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CULMINATING EXPERIENCE PROJECT
COMPOSITIONAL JOURNEY IN BERKLEE VALENCIA
Juancristobal Aliaga
Candidate of Master in Music in Contemporary Performance
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-Acknowledgments
3
-Background
4
-Introduction of the work
4
-The Aspects
5
-Use of Time Signatures
6
-Process of Creation
8
-Styles
11
-Band Format
14
-Modes
17
-Conclusion
20
2
ACKNOWDLEDGEMENTS:
I want to first thank the people who used part of their time recording this tunes with
me, those are Ricardo Curto, Piotr Orzechowski, Andrea Fraenzel, Daniel Toledo,
Firas Hassan, Mt Aditia Srinivasan, Alex Williams and Mikael Chauvet Jorgensen, if
it wasn’t for them this songs wouldn’t be able to be the way they are, to the engineers
and helpers that helped with their part, Hugo Caicedo, Tim Shull, Alan Tischk, Yohan
Jo, Kareem Clarke, Beth Schofield, Gerami Groover, Joao Soreiro, etc. Also I want to
thank Mario Rossy, Enric Alberich and Perico Sambeat for teaching me new musical
things on this year, but above all I wanted to thank Victor Mendoza, Israel Sandoval
and Polo Ortí, which after this year I don’t consider them as just my teachers, but also
friends who help me to forge what I am now, and what I will be as a person and a
musician.
3
BACKGROUND
I was born in Santiago de Chile in Latin America. Being a son of a well respected
musician, and the stepson of an entrepreneur dedicated to the development of
museums and tourism, led me to live in a broad cultural world, in where I had access
to different intellectual ways of thinking and share amongst people who had radically
different points of view, which gave me the liberty to question the information that I
received before adopting it.
Although music was always in my life, I couldn‘t study it formally until I was
nineteen. That was mainly because of the opposition of certain people in my family to
do this as a career. Although I had to deal with some disadvantages, mainly because
of the “idea“ of starting late, at the end this was an advantage, because I could see the
things that I was learning with a more critical point of view helping me to make some
conclusions that I wouldn‘t be able to do if I were starting early. That helped me to
realize that in western music because of the excess of theorization is seen in a very
logical way, resulting in sometimes apply concepts that are sometimes for the sake of
showing off rather than make music itself. That results in that we over inform the
listeners and with that we avoid to make a real connection with them, taking off the
real purpose of this art, which is make an emotional bond between the person
listening and the person playing, therefore making noise instead of music. As a way
of avoids that, and using the tools that I learned in my formal studies, I wanted to
create “Complex” music, with difficult resources, but making it easy to listen to the
inexperienced ear.
INTRODUCTION OF THE WORK
This work hopes to reveal the results that myself as a musician and a composer had in
this 3 semesters as a student in this masters program. The results that are going to be
shown here were more a product of a group of different circumstances, rather than a
established plan. This happened mainly because with so much information in certain
fields, my interests were more focused over the existent possibilities of learning,
rather that the ideas that I wanted to develop in a first time.
To try to be as much open in musical terms, what I did was to play 5 tunes
(4 original and one arrangement of standards), each of one is going to be covering one
of the aspects showed below, this is because in my opinion those are the main aspects
that are involved in my compositions. Those aspects are:
Band Format
Time Signatures
Modes used
Process of creation
And Style
The planning of the work would consist first of all in write and choose the tunes that
are going to be placed in the folder, then the tunes are going to be recorded, and
4
shown in a concert or if it is not possible would be an exposition, in where the songs
are going to be shown and explain, the criteria for choosing the tunes is totally
personal, because in my opinion they clearly show the process that I had here, and try
to solve my concerns about certain aspects showed above
THE ASPECTS
The aspects that I used to classify this work were divided in Band Format, Time
Signatures, Modes, and Process of creation and Styles. Here in this part, I’m going to
try to explain more profoundly about the reasons that led me to do this
1-Time Signatures: One of the main characteristics of the Mediterranean music is the
use of odd time signatures, here I had the opportunity to be exposed to these kind of
time signatures and using it in my music. The Idea of those tunes was trying to create
easy listening melodies to the western ears using those resources. The idea was to
adopt those patterns and try to adapt it to western styles, without thinking in a
mathematical way or a pattern-based structure, but also as a way of enhance the
melody. When you hear this music, you are going to notice time signature changes, as
well as different patterns that help to the development of the melody.
