Dance: Practice

What Practical Preparation Did I Do

The goal for this brief was to create a remix of an existing song, so my main preparations involved listening to music within the genre to familiarise myself with its features. 

What Musical Preparation Did I Do

As mentioned above, the brief was to create a remix, so there wasn't really any musical preparation that could be done, just listening to music of the genre and researching features that are common in the genre. 

How Did My Band Develop The Song

We chose to remix Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, as we felt the mix of the older, rock song and the dance genre could provide a unique perspective on the brief. We used the original song as a sample, chopping it into small parts that were repeated over sections of the song. Other than this, we composed the rest of the song ourselves, including the drum and bass parts. 

What Role Did I Take In The Band

We used Cubase software for the task, which I am not at all confident in, so I didn't contribute as much to the actually making of the song, usually sitting back and learning from the others whilst contributing many of my ideas. 

What Kind Of Performance Was This?

Our goal was to create a remix of an existing song to send to a dance producer, along with a pitch about the ideas involved in our song.

What Were The Stylistic Traits For My Other Band Members?

We made use of a four-on-the-floor drum beat, extremely common within the dance genre, as well as using synth voices to create a bass line for our song. Our song featured short, repetitive riffs, which were also syncopated, creating a very catchy song overall. The samples were also used quite heavily, forming most of the melody parts within the song.

How Did We Decide Our Aims And Objectives

When we got the brief, we first decided on what song we would remix, and when we made our decision, we started the track by creating a drum beat. We then added chords and instrumentals to the track, laying a foundation for the melody, which we created with a mix on synths and samples from the original song. After the song was created, we started on our pitch, in which we all took responsibility for 1 slide each. 

Two Examples Of How I Listened To The Opinions Of Others

The song choice was not mine, we all came up with our own ideas at first, and I wasn't entirely convinced that Eleanor Rigby would work for the brief, but I ultimately listened to the ideas of the others in my band regarding this choice. I also listened to other people's ideas on the arrangement of the piece, as my band mates had some really good ideas on how the song should flow. 

How Was The Order Of The Arrangement Decided?

We started with a build-up in the intro, introducing the song slowly and gaining more traction into the next part, where we added more motifs involving the samples from the original song. After this small section, we added a part were one of our vocalists sang the lyrics of Eleanor Rigby over the track, allowing for a softer melodic section of the song, which is swiftly contrasted with a largely sampled section before returning to the first section and fading into an outro. 

Videos of Rehearsal