Introduction of media Script

The posts in this blog are to compare and show the similarities between two very different kinds of music: Technical deathcore and the twentieth century virtuoso. Though the may seem different they are in fact quite similar in their sense of complication and in their extreme technicality.

The Link in their Music

The two pieces I will use for my comparison are Seized and Devoured by Rings of Saturn (Track one on the CD ) and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff (Track two on the CD ).My reason for choosing these pieces is because it shows the virtuosity of the composers and players. Rachmaninoff's technical composing is revered among most piano players because of this and a few of his other pieces. Rings of Saturn are know for their brutally fast and technical music. Seized and Devoured may not be their most technical song but all their music is extremely technical and this song is no exception.

Genres

Technical deathcore is named such because they come from the genre of death metal which evolved into deathcore and they also aim to be as technical as possible. They also still keep their music to have a purpose. I asked the band personally what they thought their genre was and their response was as follows: “We kind of think genre classification has gotten a little ridiculous in the metal scene so we call ourselves aliencore in a kinda satirical kind of way. If you want to be more exact tho we would be called technical deathcore” -Lucas Mann(Rings of Saturn guitarist).
As a twentieth century virtuoso, Rachmaninoff was also are very technical in this context, where I am speaking of a composer rather then a violinist or pianist (even though Rachmaninoff is also a virtuoso on the piano). The piece is a concerto so it's genre is predetermined and with no composer to ask we cannot know if Rachmaninoff wanted it to be anything different then what we call it today.

Definition

Virtuosos are people who are skilled at what they do, generally in the fine arts. The virtuoso is someone who at all times is trying to be better then the common person of their trade. Now we would generally call them masters of their trade or “Gurus”. The term is not always a good thing though because some people use it to describe someone who would chose to try to make their art; in this case music, more technical and ignore the feelings and deeper meaning of the music itself.

The Artists

Rachmaninoff is considered one of the most talented pianist to this day where as Rings of Saturn may not be the very best at what they do but their music is still very virtuosic. They both try to go above and beyond the normal in their music. With Rachmaninoff it was through making the melody of his music to be almost and interweaving puzzle instead of a straight forward listen. Like Rachmaninoff, Rings of Saturn does this to but for them it is the intricate guitar and bass riffs and blast beats that make their music so virtuosic. 

Concerto No. 3: The Hard Part

This is considered to be one of the most, if not the most, technical and musically demanding concertos for any player to play. Along with the taxing technicality the concerto also last around 40 minutes if the player does not use the cuts that Rachmaninoff authorized, thought these cuts are generally not made anymore they were mostly during the first recordings of the piece.

In the Rachmaninoff piano Concerto No. 3 the large major chords make it's cadenza very hard to play because of the fact that the player has to jump back and forth between the chords. It also adds more technicality thus needing even more dedication and concentration from the player.

Seized and Devoured: Wicked Fast Fingers

 Seen below is a photo of the tab for Seized and Devoured by Rings of Saturn which is sweep picking during the “outro” of the song. This technique may not be advanced but they are playing mostly like this through out and it demonstrates a keen memory to remember all the notes and to be able to play them without fail. The riffs are common in more technical metal but Rings of Saturn seems to beyond what the ordinary Techdeath and deathcore bands would have.

Harmonies, Similar or different?

 In Seized and Devoured the harmonies are mostly dissonant and though the power chords during the second half are major. The song itself doesn't have specific key though it changes often so that you can't place it in a main scale very well. But because it is death metal the dissonance is a big thing.

Concerto No. 3 has a main key of D minor and sports a three movement body. The first movement is in D minor, the second F sharp major/D flat major and the final a D minor to D major combination. The harmonies are more important in this piece because it has more instruments and thus more notes being played. Though it is minor it also has major themes and motifs giving it variety.

So the harmonies are different with Rings of Saturn favoring a dissonant and free play key and Rachmaninoff using his keys and chords.

Textures

This doesn't have much to say with Seized and Devoured because the song is mostly homophonic but also has polyphonic textures to it. The concerto has homophonic and polyphonic part to it but uses a lot of chords so it is mostly homophonic. In this they share the small parts of homophony and polyphony.

Rhythms?

With the Rings of Saturn song they use a lot of syncopation but the time signature is mostly four four or two four. The syncopation is cause by the guitar where as the drums keep to the right beats. Concerto No. 3 has a four four time signature but the strong beats are one beat one and three, with lots of syncopation also. This is an other reason they are similar.

Form

 As I mentioned before Concerto No. 3 has three movements all of different keys and style. For Seized and Devoured there are also three main components but they do not have such variety. There is the introduction that ends after thirteen seconds then the core or body of the song then the “outro” or conclusion at three minutes and thirty seconds.

Conclusion

In conclusion we can see that both artists are very virtuosic and that their music also shares it's rhythmic syncopation and textures. Both musicians and composer are very talented and highly regarded in their aspects of music.  
Word Count: 1123 words
Student name:Jonathan Robert Cox