Feb 22. 2011 - Prep for the test

For the Test This Week:
You will be doing 2 music review assignments.
One will done in class as a test, the other will be done on your own time (maybe with some class time) and posted to your blog.
PS Some people are already failing this class because they don’t have up to date blogs. Ouch. Why is this? I have no idea.
Why not send email to thelabcoatguy@gmail.com and then you will pass this course?
Doing Review 1 – in-class review
You will listen to a song. You should listen once without writing, then once with note-taking.
What will I write?
Marks will be given for rough notes -> observations
First Part of Observations:
Parts of a Song – what instruments, what are they doing, what does the song structure do?
(remember those pieces we described)
Lyrics – what are they? What do they mean? What is the point? Is there story?
Read into it like in English class
Comparison – what does this sound like, if anything?
What genre is this? What other bands/performers do this kind of thing? How does this match up? Looking for originality?
Some songs twist existing ideas and formats.
Looking for the difference and saying whether it’s good or not.
Need to have a reason.
Effect and Response on you.
What is your response and why?
What works, what doesn’t?
What pops into your head and why?
What do you see or remember? Take me to the same place.
Moving out of simply music and into thinking about putting pictures to music.
Therefore, you want to be making music that evokes memory or thoughts or ideas or can be put to a feeling very clearly

Feb 24, 2011 - Lobb is away

Okay, so today is your music response/review in-class test.

You need to follow the patterning we've been discussing for these many days. Be thorough and try to imagine that you are being marked on your quality and depth. Because you are...

The first song that you will be listening to is More Than a Feeling, but Boston.




The second song, and you can feel free to COMPARE the two songs if you wish as part of your review, is Cornflake Girl, by Tori Amos.



Here are the lyrics:

Never was a cornflake girl
thought that was a good solution
hangin with the raisin girls
she's gone to the other side
givin us a yo heave ho
things are getting kind of gross
and I go at sleepy time
this is not really happening
you bet your life it is

Peel out the watchword just peel out the watchword

She knows what's going on
seems we got a cheaper feel now
all the sweeteaze are gone
gone to the other side
with my encyclopedia
they musta paid her a nice price
she's puttin on her string bean love
this is not really happening
you bet your life it is

Rabbit where'd you put the keys girl
and the man with the golden gun
thinks he knows so much
thinks he knows so much
Rabbit where'd you put the keys girl

So, why did I choose these songs?

I chose them because they are both very appealing, catchy songs that attracted audience, "made" each of the artists, and they are very different.

They are recorded 20 years apart. One is written by a man, the other by a woman. One is classic rock, the other not so clear.

Be thoughtful, take some chances, dig in and try to knock this out of the park.

Salud,

Mr. The Lobb

Feb 23, 2011 - Lobb is away

Hello friends,

I hope this finds you well.

Remember today's task? You are to write your own review of a song that you enjoy. In your own words, as you can best do. It is to be posted to your blog as soon as you can get it there. I will be checking next week. Try to embed the song in your post, so I can hear it.

Basically, you are going to be talking about a song that is, as of right now, your favourite song.

Use the pattern we discussed yesterday, and over the past several days.

Begin this as an opinion piece, on paper, right here in the class. Be sure to choose a song that you are very familiar with. If you need to go get an iPod or other MP3 player, go ahead and ask to do so, but listen to it quietly, please. 

Some of you can work on that, while some of you can switch back and forth off the iMacs, to get into Garageband and get making a song.

Aim for somewhere around 45 seconds to a minute.

Be sure your song isn't repetitive and boring, which means you want to have transitions and changes in it, following the song structures we've discussed in class.

Think also about how building it into a song that would be suitable for a slideshow. That is coming up soon.

Be thoughtful of your supply teacher, who may not be Mac-ready, and use your time wisely.

Thanks,

Mr. The Lobb

Feb 18, 2011 - More on Music Review

I am a Music Reviewer

(building towards the dual music review assignment – blog and in-class review test)

Three Components in the reviews upon which we will focus

1. The parts of the song

- chorus, bridge, intro, outtro, verse, solo, breakdown, refrain (repeated vocal part)

- these are the structural parts of a song

- why would we talk about these in a review?

- to refer to something specific that maybe made that part of the song stand out, or was special or interesting

eg – long intros might mean that building anticipation is more important than getting to a hook or a melody, OR it could be setting a tone or atmosphere

these parts are about the structure of a song, not the content

1b) – the parts of the content of the song (in a way) – riffs, hooks, melodies, harmonies, rhythms, layers, transitions, groove, etc

-      different instruments contribute different elements to a song

-      piano – often melody – the tuneful element that you can hum or sing

-      vocals = melody

-      pop usually is all about melody – Beyonce – talking about melody means assessing the catchiness, the hummability, etc – sticks in your head – (earworm) – girls really respond to melody

