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Coleman Wadsworth D-Block SYP Progressive and Experimental Music Progressive is defined as favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are. Music however, is not as easily defined. It can mean many different things, yet everyone knows what it is. To me, music is a combination of rhythm and sound, to someone else it could be an outlet for expression, or a form of art. So, progressive music by these definitions is the combination of rhythm and sound put together in a way that favors progress, change, or improvement. But progressive music, while easily defined literally, is a bit more difficult to pinpoint in actuality. What is it about the actual music that makes a song or a band progressive, and if progressive music is such an improvement, why is it left out of the mainstream? Progressive or experimental music has been around a long time, in fact it has existed ever since the creation of music. Whoever first decided to start organizing sound was experimenting with music whether they knew it or not, and since then music has quite obviously progressed. That means that over the years people must have been experimenting and progressing musically, because even the oldest classical music must have been experimental at some point. So to narrow my exploration I decided to focus on electronic music. Electronic music was created around 1874 when American Elisha Gray invented the musical telegraph. However, it was not until 1958, with the grand opening of Edgard Varese’s Poeme Electronique, that it was taken seriously by the musical world. Poeme Electronique was a true musical experiment. Varese used a combination of recorded sounds, and purely electronic signals to compose it. Varese was not the first to experiment with this technique; however, his piece marked a turning point for electronic music. Previously, electronic music was limited to universities and academia, but because of Poeme Electronique, the world was revealed to the wonders of electronic music. Soon electronic music studios sprung up all around the world and a new era of experimentation began. Electronic music through the 1960’s was experimental itself, but due to the rate at which we create new technology, it has continued to exist as the primary source of experimentation. In fact, electronic music lends itself to experimentation because of its progressive qualities such as: 1) electronic music technology is constantly being developed; 2) it is not restricted by the instruments available, the composer can create any conceivable and possible sound just by manipulating the waveform; 3) it is much more easily created in different tonal systems due to limitless pitch possibilities: 4) it is not limited by human performance; and 5) the sounds created with electronic music have no connection to the natural world, it is entirely up to the listener to interpret what is heard. Due to these facts, I have chosen to focus my efforts on electronic music. It is a powerful tool for experimentation, and is truly progressive at the core (much like myself). However, using electronic sounds does not instantly make music progressive. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s it may have done so, but today in 2010, electronic music has been brought to the forefront of pop, and now plays an important role in popular modern genres such as hip hop, dance, and even alternative rock. For example, acclaimed pop artists Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Lady Gaga, and Radiohead all rely heavily on electronically produced music. If one used electronic music to simulate the styles of those artists, it would not necessarily be considered progressive. So how is it that electronic music went from being progressive by definition to being a part of mainstream pop? It turns out that all popular music was once progressive, not just electronic music. For example, jazz was once progressive by definition as well. If one went back in time to 1910, he or she would notice that the music scene was dominated by civil war folk music, and that jazz was a progressive genre excluded from the mainstream. Ten years later (1920), jazz’s popularity is created by the younger generation while the older one rejects it as sinful music. Another ten years forward (1930) and the older generation dies out taking folk music with it, while the new generation reaches its prime and jazz steals the limelight. If you kept going you would find that jazz is eventually replaced by blues-rock, in the same way that jazz replaced folk. Then, blues-rock falls to classic (psychedelic) rock which falls to disco, etc. This process of music going from progressive to mainstream obviously is not rare. Electronic music in the 1950’s, like jazz in the 1910’s, was once disregarded by the music world. Today it is popular amongst the youth, while shunned by the elderly. But like jazz, its age will pass, and the new youth will discover something we consider progressive now. It is a cycle of progress by which popularity shifts from the old to the new. So in order to discover what it is that makes music progressive in 2010, one