Sounds as Music

            Over the course of several millennia, humans have codified the instrument as a means of creating music; the instrument is designed to create sounds that fit into structured music whereas a random object is not. This generalized perception is prevalent in mainstream – which varies across cultures – music. It rules out using non-instruments to make music. Musique concrete, a counterculture musical movement of sorts, challenged this ideology by extending the definition of music to its individual components. Sounds themselves constitute music, an idea that leads to the use of sounds in music not necessarily just recognizable timbres in the form of instruments. The use of instruments, however, does not contradict the ideas of musique concrete since instruments are indeed a means of creating sound. Soundscapes, a recording with background sounds present, evolved from musique concrete; this approach allows for the nontraditional use of sounds when making music.

            In Zeldaru’s “Approaching From Behind […]” the musician samples himself walking in a hallway to create an eerie soundscape reminiscent of sounds made in a horror film. This song off the artist’s 2011 album The Leaf Traces A Melancholy Path Through The Autumn Sky implements this sample directly into the piece. (Samples often prelude musical pieces instead of being a part. For example, listen to Wu Tang Clan’s “Bring Da Ruckus.”) When recording samples, the notion of who made the piece becomes important; Zeldaru recorded the sample, which implies creation as well. The creation of sounds is emphasized over simple recording in the generalized perception. Though the piece is effectively a soundscape for the first two minutes, the use of more traditional instrumentation allows the piece to still be accepted by less “avant-garde” listeners. Musique concrete does not constitute music to many listeners, hence why they may require assistance in the form of instruments. Ultimately sampling provides a means of enhancing music-making, rather than making it more pretentious.

            The sample used in the song consists of a person walking in a hallway in addition to the white noise that stems from the recording. Many listeners would hesitate to call this sample on its own music. The piece creates an ominous atmosphere through percussive footsteps. Lasting about 2 minutes, the footsteps establish a mood for the piece: a sense of being chased is elicited, a technique used by the musician to make the instrumental more ominous. Removal of the sample would change the atmosphere, in addition to breaking up the established musical framework. The footsteps are vital to the track, even though alone they would not count as “music” to most listeners. To these people, music consists of traditional instruments not sounds embedded in a soundscape.

             Fortunately for the audience listed above, the musician incorporates bass, drums, glockenspiel and synthesizer, all of which are fairly recognizable. The musical space left by the sample is partially filled up by these instruments. The instruments are quiet and low in pitch, though, to maintain the desired effect. The timbres are recognizable and counteract the alien sound of the footsteps as well as the white noise. Bass contributes a low-pitched timbre while the other instruments contribute middle- and high-pitched sounds. Additionally the glockenspiel’s high-pitch sound in particular is comforting and provides a degree of resolution that makes the piece less scary. Composition of the instruments can be analyzed and at least recognized whereas the footsteps vary only in distance from the microphone not pitch. The “progression” is static, which qualifies it as a sound to most listeners. As a result the instruments are necessary for this piece to be music at all for many. Zeldaru’s composition is foreboding even with the implementation of the instruments but many listeners can still call it music. Over the course of two minutes a framework of soundscape and instrumentation is created; the music is given a structure that it follows after the sample ends.

            A sample’s context remains vital. “Approaching From Behind […]” features a 2 minute sample followed by 6 minutes without nontraditional instrumentation. The piece continues and develops without relying on a soundscape. Regardless of how well the music is received, this piece does not extensively rely on something simply recorded. Explosions in the Sky’s “Have You Ever Passed Through This Night?” samples the audio of a movie scene. The band explores a similar approach in that they play rock instrumentation against the sample. It creates an atmosphere and a musical framework that can be used to build the song. “Have You Ever […]” opens up with this cinematic sample and follows with an additional several minutes of music. On the other hand, Wu Tang Clan’s “Bring Da Ruckus” opens with a sound clip from a television show before the song proper begins; the music starts when the percussion and vocals enter, not at the track’s start. Listeners in general expect a substantial work consisting of music. Sampling can be “accepted” as long as legitimate music follows suit in the track. Manic Street Preacher’s The Holy Bible also features use of sampling in a similar manner to Wu Tang Clan; vocal clips prelude several tracks, but these songs contain at least a few minutes of traditional instrumentation.

            Musique concrete poses a challenge to most listeners due to the emphasis on recorded sounds rather than just traditional instruments. At the same time, recording sounds is distinguished from performing altogether. This sampling-based approach must be mixed with traditional instrumentation to become more acceptable. “Approaching From Behind” incorporates these elements and becomes less alien as a result.

