How to Become a Music Maestro

By Yiro Abari High

Chapter One: Introduction

In keeping with tradition, this book begins with definitions of terms that are inescapable and fundamental to the understanding of the subject of the book.

Sound

Sound is a sensation that is perceived by the ear and which is caused by air vibration. If one should strike the leather surface of a musical drum, it vibrates. The vibration is relayed to the surrounding air. The air, in turn, relays the vibration further until it reaches the ear. The sensation this causes to the ear is called sound.

Beat

In chemistry, an atom is the building unit of matter. In biology, the cell is the building unit of organisms. In music, the building unit of sound is the beat. Music beats are commonly referred to as musical notes.

Music

A regular arrangement of sound notes constitutes music. By technical implication, an irregular configuration of sound notes gives rise to noise.

Melody

Melody is the audio identity of a song. Melody is what comes out when sound notes are arranged in a distinct way. The basis of melody in a song is in the uniqueness of the time gap between successive notes, the pitch variation of the notes or both.

If one should take two sets of five notes each and of the same pitch intensity but modify the time lapse between the notes in each case, he ends up with two distinct melodies. In a second case, if he maintains the same time lapse between the notes in the two cases but modifies the pitch intensities of the notes, he ends up with another set of distinct melodies.

Rhythm

The time gap between the first and the last in a train of musical notes which are played repeatedly in the course of a song is known as the rhythm of the song.

Different instruments in a song could play with distinct rhythms but they are shuffled, appropriately, to produce a bigger, harmonized rhythm. Rhythm is the heartbeat of a song, the pulse of a song.

A song

A song is a piece of music with a distinct melody and serves the purpose of message delivery, relaxation, dancing, healing, etc. It can be purely vocal, instrumental or both. When a song is solely vocal, it is referred to as a-cappella.

 Singer

A singer is the person whose voice is heard in a song. His action, referred to as singing, involves dragging or compressing the lines of his message, known as lyrics, to fit into the rhythm of the song that could be imaginary if the song is without instrumentation or real if there is an instrumental accompaniment.

 Music Elements

Music elements, as used in this book, refer to the different bits that make up the music. They include the vocals, lyrics and the sounds from the different instruments used in a song.

 Music Composition

The act of putting together the different elements of music to make a song is known as music composition. A music composer is one who puts together the different elements to make the song.

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Nigerian Radio and Music Standards

Traditionally, two forces have often set standards in the music industry. These two are the music recording companies and the radio stations.

Musicians signed to music recording companies make songs for an upcoming album, the company listens and decides which should or shouldn’t feature in the upcoming album, based on the quality of the songs.  To make sure music fans get the best, recording companies place high thresholds. Musicians, wanting to be released, would have to aim high, leading to the high standards that have been the mark of the best music acts the world has known.

The next hurdle music-in-the-making would have to cross, prior to reaching the fan, is the radio. Music distributed by music recording companies would have to sound convincing to the radio music presenters whose occupation is to bring the music to the doorsteps of the fans. Thus, radio plays a decisive role in the elevation of standards in the music industry.

Information Technology brought an overwhelming revolution that cut across all fields of life. The music industry is one field that enjoyed a jump in prosperity as result of the revolution brought about by Information Technology, cutting across music education, song writing, composition, production, distribution and usage.

Since coming, Information Technology has, through computer software, placed the power of music production in the hands of individuals rather than allowing the big recording companies to hold on to their monopoly in music production. This happened because Information Technology made music production so cheap that a kid can sell his sneakers and use the money to make a single that, if good, serves as a springboard for a successful music career.

What this means is that recording companies have lost the exclusivity of setting up standards within the music industry.  It leaves the ratio stations as the sole means by which high music standards can be sustained.

Since the arrival of Information Technology, how has the radio fared in its role of maintaining high standards within the Nigerian music industry?  Despite the proliferation of FM radio stations across the country –a situation that should be a blessing –one can say that standards have rather fallen from the clouds where they had been. Everyday, one listens to the littering of airwaves by the irritating music the radio stations play. It means that the radio is either not playing that role anymore or is not playing it adequately.

One of the reasons includes the fact that most radio presenters work on part time and are not adequately rewarded. As it has turned out, this has served as a huge escape for untalented or unprofessional musicians. Desperate aspiring musicians who would not have been able to cross the high hurdles of recording companies approach the radios directly and bribe their ways to the airwaves. The presenters have come to see this racket as the source of conventional income with which to sustain their lives. They take as much raw music as possible to earn as much money as possible.

Round pegs in square holes within the administrative hierarchies of radio stations are also responsible for the low standards. Some persons in the administrative hierarchies of radio stations are persons who either don’t see the beauty in talents or have chosen to ignore it for selfish reasons or are afraid of fighting an unhealthy bandwagon. The general believe now is that a lot of guys/ladies who find themselves anchoring music shows come by virtue of being best friends of radio authorities rather than best brains.

The excuse, wacky presenters often give to defend their jobs, is that they are doing it to help promote the local artists. An artist is only promoted when the presenter, in his own judgment, sincerely believes the music has met a reasonably acceptable standard. What we often hear are, rather, chains of deplorable mess that tend to suffocate the airwaves. A good music presenter should, first, listen to a song and decide if it is truly good enough to be aired. You don’t play what is unprofessional on radio to allow the fans to judge. The radio is not a stage within the production phase of music. It is a stage for relaying what is professional.

Sometimes a situation arises where journalist employed to edit and read news find themselves anchoring music shows. If they never had any music interest prior to this, it leads to a situation where they lack the pertinent criteria needed in deciding which music should be on air. Persons with music interest follow trends constantly and have even, at one time or the other, nursed ambitions of either becoming musicians or music presenters. Hence merely reading a field that qualifies one to be a journalist does not necessarily give you the orientation a music presenter should have.

In every village, town, city or nation, talented people are always there and are God’s gift to that village, town, city or nation. When engaged, they bring joy and pride to the radio stations they work for and the host city. Still, it is the right of such talents to occupy such positions as they are most qualified to do so. The only way such persons can be pulled from the secondary schools, polytechnics or university campuses is by auditioning. One doesn’t hear of auditioning anymore.

The obnoxious effect of this trend is that Nigerian music fans are turning towards global music channels and the cable TV is serving them adequately. What that means is that our local stations would lose out in the competition that digitization is engendering.