My Portfolio

For this song I'm using it as a interlude for my Ep project. I feel as if I  should use it as the first interlude because the atmosphere the song gives is extremely and creative. I would like the listener to be in a dreamy but conscious state when listening to my Ep so I believe this is the best songs to use in the beginning. I made this song when I was experimenting with different techniques on the guitar but with basic chords. This song was originally designed with vocals but I felt I made to difficult for me personally to perform this on guitar and play at the same time.





this video is my first solo performance ever. It also has some my songs I might be including in my Ep and also what I created last year. This footage also the Spanish Dreams song I created a couple months prior to the performance. This video showing just a few songs that I have developed over the past few months to a year, excluding the first song which was people get ready by Curtis Mayfield.





THIS one of m main songs for my Ep which planning tocall the wind queen but I'm trying to find a better name mostly from African tribal tradition.







this is one of the poems I created for my Ep as one of the interludes. Later on I hope to create an instrumental backing with the vocals.






this the creation of one of my main songs for My Ep.

Interview

Goldsmith Opening day : It was really interesting and it was defiantly a new experience.  They gave us a break down of the course and what to expect by the end of course.  We also had a tour around the university, and we were able to listen a few of the performances.

UEL Opening day:  we had tour and breakdown of what to expect from the course and the university. Their equipment was really modern and update, it seemed interesting.

ICMP Opening day: We where able to experience a class for a foundation music course. We learnt a song and we tried to create it into our own version. It seemed interesting but it felt as if it was a repeat  of a lesson that I have already experienced in college.

Proposal

PROPOSAL

Introduction

My aim for this EXP is to create an EP and produce a portfolio of artwork, embracing and empowering black women in today society. Im planning to include 3-4 songs EP with about 3 interludes breaking it down into 3 sections. Each of my songs have deeper metaphoric meanings of the issues black women have to face on a daily basis.  I want to explain how  black women have to face physical, mental and emotional abuse by the media, government, academic system and even by our own race.

Context
The reason why I have chosen this subject is because:
1.I’m a black woman who has experienced a handful racial attacks.
2.I believe  Black woman dont get enough credit.
3.I’m also trying to enter the music industry so I want to have some research so I can be prepared.
4.I want to empower black women across the world.
5.there are not enough black female role models so I assume I should be a role model in my own way.
6. this is learning stage for me  I’m trying and learning to love myself day by day and realise my capabilities, while also trying to do the same for others with my music.

Last year my aim in the beginning was to create an Ep for my Final major project and perform it in a concert, But because of the amount of time management, confidence and skills, I wasn't able to complete the project the way I wanted. Hence the reason why I decided to do it for My Extended major project, because I have developed much more as a musician and a producer. I Want to use this year to show all the skills I have learnt throughout the past 2 years in this course, within this project to show my capabilities as a musician and being an independent artist in the music industry. This will help me in the future as it will show how capable I am, being a songwriter, performer, and a developing producer, within the industry. I have also included artwork to also show how I am able to broaden my capabilities within the creative industry, and how I don't need to only rely on music. One of the artist that I hope to research within this Project is Lauryn Hill, who is a legend within R&B, Neo-Soul and the female rap seen. I want to be as impactful as she is, not only through music but through business, charities academic and many other industries like what she has done.

I feel that there is not enough black female role models being promoted enough, or in the correct way within the academic system and the media. As a lot of people in previous generations as well as my own, are greatly impacted by music and the arts I would like to use this form of technique  to create something that can be such an impact within society and mainly within the black community. I want to create something that has a meaningful message to people, that feel isolated by barriers and different categories within society. I want to make people understand that it's ok to be different, and its ok to except as well as love what God has made you to be in your journey. And through my music I hope to breakdown this message in all my artwork and music. I want to achieve a project that's impactful through many issues and situations that black women have to face everyday. And also create something that can help me develop, musically, knowledgeably, and physically as a person.

