"Stopwatch" is the third song in this sequence of six within the Album: "Bon Voyage, Good Journey". I wanted to explore a new style to compose for, to develop my compositional techniques in contemporary music. I decided on the sub-genre of Soul and Blues: Funk. One of my aims for the song was to display exciting music that differed from the sequence of songs previously listened to, engaging the listener with a new sound. My overall intention for the piece was to portray a sense of journey through time. This would be conveyed largely through the music. Contrary to my preferred way of composing I wrote the lyrics before composing the musical content. In every other song (including songs 4, 5 and 6) I have composed the music first and then the lyrics to match. I decided to go with this method of invention to develop my understanding of how popular songs are made and explore a new way of composing. This provided a challenge but I later found in the devising process that understanding how the lyrics rhymed gave me the structure for the rhythm of the song. I then began to research successful funk songs. “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry (1976) is a classical example of a funk song that has been successful. This is largely due to the motifs and cross rhythms used in the song. The clava riff centered as the foundation throughout the song is catchy in its simplicity. The riff grabs the attention of the listener and when the other textures begin such as the drum beat, immediately the rhythm is signified. Repetition is also key to the songs success. The audience can familiarise themselves with the beat in under thirty seconds and interest is sustained. Most recently artists such as “Pharrell Williams” in hits “Get Lucky” (2013) and “Happy” (2013) also uses these techniques. The songs are simple in construction but sustain interest because of the riffs. However what became apparent to me was the absence of key changes in these songs. In my opinion this is a very strong compositional technique but under used in this style. Not so however in the Wild Cherry track which does have a key change modulating a tone higher from the original key, in the extended version of the song. I felt this added a fuller texture to the piece, but arrived far too late in the song to add any further effect to the piece. Understanding that these techniques make a piece successful in this sub-genre, I wanted to build on this in my composition and explore new ways to modulate in the style. The bass line in “Stopwatch” carries the rhythm and is the foundation of the song (see score). It is composed in a similar way to “Play That Funky Music” and has a comparable beginning with the drum beat entering after the A7 chord built in the Organ part. I hoped this would achieve interest in the same way as the songs I researched. However I still wanted to compose in an engaging way giving the listener something new, but maintaining the simplicity. I originally thought this would be achieved by improvising many different motifs in the instrumentation to parallel the bass and drum line. I used characteristic instruments of the sub-genre: Electric Guitar (Clean sound), Jazz Organ, Electric Piano (EP) and Electric Clav. But the sound just became too chaotic. Far too many cross rhythms began which became unsustainable to repeat throughout the song. I therefore simplified the motifs in the instrumentation and decided to take the risk and repeat modulation. As the composition was designed on Logic Pro I could take the already composed first verse/first chorus and repeat the section a semitone higher for the second verse/second chorus. I then repeated the modulation again another semitone higher for the instrumental (featuring improvised guitar and piano solo) and then again for the last chorus. Overall the song modulates three times utilizing a technique I believe the research songs should have explored more. This is because I feel the song still has kept a musically simple structure but gains a greater interest as the key changes. This compositional facility also ties in with my original intention. The pauses between the sections portray the stopwatch itself. The recordings of the different alarms/clock sounds were all self recorded. I decided to add these audios to give the song an ident. A sound the audience can instantly recognize with the song. The modulations give the listener a sense a build in tension without having to increase the tempo. Stereo-typically this would have been the assumed technique to match the theme of a journey through time. Instead of using a tempo change I believe the modulation achieves the same feel for the listener. The song finishes on the key of A flat. This is the new key of the next song thus linking the two and continuing the journey musically emulating the album theme.