2- Process of Creation: I think that is important to point that aspect, because all the
tunes or arrangement were created for a certain reason more than because of the
deadline of the thesis itself, I think that this is important to point that out, because I
think that show the process of making a work is as important as the work itself
3- Styles: Among with the different things that I had the opportunity to experiment
here in my stay in Valencia, the different styles of music that I had the opportunity to
play and listen were decisive in the process of creativity and growth as a musician and
person, that’s why my compositions were based in different styles, but trying to get an
identity of its own
4-Band Format: I decided to use this aspect, because during the year I had the
opportunity to interact with different band formats, and composing and playing with
them was an amazing opportunity to meet the and also to discover new sounds (for
example with more acoustic instruments, Mediterranean percussions, and also with
solo instruments). The compositions that I showed here were the ones that in my
opinion reflected the best use of those formats. The fact that were more tunes with
quartet in this process, it’s because that’s the format that I’m most used to work with.
5-Modes: Although I had compositions in tonal music, passing through different tones
during the music pieces, I had to use single microtonal modes, in order to explore the
world of the fretless guitar…The arrangements of the standards were doing in order
so that the melody and the solos were made using those modes.
5
USE OF TIME SIGNATUREs (Tema Número 2)
Tema Número 2
(Intro)
bb 5
& b b ™™4
Ϫ
Bbm7
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
B¨‹7
œ
œ
b œ œ™ ≈ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ 3 œ œ ™ Œ Œ 4 œ œ™ ≈ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ 7 œ Ó™
& b bb 44
4
4
8J
2
B¨‹7
E¨7
B¨7 ™
œ œ œ œ B7œ œ œ œ B¨7
œ œ ™ œ œ B7œ œ
b
b
3
&b b 4
6
B¨‹7
™™ 44
E¨7
œ œ ™ œ œ B7œ œ œ œ 2C7½
œ œ œ œ™
4
43
B¨7
The Idea
It always had got my attention the way that we compose music, and the way that is
taught in the western side of the planet. That is because it’s based in a concept of
circularity leaded by multiples of four. That means, that to make a proper theme in
music, you need o have a call and a response that last at least 4 measures. A good
example of it is the song Footprints of Wayne Shorter.
This song has a motive of four measures which is has variations twice surrounding it
to a twelve bars theme. In other tunes the themes take form 4 to 48 bars to make the
song, that get me to make to myself the question of what happen if I do songs with a
motive who is not a multiple of four and give the sensation of circularity that we are
use to hear in western music, for that I have to use motives that can be easy to sing
and teach by rote and use styles that appeal to do that. For that I decided to do a funk
song, inspired in the afro beat music starting with a pedal in Bb minor pentatonic, in
5/4 which result in this
6
So the idea was to try to do a theme of 8 measures that doesn’t end in a multiple of
four, and give that sense of circularity, for that I used the eighth notes as a subdivision
note, instead of the forth, which is used usually to divide music in 4/4
This was the result
If you notice this melody to be in a multiple of 4 had to have 32-quarter notes or 64
eighth notes to give the song a cyclical sense, but as you see this song has 25 and a
half quarter notes and 51 eighth notes, to help to that sense I did it in a funk style
because is a style that is very rhythmical, and allows to make complicated melodies
The format used for this song is a quartet, because It was thought for a quintet in the
beginning, but because of the lack of members that play tenor sax, it was played as a
quartet
7
CHAPTER 2
PROCESS OF CREATION
Vince Guaraldi Lead Sheet
A
q = 180
3 Ϫ
& ™™4
B¨Œ„Š7
œ
™
& œ
œ
bœ ™
œ
5
G‹7
9
D¨Œ„Š7
&
1.
