Evaluation of FMP Project

Evaluation

Critical Analysis

Looking over my work I am very satisfied with my work and consider it to be at a professional level. Compared to artists who do work at a professional level I would say all the music I've produced and recorded is up to par, this is because I feel I have gone about my project, analysing every detail to the last key before making or beginning the creation of each track. Furthermore looking into each artist I planned on researching before I worked on the song I wanted to be influenced by them, really helped as I was able to pinpoint what aspect of their music I wanted to include or be the main focus of my work. The main issue I faced with my project is time management, I had really poor time management throughout the project as I would tend to spend too much time working on one song, which led to the next song or another aspect of my work not being how I visioned it, furthermore this is what led to the un-complete track which was supposed to be influenced by Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island. Moreover the amount of time I gave the group I was working with to record Keep Us Safe was not sufficient enough, I would give more time for this by letting my group be aware of my plans much earlier in the project. In addition working on the score was also quite challenging as although i had knowledge with music theory, I had never written a whole song for a range of different instruments which was why my teachers and logic was such a big help, but even so I had never used the logic score function so I learnt a new skill within logic. If I was to start this project from scratch, I would start off by researching the artists songs that I would be taking influence from so I could get started on the creation of each track much earlier and much more efficiently, rather than just doing notes for my research as I go along I would write all my research I had gathered at the end of the week rather than when I thought I had gathered enough notes. In the future I plan to improve by being much more aware of my time, I could do this by writing a detailed plan of what I wish to achieve by that week, and if one of the items on the checklist are in-complete they would then take priority over the next week. Moreover I would also like to be able to have enough time to mix my tracks more throughly as I feel this would have improved my songs and help them fit them image I had in my head.

Research

My research was based around, three artists, Nina Simone, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock also my research includes the different types of modal jazz and modes within jazz. I looked into the keys they used in an individual song of theirs, and took an aspect of their work and changed it into a way that suited me and included it in my tracks. The research methods I used were, reading articles both online and paper copies, watching videos that explain how a track is made or explain more about the artist and reading other online websites that give a lot of information about scores, keys, modes and the artists themselves. I feel I completed an adequate amount of research apart from my research based on Herbie Hancock. I feel I should have researched more into Herbie Hancocks Cantaloupe Island and the creation of that song. Furthermore I should have researched throughly the style he plays and what makes him so unique and why he was chosen to play with Miles Davis. Through my research I have learnt a much better way to create songs using keys and changing the feel of music its self simply with the chords and how I play the chords.

Technical and Practical skills.

My research has helped my practical work by letting me understand modes and which modes I would be including in my tracks. This helped because I was able to get the aspect of music I wished. In addition from looking at the different scores the artists used I was able to have a better understanding on doing my own scores, which made the process a lot shorter than I originally thought it would be. There are a range of skills I used which helped me finish the project. Firstly, setting up a recording studio was a key skill, this was a skill I learnt in secondary school and I was able to set up the recording studio with the short time we had swiftly as, this was a regular occurrence. Furthermore, writing scores is a skill that I had developed over the course of this project as to be able to record the instruments I would need a score, although most of the score writing was done by logic I had to converse with the artists to see what kind of score would be best for the individual artist.

Project Management and Working Methods

During the FMP a few problems arose, my lack of knowledge on modal jazz and chords, proved to be a main factor as working on my tracks couldn't proceed without enough information on both of these subjects. To counter this i made it priority in my research to start researching this. This helped because once I had learnt these two subjects I was able to create and finish both of the tracks swiftly.
I have not completed all the work intended for my project, I missed out on my track which was to be influenced by Herbie Hancock and parts of research that was to be done to help with the Herbie Hancock track. To attemept to make up for missing out on Herbie Hancock I put more detail into both of my tracks Keep Us Safe and Conversement, and doubled the research I planned originally to do on them, this helped the success of both of these songs and taught me more about Jazz in general.
During the access time slots that were given to us i made use of these by attending all slots and working on my music as much as possible since I could do the majority of research and written work elsewhere.

