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Ahzem Baldwin-Henry

 

Beats Across Time

 

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” – Friedrich Nietzsche. I believe in this statement wholeheartedly; without music, life would be a dry hell. Music brings passion to the lifeless; it makes the cold nights warm and the hard work fun. I’m personally an avid listener of music. My favorite genre is hip-hop; the smooth 808’s with the verses to match just makes you want to move, be it a head nod, a tap of the shoe, or a full-on choreography. Being from Newark, the birthplace of “Jersey Club,” it would have been heinous to not base my project on music. So, I decided to create a series of beats based on unique works from the 20th century. The pieces chosen ranged from music from renowned composers such as Edgard Varèse, the father of electronic music, to paintings from Pablo Picasso. My project’s goal was to infuse hip-hop and African American culture into these already outstanding works, while maintaining the culture and ideas already expressed. This was all formulated through GarageBand, a studio app that allows you to develop beats and record songs.

 

This course really opened my mind to new ways of perceiving music/art in general. Edgard Varèse’s work, organized by timbre and rhythm, moved me the most; his work was distinctly different. His more electronic pieces definitely linger in modern music. My greatest challenge when it came to creating the beats was making sure it fairly represented the period’s music while also trying to maintain originality. I didn’t want to make an exact copy of the pieces I listened to, but I also didn’t want to throw away the parts that made the work unique. I think I did this well with “2077 electronique.” Another challenge I faced but was extremely fun to complete was turning a painting into a beat. This idea was inspired by Duchamp and the inspiration for his creation, “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors.” Reading how he was inspired by Roussel’s poetry made me wonder if I could complete something along the same lines. With this inspiration in mind, I decided to express my interpretation of a particular painting through song. The artwork that resonated with me was Pablo Picasso’s “Figure Dans un Fauteuil.” I felt this painting heavily embodied the theme that is “2020”. The painting depicts a lonely statue in a dark room; the statue/person is made of fragmented pieces. The image resonates with me since many people during this pandemic feel beaten down and might be dealing with the loss of a loved one. Much like the statue, they feel fragmented, barely keeping things together .With the creation of my beat, “Figure out the feels,” I sought to make a slow, sad rhythm using guitar and other stringed instruments over high-hats and snares. Personally, I’m a very optimistic guy, so I couldn’t leave it purely depressing. I had to drop some hope with the violins towards the end, since bad times don’t last forever.

 

I enjoyed creating this project; it allowed me to work within my hobby of creating music while also receiving inspiration from past composers. Each of these beats have a piece of me and are coated in my love for music. My main goal as a musician is to make the listener move, and if you nodded your head or smiled at least once while listening to my work, I have done a great job.

 

 

Ionization Imitation (1913-1925)

This was my first beat in my series of five. This work was based on Edgard Varèse’s “Ionisation” the ensemble consisted of 13 percussions and 1 piano, and a siren. Varèse’s piece sounds much like a scene of war starting off with low snares like the ones you hear soldiers marching to. What caught my attention was the siren and the use of Latin instruments; the guiro is a unique touch to this work, so adding it was essential to my recreation. I decided to create a beat with 13 percussions, 1 piano, and a siren with this all-in mind. The rhythm is highly focused on Latin and African culture with hip-hop mixed in. While creating this, I was highly inspired by the movie “Black Panther” and its excellent soundtrack (“Paramedic” and “Redemption (with Babes Wodumo),” slap). The most challenging part about creating this beat was making sure you can hear the base through your phone or laptop.

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Swag Jazz (1925-1945)

This second beat wasn’t directly inspired by a specific song. It was based on the Bebop and Jazz of (1925-1945) period with its somewhat improvised style. This beat’s opening pays respect to Duke Ellington and his famous piano openings. This was fun to make; when it came to creating this work, I wanted to start off with an original jazz style with the staple instruments such as the Bass, saxophone, piano, etc. I then transitioned to a hip-hop infusion by bringing in the high-hats and snares; the buildup is clean; it then ends with a tambourine for a nice fade out. While creating this, I got curious and thought, “Surely, someone has done this before?” and I ended up finding a genre of Jazz called “Trap Jazz.” I ended up finding a video of musicians doing the exact thing I was attempting to create, much better, I might add. You can find the video on YouTube, first on the list.

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Figure out the Feels (1913-1925)

This third beat was inspired by Pablo Picasso’s “Figure Dans un Fauteuil” created in 1909-10. With its fragmented depiction, this Cubist art shows a person who seems lonely and cold, frozen in a moment of distress with broken emotions waiting for time to pass. These are the ideas/feelings I kept in mind while creating this beat. In movies or high school dramas, sad parts are usually expressed with string instruments and piano. I made sure to keep this in mind throughout the beat; also, I wanted to explore the idea of dealing with these emotions using a slowed tempo of 70. Feelings of sadness at the moment feel like an eternity, so I had to make sure it resonated within the long tones. The ending with the violin is much like a search for hope, like a friend saying, “It’s rough now, but it will be ok soon,” followed by a warm hug #2020 vibes. This was my first time creating a work of sound based on an image. Putting it together took some real thought; a lot of questions and evaluations came to mind “Does this track represent the coldness of the painting? Is it sad enough? how can I represent fragmentation?” I believe these were answered with the piano and its change from a calm melody to a more menacing/bad vibe followed by the hopeful strings.

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Taking A Chance (1945-1956)

This fourth work was inspired by John Cage’s avant-garde style and his idea of improvisation/chance when it came to composing his pieces, more notably his piano pieces in which he jammed nails in between the strings of the piano. I’m not willing to put any nails through my laptop; however, I’m willing to explore the idea of chance in music. So, I decided to create a whole soundtrack based on Google’s random number generator. First, I had to figure out how many sound packs I would incorporate; the scale used was from 1-50, and I received 13. I then followed up by selecting the genre (1-26) for the sound pack and then selecting the instrument itself (1-110); this step was done 13 times. The results were: (14,7) (9,87) (22,46) (7,2) (14,5) (25,72) (2,75) (4,13) (10,5) (16,90) (22,61) (19,21) (2,10). The outcome wasn’t too odd, but I made it work, I made sure to place the piano throughout the song, so it wasn’t just an amalgamation of noise. To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about this creation; it sounds like something from a mystery movie or one of those forensic shows.

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2077 Electronique (1945-1956)

My Final work was based on Edgar Varèse’s “Poéme Electronique.” The rhythm focuses highly on machines and metal; it sounds like a distant future setting where robots roam the streets. This was hands down my favorite piece to create; it felt like I was creating a soundtrack for the next Transformers movie. I made sure to hold on to this metal/robotic theme while integrating more modern sounds. When creating this, I thought of a scene in which robots are in a high-speed chase with police; that’s why you can hear a siren during the more up-tempo parts. In Varèse’s piece, the beeps and voices sounded as if they were having a conversation. I sought to repeat this; in the more downtempo part of the beat, you can hear two robots having a chat, thinking that they have escaped the police. I enjoyed the overall process of creating this rendition. I ended up using sound effects I would have never contemplated initially. Like I said, it felt like I was making music for a movie; music with a story is always fire. You can even hear a voice say “Electronique” in the background; I thought this was a nice touch.

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