AŒ„Š7
œ
J
B
17 A¨Œ„Š7
b˙™
&
21
&
25
bœ
J
bœ
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J
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J
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&
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29 A¨Œ„Š7
& ˙™
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J
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˙™
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J
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V
œ
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J
˙™
D‹7
œ
E¨7
˙
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bœ
Ϫ
E¨7
2.
AŒ„Š7
B¨Œ„Š7
˙™
bœ ™
œ
B¨‹7
œ
FŒ„Š7
˙
bœ
œ
œ
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bœ
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œ
J
˙™
EŒ„Š7
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˙™
œ
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™
& #˙
13
Ϫ
œ
V™
œ
J
œ
Ϫ
E‹7
Ϫ
D¨7
V
+
8
The Idea
This tune was inspired because I wanted to make a jazz waltz inspired in the cartoon
“Peanuts” but with chords that escape from the II-V dynamic that are usually
presented in jazz. For that I had to establish a melody that could be easy to remember,
and also very easy to have a lot of options of different chords. I used one melodic cell,
and I varied it in different ways
The motive
The A part has 28 measures instead of 32, basically to try to play with the sense of
circularity showed above. But the melody helps to not to miss those absent measures.
The harmony of the tune was developed in order that the tension wouldn’t be
subjected just to the II-V structure, using sub dominant chords as root notes, and
dominants, basically, because there is a major range of notes that I can use without
them sound as a not permitted note, also using those intermodal changes would
change the color, also creating a challenge of making a melody that allow the
tensions, but at the same time can be enjoyable and easy to remember
9
Also there is a lot of parallel upper chords on minor and major chords like the
example below, that makes a nice effect of movement, that I personally like
The format used in this song was a jazz quartet, because it is a very standard and
adequate format for the sonority that I wanted to have. In the beginning had two extra
voices, but they didn’t sound the way I wanted to.
10
CHAPTER 3
STYLES
We’ll figure it out
e = 180
5
& ™™8
INTRO
68
∑
A¨Œ„Š7(#5)
A A¨Œ„Š7(#5)
œ bœ bœ œ
5
™
≈
™
& 8
3
œ œ 58 bœ bœ œ œ œ œ 68 ˙ ™
68 œ bœ œ œ bœ œ
G¨Œ„Š7(#5)
1.
D¨Œ„Š7
F‹7
GŒ„Š7
#œ #œ nœ œ œ œ n˙
œ bœ bœ œ œ
5
6
bœ œ œ
58
≈
&8
8
7
A¨Œ„Š7(#5)
1.2.
11 B¨Œ„Š7
&
14
œ
4
&4
œ
E¨‹7
bœ ˙
& ™™bœ ™
E¨‹7
18
22
&
C©‹7
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œ
∑
bœ
EŒ„Š7
œ
œ
D‹7
œ bœ
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∑
D‹7
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œ ˙
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˙™
J 6
8
GŒ„Š7
#˙ ™
DŒ„Š7
D¨‹7
F9
D¨‹7
bw
C‹7
œ œ
58
C‹7
™™
∑
44
C‹7
∑
œ œ bœ
bœ ˙
œ ˙™
œ œ œ œ™ #œ #œ ™
BŒ„Š7
58
∑
G¨Œ„Š7(#5)
∑
C‹7
w
™™
w
Solos en A (6/8) y B , al terminar intro
11
The Aspect
This is the third tune, and the first one composed in the format that I’m using right
now which is a quartet, that I composed this year here, the idea behind it, was to try to
do a melody that could be easily sang in an odd time signature. That’s why I used the
11/8 time signature grouping it two groups, one of 5/8 and other of 6/8 making a very
smooth intro with the guitar using parallel chords, which are part of two different
melodic minor scales. Those are F melodic minor and Eb melodic minor (the
rhythmic pattern is not written, but you can see the division for reading purposes
Then following that time signature (5+6) in a tonada-sort of mood with the drums. I
proceed to play the melody, which is two measures motif, which is varied during the
A part
12
In order to make a contrast and not abuse of the odd pattern too much, the B part is in
4/4, for that I created a descending motive using minor chords, to have a relation
between the A and the B part, I use the eight note as a reference for the clic. So that
gives a reference point, ant the change of time signatures wouldn’t sound to violent,
this part also have an intro in where the piano play de descending cadence, that it
would be played once
The Solos are divided in part A in 6/8, and the B in 4/4, that makes more easily to
face the chord changes
13
BAND FORMAT
LEMURIA
Lemuria
q = 125
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21
1.
