Task 1 solo performance

Introduction

For this study / task ive been tasked with taking four songs or enough for 12-15 minutes worth of music to play. I Have to take covers and change the genre of musi they are played like for example , changing a rock song into the style of jazz. I have to show of this aspect from how different i can make the song from the original. I also have to show of the changes in my instrument for example it has to be shown of from the vocals for me but the other aspects are important aswell.

Options and ideas for artists

Elvis Presley

Ive fought to do some music by Elvis because of his vocal styles, for example his vocals are so different its alot easier to change to normal and sound completely different if i sing it in my own voice and then use aspects of different genres. I also fweel that his music isnt to complicated and can be extremely up beat in some senses. But he also has soft songs that the lyrics are extremely emotional and also meaningful. If i was going to do a elvis song it would iver be a rock n roll song or a very much relaxed song.

The comitments

This isnt a original band they play covers and there not a band actually intirely there actually a band made for a movie about soul music however they change the style of the songs massively. I would love to do one of there songs but simplify it massively foor eample guitar and bass and drums instead of a full band this is a key choice but not sur how much work i would have to put into it for it to work.

John Mayer

I was thinking of doing a John mayer song for the fact that mine and his vocals are very similar so i wont have to transpose the songs when changing them. If i was going to do a song like this I would be probably changing the genre to a upbea song. For example something like rock or metal. The only downside of this is that the songs are extremely difficult to play on guitar so i would have to colaberate with someone who can play at john mayers level which means im relying on a small amount of player in the music group or building that is and if there not ble to do it we have a huge problem.

Mr Pitiful the Commitments

Introduction

Im going to turn the soul song mr Pitiful into a jazz song. The version im changes is the commitments version as it is very popular the only different is ity has different vocals and a large band. The way im planing on doing this is by changing the drum beat keeping. ti off beat although adding a swung aspect giving it the style of jazz im also going to make it a lot more of a softer song compared to the original but am going to try to incorporate solos to the song meaning it has that aspect of improvisation with jazz. Im going to mainly focus on changing the vocals as it is my instruments for example this song has husky / belting vocals so I've decided to make them a lot more soft and more full notes making it less husky. The reason being jazz doesn't really use this style of vocal techniques.

Song Choice

I decided to pick this song as i have a good understanding of it and it is from my favourate genre of music soul and this genre has similaritys to the genre i am changing it to make sure i can show of my creativity for example adding a different drum beat and even changing entire instruments parts becaise overwise it cant match the music im trying to play. This song is very much up beat and makes you want to. one and dance and ive decided to juxtapose this to make it slow a carming meaningful song to show of the lyrics and try tyo make it a more foughtful song instead of just a dancey song. Mr pitiful was originally recorded by ottis reading and steve cooper in1964.

Genre changing

In this extract im going to be talking about how im going to blend soul music into jazz style. The forst thing i did was look for similarites to the two genres and opposits. i had done some research before hand to show i wasnt just making this up on my opinions and bellow is what i had descovered about both genres and there simillaritys and oposits. As you can see there was more opposite compared to things in common which is good but what also helps in the fact that there were also similar aspects in boths genres this means i now have a starting poing and can focus on them to use as a guide for the opposites which will be a bit more complicated and hard. Ive noticed that with this piece im going to have to use extended chords making them even more complex. I was also going to use a gospel style vocals with a mix of jazz as it will work better wirth the music and will make the changing of the genres easier. I also going to try to changes the vocals whick might effect the octives and structure in which they are usually sang.

example

How to turn any song Jazz

In this video the man turns the song let it be into a jazz song. He uses 6 different ways in which he does this. For example they start of only showing a little bit of jazz and the last one changes the song completely making it extremely jazzy butr like i said changes the song completely. he starts of by just adding single notes to the chords putting a slight jazz feel to the song which is what im going to start with. Im going to try to also change the melody and tempo of the song to help show the different aspects of jazz genre.

Unchained Melody Elvis Presley

Overview

I plan on turning unchained melody into a country song im going to go of the elvis presley version, the reason being is I have to change the vocals structure and techniques used in the songs completely to have it match country and the biggest challenge is changing the pitch as elvis sings at a extremely low vocal range. Although he does actually have a high vocal range so if i put his music in a higher pitch then it could mean that even though the lower parts of thew vocals are ok when he exceeds upwards it means that im not able to hit such a high note. I also picked it because i am able to play the guitart which means im only going to have to ask for help from a fellow student on the piano parts odf the song as they are very much morre experianced than my piano playing.

song choice

I picked this song because i have loved the song for many years both the brothers version and especially Elvis version and i took inspiration on how Elvis turned the song his own so i decide to change the song by adding a lot of different aspects for example i want to add jazz and also rock aspects to the song and change the vocals completely sand add new instruments to the song and make it completely my own. This song also is very much guitar and piano imlotant so it means i only need to focus on changing these two instruments the most. I also feel that as it is quite slow and simple i don have to change a complex song to simple them make it my own and complex again so half of the hard work i dont have to d which means i can experiment straight away. And this songs voals are extremely maning ul which means i can change it to many genres like i could also add a aspect of soul to the list of genres im using. A lot of people say this song is so meaningful as it is one of the las songs Elvis sang live and people say the way he played was as if he known as there was so much pasion coming from Elvis hen he played the song which you an see in the video to the left.

