GCSE

Music
OCR GCSE Unit B352
Log and Evaluation

Centre Number
Candidate
Number

46227

6071

Centre Name

Saint Aidans Church of England School

Candidate Name

Rebecca Holding

Area of Study..............................................
Initial intentions (this must include intended choice of resources):
For my B352 composition I am planning on doing an arrangement of 'Chop Suey' by System of a
Down in a musical theatre style. Furthermore, it will be in the style of a battle duet of two contrasting
characters. To do this I will slow down the tempo and use a more mellow timbre an. Through my voice
I will convey emotion with a range of dynamics - from soft to a belt. As well as this, I will also change
the bridge to make it more melodic, by developing the pre-existing melody. This will reflect the genre
further and give me a wider opportunity to tell the story. To make my arrangement more unique I want
to syncopate both the verse and the chorus together.

Log of process (including any support provided by the teacher, or technology)

Date
08/02/2016

09/02/2016

11/02/2016

Progress
Today, I finalised my key to a
major to make a more bouncy
feel that makes the audience full
of energy. I began by working
out the simple chords to the
verse and the chorus. Starting at
the beginning I kept these at the
same length and simple in the
hope to later on make my ideas
more complex and to thicken the
texture.
Today I added the base line to
the chorus which gave the more
melodic feel and link to the
original song.

Notes (including advice given/targets)

Next lesson, I need to make the chord
patterns more adventurous and try
different styles to produce different
timbres to the different contrasting
characters.
I also need to add instruments to do
this. At the moment, there isnt much of
a contrast so I need to change timbres
to complete a clearer divide.

Sort out some of the notes as they are

clashing with the chord pattern.

Make the drums more relatable so the

I felt that with the chords and
sections can smoothly fit together.
bass line it will still very dead
and had a very thin texture.
Without a beat, I also felt that the
strong tempo was last and that
the song kind of muddled

22/02/2016

23/02/2016

25/02/2016

29/02/206

01/03/2016

03/03/2016

07/03/2016

through and didnt have an exact

direction.
I stepput in the drums using the
snare as my main drum to show
a steady pace and to make it
quite calm to show the nicer
character. I had a larger drum
part with more percussion
instruments to layer the texture
to create a fuller sound that
would be quite intimidating to
the audience.
I reworked the drums to make
them a suitable timbre for the
purpose.
Today I recorded the vocals fro
my nicer character. I had a soft
timbre and kept the dynamics
quite low to suit it.
I recorded the verse and bridge
with more support, larger
dynamics and a rougher timbre.
I listened to my piece 5 times
over and made notes. I then
improved the texture by adding a
brass instrument as a trill.
I added several ornament to
keep the listener engaged. I also
slightly varied the sections so it
wasnt all repeated one after the
other.
I Changed effects on my vocal to
alter the timber and to make
them more synthetic like the rest
of my piece.
I linked the sections together is a
closer manner to ensure they
flow well.
I added crescendos and
diminuendos. I also finalised
instruments and ornaments. I
exported my finished piece after
polishing as well as possible.

Record vocals so that I can sort out how

the melody is going to go.
Record verse and bridge.

Import vocals and improve texture.

Improve texture timbre, bring all

together.

Add effects to vocals.

Try and move sections together in a
more smooth and coherent manner

Keep on going over arrangement to find

any contrasting notes and anyplace
where the texture can be thickened.
Play with dynamics.

Keep on checking over.

Evaluation of piece: