6. Music conventions

Trope --> A convention which has formed over many years. 
For example a trope of horror movies would  be lots of blood and tense music. 


Meme --> How a trope/convention starts or develops, and then spreads.
For example using blood in a film initially, and this would have been copied by others.




Many music genres incorporate these ideas, for example...


Conventions of Pop -

• Attractive 
• Lots of dancing 
• Always sing about love and relationships 
• Video often follows the story within the song
• Brightly coloured, fashionable clothing
• Smiling
• Generally aimed at a teenage audience

These tropes have become conventions through the initial memes which would have caught on. Nowadays, we have TV programmes such as 'Glee' and 'X factor' which heighten the popularity of pop as a music genre, and also publicise artists within this genre. 

Teenagers are likely to have the largest amount of disposable income, as many have part-time jobs but no bills to pay, therefore the large majority of their earnings can be spent on themselves. Therefore, pop music has become more directed at this demographic, as they make up the largest sector of pop music sales. 

No-one wants to listen to sad songs all day, every day, so pop music has adhered to this meme and is generally very cheery and uplifting, providing an escape from stressful modern life. 

 Conventions of Rock - 

• Plain, casual clothes
• Fast paced
• Atmospheric video
• Passionate lyrics
• Usually male artists

Bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters and Kings of Leon have become much more popular in recent years, and this may be due to the less aggressive, therefore exclusive, nature of rock nowadays. They often develop existing songs or tunes, and may sample the original in their version. Rock music is often more of an artistic expressions of opinions. Today, the term 'rock' includes features of many genres, including pop, reggae, soul and hip-hop. 

Conventions of Metal -

• Long guitar solos
• Aggressive style
• Characteristic drumming

The sound of heavy metal has changed a lot over the years; the first metal bands, such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were very popular, and Motorhead and Iron Maiden introduced a more 'punk' feel. Thrash Metal then became popular through Metallica and Slayer, and nowadays there is a more modern feel within nu metal which incorporates more grunge and hip hop. 




Conventions of Reggae - 

• Set in Caribbean 
• Cheery lyrics
• Videos with bright colours - rarely follow a narrative

First developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. Nowadays it is mixing with pop and picking up some of these conventions along the way. 

5. Music Genres

As the main task we are required to create a music magazine. Before doing this, I need to do reasearch into different aspects, for example music genre, target audience etc.

Music can be divided into many different styles and genres, and each of these genres can usually be divided into sub-genres.

The main music genres are:

Alternative (college rock, goth rock, grunge, indie rock, new wave, punk)

Anime

Blues (acoustic, chicago, classic, contemporary, country, delta, electric)

Children's music (lullabies, sing-a-long, stories)

Classical (avante garde, baroque, chamber, chant, choral, crossover, impressionist, medieval,

minimalism, modern, opera, orchestral, renaissance, romantic, wedding)

Comedy

Country (alternative, americana, bluegrass, contemporary, gospel, honky tonk, outlaw, traditional, urban cowboy)

Dance (breakbeat, exercise, garage, hardcore, house, jungle, drum and bass, techno, trance)

Disney

Easy listening (bop, lounge, swing)

Electronic (ambient, downtempo, electronica, IDM, experimental, industrial)

Enka

French pop

German folk

German pop

Fitness & workout

Hip-hop/rap (alternative, dirty south, east coast, gangsta, hardcore, hip-hop, latin, old school, undergroud, west coast)

Holiday (chanuka, christmas, children's, classical, jazz, modern, pop, r&b, religious, rock, easter, halloween, thanksgiving)

Christian/gospel (CCM, metal, pop, rap, rock, classical, contemporary, praise & worship, southern, traditional)

Instrumental

J-pop

Jazz (avant garde, big band, contemporary, cool, crossover, dixie land, fusion, hard bop, latin

jazz, mainstream jazz, ragtime, smooth jazz, traditional)

K-pop

Karaoke

Latino (alternativo, rock, brazillian, contemporary, latin jazz, pop, raices, reggaeton, mexicano, salsa) 

New age (environmental, healing, meditation, nature, relaxation, travel)

Opera

Pop (contemporary, britpop, pop/rock, soft rock, teen pop)

R&B/Soul (contemporary, disco, doo wop, funk, motown, neo-soul, quiet storm, soul)

Reggae (dancehall, dub, roots reggae, ska)

Rock (alternative, traditional, arena, blues, british invasion, death/black, glam, hair rock, metal, jam bands, art, pschadellic, rock & roll, rockabilly, roots rock, southern, surf, tex mex) 

Soundtrack (foreign cinema, musicals, original score, soundtrack, TV)

Vocal (standards, traditional, jazz, pop)

World (african, afro-beat, afro-pop, indian pop, japanese pop, zydeco)

4. Preliminary Task

 As the preliminary task, we were required to create a front page and contents page of a school magazine. 


