Writing A Calypso

Cheki, Morena (Shake It) Cheki Morena is a Calypso written for a number of different instruments. Listen to the piece, follow the melody part below and see if you can find similarities between phrases 1, 2, 3, 4. What is the form of this piece? I V Phrase 1 V I Phrase2 I V Phrase 3 V I Phrase 4

Form of the Piece You have discovered phrases 1 and 3 use the same notes but the rhythms are slightly different. You have also discovered that phrases 2 and 4 use the same notes but the rhythms vary slightly. We say that the form of the piece is: a b a’ b’ Each of the musical phrases is four measures long. The entire piece is 16 measures long.

Adding Harmonies In listening to music you will notice that songs are often accompanied by a piano, guitar, steel pans, or even other vocalists. These accompaniments add chords to the music. When a piece is based on a major scale we say it is in the key of ….. This piece has one sharp in the key signature. A scale with one sharp is G major. Thus we say the piece is in the key of G major. In each major scale the most important chords are those that are built on the 1st, 4th, 5th notes of the scale

Primary Chords The chords built on the first, fourth, and fifth notes of the scale are often referred to as: 1st Tonic Chord I chord 4th Subdominant Chord IV chord 5th Dominant Chord V Chord ** Check out the next slide to see what these chords look like in the key of G major.

Primary chords in G major D G A B E F# G C D These are the notes which make up the chords.

Checking out the harmonies Check out the chords that are above the melody line in Roman Numerals. You will see the following pattern: I (GBD) I I V (DF#A) * * * * * * * * * * * * The notes that make up the chord are written in green beside the chord name (I or V). Check out how the notes of the melody for the most part are also found in the accompanying chord. The common notes are marked with the star. Notice that this piece only uses the tonic and dominant chords.

Composing A Calypso Piece Begin this assignment by writing the melody for the “A” phrase – use the same harmonic structure as Cheki Morena. Keep in mind that most of the melody notes must be common to the harmonizing chord.

Composing A Calypso Piece Follow the same procedure for the B phrase.. In Noteworthy you should now have eight measures of melody – phrase A and phrase B.

Bass Clef Notes You will need to know the bass clef notes to add the chordal accompaniment.

Adding Rhythmic Accompaniments Calypso Music uses syncopated rhythms. Here are some possibilities: Together the rhythm accompaniments might sound like this:

Finishing your composition You have already created two phrase A & B with their harmonic accompaniments. You may create different rhythms for the chordal accompaniments. Now add at least three rhythmic lines to the piece. Add lyrics to the A & B phrases. To complete the assignment write an additional A’ and B’ phrase which have a bit of a different rhythmic variation. See slide 2 for a model. Do not forget to add new lyrics, harmonic accompaniment, and three rhythmic lines to the two new phrases (A’ & B’)