Author: jlau

Jacob Collier is a European artist that gained fame within the jazz community through his incredibly innovative harmonies,  charismatic personality, and most notably the dynamic videography that accompanies his music. Jacob Collier achieved internet popularity by creating arrangements and covers of popular songs while adding exotic re-harmonizations and playing every single part in the video. His most popular video is a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing”, and it currently has 2.5 million views.  To me this video embodies the maximalist ideologies and utilizes them in a modern context. The most impressive aspect is that his arrangement is packed chock full of crazy harmonies and written for a very dynamic instrumentation. Within the video he utilizes 6 different types of drums, 3 different keyboards, 6 vocal parts, 3 cymbals, 6 auxiliary percussion instruments, and an upright bass. Although it may not be as physically maximalist as Mahler or any other orchestral composer, his rendition of the “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing” contains much more parts than the original version, and the overall sonic landscape he creates is bursting with energy just like any other maximalist piece.  I feel that the element of maximalism within Jacob Collier’s video lies mostly within the overall sound of his one man ensemble, as well as the visual element of the editing choices he made.

His harmonic choices take the original harmonic form of the song “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing” and builds off of the prior foundations. Jacob Collier utilizes lots of extensions and playful dissonances that create a color that is truly unique to him. It feels like he took a paint brush and blended the entire color pallet.  There is so much to listen to, and each time I listen to the song I seem to catch something new.  He creates a unique effect where the parts transcend their individual sounds and create this one holistic blend of harmony and timbre. Often times in ensembles you can hear instruments stick out, as well as specific parts of a chord. For example sometimes you can hear a section blast the third of a chord, and it takes away from the overall group sound. The mixing of sounds Jacob Collier uses seldom breaks from the overall color of the group he made. In this video attached here, Jacob Collier created a live video of him harmonizing a video sent by one of his patrons. He essentially fills up an entire ProTools project space with various instruments and parts that he writes. In the comment section of Jacob Collier’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”, a viewer stated, “This is almost supernaturally good”, this comment essentially sums up the knowledge and ability Jacob has. He conceptualizes sound unlike anyone else, and he’s able to deliver an incredible performance on each instrument he writes for. Very few people can pull of such a feat, and it seems inhuman that one individual is capable of so much. Another interesting comment that sparked some research was from “Jasper Jamm’ who commented, “This dude DEFINITELY has some background in harmony training. No one makes up those chords without some real education damn”. Curiously I looked up Jacob Collier’s musical background, and was astonished to see that he declared himself an “autodidact”, which is a fancy way of saying he was self taught.  One could argue that his skills are almost prodigal.  He launched his first YouTube video in 2011, and shortly after was gaining a lot of attention and eventually intrigued the ear of jazz great Herbie Hancock. Huge Harmonies=Huge success.

Taking a look at Jacob Collier’s videography, he fits a lot of visual content within the small confines of a YouTube video webpage.  He uses a splitscreen paneling effect that allows us to look through various “windows” to each part he’s playing. He opens with 6 frames of just him singing each voice part acapella style, and later on introduces the viewer to more instruments within the one-man band. This editing style increases the scope of the project and creates a cool effect seeing on individual performing with themselves. At the peak of the song you can see every part happening all at once and the visuals climax along with the music. The large scale in video accompanied with the huge sound of the music stimulates the senses to created a unique and maximalist viewing/listening experience. I found this to be a video and song I could listen to over and over again. Sludge pump writes, “Gaaaaah!  Just as good after the twentieth watching!  So good Jacob!!”, a statement I found to be so true. There is so much happening all at once that it is nearly impossible to take it all in during a single listen, and the video is so captivating and mesmerizing it’s very easy to get caught up in the moment and miss some minute yet incredible moments.  His video demonstrates that he is just as much of a monster in the studio as he is at writing and performing.