As a result of the focus group I had many ideas to add into my school magazine, and these appear in the first few pages. 


The front cover includes the typical convention of a mid-shot of one person, this person being a figure of authority within the school, and she looks smart, friendly and approachable, so this gives a positive impression of the school. The colour scheme used matches the school colours, which gives a professional appearance, and the fonts are clear and easy to read. 


Also, the front cover matches other conventions, such as a bold magazine name at the head of the page, small images with sell lines detailing information within the magazine, and a small contents strip at the foot of the page alongside the school logo. 


I was careful to include a range of aspects which would appeal to the wide target audience within the school; for example the One Direction image relates to an interview and free poster, which is likely to appeal to the younger girls, whereas the revision sessions would be extremely helpful for both girls and boys within the 6th form and upper school who have a lot of exams to prepare for. The canteen menu is non-discriminative as it is information which would be helpful to all students and staff alike. 

This contents page continues the use of the school colour scheme, and appears organized and clear, presenting professionalism. 


The small images match the text, and would appeal the the younger students who desire more images than text, while detailing further information about the articles and magazine features. The logo has been used again to re-enforce the professional appearance. 

3. Focus Group

In the lesson today we conducted three focus groups in order to find out what the specific target audience would like within a school magazine. 


1. Year 7's (age 12-13)
    - celebrity information from topical people, for example One Direction, including interviews pictures and posters.
    - a page for upcoming events in the school calender.
    - teacher profiles, including 'secret' information and jokey comments.
    - feedback from council meetings.
    - student achievements, for example sports competitions, music exams etc.
    - free giveaway to attract the reader to buy the magazine, for example a token for free house points with every magazine.
    - advertise the house point and stationary shop
    - pull-out exam timetables
    - revision session timetables
    - horoscope page
    - games section
    - cringe/embarrassing moments page
    - agony aunt/problem page
    - released monthly
    - canteen menu (telephone number for contribution for new ideas)


2. Staff
    - mainly targeted at students and parents rather than staff
    - include student opinions on topical events
    - celebration page of student's excellent work
    - reports from house meetings, inter-house competitions etc
    - released termly
    - each edition follows a theme
    - school/house colour scheme throughout the magazine, including front page
    - feature articles about life at the school
    - how the school is affected by news stories and laws
    - polls/vox pops to show opinions of the school community 
    - jokes and games pages
    - editorial letter
    - comic strip
    - letters page from students
    - school events calender
    - split into sections for lower and upper school
    - local events advertised
    - page of adverts for local and worldwide businesses


3. Male 6th form members (age 17-18)
    - more images than text
    - front cover shows image of an attractive female
    - facts about the school
    - gossip page
    - range of colours, not following a specific theme
    - released fortnightly
    - discount vouchers for school canteen
    - school football team scores/ competition results
    - news stories if the school will be affected
    - letters page sent in by students
    - problem page
    - cartoon/comic strip
    - reviews of music, games, events etc
    - events taking place nearby and special offers

2.Conventional Magazine Front-cover Features

It seems that, after researching and deconstructing various school magazine front covers, most of them follow certain rules;


1) Clear, large title in a simple font (usually at the top of the page)
2) Consistent colour scheme which is not gender biased (preferably only two colours) 
3) One or two models in a relaxed pose - image fills the entire cover
4) Sell lines detailing what can be found inside the magazine (sometimes including page numbers if there is no contents page)
5) Barcode with price
6) Date and issue number
7) Slogan


Examples - 


--> Clear title (Student Times) - instantly informs the reader of the target audience and purpose


--> Subheading sell-line (Benton's bookworms!) - details the main story within the magazine


--> Slogan (educating for life)


--> Barcode


--> Image of students in a library - appropriate and links to target audience and purpose

Very professional layout <--

Heading and slogan at the top of the page in an eyecatching  logo and bold, simple font <--

Consistent colour scheme  (red & blue) - suggests  both genders <--

Contents <--

Issue number (10) <--

1. Initial Post

Today was our first coursework lesson, so we created our blogs and began deconstructing various school magazines to collect examples for when we create our own.

The first magazine I looked at was the Autumn/Winter publication for King Edward VI High School.


The front page was a full screen image of three girls, two of which are dressed as M&M sweets, which links with the headline 'A Sweet Exchange'. Also, the image is quite ambiguous, therefore persuading the reader to continue reading to gain an understanding about the intriguing story. As the models are smiling this suggests that the school is a happy environment. 


The font is clear and simple which makes it easy to read and looks professional, and the text does not obstruct the image which makes it less complicated for the reader as it does not look over-crowded or messy. 


The small bar at the foot of the page contains details about what can be found inside the magazine, and this makes up for the absence of a content page.