APPRAISAL

WHAT AREAS OF STUDY DID YOU CHOOSE AND

WHAT IS THE FOCUS OF YOUR COMPOSITION
WITHIN THE GIVEN STRAND?
I have chosen as the focus for my composition AoS1 (rhythm and metre), AoS5 (structure and form) and
AoS2 (harmony and tonality). The link to the strand of World Music is through a jazz-influenced piece for a
salsa band. I have tried to incorporate features from Cuban Salsa music into my piece.
Salsa music is a genre of music specific to Cuba, Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean, written to be
used as lively dance music. It uses simple harmony, based on repeated chord progressions, normally in a
minor key; call and response, sometimes in the vocal parts; and a clave rhythm with a 2/2 metre. The
instrumentation is similar to that of jazz music - a rhythm section, consisting of latin percussion, a drum
kit, a bass guitar, a piano and sometimes, a clean electric guitar; and horns, including trumpets, trombones
and possibly saxophones and a flute or piccolo.
I got my inspiration from artists popular in the Salsa and Jazz genres of music. One of the pieces I listened
to was Valio La Pena by Marc Anthony, and in particular, the rhythms and styles of the latin percussion,
the piano montuno pattern and the tumbao bass line. Other pieces I listened to include:
Joe Arroyo - Rebelion. I took inspiration from the unified syncopated instrumental stabs.
Kenny G - Salsa Kenny. The vocal melody in the second half of the chorus (b. 51 and b.82) of my piece is
inspired by Kenny Gs saxophone melody.
Fruko y sus Tesos - Frukos Bugaloo. I have taken inspiration from the 3-note ascending arpeggios in the
piano montuno pattern (rehearsal marks C, F and the Coda section).
The Roy Hargrove Quintet - Strasbourg St-Denis. I have tried to base my call and response instrumental
improvisation solos on the second half of this track, where instruments exchange short solo phrases with
others (I have a Coro-pregn section from rehearsal mark J until rehearsal mark M). This is a song I
recently played in my school jazz band.

WHAT IS THE FOCUS OF YOUR COMPOSITION

WITHIN THE GIVEN STRAND AND HOW DOES
THIS LINK?
The focuses for my composition are:

use of syncopation
use of added note chords (7th, 9th, 13th etc.)
call and response
Latin-American dance form (salsa)

from within the world music strand.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THESE AREAS OF STUDY

AND THE PARTICULAR FOCUS WITHIN THE
GIVEN STRAND?
I enjoy listening to jazz and big band swing music and I wanted to compose music in this style with Salsa
influences.
I chose these Areas of Studies because I play piano, guitar and bass guitar, and I am very experienced with
using added note chords, inversions and chord progressions; therefore, I chose AoS2. An example of where
I have used advanced chords and inversions is in my verse sections, and sections based on it (from bar 3
until rehearsal mark B, and rehearsal marks C, D, F, G and the coda). Here, the sequence is:

VERSE
Am7
F#m7(b5)

D7
Fmaj7

G13
E7

Cmaj7
Am

This is an advanced chord sequence comprised of many different added note chords.
I also play a lot of Jazz music, so I am confident with using advanced syncopated rhythms, which is why I
chose AoS1. I also play valved brass to a high standard, so I am confident with combining syncopation to fit
in with the tonality and chord progressions of the piece in the horn section melodies (monas), and it also
helps me to ensure that the horn section parts are idiomatic. I have used this device idiomatically in the
chorus section of my piece (rehearsal marks E and G). The syncopated rhythms as well as the pitch are
characteristic of a mona tune.
I chose structure and form (AoS5) because I occasionally listen to Cuban Salsa music and other latininfluenced music, so am familiar with the form. There is a lot of call and response in this sort of music. I
have a long call and response section at rehearsal marks K and L, where there are improvised solo
exchanges between instruments; getting shorter in length each repetition of mark K

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT COMPOSING YOUR

MUSIC AND HOW WAS THE FINAL RECORDING
ACHIEVED?
I started work on my composition by coming up with an 8-bar chord progression for my first section, which
is the verse. I ended up with:

VERSE (INITIAL IDEA)

