Different from the law in the UK, places in the Middle East such as Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan etc don’t have the freedom the people in the UK have. The level of censorship in these countries are very high, for example, they can’t play western music or listen to it but there are some people in Iran that listen to it anyway but it needs to be in their private cars, or if they have copied tapes or Cd’s or through the Internet but they need to hack to have access to it.
In Iran they have their own Internet, and they don’t have access to search for anything or access social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, and some other social media like we do and they even have their own websites where they can check their emails and also websites like YouTube where allow them to watch videos. Because of that, they don’t really know what is going on in the outside world
The reason why they don’t have that freedom is because the government running religious law. They are the ones who controls how their Internet and websites are and what use on it or not, and everything needs to be about Iran.
Like I’ve mention before, if they want to have the same access we have to the normal version of the websites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc they need to hack, but if they get caught hacking to check those websites they will be sent straight to jail with no trial. It wasn't always like this in Iran. Before the revolution in 1979, the Iranian people had the freedom we have for anything, to listen to any style of music at anytime and anywhere, they have the same access to the normal websites as we do. They could do all of that without worrying about the government or being sent to jail for doing stuff like this. The Censorship is not all about what websites they can access and what they can watch or not, music in general is very effected in Iran. And all begun after the Revolution because since then Western music has been banned in Iran. Again, for them to have access to Western music they will have to hack into the Internet so they can download the album of the artist they like otherwise they won't know any music out there except from Elton John or Queen and that's because of the Iranian strict law on censorship. Because the government runs religious laws, the only style of music allowed to be played around Iran at any time and anywhere is religious music. While the level of Censorship in Iran is very high, not allowing them to watch what they want, or to listen to the music they want, in the UK we are freely allowed to do anything. On the Internet you have access to any website to listen to music, to watch movies, to have social media to communicate with other, or to websites to know what is going on around the world. With music we can do anything, we can download the songs or albums you want from the Internet and will take us about 5 minutes, we don't to hack. If we want to play music with friends you can get your instruments and play in your house, in the park, in your garage and you won't be sent to jail doing that. You don't need to be listening to religious music if you don't like, nothing will happen to you. if you want to buy any instrument, then you just need to go to any music shop in the UK and buy the instruments you want but in Iran is not like that, there are no places where you can find instruments such as guitars, bass, drums, pianos, keyboards etc for sale.
In the original song there’s the solo female singing the melody, the band repeat the chorus twice in the beginning after the intro and the female singer sings the first part by herself and they the choir joins doing some add libs in the verse. In the verse the Choir also join her but singing ‘Ahh’s’.
Different from the original version, in the arrangement there are no lead singers. Everyone is singing the same thing but there are two part harmonies, the females voices are doing the soprano and the males are doing the tenor.
The instrumentation has also changed in the arrangement,. The original version there are horns, drums, piano, acoustic guitar, and violin and on the second one they've taken the horns, the violin, and the acoustic guitar out but they kept the piano, the drums and instead of the acoustic guitar and they used an Electric one and also added bass to it.
Because there's no horns on the arrangement, the piano is doing the melody the horns were doing in the original piece.
Whitney Houston - The Greatest Love Of All
The new arrangement on the score shows that the song was specially made for people who are beginners on the Piano/Keyboard player. It will be easy for beginners to play this new arrangement because with the left hand all you will be playing are two notes only and sometimes just one, you won't be playing the full chord three or four notes and with the right hand you will be playing the melody of the song.
We Three Kings (Arrangements):
Ella Fitzgerald - We Three Kings (Of Orient) 1967
This version ‘We Three King’ covered by Ella Fitzgerald is in the style of Jazz in 3/4. Different from the others, this version is shorter and slower, it only has Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus which is the ABAB structure.
In this version you get that Christmas feel, and that is caused by the way the lead female singer is singing the song with the backing vocals which are the choir and what they are doing is singing ‘Ahh’s’ and ‘Ohh’s’ in the verse and then in the chorus they sing the same thing the lead female singer is singing but then they go back to the ‘Ahh’s’ and ‘Ohh’s’. The choir is also adding some harmonies so it makes the chorus stronger. The Christmas feel you get is because in some parts of the verses and chorus the background singers sing louder and that's because Christmas songs are usually sung by a group of people (Choir) when it's Christmas time
The instruments in this cover are: Harp, Piano, Vocals and Bass. there are some use of seventh chords in this song which make it sound Jazzy because usually in Jazz songs you get these chords, there are also some use of diminished chords. By listening to this version you can tell the style of the piano playing is Jazz, again because of the chords the pianist is using and because of the way he/she is playing to suit the way the singer is singing. What also helps the song to sound more christmassy is the harp in the intro opening the song with the piano and then in the end of the verses and really quiet in the chorus, it gives you that angelic/saintly feel.
