industry, I believe it will always be a popular genre.
Conclusion
My conclusion is that R&B split into these two types of genres because the newer generation wanted a different kind of sound from the party anthems we were being bombarded with. Alternative R&B allows for more thinking as it has space in the song. Whilst Alternative R&B does still have many love songs it definitely doesn't have as many as Contemporary R&B, whether thats because Alternative R&B is older or because it's just not the younger generations style, Alternative R&B subjects can be about almost anything.
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