Collaborations during the FMP

One of artists that I collaborated with during the project would be Eleanor. Eleanor was very useful to me as she helped write the lyrics to Keep Us Safe and allowed me to record her singing so that I could use her voice in the Keep Us Safe track. This was helpful because at the time I was unsure whether I would be getting any vocals on the tracks at that time. Furthermore I worked with Jack, Joshua, Alex and Monique, all of these artists helped me record the instruments of Keep Us Safe and they were very helpful as we had limited time in the studio to do this recording session.  

Literature Review

Literature Review

http://www.jazzstandards.com/theory/modal-jazz.htm

This first source was useful to me as it is very descriptive talking about the different types of modes in Jazz. This was an important aspect of my work since all three different artists used modal jazz or some type of influential jazz which one way or another revolved around these different modes. It explains in depth what different mode is similar to and what makes them unusual to your normal chords.

http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Kind_of_Blue.html

This source gives an insight into improvisational jazz. Furthermore it also looks at the creation and inspiration for Miles Davis' whole album 'Kind Of Blue', this was useful to me a I was able to get first hand information on why Miles Davis plays his style and what his style was. I could use this information in my track Conversement, for the chords and also use it to back up my research about Miles Davis.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/music/popular_music/jazz1.shtml

This source was useful to me as it speaks about the origins of Jazz, which wasn't necessarily an important aspect in my project  but it gave me a back drop on what i needed to learn and the different types of jazz that exist today and where they came from. Furthermore it also gives an insight into blue notes and the 12 bar form that will be commonly found within Miles Davis' work, i've included this in my Conversement track where it switches from A dorian to Bb dorian. Although I didn't use blue notes I was still able to touch on them and learn that they are usually found on the third fifth and seventh degree of a scale.

http://wkcjodiedonnelly-harding.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/analysing-jazz.html

This source was useful to me as I could rarely find much information about bebop jazz. Be-bop jazz is described in depth within this post and was helpful because Herbie Hancock was in between be-bop, modal and electronic fusion jazz. Since Herbie Hancock has such a unique style this blog helped me analyse his style and gave me insight into a similar style that he plays.

Final Product

All of my tracks can be found below, there are three I would like to be heard which are; Conversement, Keep Us Safe and Keep Us Safe Midi.
https://soundcloud.com/milesedwardsfrancis

Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island

Herbie Hancocks Cantaloupe island uses three main chords, which are Fm7, C#7 and  Dm7, many people may say it depends on what you depict a blue scales as. Below is the chord chart for Cantaloupe Island. So other people could say you could use the phrygian dominant mode. But from the chord chart the chords are Fm Bb and Fm5

Bibliography

Bibliography

Biography. com Editors (no date) Miles Davis Biography. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/miles-davis-9267992 (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Biography. com Editors (no date) Nina Simone Biography. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532 (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

BBC (2006) GCSE Bitesize: Jazz origins. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/music/popular_music/jazz1.shtml (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Encyclopedia (2016) Encyclopedia.Com articles about Herbie Hancock. Available at: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Herbie_Hancock.aspx (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Fordham, J. (2009) How Miles Davis’s kind of blue shaped 50 years of music. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/aug/20/miles-davis-kind-blue (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Harding, J. (2016) Analysing Jazz. Available at: http://wkcjodiedonnelly-harding.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/analysing-jazz.html (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Hughes, C. (2010) So what. Available at: https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/jazz-standards/so-what-with-miles-davis-solo-transcription/ (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Hunters, H. (2016) Herbie Hancock on iTunes iTunes.

Loudermilk, A. (2013) ‘Journal of international women’s studies’, Journal of International Women’s Studies, 14(3).

Modal jazz (no date) Available at: http://www.jazzstandards.com/theory/modal-jazz.htm (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Thelonious monk institute of jazz (no date) What is jazz? Available at: http://www.jazzinamerica.org/lessonplan/5/1/249 (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Ruhlmann, W. (2016) Miles Davis | biography & history. Available at: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829/biography (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Simone, N. and Unterberger, R. (1965) I put a spell on you - Nina Simone | songs, reviews, credits AllMusic.

