What Is Contemporary R&B?
Contemporary R&B — which is also known as simply R&B — is a music genre that includes a combination of features and aspects from genres e.g. rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop and hip-hop
Sometimes the songs would have a saxophone laced beat to give the song a jazz feel to it. Electronic music are becoming an increasing trend the use of hip hop or dance type beats are typical and are more used in RnB songs.
Contemporary RnB is a genre of smooth pop music that is centred on the vocalist. It retains elements of funk, hip-hop and soul but it’s completely different from the rhythm and blues from the 50s and 60s.
Instrumentation:
RnB includes instruments such as:
- Drum-machine backed synths
- Piano
- Synthesiser
- Keyboard
- Drums
- Talk Box
- Vocals
Contemporary RnB vocalists sometimes use melisma in their singing, this is a technique that was popularised by Mariah Carey.
Structure:
Contemporary RnB has a basic structure. The songs have variations in the arrangement. The most common structure is:
- Intro: 4 or 8 bars this might include a vocal part
- Verse: 8 bars
- Pre-chorus: 4 bars
- Chorus: 8 or 1 bars
- Brigde: 8 bars
- Chorus: This repeated twice, includes a variation in the melody.
- Outro: The duration of the outro varies between songs
Melody:
Melody in RnB is mainly soft. Most melodies in RnB songs have vocals in them, artists such as R.Kelly and Usher are known to use vocals in the melodies of their RnB songs.
Rhythm:
The rhythm in RnB comes from the music’s dependence on the four-beat measures or bars. Here is a video showing the popular drum groove.
Contemporary RnB today:
Contemporary RnB today has a more futuristic and commercial sound. The genre seems to get more dance and electro pop sounds and many artists start to change to pop sounds. Artists such as Rihanna, Usher, Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé are starting to do this.
Music Technology Developments
Contemporary rnb use electronic instruments. Synths, keyboards, drum machines can be heard in the style.
Sources of information:
Wikipedia, other internet pages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_R%26B
https://www.allmusic.com/genre/contemporary-r-b-ma0000002969/artists
My Piece:
The following steps are how I created my own composition
Step 1:
I first open up a brand new template from Logic Pro X. As my new template as set up I immediately set my tempo to 130bpm.
Step 2:
I then added a new track. A Grand Piano, I find this piano easy to use and it’s also easy to add MIDI effects. I tried different ideas throughout making my piece.
Step 3:
After I added some chords and melodies I added some audio loops to help piece my work together.
Step 4:
After, I added MIDI editing tools to make my piece sound better.
Step 5:
After I finished with editing I bounced by project down.
Review
My piece is quite nice. I have used some sounds to create a piece of Rnb. The speed sounds like Rnb. I am pleased with the drums. I like the piano chords but they are a little low down. I could move them up so they sound clearer. I think the piece needs a melody or a vocal.
Overall, i think it is ok. I could add some more ideas to it.