-      riffs, hooks, licks, etc – guitars and sometimes pianos or keyboards – repeated musical parts that push forward, driving a song – looking for power and teeth gritting – linked to aggression, strength, motion, moving your blood – not always rock

-      hook – less often, more space in between them, every bit as catchy – could be almost any instrument (The Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star – OH, OH, OH, OH, OH) – OH is a common vocal hook

-       groove is the bass and drums, usually – could be horns as well – this is another sense of motion, but it drives a different part of your body (hint: your bum bum) and sometimes, other “down there-y” kinds of place (groiny, gutty, belly feeling music) – knees to chest feeling

-      locking in – rhythm instruments play a pattern that drives through a “walk” or up and down structure together with layering of percussion, but musical

-      complexity might be good, or maybe you prefer to be straightforward

1c) lyrics – the “other content” in a song

-      we look at lyrics like a poem – we can analyse like we do in English class

-      eg backstory – Miracle Drug – U2 – the handicapped kid and his mom, etc

-      this is Level 4 stuff

2. Comparison and Reference

- what is it like or not?

Feb 17, 2011 - What Do You Owe Mr. The Lobb

What Do You Owe Mr. The Lobb?

-     You made a blog with an intro to you
- You sent me email to thelabcoatguy@gmail.com

-     You made a movie poster that encapsulates your life (you thought deeply about the photo you used, you named it with thought and care, you used some aspect of your own trials and tribulations)

-     You posted about a song that you liked and you tried to convince me that I should like it (because of the hook)

-      You experimented with Garageband and you will be ready to make a song

-     You are learning how to do music reviews for 2 review assignments that are coming momentarily

Feb 15, 2011 - Intro to Garageband

The Music Studio and Recording

-     Apple’s Garageband is a little example of how music is recorded in a studio and how The Beatles started rejigging the industry

-     We need to think of music as separate tracks, each track working together to create whole thing – a song is a band of tracks, a big collection of separate pieces that all work together

-     Old music had fewer separated tracks, new music has computer tech, so we can have endless numbers of tracks

-     After The Beatles, other bands began to mess around with tracking in the studio, with experimenting and with different effects (which were/are electronic distortions and changes to the sound) and bands started to play more interesting, weirder music – you have a lot of room to do whatever

-     Music literally changed to fit some of the new technologies available – sounds and songs that couldn’t happen before – eg Jimi Hendrix

-     In the 70s technology goes crazy in music and a whole bunch of totally new, unbelievable types of music can now exist

-     Progressive Rock

-     Technologically advanced music.

-     Bands tries to get classical and rock together – strange, big complex music

-     Yes, Rush, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Pink Floyd, Genesis, these bands made very strange, ornate, overly challenging, bizarre music

-     Coheed and Cambria

Feb 14, 2011

Some Brief Music History

-     We will start by looking at genres

Classical Music –

-     usually instrumental

-     orchestra or symphony music

-     analog and acoustic

-     woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion, piano

-     the height of musical performance, writing and structure

-     eg – Beethoven, Mozart, Bach – 1700 and 1800s

-     used to these in soundtracks

-     John Williams – the most famous modern classical (soundtrack) composer

-     Right now it would be mostly for relaxing, study, etc

Jazz –

-     particular instruments – sax, trumpet, piano, guitar, smaller bands called combos

-     a very complex kind of music at times, can be challenging to a listener

-     associated with black Americans – it started with them in New Orleans

-     became a huge trend for dancing and the pop music of much of the 20^th Century

-     can be linked with clubs, night events, these days older, wealthier people

-     at point, jazz was the rebel music – the first kind of music to link drugs and creativity

-     solos, huge talent, really complex and usually more mature music

Rock and Roll

-     this is a HUGE category and one that needs some examination

-     1956 is the Ground Zero year for rock and roll

-     rock and roll is what it is because of the Master Equation

-     black music (R&B) plus white music (country), with a taste of more, blacker music (blues) plus white faces and kids to dance = Rock

-     Elvis Presley is the first prototypical rock star

-     White kid, good looking, good dancer, nice boy, dressed in black style, singing black music in a black style

-     In racist America in 1956, where black music is WAY better than white, this was the only way good music for kids could get out there into the mainstream

-     Collision of “race music” and smart business decisions

-     A ton of southern, white trash, hick boys started recording after Elvis and there was mini-boom of this early rock

-     Weird thing – a bunch of black artists also started making more money and cutting records

-     Chuck Berry – breaks the pattern

-     He was a black guy who played white music – great business decision

-     He was a hot guitar genius with an idea to sing and play country style

-     Over in England a huge impact was felt from Chuck Berry – kids go nuts for Chuck Berry, including John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, Eric Clapton, etc

-     A giant effect on these kids created a huge wave of powerful British rock that was American Black influenced

-     The Beatles totally reinvented Rock and Roll

-     Also the Rolling Stones

The Beatles

-     they were pioneers in the studio, making rock songs that were really complex and filled with layers and weirdness that had never been done in pop music