Hey there!
Due to technical difficulties and Google I could not sign in to the blog as of right now so I am posting for the last "Google Day" we had which i believe was last Tuesday.
On Tuesday Kyle and I got a lot on the project done. It was the most productive and successful day yet. We got farther on the writing of the piece. What we did today was write out the vocal part for the higher reed players and trumpets if i remember correctly. This would also allow the crowd at the games to sing along so they will get really pumped. The great thing about this song is most people know the riff at the least, and it's very catchy so it's perfect for the games. We also were able to finish (?) the bass parts as well as drums. The last thing we need to do is write the buildup section, and write harmony parts for the Sax and Trumpet so we have a huge BANG!! at the chorus. So far it's going good.
-Alec
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Almost Done
On the last Google day, Alec and got down all of the parts for the piece. After the cuts we decided to make the song is about 50 seconds long. All we have now is to actually make sure the parts are easy to play and sound good as a whole. Which means we'd probably have to move some parts up or down then test it with real instruments instead of the finale software.
Since we still have some time before the end of this project, we are considering writing another song/band chant. Although we haven't really narrowed it down at all, "We Are the Champions" seems to fit pretty well with the football atmosphere we have at our school.
-Kyle Chang
Since we still have some time before the end of this project, we are considering writing another song/band chant. Although we haven't really narrowed it down at all, "We Are the Champions" seems to fit pretty well with the football atmosphere we have at our school.
-Kyle Chang
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
First Day...
Hey It's Alec,
Today was the first in class day we got to work on our projects and it was really productive. We had to fish around with some songs in order to find one that people would know as well as the song being available to make an effective band ensemble shift. We started with ideas such as "Still of the Night" by Whitesnake which would be fun to play but is not a very known song. Next we tried "We Are the Champions" by Queen and we thought it would work except for the key vocal part in the beginning where there is just a piano. We thought the effect of the chant would lose a lot of value if we just jumped straight into the chorus which is where the rest of the ensemble would begin. It would lose it's buildup which is essential to the feeling of the song. What we settled on was "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes because it has a serious buildup to get the crowd pumped and riled as well as it would have a very nice ensemble sound. Our idea is to stick with the original idea of the song where it's just low parts playing, then the drums come in with a crescendo, and that would lead to the punch where the high parts blast the crowd with a barrage of awesomeness in the chorus! What i got done today on the writing part of the song was the bass line which can be transferred easily to any other instrument and the drum line. I need to work on the harmonies now and get the crash on the other instruments such as flute, clarinet, etc. So far it's going well.
Today was the first in class day we got to work on our projects and it was really productive. We had to fish around with some songs in order to find one that people would know as well as the song being available to make an effective band ensemble shift. We started with ideas such as "Still of the Night" by Whitesnake which would be fun to play but is not a very known song. Next we tried "We Are the Champions" by Queen and we thought it would work except for the key vocal part in the beginning where there is just a piano. We thought the effect of the chant would lose a lot of value if we just jumped straight into the chorus which is where the rest of the ensemble would begin. It would lose it's buildup which is essential to the feeling of the song. What we settled on was "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes because it has a serious buildup to get the crowd pumped and riled as well as it would have a very nice ensemble sound. Our idea is to stick with the original idea of the song where it's just low parts playing, then the drums come in with a crescendo, and that would lead to the punch where the high parts blast the crowd with a barrage of awesomeness in the chorus! What i got done today on the writing part of the song was the bass line which can be transferred easily to any other instrument and the drum line. I need to work on the harmonies now and get the crash on the other instruments such as flute, clarinet, etc. So far it's going well.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
October 7,2012
On our second Google day, October 5th, we got started on what pieces of music we wanted to make into pep band music. Alec and I shared a few songs that we thought would make good pep band pieces. The songs we discussed were all similar rock styled to songs like "We are the Champions" since those seemed to fit well to the atmosphere of football games. When we were deciding which songs to do, we took into account the difficulty it would be to play it, the catchyness of the song, and whether people would recognize the tune. With an ideal list of songs in mind, we listened to the songs looking for the exact part we could make into pep band music. In doing so, we have narrowed our song list down much more and have started on "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes. For this piece, Alec's familiarity to the song helped him get down a few parts during the period. And since the song repeats multiple times with only changes in lyrics, we are hoping to make the song short enough to be a band chant.
We've decided not to make "Still of the Night" into a band chant because I didn't recognize the music and so I do not think some others would either. If we manage to get "Seven Nation Army" down and still have time left over, I think we could go on to other songs like "We are the Champions." But, it took a while to figure out how to use Finale and to transpose music for all the parts, so the odds of us finishing quickly doesn't seem to likely.
Kyle Chang
We've decided not to make "Still of the Night" into a band chant because I didn't recognize the music and so I do not think some others would either. If we manage to get "Seven Nation Army" down and still have time left over, I think we could go on to other songs like "We are the Champions." But, it took a while to figure out how to use Finale and to transpose music for all the parts, so the odds of us finishing quickly doesn't seem to likely.
Kyle Chang
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