MASTERING THE CRAFT: TECHNOLOGY

TEACHING MUSICAL CONCEPTS THROUGH POPULAR MUSIC WITH TECHNOLOGY

Ryan Van Bibber

INTRODUCTION

Nearly every student I have ever taught has had at least one thing in common--they engage with popular music daily, sometimes in deep and profound ways. So, it is a natural choice for me to use popular music as my primary teaching vehicle.

In this article, I will show some of the ways I use popular music and technology to teach fundamental musical concepts, including form, rhythm, melody, and timbre. The illustrations come from Ableton Live, a digital audio workstation (DAW). However, the examples presented would work with any DAW.

FORM

Popular songs are a rich entry point for teaching about musical form. I start by asking students to name common sections of a song. They usually come up with verse, chorus, intro, and sometimes bridge. I will then add pre-chorus, post-chorus, outro, or any sections they did not think about already. We discuss the characteristics of each section: the verse tells the story, the chorus summarizes the main idea and emotion of the song, the bridge is the different part that leads back to the chorus, etc. I load songs into a DAW, and the students can see the musical form written in the waveforms. We listen and identify the sections of the song together by ear. Then I label those sections on the track in the DAW.

Formal Analysis of “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift

Once I demonstrate this a few times, the students usually catch on and are able to chart out song forms on their own. The most interesting part of this activity is when students encounter a song that does not adhere to standard forms. They have to use their ears and their understanding of the purpose and nature of each formal section to analyze the song. Then, they have to defend their analysis using logic and musical terms. This shows students that music theory is not a list of rules made up long ago, but is a living system used to analyze and describe the music they hear every day!

Formal Analysis of “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin

RHYTHM

Early in my career, I found it challenging to address complex rhythms, dots, ties, and syncopation. Standard music notation has a mystifying logic to it. If a dot is next to a note, it makes the note longer, but if it’s under or over the note, it makes the note shorter. Otherwise, the more “things” you add to a note (filled-in head, stem, flags), the shorter it is. The physical spacing of the notes is irrelevant. A measure of 16 th notes might be four inches wide, while a single whole note might take up only a half an inch.

Using a MIDI editor is a great way to teach rhythm. There is a grid that shows note lengths in their proper proportions. The need for dots and ties is eliminated, and syncopation is as easy as shifting a note over by one grid line.

Kick and Clap rhythm from “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” by Beyoncé

The MIDI editor is perfect for analyzing the complex rhythms found in popular music that are often based on speech patterns. Many songwriters and composers (even in the “classical” genre) use the MIDI editor as a primary composition tool. So, by teaching students how to read notes in a MIDI editor, you are giving them valuable skills that will enhance their success in making music throughout their lives.

Lead Vocal Melody from “Them Changes” by Thundercat

MELODY

When I teach students about melody, I usually start by having them analyze existing melodies in a MIDI editor. They can either play melodies from songs they know into a DAW by ear or find free, downloadable MIDI files that contain familiar melodies on the Internet. Then we look at melodic motion (step, skips, and leaps), range, and how melodies change from one song section to another. When it’s time for students to create their own melodies, they are more likely to compose lines that are musically logical and that sound good.

Chorus from “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd

TIMBRE

The phenomenon we call “timbre” arises from several factors, including an instrument’s sound envelope, the ratio and volume levels of even and odd harmonics it produces, acoustic filtering, such as mutes, and even the space around the musician. Timbre is an important part of popular music, whether it’s a distinctive guitar sound, an 808-style kick drum, or most notably, an instantly recognizable voice.

The Edge, guitar player for U2

Kendrick Lamar, rapper and Pulitzer Prize winner

Every DAW comes with software instruments that allow for comprehensive timbral control. One activity I like to do is to assign students to create a composition in a DAW with a repeating set of notes, one or two measures in length. For each iteration, they must change the settings of the software instruments they use. In effect, the timbre becomes the focus of the composition.

Wavetable in Ableton Live

RECAP

Popular music has all of the same parts and pieces as music from the Western canon, but with the added benefit of being immediately appealing and culturally relevant to people living today. By integrating technology into your teaching, you can greatly enhance understanding of musical concepts. As students’ ears become more educated, they will be able to make informed choices about the music they consume and the music they create.

*All analysis and screenshots were created by Ryan Van Bibber. *Photos of The Edge and Kendrick Lamar were downloaded from Wikimedia Commons and have Creative Commons Licenses. Attributions are below.

Attributions The Edge Joe Ahorro, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Kendrick Lamar Fuzheado, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Ryan Van Bibber has taught music in Columbus City Schools for the past 18 years, including instrumental music, general music, and music technology. He currently teaches audio and music production at the Fort Hayes Career Center and Columbus State Community College and serves as the president of TI:ME Ohio.