Am
F#dim

Dn
F

G
E

C
Am

The first change I made to this was the second chord, Dm to a D major, then D7. I did this because I played
it wrong on the piano and it sounded better, despite the F#, which clashes with the A minor harmonic scale.
I added a dominant 7th because a D chord sounded like it needed a bit more. Next, I experimented with
added note chords. First, I simply added 7ths, either minor, dominant or major, depending on its degree of
the scale. Next, I tried to experiment with 9ths. The only chord it sounded right on was the G, so this
became a G9, and later a G13 after further experimentation on my guitar. I tried to create a break at the end

of the chord sequence but decided on putting it into my chord sequence itself instead, because it sounded
better than ending on a single Am chord. The notes of the break are G-G#-A.
Next, I went about setting a tempo in the region of 150-180 bpm, which is typical of salsa music; however I
found this too slow when I played my chords with a metronome, so I increased it to 208 bpm. I also had to
decide on a clave - the pulse of a salsa piece. I found many to choose from from my research. I used Cubase
and looped through my chord sequence, playing the different clave rhythms. I eventually decided to have a
2-3 clave:
I composed the other latin percussion parts based around this and on notes I made in class. I incorporated
the clave into rimshots on the snare drum.
After this, I created a piano montuna, using inversions, separated arpeggios, syncopation, parallel harmony
and auxiliary passing notes, all features which are common in piano montunas. Along with it, I created a
tumbao bass line. Instead of syncopating the notes by a crotchet beat, I syncopated by a quaver beat instead
because it just simply sounded better and more lively.
My next step was creating a break to accompany the one already in my piano part. I did this by creating a
drum fill on the drum kit inspired by a similar fill the drummer plays in a song in my school soul band; and
making my horn section and bass guitar play these three notes together in unison. I added an octave fill in
the bass guitar part; one which I commonly play.
I had to start working on my second section (chorus) next. I decided to have a jazz electric guitar playing
chords to accompany the section instead of a piano montuna. Again, composed an eight-bar chord
progression through experimentation. I also composed a complex picking pattern for it instead of playing
the chords, because that is too simple and sounded boring, and transcribing this on to Cubase as MIDI. This
also ensured that it is idiomatic.
This chord sequence was as follows:

CHORUS
Dm7
G7
Cmaj7
Fmaj7
Bdim
E7
Am7
Am7
The tone of the guitar was relatively soft. so I had to get rid of some percussion parts to ensure that you
could clearly hear the guitar.
I decided to work on my structure next. I decided to have the piano playing block chords at the beginning of
the piece, as a sort of introduction. The provisional structure was introduction-verse-verse-chorus-verseverse-chorus. I also decided that I would have a long instrumental section after the second chorus of the
piece, as is commonly found in Jazz music. I would incorporate the common Salsa feature of call and
response here.
To add variety, I next added a breakdown chorus. This was an extension onto my second chorus of another
half chorus, however without trombones and the bass guitar playing short notes slap and pop style. I also
got rid of the kit for the last two bars to ensure a smooth transition into the more minimalist solo section.
I heard a really nice syncopated stabbing chords feature in one of the first vocal verses in the song,
Rebelion by Joe Arroyo, where all the instruments play in unison together. I adapted it in my first verse.
Next, I added some instrumental solos on top of the verse backing chords. My first was an exchange
between the flute and the piano, where both played four bars each. My second was an eight bar piano
written improvisation.
After this, I started working on my long solo section. I started by adding clave rhythms, first clapped by the
vocalist, then played by the trumpet. This lasted four bars. Next I decided to have a repeated 16-bar section
ending with a break, each time with different instruments featured. I also decided to add the cowbell, then

the conga drums, then finally the guiro each time through. After these instrumental solos, I added a 16-bar
drum solo.
I made the finishing touches to my structure by adding a clapped count in, then I added two verse
introduction sections after the first, where the piano plays held chords. These two (the repetitions of
rehearsal mark A) had the horn section playing the top melodic line of the piano montuna. I added these
because going straight into the vocal verse from the held chord introduction sounded a bit abrupt.
Finally, I put the finishing touches on my backing track by sorting out little things like fills. The ending
chord is a G13(flat5), one that is typical of jazz music. (G is the dominant of the C major scale.
I wrote the vocal melody by listening to salsa pieces with melodies which I liked. One of these was Salsa
Kenny by Kenny G. I was inspired by, and took ideas from pieces such as this, and recorded them into my
track through a midi keyboard as a vocal guide track.
I recorded the vocals using a standard vocal recording microphone and a pop shield as I only had one
vocalist. I communicated the part to her by playing the vocal guide track and also gave her a copy of the
vocal sheet music and lyrics.

