How has Soul Music influenced new Artists/genres of music?
My extended essay is going to be learning about how has soul music has impacted new genres.
This is an area of study in which I have a great interest in, it's also something I have wanted to improve and develop my current knowledge into this subject to help me improve as a musician who wants to take aspects of soul music and portray it in my up and coming music as a songwriter.
In this essay I will be writing a case study into various impactful Artists, one being a modern artist who has taken aspects of soul and the other a well know pioneer of the genre. You will be able to see that I dulge into new/sub genres connected with soul music mainly focusing on a genre called Neo Soul and I will finally look into stylistic elements and whether new artist and genre have decided to take these elements and use them, if not I'm going to try to figure out why and if it would have improved the music they have created.
What was Soul and where did originate and different stylistic elements?
[5] Soul originates from Gospel music specifically but also uses other genres. Soul music was originally built of African American communities who tried to express their love for God through devotional vocal styles, some of which being melismatic which is singing multiple notes per syllables. This style was then taken but spoken about lover and relations with humans and moved away from God, so it was able to be listen to by anyone and that is how it grew so rapidly. The music was very expressive and portrayed this in techniques like call and response. The genre also originates from blues and jazz instrumentally for example similar rhythm to blues but same chords as jazz are used in parts of songs. An artist who really moved from gospel to soul was Arethra Franklin as she started of going round churches singing gospel music before picking up a record deal in New York and becoming one of the early soul artists who took soul to the northern parts of USA like Memphis but also the south side of the country as well. However, you have artists like Sam Cooke who went to prison and only later in his life decided to devote his belief to Christianity
Case study Gregory Porter
[1] Gregory porter has taken a lot of soul music as inspiration for his music and merged it with his love for jazz and made his music unique. Gregory porter has shown that elderly style music can still be popular in the modern era. The use of instruments proves my point in the fact he does not use modern instruments for example his piano player uses a grand piano instead of a keyboard. He also has a double bass player instead of a typical bass guitar we usually see in the modern day. He also shows his soulful aspects through his vocalisation in his songs. He went on a radio station for soul music in the pandemic and he explains a lot of up and coming artists for their vocals and how they have a similar style of singing to him and he also talked about what modern day and the pandemic would do to the soul and Jazz seen and he believed it would grow which portrays his love for the genre. He elaborates on his love for the genre and his vocal styles come from people like Marvin Gaye as well, he believes that it gave him the right to make his music the way he has instead of picking sides from jazz soul and gospel music his genre is all of them combined into one.
Case study Marvin Gaye
Marvin gay has inspired artists over such a wide range of music due to not only his instrumental talents but specifically with his amazing voice that no matter what genre you play or listen to cannot help but be shocked and want something similar. Marvin Gaye took aspects of soul with his extraordinary vocals and changed funk and soul completely with his amazing gifts of having both such a smooth voice but when need powerful and meaningful and his ability to change that was outstanding. [4] He influenced hall of famers some being Steve wonder, Luther Vandross, and Dangelo. And all of which even though different genres in their music have amazing soul aspects in their music and that's why soul music is so well know because techniques the average person do not know that are used in everyday music come from or originate from soul music.
New Sub genres of soul music
[2] Contemperary R&B is a genre that many pop artists are recognised for especially with vocal techniques, a well-known artist being Beyonce. After the 1980s disco and Funk began to decline and soul music started becoming popular due to the fact it had taken influence from electro music. This is when artists realised other genres could be merged with soul to gain a good following. [3] This is how contemporary R&B was created, this genre takes aspects of R&B and soul specifically in the vocals with Enfinity, meaningful lyrical analysis and melismatic styles in vocalisation. This is then mixed with both new genres we hear in modern music some of which being: Hip Hop and pop. The genre is extremely diversed for example lionel riche is a contempary R&B artist but so is drake even though they make completely different music which you would say they even play different genres completely.
[6] Neon soul is a genre that originated in the 80s when electronic music started taking over soul music. Some pioneers that kicked of this new sub-genre were based in the UK more specifically London which is completely different to the founding of soul music which originated in the United States, this shows how diverse soul music has become and how it is world known. Some artists who started the genre are Georgia smith and Eryka Badou. This genre takes the chords from soul however plays them through synth which is an instrument like a keyboard in which you will see in all neon soul music.