Genre changing

Ive used a mixture of genres that i want to incorporate into this genre but im going to mainly focus on the vocal side of things to show of my talents. Ive also decide that when im going to be hanging the song i am going to transpose the song down to B as it allows me to be in my range easier which means i can experiment with he song a lot easier than the song before. My plan was to use aspects of rock and possible jazz and blues. the reason ive picked this song and this genre because the song is very much three instruments based so i means i have to do less work as a whole and the instruments are key for the styles of genre im trying to change. For example the piano is were i can show aspects of jazz and blues and i can show rok though as a idea distorted guitar possibly. My first fought was get my friend kyran whos a guitarist to play the song but use distortion so i can hear hat it sounds like.

Practice

I started of by learing the whole song on piano and being able to sing along even though i might change it completely i fought this would be a good idea for me to get a solid starting point and change it from there. I then also learnt part of the song and the majority of the piece on guitar as well to see wether it was is my level of playing which it was. I didnt learn the song entirely I just learnt the chords as i dont need all of the extra aspects as i will just hae to remove them and strip it down to the chords I first looked at changing the tempo and possily speading it up for example the chords in the verses are played for 4 bars but the chords are struck twice in that time so instead i play the chords one in two bars then change.I also added fill in notes for example when moving from the c chord to the g chord adding in the note ibetwen played on its own showing that jazz vide to the song and also making it more full on its own. I also just experimented with repetetive stricking and also using a call and respojce style and im thinking of switching inbetween.

wondering why by red clay strays

Overview

Ive decide to turn the song wondering why into a rock song as the original is a slow country song howether it has fast spoken lyrics so i fought i could change the vocal timing and style completely In the song it uses three guitars drums and a basses so i fought i would ask kyran to record each individual guitar part but only play what i tell him. This song has a very softning and relaxed vibe to it and it has alot of meaning as it is about a girl. This song is a very good song for me as im able to reflect alot to it as ive played it in my out of college band so i already have a good understanding of how to play aspects of the song. I also know as the vocals are sang so uniquely im abled to change it to the style of rock.

song choice

I decided I wanted to change this song for multiple reasons one being the style i want to change it to is so different but they still have aspects of one and another which means i wont struggle to much. I also now i will have to hange the vocal techiques used and the structure completely as i plan on changing the structure of the song and the tempo it means i cant sing as fast as he does overwise it will be like trying to rap which isnt the genre im trying to incorperate. This band are known for country music and rock and roll so i felt that if i was able to to incorperate the rock aspect i could make something not only good but very unique for this kind of song and style.

Genre changing

Ive decide as this song is extremely soft and relaxed were as the vocals arnt im going to turn it into a rock song with aspects of blues. My reason being is i can tell as the vocals are extrmely powerful in this song and it uses three guitars i know i can experiment with this massively. For example one can be playing blues riff and the other aspects of rock and maybe one aspects of soul or maybe a john mayer vibe and then a mixture in the vocals. I was thinking of speeding up the instruments and changing the vocal techniques used for example holding and sustaining notes. And maybe add some vibrato in the vocals . I was going to focus on the chords used in the bass line and instead plucking them actually ringing the chords out and then playing lower sustained notes after using the contrast of both sides of the bass. I feel like if the drummer uses more fills i wouldnt have to change to much apart from the tempo.

Rain Teskey Brothers

Overview

Im going to make the song Rain by the Teskey brothers in the style of rock an roll, I plan on singing the lyrics at a higher rate but trying to keep the husky aspects of the song for the vocals. Im going to add a twelve bar blues to the song as well as the band is already seen as blues i dont need to change much for the guitar. I might have to change the tempo of the song drastically for the genre changing as im going to have to sing to a completely different tempo and rhythm due to using a twelve bar blues a rock and roll isn't slow. Im going t have to use a different tone on the guitar as the one used is very clean and i need to change that to make it more chunky like the song. Parts of the song the guitar is picked and so im going to add parts there to make sure it ]s more up beat. I also plan on making the brass aspects a lot more jumpy but used for the same amount of time Giving it a sam cooke vibe using aspects of soul as well.

Song choice

I picked this song as it is very simple with the amount of instruments and its a very soft song to play. I also picked this song because it is beautiful but wonder what it will sound like as a up beat song. Im doing this not only for this unit but personal wonder as im in a cover band and i love this style of music but its to soft for the music we play so im going to see how it sounds in a different genre and we focus mainly on playing rock n roll music as well. I also feel like this is a way bands become popular by putting there own swing on songs making them a kind of genre and i believe this song has a lot of potential to not only sound amazing but get people dancing. I also believe i can do a lot with these chords shown as they aren't all minors.

Genre Changing

I fought i would start with the guitar chords because even though they aren't extremely prominent they are one of the key aspects of the song especially for making it the genre it is. I believe if i can add some extended notes to the chords and use a completely different strumming pattern it will change the song completely and if i use octives to make it like its walking then it will make the most amount of sense. Im also going to change the lyrics rhythm however i'm going to also keep the husky vocals but tone it down slightly. My reason being is to keep that vocal style you need to elongate the notes which i now cant do as im changing the tempo and rhythm.

Conclusion

Ive been able to get the four songs im going to play and also have a good idea how im going to change the songs and some songs i actually have a good idea on how to achieve my goals with the songs. I have also been able to explain how i have tried to take my plans and put them into use with the song unchained melody. I also talked about why i picked these songs and also how i believe that the songs will work in the genre im trying to make it sound like.

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