            In general, musique concrete, specifically soundscapes, allows for the creation of atmosphere and setting through music. This approach is not heinous or pretentious and can prove to in fact bolster musical expression. Sampling can be used to greatly enhance a track’s ability to represent a particular place, event, or even emotion. Brian Eno’s “Unfamiliar Wind” follows an ambient style that conjures up the sensation of being near a pond through its use of sampling; the sound of ducks quacking helps the listener be in a particular place and in some senses makes the music more real. In this piece sampling and instruments are mixed together to create that feel, which makes the song memorable. One truly salient characteristic of this song is the natural sound that is both calming and interesting. Musique concrete can be used to extend the appeal of a song and make it more beautiful. Sampling footsteps is very different yet it follows the same approach: add sounds that make the music stronger and better fit its intended purpose. Sampling in general can be also used to accentuate a particular atmosphere. Meaningful sounds can be used in music; the creation of personally meaningful music is enhanced through this very approach. Musique concrete is not meant to weird listeners out, thus it should not be “curbed” in order to appeal. The tendency exists, but sampling is not detrimental. The mixing of instruments and sampling is done for a purpose, not to mitigate the added sounds.

Works Cited

1.     Spano, Charles.

“Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall   Live Forever.” Rovi Corp. Allmusic. n.d. 16 July 2012.

Deference for Game Music

Creating music to accompany the performing arts has always been significant – for example Ravel’s music for ballets and Wagner’s music for operas – but lately the art has gained respect in other mediums. Film music through the scoring of composers such as Hans Zimmer and John Williams has become popular. At the same time video game music has emerged: though related to film music, game music operates differently. Game music has to create atmosphere and further the plot, to name a few purposes, but simultaneously it impacts the player; the interactivity of video games necessitates music skillfully drawing the listener in. At the same time game music does still paint the scene that it covers a trait also found in film music. The game Halo 3 ODST follows a soldier stationed in a place named New Mombasa; he is searching for lost members of his squad.¹ Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, the longtime composers for the Halo game series, took up the mantle of scoring Halo 3 ODST. For this game the two composers created an orchestral score complimented with jazz, rock, and electronic music influences.²

            The song “Deference for Darkness” is highly indicative of the soundtrack as a whole. Video game music has a purpose of complementing the story; one should be able to work backwards and tell what kind of scene is scored by the music. This analysis could be performed on “Deference for Darkness” to gain insight into the story taking place; in the meantime culture strongly influences how one might analyze this song. For example, the instruments are well-known to a Westerner but may be foreign to a non-Westerner. At the same time Halo 3 ODST takes place in Africa, which occasionally calls for African folk instrumentation such as hand drums. To analyze “Deference for Darkness” a framework must be used: the piece uses instrumentation and elements of music to evoke a scene and in doing so introduces Western biases into the composition.

            Instrumentation strongly impacts how a piece is interpreted for a variety of reasons including preferences for particular timbres, and cultural associations. “Deference for Darkness” may be generally split up into three distinct movements that vary the instrumentation and style of the music: a jazz-inspired classical anthem, an electronic-beat-dominated theme that makes use of primarily electronic instruments, and an ambient composition devoid of a strongly-implicated melody. The first movement begins with a piano played in a jazzy style and steadily builds up; inclusion of strings ushers in a more dominant and fast-paced melody. A saxophone punctuates the melody with slower segments but the piece continues to build up. This movement can be best described as one strongly indicative of the Euro-American music-culture; classical music and jazz are seen as Western forms of music, though they have become prominent in other cultures. Movement two features an interwoven array of electronic beats and electronic bass, which also suggests a Western bias in instrumentation; electronic music, through the invention of the theremin, the ondes martenot, and other early electronic instruments, is in many ways an outgrowth from classical music. At the same time electronic music is more generally popular and has a greater capacity to transcend cultural lines. The third movement is a short ambient piece that draws upon high pitch electronic instruments but at the same time drops any sense of melody. Repetition also occurs, which is counter-intuitive to many Western listeners but quite normal to Buddhists performing religious chants. These electronic instruments once again invoke a Western bias in instrumentation but the composition is less Western due to its use of repetition. A cultural bias exists in this music due to the instrumentation and to a degree the composition; music-cultures have distinct attitudes towards music that influence how a composer creates music.

            The progression of music and the instruments used play a great role in determining what atmosphere is created; this atmosphere is vital to story-telling and a skillful composer should create a fitting mood. At the same time these elements are subject to biases; to the person adjusted to both concert-style orchestral music as well as electronic and ambient styles “Deference for Darkness” does not shatter any expectations or create something novel. From a Western point of view the music captures an atmospheric nocturnal sound; at the same time it is intimate.