Kamelot - We Three Kings
This version covered by Kamelot is in the style of rock. Different from the other arrangements, this version of 'WeeThree Kings' has no vocals in the whole song, the guitar solos are the main melody.
The instruments being used in this cover are: two Electric guitar, one is doing the main melody and the other one is adding harmonies, Drum kit, and some strings and an acoustic guitar in the outro. For being the loudest and the one doing the whole melody, the Electric guitars is the main instruments in this arrangement. The rock feel of this song is cause by the Electric guitars and the effect they've chosen in the amps their using.
After the break down, you can hear in the background the Choir singing 'Ahh's'.
We Three Kings Of Orient (Sacred Rendition)
This rendition of ‘We Three Kings’ is a bit similar to the original, slow tempo and it has that more church like style of music. Different from the other versions, this version does not have a lead singer, the only thing it has singing the lyrics of the song is male group choir singing the voice type Tenor and Bass. This version has also a christmas feel because of the way the choir is singing and because of the way all the instruments are being played. The instruments in this version are: The organ, a triangle and some percussion which fits the song.
This version is more focused on the vocals, that’s why the arranger kept the instruments simple and not playing to loud, so it could focused more on the vocals. Usually is church songs, the choir follows the organ which the same thing happened in this version, the organ is leading the male group choir.
This version is much longer than the others and the reason why is because of the tempo of the song because this version is slower than the others, and that’s why it is longer.
Music Technology In Performance (Keytar/Syntar) History
Circa 1980 (Syntar)
The first Keytar or ‘Syntar’ (That was the first name given to it) was invented in the 70s called ‘Circa 1980 Syntar’ but the first appearance of it was in a magazine called 'Illianabeat Magazine' after being mentioned to the public through an interview. The very first Keytar for sale in the market was in the 80s by a company called 'Moog Company' and it was called 'The Moog Liberation’.
Moog Liberation (1980)
People still don't know who the inventor of the Keytar/Syntar was, but there was man named Steven Masakowski and he was the one who got the credit for it even though he claims he didn't invent it.
The Keytar is an Electronic Keyboard with or without a build-in synthesiser in it. It has several different voices/sounds in it such as strings, brass and distinctive electronic leads, you can also program your Keytar to sound like an Electric guitars.
The Keytar can also be used as a MIDI Controller to send MIDI sounds to the computer.
The person using a Keytar for their performance can strap it around their body or just put it on top of a keyboard stand.
There were similar instruments in the 70s but they weren't considered as Keytar because they didn't have the neck like a guitar where you can add effect while playing, but you could put a strap on it and wear around the neck.
The only manufacturer that still make the Keytars now is 'Roland' but before after it being invented it was Yamaha, Moog, Roland, and Casio.
Keytar In Performance
One of the first band to show to the public how the keytar sounds like in a performance was the band called 'Devo'. There is another band called 'Frank Goes To Hollywood' and there one of their songs where they use the Keytar sound a lot, and the name of the track is 'Relax'.
One the best Keytarist known is a man called Herbie Hancock who was really famous in the 80s and his song called 'Chameleon' is one of the best examples of Keytar playing because in the song he really shows off his Keytar skills and what he can do on it. There are also other famous solo artist such as Howard Jones, Prince, and Weird Al Yankovi who started using the Keytar on their performance and that helped the instrument to get more popularity. From all this artist I mentioned Prince is the only on who designed his own called Purpleaxxe
Prince's own designed Keytar (Purpleaxxe)
The only problem people had in the 80s with the Keytar, was its weight and that was one of the reasons why most of the artists and bands stopped playing the Keytar after the 80s. Artist like James brown had the same problem with the Keytar because of its weight, in one of his performances he had to cut the song shorter because his back was hurting too much. Other artist like Rick Wakeman were sent to the hospital after a performance because of the heavy weight of his Keytar.
from 90s-2000s people kind stopped playing the keytar but 7-8 years later the Keytar made a serious comeback in the music industry, with new designs, less heavy and more modern it started being more played not only in Electronic music but also in other genres such as Pop/R&B, Hip Hop, and Funk. Even Snoop Dogg played the keytar himself in one of his music videos in November, 2007 called 'Sexual Seduction'.
This is just one of Gaga's custom made Keytar, she has many other one with different looks.
Matthew Bellamy playing his custom Keytar in one of his concerts. The Neck of his Keytar actually looks like a normal Guitar.
Modern artist such as Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Will.i.am, Justin Timberlake have played the Keytar while performing and some of them has their own custom made Keytar such as Matthew Bellamy and Lady Gaga.
Moog Liberation (1980)
Throughout the years the Keytar has involved a lot since the creation of the first one which was the 'Moog Liberation' in 1980.