      There are many mediums in which we can express political opinion, whether it be marches, boycotts, the possibilities are endless. In every single case, each advocate expresses their motives through the medium that is most accessible way that will have the highest chance of making their voice heard. Politics in music has been the most literal way for a lot of composers and performing artists to get their views and beliefs across. With substantial followings and the eloquent skills in presentation often times these artists have been able to successful spread their message to millions of people across the globe. Composers throughout history have written grandiose works to express political thought, Dimitri Shostakovich was one of the most notable composers of them. To this day we have mainstream artists utilzing their music to deliver powerful messages, and in this blog I will discussing Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ hit song, “Same Love”, and his message of support to the gay community.

      “Same Love” is an incredibly powerful song with extremely substantial lyrics. The song starts with sustained string chords and a simple piano progression, and Macklemore opens with a simple rap-monologue that contemplating what it means to be gay, and digs into the common misconceptions about homosexuality. Although Macklemore (Ben Haggerty) is straight, he felt pressure that he must’ve been gay since he was artistic, tidy, and that his uncle was. He doesn’t hold back any punches and calls out right-wing conservatives as well as the conservative christian community in his lyrics “The right-wing conservatives think it’s a decision” and “America the brave Still fears what we don’t know, and God loves all his children it’s somehow forgotten, but we paraphrase a book written 3,500 years ago”. He criticizes the people who refuse to open their minds, and who are still stuck in traditions while using specific religious interpretations to suit their needs. The chorus is especially chilling when Mary Lambert’s erie voice enters singing, “And I can’t change, even if I tried, even if I wanted to”. The lyrics lets us know that being homosexual is a natural part of someone’s identity, and it’s not just a lifestyle people choose. Macklemore’s second verse attacks the negative connotation that has unfortunately developed around the word “gay”. I’ve seen it in the world around me when you hear someone exclaim “that’s gay!” when describing something they think is dumb or disagree with. None of the other definitions of the word offer anything remotely close to being contextually correct with that statement. It is purely disrespectful and shaming of homosexuality, and it is saddening to hear it being used in modern dialogues. Macklemore states, “Our culture [was] founded on oppression”, which is scarily accurate. It started with the Native Americans, continued through the use of slavery and segregation of Non-Whites, and continues today with people of different orientations. Reading the article on Dennis Prager just shows that this hateful ideology is still alive today. He claims that same-sex marriage is detrimental to classical music and Western Culture. He also believes that “Heterosexual AIDS has been entirely manufactured by the Left”, and you can read all about this radical claim here. Of course I disagree with this claim, and I’m sure Georg Friedrich Handel, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein… the list goes on and on. All the composers above have had a significant impact on the advancement of Western Culture, and have created some of the best musical works audiences have ever enjoyed. Dennis Prager is the definitive example of the type of hateful person Macklemore describes in his song. Macklemore’s lyrics open a curtain to the harsh reality of the depressing thoughts of the community and the hateful resistance that has been around since civilization began, his song prays for peace and urges people to hope and work for a better tomorrow.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis masterfully created a piece of art that would make it to phones and music players to millions of people internationally. With 182,087,438 views on their YouTube music video, the song went insanely viral. The duo serve as modern day political activists by operating in the medium that gets their message the most attention and traction. The song supports the gay community and helps raise awareness to take down pre-existing oppressive power. Whether you believe politics should or shouldn’t be in music, there is no denying that it has found a place in it, and has been some of the most effective way to spread love and significant messages to millions of people.

