SONGWRITING
REWRITING-REINVENTING THE WHEEL IN THE SKY
By huskybones
Hello all you music enthusiasts. I want to talk to you this time about making new music from old music. Go grab your favorite CD, tape or (gasp!) record, pick out a tune that you really love and let's take it apart and look inside. Then we'll put it back together with our own parts just like Mr. Potato head or Dr. Frankenstein.
Why? Well I'd say that there are two reasons. First, to break out of our current ways of thinking. The second reason to take music apart and try to piece it back together is to learn what makes it work. To learn it in a deeper way. Did you ever take your toys apart as a kid just to find out where the sparks came from or what made them go? Sure ya did. And besides a spanking and a pile of toy parts you probably got some new information for your effort. Additionally, part of the focus here is to find out how to fit ourselves into the inner workings of music.
Remember that this is just a learning tool and may or may not see its way into a performance but who knows. I use three versions of this idea.
1. Rewrite just your part out of the tune (bass, guitar, drum etc.).
2. Rewrite the tune in a different feel or style. As in a country version of War Pigs.
3. Write out the lyrics and rework it from there.
Here are a few examples. The first idea is the easiest of the three at first glance but it's tougher than it looks. It's tough because we want to play the tune like our hero did but the point is to play it like ourselves. As you'll see the first step in this reinventing process is a very close inspection of the part that's there. We'll need to know it better than we did before. Find out what makes the part sound good and pattern your new part after it. We might ask where it begins and ends. Does it repeat and if so when? What is the key, basic rhythm etc.? How does the part move the music along? How does (insert your hero's name here) use "space" in the part? Are there places where the whole band plays the same rhythm or line? Identify elements that you'd like to keep in and introduce your own note choices, rhythms, lines and/or patterns. If it's distracting to have the other part playing at the same time, have a friend play or record one of the other parts so you can hear how it sounds with your new part.
I'm not planning on any long discussions of music theory in this article but I will say that if words like "key", "chord" or "scale" make you nervous then find a good teacher and get a handle on the terminology. Don't get hung up on the theory cuz that's t he simple part. In the meantime and always, use your ear as a guide. Keep in mind that this is just for your learning and the "thought police" aren't going to bust into your room and haul you away. Don't be afraid to be original.
For rewrite version two I'm going to use a tune called "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. change the style and/or feel is kind of a subtle thing so the first step is to get a feel for how to define a songs' style. I'll save the whole topic of style for another time but some of the elements to look for are instrumentation, strong rhythm placement, patterns, favorite scales/chords and tempo. Now with these parts identified in our chosen tune, we begin the operation. Pass the scalpel please. Instrumentation is obvious I mean if you blow "Feelings" on your kazoo, your version will definitely sound different from the original. listening to the original Van Morrison tune I hear an accent on beat 1 and the "and" of beat two. So we might change the rhythm to make it more straight and slow it down or throw a one drop reggae beat in and take it another way. Something else we could do is to change the chords (I-IV-I-V) to dominant 7ths and do the tune in a blues style. Throw out Van's melody and let Nina Simone take over. She's a blues singer if you don't know. I plan on making it a common practice in my band to work up some cover songs from chord charts without lyrics or a title. I want to let everyone stretch out and put their own personality into the music. Then learn the song and see what kind of combinations happen. I think I've made the point with this one. "Nurse!...."
The last scenario is kind of an extension of number two and might be a bit radical, especially if you really, really like that song. Start with the lyrics and the form verse/chorus/bridge, and make it up from there. Reinvent the harmony, melody, feel and the different parts. We might make the Van Morrison tune into a minor tonality. Here's an idea. Play the chords in the harmonic minor scale (1m-4m-1m-5M) and sing Van's melody in a minor key. If it doesn't seem to work for you remember two things 1) It may not work-in fact it may suck! and 2) it's supposed to be different. Think of it as something new. If the difference really bugs ya then write your own lyrics. Guess what? You and Van just wrote a song together.
Remakes can be heard all the time on commercials, movies and radio. Listen for what wasn't changed (besides the lyric of course) and what was. Listen for how the individual elements of style affected the song. It's a good way to broaden your horizons and get hip to the sound of reinvention whether in the form of a small change or a radical revision.
Once we begin to think "outside the lines" and be creative, our own personality begins to come to the surface. So your Mr. Potato Head might look like Barbara Bush on the left side and Howard Stern on the right and that's all right. It's all about learning making it your own.
Well until next time, have fun with yer spud!
