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Hip Hop & Classical - a violinist's perspective - part 1

Submitted by emma.sky on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 00:01

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Holst: The Planets, Op. 32, H 125 - Mars, The Bringer Of War by Montreal Symphony Orchestra

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Food, Clothes, Medicine by Aesop Rock

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

Hip hop track on a computer

Classical music score

Classical music score on paper

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 - Violin, Viola, Electric Violin, Bluegrass Fiddle Lessons with Brooklyn Music Lessons

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.

Ghanaian Gyil Scale Tuning - Woma pentatonic scale

Submitted by brittany.anjou on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 00:01

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 Africanization of the Guitar

Submitted by sam.dickey on Tue, 05/31/2011 - 11:12

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.

Notes on Practicing

Submitted by morgan.fiddler on Sat, 04/09/2011 - 00:01

Practice is the one and only way we can better ourselves as musicians. Unless you put in the hours in the practice room, you’ll never advance as an artist. However, the subject of practice is often neglected. Treated as a chore the topic can be thought of as mindless hours spent plugging away at the instrument. However, truth be told, practice isn’t about quantity; it’s about quality. As a guitarist who spent years in school trying my hardest to work pieces of music into something I would feel proud to share with audiences, I’ve picked up a few tricks when it comes to practicing that can work for any musician of any level.

1. HAVE A GOAL

Sitting down to practice without any particular goal in mind is a lot like running on a treadmill: you might be working hard but you won’t be going anywhere. Your goal when you sit down for a practice session should never be too lofty like learning the entire Bach Chaconne in one sitting, it should be something you can actually accomplish in one session without stressing yourself too much. Goals I choose range from memorizing a section of a piece I’m working on to analyzing my left hand technique during a particular section, to playing a scale without mistakes and with great tone.

2. HAVE A ROUTINE

One of the most effective ways to focus and really improve your playing during a practice session is to have a routine. Everyone has a different routine that works for them, I can’t tell you what your routine should be, so I’ve just included my own practice routine:

5-10 min. of warm-up
This is really simple stuff­­––just playing strings one at a time, maybe some simple arpeggios, usually some easy one-octave scales. Think of yourself as an athlete. Would a soccer player step right out onto the pitch? No, they would do stretches and simple exercises to warm themselves up. It helps get our heads into what we’re about to do and it helps avoid injury.

15-45 min. of technique
I can’t stress enough the importance of practicing some technique every time you play. While our musical ideas come from our soul, they have to travel through the arms, hands, and fingers before these ideas become true music. So, our technique must be capable of communicating our musical ideas. If our technical ability isn’t up to par, we’re going to end up frustrated musicians with great ideas we can’t communicate. I usually split my technical exercises into right and left hand exercises. I also recommend investing in some teacher-recommended technique books. Also, make sure you’re constantly switching and evolving the technique portion of your practice session. Notice the range of time I might spend on technique. I don’t push myself to do a full 45 min. every day due to the issue of burning myself out before I’ve begun to play some real music. Often, thirty minutes works for me, however, some days I just don’t have the attention span for that amount of technique. The important thing is that I spend at least a good fifteen minutes on it.

New repertoire
Again, I stay goal oriented with this. I’ll try to nail down one section or passage at a time. A common mistake a lot of players make is playing a piece from beginning to end over and over again––this isn’t going to yield the same results as isolating the sections that need work and analyzing how to make them better. Certain goals may also include working on the expressiveness of a piece or boosting the tempo with a metronome or even slowing down the tempo with a metronome. Try to be creative with how you learn your music!

Old repertoire
I usually play through pieces of music that have remained staples of my repertoire throughout the years that I really enjoy playing.

Improvisation
Finally, this may come at the end or in between any of the other steps, but I always get some improvisation in whether I mean to or not. I think improvisation is really important. It’s good to let your creative side run wild for a little while––maybe you’ll stumble across a great melody for a new song, maybe you’ll discover new rhythms, or maybe you’ll just end up smiling.

3. KEEP A PRACTICE JOURNAL

Keeping a journal about your practice sessions can be a great resource for gauging your progress over the course of a longer period of time. Also, writing your goals down into the journal will provide you with a more concrete reminder of what it is you want to accomplish with the next practice session or even over the next month.

Analyzing the way you practice is the best way to make leaps and bounds with your playing. It’s something I really stress with my students and I notice it with them, and I notice it with myself when I really try to think about the way in which I practice. Finally, don’t think of practicing as a chore. Feel grateful that you get to spend some time alone making music. A teacher of mine once told me that one of the only reasons he is a professional musician is because he loved to practice guitar. To him, practice is the joy in being a musician; the performance is his means to that end.