The generalized Western bias consists mainly of a few elements: studio production is normal, the change in melody is exciting and pulls the song forward, and instrumentation should be layered to create a full sound. Another element is that Westerners are used to the sounds portrayed in this composition. After being created by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori “Deference for Darkness” underwent production and a formal recording process that resulted in a clean sound. People who listen to modern – Western – music expect this clean sound that removes sonic impurities like white noise and shallow sounds. Production techniques such as multitrack recording also assist in the creation of this music. In addition to a clean sound the song maintains a steady buildup that evokes an emotional response of some form in the listener. Ascending strings drive and distinguish the melody, which fits in well with a Western listener’s expectations: melody should be distinguishable and it should build up into something exciting. Slow ballad pieces are generally only appreciated when played at a very emotional scene. These listeners also expect noticeable changes in melody; the saxophone performances signify dynamics built into the song: the piece does not just build itself up to a climax. Movement two also builds up through the use of electronic instrumentation and it displays similar techniques though it evokes less of an emotional response. The ambient composition has a clean sound but it lacks a dominant melody. Instead it explores repetition to a degree and minimalist melody. To the Western viewer minimalism is something both novel and weird, which explains why an ambient album such as Music For Airports has not become immensely popular. As previously mentioned this approach is very familiar to people who listen to Eastern music, where repetition is a lot more commonplace. In this regard movement three can be considered closer to Eastern music. Each movement, regardless of its particular sound, has a layered sound that fits in with expectations of Western listeners; they all feature a confluence of multiple instruments and a full sound, even though the third movement is slower and more minimalist. This particular demand is also made in African music; many African music-cultures create music that features arrays of percussion instruments and vocalists that vary in timbre and in tempo. “Deference for Darkness” fits in very well with Western expectations while still providing an interesting play on non-Western music; the piece can be described to a degree as a fusion of expectations of multiple music-cultures.

            To a non-Westerner instrumentation and composition would be quite foreign but the particular music-culture one belongs to impacts how one might approach the music. Though Western instrumentation is used the sound may still seem familiar to non-Westerners; movement three for example resembles meditative music in a sense, as does a lot of ambient music. A firm believer in melody not mattering would have trouble, however, enjoying this music. At the same time “Deference for Darkness” is paired with a series of images in the game, which would enforce the atmosphere and feel of the music. A non-Westerner could, while playing the game, potentially get a similar feeling from the scene as a Westerner. At the same time depending on one’s music-culture the music may not be truly acceptable at some level.

Works Cited:

1.     “Halo 3 ODST.” Bungie, n.d. Web. 15 Jul. 2012

                        <http://www.bungie.net/Projects/odst/default.aspx>

2.     Van Zelfden, Alex. “Behind the Music of Halo 3: ODST.” 1UP, n.d.. Web.

15 Jul. 2012.  <http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3175986>

Update!

By now you are all wary of my claims that this blog will have some sort of activity. After digging through my external, admittedly eager to make space, I discovered a few essays on music that I would like to share.

One describes one of my own songs, while the other describes a piece of music off the Halo ODST soundtrack.

Apart from that, that /one/ post is being worked on, promise.

In the fall, I begin graduate school, which may (MAY) be taxing on my ability to write blog posts. However, it will at least represent some amount of change. Hopefully I can be productive before then.

The menace of adorable little girls™ and #justpostapocalypticthings: Black Bullet Episode 1 Review

Against the fervent wishes of my friend, I began Black Bullet, a spring 2014 Kinema Citrus production. Having seen Barakamon – oh who am I kidding, that has nothing to do with watching this. Why would one watch Black Bullet? Well, maybe one saw a poster of it while in Japan, gosh. And maybe skimmed (briefly) volume one of the LN series at a Barnes and Nobles. And, at the very least, the kids like this show.

Flames, yes flames – that’s pretty dang apocalyptic, right?  A boy’s dilated pupils come into view, revealing that he has not slept in ages. The frame expands, allowing for full view of a bonfire, warming people camping out. As if that wasn’t enough, a gigantic serpent-thing (“Gastrea”) appears and kills a swath of the campers. Soldiers fight off the Gastrea, causing it to fall to the ground, feet from the boy. Black Bullet would really like the viewer to take the hint that this society is on the verge of collapse from horrific monsters and technobabble.

When you think you have a handle on the show, the opening sequence places (featuring the piece “Black Bullet” by fripSide good song but subpar to “Only My Railgun”) an array of adorable little girls™ before the viewer, while submerging them in brilliant blue. At some point, it becomes all bright lights, which isn’t exactly nervewracking. Taking the arithmetic mean, one can see that this show combines adorable little girls™ with dangerous apocalyptic stuff™. How is someone expected to remember this plot? It makes no sense!

Ten years later, we learn that Rentarou – that boy – is a civil servant of some kind, which in this society actually means incognito gun-toting NRA supporter. No matter how sophisticated this society is, he rides on a bicycle to work. It’s important to be eco-friendly, especially if monsters are going to obliterate everything, because who will clean up the disasters then?? Rentarou was actually summoned to a horrific crime scene involving a, yes you guessed it, Gastrea. 

