In line with Emma Sky's post from September, on the topic of combining hip hop with classical training, I would like to discuss my new project, the Luce Trio. We are three musicians with a jazz background, performing the music of Bach, Handel and John Dowland.

I have in the past few years had a growing interest in early music, finding that much of my time it is all I will listen to for weeks. I had been working out the problem of how I could bring it into my performance repertoire, without having any connections to the classical world or any real experience playing with chamber ensembles. I decided to start my own group with musicians that I felt could interpret this music in their own way.

Thus began the Luce Trio, featuring fellow BML teacher, Chris Tordini, on bass and Ryan Ferreira on guitar. I chose the instrumentation of electric guitar with effects, acoustic bass and saxophone to give the music a different character right off the bat. On top of that we improvise over the themes. I went through and translated the original scores into chord symbols where possible, simplified sections, and opened it up so we could play them more freely while still keeping the spirit of the piece.

ARRANGING THE MUSIC

On Cantata 159, by JS Bach, I used only the intro to the bass aria. It is originally played on oboe, and when I first heard it, it sounded so much like a soprano saxophone that I had the idea of playing it on one. The melody also has beautiful chromaticisms, flat nines and flat thirteenths, which made me think of using it in a jazz context. I analyzed the harmony, wrote out standard chord symbols, C, C/B, Am, Adim, Em etc... and it's become a nice short tune that's really fun to play over.

On the piece Lascia Ch'io Pianga, from the opera Rinaldo by GF Handel, I moved the A section from the original 3/4 to 4/4 and added a simple counter-line in the guitar. On the version here we stay in 4/4 for the "bridge" before returning to the A section, resulting in a standard AABA song form, making the tune easier to play over and more open to improvisation. On the record I returned the bridge to it's original 3/4 meter and extended form, which we still improvise over, it's just harder!

We recorded in the church last week and it went beautifully. Stay tuned for the CD.

Jon De Lucia teaches flute, saxophone and clarinet with Brooklyn Music Lessons. To learn more about translating Baroque music in a jazz / improvised context, check out Jon's BML page and schedule a lesson.

I've always had a love and appreciation for classical music. As a violinist, I grew up listening to and playing so many different classical composers. The emotion, themes, layers, and textures of my favorite classical music continuously inspire and comfort me. I also listened to a lot of hip-hop as an adolescent, once I started to really develop my own music taste. The rhythmic drive, lyrical intensity, and intricate layering of sounds appealed greatly to my ear and soul.

I’ve just begun working with The Brooklyn Label, an independent label, whose music really speaks to me.

With a signature sound of rich acoustic elements and lyrical flows not chopped, assembled, or auto-tuned, The Brooklyn Label’s sound captures emotions that can only come through in a live performance. -TBL

This collaboration has been reinforcing my thoughts on bringing my classical experience to playing this music. The similarities between classical music and hip-hop continue to surprise me. Musically, both genres are very broad and encompass so many artists and styles within them, however my favorite pieces/tracks/composers/artists of classical music and hip-hop have so much in common.

Emotion and expression are the first to come to mind. The best classical symphonies, concertos, and chamber music have unbelievable highs and lows. The dynamics and phrasing take me to so many different places, such as in Gustav Holst's The Planets (listen above). My heartbeat and thoughts reflect the expression I hear when listening to a piece like Mars. Whether or not I know what the piece is "about" or what kind of social statement it was making at the time, it means something to me, and takes me on a journey. I hear the incessant percussion and the slow build as more and more instruments enter until finally the entire orchestra is banging out the same powerful 5/4 rhythm. Similarly, I feel that the best hip-hop affects me this way; it takes me on a journey and tells a story. The building of sounds and emotion spark excitement and energy in me when I listen to a track such as Food, Clothes, Medicine by Aesop Rock (listen above). This song creates a fascinating rhythmic intensity through its the use of space and silence which accentuate the beat even more.

