Case Study of rhythm and blues music

Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B or RnB) is a popular music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists. It is now performed worldwide by people of many cultures and ethnic groups. During the 1980s, James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone had used parts of psychedelic rock and other styles in their music. Funk became a big part of disco music. In the early 1980s, funk and soul had become sultry and more sexual with the work of Prince and others. The modern style of contemporary R&B came to be a major part of American popular music.

Today R&B uses a style of African - American music. It combines elements of soul music, funk music, pop music, and hip hop in what is now called contemporary R&B.

During the 2000's, the only big difference between hip hop and R&B was whether the vocals of the song had been sung or rapped. By this time, it also started to focus of solo artists rather than groups. By 2005, the most famous R&B artists include Usher, Beyoncé (formerly of Destiny's Child), Ashanti, and Mariah Carey.

Social Identity Theory

Is a person's sense of who they are based on their group membership. Tajfel (1979) proposed that the groups (e.g. social class, family, football team) which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem.

Social Identity can create different tribes because everybody is different and unique in their own way which means they are easily fitted into different groups and are able to get along with people that have more in common with them. Sometimes being different to others can cause conflicts because there are differences in the way people do and say things. Often this can lead to social comparison where the group the individual has identified themselves with starts to compare themselves against their out group, they see themselves as better, this leads to discrimination, which leads on to prejudice.

Social identity can be linked to Ideology because for example there is basic agreement that rock “is a form of music with a strong beat,” but it is difficult to be much more explicit. The Collins English Dictionary suggests that “rock is a kind of music with simple tunes and a very strong beat that is played and sung, usually loudly, by a small group of people with electric guitars and drums,” but there are so many exceptions to this description that it is practically useless. Many may disagree and argue that this is the wrong definition of Rock and roll and that is because of the difference of opinions people may have about one certain type of music genre.

This can then be associated with music magazines because of the way that the genre is portrayed through the use of colour, font and images. For instance, in the Kerrang magazine the look is very different to top of the pops magazine as the styles of music are completely different to each other.

History of music magazines

Billboard:

The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1, 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan. Initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. It was shortened to The Billboard in 1897. Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by Prometheus Global Media. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and style. It is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows. The target audience varies from young teens to young adults particularly between the ages of 16 to 26.



Kerrang:

'Kerrang!' is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music, currently published by Hamburg based Bauer Media Group. It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on a distorted electric guitar, 'Kerrang!' was initially devoted to the new wave of British heavy metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. Typical readers of this magazine would be

School magazine analysis

Musical Genres

Musical Genres

Pop

• Pop rock
• Pop punk
• Dance pop
• Indie pop
• Pop rap
• Pop funk
• Latin pop
• Country pop
• Art pop

Rock

• Folk metal
• Glam rock
• Geek rock
• Gothic rock
• Blues rock
• Hard rock
• Pop rock
• Power metal
• Rap rock
• Rock and roll
• Wizard roll

Ideology, dichotomy and music genre comparison

Ideology - a set of beliefs e.g.; anarchy
Dichotomy -  a split between types of music e.g.; between pop and rock

Pop - conformity

• Clean cut image. Good look key to success
• Songs about love - asexual, non - threatening
• Perform in a conventional way - typical song structures, sings well, catchy hooks
• Ability to play live less important conform to norms
• Manufactured, created by others
• Seen as ephemeral - here today, gone tomorrow
• For kids

Rock / Hip hop - rebellion

• Can be scruffy or untidy , looks less important
• Songs about sex, anger and drugs
• Loud, abrasive, sometimes deliberately offensive to mainstream
• Must play well live
• Non - conformist
• Genuine, authentic, for real
• 'classic', built to last
• For adults

Preliminary task - School Magazine

Magazine cover diagram

The four f's of magazine design

The four f's of magazine design

1. Format - Design choices that are continuous in every issue. They define the overall look and feel of the magazine. These can include the logo, cover lines, size of the magazine, department headers and other things that can look similar in every issue.
2.  Formula - This is known as the editorial content ( i.e. what's in the mag) The types of article, their length, departments in the front and back of the book ( sections that are in the mag each time) all contribute to the formula.
3. Frame - The frame is the standard size for outer page margins and gutters. Depending on the magazine purchased, some will vary the width throughout pages and others will keep it the same each time. The rule for using margins establishes consistency from issue to issue.
4. Function - The function is quite simply, what a magazine is trying to achieve and the message its trying to send.

    

       Consistency - Magazine should be the same from edition to edition
       Unity - Should be a united theme throughout editions

Southfield school AS media studies task

Southfield School AS Media Studies

 

 

Task:

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the program.

Main Task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group must produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style). Maximum of four members to a group.

 

All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate(s), minimum of FOUR images used per candidate

Definitions

Masthead - The title page of a newspaper or magazine at the head of the first or editorial page

By line - A line in a newspaper naming the writer of an article

Pull quote - A brief, attention-catching quotation taken from the main text of an article and used as a subheading or graphic feature.

White space - The unprinted area of a piece of printing, as of a poster or newspaper page, or of a portion of a piece of printing.

Recto and verso -  Refer to the text written on the "front" and "back" sides of a leaf of paper in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet.

Artwork - Illustrations, photographs, or other non-textual material prepared for inclusion in a publication.