Module 4 Samples

Module 4 – Discussion Forum

Prompt: 

Traditional schools of music composition often focus on what can be written to the page in western musical notation. Those that study in traditional schools of music composition often report feeling that modern popular music has a tendency to be too simple, lacking complexity and interest. Do you agree or disagree? Do you hear complexity in modern popular music? If so, where, and in what way? What makes music complex and interesting to you?

I believe that traditional schools of music composition centered around Western tonal harmony offer valuable training and expertise, but also limit the scope and breadth of different musical styles, including modern popular music. I disagree that popular music has a tendency to be too simple, lacking, complexity, and interest. compared to music from the Western Canon, the evidence of genre bending and genre blending is more prominent and popular music styles today. It is so exciting to hear complexity in modern popular music. While I do rely on my classically trained ear to discern the complex and fascinating elements of a particular song, I am able to find an abundance of interesting musical moments, like I would when listening to classical music. As a matter of fact, I think that trained musicians are able to pick apart extraordinary details in music, even to the degree that it is more analytical than enjoyable, compared to the average person.

For example, two weeks ago I finally got to see Vampire Weekend live for the first time. I had always been out of town every time they came to Texas and was thrilled that they had a four day residency in Montclair, New Jersey. I really admire their music because their use of strings is particularly fascinating to me and I love how they embrace so many different genres, including indie rock, indie pop, art pop, baroque pop, worldbeat, SKA, and Western Afro-pop. I have taught their songs in my music theory class because there is so much to dissect– instrumentation, scales, chord progressions, and lyrics. The layering on my favorite tracks, including Mary Boone, Capricorn, M79, Unbelievers, and Hannah Hunt have unique additions to their ensemble that make the track sound like a novel experience each time I listen to it. All that is to say, modern music does not have to have a tapestry of styles to be considered complex or worthy of listening to. Artists like Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and Gracie Abrams ,have a distinct style in their songwriting, meter choice, instrumentation, and harmony. One song I have enjoyed listening to a lot recently (and even attempted to use for one of the SoundTrap projects) is I Told You Things by Gracie Abrams. The synthesizer at the beginning and leading up the iconic bridge have been so incredibly captivating to listen to. 

I believe my upbringing as a violinist for the past two decades has led me to a journey of wanting to explore new styles and genres of music that include strings, but aren’t directly Western Classical music. This is applicable to life as well, when we search for things that we enjoy, but don’t necessarily have right in front of us, right? During undergrad, I discovered my favorite band, COIN, and loved that they did a string arrangement of their song, I Want It All. I ended up arranging this song for my conducting class to play (first), then my students (second). I posted it to social media, and the band saw it, which gave it a lot of traction and attention. I continued to arrange different COIN songs for my students to play, and had a really exciting time not only teaching it to my students, but also teaching it to them like we would be sight reading at our Texas UIL Contest. This gave me the opportunity to point to each section and encourage them to embrace their unique roles within a pop band: basses and cellos are the bass guitar, violists are the backing vocals, second violins are the lead guitar, and first violins are the vocals. The joy I felt when discovering music that was not only catchy, but layered, made me want to share those same kinds of experiences with my students as both an opportunity for relationship-building but also a tool for music appreciation.