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KS^ KS4 5
David Ashworth is a freelance education consultant, specialising in music technology. He is project leader for www.teachingmusic. org.uk and he has been involved at a national level in most of the major music initiatives in recent years.
Edexcel GCSE set works:
Moby, Miles Davis and Koko
by David Ashworth
IntroDuCtIon
This resource provides background and a discussion of the main characteristics of three of the set pieces from the current Edexcel GCSE syllabus.
From AoS 3 Popular music in context: Moby: ‘Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?’ from the album Play Miles Davis: ‘All Blues’ from the album Kind of Blue
From AoS 4 World music: Koko: ‘Yiri’ from the album Burkina Faso: Balafons et tambours d’Afrique
Important musical features covered include structure, texture, tonality, harmony, melody, rhythm and metre. These should complement existing resources, and will provide students with some useful pointers on how to write perceptively about the music.
The Edexcel specification offers this advice:
Sections A and B In their responses to the questions in both sections, students will need to demonstrate an understanding of the following in relation to the set works within the Areas of Study: the musical elements (pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure) identifying how resources are used in different combinations (identifying instruments and groups of instruments) identifying key musical features identifying musical and melodic devices (ornamentation, ostinati, riffs, use of imitation, pedal point and sequence) identifying rhythmic devices (syncopation, swung rhythms, dotted rhythms and triplets) identifying and discriminating between major, minor, modal, pentatonic, chromatic and atonal tonalities relating music to the context in which it was created identifying conventions used in different times and places using appropriate musical vocabulary expressing and justifying opinions and preferences
Section A Students should study the set works for each Area of Study, aurally identifying the key musical features in each work. They should understand the context within which the set works were composed and their place within the Area of Study as a whole. In this section of the examination, students will also be expected to express and justify opinions on the set work extracts and complete short musical dictation and staff notation questions.
Student should be encouraged to listen to music in a discriminating way, developing their skills of aural perception.
Section B In Section B, students write in more detail about the set works that they have studied and this extended response will be assessed for QWC as well as the quality of the musical information conveyed.
Questions may concentrate on one or more set works and could ask for a comparison between two works (within the same Area of Study or from two different Areas of Study). Students should be prepared to demonstrate that they are able to write about: how the musical elements such as pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure have been used by the composer how the instruments and groups of instruments are used how any other key musical features have been used in the set work(s).
They could also be asked to: place the music in its musical, social and historical context express and justify opinions on the set work(s) in question
Some knowledge of related works within the Area of Study will be given credit but is not required. However, students will need to know how the work fits within the context of other pieces written in similar genres around the same time.
Students should be encouraged to express their ideas about the set works using correct musical vocabulary.
MoBY: WHY DoES MY HEArt FEEl So BAD?
Background
Moby was an important figure in the dance music scene of the 1990s. He was seen as a lone figure, standing apart from most others making music in this genre. In some ways, his music was typical – he combined electronic disco-style beats with heavily processed instruments and samples from film soundtracks and pop songs. But on the album Play , he also included samples of field recordings made by Alan Lomax decades earlier of many legendary folk and jazz musicians from the first part of the 20th century. These samples help to give the tracks on this album a more expressive, soulful and ‘human’ feel, which is often missing from some of the more sterile techno tracks made during this era.
On this particular song, both samples are taken from a 1950s Gospel song called ‘King Jesus Will Roll All Burdens Away’. The surface noise of the original vinyl recordings has been left on the track to give a more atmospheric and authentic feel to the vocal parts.
This was a breakthrough recording for Moby, helping to make the transition from niche electronic composer to global celebrity pop star status. He was largely responsible for bringing this type of music to a much larger mainstream audience, but at the same time was criticised by many techno artists for ‘diluting’ the musical form.
This track was a massive hit for Moby and has been recreated live by many artists. You can hear a version by Elton John here. Released in 1999, Play subsequently became the biggest-selling independent album in the UK for the year 2000.
Melody
As we noted in the previous section, there is not a great deal of melodic interest in this piece. The two vocal samples can be thought of as a call and response. The call consists of two fragments, where the notes rise and fall in alternating 3rds.
The long sustained note in the middle of this phrase is in fact sung melismatically. Although transcribed here a long sustained note of A, the singer subtly adds notes above and below this pitch.
