Belmont University Belmont Digital Repository Composition/Recording Projects School of Music Fall 11-20-2020 Exploring the Gospel Fusion Arrangements of The Recording Collective Tyler Williams [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.belmont.edu/music_comp Part of the Composition Commons, and the Musicology Commons Recommended Citation Williams, Tyler, "Exploring the Gospel Fusion Arrangements of The Recording Collective" (2020). Composition/Recording Projects. 2. https://repository.belmont.edu/music_comp/2 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Music at Belmont Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Composition/Recording Projects by an authorized administrator of Belmont Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EXPLORING THE GOSPEL FUSION ARRANGEMENTS OF THE RECORDING COLLECTIVE By TYLER WILLIAMS A PRODUCTION PAPER Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music in Commercial Music, Media Composition and Arranging in the School of Music of the College of Music and Performing Arts Belmont University NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE November 2020 Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the contributions of numerous individuals. I first want to thank Dr. Tony Moreira for being such an encouraging presence during my time here at Belmont. The fruits of his musical instruction can be seen and heard in the arrangements included in this production. Thank you also to Keith Mason and Dr. Peter Lamothe, whose seminar classes directly impacted the trajectory and execution of this project. I am deeply grateful to the musicians whose incredible talents brought pure magic to the recording process. These arrangements would merely be notes on a page without the performances of Danny Marquez, Winner Olmann, Danny Diaz, Hunter Spivey, Krystal Gutierrez, Justin Barahona, Dwight Hernandez, and Mykeyly Hernandez. Thank you to my good friend, Eric Uplinger, for going above and beyond, working miracles and lending your professional ear to the production and mixing of these recordings. I want thank Dr. Chuck Lewis for encouraging me to begin graduate studies and for first introducing me to the joys of church music ministry. Christian Ramos, thank you for allowing my musical and ministerial gifts to grow and flourish during our time in ministry together, and for introducing me to the magic of secondary dominant progressions nearly a decade ago! Thank you to my mother, Leslie Howington, for your unending love and encouragement. And most importantly, I would like to thank God, the giver of all gifts, who is worthy of every word that is ascribed to Him in the lyrics of the songs found within this project. iii Contents Tables ................................................................................................................................... v Examples ............................................................................................................................ vi Presentation of Material Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Historical Background ........................................................................... 6 Chapter 2: Gospel Instrumentalists and Their Techniques .................................... 21 Chapter 3: Gospel Vocalists and Their Techniques .............................................. 35 Chapter 4: Analysis of Three Songs by The Recording Collective ....................... 42 Chapter 5: Analysis of Three Original Gospel Fusion Arrangements ................... 73 Chapter 6: The Production Process ..................................................................... 100 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 118 Appendix A: Chapter Four Scores ................................................................................... 121 Appendix B: Chapter Five Scores ................................................................................... 178 Appendix C: Additional Gospel Fusion Arrangements ................................................... 226 References ....................................................................................................................... 256 iv Tables 1. “Christ Be Magnified” Programming List ................................................................... 101 2. “King of Kings” Programming List ............................................................................. 102 3. “Lion and the Lamb” Programming List ..................................................................... 102 4. “Who You Say I Am” Programming List ................................................................... 102 5. “Yes I Will” Programming List ................................................................................... 102 6. Drum Set Microphone List .......................................................................................... 104 v Examples 2.1 Tritone substitution for V7 to I .................................................................................... 30 2.2 Tritone substitution for V7/IV to IV ............................................................................ 30 2.3 Backcycling found in “Love Theory” by Kirk Franklin .............................................. 31 2.4 Major pentatonic scale ................................................................................................. 32 2.5 Minor pentatonic scale ................................................................................................. 32 2.6 Blues scale ................................................................................................................... 32 2.7 “Amazing Grace” gospel waltz version ....................................................................... 32 2.8 Walking bass line ......................................................................................................... 33 4.1 Phil Wickham verse ..................................................................................................... 46 4.2 The Recording Collective verse .................................................................................. 47 4.3 Secondary dominant chords ......................................................................................... 47 4.4 Bass pedal point ........................................................................................................... 48 4.5 Example of background vocal harmonies ................................................................... 48 4.6 Soloist’s melismas atop background vocalists’ melody .............................................. 49 4.7 Sixteenth-note figure ................................................................................................... 50 4.8 Phil Wickham intro ...................................................................................................... 50 4.9 The Recording Collective intro ................................................................................... 51 4.10 Staccato eighth-note pairs begin each measure ......................................................... 52 vi 4.11 Quarter-note chords in the chorus ............................................................................. 52 4.12 Drums-only chorus with light rhodes ........................................................................ 54 4.13 Bridge 3 with three-part harmony and inversions ..................................................... 55 4.14 Bethel’s pushed plagal cadence ................................................................................. 57 4.15 The Recording Collective chorus with added chords ................................................ 58 4.16 The Recording Collective’s “praise break” section ................................................... 59 4.17 Melismas follow blues and pentatonic scales ............................................................ 60 4.18 Bethel Music intro ..................................................................................................... 61 4.19 The Recording Collective intro ................................................................................. 61 4.20 Chris Tomlin intro ..................................................................................................... 64 4.21 The Recording Collective intro ................................................................................. 64 4.22 V7/V in the bridge ...................................................................................................... 65 4.23 Chris Tomlin verse .................................................................................................... 65 4.24 The Recording Collective verse ................................................................................ 66 4.25 Examples of melismas ............................................................................................... 67 4.26 Countermelody sung by background vocalists .......................................................... 67 4.27 Bass guitar riff ........................................................................................................... 68 4.28 Drums-only chorus with rhythmic accents ................................................................ 69 4.29 Chorus with greatest amount of growth ...................................................................