Also it is fun to note that at the Grammy Award Ceremony, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performed “Same Love” (Even though the song lost Song of the Year  to Lorde’s “Royals”, they still won best rap album and “Thrift Shop” won for best rap performance and rap song) with Mary Lambert, Trombone Shorty, Queen Latifah, and Madonna. At the end of the last verse, Latifah presided over a wedding ceremony where 33 audience members both gay and straight exchanged rings, where at the conclusion of “Same Love”, Madonna makes her appearance singing “Open Your Heart” over the same groove of “Same Love”. (http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=28073)  

6:30am my alarm goes off and I start my day. I throw on whatever clothes I can find and I grab my case packing 4 incredibly unique instruments. Instruments with a history I can only attempt to comprehend. I play the trumpet, an instrument that dates back as early as 1500BC, with the first metal trumpets being found at King Tut’s tomb in ancient Egypt along with similar instruments scattered through Asia (1). Inspiration for the instrument stemmed from the use of conch shells, the trumpet recreated the original sound of blowing wind through the shell. What we now use for music, was once used as a tool in militaries and religious purposes. Through its evolution, the trumpet was first made of bronze, and through time we now have trumpets made up of brass with coatings of silver and gold.

The earliest of valves for the trumpet wouldn’t come around until 1814, with the first form of valve invented by Heinrich Stolzel (2). Until this time, trumpets were as simple as one elongated tube, wrapped around itself until the desired length/tuning was achieved. The newly made keyed trumpets would make its debut in Haydn and Hummel’s trumpet concerti, and would serve a big role in Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique with his use of the cornet. The newly developed cornet featured a new piston valve system developed by Francois Perinet in 1839 (3). With the development of the cornet and modern trumpet, the presence of the trumpet dramatically increased. More solo works came to life and music for brass become much more complex and prominent, achieving new pitches and gaining access to quarter tonal musical abilities. Fast forwarding to present time, my horns are made from a yellow brass foundation and are plated with silver and/or gold. Two of them were built here in the United States, one from Elkhart Indiana, and the other from Anaheim, California. I’ve had some customization with my trumpets, and some of the parts come from Japan.The US has a rich history of modern piston trumpet making, with famous techniques and formulas originating in the 1920s. Below I’ve included a link with a video showing the creation of a modern trumpet. Although most trumpets are factory made, there is still a significant hand-crafted element to every instrument, so every trumpet is different from another, even if they came from the same designs.

The other two trumpets in my case originated from Spain, a manufacturer that has a history for creating beautiful “small horns”. These small horns are higher pitched than the standard trumpets we typically see, and their origins come from the smaller cornets used in early British Brass Bands. These trumpets are typically used for early music, and for recreating sounds of the past. One is gold plated and the other silver. These materials serve to create different timbres in sound, the silver being more brilliant and the gold having a richer quality. These finishes on trumpets weren’t seen until the early 20th century.

Aside from the physical trumpet itself, the mouthpiece is an essential partner. There is almost more science to creating a mouthpiece than the trumpet. There are infinite possibilities when pairing a mouthpiece to a trumpet, because there are an infinite number of trumpet players all with different facial structures. John Storck’s “Understanding the Mouthpiece” describes the various shapes a mouthpiece can have, and has worked with world class trumpeters to create mouthpieces that can best suite every player (5). I play on a mouthpiece that was influenced by former New York Philharmonic Principal Trumpeter William Vacchiano.

Each time I go to practice, I’m playing the result of thousands of years of musical and mechanical evolution, each piece is the culmination of ideas of inventors across history, and it’s incredible that I can enjoy the fruits of their labor and utilize these tools to create beuatiful art.

Sources:

1. “A short history on the trumpet”, Tony Guerrero. http://www.wwbw.com/the-music-room/a-brief-history-of-the-trumpet
2. “The evelution of Brass Instruments and Orchestral Brass Writing From the Late Classical Period to the End of the Romantic Period”, Ken Jimenez. December 19, 2011. http://www.d.umn.edu/~rperraul/MU5204-EnsembleLit/KJimenez.pdf.pdf
3. “The History of the Cornet, from pre-history to the present”, Greg Monks. http://www.blackdiamondbrass.com/tpthist/trpthist.htm
4. “Bach Trumpet Tour”, Feb 24, 2015.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9XYQHBBp9I
5. “Understanding the Mouthpiece”, John Storck, 1989.