Songfacts® (2016) Feeling good by Nina Simone Songfacts. Available at: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=8996 (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Sony Entertainment Inc (1997) Kind of blue. Available at: http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Kind_of_Blue.html (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Thomas, P. (2013) Improvising jazz: The use of modes in improvisation. Available at: https://tamingthesaxophone.com/jazz-modes (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

What chords are typically played by the pianist on modal jazz and what is the theory behind? (no date) Available at: https://www.quora.com/What-chords-are-typically-played-by-the-pianist-on-modal-jazz-and-what-is-the-theory-behind (Accessed: 7 June 2016).

Conversement Creation

The Creation of Conversement

The Beginning

Starting off with the creation of Conversement, i faced the issue of learning what modes such as Dorian, lydian, Phrygian, Ionian, Myxolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. I had to learn these because Miles Davis' So What used a dorian mode and my Conversement was influenced from So What. From the video below you can see Charlie Round-Turner giving a detailed explanation of modes.


Originally without the help of Charlie Round-Turner my track was already in A dorian without me being aware, this was helpful because that meant subconsciously I had a rough idea of the Miles Davis influence that I was going for.

Furthermore the chords used in Conversement were A dorian and Bb dorian. This was similar to the way Miles Davis' So What is played as the first two sections are D dorian then it drops to E dorian for one section then back to A dorian for two. This pattern is the same throughout Conversement, the main factor that changes is the horns.

The melody unlike Miles Davis' So What is only played by the trumpets where as in Miles Davis' So What the bass line is an important factor. I did this so the song didn't have too much of a change and had a calm mellow feel. Personally the melody in the Bb section is my favourite as it feels as if it's going to rise then drops back to the A dorian.

The tempo of this song is extremely slow, i started it off with 80 beats per minute on the time signature 4/4. I did this so the song had no rushing feel to it and was as calming as it could be, taking its time with each time the melody hits.

The loudest instrument in the song is the horns. This is done so that when the chords played by the keyboard is finished you can hear the horns loud and clear. Following Miles Davis' So What I wanted the consequent phrase to be obvious to even those who know nothing about the theory behind music.

The instruments used in Conversement are; the trumpet, keyboard, bass guitar and drums. The trumpet is the forefront of the mix, the keyboard is just behind so that the antecedent phrase, the base follows as it plays similar chords to the keyboard.  

FInal Collaborative Project Progress Week By Week

Week 1

In week 1 i started my proposal and came to the conclusion my ep would be jazz based, this is because I hadn't worked on jazz music in quite a well and wanted to show the skills i had developed and compare these jazz pieces to my previous tracks, although i hadn't finished my proposal, i began to research what artists i thought i might be interested with using this website http://www.biography.com/people/nina-simone-9484532, this was useful because it helped me find artists similar to Miles Davis whom I wanted my research to be the basis of. By doing this I was on track to be able to start my first track, Conversement the following week.

Week 2

In week 2 I had gathered more website links and articles I would be using for my research so I added that to the my research notes blog draft and finished off my proposal. Furthermore I roughly understood the type of chords Miles Davis used so I had an idea for what key my Conversement would be in, thus I started working on that track. The notes i had gathered would make it easier to write up my research when it came to it.

Week 3

In week 3 I began working on my research, using the website links i gathered from the other weeks of preparation, I think spending a couple weeks on preparation made it easier to actually do the research because in this week i got a thick piece of research done. Furthermore in week 3 I decided that it would be best to ask some of my teachers who have worked within Jazz for some help and insight into the genre. Charlie Round-Turner played a big role in assisting me as he taught me about the many different modes which i will explain in a later blog post.

