Doug Carlton
October 23, 2024
MUSC B30
Assignment 1: Learning Music
The most interesting sections of this tutorial for me were the sections on scales, melodies, and harmonies. The bluegrass and folk music that I play and listen to is driven by melody. In this music, all of the rhythmic parts including percussive sounds, bass lines, and chord accompaniment are played in support of the melodic lines. The melodic lines can be vocals or solos on the various instruments. Even in purely instrumental pieces, such as this example titled Cazadero, by mandolinist John Reischman, the melody is the most important component. While a piece like this features improvisation, the melody is contained within the improvised lines. Improvisations always return to the melody. Rhythm is important in this music, it is just is not the focus.
I do not listen to much pop or rap music, but the examples in the Learning Music tutorial were interesting because, especially with the rap music, it sounds like the exact opposite of what is described above. The “beats” and bass lines are the essential focus of the piece and everything else is less prominent. Even the vocals (it’s rap music, so there isn’t really a melody) are mixed under the rhythm. The vocals also have a percussive rather than melodic character. It definitely sounds like rhythm is what drives this type of music. Even the pop songs, which are more melodic that the rap, have a very rhythmic feel.
I suspect that the way composition is approached is also very different with these types of music genres. With melodic music, I would think that the artist would compose a melody first. The melody and key signature would suggest chord changes. Then the bass would follow those changes, and finally percussive sounds would be brought in to the piece. From the reading we have done, and from this tutorial, I would think that with rap and probably also pop music, the composition begins with the artist “making beats” then adding bass lines, and finally, adding any melody or, in the case of rap, the vocal cadence.
The idea of composing music by "making beats" is what I found to be the most challenging. I have not created or even thought about creating music this way. I have done some recording and am familiar with using a DAW, but my experience is using technology to capture, as accurately as possible, the sounds of music played on instruments. I know that a good deal of music is composed on computers, but it is not something I have thought about or attempted.