My aim is to break down my artwork and music into 3 elements which are Earth, Wind and Fire.  The whole meaning behind this thought is that society doesn't really understand black women for who they are,  and because of that they try to justify their hate crime as form of improvement within the black community. making us believe that we will never be good  enough for the world. So I have these 3 elements as a form of a spiritual connection of oneself to understand their black beauty within.  3 carries a vibrational frequency for creativity, inspiration and expression of oneself, so I have used 3 elements to explain the ingredient to make a black queen (Nubian sisters). In each of these elements it expresses different emotions and personalities. They all have a pro and con to their personality but there is always a cure to the pain, the cure for each element is Love. For example

Earth :  Knowledgeable,  tranquil, neutering, kind, good hearted, fearless, powerful, innocent, pure and beautiful.  The Ma’at of the universe (Ma’at egyptian Goddess of balance and order of the universe) But if you break her heart she will never forgive you and bring karma upon you. Until she realizes that love is like a paradox that you have to experience. She needs to understand to find love you need to be hurt by it. When she finds love she transform into Earth.

Wind : Beautiful, dangerous, mysterious, free thinker, powerful. Floats around the world trying to find itself and understand herself. She has a split personality ( good hearted but can be evil) as she has been through so much trauma she no longer understands, who she is and what she can be. She wants to be free but superior to her competition. A women who denies her origins as she believes it's no suitable for the world she lives in. Love will help her understand that trying be someone your not, just to be accepted is a route to complete disaster. Her transformation after finding love she turns into the ice flower.

Fire: motivational revolutionist,  Ambitious, wise,  motivated, committed, short tempered, Angry, Serious and beautiful. She is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable to the point, if you ask her any question she will most likely no the answer to it. Everyone criticises her because of her unique personality, which makes her feel like an outsider in the world. She is short tempered because she doesn’t agree with Ignorance and stupidity,but  Through love  she finds the understanding that gathering too much hate will make you become what you despise the most.Transformation after finding love is a garden full of red lilies

These are the 3 elements to make a nubian queen.

I will only be creating 3 portraits of these 3 elements and then i will include other portraits that i have created also. In the art portfolio i will be also including poems from influential writers such as Maya Angelou, to give the respect to the black female and also bring hope.

Research

My research will be based on African American poets writers as well as musicians that have made a great influence to my EP and art work. Music artist such as Jill scott, Lauryn Hill and India arie are influential to the structure and characteristics of my music. For My artwork I want to try and include poems from Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn B.Bennett, Mari evans on each of piece of my artwork as a symbol of knowledge and mystery of my artwork. I will also be including interviews based on the struggles of a black woman in industries, as well as issues they have to face outside of work. I also hope to find different ways of creating primary research and gaining a lot of information to impact the creation of both my artwork and music. I'm not directly sure what i want to research on but I know throughout the process i will find research that can affect the developmental process as well as the end product.

Methodology

My aim to achieve this project is to start with finding enough knowledge to help me progress throughout the weeks, and try to gain enough influence through different pathways. In the first weeks i'll be creating the artwork and lyrics for my music, so i'll be trying to find influence and improvise from there. During the middle weeks i'll be officially producing the music for The for Ep and completing My artwork And Poems. The last weeks i'll be doing the evaluation of the whole process and what i experienced. The way I will be evaluating my work is through comparisons of other projects such as Jill Scott and Lauryn Hill first album, and from there i'll see how to break down my work and improve.

Timeline  

Week 1: Do research on the areas i'm interested, and find out I am doing for the rest of the weeks

Week 2: Begin creating the art work and continue doing research about artist and lyrical meanings and how to gain influence from it

Week 3: creating lyrics and start creating songs

Week 4: halfway through my artwork  and completed at least 1 one song

Week 5: nearly completed artwork  and have created at least 3 songs on logic

Week 6: Completed artwork. Created more than 6-7 songs I have to choose which songs are going to make the cut and what are not. Make a structure for the Ep and find out whether you should include them as interludes between the main songs.

Week 7:  have the concert and evaluate your experience.

Week 8: finish everything and evaluate your experience and your overall outcome.

I believe that if  I am organised with my time management then the process of making this project will run smoothly. If I am very disorganised I believe that I will not have enough to complete or add things that I want to include within the project. Because I feel I have included a lot of different factors and alot of written and practical work, I have to at least understand what my aim for this overall project by the end of the following weeks. If I don't this project will not come out the way I want it and I will fail.

DISSERTATION

How has African American genres have evolved over the Past 100 years?

From the early stages of african influence to modern day Hip hop and R&B, African American music styles have evolved greatly over the past 100 years. It has helped to create a distinct national identity that has been globally popularized for decades.

