The main objective for this project is to be able to write a song, to do this we are aided by the skills we have learnt in our previous project. We will be working in teams of three to complete our song, we will work on all aspects of the song through online due to lockdown.
Week 1
To start the song me and my group thought the best way to tackle building a song was to start with the foundations. So we came up with a chord progression and also a structure. The structure of the song we came up with is; Verse/ Chorus/ Verse/ Chorus/ Bridge/ Verse/ Chorus. After deciding upon a song structure we immediately began thinking about what chord progression we could use for the song. Before we thought of a chord progression we had to pick a key for the song, this would determine the songs mood and tone. the key we picked was G major, because it is a simple key, yet has a happy tone and has a good mood for an up beat song. The first chord progression we came up with was for the chorus. The chord progression we agreed upon was; G, Bm, C, D. We thought this would be a great chorus because, of it’s catchy and good feeling sound. We then came up with the verses chord progression which is; D, G, Em, C. Finally we were on the song structures last part to make a progression to, this was the bridge. Bridges usually have a strong contrast in chord progression and arrangement to the rest of the song. There were multiple ways we could tackle the bridge, but what we decided to do was play one of the chords for a whole bar and the other chords in the bridge would only be played for 2 beats. The chord progression for this was; Em 9(double length), D and C major.
Next week I hope for us to come up with a rough idea of lyrics that will determine the theme we want for the song. I also want us to have a basic melody that we can then all work of and develop ideas for. We also need to start thinking about what we want this song to sound like in the end, considering instrumentation and dynamics etcetera. We want this song to seem like a rock song, which includes electric guitars and distortions pedals to fill the music with a energetic feel.
Week 2
At the beggining of the second week we began to work on lyrics, I started this lesson alone working on a rough write up of some lyrics. I listened to the chord progression of the verse and thought of what moods and emotions it conveys. After some thought I decided that it sounded happy and energetic. So I then had to think of a theme or topic to write about. Being trapped inside the house due to lockdown, I thought why not write about being stuck inside during this current situation. I wanted to write from a perspective of leaving the house during a good day, and finally enjoying the fresh air. to describe the outside environment I looked out my window and phrased what I saw as best as I could. I tried to use poetic techniques such as imagery and metaphors. Here are the lyrics I came up with for a verse.
Lyrics
Its sunny with snow on the ground
On the floor, out the door
The warmth covering my skin
The open Plaines stretching for miles
Left over snow from yesterdays battle
Running free with chains and shackles
The Sun’s bleaching the horizon
Left over snow washing away
The lifeless tress are standing tall
Blankets of tress hugging the ground
The lyrics I came up with need to be changed dramatically for multiple reasons. A few are that they are just a draft and can be improved to sound more professional and nicer. Another reason is that the lyrics don’t really show much structure and pattern as the mostly do. But these things can be easily altered and changed through ideas. Some lyrics may have to be removed to fit the rhythm of the song and melody. At the end of the lesson we also came up with a basic melody to develop, the melody has been recorded and will be developed more. For end of the week I hope to have improved the lyrics to sound nicer and also finish the basic melody of the song.
Week 3
For week 3 we worked more on the melody and the lyrics to try and get a full song to a professional standard. After we had the lyrics and melody we got an audio recording so that we can put it into logic. So so far we have the vocals and guitar chords. Which is the main parts of the song, next we have to get piano accompaniment in the song. We also have to mix it in logic to make it sound better and more complete. The melody we made is repetitive and memorable, we are proud of the chorus because it is very catchy and has a well done chord progression that sounds fluent. Our biggest obstacle at the moment is to get it all into logic and edit it to sound good, and add effects and other extras.
Week 4
Today we were editing the final parts of the song to get a fairly finished product. At this point we sadly do not have the full song for the electric guitar, which is unfortunate as we may not have time to use it anymore. This means we won’t be able to use any distortion pedals as planned. The lyrics get the job done for the song to carry a melody, however they don’t have much meaning or tell as story as we may have hoped. For the final steps in the songs development we need to import it to logic and get some piano parts in there using midi for better more preferable quality. I have composed a very very faint draft on what I want the piano to sound like I the song. I did this through audacity, it has no vocals but only the guitar and piano. However this will change in logic obviously. I have come up with a arpeggio pattern for the verse and chorus, I decided not to include one in bridge so that it contrasts more with the rest of the song. Here is a short clip of the arpeggios I came up with, with the audio file.
I had trouble in the end because of complications, limiting me to production, I had plans for higher quality and more structure. But unfortunately that didn’t work out because of time running out. But here is our final song on YouTube.
Final Song
After finishing the song writing and listening to it I have realised that I am happy with the final song as it is good for a first attempt. The lyrics don’t really tell a story as most other songs do, but that is okay because it is supported by the guitars strong rhythm and chord progression. I didn’t really partake in my role as I should have, which was producer. But because our group had a lot of absences I would often find my self doing others jobs when they were unable to, which I feel kept us at a disadvantage in the project. The melody is very catchy and memorable which means we have achieved success in the ball park as that is what a melody often aims for. The contrast between each structure in the song was good, as we thought about the transitions and how they would work with each other. The verse end in a D chord and the chorus starts with it. So this meant when we went from the verse to the chorus we stayed on the same chord for 2 bars and built tension. This is just one of many reasons I am happy with our chord progression.
However If I wrote the song again I would definitely organise myself more so that I could get more things done in the song, such as think of different instruments and arpeggios etcetera. Overall I would say the song was successful but did not reach the goals we had pictured at the beginning of the project which is unfortunate. But if we had more time we could have definitely improved the production, instrumental parts and even added in some articulation.