Week 4

In week 4 due to the help with Charlie, my track Conversement was all but finished, I spoke to all the artists with the exception of Eleanor that I would like to perform the second track Keep Us Safe, I also started the midi version of the second track, only adding notes to my research which i would develop later on. This helped because the artists were aware that I would be needing their assistance and would be ready if I called on them to record for me.

Week 5   

In week 5, once again Charlie helped with Keep Us Safe by adding inspiration to come up with the Nina Simone type chords, this helped because i was able to develop the rest of the song with ease after finding out what key I was using and following the chords, furthermore i continued the process of creating Keep Us Safe whilst researching Nina Simone so I got more influence as i proceeded. In addition i also let all the artists who I wanted to take part in performing live and recording of my track.

Week 6  

In week 6 Conversement was completely finished and ready to be bounced, the midi version of Keep Us Safe was finished, all i had to do was turn it into a score so the artists i required to play instruments and or sing would be able to do so, but this had proven difficulty, I was new to writing scores so it would take some time. But with the help of my teachers I was able to figure it out and write a score suitable to all those that needed it.

Week 7

In week 7 I uploaded all of the songs to my blog with the exception of the Herbie Hancock based song, as that week we had finished the recording but had run out of time to do the live performance of any of the songs. Since i had finished all the music I had a week to focus all my efforts on research, this helped because I had made notes of research to do and notes of sources i could use for my research. Also i spoke to Eleanor about singing on Keep Us Safe and recorded it on the friday.

Week 8

In week 8 i finished off my research double checking along the way and added my bibliography, i uploaded the final bit of youtube videos to be used in my research onto my blog and double checked everything was in order. i ensured everything was labelled correctly on my play and published.

Keep Us Safe Creation

The creation of Keep Us Safe

The beginning

When i first started working on the Nina Simone based track Keep Us Safe, there was no structure to the song. I had just started to work on any aspect of music i chose to with no plan or even clue of what key i was going to use, it sounded like the track below.

This is because I just had an idea of what instruments I wanted to use and no other plans. Below is what the track looked like within Logic. As you can see there's no structure or any plan or idea to help guide me. Furthermore the only Jazz related sound within the track was the horns, which had no structure either and didn't fit the rest of the songs.

In addition with the help from one of my teacher Charlie's, who spoke in detail about the different modes within Jazz, and after deciding what aspects from Nina Simone's Feeling Good I would take influence from, my work would come to look like the screenshot below. On the right side of the page I wrote down the key I was playing in to help ensure I stuck to that path, I also wrote down notes that would help produce the song, by making vague points on how I want the song to sound. This was helpful to me because it acted as guidelines for my song.

Furthermore the chords I used for the chords section which was the main bit that took influence from 'Feeling Good' were G minor, the C7 chord, Bb and D7 chords. At it differentiates between G minor and the C7 chord for the first 5 bars then for two bars it differentiates between Bb and the D7. This routine is the same throughout the song.

The melody was originally led by the trumpets and the keyboard, and still is in the midi version of the song  which is below. Using the same kind of idea as the antecedent and consequent phrase in Miles Davis's So What, I led the melody which starts on the keyboard into the horns which hit hard, giving the trumpets its own space with the exception of the drums helped made the trumpets the main aspect of the melody. However In the audio version of Keep Us Safe, I swapped the trumpets for the vocals as there was an issue with the recording of the vocals and we only had short time left to record the track.

The tempo of the song originally started at 100 beats per minute (bpm), I thought this was suitable at first, however after giving the score to the bass guitarist of the Keep Us Safe track and writing slow as an indicator on the score I decided it sounded better at 80 bpm. Furthermore the rhythm is held by the bass and rarely changes throughout the track, I chose to do this so the bass was calming and relaxing as a Nina Simone based piece should be.

The loudest instrument in the song would have to be the vocals for the audio version and trumpets for the midi version, this is done so the main piece of the melody is the most audible. I did this so the lyrics can be heard and so that the trumpet solo piece is as effective as it is. I had the bass and drums stay fairly quiet in the mix so that the way they repeat and are rarely changing wouldn't be cause much of a disturbance in the track.

