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Grade 12：EDM Music Sharing

March 13, 2023

During the assembly on March 10, Ronald managed to introduce to the whole grade a new kind of music that is less known - Japanese electronic dance music (EDM). What makes this genre different from most other kinds of EDM is that it puts more emphasis on instrumentation, as well as complex chord progression to spice up the melody. It typically contains a strong lead (a high-pitched sound) for the main melody, as well as a more consistent bass and drum beat. Usually, this kind of music is heard inside of rhythm games, where individual artists send their works and are granted access to getting their music to be played in these games. Even though most composers in this major category are from Japan, there are also individuals from Hong Kong, South Korea, even England.

For example, Ronald played two different music videos, one coming from Cytus, where the main melody was more classically oriented, containing a static tempo and putting emphasis on the overall effect of instruments working with each other. In the end, this piece became one of the lasting pieces on Cytus, surpassing in popularity and even being known outside of the rhythm game community. The other piece, called Bamboo, is on the polar opposite. It consists of rapidly changing tempo, a high-pitched yet fitting female vocal, as well as multiple drum beats to emphasize the importance of bamboo. It has no solid structure, no basis for composition, yet it is still a really popular song, mainly due to how the premise behind talking about bamboo is in a music video.

These pieces mostly get recognized in the annual event BOF, which stands for BMS of Fighters. This is a competition where individuals (or groups) send pieces of their work, alongside an animation of the work, and its corresponding BMS score. Then, votes are cast to determine the winner. Currently, one of the most popular years for BOF is 2018, which is considered the most competitive and high quality year of Japanese EDM there ever was. By learning more about Japanese EDM, it opens up new opportunities to appreciate different genres of music, even those talking about bamboo all the time.

(Written by 12(6) Ronald Cai Picture by G12 Media Group Supervised by Menglei Wang Reviewed by Qian Zuo)