Latin: Practice

What Practical Preparation Did I Do

I already knew the songs quite well, so overall my only form of preparation was finding lyric sheets.

What Musical Preparation Did I Do

I prepared musically by recording my own performance and listening to myself back, ensuring I could hear and correct any mistakes in my performance. 

How Did My Band Develop The Song

We selected a specific version of the Girl from Ipanema, with half of the song featuring Portuguese lyrics as a Latin element. The end of the song features the English lyrics, but I also added clave rhythms on the b sections to add another layer to our rendition. Overall, the structure was very similar to the version we picked. For Red, Red Wine, we changed a lot of the elements to better suit the Latin style whilst keeping the structure of the song the same as the original. These changes weren't very drastic, as the Latin and reggae styles have many similarities.

What Role Did I Take In The Band

Me and my fellow vocalist took equal responsibilities towards the English vocal parts for Girl from Ipanema, but I also look the lead on the addition of the clave elements. For Red, Red Wine, I took less of a lead, just learning the vocal parts independently and following the lead of my band members for the rest.

What Kind Of Performance Was This?

Our aim was to perform a Latin song, for which we chose Girl from Ipanema, but also to change another song that had been performed for session styles to fit a Latin style, and perform that alongside the originally Latin song. We chose Red, Red Wine for this. 

What Were The Stylistic Traits For My Other Band Members?

The vocals in the beginning were sang in Portuguese, linking with the general Latin genre before the songs transitions to the English vocals. The chords used in the song are very complex, with 7th and 9ths being used, and we also used acoustic instruments to keep to the light, jazzy feel of the song. The acoustic guitar was fingerpicked, creating a gentle yet rhythmic foundation for the song. Our drummer also decided to use brushes for this performance, as this tied in more to the Latin jazz/bossa nova genre overall. 

How Did We Decide Our Aims And Objectives

We decided in our first rehearsal to perform the song Girl from Ipanema, as we had to perform a Latin song, but we also chose to perform Red Red Wine, as we had to change a song that someone in the class had already performed to fit a Latin style. After these songs were decided, we learned Girl from Ipanema, ensuring that the song was as tight as we could get it before taking on the task of changing the genre of Red Red Wine. We decided which parts to add to the composition first, before rehearsing the song altogether, ready for our rehearsal at the end of the week. 

Two Examples Of How I Listened To The Opinions Of Others

In Girl from Ipanema, we decided to add an instrumental section, and the band decided to include a son clave rhythm in this section, which was ultimately decided to be my part, which I then took responsibility for. I also had to listen a lot to my fellow vocalists on the allocation of parts, especially as some of the lyrics where Portuguese, which could only be performed by one vocalist. 

How Was The Order Of The Arrangement Decided?

For Girl from Ipanema, we followed the original structure of a specific version of the song on Spotify, ensuring that everyone would learn the same structure in our solo rehearsals. For Red Red Wine, we also stayed close to the original arrangement, just making the structure of the song shorter to fit into the time of our performance. 

Videos of Rehearsal