Morgan Fiddler teaches Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, and Electric Guitar with Brooklyn Music Lessons.

On Tour with Cirque du Soleil

Submitted by luke.notary on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 00:01

As I come to the end of my tour with Cirque du Soleil, I think about the amazing experience it has been.

My first show was the Moscow premier. It was the first time that I played the show, and it was the first time Cirque du Soleil had performed in Russia, a momentous occasion for Cirque du Soleil. Guy LaLiberte (founder and owner of Cirque) was in the audience, having recently returned from his trip to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket. He was in amazing spirits and expectations were high. The band was showing me lots of love, and the vibe was very powerful in the house. It was an amazing night, with the most amazing party that followed.

One of my most amazing days on tour was when I saw Oumou Sangare live in Manchester. I had a djembe lesson with the legendary Seiku Diabate, and bought his beautiful Malian djembe from him after the lesson. That drum is definitely my prized posession, and I can't wait to share it with friends. Before the lesson, I had asked him if he would also sell me one of his "sessa" (the metal piece that goes on the side of a djembe). He said to me... "Oh no. I'm sorry, I can't, I need that".  And at the end of the lesson, as I took him back to his hotel in a taxi, he reached into his bag and pulled out his sessa and handed it to me. It was a great, great honor.

14 months later, having performed 432 shows in 6 countries and 9 cities across the world, I feel so proud to have been a part, and so proud to have introduced so many new instruments into the show. The band leader, Brigitte Larochelle, who was also bandleader on Cirque's Saltimbanco for many years, was very open minded and gracious about me bringing these new and personal sounds and instruments into the show.

As I return to New York, I have so much creative energy to share. New York is home and it's the artistic capital of the world, exactly where I want to be.

Luke Notary
Percussion, Drumset

Here is a video of me performing live during various acts of Varekai. What you hear is my personal in-ear monitor mix, complete with the cues from the band leader, Brigitte. What you see is me in my booth and a split screen of the action that we follow from the same night. Enjoy!

Mysticism in Music

Submitted by john.shannon on Wed, 11/17/2010 - 00:01

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Lion's Mane by John Shannon

Trade your cleverness for bewilderment.
- Rumi

WHAT IS MUSIC?

According to the Webster's dictionary music is “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity”.

According to my personal life experience music is an invisible force that sonically presents itself as an offer to take me deeper into my awareness of who I am not only as a human being but also as a spirit in a body.

WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION?

Music has no real definition because its definition is entirely in relation to your experience of it. Thats why music is music. This lack of real concrete definition is why music has its roots in mystery, in mysticism. According to the Webster’s dictionary the definition of mystery, it is “something not understood or beyond understanding.” It is important to view music as something beyond us. There is a humility and openness to this view that keeps your relationship to music always fresh and always growing, all the while serving to evolve your intelligence. In fact I would say it takes more intelligence to understand the concept of something being “beyond yourself” and letting go into that than to understand a harmonic structure and its relative mathematics of any given piece.

I’m one of those mystery seekers because my own journey of music has brought me here. Is there a fear of the mystery in music today? Hendrix didn’t fear the mystery. Perhaps thats why he sounded original. Same goes for Coltrane. Well, now its 2011. The Coltrane and Hendrix eras are gone. Who’s up for creating new ways? When you can walk into the great mystery of music and life, then new ways come into bloom. New music. New vistas. New mysteries.

John Shannon teaches Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar and Songwriting with BML.

CATCH JOHN SHANNON LIVE THIS MONTH:

John Shannon and Wings of Sound
Pete's Candy Store
11/28/10 @ 10:30pm

Because the flute tells stories

Submitted by jesse.schiffman on Sun, 08/22/2010 - 10:20

At the end of September 2008 I began teaching at P.S. 7 in Spanish Harlem.  I received this opportunity through the Instrumental Music Program, which is part of the Educational Outreach department at The Juilliard School.  Until then I had some experience teaching.  I began the first day by asking the students why they wanted to be in band, and why they chose the flute.  The answers from the first few were predictable; “I want to be in band with my friends”, “the flute sounds pretty”, etc.  Then I ask Antonio.  Unable to even make a sound on the instrument, Antonio had been playing for just one week.  He did not know how to put the instrument together or how to hold it.  When I asked him why he chose the flute he said that the flute tells stories.  This was coming from a 12 year old who had no concept or knowledge of classical music. 