Alesis Vortex (2012-2013)
Since the first one, there are about forty-six Keytar invented and each of the has some different in it, some of their own build in sound and there are some without it which are used to control other synthesisers or sound expanders, vis digital signal which we call it the MIDI Controller/USB or analog signal.
The latest Keytar released is the Alesis Vortex made by Roland
In the video down bellow shows all the Keytar and how different some of them look, the different styles and also their name and where they are from.
To record myself with a video camera playing one or more of my original songs or covers and upload them onto my youtube page. I want to get all the recording done after Christmas or before that if possible.
I will also make an EP with some original and covers songs. All the recording of the songs and the instruments will be done by the end of the term.
You need to be careful when doing a performance of an hour set, and what I mean by being careful is because of the songs you are going to have in your set. Is very important when choosing the songs for your set because they need to be songs with different tempos, different genres and varieties or if most of them are the same genre, make them sound different. When choosing the songs make sure they are songs you know and songs you enjoy playing. 1. BGryff - Caged Bird (5:00) - A Capella
I've chosen this song to be the first one because it is an original song composed by me and a friend and because I know the song very well. I am guitar player but this is the first song I learnt on the piano. For this song I wouldn't use a full band, a backing track or a accompanist because it is a piano song and having all this, I wouldn't have the audience attention on me, so I would definitely do an A Capella performance.
For being the first full song I know how to play on the piano, 'Caged bird' is the best song choice for me to show off my piano skills, because there is a lot going on the piano, specially if I am doing an A Capella performance because I would have to play the chords and also make the piano sing the melody of the song as I don't have a accompanist with me because this would make the audience focus on the singer and not on the piano.
Caged Bird is about 5 minutes.
2. Bon Jovi - Living On A Prayer (4:10) - Backing Track
For my second performance I would perform on the electric guitar 'Living On a Prayer'. For being my favourite 80s song, 'Livin' On A Prayer' would be the best song to show off my guitar skills because there's so much going on in this piece, specially with the guitar because there is the picking solo in the begging, then the use of power chords in the verses and then when comes to the middle 8 of this piece there's a guitar solo. Different from the first track, in this song I would use a backing track because like I said there's so much going on in this piece that if I decided to do an A Capella or have a accompanist would sound boring, special because it is a rock song. Everybody knows this songs so it is impossible to listen to it and not enjoy it.
Living on a prayer is 4 minutes and 10 seconds.
3. Dar Williams - I Want You Here With Me (3:20) - Backing Track
For my third performance I decided to perform of one my friend's song, and that is because this is the only song from my list where there's no strumming going on on the guitar and the reason why is because there's so much going on already with the other instruments (synthesizer, the keytar and the drums kit) so I will be doing something to show off my guitar skills and I will be using a backing track for this song. To understand the song and know what to do on stage so I can perform it with confidence, was to just listen to it and create some melodic passages, some improvisations on the guitar. This piece is different from the other songs because this is a electronic song, fast tempo and performing it would be good and that's because I would get people's attention with the improvisation on the guitar through the whole song.
I want you here with me is about 3 minutes and 20 seconds.
This is another original song composed by me and a friend and it is another piece where I will be playing the piano. For this song I will be using a backing track which contains electric guitar, drums kit, bass guitar. This is not a piano song but on my performance I will be playing piano and that's because the piano is the main instrument in this piece. Different from the other songs 'Heart Attack' is an Pop Ballad song. Because I will be using a backing track, I will make sure people are focused on me and on the piano because I can't just play the chords of the song, I will also make the piano sing the melody of the song and also do some improvisations to show off my piano skills.
Heart attack is about 4 minutes. 5. One Republic - Counting Starts (4:43) - Backing Track
For my fifth performance I've chosen to play 'Counting starts' and the reason why is because this song is fun specially if I'm using a backing track which will contain electric guitar, synthesizer drums kit and bass guitar and that's because of the fast tempo of it and the good feeling when listening to it. Songs like this definitely entertain people. The beginning of the song starts with the chorus in a slow tempo but then after few seconds comes the intro but in the original tempo of the piece. As a rhythm guitarist, pop rock songs are my favourites and for being my favourite genre it makes me feel comfortable on stage when playing then, specially this one with the easy chords it gives me space in between to show off my guitar skills. Counting starts is 4 minutes and 44 seconds. 6. Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River (4:51) - Accompanist
Because I've performed 'Cry Me A River' before but in a band, being confident on stage, learning the structure and the chords for this song wouldn't be a problem because I know all the major, minor and seventh chords of it and for knowing the song very well, it gives space to add some more picking/plucking to give more effect to the piece, for example, using different sounds on the amp or using a looper effect pedals on the guitar. For this song I will be having an accompanist playing the piano for me. Something I will be doing on this performance is to make the guitar sing the melody of the verse or the chorus so I wouldn't just be playing chords and I would have people focused on me and entertained with what I am doing. This is song is different from the others because it is the only song from my list where I am playing seventh chords. Cry me a river is 4 minutes and 51 seconds. 7. Nickelback - Someday (3:27) - Backing track or accompanist
For my seventh performance I will be playing 'Someday' by Nickelback. That is a lot gong on in this piece with the instruments because it has electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drums kit and the vocals. For this song would use a backing track which will have to contain the same instruments from the original piece or I could also instead of using a backing track I would have a accompanist, and I would probably do an acoustic version of it using a piano and a acoustic guitar. For either options I would use a acoustic guitar, if I am playing it with a accompanist the while the piano is playing the chords of the song I would make the guitar sing the melody of it and for the backing tracking, I would have to use an amplifier and in some parts of the song I would change the sound of the acoustic guitar, for example in the beginning of the song which is the verse I would use an clean sound on the guitar, and when it's the chorus and the middle 8 of the song I would use a rocky sound on it. Because it is a rock song and because I like the song, I can't just be standing on stage I need to show the audience how much I enjoy the song. This piece is 3 minutes and 27 seconds.