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Since the first days as a musician, the people involved in this profession have the
opportunity to face different band formats that is a very good form of expand their
sonorities and also presents a new challenge because every format have its difficulties
15
and advantages. Here this year I wanted to experiment with the solo format, which is
a very difficult in my opinion, because you have to deal with the fact that you don’t
have any other instrument to support you, and also you have to be aware of taking
care of the harmony at the same time that the melody. With Lemuria I wanted to make
that happen in a way that can be easy to listen having the liberty of play complex
things making a melody that would be easy to play doing the chords and the same
time, but if I wasn’t able to do that, still give the sensation that I was playing in a
desirable chord. This song is played in a style called “Tonada” which is one of the
styles that evolved in Latin America from the 6/8, 3/4 patterns that came from the
north of Africa via Spain. That’s why I wrote the melody in 6/8, but I wrote it as it
where in 3/4. The idea of the chords was to try to make chords that share notes in
common but don’t have any harmonic relationship
For example in this passage the chords are Bmaj7 and Cmin7, those chords although
don’t have an harmonic relationship they share two notes, B# (Eb) and A# (Bb) that
gives a very interesting way of playing with different scales and making a relation
amongst them, also the song has a lot of modal interchanges, as you can see in the
“A” part. (From measure 9 to 28)
The B part is more tonal, until the measure 44, which has a chromatic movement
with maj7 chords and minor chords
The structure is AABA
16
CHAPTER 5 (MODES)
17
The Idea
In my years as a student of Berklee Boston, I started to get interested in microtonal
scales. I took 4 semesters with Dave Fiuczinski, in which he taught me the basic stuff
of the quartertones and microtonalism. When I arrived here, being in contact with
musicians that are used to that way of playing music, such as the people from arab
countries, made me realize that is not only a matter of playing the notes, but also to
situating them in a context, which set a double task, because learning the scales was
only the first step to play this kind of music. In well-tempered music the system of
playing is led by the harmony, which makes that the melody has to be subdued by it,
that makes a circular approach to the music, because the idea is to play different
chords and finish the part with a chord that permits to go back to the first chord again.
But in the microtonal music, the way of approach the music is a linear one, in where
the capacity of doing melodic development using scales with microtones is more
important than playing chord changes. Afro Blue was a perfect tune to develop those
concepts (circular and linear), because while the head have chord changes, the solo
was played in a pedal in F minor
To play this song I used a fretless guitar tuned like an Oud (F, C, G, D, A, F), this
instrument was tuned in that way specifically because it permits to play the instrument
in the first position, which helps to play with open strings, the scales that I used to
play the solo were Arabic Maqams in F, which are scales that the particularity with
them, is that you to play the scales you have to play going up in one way, and going
down in other way, this is interesting, because the microtones are played as a way of
add color rather to work as a note itself (you don’t end with those notes, but you only
PASS through them
The pictures that you are going to see now are going to help you to clarify the point
showed above
18
(Pictures of the scales taken from the website alsiadi.com (the aleppian school of
music)
19
Conclusions
Following this study, my conclusion is that in order to be creative, an artist has to do
two things, which are to live in an ambient that enhances the creative work, and to try
to learn about other areas of knowledge, that is because the art is an answer from the
author to the time and place in where he or she is living in. The activity of learning
new areas of knowledge is only going to help to broad horizons and understand better
about other aspects and points of view about the same questions or statements that the
author is trying to portray in its works. That only helps to improve the bond that the
person tries to make between he or she and the people who is going to be exposed to
the work, only because he or she is going to be more aware about what is happening
around them.
My objective now is to try to search for knowledge in different areas both logical
and spiritual, so I can reach a better level of awareness and understanding of the
world and period of time that I’m living in. Helping to fortify the bond between
myself, and all the elements surrounding me.
