Music Project

On Thursday, December 1, 2016, students of my Music class were finishing preparations for their projects for the semester. The assignment of the project was to choreograph a 30 second to 2 minute piece to a song from a culture that we (the choreographer) are unfamiliar with. The song was to have a a solo voice, and the movement of the piece should directly reflected the rhythm and quality of that voice.  

When choreographing my piece, I found that the assignment was more challenging than I anticipated. I am not very comfortable with my composition skills, and because I set high expectations for myself and am very self critical about my work, I over edit my work, which is stifling to my creative flow. 

A part from this, the music I chose was very complicated. The song by the Egyptian pop artist Ehab Tawfik and the title is called Tettraga Feya (Arabic: ايهاب توفيق - تترجى فيا) which means "Begging Me" in English.  At first I decided to work on the first verse of the song combined with the chorus, but although the song is in 4/4, the beginning doesn't have a fixed meter, but rather the accompaniment just plays along in response to the vocals. However, I changed the part of the song I wanted to choreograph to a verse later in the song where the rhythm was more distinct and where I felt there was more contrast in dynamics in the music. But even then, the is a point in the selection where there is a measure of 6 before it continues in four...

I've concluded that my song is complicated. But I enjoy this complication because it keeps the listener refreshed with spontaneity.