8. Roxette - Listen To Your Heart (4:44) - Accompanist
For the next performance I will be playing on the guitar and singing 'Listen to your heart' with a accompanist on the piano. In this piece, the vocals and the piano are the main instruments, I will be playing the guitar just to give some support to me and to the piano by just playing the bass chords the piano is playing. Because this is the first song from my set where I will be singing I need to make sure my voice is ready for it, doing some warm ups before the performance and making sure I don't forget what key the song is in are helpful. This song is 4 minutes and 44 seconds.
9. Bonnie McKee - American Girl (4:00) - Accompanist/Vocals
For the next performance I will be doing an acoustic version of 'American Girl' and again I will be playing the acoustic guitar but I would also have two accompanists, one playing the piano and another one singing the song with me. This song is different from the others because people wouldn't just be focused on the instrumentation, they would be focused on the vocals too. Because it is my performance I will be singing most of the song and I will also doing a guitar solo after the middle 8 before coming back into the final chorus. The acoustic version of American girl with the guitar solo will about 4 minutes.
10. Nickelback - Photograph (4:22) - Accompanist
For my next performance I will be doing Photograph by Nickelback which is another alternative rock song by them. For this song I will be using an Accompanist playing the piano for me and I will be playing the acoustic guitar so I will be the an acoustic version of this song changing the arranging of it, using the the chords and key of the song but changing the tempo of it to a slower version. This is another song by Nickelback which is very popular so people are familiar with it and because the song played many times on the radio and other places people know the song, so having the people's attention won't be a problem. This is another song from my set list where I will just have the piano there to give me support because I will doing a lot on the acoustic guitar, for example, using the amplifier to give some effect to the song on the chorus and with the clean sound I will be playing the melody of the song because the use of the accompanist will be just to play the bass chords and to give me support.
this song is 4 minutes and 22 seconds.
11. Zedd - Clarity (5:00) - Accompanist
Different from the original version on this song I will be doing an acoustic version of it, having me on the acoustic guitar and singing and having another guitarist but on the electric guitar and someone to play the piano for me. The idea of having another guitar which is the electric, is just to play the same chords the piano will be playing in the chorus just to give more power when playing the chorus because there will be the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the piano and vocal.
Because I will be singing the song, I will have the audience's attention on me and also in the end of the song there is going to be a guitar solo, while the piano and the electric guitar is just playing the chords I will be doing some improvisation on the acoustic guitar to show off my guitar skills.
The acoustic version will be around 5 minutes.
12. Nickelback - Savin' Me (3:39)
13.The Calling - Wherever You Will go (3:27)
Because this two songs are very similar but in different genres, I will be doing an A Capella performance, just me and the guitar supporting each other. The intro of both songs has the guitar picking in the beginning so after doing that, for the verse and chorus of the songs I will just be making the guitar singing the melody of the songs. Because the chords are not hard, I can do some improvisations in the middle 8 instead of just playing the simple chords.
I know both songs very well, the chords, the structure and I know what I will be doing. The are great songs to show off my guitar skills, because the chords are not hard so doing some improvisations wouldn't be a problem.
Because I will be doing some improvisations change the song a bit, they would be around 3 minutes and 50 seconds for 'Savin Me' and 3 minutes 40/50 minutes for 'Wherever you will go'.
I'd like to do a sunset photoshoot like the pictures below where there are trees, with a cloudy sky or something like that and the reason why is because I think it suits my music and my style and because it looks really nice, specially if It's taken with a high quality camera and a good photographer. But I'd have a acoustic guitar with me to show that my main instrument is the acoustic guitar.