The instruments used were; trumpets, keyboard, drums, bass guitar and vocals. The trumpets, keyboard and vocals play the melody being the loudest three in the mix, the keyboard also plays the chords that play just behind the melody but always with the keyboard melody but allowing space for the trumpet solo. The drums and bass carry the rhythm, being the quietest two instruments in the mix and being the most calming, relaxed instruments on the track.

The structure of the song, mainly follows, chords, keyboard melody with bass and drums underlying, followed by a trumpet solo with the allowance of the drums hidden under them followed by a different keyboard melody but the same chords and bass notes. This is done so the song isn't to complicated and is as comfortable to the ears as can be.

The lyrics in Keep Us Safe is a reaction to the police brutality happening all over the world but with the most reported issues in America. They were written by Eleanor in the level 3 music performance class and myself.

Below is the Keep Us Safe recoding process.

Checklist for Recording Studio

Checklist & Why

When I used the studio to record Keep Us Safe, I made a checklist so setting up the recording would be a lot more time efficient, below is the checklist for each individual band player. This made it easier so we didn't have to run in and out of the studio looking for the odd piece of equipment which would just prolong the recording as we were on a schedule. Not only was this efficient but i felt this was a professional manner of doing things which I will take on. When using studios which have to be booked and paid for by the hour this will be a key way of making use of the time given .




For Jack - Bass Guitar - SM57 - Jack to jack - Amp - Score stand - mic stand - Headphones
For Alex - SM57 - XLR - Score stand - mic stand - Headphones
For Monique - SM57 - Jack to Jack - Score stand - keyboard - Headphones
For Josh - Hi-Hats - Snare - Kick Drum - SM57 x3 - Headphones
Below is the actual checklist of what I used to ensure I had the equipment I needed.

Song analysis of Miles Davis So What

Miles Davis So What Song Analysis

Chords

The chords used in Miles Davis So What, play in D dorian mode for eight bars then switching to e dorian then returns to D dorian after 4 bars. This sequence is repeated throughout the song. The song plays at a slow calming tempo, this is done because the music uses phrases such as as the antecedent phrase and the consequent phrase which makes the instruments sound as if there is a conversation taking place. From the score below we can see what chords are played in the song.

Melody

The melody is mainly played by the horns in the song however the piano also sometimes takes over on the 32nd bar. I think this is done due to the lack of vocals so the song has very powerful horns to control the song.

Tempo/Rhythm

The tempo of the song is very smooth, slow and relaxed, it has a slight rise and release feel to it as theres a short build up then the horns and repeats the phrase. This changes when the horns have their solo and whilst the hi-hats are continuous and the walking bass is the same. The chords play on top of the horns yet quieter since the horns are in control. Since the bass in the song is a walking type which means it's mainly going up and down the scale the rhythm doesn't change too much but each horn solo it changes for around 8 bars then continues to walk.

Mix

The horns are the loudest in the mix as that's where the melody and the influential feel of jazz comes from. Throughout the horn solo you can hear the chords, bass and hi-hats, the second thing you notice is most likely the chords as they aren't as consistent as the bass and hi-hats. Also the piano is most likely the second loudest in the mix since the song was created to make it as if the piano and horns we're having a conversation.  

Instrumentation

In the track the instruments used are a type of horn instrument most likely the saxophone, a piano which plays the chords, a bass guitar and a drum kit which the hi-hats is the most used part. The horns play the melody and an influential type which is done so we remember the horns as the main piece. the bass guitar plays the rhythm along side the drums as there is almost never a time where they aren't playing in the song.

Structure

Miles Davis' introduction was unique to the whole song, it was a slow build up with the keyboard, that eventually led to the bass guitar and horns taking over the song.

Lyrics

There are no lyrics in the song. Miles Davis keeps listeners interested for his renown antecedent and consequent phrases, this is effective because it allows the instruments to sound like they are having a conversation.