WHAT DIFFICULTIES DID YOU ENCOUNTER

DURING THE TASK AND HOW DID YOU
OVERCOME THEM?
Unfortunately, she sang some rhythms wrong, and due to time constraints, she could not redo them. I
rectified this by manually chopping up the audio and manually placing them in the correct place. I also
created artificial harmonies by copying a phrase and pitch shifting it. I used the audio features on Cubase to
do these things.
A big problem at the beginning of my composition was the sound of my percussion and piano parts. They
sounded too artificial and computerised. This was because I had manually drawn in the MIDI notes into
Cubase. I solved this by playing these parts through a MIDI keyboard.
Another problem was that originally, my piano montuna was not idiomatic, because there were sections
when the left and right hand crossed over each other. I solved this by playing it on a piano and noting down
and changing things which were physically unplayable.
The drum solo caused me problems because I am not a drummer and I cant compose or record a drum
solo. I solved this by scoring it as an improvised solo and copied some bars of YouTube videos.
In terms of mixing, a problem I had was that all the instruments were jumbled up together and it was
difficult to hear each instrument clearly, especially the latin percussion. I solved this by panning some
instruments, boosting certain frequencies on the EQ on certain instruments and changing levels on the
faders for each track.
Another mixing problem was that the audio kept clipping. I tried to solve this by taking faders down, but it
reduced the overall volume of the piece. I ended up using a compressor and limiter.
When recording, a problem was that there was a lot of noise in the vocal signal due to a dodgy lead picking
up mains hum. I solved this by using the noise remover on Audacity and adding a noise gate. There were
also slight intonation problems and the vocal recordings sounded muddy. I solved this problem my
mastering the vocals, for example, equalising and adding reverb, delay and a hint of autotune.

WHAT MAKES YOUR COMPOSITION

SUCCESSFUL IN RELATION TO THE AREAS OF
STUDY AND THE FOCUS IN THE GIVEN STRAND,
AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM? WHAT IS
THE RELATIONSHIP OF YOUR COMPOSITION TO
ITS CONTEXT?
KEY:
Intro verse sections - bars 3 - 27
Verse sections - Rehearsal marks C (+D.S.), F, Coda,
Choruses - E, H, I
Instrumental improvisation section - H - M

A OS 2
Parallel harmonies are used in the vocal lines, for example, at 0:41 and 0:46 (I will put bar numbers here).
They are a third apart, which is common in most 20th century western music, including Salsa.
There are parallel breaks in my piece at 0:20, 0:28, 0:34, 0:37, where all instruments play the same notes in
unison, but on different octaves. The octave apart harmonies gives the notes a more accentuated feel.
The chord sequence uses lots of different inversions with added note chords. These are common in Salsa
music, especially in the piano montuna. The chord sequence which the piano plays in the verse section is
the following, where the inversion is bracketed:
Am7(1) D7(3) G13(3) Cmaj7 F#m7b5(3) Fmaj7(3) E7 BREAK
The guitar plays the following chords in the chorus in whichever inversion is most convenient on the guitar:
Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Bdim E7 Am7 My piece is in A minor. This is characteristic of Salsa as it is a minor key.

A OS 5
The structure of my piece is an advanced verse and chorus form, which is commonly found in modern salsa
music. The structure is as follows:
Intro
Verse
Verse
Instrumental verse
Chorus
Verse
Instrumental verse
Chorus + breakdown
Coropregon
Verse
Verse
I have a coropregon section in my piece, where there are improvised instrumental solos. This is a Salsa
feature common is more traditional styles of Salsa.

I have used the feature of Call and Response in my piece a lot. In my first vocal verse at rehearsal mark B,
there is effectively call and response between the vocalist and the instrumentalists. There is also a lot of call
and response in my coropregon section between instruments.

A OS 1
Syncopation - complex
Polyrhythm in Latin percussion parts
Constant 208 bpm tempo
Clave
My piece reflects Salsa music because throughout the piece, the bass guitar plays a syncopated Tumbao bass
line, which ties notes across bar lines, incorporating the root and the dominant of each chord, ascending
and descending.
Tumbao bass
Montuna - harmonies, passing notes and arpeggios.
Latin percussion
Clave
Spanish vocals
Rhythmic - syncopation and polyrhythmic
Call and response
Instrumentation
Breaks