CAMS 231 Major Essay Elysse Turner – 4503235 Daft Punk – Pentatonix

Elysse Turner CAMS231 4503235

Pentatonix, a five piece a cappella band, have been tearing up the charts recently, redefining a genre, which is often overlooked in the music industry. They have faced hurdles because of their genre throughout their career, but their goal remains consistent: "to break through the a cappella connotation that people have of it. We want to make it a mainstream thing." (Hoying in Parker 2015) And through their adaptions on the genre as well as shows like NBC's The Sing Off (2009), Fox's Glee (2009), and movies such as Pitch Perfect (2012), it is clear a cappella is making a breakthrough to the masses. This essay will look at the unique sound of Pentatonix, through the analysis of their Medley Daft Punk (2013), focusing on the techniques they use to incorporate the musical styles of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) into their a cappella sounds.

A Cappella has its roots in the church, "it is Italian for 'in the style of the church', and that refers to music for unaccompanied voices" (Harding and Sloan 2015). Stemming back to the middle ages with gregorian chants, where the musical styles usually consisted of unaccompanied, modal, monophonic singing. This style was then developed into organum, which consisted of polyphonic melodies, often moving in parallel, a perfect 4th or 5th apart, or later on in the period, moving in contrary motion. However, the golden age of a cappella was not in the middle ages, but in the renaissance era, as music moved away from being used as just a form of religious worship, and started to become more of an art form. As a result of this shift in audience, madrigals were developed - secular vocal music, which was often sung a cappella, or without instruments, by a small group of singers. Harmony was also developed, favouring 3rds and 6ths, moving away from the 5ths previously used, yet it still sought to allow equal attention to each part. Though the baroque period is not known for a cappella, it did bring about a change in structure for choral pieces. Instead of giving equal attention to each part, it instead allowed the highest and lowest registers to become more prominent and stand out, reflecting our modern structures for pop songs, where the lead singer is often the highest voice. (Narushima 2014). A Cappella music experienced a resurgence in the 20th century through barbershop quartets. These groups typically had 4 people of the same gender with 3 of the voices harmonising to the fourth voice, which carried the melody. These groups worked with close harmonies and utilised tempo variation, dynamics, diction, colour and phrasing to create interest within their performances. (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2015) This style was often

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very improvised, however there were a few key elements which set barbershop apart from other a cappella waves. It generally followed a homophonic pattern, with groups singing the same words at the same time in harmony, while the melody was in the second highest voice, sung by the lead. The vocal parts, from highest to lowest were tenor, lead, baritone, and then bass. Barbershop also has a unique tuning which creates a sharper sound, this is because the "the goal in barbershop is to create what are called overtones, which are when you lock into a chord, […] to create a high pitched ring, and that is seen as the goal of barbershop, to create as many of those overtones as possible" (Roose in Harding and Sloan 2015). These overtones, sometimes referred to as 'the angels notes' create the illusion of a 5th singer in the group as it produces the sound of an extra note. (Harding and Sloan 2015) A Cappella Music in the 21st century is experiencing another rise in popularity, featuring in Hollywood, prime time television, the Grammys and within colleges. Internet culture, surrounding YouTube in particular has helped create this new interest in a cappella, with a large range of covers being uploaded in this style. The benefit of this platform allows users to become an a cappella group with no other people. The style of a cappella has also progressed since the barbershop wave, introducing more complex harmonies, polyphonic melodies, and beatboxing. Furthermore, a cappella music today attempts to emulate instrumental sounds, to create interest within the style. This new approach to a cappella music is creating a whole new market for the music industry. It is moving away from a college-based hobby, towards a professionalised industry. "A Cappella has really come full circle, it was the most popular music half a millennia ago with gregorian chant, and then the composers became more ambitious and started putting in instrumentation, and now we're back to where we came from." (Harding and Sloan 2015)

Pentatonix or PTX as fans call them, is a modern day a cappella quintet who have risen to success since winning NBC's 3rd season of The Sing Off in 2011. Through YouTube, they were able to maintain their rise to fame by posting covers to popular songs and originals, gathering a worldwide audience for their artistic style. Their channel PTXofficial is currently ranked at #42 for subscribers with over eight million, and has amassed over 944 million views across all their videos (SocialBlade 2015). Since 2011, they have released three mainstream albums and two Christmas albums, as well as making a cameo appearance in Pitch Perfect 2 (2015). They have toured the United

