This week my head was swirling in musical inspiration after my attendance at WOMADelaide music festival the weekend prior. Two acts stood out to me in particular. Firstly, Brazilian bossa-nova legend Jorge Ben Jor performed at the ripe age of 76, with a wide assortment of touring musicians (including a percussionist that could barely walk …
Continue reading “2020 Semester 1 Entry 2: Shaolin Monk Motherfunk”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic affecting the university’s ability to deliver the usual course, my songwriting journey this semester consisted primarily of individual exploration, so my journals will be an honest reflection on how I grew as a musician and a writer based on the lessons I learnt from the songs I fell in love …
Continue reading “2020 Semester 1 Entry 1: A Lot’s Gonna Change”
4th of September – Members present: Aobo, Jachin, Jemma, Liz The first rehearsal was a solid start to begin familiarising ourselves with each other’s songs and begin working out a framework to proceed. While Jacob was unable to attend and there was no drum kit in the room we were practicing in, I was able …
The final entry for the semester is for the lecture18 that was centered on harmonic substitution. This inspired me to investigate incorporating more complex substitutions into my writing, and using more diminished chords in general, whether as part of a substitution or not. I’ve been toying with the following progression, and intend to present to …
Continue reading “Semester 2 Entry 12: Harmonic Substitution”
Melody was the primary focus in this week’s lecture16, but in a complementary way – so riffs, counter-melodies, and answering melodies. The concept of riff is fairly ingrained in the music I listen to, and I’d already put it into practice by adding a riff to an older song of mine that needed an extra …
This week’s lecture14 was on non-diatonic progressions, which are always fascinating to see how apparently unrelated chords work together in practice. To further my understanding of the concept, I put Radiohead’s Just15 under the microscope. Nevermind the octatonic riff that opens the track, the intro and verse chords always broke my brain. They are: C …
Continue reading “Semester 2 Entry 10: Non-Diatonic Chord Progressions”
As we only have 11 lectures for 12 journal entries, I thought I’d spend this entry expanding on analysing song titles as a literary device in some of my favourite songs. Talking Heads used the idiomatic expression Once In A Lifetime13 for the fourth track of their 1980 album Remain In Light, and it perfectly …
Continue reading “Semester 2 Entry 9: Further Independent Study”
Robyn’s class12 this week covered literary devices, and especially how they can play a part as part of the title and/or key concept of the song. I find this extremely helpful when I have writer’s block, or am otherwise looking for a creative branching off point for my songwriting. (It’s always amused me how putting …
Arrangement has always stressed me out as a musician as the sheer number of possibilities involved can be overwhelming at times. However, I found that the solutions available become more concrete when actually running through the song with whichever band I’m playing with, as was the case after running through my band song this semester. …
This week’s class8 featured a focus on melodic momentum, and how making phrases denser or sparser affected the momentum of a song. This was an interesting new area to ponder, as while I was familiar with using the melody, rhythm, tempo etc. of a song to generate momentum, I hadn’t considered shortening the phrases themselves. …
Continue reading “Semester 2 Entry 6: Minor Scales and Melodic Momentum”
Jachin's Songwriting and Performance Journal 