The response covers a slightly wider range. Again, in the first fragments the intervals between consecutive notes are 3rds, whereas the second fragment is built on a falling second interval.
The female vocal sample is a single phrase, looped against a changing harmonic accompaniment. It is a short series of notes that fall over an interval of a 6th.
Both vocal parts use notes from the home key of A minor. The female phrase uses just pentatonic notes from this scale.
Tonality and harmony
This song essentially consists of two sections: the male vocal section and the female vocal section. We will refer to these as sections A and B respectively.
The track begins with a solo piano playing the section A chords in a simple, reported pattern. There are slight variations, but the basic pattern is this:
The chords for the A section are:
Am Em G D
These imply an A natural minor scale (ie with no G sharp). The notes sung by the vocalist sit well with this accompaniment, but there are some faint background sounds on the recorded sample that indicate the original backing may have had a very different harmony. A heavy reverb has been added to this sample which gives the timbre of the sample a quite ethereal feel in this new context.
The female vocal sample is ‘cleaner’, so there are no harmonic ambiguities. There is a move towards the relative major (C major) in the way that Moby harmonises this sample, which gives the song a more uplifting quality during these sections:
C Am C Am F C F C
These chords all share the notes A and C, which feature predominantly in the first bar of the vocal sample. The Am and C chords share the notes A and E, which feature predominantly in the second bar of the vocal sample.
The chords are played by the piano throughout, with other instruments supporting these harmonies. The bass synth sticks to the root notes of the respective chords. The synthesiser string part plays gentle, high sustained notes to fit with the chords.
At the very end there is a coda section, where all the instruments drop out and the male vocal sample is accompanied by a synth pad sound playing sustained chords.
Rhythm
As we noted earlier, the interest in this song lies mainly in the texture and timbre: the melody and rhythm are not the central features of the track.
The piano plays a very four-square introduction rhythmically, which continues on into the song, eventually changing to a more vamping style. The bass part consists of chugging quavers on the root note, eventually reinforced by longer sustained bass synth notes.
The drum machine is set to play a typical bass/snare rock rhythm, but the addition of a quiet claves part does add an interesting rhythmic feature:
The gospel vocal samples have an improvisatory quality where the singers are freely working ahead of the beat to give subtle syncopations. The juxtaposition of these ‘human’ sounds in an electronically very rhythmically precise musical setting creates an interesting tension. We have the sounds of the voices, flexible in terms of pitch and rhythm, contrasting with the more artificially digitally created and mathematically controlled backing parts.
This track was in the blues tradition, but extended the genre’s possibilities in several ways. Soloists were no longer restricted by the use of blues scales, and the time signature of two in a bar gives it a new dimension. Most important was the exploration of harmonic colour, which Bill Evans was able to exploit in this more relaxed musical environment, where at times his harmonies are reminiscent of Debussy.
This album, recorded in 1959, was enormously influential. It was to shape the direction of jazz for many years to come and was an important recording for musicians working in other genres. For example, Pink Floyd’s keyboard player Richard Wright acknowledged the influence of this album when he was working on his parts for The Dark Side of the Moon.
Instrumentation
The musicians and instruments on this track are as follows: trumpet: Miles Davis (leader) tenor saxophone: John Coltrane Alto saxophone: ‘Cannonball’ Adderley Piano: Bill Evans Double Bass: Paul Chambers Drums: Jimmy Cobb
This is a typical jazz combo line-up for this era, comprising a rhythm section (piano/bass/drums) with trumpet and saxophones playing the tunes and sharing the improvisation sections.
Texture
The piece begins with the rhythm section only establishing the blues riff pattern that underpins the song. The saxophones join in, playing in harmony on the rhythm pattern set up by the bass. A few bars later the trumpet joins in playing the tune.
After a couple of runs through the tune, the saxophones stop playing as the trumpet starts an improvised solo. Davis now plays over a wider register, and although the playing is musically expressive, the overall feel remains ‘cool’ or restrained. He begins by using a Harmon mute, but removes it for the second chorus as the intensity builds. There is also more activity and variation from the piano during this section.
After a brief rhythm-section interlude, the alto saxophone plays four improvised choruses. These begin in a highly melodic and lyrical fashion, reaching out into the high registers with some rather more energetic flurries, but returning to base towards the end.
