Storm Improvisation and Phone Improvisation 6

For this week's first task, working as a whole class we had to come up with a prepared improvisation based upon a storm. We arranged and planned the structure so that it would be a build up of a storm which is why it slowly started with the raindrop sounds on the block to reference the beginning of the storm. We didn't plan how to layer it in, instead we just improvised naturally to build the texture adding the planned lyrical additions to add comedic effect such as 'where is my poncho?'. This not only added a comical element but also set the scene for the audience. Other popular songs based on the topic such as 'Singing in the rain' (ozabbavo77 2011)  and 'Umbrella' (RhihannaVEVO 2009) were referenced through lyrics as these are well known and relate to an audience. If we were to develop this piece further I would definitely expand upon this as I think both these songs have musical elements that I would like to explore as they are also well known and fit the theme, such as the melodic motif in 'Singing in the Rain' as this also sounds like light raindrops similar to the raindrops in our piece at the beginning but makes it melodic unlike ours. I think I found this task very challenging due to injury I had physical restrictions so couldn't play the piano like I normally would. Instead I used the foot pedal on the bass drum. Because this is a strong instrument, it allowed me to play around with dynamics to ensure that everyone else was heard but so that I still conveyed the storm growing stronger. I found this instrument frustrating but I think it was important for me to explore other options as this will help me when creating my song for my independent project.  

For the second task in this session we had to split into groups and using our phone numbers had to devise a composition and we could do this anyway we wanted. Our group recognised that when you type numbers in on a phone each of them play a different sound. Therefore we then researched into what the notes were that they were playing and used these to create our piece. We then decided to all play the electric piano as this sounded most like a mobile and to keep the piece simplistic. Each of us picked parts of our number and using the notes came up with a few melodies and fitted them other each other to create poly-rhythms. We then layered this all together, making it sound like people were pressing numbers in on a mobile phone. All of us started with the 07 because this is the start of most people's numbers so we all played this in unison but at different octaves to make the piece more musically interesting and engaging. We also ended with this to tie the piece together and because this sounded most like a mobile out of all our sequences. 

Our Arrangement: https://soundcloud.com/musicianship-1/amy-abi-meg-phone-composition (Musicianship-1 2016)