MATTHEW BELLAMY

By: Lithy Flores

BIOGRAPHY Matthew Bellamy is the front man for the

band Muse.

He is a talented musician he is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and pianist.

He is the songwriter for the band and writes most of the string arrangements.

Matthew was born in Cambridge on June 9, 1978 but grew up in Devon, England.

His father was a musican for the band The Tornadoes.

At age 10, Matthew learned to play the piano.

Gained an interest in learning the guitar.

At the time, his parents were getting a divorce so how he “got away” was by playing music.

BIOGRAPHY At the beginning of their band, Matthew

and his fellow musicians, Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme decided to name their band “The Rocket Baby Dolls”.

Entered the “Battle of the Bands” and realized how well they were.

They learned that attitude is just as important as your skills.

They realized that emotion plays an important role in your playing.

At age 18 Matthew Bellamy learned how to write better and to apply emotion in his songwriting.

At this time they changed there band name to “Muse”.

BIOGRAPHY The band moved out of their small town

so that they can perform in bigger cities.

Dennis Smith signed the band.

The bands first label was called Dangerous.

Their first single “Plug in Baby” hit #11.

They were able to try different things for their next album “Origin of Symmetry”.

Matthew’s inspirations for the guitar are Tom Morello and Jimi Hendrix.

Matthew’s inspirations for songwriting is Freddy Mercury.

Had much success in Britain that they started a new American deal.

They have toured to Australia, Canada, USA, and France.

COMPOSITION HISTORY “I Belong to You (+Mon Coeur

S’Ouvre A Ta Voix)” “Exogenesis: Symphony Part I

(Overture)” “Unintended”

“I BELONG TO YOU” Influence of Jazz and Classical.

Has three parts: English, French, then English again.

English part is written by Matthew Belamy.

French part is a French opera by Camille Saint-Saens.

The song was recorded in Milan, Italy.

Album was published by Warner Bros. on September 15, 2009.

Muse is one of Stephanie Meyers influence on the writing of the Twilight series.

“I Belong to You” was used in the sequel of Twilight: New Moon.

The song is piano heavy.

French part gives an opera feel.

“EXOGENESIS: SYMPOHNY PART I (OVERTURE)” Track number 9 on the album The

Resistance.

It is presented as a rock symphony.

Had three songs from the album The Resistance combined into one long song.

Took Matthew several years to write this.

His inspirations was Richard Strauss, Pink Floyd, and Rachmaniniov.

Features an orchestra with 40 musicians.

The song is about the world coming to an end and finding hope for humanity.

The album was recoded at Lake Como, Italy on September 2008- May 2009.

Was released in the United States on September 15, 2009.

“UNINTENDED” This song is number seven on the bands

album Showbiz.

Maverick is the record label and was produced by John Lekie.

This song, “Unintended” was one of the successful songs on the album Showbiz.

The song can have different meanings to the individual.

I think he is talking about a new love that has walked into his life but he can not love her due to the fact that he can not get over his love from the past. He realizes at the end that he actually fell in love with the new girl.

LISTENING GUIDE: “I BELONG TO YOU”

0:00 Intro Begins with piano riff. It is in quadruple/simple meter. Piano becomes crescendo in volume and does glissando affect.

0:24 Verse 1 Verse is sung in a melodic manner. Moving piano rhythm and upbeat tempo of the drums. Synthesized sounds are heard while the piano builds up for the second verse and does a glissando affect again.

0:46 Verse 2 This verse is similar to verse 1 except towards the second half of this verse is accompanied by other vocals singing “ah ah” the tempo and the drums sound a bit faster than the first verse.

1:03 Chorus Begins with “ah ah ah ah” each “ah” becomes forte and longer.

1:27 Verse 3 this verse is more emotional but with very cheesy lyrics. “ah’s” come in preparing for the chorus while the drums do a fill.

1:43 Chorus Same sound as the first chourst but near the end of this chorus the drums descend as well as Matt’s vocals.

2:18 Bridge Bellamy sings in French very delicately with an opera feel. The piano line is with much devotions and gracefulness. The harmony of the drums starts to form and the dynamics starts to build up with nice melodic forte sound. The crescendo by the piano runs forte and fast in tempo.

4:35 Instrumental solo The Bass clarinet was used for the solo. Low timbre and forte sound while the drums and synthesizer play in the background.

5:38 Ends

LISTENING GUIDE: “EXOGENESIS: SYMPHONY PART I”

0:00 Intro Starts with the violins in apreggiated chords in minor key. The harmony is dissonant and grave tempos. As the string instruments continue to play it sounds like they are diminuendo. The drums come in again at a temple becoming moderato forte as the intensity builds up for verse 1.

1:42 Verse 1 Begins with the instruments giving it that powerful and strong feel as Matthew sings in long lyrics. The drums play mezzo-grave tempo while the stings play medium-fast tempo.

2:30 Chorus Sounds very much like verse 1, in the chorus he questions everything, “who are we, where are we, when are we, why are we.” The drums are still playing mezzo-grave tempo.

2:59 Verse 2 Bellamy sings in a hauntingly in this verse while the backup singer sing in homorrhythm. The guitar gives a rock-n-roll sound and the drums start to pick up in tempo towards the end of this verse.

3:42 Chorus In the last chorus the string instruments play as cymbals are heard and the fast rolls of the drums. The string instruments and the vocals descend.

4:18 Ends

LISTENING GUIDE: “UNINTENDED”

0:00 Intro Begins in major key with a melodic acoustic guitar riff and medium-slow temple. The guitar becomes lento and diminuendo.

0:15 Verse 1 The timbre of the guitar increases in volume but remains lento as Bellamy sings. AT the end of this verse some distant dreams synthesized chimes are hears. The melody is conjunct.

0:42 Verse 2 This verse basically sounds like verse 1. The synthesized sounds at the end of this verse are heard more forte than the previous verse.

1:09 Chorus The acoustic guitar is accompanied by a backup guitar and the sound of the drums can be heard in the background. The drums give is a strong feel to the chorus as the volume is more forte and in minor key. Synthesized sounds fade at the end of the chorus.

1:37 Verse 3 The drums present a harmony in major key, while the rhythm of the acoustic guitar still remains low and steady. Soft synthesized sounds fads in and out throughout the verse.

2:04 Verse 4 This verse sounds similar to verse 3 but the lyrics are practically the same as verse 1 except, “you could be the one I’ll always love” from the verse 1 is replaced with “you should be the one I’ll always love.”

2:32 Chorus This chorus is exactly the same as the first chorus but backup vocals are added. Matthew and the backup singers sing more forte. Bellamy is then left singing “ooh ooh ooh ooh” with just the acoustic guitar and fades out.

3:57 End