Style of Sound
Genre's vary in the types of typical instruments that are used, rhythm and beats, and components of the musical side of a music track/video. In order for me to find out the differences in the sound of different genres, I have chosen to sample 5 different mainstream genre's and listen to them, making notes under the following headings:
Instruments
Tempo/Pace
Rhythm/Beat
Voice
Overall mood created by the above
Narratives
Similarly, the style of sound usually depicts what type of narrative the song is going to be about. For example, a typical Rock & Roll song is quite edgy so a narrative that might go with it would be something quite rebellious and something to change people's opinions. When looking at the narratives, I asked myself the following questions:
Is there a lyrical narrative or musical narrative - why may this be?
Is it a happy or sad narrative?
Is the narrative easy to understand or complex?
What are some of the main themes?
Is there a message the song is trying to get across - what is it?
Motives and Themes
Every song is created for a purpose - to get some sort of message, wake-up call or morality across. Working out what the themes and motives are behind songs are important in realising their decisions for everything else they have done - e.g. genre of music, props, scenes in music video, lyrical or musical narrative. When analysing the 5 genres for their motives and themes, I mostly looked out for:
Is there any recurring themes - what are they?
What is the main message or teaching it is trying to make?
Why have they produced a song with this message?
Is the message created by the themes obvious or complex?
Fashion Styles
Artists belonging to different genre's again have their own unique fashion styles - e.g. Sean Kingston's clothing and dress sense is not nearly the same as a band member from the group KISS. Expressing their beliefs and the music they create are very important aspects for an artist, so I analysed these whilst watching different music videos so I can eventually produce my own style image and develop it correctly for the genre I choose. For this I did a simple denotation and connotation of the main stars of the music videos below.
Analysis'
1. Genre: Rock & Roll, Band: Queen, Song: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Rock and Roll - Queen - "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" from emmaastleyasmedia
-Analysing the styles of this genre and this particular song was extremely fun, but I quite easy compared to some of the others. I have realised the repetition of some of the lyrics made it much easier to understand the meaning behind the song and what it is trying to process to the audience. Similarly, I realised how important the tempo of the song is in determining the mood that is created.
2. Genre: R&B, Artist: Nicki Minaj, Song: Superbass
-Analysing the styles of this genre and this particular song was extremely fun, but I quite easy compared to some of the others. I have realised the repetition of some of the lyrics made it much easier to understand the meaning behind the song and what it is trying to process to the audience. Similarly, I realised how important the tempo of the song is in determining the mood that is created.
2. Genre: R&B, Artist: Nicki Minaj, Song: Superbass
Nicki Minaj - Starships from emmaastleyasmedia
-This music track was again quite easy to analyse due to the repeated lyrics in the chorus and some of the verses. It was easy to establish the sense of what Nicki Minaj was trying to create, and how she wanted to express Freedom and Power. I found out that the different types of instruments used, and the selection of ones that are played at the same time, can determine how an audience reads a piece of music.
-This music track was again quite easy to analyse due to the repeated lyrics in the chorus and some of the verses. It was easy to establish the sense of what Nicki Minaj was trying to create, and how she wanted to express Freedom and Power. I found out that the different types of instruments used, and the selection of ones that are played at the same time, can determine how an audience reads a piece of music.
(no music video, audio only)
-This song was by far the hardest of them all to analyse as it was the only one that didn't feature lyrics. However, I managed to make my own interpretation of the themes and ideas behind it through the brief title and the repitition of the slow tempo in between the fast. This showed me just how much a completely instrumental piece of music can create a powerful message, sometimes even more powerful than that of a song with lyrics.
4. Genre: Reggae, Artist: Bob Marley, Song: Buffalo Soldier
-I really enjoyed looking at this song, not only because I enjoy this type of music, but because reggae music always has the most passionate and controversial, some may argue, motives behind it. Reggae is typically quite calm and peaceful, much like this song, but the issues raised in this song is about war - something very opposite to calm and peaceful. It was interesting for me to realise that I had to look deep into the tempo and rhythm of the song to understand this was on purpose to make world peace and stop war.
5. Genre: Garage, Artist: Craig David, Song: Seven Days
-This was another easy song to pick out and I believe the lyrics and title of this one made the narrative and motive behind the song seem most obvious than others. It was easy for me to establish the chilled out mood the artist was trying to create and this obviously meant the chilled out mood about love and women he was trying to show.
Why have I done this?
I thought it would be beneficial for me personally if I picked out some old and some contemporary songs from 5 different genres, and just briefly analyse a few conventions of each one - for example, to see how a Reggae tempo would be different from an R&B tempo, or how a Rock & Roll motive might be different from a Garage genre's themes. This short task was very helpful in figuring out the types of themes that I want to create as I now understand the effort that artists put into songs and music videos to specifically create the message that they want their audience to leave with. When it comes to me making me own music video, I know have the knowledge and ability to understand that I need to take time in figuring out whether I want a fast/slow tempo, a wide or short range of instruments, a song with a complex or easy theme and what those themes or messages are that I want to tell my audience.
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