(October 17, 2022)

PMJ Lesson 1:

5 favourite videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyaEPfzX45c,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hHZnvjCbVw,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwWCOoREFJw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU6iSvGZHMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYYBQiE3Oyk
 1. Why did you choose this song?
2. Describe, using as much musical terminology as possible, how this song is different from
the original song?
3. What about this combination is interesting to you?

My favorite song is Beauty and The Beast. They covered the song in Jazz style which is quite
similar to the original. They have the same tempo but the original has more vocal harmonies
than the cover one since the cover there’s only 1 vocalist. The instrumental in the cover piece is
also broader with a variety of instruments (clarinet, piano, cello, drums, electric guitar).

(October 24, 2022)

Happier: Pop Ballad → 60s girl group
Tempo: Slower than in the beginning but faster when it truly get into the song. Original tempo:
60 BMP (fargo), PMJ tempo: 76 BPM (ardant)
Instruments: Original focuses mainly on piano, PMJ version shorter “poppy” rhythm, not the
focal instrument.
Drums: Original drums were minimal and blended in with the rest of the instrumentation. In the
PMJ version the drums were featured more and offered an upbeat feel, through the use of
snare, bass and cymbals.
Melody: Expressive and connected vocals in the original, PMJ version uses shorter notes and
quicker rhythmic phrases. The texture of the vocals in the original is monophonic, in the PMJ
version it’s polyphonic.
Pitch/Key: PMJ version added in high notes, vocal riffs (ascending), changed from minor to
major key
Stylistic footholds: 7th chords?, bouncy, upbeat, lead vocal with 2+ backup singers, jazz band
set-up, walking bass line

Pop) Bad Guy - Billie Eilish

Constant drum bass; snaps; claps (percussion); rhythmic bass (medium - higher - low); vocal is
whipery, breathy, mystic tone; transition by vocal (words); ad libitum.

(Disco) September - Earth, Wind, Fire

Fast tempo; thick texture (many players); lack of steady bass; rhythmic bass;

Bad Guy → September

Keep:

● Bass line
● Clapping
● Lyrics
● Repetitive melody

Changes:

● Add brass instruments (saxophone, trumpet)

● Remove outro (rap part)
● Move song scale to higher octaves
● Shorten “popped” notes
● Not using sound effect or electronic instruments
● Changing the key

September → Bad Guy

Keep:

● Thick texture (with multiple layers playing - but have to consider how to adding layers)
 ● Repetitive vocals
● Some highnote to highlight the song
● 4/4 beats
● Instrumental uses (polyphonic)
● Lyrics

Changes:

● Vocal technique (more breathy, intonation)

● Distorted bassline
● Add more synths
● Additional outro
● Tempo (more beastly)
● Spacing of melody
● Adding more bass
● Changing key
● Hold notes longer

(October 26, 2022)

3 goals:
1) Ba dodo -> short notes, hum, low tone, vocal, maintain rhythm
2) Kick drum -> change from 2+4, put on every beat
3) Bass line -> horn part 1:02 - 1:05, horn counter melody in main part of chorus
Today, me and Suri can brainstorm of some harmony parts and who will singing/humming what.
Suri will be the one who humming and stretching the last syllables at the end of each lyric
sentence. Me will be responsible for singing scatter words like (uh-uhuh-ah).

However, the difficult we might meet right now is we want to connect our 2 seperate voices
blend together and more smoothly.

(October 31, 2022)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12Gq2Ld6nu47v1ayRbduucAaXeeWStOh8
Here is the link to September - Bad Guy melody that we figured out.

What elements MUST we include in our melody?

Moody, gloomy, breathy/whisper, hum, small/little melodic changes (no big jumps) in the range

(02 November, 2022)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12Gq2Ld6nu47v1ayRbduucAaXeeWStOh8

Once we’ve all shared please reflect in your journal.

1. What was easy/successful about this experiment?
I and Suri responsible for the baduda parts and be the vocal for our class experimenting. It went
well and smoother than I thought it would, since we just use the key element we used when
singing the chorus as a class last class so this part is quite similar.
2. What was difficult/challenging about this experiment?
The only thing that is challenging might be the moment when we try to combine 3 things (ba
duda + kick drum + bass line) together. Because we did not work together, instead do it
separately and combine at the end. Hence, there was separate in hearing between the bass line
and baduda (the scale and key we used are not the same).

(21 November, 2022)

Since we have not much experiences playing drums, we can not identify which part have to play
4 on 4, 8 on 8, or 16 on 16 beats. Therefore, we are changing from doing the drums part to the
harmony singing choir. It goes well since we already have the experiences in singing and have
to do the improvise a lot. Moreover, we also listen and pay particular attention to the harmony in
a music piece so it not that much challenging for us. However, during the performance, we have
a difficult time and props preparation and being distracted by other instruments (since they play
forte). Hence, we using our finger to blocking our ears from loud noises so the process goes
extremely well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12HIUJOg2aY8SLk4j3g9PBW0fJDqRPvmS/view?usp=sharing

(23 November, 2022)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12ssg0nFB6kB-34JiMWr_gXmBpDXmbjnn/view?usp=sharing
I don’t have much changes in this verse compared to the latest PMJ class video from 21
November. But at this time, I try to improvise more to make it sounds harmony, merging to the
main vocalist but not restrained from what I did in the past. Because I’m always try to create
new better things over and over, and I found them definitely better than the old one (or maybe
because I’m a easy bored person so I always find new things usually more cool).

(2 December, 2022)
Vocal: Both high and low octave; articulation; repeated lyrics and melody; when main vocal
singing, some instruments were taking out to focus on the vocal; harmony singing with head
voice and high notes to back-up the vocal, usually sing opposite octave with the main vocal to
help balance and stable.

Make notes on how you can improve/change/develop your performance to make it more “disco”.
Back-up vocal: More harmonizing and try to “distinguish” from the main vocal by single
higher-lower octave with them. Additionally, add some more scatter singing part (singing
nonsense word + improvising).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17RoI1IE6WNt4OmOrZAN2_mxGS57E6WHf/view?usp=sharing

Today is the last day we doing the PMJ together as a class. I already try to make my harmony
line sounds octave with the main vocal but I easily get distracted by others instruments play and
that distorting my line, caused it to be “cliche” but for the pitch of the notes. I already try to get
back on track but I still struggle with it except I sing in the old ways (my improvising that sounds
like ad lib) and it’s no longer a mess.