Often the most influential artists and composers of these genres are writing their music in response to social and/or political issues of the time. Poverty, oppression, war, and the civil unrest resulting from these hardships are so often the inspiration for both classical pieces and rap lyrics. Gustav Holst's The Planets was written in 1914, and many people think that Mars, the Bringer of War, was a direct response to the fear and harshness associated with the initiation of this World War I. Aesop Rock's Food, Clothes, Medicine is very clear in its lyrics, depicting the harsh realities of poverty and living on the street. The intense rhythmic drive of both of these pieces accentuates the harshness of the stories being expressed through the music.

The layering and textures are what fascinate me about these two genres. In order to really hear all the parts which occur, I have to listen so carefully and often many times over. I try to hear how all the orchestral instruments come together to form an incredible wave of sound in a symphony, or to pick out every intricate lyric and combination of samples which combine to tell a story or express images in a hip-hop track. The first time I looked at the audio waves of a hip hop track laid out on a computer screen, I immediately saw the visual similarity to a classical music score. Here you can see the first page from the score to Mars, as well as a screen shot from a track I’ve been working on with Ah-na of The Brooklyn Label entitled Ghost George Buggy (listen above).

Hip Hop track

Classical music score

As a violinist, I am so happy that my classical training has led me to playing hip-hop. Because of the emotion and wide range of sounds of which the violin is capable, I find myself employing numerous classical techniques to hip-hop music.

I essentially compose somewhat classical violin parts to the often hard, emotionally and rhythmically driven hip-hop tracks that speak to my mind and soul. When I play hip-hop I feel the music so much that I can’t help but let the expression pour through my violin and into the track.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this article! I'm going to go in depth to talk about some of the specific work I'm doing with Brooklyn Label (with video and recordings), and how I've been bringing my classical influence to composing violin parts in their songs.

Emma Sky teaches violin and all sorts of stuff. To learn more about hip hop and classical music, check out Emma's BML page and schedule a lesson.

This intrepid guitarist put an iPhone inside his acoustic guitar to capture the string oscillations with amazing results. Below, I'll explain a little about what's happening, and also dig into some of the physical aspects of sound creation on the guitar.

Pretty cool, right?

What's happening in the video is the result of an effect called rolling shutter. Basically, the sensor in the iPhone doesn't capture each frame of the video instantaneously, but rather scans in a "right to left" pattern. The strings are moving faster than the camera's image sensor can scan, so different sections of each string are captured at different points in motion, resulting in a waveform shape. (Whew! Still with me?)

While the waveforms in the video don't exactly represent what we might see on an oscilloscope, they do create an opportunity for us to explore some fundamental aspects of sound production. First, a few definitions:

1. Frequency - The rate at which a vibration occurs that constitutes a wave, either in a material (as in sound waves), or in an electromagnetic field (as in radio waves and light), usually measured per second (Hz).
2. Amplitude - The maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium

In the video above, each string takes on a particular moving shape after being plucked. The shape (sequences of alternating hills and valleys) can be seen as a representation of both frequency and amplitude. Frequency is represented by the number of times a particular hill/valley pair appears on a string, and amplitude by the size of the hill valley pair.

Lower pitches have a lower frequency (rate of hill/valley repeat), while higher pitches have a greater frequency, and these rates of repeat are measured in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz). On a guitar in standard EADGBE tuning, the strings vibrate at the following frequencies:

• Low E: 82.41 Hz
• A: 110.00 Hz
• D: 146.83 Hz
• G: 196.00 Hz
• B: 246.94 Hz
• High E: 329.63 Hz

This means that when you play the high E string open, it completes 329.63 hill/valley pairs every second! Pretty cool.

In the video, you can see frequency in the spacing bewteen the hills. Lower pitched notes, vibrating at lower frequencies, have lots of space between the peak of each hill. Higher pitched notes have very little space, and look much 'pointier' as a result.

The frequency of octaves has an interesting mathematical relationship. To get to the next highest octave, you simply double the frequency of your starting note. In the list above you'll see that the Low E string vibrates at a frequency of 82.41 Hz. To get to the next octave (ex. fret 12 on the low E), we'll double the frequency to 164.82. What happens if we double that number again? We get 329.63, the vibrating frequency of the High E!

If you skip to 2:02 in the video you can see the frequency difference quite clearly. First, the guitarist strums each string open, then plays each as a 12th fret harmonic (which is one octave higher than each open string). The harmonics have a visibly faster rate of motion, while retaining a similar shape to the open string.