There follow four solo choruses from the tenor saxophone. The tone and dynamic level stay gentle, but the improvisations are slightly more adventurous. There are now more rapid passages across the full range of the instrument, and the improvising scale is extended to include additional tones. As for the previous solo, its ends as it began – more calmly.
During the piano solo that follows, Bill Evans keeps up the accompanying vamp and adds melodic fragments with the right hand. He stretches out on the chords and harmonies, while keeping to the 12-bar form.
Finally, there’s a recapitulation of the opening melody on muted trumpet, with the saxophones returning to their original accompanying parts. The piece ends with the trumpet playing a gentle solo on one note with a repeated rhythmic figure as the rest of the band play through the chorus one final time.
In summary, there are no big contrasts in texture. The playing is quiet and restrained throughout. The melody instruments solo in turn against the rhythm section. The entire ensemble plays only at the beginning and end for the ‘head’.
Melody
There is much melodic interest in this piece. Davis saw his music of this period as being essentially a return to melody, as a reaction to much of the contemporary bebop jazz, which made more of harmonic changes at the expense of melody. By keeping to simple, slow-moving chord changes and using modes, Davis was able to explore melodic playing that sounded fresh. By using a modal scale, he was able to move away from the typically major/minor playing of earlier jazz styles.
The scale that underpins this piece is G mixolydian. This can be thought of as a G major scale with a flattened seventh note – a good choice mode for a piece that references the blues.
Here is a sketch of the first trumpet solo:
The solo grows slowly and organically using just the notes B and C (if we ignore the brief pickup note of D for the moment). The rising/falling figure in bars 6 and 7 moves stepwise in an arch form, keeping close to what is happening in the accompaniment during these bars. Note the use of a flattened 3rd in this phrase, which gives it even more of a blues feel. This is immediately followed by a long assertive B natural.
The remaining two phrases alternate flattened and natural 7ths, which serve to highlight the importance of this note modally. The B natural helps to give the solo a spacey, timeless, relaxed feel.
This is where the interest lies in these few bars. Long notes moving in steps over a narrow register, lingering on the ‘interesting’ notes, form a feature of Miles Davis’s playing from this era. He makes the most out of just a little material.
This contrasts effectively with the saxophone melodies, which are busier, playing more notes over a greater range.
Tonality and harmony
In its simplest form the chord progression can be shown as:
G7 G7 G7 G Gm7 Gm7 G7 G D7 Eb7 G7 G
Because the band is playing modal vamps rather than block chords, the harmony is rather more fluid. Bill Evans tends to embellish basic chords with ‘jazz’ extensions – for example, a #9 is often added to the D and E flat chords.
During the head section, the saxophones play lines in harmony, based on this pattern:
This ostinato pattern is transposed or modified when the chords change. For example, the note B is changed to a B flat when the harmony moves to Gm7.
They are a typical musical group from this region and their music has many of the features that are characteristic of West African music in general. The music is passed down from one generation to the next as part of an on- going oral tradition. Each generation will ‘develop’ the music and make it their own, although changes will tend to be well contained within the tradition. This music would not be notated, although much of it is now recorded. This complements the oral tradition by allowing it to be heard globally rather than in just the communities where it is traditionally performed.
Typical features of West African Music heard in this song include: Repetition of rhythms, harmonies and melodies. using Western music terminology, we refer to these as ostinatos. repetition may be large-scale, comprising a whole section, or of smaller musical units such as a single phrase. Polyphonic textures can arise when some performers stick to the main musical ideas, while others improvise a variation at the same time. Improvisation : most of the instrumental parts, including the melodies, may contain some improvised elements. Call and response : when a soloist sings or plays a phrase of music and a larger group responds to it with an answering phrase. Layered textures : built up from independent lines that are designed to be heard together.
Instrumentation
The instrumental layers we hear in this track comprise: Balafons : this instrument is similar to a xylophone and is made up of differently pitched wooden bars. to make the instrument sound more resonant, gourds are hung beneath the bars. Djembes : these are wooden, goblet-shaped drums on which a goat skin in stretched and held in place using rope. they are hand drums, which are now commonly played around the world in a range of musical settings. traditionally these drums would only have been played by men in West Africa. Talking drums are held under the arm. there are ropes strung around the side of the drum and when these are squeezed the skin of the drum is tightened and the pitch is altered. Played in this way, they can be used to imitate speech by creating different pitches which reflect changes in intonation of the human voice. these drums are played with a hooked stick. the drummers work together to provide a strong driving rhythm through much of the piece. Yoruba bell : a two-tone bell, played with a stick. this instrument is often used to help establish a pulse, which all performers can hear because of its clear and penetrating tone. in this piece, however, it has a more background role.
