Nicholas Whelan - Senior Project

I finally finished my composition!! I am very relieved. I enjoyed finishing it because I was allowed to create conga and bongo solos. The song ended up being 3 minutes and 18 seconds, which is a reasonable time for a bossa nova.
I have begun to write down the notation of the music so I can make copies and show it to the group of kids I plan on performing my song with. It is quite a process. My final selection of instruments includes a piano, a bass, a flute, a guitar, and of course a drum set with multiple percussion instruments. After all the work I put into the song I have become more comfortable with the fact that I have to perform it, thank God.
My essay is now 6 pages long, and I still have an endless amount of info to write about. I'm looking to finish with around 10 or 11 pages. I am writing about the history of Brazilian music chronologically, and I am now at the dictatorship of Vargas and his radio broadcasting of Samba to the axis powers of Europe. Pretty funny thing to see Nazis storm around the place with light Brazilian music in the background, quite a combo.

This morning I finally got my portable recorder and I am very excited to use it. I will most likely bring it back to school and use the instruments in the media building, such as the piano, drum set, percussion instruments, and a bass.

I have also begun to figure out who is going to play my live rehearsal with me. My outside consultant, Sophia, is going to play the piano just because I don't think I will find anyone in the school who can play the part that I wrote.

I have also written a few more pages on my essay and I find myself getting more and more interested in my topic with every paragraph I write. I find the African rhythms so complicated yet so easy to listen to. This is because all the rhythms are syncopated so nicely and they all fit together well.

I am also learning a lot about the history of Brazil as well. Such a large slave trade that then led to a slave migration. All of this explains things such as the large black population that exists down there and also the combination of culture all over Brazil.

This morning I finally got my portable recorder and I am very excited to use it. I will most likely bring it back to school and use the instruments in the media building, such as the piano, drum set, percussion instruments, and a bass. 

    I have also begun to figure out who is going to play my live rehearsal with me. My outside consultant, Sophia, is going to play the piano just because I don't think I will find anyone in the school who can play the part that I wrote. 

    I have also written a few more pages on my essay and I find myself getting more and more interested in my topic with every paragraph I write. I find the African rhythms so complicated yet so easy to listen to. This is because all the rhythms are syncopated so nicely and they all fit together well.

    I am also learning a lot about the history of Brazil as well. Such a large slave trade that then led to a slave migration. All of this explains things such as the large black population that exists down there and also the combination of culture all over Brazil.     

Blog #11

This morning I finally got my portable recorder and I am very excited to use it. I will most likely bring it back to school and use the instruments in the media building, such as the piano, drum set, percussion instruments, and a bass. 

    I have also begun to figure out who is going to play my live rehearsal with me. My outside consultant, Sophia, is going to play the piano just because I don't think I will find anyone in the school who can play the part that I wrote. 

    I have also written a few more pages on my essay and I find myself getting more and more interested in my topic with every paragraph I write. I find the African rhythms so complicated yet so easy to listen to. This is because all the rhythms are syncopated so nicely and they all fit together well.

    I am also learning a lot about the history of Brazil as well. Such a large slave trade that then led to a slave migration. All of this explains things such as the large black population that exists down there and also the combination of culture all over Brazil.     

     

Blog #11

This morning I finally got my portable recorder and I am very excited to use it. I will most likely bring it back to school and use the instruments in the media building, such as the piano, drum set, percussion instruments, and a bass. 

    I have also begun to figure out who is going to play my live rehearsal with me. My outside consultant, Sophia, is going to play the piano just because I don't think I will find anyone in the school who can play the part that I wrote. 

    I have also written a few more pages on my essay and I find myself getting more and more interested in my topic with every paragraph I write. I find the African rhythms so complicated yet so easy to listen to. This is because all the rhythms are syncopated so nicely and they all fit together well.

    I am also learning a lot about the history of Brazil as well. Such a large slave trade that then led to a slave migration. All of this explains things such as the large black population that exists down there and also the combination of culture all over Brazil.     

     

Blog #10

This week I ended up doing a lot of research on the very interesting aspects of African culture. The reason I am studying African culture is to explain the origins of the latin rhythms which were brought over to Brazil in the 16th century slave trade. The African religion consists of a few rhythms that were created to satisfy the Gods. The rhythm that I am focusing on is the rhythm of "Iansa", the Goddess of lightning, war, and wind. 

 I have also ordered my multi-track recorder this week, and it should be arriving sometime soon. It is a "Boss" portable recorder and makes the whole process of recording a song very easy and accessible. It is a small square thats about 7 inches across. It is so light and also has a drum pad on it so I don't have to record my drumming all the time. I am very excited to use it on my project, and continue to use it even afterwards. 

blog #9

This week was extremely productive. I have finally created my piece and all it needs are a few finishing touches. I have ordered a "BOSS" portable recorder for my recording, and I am excited to use it. Hopefully, I can use it in the future, after my senior project. 

    My paper is also coming along amazingly. I have begun to talk about bossa-nova pioneers such as Charlie Byrd, Stan Getz, and Dizzy Galespi. All three of these musicians are very interesting, and due to my researching of them all, I can listen to their albums which continue to influence me. Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz have an amazing album which was released in 1962, this is the first album that pushed boss-nova into the mainstream media, and it is a great reference point for my piece and for my essay. 

    I am continuing my pursuit in finding fellow percussionists and looking for anyone that wants to help perform on my live performance date. I have a rhythmic breakdown in the middle of my piece which includes at least 4 drummers in it. If anyone would like to help me out, or would just like to play in my performance, let me know and we can figure out an instrument for you to play around with. 

blog #8

This week I handed in my budget request form and received a good amount of money to put towards my recording aspect of the project. Using the money to buy time in the studio to record always has the possibility of something going wrong (which it usually does). This would result in a big waste of money, so instead of studio time, I am going to buy an 8 track recorder off of musiciansfriend.com. This will allow me to use as much time as I need, and if mistakes happen, the time I lose won't drain the money out of my pocket. 

 I have completely cleared  Merengue off of my composition list, and out of my senior project. This way I will be able to focus much more on the music of Brazil (Bossa-Nova and Samba) and talk about the evolution from Samba to Bossa-Nova. Merengue is music from the Dominican Republic so it isn't all that related to Brazilian music.  

blog #7

    These past few weeks I have been listening to a bunch of different Bossa-nova charts. This way I can get a great idea of the typical Bossa-nova feel and use it to create my own original piece. The Samba aspect is going well too. There are so many different videos of Brazilian culture, and everyone of them has a segment of street drumming going on. There are plenty of drummers with drums hanging from their necks, and they all have different sounding drums. This creates a great variety of different sounds and pitches, and this is what I plan on doing for my Samba piece. 

     My paper is also on its way. My introduction took me the longest to do, however now that I'm done with that I am shooting through my body paragraphs pretty fast. That doesn't mean the content isn't good though. I have chosen some online books to look through and site in my bibliography. 

blog #6

Today I have put together a good rough draft of my outline, which should cover things like the history, evolution, and causes of the bossa-nova movement in Brazil. One very fascinating thing I found out is that the bossa-nova movement, in a way, led to the Brazillian coup in 1964. Also, I found sources saying that bossa-nova is what led to the concept of "protest music". This may be a strong opinion, but either way it's very interesting. 

    I CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO EVERY BOSSA-NOVA, SAMBA, AND MERENGUE TRACK THAT I COME ACROSS. (pardon the caps) This way, I can have a complete overview of the genre and then base my compositions and my paper on an average piece of the genre.