After this session I asked myself the same questions.  My answers for joining the band in the 4th grade were the same as most of my students.  I wanted to be in band with my friends and it excused me from our weekly mandatory library time.  I did not choose the flute for any special reason.  My school only had a band so string instruments where out.  No oboes, bassoons, or horns.  Basically flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets and percussion.  I didn’t like the sound of the trumpet, and my father, an amateur clarinetist, warned me of the misery of playing a reed instrument.  Basically, I was left with my mother’s old flute.  Unfortunately the music program was removed from my school the following year so had I been a year younger my life would be quite different. 

For the first few years I was not serious about playing.  I had some natural ability but had never had a formal lesson.  The summer after 7th grade I went to my first music festival, the Idyllwild Arts Center.  At the preliminary seating audition I ranked 12 out of 14.  I was completely shocked.  I had always been the best player in my band, and although I was not naïve enough to assume I would rank first I certainly did not consider the idea of being one of the weakest players.  Following my time at Idyllwild I returned home to San Diego and found I flute teacher.  When I returned to Idyllwild the following summer I ranked first.  The following year I joined the San Diego Youth Symphony and was picked to serve as first flute.  The conductor had such faith in me; he and my flute teacher pushed and encouraged me to go farther with music.  At this point music had taken on a very different purpose. It was more than what I wanted to do with my life, it was what I needed to do with my life.  

Jesse Schiffman
http://brooklynmusiclessons.com/Jesse-Schiffman

Imitation and Influence: Finding & Maintaining a Creative Voice

Submitted by justin.peake on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 16:26

Hey. What's up? I'm Justin Peake.

I teach drums, Ableton Live, and beat production with Brooklyn Music Lessons. I thought I would start a short series focusing on developing a creative voice. We know what we like musically (and what we don't) from having heard examples. We all have our favorite pieces of music; whether it's that drum solo on that record, that vocal line that the vocalist sings at that moment, that wobbly synth sound that brings in a new beat, or even that way of scoring for ensembles. It is these specific nuances of our experiences that shape our desires and conceptions of what we want our music to be in the future. While this may seem like a relatively trivial fact about aesthetics, it opens the doors for us to explore the double edged sword of our creativity, namely influence, on one hand, and imitation on the other.

Let's get a working definition of these two concepts. As I see it:

IMITATION

is exemplified by re-creation, regurgitation, mimicry, or straight up copying of the superficial qualities of something, in this case, a sound, song, or beat.

INFLUENCE

is exemplified by the production, creation, synthesis, inspiration, of something 'new' through the experience or study of the superficial quality of something - sound, song, beat, etc.

Imitation is often mistaken for influence. Unfortunately, imitation does not leave you with a sound for you to call your own, nor does it leave you with any legitimate claim to authenticity. Don't sell your own creativity short.  It is toward a claim of authenticity and creativity that we strive as artists, to be able to articulate a unique and original aesthetic, deeply ingrained with, yet distinct from, it's influences.

While imitation is not a very desirable end goal for music making, it can be a very desirable and useful step in the process.  One can think of a scientific metaphor. Think of imitation as the research toward a theory and not the theory itself. Einstein would not have been considered as intelligent as he was if he had merely said: "The Earth is Round!" or "There's this thing called gravity".  Why? Because we already knew those things and, while he may have revered those who came before him and said them, his restatement of them would have been redundant and not very helpful to society at large. Instead he used those assertions and incorporated them into his own body of principles and ideas that did garner major attention and influence. It made him a superstar.

Stay tuned for the next post which will touch on practical ways to harness our influences without merely imitating them and ways to think about your influences that may yield new and positive musical thoughts in your practice.

Until next time,

Justin

Passing

Submitted by dylan.bandy on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 15:02

The universal respect and affection that we voice teachers have for our own teachers and mentors is not just sentimentality; it is a common recognition that the knowledge demanded by a life in music and the art of singing is handed down from one teacher to another, generation by generation." -- Shirlee Emmons

My teacher, Mrs. Shirlee Ann Emmons-Baldwin, passed away on April 16, 2010. This is just a short note of gratitude for her impact on my life: 

Shirlee, you introduced me to the Berton-Coffin technique for which I cannot thank you enough. What's more is that you displayed for me the effects of an entire career and an entire life devoted to the voice and the love of music. Your legacy will live on in your written works and in the voices of those you have taught. Thank you for your wisdom and kindness.

Singing 'rewires' damaged brains in stroke patients

Submitted by dylan.bandy on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 10:11

When it comes down to it, I'm a big nerd for singing. I love reading stuff like this.

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