must look to see what is popular. These three songs: 1) Rude Boy, by Rihana: 2) Nothin’ On You, by B.o.b.; and 3) In My Head, by Jason Derulo, were on the top of the pop charts as of May 8 th, 2010. Right off the bat I noticed that all three songs were definitely electronic. In fact, all but Nothin On You were composed with nothing but digital instruments (that song had bits of real guitar and bass.) That means that somebody composed all the music with a program digitally, and that none of it was actually played by a musician. Each song is in 4/4 time for the duration of the song, with no tempo changes. All of the songs focus mainly on the vocals with very little or no instrumental parts. The song by Rihana consists of primarily dance style vocals, with lots of backup parts and vocal effects, such as autotune and pitch shifting. The other two consist of rap style vocals and pop style singing also with similar vocal effects. The songs are all between three and four and one half minutes and have a simple form such as: intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, (bridge), chorus, etc. These themes are all very common in pop and are what define pop music in 2010. Therefore, progressive music in 2010 can be defined as music that progresses away from these common themes. One such progressive artist I listen to is a band called Cynic, who strays very far from current pop themes. They use shifting time signatures and tempos such as 6/8 to 7/8 and feature death metal and affected electronic vocal styles along with a heavy focus on instrumentals. Their songs range from two to seven minutes and can feature complex forms that escape classification. Cynic classifies themselves as a progressive metal/fusion band due to their jazz, classical, and electronic influences. However, the blend brings the music away from these genres and creates a very unique and interesting sound. Unfortunately, while I find this uniqueness to be exquisite and amazing, other people do not, and as a result Cynic is not a popular band. Despite their superb skills as musicians and composers, Cynic lacks something that Rihana has. So to find out why pop music is so popular, I conducted a survey. Each person who volunteered to help me was shown a thirty second clip of both Nothin On You, by B.o.b., and King of Those Who Know, by Cynic. Then I asked which one he or she liked better and why. The results determined that people preferred B.o.b. to Cynic, twenty-one to four. Interestingly, over half of the people who preferred B.o.b. said they weren’t sure why. Those who did give an explanation said things like “That other song was just too crazy”, “I need music I can tap my foot to”, or “It has an upbeat vibe”. One man who preferred B.o.b. said “ It’s easier for me to relate to a song about beautiful women and having a good time, because that’s what I like to do”. However, there were four people who preferred Cynic. The first of those claimed to be a musician and said “This song (King of Those Who Know) has more meaning to me, it brings up a variety of different emotions and tells me a story, while this other one (Nothin’ On You) sounds like every other song I’ve heard on the radio, and it reminds me only of how musicians are a dying breed”. This statement made me think about how musically intelligent people might prefer more technical music. So, for the remainder of the survey I asked my participants about their musical background. Of the remaining people who preferred Cynic, two out of three were musicians. None of the B.o.b. supporters were musicians, and only six of the seventeen people asked after I talked to the musician, said that they listened to music regularly. This data brought me to several conclusions about pop and progressive music. The body of people who buy and support pop music are generally not musicians and have experienced minimum exposure to music. Thus, they are comforted by simplicity and lyrics they can relate to. Also, if they never have the chance to listen to the variety of music that’s out there, they are destined to like what is proposed to them by pop culture. The radio, TV shows, clubs, and malls all play pop music, and when that’s all people hear, they think, “this is what I’m supposed to like”, or “this is what’s cool to like”. Progressive music, due to its unfamiliarity and the average person’s inability to relate to it, is not recognized by the mainstream, it is dismissed as weird or just plain bad. So if pop music is defined by what is exposed through the mainstream, then how can one define progressive music? Progressive music is a combination of rhythm and pitch that delves into the unknown. It is a sound that strives to be unique, to tear apart the formula of the average song. It is a melody that is defined by itself, lacking any relation to previously written work. It’s a pair of instruments never seen together, playing in the same room. It could even be a fusion of genres and styles, that when combined create something new. Put all these together and progressive music is the research that allows the musical world to grow and evolve, the beacon of progress by which sound can prosper. Home