In these 3 pieces I aim to explore what makes a countries folk/traditional music sound like that country, what chords and scales are favoured, what specific rhythms or structures are required and what elements of the music has unwritten rules. I also made a promise to myself that all of my pieces, regardless of how obvious it is, would be about God in some way shape or form. the inspiration for these pieces actually came from the three books of Wisdom, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job which all tackle similar situations from three perspectives and resolutions.

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Proverbs - The Teacher

we are the main character but not the writer, be willing to listen and learn from God, and give him the greatest weight in the situation. You have access to wisdom if only you would ask.

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Latin American

With Latin American music, in particular Argentinian and it's roots in tango music, there seems to be a set structure of what makes Latin music distinctly Latin and a set list of instructions to writing a tango piece, unlike the other two pieces which were particularly difficult to write for. While looking up key characteristics of Latin music, it wasn't long before I found several websites that gave pretty in depth guides to writing this particular style, but tango has such a distinct sound, even without the prior research I feel like writing a tango piece from scratch wouldn't have been impossible

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Looking at the concept of tango both as a form of dance and a genre of music, it seems equally about leading and following, experimenting and following the flow within a set structure. As mentioned, out of the 3 regions I chose to look into, this was by far the most structured and informed genre in terms of rules and guides, with two prominent rhythms that essentially make the genre, with people even going so far as to say "don’t worry about not being original, this is important in getting the tango sound". There is also emphasis on the fact that the melody should be the main part, with harmonies kept simple to contrast the intense complicatedness of the rhythm and melody, which often includes a lot of chromaticism, large leaps and runs. Tango music also sticks to a ternary form of either ABABC, ABCA or something similar with each part alternating between fast and slower paces. There is an emphasis on the use of i and V7 also, again being considered essential even if somewhat generic sounding.  Even the technique of the dance capitalises on the need for structure while still following the flow of the legs and body and of course the dance partner. As you are not dancing alone, while maintaining a 'abrazo' embrace as it is called and keeping with strict steps and movements, there is a need for the body to still have flexibility and flow to match the partner. In saying all this, there is a lot of flexibility and abstract sounds within the basic restraints of the genre. The melody itself can be quite free granted it sounds, well, there's really no specifics, in Latin American music there is strong use of chromatics and dissonance. In the book of Proverbs it follows the narration of a wise young teacher who speaks about taking a step back from life, loosening your grip on things and just trusting God because he is the writer of our story in which we are the main character, destined for a happy ending. 

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I think that the concept of Tango as a whole is the balance between form and freedom, and having the grace when performing or playing to keep everything sharp and structured. It is about respecting the traditional structure and form of the genre while still adding your own flare, learning to work with your dance partner and follow their steps rather than fighting against it. Someone that I have been largely inspired by in writing this piece is Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian Tango composer, arguably the best in his field. by stepping out and experimenting with the genre he has even managed to create an entire subgenre, Nuevo tango, added various instruments into the mix such as Saxaphone and Electric Guitar and brought a revival to the Tango genre.

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Ecclesiastes - The Sharp Middle Aged Cynic

When we doesn't understand why some people get everything and others get nothing, we should still trust him.

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Slavic

Before starting my entire concept of this piece, I began by exploring different sounds around the world to find the ones I liked the most and then refined my searches to a specific region or area. For this one it was particularly hard as many of the countries within Europe share their cultural heritage and such, there were elements of Polish music that sounded right and others that didn't, compared to a sound from Russian folk or Ukrainian folk, all felt similar but somehow different. So I decided to earth a little further back in history to where they all met and look into the history a bit better. In truth, everything about this music confuses me a little, there's no specifics to any of them, of course there is the Ukrainian Dorian mode: C D Eb F3 G A Bb, but there's also strong use of Pentatonic scales, tetra cords and try chords, some sources even say there's no real tonal centre. Looking into it, Russian music as well as other Slavic folk music seems to ave little to no development in their themes and motives, partly due to the desire to sound less like the music or Western European countries. There is a strong use of syncopation and block sounds, all things that sound like they'd be rather basic, yet somehow this music to me seemed to be the most rich and confusing to study.

 

Like the book of Ecclesiastes, I feel like in this instance I had to trust my ears more than what google told me, I think I've set myself up for a bigger project than I bargained for, as I need to do a LOT more research.

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Job - The Mature Professor

don't trust your own perception of good and bad, cause and effect, trust him in every season, we shouldn't pursue answers, he IS the answer.

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Celtic

In Celtic Music instead of using the Ionian and Aeolian modes they use the Dorian mode as their main 'minor' mode, hence why it is also known as the 'Irish Minor'. It is speculated that due to its Irish roots traditionally Celtic music also has a tendency to focus on the 7th chord which becomes cadence like. Due to many of the traditional Celtic instruments in and around the region there is a tendency for there to be a drone within the piece. 

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In Western Music we have created this perception that Major = happy and Minor = sad, and while it's easy to understand where that thought comes from I think we can all agree Music isn't that simple. I think an important factor in understanding music is breaking down your own preconception of what makes music 'happy' or 'sad' and manipulating a basic piece to create a completely different sound and meaning or even getting several completely different concepts and musical palettes and creating a cohesive mood throughout. In doing this I also sought to represent the issues highlighted in the book of Job. Spoken from the perspective of a mature Professor it speaks about putting aside your own perception of good and bad, right and wrong, and trusting God in every season because we may never have the answers or solutions, but he does, and we can always trust in his knowledge and love.

 

The piece I have written is in Dorian mode and fluctuates between several very different contrasting moods. The point of this piece to challenge not only the audiences perception of music but my own in what sounds good and what I think is cool or not. For example, Celtic music tends to have an A and B section following a pattern along the lines of AABBAABB ect. I however am not the biggest fan of repetition, so in my piece I tried to alter each segment so it contained similar themes overlapping greater forms of repetition in the bass parts and backing instruments. 

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