Fortunately, this show highly respects our intelligence, so we are introduced to a red-decorated intruder who wears a top hat but no monocle.  And even better, he’s against the Gastrea but also the government, not artificially deepening the conflict at all. I’m sure his white mask totally makes us want to root for him. At least, Top Hat Man™ decides to depart dramatically by jumping from the window.
 

What? You think I’ve mainly just been writing about a nonsensical plot?  This little girl, named Enju, laughs in your general direction while spousing off more technobabble. This entire episode focuses on its beloved jargon, with terms like Intiator, Gastrea, and Cursed Child.

Fortunately, animated shows have more than one category to them. Bizarrely enough, a show like this has a decent sense of humor – Rentarou does ridiculous things like buy bean sprouts to cook them for Enju. Best of all is Rentarou being scolded by Kisara the president for his reckless behavior, which includes, yes, buying bean sprouts on sale. Let me be more explicit – if this show focused on Rentarou, Enju, and Kisara in some bizarre slice-of-life, it would be alright if not just for the facial expressions alone.  Yuki Kaji, Rina Hidaka, and Yui Horie are all pretty great, so at least we can count on their voices in this series. …It’s gonna be a long viewing… It’s quite the feat to be 75% terrible and 25% decent but this show pulls it off splendidly.

As shoddy as the plot is, the episode, in its closing, drops an interesting remark about all Initiators (basically those who “initiate” the fight against Gastrea) having this Gastrea virus inside them. It’s definitely a Resident Evil ripoff, but at least the red eyes will keep us guessing, right? If Black Bullet would teach me about Gastrea virology, I’d probably be down. But if it wants to keep attempting to teach politics, then count me out. (I’ll probably still watch out of my own sheer stupidity.)

Don’t watch this…says the guy watching it. But if you do, do it for adorable little girls™.

Score: 28/100

Gundam 00 and Flowers in SPAAAACEEEE

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a show created by the animation studio Sunrise as part of its long-standing Gundam series – Season one of the show aired from Fall 2007 to Winter 2008 and the second season aired from Fall 2008 to Winter 2009. Though many elements of this show are worth further consideration, including the show’s immense aesthetic beauty especially for its time, I would like to hone in on one particular image from the second season.

Gundam 00 features an especially beautiful image as the series draws to a close. The below image describes a simple scene: Feldt (left) hands Setsuna (right) a potted flower in an air-tight container as an apparent good luck charm right before he must sortie into a vicious battle. In an implicitly miraculous turn of events, one of the crew members was able to grow this flower in space. After Setsuna graciously accepts the gift, Feldt calls out to him and begs him to come back alive, suggesting that the flower represents staying alive amidst adversity. Indeed, this scene highlights Feldt’s sudden but great affection for Setsuna.

Though this is but one flower, it is featured in season one’s first opening theme (below), the masterful “Daybreak’s Bell” by L’arc-en-ciel. The “shaky” use of framing blurs and clears the image of the flower, drawing the viewer’s eye. As the perspective zooms out from the flower, a figure is brought into focus: it is a younger Setsuna, desperately gripping a rifle as he sits behind an obliterated wall. The flower he receives from Feldt represents his struggle to seek out the future without the burdens of the past – thus, from both Feldt’s view and from the viewer’s perspective, Setsuna is provided an emphatic reminder to stay alive.

Under normal circumstances, a flower is a simple gift that represents life. But in context of the opening theme, the flower, growing in a harsh terrain, becomes an optimistic message about humanity’s ability to persevere. By corollary, a flower grown in space represents an evolved ability to navigate difficult situations. As someone who grew up in the fictional yet war-torn country of Krugis, he has lived most of his life defending himself with violence. But his journey as a Gundam Meister allows him to Most of the second season stands as a testament to the immense growth of Setsuna, as he gains the powers of a superbeing – thus, the space-grown flower is reinforced as Setsuna’s image.

As part of the story of Setsuna F. Seiei, this image demonstrates both his character and his momentum in context of a larger battle for humanity. However, Feldt’s offering is itself beautiful in context of the mecha genre. Though most mechas are certainly not bent on morbidity, few of them, in my experience, choose to value – or hint at valuing – love over anger or hatred. Gundam 00 stands apart in this regard. 00’s fourth ending theme features the lines “I love you / I trust you”, highlighting the series’ focus on love as a driving force for human behavior –these sentimental lyrics imbue the series’ violent second half with an optimism that there exists more than violence. Combined with the emotional power of Feldt’s gift, 00 beautifully supports love and affection over rage and destruction. It is not simply a love shared between Feldt and Setsuna, but a love across humanity.

Certainly, this scene surprised me, especially given Setsuna’s stoic responses, because of both its simplicity and its sentimentality. Because it stands apart from the distressed atmosphere of the rest of the episode, alleviating the mood. If it is not one of my favorite mecha scenes, it is a strong contender.