20
COMPOSITIONAL JOURNEY IN BERKLEE VALENCIA
Juancristobal Aliaga
Candidate of Master in Music in Contemporary Performance
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-Acknowledgments
3
-Background
4
-Introduction of the work
4
-The Aspects
5
-Use of Time Signatures
6
-Process of Creation
8
-Styles
11
-Band Format
14
-Modes
17
-Conclusion
20
2
ACKNOWDLEDGEMENTS:
I want to first thank the people who used part of their time recording this tunes with
me, those are Ricardo Curto, Piotr Orzechowski, Andrea Fraenzel, Daniel Toledo,
Firas Hassan, Mt Aditia Srinivasan, Alex Williams and Mikael Chauvet Jorgensen, if
it wasn’t for them this songs wouldn’t be able to be the way they are, to the engineers
and helpers that helped with their part, Hugo Caicedo, Tim Shull, Alan Tischk, Yohan
Jo, Kareem Clarke, Beth Schofield, Gerami Groover, Joao Soreiro, etc. Also I want to
thank Mario Rossy, Enric Alberich and Perico Sambeat for teaching me new musical
things on this year, but above all I wanted to thank Victor Mendoza, Israel Sandoval
and Polo Ortí, which after this year I don’t consider them as just my teachers, but also
friends who help me to forge what I am now, and what I will be as a person and a
musician.
3
BACKGROUND
I was born in Santiago de Chile in Latin America. Being a son of a well respected
musician, and the stepson of an entrepreneur dedicated to the development of
museums and tourism, led me to live in a broad cultural world, in where I had access
to different intellectual ways of thinking and share amongst people who had radically
different points of view, which gave me the liberty to question the information that I
received before adopting it.
Although music was always in my life, I couldn‘t study it formally until I was
nineteen. That was mainly because of the opposition of certain people in my family to
do this as a career. Although I had to deal with some disadvantages, mainly because
of the “idea“ of starting late, at the end this was an advantage, because I could see the
things that I was learning with a more critical point of view helping me to make some
conclusions that I wouldn‘t be able to do if I were starting early. That helped me to
realize that in western music because of the excess of theorization is seen in a very
logical way, resulting in sometimes apply concepts that are sometimes for the sake of
showing off rather than make music itself. That results in that we over inform the
listeners and with that we avoid to make a real connection with them, taking off the
real purpose of this art, which is make an emotional bond between the person
listening and the person playing, therefore making noise instead of music. As a way
of avoids that, and using the tools that I learned in my formal studies, I wanted to
create “Complex” music, with difficult resources, but making it easy to listen to the
inexperienced ear.
INTRODUCTION OF THE WORK
This work hopes to reveal the results that myself as a musician and a composer had in
this 3 semesters as a student in this masters program. The results that are going to be
shown here were more a product of a group of different circumstances, rather than a
established plan. This happened mainly because with so much information in certain
fields, my interests were more focused over the existent possibilities of learning,
rather that the ideas that I wanted to develop in a first time.
To try to be as much open in musical terms, what I did was to play 5 tunes
(4 original and one arrangement of standards), each of one is going to be covering one
of the aspects showed below, this is because in my opinion those are the main aspects
that are involved in my compositions. Those aspects are:
Band Format
Time Signatures
Modes used
Process of creation
And Style
The planning of the work would consist first of all in write and choose the tunes that
are going to be placed in the folder, then the tunes are going to be recorded, and
4
shown in a concert or if it is not possible would be an exposition, in where the songs
are going to be shown and explain, the criteria for choosing the tunes is totally
personal, because in my opinion they clearly show the process that I had here, and try
to solve my concerns about certain aspects showed above
THE ASPECTS
The aspects that I used to classify this work were divided in Band Format, Time
Signatures, Modes, and Process of creation and Styles. Here in this part, I’m going to
try to explain more profoundly about the reasons that led me to do this
1-Time Signatures: One of the main characteristics of the Mediterranean music is the
use of odd time signatures, here I had the opportunity to be exposed to these kind of
time signatures and using it in my music. The Idea of those tunes was trying to create
easy listening melodies to the western ears using those resources. The idea was to
adopt those patterns and try to adapt it to western styles, without thinking in a
mathematical way or a pattern-based structure, but also as a way of enhance the
melody. When you hear this music, you are going to notice time signature changes, as
well as different patterns that help to the development of the melody.