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States, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and South East Asia, and have been nominated for a variety of music awards — the Grammys, Billboard Music Awards, YouTube Music Awards, Shorty Awards, and Streamy Awards — as well as presenting at the American Music Awards. The group consists of Scott Hoying, Baritone; Mitch Grassi, Tenor/Counter Tenor/Alto; Kirstin Malando, Alto/Mezzo Soprano; Avi Kaplin, Baritone/Bass; and Kevin Olusola, Beatboxer/High Tenor. The song I am analysing simply titled Daft Punk (2013) is their highest achieving arrangement, with over 135 million views on YouTube and winning a Grammy for 'Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella' in 2015. The piece is a medley of 8 different songs from the band Daft Punk including Around the World (1997), Television Rules the Nation (2000), One More Time (2000), Harder Better Faster Stronger (2001) Digital Love (2001), Technologic (2005), and Get Lucky (2013).

When composing this piece, the group first established the songs they wished to include by choosing from their own favourites and narrowing it down by looking at the most recognisable pieces from Daft Punk. From there they created a structure, which would allow the songs to flow from one to another easily. After the order had been established, keys were chosen to suit the lead carrying the melody for each section, and transitions were incorporated to make these changes seamless. From here, the process included filling up the sound with techniques to make it sound larger than just five vocalists and tweaking areas to make them more complex, for a true reflection of dance music. (Grassi 2015)

SECTION TIME BAR SONG EXCERPT A (Intro) 0.00 1 Technologic B 0.28 17 One More Time C 0.40 25 Get Lucky D 1.32 52 Digital Love B' 2.07 72 One More Time E 2.22 80 Harder Better Faster Stronger F 2.51 96 Television Rules the Nation B'' 3.06 104 One More Time C' 3.33 120 Get Lucky G (Coda) 3.49 128 Get Lucky, Around the World, One More Time, Harder Better Faster Stronger

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The song starts off with a 4/4 rhythm and in the key of D major, however this changes twice - to A major in bar 24, and back to D major again in bar 52. Mitch begins the song, creating a monophonic texture, until Scott joins him 4 seconds in, creating a homophonic texture which lasts until the end of section A. Fig. 1: Section A, Bars 1-3

Sections B, B', B'', F, and G introduce a Polyphonic texture into the mix, while sections C, D, E, C' returns to the homophonic texture. Fig. 2: Section F, Bars 99-102

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Fig. 3: Section C, Bars 50-51

Section E, utilises a monophonic texture through stagger entry from each vocalist, resulting in one voice at a time up until bar 88 where it breaks up into a polyphonic sound. Fig. 4: Section E, Bars 81-83

The dynamics for the piece remain fairly constant, with the most significant volume changes occurring either on singular notes to emphasise the sound or in the vocal percussion line. Since the melody line of the piece is split across 4 different vocalists with different natural ranges, the melodic range

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covered in the piece is quite wide, from the lowest note being B1 to the highest note of A5. Fig. 5: Daft Punk Melodic Range

Pentatonix is able to incorporate EDM like sounds into their piece by emulating the styles of that particular genre. Their voices in a sense become synthesisers for the stylistic attributes, which identify EDM and pop, using this to create the illusion sounds, which appear to be manufactured or edited. Avi believed that this was one of the most difficult songs because of this, "having to sound all like all those different [elements] and just with our voices." (Kaplan in Yogaku Express 2015) There are a number of ways, which they do this, but their primary techniques are through the tight harmonies, rhythm, and the use of tone colour for their voices which changes throughout. Mitch credits the digital sound of the group to the "polyphonic and very quick moving [parts]" (Grassi in Yogaku Express 2015). Section A draws upon emphasis of annunciation and the monotonous almost drone like effect of sticking to the same note for a period of time to create a very electronic sound. For the first 8 bars, each two quaver note phrase is also emphasised through the use of tenutos on each beat. Fig. 6: Section A, Bars 4-6

Section B creates a staggered sound that almost appears to be similar to a CD that is having technical difficulties, by having each note last for 1 and a half beats, and the voices dipping on the notes.

