IB Music Musical Investigation: Drum & Bass and Minimalism

[NolenJHeju]

I was hoping to use Drum & Bass as one of my genres, probably to be compared with African drumming. My questions are:

1. Is Drum & Bass... easily workable? (Will it be considerably more work than the average topic choice?)

2. If not, then can anybody let me know of some good sources for research on Drum & Bass?

3. What are some true Drum & Bass classics?

4. What are good sources to check up on African drumming?

I guess I'd really like the first two answered as soon as possible, and don't expect you to do all the work for me. I just need to show my teacher that a comparison of these topics is able to "write the paper for itself."

Edited February 27, 2011 by NolenJHeju

[fatleader]

I'm not entirely sure, but the DnB scene is particularly large in the UK, especially the Bristol area. The underground scene has been huge ever since the early 90's. The genre has evolved into many different sub-genres: drumfunk, dark core, and many more. But do remember to differentiate DnB from jungle. As similar as they sound, the production process is very differentiated.

Here are some classic tracks that you should check out. I think the list is quite accurate.

My link

As far as research goes, I really doubt it would be a problem starting off with just some brief reading off Wikipedia, then broadening your sources from thereon.

Hopefully this can get you started off.

[NolenJHeju]

I'm not entirely sure, but the DnB scene is particularly large in the UK, especially the Bristol area. The underground scene has been huge ever since the early 90's. The genre has evolved into many different sub-genres: drumfunk, dark core, and many more. But do remember to differentiate DnB from jungle. As similar as they sound, the production process is very differentiated.

Here are some classic tracks that you should check out. I think the list is quite accurate.

My link

As far as research goes, I really doubt it would be a problem starting off with just some brief reading off Wikipedia, then broadening your sources from thereon.

Hopefully this can get you started off.

Thank you so much! This is what I was looking for.

Heh, would it be bad that I can't provide sheet music for either of these genres?

[flamicecream]

You can find a lot of African drumming recordings here. It's ok that you don't have a score for your pieces but I hear they do like it when you notate part of the music in your paper. My recommendation would be notating part of the piece by ear into Finale or Sibelius and pasting it into your paper.

Hope this helps! I'm guessing you're a percussionist, I am too

Edited February 8, 2011 by flamicecream

[NolenJHeju]

Thank you for the recordings, flamicecream!

So I showed my IB Music teacher Pendulum's Girl in the Fire of what DnB can sound like. Not sure if she actually enjoyed it, but she said it was a great genre for its complexity, and could "write a good part of the paper for itself."

It turns out that she wants me to do something more classical for the second genre, which is probably better because it'll be easier to find scores.

I'm currently at school creating a musical analysis of DnB in general, which will help us find a second genre for comparison. I'm also researching its history.

So I guess I'll keep you guys updated on my progress.

Thanks, everyone that helped! This is a really great community, and I hope to participate for the remainder of my IB candidacy.

[NolenJHeju]

Hiya. I just wanted to keep updates, and ask a question.

I've been analyzing Pendulum's "Girl in the Fire" and "Midnight Runner", and have chosen Steve Reich's minimalist piece "Six Pianos" for comparison. Basically I will be comparing Steve Reich's approach on minimalism to Pendulum's approach on drum and bass music.

For the media script format I have chosen to do a website layout. Hopefully with my limited knowledge of HTML I can come up with something presentable and simple.

My teacher'll be asking for this from me in two days. I've got things under control, so no need for help there.

My teacher does have one concern, however: Apparently the IBO does not want any digital copies of ANYTHING, including music, sent to them. Is this true? If so, should I include a URL to direct them to, or perhaps a printed copy of each page of my website (when the time comes, that is)?

Edited February 27, 2011 by NolenJHeju

[Yasmin16]

Hiya. I just wanted to keep updates, and ask a question.

I've been analyzing Pendulum's "Girl in the Fire" and "Midnight Runner", and have chosen Steve Reich's minimalist piece "Six Pianos" for comparison. Basically I will be comparing Steve Reich's approach on minimalism to Pendulum's approach on drum and bass music.

For the media script format I have chosen to do a website layout. Hopefully with my limited knowledge of HTML I can come up with something presentable and simple.

My teacher'll be asking for this from me in two days. I've got things under control, so no need for help there.

My teacher does have one concern, however: Apparently the IBO does not want any digital copies of ANYTHING, including music, sent to them. Is this true? If so, should I include a URL to direct them to, or perhaps a printed copy of each page of my website (when the time comes, that is)?

Hi,

I have just started the IB this year so I'm just beginning to think of topics to do for the MI, and your choices sound really interesting to analyse wish I could come up with something that imaginative... In terms of the website, I would say give them a printed copy, because I know that people from previous years at my school did Powerpoint presentations and were required to print them out. Not 100% sure though so I would check with your teacher Good luck!