IB DP Music Experimenting Creating - 'Let it be' Salsa minor arrangement (Logic Pro X)

3 pieces from the IB DP Experimenting Creating task - taking 'Let it be' and creating:

Excerpt 1: In the first excerpt, I had transposed the song ‘Let It Be’ to a minor key, due to how
common harmonic minor and melodic minor are used within Afro-Cuban music. By using a
digital audio workstation, I recorded 27 bars of the piece, based on the parallel harmonic minor
key of C (C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B, C). The melody and chord progression were also transposed into
the parallel harmonic minor key of C, and I had used an acoustic piano sound to play both the
melodic and harmonic components of the excerpt. Overall, excerpt 1 displays my ability to
transpose a song from major to minor, acting as a starting step to change the genre or style of a
song.

Excerpt 2: In the second excerpt, I had instead applied many stylistic features of Salsa music
into the existing piece. This meant using different instrumentation, such as using a trumpet to
play the melodic line. Other instrumental features common in Salsa music such as the Montuno
piano, the clave, and Afro-Cuban percussion were also added, however keeping it within the
same tonal key as the original piece in C major (C, D, E, F, G, A, B). The original chord
progression and melody are also kept the same. Excerpt 2 is to display my ability to adapt a
piece of music into another style or genre, acting as the second step towards converting this
piece into a Salsa style.

Excerpt 3: In the third excerpt, I had used what I had learned about Afro-Cuban music/Salsa
music and applied it on top of transposing the piece into a parallel minor key, allowing for a
combination of both the piece being in a parallel minor key of C (C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B, C), and in
the style of Salsa. Instrumentation of the Salsa genre was utilized in this piece, as the Montuno
piano, the clave rhythm, and Afro-Cuban percussion/rhythms were added as well. This is the
final step of converting a song into a Salsa piece, as the chord progression is also transposed
into a minor key, and a variation of the melody is also played in a minor key.