-hb
MUFON
REWRITING-REINVENTING THE WHEEL IN THE SKY
By huskybones
Hello all you music enthusiasts. I want to talk to you this time about making new music from old music. Go grab your favorite CD, tape or (gasp!) record, pick out a tune that you really love and let's take it apart and look inside. Then we'll put it back together with our own parts just like Mr. Potato head or Dr. Frankenstein.
Why? Well I'd say that there are two reasons. First, to break out of our current ways of thinking. The second reason to take music apart and try to piece it back together is to learn what makes it work. To learn it in a deeper way. Did you ever take your toys apart as a kid just to find out where the sparks came from or what made them go? Sure ya did. And besides a spanking and a pile of toy parts you probably got some new information for your effort. Additionally, part of the focus here is to find out how to fit ourselves into the inner workings of music.
Remember that this is just a learning tool and may or may not see its way into a performance but who knows. I use three versions of this idea.
1. Rewrite just your part out of the tune (bass, guitar, drum etc.).
2. Rewrite the tune in a different feel or style. As in a country version of War Pigs.
3. Write out the lyrics and rework it from there.
Here are a few examples. The first idea is the easiest of the three at first glance but it's tougher than it looks. It's tough because we want to play the tune like our hero did but the point is to play it like ourselves. As you'll see the first step in this reinventing process is a very close inspection of the part that's there. We'll need to know it better than we did before. Find out what makes the part sound good and pattern your new part after it. We might ask where it begins and ends. Does it repeat and if so when? What is the key, basic rhythm etc.? How does the part move the music along? How does (insert your hero's name here) use "space" in the part? Are there places where the whole band plays the same rhythm or line? Identify elements that you'd like to keep in and introduce your own note choices, rhythms, lines and/or patterns. If it's distracting to have the other part playing at the same time, have a friend play or record one of the other parts so you can hear how it sounds with your new part.
I'm not planning on any long discussions of music theory in this article but I will say that if words like "key", "chord" or "scale" make you nervous then find a good teacher and get a handle on the terminology. Don't get hung up on the theory cuz that's t he simple part. In the meantime and always, use your ear as a guide. Keep in mind that this is just for your learning and the "thought police" aren't going to bust into your room and haul you away. Don't be afraid to be original.
For rewrite version two I'm going to use a tune called "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. change the style and/or feel is kind of a subtle thing so the first step is to get a feel for how to define a songs' style. I'll save the whole topic of style for another time but some of the elements to look for are instrumentation, strong rhythm placement, patterns, favorite scales/chords and tempo. Now with these parts identified in our chosen tune, we begin the operation. Pass the scalpel please. Instrumentation is obvious I mean if you blow "Feelings" on your kazoo, your version will definitely sound different from the original. listening to the original Van Morrison tune I hear an accent on beat 1 and the "and" of beat two. So we might change the rhythm to make it more straight and slow it down or throw a one drop reggae beat in and take it another way. Something else we could do is to change the chords (I-IV-I-V) to dominant 7ths and do the tune in a blues style. Throw out Van's melody and let Nina Simone take over. She's a blues singer if you don't know. I plan on making it a common practice in my band to work up some cover songs from chord charts without lyrics or a title. I want to let everyone stretch out and put their own personality into the music. Then learn the song and see what kind of combinations happen. I think I've made the point with this one. "Nurse!...."
The last scenario is kind of an extension of number two and might be a bit radical, especially if you really, really like that song. Start with the lyrics and the form verse/chorus/bridge, and make it up from there. Reinvent the harmony, melody, feel and the different parts. We might make the Van Morrison tune into a minor tonality. Here's an idea. Play the chords in the harmonic minor scale (1m-4m-1m-5M) and sing Van's melody in a minor key. If it doesn't seem to work for you remember two things 1) It may not work-in fact it may suck! and 2) it's supposed to be different. Think of it as something new. If the difference really bugs ya then write your own lyrics. Guess what? You and Van just wrote a song together.
Remakes can be heard all the time on commercials, movies and radio. Listen for what wasn't changed (besides the lyric of course) and what was. Listen for how the individual elements of style affected the song. It's a good way to broaden your horizons and get hip to the sound of reinvention whether in the form of a small change or a radical revision.
Once we begin to think "outside the lines" and be creative, our own personality begins to come to the surface. So your Mr. Potato Head might look like Barbara Bush on the left side and Howard Stern on the right and that's all right. It's all about learning making it your own.
Well until next time, have fun with yer spud!
-hb
MUFON