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Fig. 7: Section B, Bars 16-19

Syncopation between the harmonies/bass/vocal percussion create the illusion of a more instruments/singers, helping to emulate the busyness of EDM music, and this is something which Avi and Kevin work on often, with one emphasising the front side of the beat while the other emphasises the back side. This allows for tighter and more specific beats and sometimes even counter rhythms to occur. The sweeping whoosh which, sung in a tumbling contour shape, before a continuous descending, is used often in Daft Punk is also a key element which ties this song within an EDM style. Fig. 8: Section B’’, Bars 103-109

This sound, often created by Kevin, but sometimes also doubled up on by Avi to create a layered effect results in a sound that seems otherworldly and synthesised. Offset rhythms, which can be heard most notably in section F, are also utilised in the piece, which is the most difficult part for Kevin in the piece, particularly in live performances. "It just gets faster and faster, but making sure that I'm continuously in time the whole time." (Olusa in Yogaku Express 2015)

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Fig. 9: Section F, Bars 95-98

For section E, the electronic sound is achieved through crisp, disjunct melody lines. This is achieved by having each vocalist sing within a particular range while the others pick up another range. Scott commented with "That part is the hardest just because you have to stay focused for when your moment comes. You have one second to sing it, [before you wait another five seconds to sing again]" (Hoying in Yogaku Express 2015) Kirstin however wasn't able to sit in a smaller range as comfortably as the other vocalists, and so she comments that this was the hardest part for her as it "goes back and for the between the lowest and highest parts of [her] range" (Malando in Yogaku Express 2015). This dramatic shift in range allows for an instantly memorable section, as most pop songs tend to stay within a one octave range (Continuum Encyclopaedia 2003) Fig. 10: Section E, Bars 80-83

"We've found that tight three-part harmonies make the track seem a lot fuller. Amping up the low end of the bass and capturing all the discrepancies of the percussive elements really helped, too." (Grassi 2015) And this full effect is needed to truly capture the styles of EDM to allow for drops, as seen at the start of section E and B'' Fig. 11: Section E, Bars 92-94

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Fig. 12: Section B’’, Bars 103-106

The raw talent of these a cappella virtuosos however doesn't mean they don't use editing techniques for the piece. It is no secret that the group use reverb to create a fuller sound for the bass and vocal percussion, particularly when overtones are being used in the song as it allows them to be picked up more. In addition to this, the vocals would have been recorded in a dry acoustic setting with close microphones to allow for a clear sound. Furthermore, there is no evidence of the sound of breathing within this production of their piece, and it can be assumed that their breaths have been edited out as well. For the most part however, the group try to create an honest vocal sound which is "raw organic sound" (Hoying in Greenburg 2015) "While Pentatonix does have really good mixing and mastering, their mastery comes much more from the sounds they can actually create with their voice" (Harding and Sloan 2015). For a piece of art which was "recorded in a bedroom closed [and] filmed in the kitchen" (Hoying in Greenburg 2015) it just goes to show how talented this group is. Their ability to emulate other instruments is shaping a new style of a cappella which is starting to reach mainstream media. The success behind Daft Punk has come about because of their ability to incorporate different musical genres and styles into their own a cappella mould, blending modern trends associated with EDM and pop to create an a cappella super song.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Continuum Encyclopaedia 2004, 'Melody', in Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Volume II: Performance and Production, J Shepard, D Horn, D Laing, P Oliver, P Wicke (eds.), vol.11, Continuum, London.

Encyclopaedia Britannica 2015, Barbershop Quartet Singing, Encyclopaedia Britannica, viewed 10 May 2015,

Grassi 2015, The Making of Pentatonix's "Daft Punk", Grammy.com, viewed 18 May 2015

Greenburg 2015, Pentatonnix Wins First Grammy in Watershed Moment for A Cappella, Forbes, viewed 15 May 2015

Harding, C and Sloan, N 2015, 09 A Cappella Dreams, Podcast, Switched On Pop, iTunes, viewed 10 May 2015

Narushima, T 2014, Week 2: Music of the Middle Ages, CAMS232 Critical Studies in Music 2, University of Wollongong

Narushima, T 2014, Week 3: Music of the Renaissance, CAMS232 Critical Studies in Music 2, University of Wollongong

Narushima, T 2014, Week 4: Music of the Baroque Period, CAMS232 Critical Studies in Music 2, University of Wollongong

Parker, L 2015, Pentatonix on their Pitch Perfect, Platinum Career, Yahoo! Music: Live Nation, viewed 15 May 2015

SocialBlade 2015, Top 100 YouTubers by Subscribed, SocialBlade, viewed 11 May 2015,

Yogaku Express 2015, Pick Up: Pentatonix, Interview, Yogaku Express, MTV, viewed 13 May 2015

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IMAGE REFERENCES

Fig.1-4; 6-12 Pentatonix and Landig, J 2014, Daft Punk, Universal Music Publishing Group.

Fig.5 Thomas, R 2009, Octave Registers, image, viewed 20 May 2015, < http://micrologus.retmusic.com/tag/octave/>

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