The focus of my personal inquiry journey throughout this blog is to explore topics under the umbrellas of Music and Music Education that I find fascinating, and upon which I am seeking to expand my knowledge. First and foremost, topics will reflect my personal interests within the field of Music and Music Ed. They will also reflect areas that I think are important in some way; either for their social context, educational context, or some other reason. Thirdly, they will reflect areas where I need to enhance my understanding and knowledge.
So far, I have found that a combination of Youtube videos and articles found from Google searches have rendered quick and useful sources from which to draw out knowledge. Some details of my learning progress include figuring out how to embed links from various places on the net, such as Youtube, as well as figuring out how to change a header graphic, or add material to the ‘about me’ section of my blog. The topic of Week 1 is….
NEO SOUL!
Neo Soul is a musical genre that has been enjoying a lot of newfound popularity over the last several years. However, Neo Soul is often hard for people to understand or define in clear terms. It has been around since the late 90’s/ early 2000’s, yet the terminology of ‘Neo Soul’ has only been commonly used for perhaps the last decade.
What is it about Neo Soul that makes it elusive and hard to understand, even among professional musicians? This inquiry seeks to shed some light on the subject and hopefully make the genre easier to understand and appreciate.
This first video, brought to you by the Gospel Musicians Youtube channel, explains how the sound envelope and profile of the synthesizers one uses is crucial to creating an authentic Neo Soul sonority. Think of it as the difference between a Jazz singer and and Opera Singer: they are both using the same instrument – the human voice – but they are drastically different in approach, timbre and style. The same goes for the sound of the instruments in Neo Soul.
This next video is brought to you by Noah Kellman who is a professional pianist and educator. His channel is an incredible resource for musicians who are seeking to expand their skills and vocabulary in a number of musical genres. In this video, Kellman shows us how to play 5 Dope Neo Soul Progressions. What’s important to note here is that Neo Soul has a very distinctive harmonic vocabulary, which combines aspects of Gospel, Jazz, and R&B. Check it out!
This last link is to an article from MasterClass.com. It outlines the history of the genre, as well as highlighting some important artists who have been vital in developing and defining the genre. A very interesting read. Enjoy!
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/neo-soul-music-guide
To underline the social context of why Neo Soul is important in today’s art scene, and to shed some light on the Etymology of the term, check out this quote from Wikipedia:
In a 2010 article for PopMatters, music writer Tyler Lewis said that neo soul has been received with much controversy: “Given the way black music has been named by (usually) outsiders ever since the blues, the reaction to the name by artists who ostensibly fit into the ‘neo-soul’ category represents a wonderful example of black self-determination in an industry that is still defiantly wedded to narrow definitions and images of black folks.”[8] Jason Anderson of CBC News compares the etymology of neo soul to that of “new wave” and comments: “As imperfect as the term may be, neo-soul is still an effective tag to describe the mix of chic modernity and time-honoured tradition that distinguished the genre’s best examples. Neo-soul artists tried to look both backward and forward, acting in the belief that a continuum might exist.”[9] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_soul
meghan55parker September 22, 2023
Hey Rhys, thanks for sharing on this topic! How would you implement the teaching of Neo Soul into your music curriculum? would you specifically just create one lesson within a jazz unit or would you have a whole unit based on this distinct topic?
rhysbatstone September 22, 2023 — Post author
Hi Meghan,
Great question! I think that Neo Soul best fits the curriculum as one or two lessons within a larger unit’s framework. That unit could be based on Jazz literacy, but it could also be based one Choral traditions like gospel, or included as part of a Composition class. Because of it’s relatively small and specific niche in music, I think it’s not appropriate to devote an entire unit to it.
scottgordonuvic October 17, 2023
Hey Rhys,
This is awesome! Neo Soul is such a prominent part of the musical landscape but it can be sometimes difficult to find useful resources to actually talk about it in an educational setting. I like the videos you have chosen, and I think sharing videos like these with our students can be really useful in the classroom.
rhysbatstone November 3, 2023 — Post author
Thanks Mr. Gordon!