2- Process of Creation: I think that is important to point that aspect, because all the
tunes or arrangement were created for a certain reason more than because of the
deadline of the thesis itself, I think that this is important to point that out, because I
think that show the process of making a work is as important as the work itself
3- Styles: Among with the different things that I had the opportunity to experiment
here in my stay in Valencia, the different styles of music that I had the opportunity to
play and listen were decisive in the process of creativity and growth as a musician and
person, that’s why my compositions were based in different styles, but trying to get an
identity of its own
4-Band Format: I decided to use this aspect, because during the year I had the
opportunity to interact with different band formats, and composing and playing with
them was an amazing opportunity to meet the and also to discover new sounds (for
example with more acoustic instruments, Mediterranean percussions, and also with
solo instruments). The compositions that I showed here were the ones that in my
opinion reflected the best use of those formats. The fact that were more tunes with
quartet in this process, it’s because that’s the format that I’m most used to work with.
5-Modes: Although I had compositions in tonal music, passing through different tones
during the music pieces, I had to use single microtonal modes, in order to explore the
world of the fretless guitar…The arrangements of the standards were doing in order
so that the melody and the solos were made using those modes.
5
USE OF TIME SIGNATUREs (Tema Número 2)
Tema Número 2
(Intro)
bb 5
& b b ™™4
Ϫ
Bbm7
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
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B¨‹7
œ
œ
b œ œ™ ≈ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ 3 œ œ ™ Œ Œ 4 œ œ™ ≈ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ 7 œ Ó™
& b bb 44
4
4
8J
2
B¨‹7
E¨7
B¨7 ™
œ œ œ œ B7œ œ œ œ B¨7
œ œ ™ œ œ B7œ œ
b
b
3
&b b 4
6
B¨‹7
™™ 44
E¨7
œ œ ™ œ œ B7œ œ œ œ 2C7½
œ œ œ œ™
4
43
B¨7
The Idea
It always had got my attention the way that we compose music, and the way that is
taught in the western side of the planet. That is because it’s based in a concept of
circularity leaded by multiples of four. That means, that to make a proper theme in
music, you need o have a call and a response that last at least 4 measures. A good
example of it is the song Footprints of Wayne Shorter.
This song has a motive of four measures which is has variations twice surrounding it
to a twelve bars theme. In other tunes the themes take form 4 to 48 bars to make the
song, that get me to make to myself the question of what happen if I do songs with a
motive who is not a multiple of four and give the sensation of circularity that we are
use to hear in western music, for that I have to use motives that can be easy to sing
and teach by rote and use styles that appeal to do that. For that I decided to do a funk
song, inspired in the afro beat music starting with a pedal in Bb minor pentatonic, in
5/4 which result in this
6
So the idea was to try to do a theme of 8 measures that doesn’t end in a multiple of
four, and give that sense of circularity, for that I used the eighth notes as a subdivision
note, instead of the forth, which is used usually to divide music in 4/4
This was the result
If you notice this melody to be in a multiple of 4 had to have 32-quarter notes or 64
eighth notes to give the song a cyclical sense, but as you see this song has 25 and a
half quarter notes and 51 eighth notes, to help to that sense I did it in a funk style
because is a style that is very rhythmical, and allows to make complicated melodies
The format used for this song is a quartet, because It was thought for a quintet in the
beginning, but because of the lack of members that play tenor sax, it was played as a
quartet
7
CHAPTER 2
PROCESS OF CREATION
Vince Guaraldi Lead Sheet
A
q = 180
3 Ϫ
& ™™4
B¨Œ„Š7
œ
™
& œ
œ
bœ ™
œ
5
G‹7
9
D¨Œ„Š7
&
1.
AŒ„Š7
œ
J
B
17 A¨Œ„Š7
b˙™
&
21
&
25
bœ
J
bœ
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J
bœ
J
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&
˙
#˙ ™
29 A¨Œ„Š7
& ˙™
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J
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b˙™
G‹7
˙™
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J
˙™
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J
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œ
A¨‹7
V
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˙
CŒ„Š7
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J
˙™
D‹7
œ
E¨7
˙
A¨7(#11)
bœ
Ϫ
E¨7
2.
