Week 43 - Writing a short melody and answering rhythms

1. Stuff done this week

It has been a while since I updated my blog. I have been bogged down with work and my family-life is not in balance. I'm finding it so hard to combine everything. My neck hurts and I'm so damn tired all the time. Spend half the weekend sleeping.  Work unfortunately cannot be put on hold. Bernice and I decided to contact a coach to help us structure our family-life. On monday we had our first meeting. I decided to take break from study.

 Anyway me and the band had a nice gig on the 22nd of October at Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg. It was the Ramblin' Roots festival 2016.
Crimson Inc announc
We were scouted by one of the festival's programmers, who saw us at a gig supporting The Yearlings.

 Here some footage of me singing my murder ballad Since you left me. Sorry, the video flips over at the end:



 My opening got a good crowd response; I feel more confident singing. I believe the vocal exercises I do while driving to work are really paying off. I feel I have more control.

 After the gig we spend some time jamming withSheesham, Lotus & 'Son, an amazing old-time jazz, hokum blues and ragtime trio from Canada. These guys were just the nicest people. I spend some time playing old ragtime tunes with them. It has been a while since I played Jackson Stomp or the Dallas Rag, so I was struggling a bit (see the beads of sweat on my brow).
Playing Jackson Stomp with Sheesham, Lotus & 'Son

2. Listening done this week

Went to check out some music by Sheesham, Lotus & 'Son. Check out this amazing dynamic performance:

3. What I learned



Project 3 Pitch

I finished the following OCA-assignment. After studying a chapter on pitch, I had to write a short melody of 4 to 8 bars, using the notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B. A further requirement was to start and finish on a C, and include a mixture of notes and rests.

Below the result (rather in the spirit of Sheesham, Lotus & 'Son):


OCA project 3 - Pitch exercise


I am pleased with the descending riff starting at the end of bar 4. It has a playful ragtime feel to it.
For variation I included two mordents in bars 7 and and 8.
The structure is a basic call-response pattern. The call ends on a high G (the fifth, dominant) in bars 3 and 7 - like a question - and the response ends in the C (tonica).

Project 4 Answering Rhythms

Furthermore, I completed OCA Project 4, which is a rhythm exercise.Project 4 involved the composition of three musical answers to three rhythmic lines of two bars in length provided in the course material of Music Foundation.


Analyses: Time signature

I would first determine what time signature the first two (three) bars of each line were composed in. The first and last line were both in 4/4 measure. The second proved to be al waltz (3/4 measure). I used Sibelius in playback mode and used clapping, to get a feel for the lines.

Structure: repeating call-response

After playing the lines a few times in Sibelius play back mode, I identified a call-response pattern between the first and second bars. I felt that it was musically logical to more or less repeat this pattern in bars 3 and 4, and to apply a small alteration in the response. As such, this pattern emerges: a-b-a-b', where ''a'' is the call and ''b'' the response. In this way they would become little compositions on their own. This may not be terribly creative, and in first attempts at composition I introduced much more variation between all four bars. But, I felt the balance in the pieces was lost, so I reduced.
Personally, the music I listen to of late (folk/bluegrass) is very melodically inclined. The rhythm tends to be simple and must provide a solid foundation for the melody. The latter is usually the showcase for the instruments used in the music. In rhythmic music (funk, or African?) I suppose more complex solutions to the lines could be conceived. So, the lines reflect my personal tastes as this moment.


Adding Finality: Extending note duration

In all the responses b', I feel it makes musical sense to end on a longer note. In line one I chose a crotchet, as the piece contains rather many quavers and three. In line two, I let the piece finish on a pointed minim, even further extending its duration. In line three, which contains predominantly quavers and semi-quavers, I ended on a crotchet. The sustained note at the end introduces a sense of finality, providing a logical end to the line.
OCA Project 4 - Rhythm exercise


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