AFRICA

The early stages of African American music began with the importation of slaves from Africa to America. Many slaves brought  the knowledge of instrumentation, song techniques and much more. Banja drums was one of the first percussion that they were able to create whilst living in America.They would use this instrument as another form of communicating with other slaves, and by the 1700s it was banned in many plantations across America. Slaves would use music as a way to uplift their spirits through the hardship, and horrific predicaments they were facing.

Just by tribal and culture differences, it has been able to create many genres that are still heavily popularized centuries later.

Even though religion was another way for slave owners to control their slaves, it also was the early stages of a new genre called gospel music. Even to this day it still creates a great impact within the black community. Gospel Music was also another way that slaves would send subliminal messages to bring hope, motivation, dreams of the freedom land to one another.

BIRTH OF THE BLUES

The civil war was a great success in the case that it allowed many slaves to be free by law. But there was another issue facing America at the time, poverty. The blues is a great example of how migration affects social and cultural change within the black community.  Where does the blues originate from ?. The Blues Originated from the south of America, places such as St louis, Mississippi and many more. As America was moving into the twentieth century, the blues was evolving into a mixture of prior genre such as Ragtime, folk music and gospel, creating a new sound across America.  Many people brought along music whilst migrating to bigger and more developed cities during the industrial era.

The musical structure of the blues only relies mainly on 3 chords, It's a more lyrical then a narrative genre, and uses an emotional vocal form to express a story line. By the 1920s the blues had change from classical blues to country blues, which was a mostly male populated genre. With country blues it was more of raw, strained  instrumentation and included nasally vocal techniques. The instruments used where the banjo, strings (Guitar mostly) and a jug. Unlike jazz the blues didn’t spread as much from the south to the Midwest until the 1930s-1940s. Industrialization created the development of technological advancement within radio, records and many more. The increase of large black urban communities with money allowed the creation of race records within the music industry. This allowed the blues traditions to spread and connect  with one another. By the 1940s the blues was gaining a lot of economic and social gains through popularity. Both rural and urban blacks embracing the national blues culture.

CHICAGO BLUES

After the second great Migration (Mississippi to Chicago) a new form blues was created called Chicago blues. Muddy waters (1915-1985) known as the father of modern Chicago blues, was the leading creator of chicago blues and in my opinion one of the top greatest guitarist of all time. Muddy Water and other artists such as big bill broonzy(1893-1958), Howlin wolf (1910-1975), and many more, open the doors to a new urban sound, consisting of electric based instruments, harmonica, drums, piano and much more. Chicago blues created a clean and ‘industrial sound’ of the blues which was completely different from the previous sounds of the blues. This specific genre was only made possible by the black migration. Over the rest of the 20th century the blues was a heavy impact on many genres and also evolved itself with the times.

JAZZ

In the early stages of the world war, a new genre started to popularise across America and the world. The Jazz era was an important stage in American history, as it was time in which there was a symbolic cultural shift. The first few years of the jazz age were vitale and impactful to society, as prior to that they had encountered the dark times during the World War. Jazz was able to bring along more hope and joyfulness into people lives, bringing new forms of art and a way of living. Hence why the 1920s is referred to as the roaring twenties. One of the first recognised styles within the genre is the Dixieland. The reason of its name is because of its origins, as it  was created within New Orleans.  New Orleans was one of the most diverse cities within the southern states of America, with a mixture of people from Mexico, Africa, Italy, France, Caribbean and many other countries. With the combination of different cultures joining together it helped jazz to become what it is today.  It also blended from previous genres such as Ragtime, Gospel, Marches, Blues and many more. 

Jazz began as genre created for dance and performances, later years it was also used for other ways of expression. The first recording of jazz music was in 1917, which created a large development and popularity across America. Artist such as Duke Ellington (1899-1974) and Fletcher Henderson (1897-1952),where the first few that began the creation of black orchestras, that performed in nightclubs in New York and Chicago. One of the most popular jazz clubs was Cotton Club. Cotton Club was a New York night club which was first based in Harlem. Most popular between the 1920s-1940s, this club was widely recognised as many famous, blues and jazz artist had performed there. For example Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Chick Webb

Jazz is a large genre but the basic elements within it are syncopation, improvisation, techniques (instrumental techniques) and harmony. The clarinet, trombone, bass, trumpet and a drum set was the basic ingredients to create this genre.