AŒ„Š7
B¨Œ„Š7
˙™
bœ ™
œ
B¨‹7
œ
FŒ„Š7
˙
bœ
œ
œ
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bœ
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& #˙
13
Ϫ
œ
V™
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Ϫ
E‹7
Ϫ
D¨7
V
+
8
The Idea
This tune was inspired because I wanted to make a jazz waltz inspired in the cartoon
“Peanuts” but with chords that escape from the II-V dynamic that are usually
presented in jazz. For that I had to establish a melody that could be easy to remember,
and also very easy to have a lot of options of different chords. I used one melodic cell,
and I varied it in different ways
The motive
The A part has 28 measures instead of 32, basically to try to play with the sense of
circularity showed above. But the melody helps to not to miss those absent measures.
The harmony of the tune was developed in order that the tension wouldn’t be
subjected just to the II-V structure, using sub dominant chords as root notes, and
dominants, basically, because there is a major range of notes that I can use without
them sound as a not permitted note, also using those intermodal changes would
change the color, also creating a challenge of making a melody that allow the
tensions, but at the same time can be enjoyable and easy to remember
9
Also there is a lot of parallel upper chords on minor and major chords like the
example below, that makes a nice effect of movement, that I personally like
The format used in this song was a jazz quartet, because it is a very standard and
adequate format for the sonority that I wanted to have. In the beginning had two extra
voices, but they didn’t sound the way I wanted to.
10
CHAPTER 3
STYLES
We’ll figure it out
e = 180
5
& ™™8
INTRO
68
∑
A¨Œ„Š7(#5)
A A¨Œ„Š7(#5)
œ bœ bœ œ
5
™
≈
™
& 8
3
œ œ 58 bœ bœ œ œ œ œ 68 ˙ ™
68 œ bœ œ œ bœ œ
G¨Œ„Š7(#5)
1.
D¨Œ„Š7
F‹7
GŒ„Š7
#œ #œ nœ œ œ œ n˙
œ bœ bœ œ œ
5
6
bœ œ œ
58
≈
&8
8
7
A¨Œ„Š7(#5)
1.2.
11 B¨Œ„Š7
&
14
œ
4
&4
œ
E¨‹7
bœ ˙
& ™™bœ ™
E¨‹7
18
22
&
C©‹7
œ™ œ œ
œ
∑
bœ
EŒ„Š7
œ
œ
D‹7
œ bœ
œ
∑
D‹7
œ
œ ˙
œ
˙™
J 6
8
GŒ„Š7
#˙ ™
DŒ„Š7
D¨‹7
F9
D¨‹7
bw
C‹7
œ œ
58
C‹7
™™
∑
44
C‹7
∑
œ œ bœ
bœ ˙
œ ˙™
œ œ œ œ™ #œ #œ ™
BŒ„Š7
58
∑
G¨Œ„Š7(#5)
∑
C‹7
w
™™
w
Solos en A (6/8) y B , al terminar intro
11
The Aspect
This is the third tune, and the first one composed in the format that I’m using right
now which is a quartet, that I composed this year here, the idea behind it, was to try to
do a melody that could be easily sang in an odd time signature. That’s why I used the
11/8 time signature grouping it two groups, one of 5/8 and other of 6/8 making a very
smooth intro with the guitar using parallel chords, which are part of two different
melodic minor scales. Those are F melodic minor and Eb melodic minor (the
rhythmic pattern is not written, but you can see the division for reading purposes
Then following that time signature (5+6) in a tonada-sort of mood with the drums. I
proceed to play the melody, which is two measures motif, which is varied during the
A part
12
In order to make a contrast and not abuse of the odd pattern too much, the B part is in
4/4, for that I created a descending motive using minor chords, to have a relation
between the A and the B part, I use the eight note as a reference for the clic. So that
gives a reference point, ant the change of time signatures wouldn’t sound to violent,
this part also have an intro in where the piano play de descending cadence, that it
would be played once
The Solos are divided in part A in 6/8, and the B in 4/4, that makes more easily to
face the chord changes
13
BAND FORMAT
LEMURIA
Lemuria
q = 125
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& ™™8 # œ
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5
bbœœœ
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‰ bœ bœ œ ™™
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nœ ˙
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9
j
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17
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21
1.