Interviews with modern musicans and there thoughts on my topic
[7] [8] [9] I interviewed three music students at Exeter college on their thoughts on soul music and its influence on modern genres. All three students explained that they enjoy the genre even though some liked it more than others know one said they dislike the genre which shows how great a genre is if it came out over 75 years ago and is still loved by the latest generation. All of them agreed that soul music mixing with other genres is good and some of them even knew some artists that had done this, for example Teskey brothers and Gregory porter, both of which do not have a youthful age of listeners. Two of which said they prefer different genres over this music and their reasoning was lack of new material and lack of progress. They also feel the genre is dying, however feel it will come back in the future; however, their reasoning is all completely different. Joshes belief is because it is so involved with music as a whole and so many artists use soul aspects without knowing it will never die and it will live on with artists like Teskey Brothers and he feels the soul vocals will never die as they are so distinked and in his eyes some of the greatest vocal techniques originate from soul music and similar genres. However, Lydia felt that a lot of music loops round each decade and becomes more popular, her example was country music and how people have mixed it with their genres it has exploded and is all over the charts and she believes that will happen with soul music. However, Ella does not think that it will come back properly however a bit like josh she believes artists and genres will carry on their legacy as an amazing genre.
Do i agree with there opinions
I believe that a lot of what they were saying was correct. The only part I disagree with quite strongly is the fact that soul music will come back as its original genre. I believe country music people will make it their own and it will become popular again that way unlike the original genre, it will come back new but still the same in the sense of techniques used. One thing I believe the genre will always carry on is the emotion and vocals, and I believe this will carry on with the new soul music that becomes popular soon. However, I agreed with a lot of what Lydia said with the fact of most of the ideas with music looping back but also talking about artists like Gregory porter being a good pioneer of this. She also said she did not know how to answer some questions like if you could pick someone who could be a pioneer of soul music. After talking to her after the interview she said her reasoning is she doesn't know much about original soul music and knows more about modern artists that take aspects of the genre and I feel a lot of modern listeners feel like this way Aswell and that's there Foughts are how many young people think when there thinking what soul music actually is which is extremely interesting.
Bibliography
[1] Signed Media (2019) Gregory Porter’s reflections on Jazz, Soul & Gospel, YouTube. Available at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0eDEhMDIhHc&t=70s (Accessed: 06 March 2025).
[2] Picken, J. (2024) Music genres explained: R&B: Blog, Startle. Available at: https://www.startlemusic.com/blog/music-genres-explained-r-b#:~:text=Sub%2Dgenres%20of%20R%26B%20include,%2C%20funk%20and%20hip%20hop). (Accessed: 06 March 2025).
[3] Flora, M. (2023) How soul music influenced modern pop and R&B, Musical Flora. Available at: https://www.musicalflora.com/genres/soul/how-soul-music-influenced-modern-pop-r-b/ (Accessed: 06 March 2025).
[4] morris, stevland H. (no date) Stevie Wonder: National black history month: SFGMC, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Available at: https://www.sfgmc.org/national-black-history-month/stevie-wonder#:~:text=Perhaps%20the%20one%20person%20who,%5Bit%5D%20come%20out”. (Accessed: 06 March 2025).
[5] Radio, G. (2024) How soul music transformed society through the years, De’Licious Groooves (DG) Radio! Available at: https://deliciousgrooovesradio.com/blog/how-soul-music-transformed-society-through-the-years?srsltid=AfmBOorYPhWNgQBW4-6qmm_eCtLuRqmfuFx6UN7fH6NuwO6f289PACUb (Accessed: 06 March 2025).
[6] Comage, B. (2022) Walker Library: Home: Walker Library: Home, Walker Library: Home - Home - Walker Library at Middle Tennessee State University. Available at: https://library.mtsu.edu/home (Accessed: 06 March 2025).
[7] Humphries, G. (2025) My interview with Ella Breheny, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_SPG4mabd8 (Accessed: 06 March 2025).
[8] Humphries, G. (2025b) My interview with Lydia Webber, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkjYJpZRYw (Accessed: 06 March 2025).
[9] Humphries, G. (2025b) My interview with Josh Rawlings , YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxvRyBcY5Gc&t=111s (Accessed: 06 March 2025).