[Sidenote: To play a harmonic, place your left hand index finger on a string, directly over the 12th fret. Don't push down, just touch the string lightly. Now pluck the string with your pick and you should hear a clear bell-like note one octave higher than the open string.]

Okay, so we have this whole frequency thing figured out, but what about amplitude? In the video, amplitude can be seen as the size of the hills/valleys. When the guitarist first strikes a string the hills are large, gradually decreasing in size as the note fades out. As you might already be guessing, amplitude is the volume of a sound. The taller the hills the louder a particular note sounds to us, and vice-versa. Combine this with frequency, and you get something like the shapes in the video.

So that's it! With a simple but ingenious YouTube video as our guide, and a little know-how, we've (either totally blown up our brains or) gained greater insight into what happens when we play the guitar. If you'd like to learn more about how physics applies to the guitar, keep an eye out for future blog posts!

Good luck, and happy shredding!

ck

Chris Kuklis teaches guitar and all sorts of fun stuff. To learn more about the science behind sound, check out Chris's BML page and schedule a lesson.

My experience teaching enriches and enhances my musical pursuits. As a pianist first and mallet player second, I come from two traditions of training, jazz and classical; technique and improvisation.

My experience studying music and Ghanaian Xylophone, aka Gyil, in Ghana enhanced my studies by removing me from a familiar instrument, music and culture tradition, tonality, and scale. My Gyil has 14 wooden bars woven together by string, twine, and goat skin; amplified by gourds tuned to each prepared tuned bar.

Although some Gyils are tuned to a western pentatonic scale, most Gyils are tuned to the village master xylophonist's instrument. My gyil is tuned to master xylophonist Bernard Woma's scale. I like to call it the Woma pentatonic scale.

Here is the original tuning of the Woma pentatonic scale, as notes per bar from treble to bass:

• C# +40 cents
• B +20 cents
• A -23 cents
• F# +35-40 cents
• E +15 cents
• D 0 cents
• C -35 cents
• A +20-23 cents
• G -15/20 cents
• E +50 cents (or F -50 cents)
• D# -2 cents
• B +25 cents
• A -2 cents
• G -40 cents (almost Gb)

The music is a collaboration with myself on Gyil (with the Woma Scale) and Terry Dame (of Electric Gamelan Junkyard) on her hand-tuned hand-built Gb pentatonic Clayrimba:

Snow Falling on the Leviathan - Brittany Anjou by BrooklynMusic

Brittany Anjou teaches Piano, Vibraphone and Gyil with Brooklyn Music Lessons.

The guitar is quite possibly the world’s most popular instrument, and as a result, almost every part of the world has developed its own way of playing. The guitar has been integrated to varying degrees into the traditional music of Brazil, India, the Middle East, and many other countries and regions. However, no part of the world has adopted, integrated, and transformed the guitar like West Africa.

Since the guitar arrived in West Africa in the 60s, the guitar styles that have developed are based on the melodies and music of traditional instruments, which are translated onto the guitar. In Mali, where the traditional lute called the ngoni holds a special cultural significance, the core of the guitar style draws from ngoni music.

To show this connection, I've recorded two videos of me playing the same song, first on ngoni then on guitar.

'Kaira' played on ngoni

'Kaira' played on guitar

As you can see (and hear), I play the same variations and melody in both versions, it's only the accompaniments that are different. This demonstrates how the melodies and articulations of traditional instruments are moved onto the guitar. I experienced this process firsthand when I was in Mali. While playing and studying with kora players, ngoni players, balafonists, and guitarists, I would encounter a variety of melodies, variations, and accompaniments. Sometimes it was difficult to recognize the same song played on a different instrument! However, I would always try to find ways to translate this material to both the guitar and the ngoni.

This process of moving traditional music onto the guitar shows how the guitar has been Africanized. In this process, completely unique styles of guitar playing have been created, and the musical traditions of West Africa have been brought face-to-face with the music of America and Europe.

Photo credit: Jack Hirschorn

Sam Dickey teaches Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, West African Guitar and Ngoni with BML.