2.
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Since the first days as a musician, the people involved in this profession have the
opportunity to face different band formats that is a very good form of expand their
sonorities and also presents a new challenge because every format have its difficulties
15
and advantages. Here this year I wanted to experiment with the solo format, which is
a very difficult in my opinion, because you have to deal with the fact that you don’t
have any other instrument to support you, and also you have to be aware of taking
care of the harmony at the same time that the melody. With Lemuria I wanted to make
that happen in a way that can be easy to listen having the liberty of play complex
things making a melody that would be easy to play doing the chords and the same
time, but if I wasn’t able to do that, still give the sensation that I was playing in a
desirable chord. This song is played in a style called “Tonada” which is one of the
styles that evolved in Latin America from the 6/8, 3/4 patterns that came from the
north of Africa via Spain. That’s why I wrote the melody in 6/8, but I wrote it as it
where in 3/4. The idea of the chords was to try to make chords that share notes in
common but don’t have any harmonic relationship
For example in this passage the chords are Bmaj7 and Cmin7, those chords although
don’t have an harmonic relationship they share two notes, B# (Eb) and A# (Bb) that
gives a very interesting way of playing with different scales and making a relation
amongst them, also the song has a lot of modal interchanges, as you can see in the
“A” part. (From measure 9 to 28)
The B part is more tonal, until the measure 44, which has a chromatic movement
with maj7 chords and minor chords
The structure is AABA
16
CHAPTER 5 (MODES)
17
The Idea
In my years as a student of Berklee Boston, I started to get interested in microtonal
scales. I took 4 semesters with Dave Fiuczinski, in which he taught me the basic stuff
of the quartertones and microtonalism. When I arrived here, being in contact with
musicians that are used to that way of playing music, such as the people from arab
countries, made me realize that is not only a matter of playing the notes, but also to
situating them in a context, which set a double task, because learning the scales was
only the first step to play this kind of music. In well-tempered music the system of
playing is led by the harmony, which makes that the melody has to be subdued by it,
that makes a circular approach to the music, because the idea is to play different
chords and finish the part with a chord that permits to go back to the first chord again.
But in the microtonal music, the way of approach the music is a linear one, in where
the capacity of doing melodic development using scales with microtones is more
important than playing chord changes. Afro Blue was a perfect tune to develop those
concepts (circular and linear), because while the head have chord changes, the solo
was played in a pedal in F minor
To play this song I used a fretless guitar tuned like an Oud (F, C, G, D, A, F), this
instrument was tuned in that way specifically because it permits to play the instrument
in the first position, which helps to play with open strings, the scales that I used to
play the solo were Arabic Maqams in F, which are scales that the particularity with
them, is that you to play the scales you have to play going up in one way, and going
down in other way, this is interesting, because the microtones are played as a way of
add color rather to work as a note itself (you don’t end with those notes, but you only
PASS through them
The pictures that you are going to see now are going to help you to clarify the point
showed above
18
(Pictures of the scales taken from the website alsiadi.com (the aleppian school of
music)
19
Conclusions
Following this study, my conclusion is that in order to be creative, an artist has to do
two things, which are to live in an ambient that enhances the creative work, and to try
to learn about other areas of knowledge, that is because the art is an answer from the
author to the time and place in where he or she is living in. The activity of learning
new areas of knowledge is only going to help to broad horizons and understand better
about other aspects and points of view about the same questions or statements that the
author is trying to portray in its works. That only helps to improve the bond that the
person tries to make between he or she and the people who is going to be exposed to
the work, only because he or she is going to be more aware about what is happening
around them.
My objective now is to try to search for knowledge in different areas both logical
and spiritual, so I can reach a better level of awareness and understanding of the
world and period of time that I’m living in. Helping to fortify the bond between
myself, and all the elements surrounding me.
20
Media of