In Koko, the instrumental musicians also provide all the vocal elements. A soloist and chorus work together in call-and-response-type exchanges.
Texture
The majority of the piece has a layered texture, but the introduction has a monophonic texture. Occasional heterophonic textures are created, for example when the two balafons play different versions of the same tune simultaneously. There is very little variation in dynamics in ‘Yiri’.
The texture is monophonic at the beginning, where a single balafon plays a semi-improvised introduction. When the player plays the initial theme, he is joined by another balafon, playing an octave lower. They move on to playing different versions of the same tune, producing a heterophonic texture.
Following this, the drums and bell enter, and from this point onwards the layered, polyrhythmic texture remains fairly constant, with little in the way of dynamic variation.
During the vocal section the balafons drop back, playing short fills in between the vocal lines. The first few vocal sections are sung in unison. Later on, there is a call-and-response section where a solo voice sings a verse, followed by a short vocal response from the other singers. This is followed, once again, by unison singing.
Melody
The melodic lines are played on balafons, tuned to a hexatonic scale based on the note F sharp. The notes of the scale are F sharp, G sharp, A sharp, B, C sharp and D sharp. This can be thought of as a major scale, lacking the 7th note.
At the beginning, the melodies are more pentatonic in nature. In other words, the note B does not feature significantly.
The piece begins with a solo balafon playing short, rapid, scale-based patterns ending in rapid tremolos on a single note. He ends the section by playing the dominant note of C sharp a few times to cue in a balafon duet section, where the first balafon is joined by another player and they play the main theme. The second balafon plays the theme an octave lower. The tune is melodically straightforward, but the phrasing is asymmetrical and highly syncopated.
The vocal melodies are much simpler rhythmically, and are mostly based on descending scale-like passages. Here is a transcription of the first chorus passage:
Let’s look at the way the melody ‘develops’ over this section: the first one-bar phrase fall from the tonic F sharp to the dominant C sharp. the second phrase adds a small variation and extends the length of the phrase slightly. the third phrase is also a variation on the first phrase. the fourth phrase is lower, starting and finishing on the dominant C sharp. the fifth phrase moves everything lower still, with a longer phrase moving downwards from the dominant to the tonic. the final phrase shown here is a variation on the previous one.
The solo vocal part moves in a similar way, although it is sung in a higher register and is rhythmically more sophisticated. The chorus echoes the final line. Most of the melodic material comprises notes of short duration. The balafons are not capable of sustaining longer notes, although a rapid tremolo is sometimes employed to create this effect. The vocal parts also keep to short notes, although the soloist does employ some attention- grabbing longer notes. His first vocal entry, for example, goes like this:
Structure
Broadly speaking this piece is in three distinct sections: there is a short introduction played on the balafons. the main body of the piece consists of alternating sections for voices and balafons, underpinned by a strong driving rhythm from the drums. the ending is tightly structured with all the instruments playing short, rhythmic phrases, punctuated by rests. Here is a more detailed breakdown of the piece:
Section Bars notes intro 8 following a few freely improvised phrases, a second balafon enters for 8 bars of a theme played in octaves 2 12 improvised interplay between the two balafons over a drum backing. Drums now continue throughout 3 6 vocal section – all voices in unison 4 8 balafon 2 solo 5 6 vocal section – all voices in unison 6 4 balafon interlude 7 4 solo voice interjection singing ‘Kiri’ 8 2 link section 9 12 solo voice verse – chorus repeats one vocal line (7th & 8th bars) 10 12 solo voice verse – chorus repeats one vocal line (7th & 8th bars) 11 14 balafon improvisations 12 6 vocal section – all voices in unison 13 6 balafons 14 6 vocal section – all voices in unison 15 14 balafon improvisations 16 6 vocal section – all voices in unison 17 20 balafon improvisations ending 5 full ensemble plays five phrases, separated by rests
The vocal sections are the same length (six bars)each time. The two solo vocal sections occur midway through the piece and are exactly twice as long. The balafon sections get longer towards the end of the piece.
