Animation 2 Part 1 - Music

Brief definition of music

Music is an interaction between a piece of sound and a listener. Throughout the years there had been debate on what differentiates 'music' from simple sounds; the 19th century critic Eduard Henslick believes that music is a 'measurable tone'. Some define it as a series of organized and fixed, but this leaves out genres such as African percussion, Japanese shakuhachi or electronic music. It is possible to have an organization in music without it needing to be fixed (Cook, 1990).

People may also define music as 'humanly-generated sounds' that are good to listen to; this may vary depending on the individual (Cook, 1998). 

Jazz music

Jazz is a genre of music that is characterized by its ever-changing variation; despite it being over 100 years, it continually sees transformation and improvisation, taking inspiration from a wide range of sources and bringing new interpretations into every performance. Jazz has a strong African-American influence, and it typically features various styles as well as personalized performance techniques (Whitehead, 2011). 

New Orleans is popularly considered to be the birthplace of jazz, but there has been much debate on this matter. Some historians attributed the Dixieland style of jazz in New Orleans as the beginning of jazz, while others consider it to be the first style of jazz to gain popularity nationwide. The origin of the word 'jazz' itself is relatively unknown; first appearing in the baseball column of a San Francisco newspaper in 1913, the word gained much popularity in 1917, especially after the first recording by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band was labeled as 'jazz'. A writer for the New York Sun notes that 'jazz' has a variety of spellings and may be of African origin (Martin & Waters, 2012).

Swing and Electroswing

Swing was very popular between 1935 and 1945 (Martin & Waters, 2012) and was originally used to describe a form of jazz music. Later on it was associated with dances performed to the music instead, seeing its peak in popularity during World War II (Edmonson, 1999).

Electroswing is a relatively new genre that came about around 2008, reviving the swing movement that was once popular during the 1930s to 1940s. It starts off from the 'New Jack Swing', which was very popular in the 1980s to the 1990s. Electroswing essentially revives the swing movement, which as detailed above is very popular during the 1930s and 1940s.  In this genre, old swing elements are mixed together with any combination of modern electronic genres to create new, fresh beats - much like the genre of jazz from which both movements originate from (www.cw41.com/style/electroswing.htm)

Like jazz music, electroswing is varied and not limited only to a certain tempo. This allows for musicians to create diversity in their music (Electroswing.com, 2013). Although it is a fairly new genre and not quite established in mainstream music yet, it is fast gaining an audience. The popularity it sees today reflects the economic situation of the recent years, which mirrors the troubled times of the 1930s to the 1940s. Taking music samples that are popular during The Great Depression and World War II, the economic situation of the recent years creates a parallel to it. Electroswing is also gaining much popularity due to the growing trend of revisiting the nightlife culture of the past; vintage is fast becoming a trend in recent years and this is reflected in the emergence of electroswing (Independent.co.uk., 2010).

Artists of Electroswing

Caravan Palace

Caravan Palace are a group of artists from France, consisting of 6 members and was formed around 2006-2007. Their work fuses swing music, especially gypsy jazz, with electronic genres. Recently, in 2010, they have just released their new album, 'Panic!'.

Some of their songs are:

1. Suzy

2. Maniac

3. Clash

Parov Stelar

Parov Stelar is an Austrian musician. His work is inspired by retro, combining music such as swing, soul, jazz and pop with electronic beats. On tours, he has a band he performs with: he is the main programmer, with vocals provided by Cleo Panther, saxophone by Max the Sax, trumpet by Jerry di Monza, bass by Michael Wittner, drums by Willie Larsson, Jr., and with Gerd Schneider, Klaus Heiny and Wolfgang Steiger managing light design, sound engineering and monitoring respectively.

Some of Stelar's songs include:

1. The Phantom

2. The Vamp (featuring Max the Sax)

3. Booty Swing

Music for Animation

For the animation I have chosen Parov Stelar's 'The Vamp'. I was first introduced to electroswing by Parov Stelar's music, and since much of his songs have inspired his fans to create animated music videos (some prominent ones include The Phantom and The Mojo Radio Gang), I have chosen his music for my animation.

'The Vamp' is my chosen music piece as it does not include any vocals - which allow me a degree of freedom in interpreting the music as how I see it through my animation. The title of the song itself, 'The Vamp' is also an interesting element to explore; while 'vamp' can carry a negative meaning, it can also be explored from a more positive view.

References:

Music, imagination & culture. Cook, N., Oxford University Press, US. 1990.

Music: a very short introduction. Cook, N., Oxford University Press, US. 1998.

Why jazz?. Whitehead, K., Oxford University Press, New York. 2011.

Jazz: the first 100 years. Martin, H & Waters, K., Cengage Learning, 2012, 3rd edition.

Edmonson, S. 1999. Swing Origins. [ONLINE] Available at: http://daffy.uah.edu/lindy/origins.html. [Accessed 24 January 14].

The Independent. 2011. Electro-swing - Tonight we're going to party like it's 1929. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/electroswing--tonight-were-going-to-party-like-its-1929-2276174.html. [Accessed 24 January 14].

Berklee CW 461. 2011. Electro Swing. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cw461.com/style/electro-swing. [Accessed 24 January 14].