New Orleans wasn't just the birthplace of jazz , but of many other genres and artists. Both black and white important figures within jazz, mainly came from New orleans or states in the South. Many artist such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker created a collective of different styles within jazz such as, swing,traditional jazz, bebop, cool jazz and many more. The increase in african american performers and predominantly white audiences created a lot of controversy and racial conflicts. For example, Marian Anderson was asked to perform at Howard University but, was denied based on the issue of her skin colour. This created such controversy that even Eleanor Roosevelt, ( the first lady at the time) resigned from the DAR. The outcome of that decision allowed Anderson to perform at the Lincoln memorial instead.  Cotton club is another case  in which they only allowed caucasian patrons. Even with these issues black artists still performed for African American audiences, if it was at church, or for dances they would always come back to the roots of the genre  And today there are countless of jazz festivals and musicians across the globe. I believe that jazz is one of the first few early genres that has created such an impact within music globally. The Nielsen 2014 year end report

Says ‘’jazz is continuing to fall out of favor with American listeners and has tied with classical music as the least-consumed music in the U.S., after children’s music’’.  Jazz and classical musical combined only represents 1.4% of the total US consumption a piece.

R&B

R&B has been around for decades, and has been a forever changing form of music, that evolves with the times. Originating from places such as New Orleans, New York and many other states. The genre  R&B also known as rhythm and blues name  was created by Jerry Wexler who was a music journalist during the 1950s-1980s. Even though the name R&B includes genres within it, it still has influence from,  Soul, Funk, Gospel, Rock. Created at the end of world war 2, R&B is well known for its strong vocals and heavy back beats. It began to gain large amount of popularity during the 60s with the dedication of record labels such Motown, and talent from artists such as Aretha Franklin, James Brown and ray charles and more. Rhythm and blues was designed mostly for young black audiences, later on it would reach global popularity. The early stages of R&B tried to move away form the typical big band formular, and more into small bands,  gaining a lot influence from genres like the blues. R&B was once known as race records but the name changed to make it less derogatory and more commercial. Venues such as Municipal, Royal Peacock club, 81 theatre, helped R&B artists to promote their work. In 1949 J.B Blayton was one of the first black owned radio station in America, their R&B format was extremely popular with Atlanta listeners, this also helped promote and gain more fans for the genre.  In the 1950s R&B had competition with other genres which where jazz and Rock And Roll. As a genre it began to adapt itself into something that was more original and that had an identity. By the 1960s R&B had taken a more gospel approach. This new form Of R&B was promoted by artist such Ray charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Sam Cooke. This change created  R&B into a popular genre creating number one on a daily.

The decrease in  popularity was said to be short lived by the Billboard magazine.  Since R&B has combined with Pop charts, it has been heard and used more frequently within many industries. R&B has also been used as name for most black genres such as Funk, Soul, Rap and Disco. Listening to the R&B at the end of the 20th Century is definitely a mix of emotions. This era gave a meaning of love and what it is to be in love. Their influence mainly came from previous jazz compositions and classicals blues. R&B use the technique of wide range of instrumentation, to find sounds that have never been heard before. The structures of songs were mainly jazz formation and included ad libs just like bepop jazz. The present day Rap was created on a basis that was made at the end of 20th century but now as R&B is more globalized it relates mostly to pop music than its original roots. Artist like Beyonce, Chris Brown and Ne-Yo, has changed R&B concentrating mostly on their lifestyle instead of the making and production of the music.  If you compare the 1990s to the early 2000s you can see how the music evolves from slow soulful songs into more pop related. But 2000s where the times in which artist became more independent and less reliable for groups and backing vocals.  But as the years go by and we see the differences appearing and developing into something that could be revolutionary we realise that it is  just part of evolution and the makings of new genres.

CONCLUSION

I believe that people of colour have had a great struggle attempting to enter many industries. Dealing with issues of racial related attacks, controversy and unnecessary drama. People have truly forgotten, or have not given the true credit and respect to the originators of most genres, especially in America. Even through all the trauma they have experienced through slavery and just being in America. The mental, physical and emotional abuse losing their culture, identity and self worth in this world. To be able to to come back from that is a miracle. Having to rebuild and gain confidence of oneself is one thing, but being able to create such an impact through many pathways especially through the arts is another. Rising through hard times and to continue to strive is a beautiful thing, and that is why I respect many black artist for what they have done and created for the next generation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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