This is Christian.
Our band's Google project came to an end on Tuesday when we played a live setlist for our final presentation to the class. The songs played were Violent Sky, Grass and Broken. The latter was written during class and may not have surfaced without the project. We aren't sure yet whether the project will continue into next semester, though I hope it does. We've learned a lot about songwriting and musical mindset, and have become better musicians.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
12/7/11
This is Christian.
Today we decided which songs we'd use for our project presentation, polished and practiced, and made major headway on a new song using lyrics I wrote last night.
Today we decided which songs we'd use for our project presentation, polished and practiced, and made major headway on a new song using lyrics I wrote last night.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
11/13/11
Tomorrow will be the second-to-last in-class project day. We need to decide which songs we'll perform for our presentation.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
11/09/11
This is Christian.
I have one vocal melody stuck in my head, and I think I wrote it. I need to add words and apply it to a song.
I have one vocal melody stuck in my head, and I think I wrote it. I need to add words and apply it to a song.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Progress. 11/1/11
This is Alex. Yesterday was an awesome Google day!
We started out by working on a piece that we began forming at Connor's house last week after school. I quite like it, and it will likely be posted soon in a video or sound form.
After this song, we started up a mellow tune with very tribal sounding drums and slowly picked guitar. I quite like the beginning, and we will be certain to develop it into a full song.
We then quickly ran through a few songs that we know very well, such as "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 and "Firework" by Katy Perry.
Our band teacher, Mr. Matthys, then told us to perform one of our songs for the students who were in the room (around 15 to 20 people). We played our tune "Broken". It was very rough, and we didn't play all the way through, but they seemed to like it.
Also, I wrote a song for Spanish 4 and performed it for the class. It is a simple chord arrangement on the guitar with Spanish vocals. The teacher liked it enough to have me perform it again for our class and a Spanish 5 class (in all, around 40-50 students). She said that my class may possibly memorize and sing the song together, and that she may teach it to students who take the class in years to come.
This greatly boosted my confidence in playing the guitar in front of a crowd, and gave me wonderful experience. I had a great time.
We started out by working on a piece that we began forming at Connor's house last week after school. I quite like it, and it will likely be posted soon in a video or sound form.
After this song, we started up a mellow tune with very tribal sounding drums and slowly picked guitar. I quite like the beginning, and we will be certain to develop it into a full song.
We then quickly ran through a few songs that we know very well, such as "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 and "Firework" by Katy Perry.
Our band teacher, Mr. Matthys, then told us to perform one of our songs for the students who were in the room (around 15 to 20 people). We played our tune "Broken". It was very rough, and we didn't play all the way through, but they seemed to like it.
Also, I wrote a song for Spanish 4 and performed it for the class. It is a simple chord arrangement on the guitar with Spanish vocals. The teacher liked it enough to have me perform it again for our class and a Spanish 5 class (in all, around 40-50 students). She said that my class may possibly memorize and sing the song together, and that she may teach it to students who take the class in years to come.
This greatly boosted my confidence in playing the guitar in front of a crowd, and gave me wonderful experience. I had a great time.
Monday, October 31, 2011
10/30/11
Today we continued writing, and made a minor performance for the class.
Also, I've recently started listening to Motown music.
Also, I've recently started listening to Motown music.
another good old day in the band room
today we had another google day in band today. we came up with some pretty interesting and cool little parts and pieces. Now we need to work on putting them all together. :P
this. is. CONNOR
this. is. CONNOR
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
10/25/11
Continued working on new material. I realized that I can draw vocal phrasing from the poems I've written; this may help with writing vocal melodies.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
More stuff coming along
This is Connor
Sooo, asically, the band has started to speed up a little in the past few weeks. Friendships are tumbling and are being created, sleep is being lost, and a lot of half-progress is being made. Let me explain.
With the friendship situation: A couple friends have tried to pressure me to let them into them into the band, but I wont. Me, Alex and Christian work very well together and adding more people will make it too complicated. One of my friends even started to ignore me for a little bit because of this, but its all better now; he forgot about it.
With creating new friends, I have met a few people who work at the lakewood center, and can let us have our own gigs there!! How sweet would that be!
Sleep is being lost: Ever since finding that we can have our own gig, and that we have to present a few songs to the class, I have been working tirelessly on creating drum fills, guitar riffs, and writing lyrics that pop ito my head. Unfortunately, most of it only comes out half-way.....
We have a bunch of half-songs written that are very interesting and fun to listen to. We just need to get them to be full songs and BAM, we have an album.
Sooo, asically, the band has started to speed up a little in the past few weeks. Friendships are tumbling and are being created, sleep is being lost, and a lot of half-progress is being made. Let me explain.
With the friendship situation: A couple friends have tried to pressure me to let them into them into the band, but I wont. Me, Alex and Christian work very well together and adding more people will make it too complicated. One of my friends even started to ignore me for a little bit because of this, but its all better now; he forgot about it.
With creating new friends, I have met a few people who work at the lakewood center, and can let us have our own gigs there!! How sweet would that be!
Sleep is being lost: Ever since finding that we can have our own gig, and that we have to present a few songs to the class, I have been working tirelessly on creating drum fills, guitar riffs, and writing lyrics that pop ito my head. Unfortunately, most of it only comes out half-way.....
We have a bunch of half-songs written that are very interesting and fun to listen to. We just need to get them to be full songs and BAM, we have an album.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
10/20/11
This is Christian.
We've been polishing our first Google Project piece (now under the working title "Broken"), as well as writing others. We've got some great ideas and a few half-finished songs.
For future reference, songwriting seems much easier with a full stomach; Connor discovered this.
We've been polishing our first Google Project piece (now under the working title "Broken"), as well as writing others. We've got some great ideas and a few half-finished songs.
For future reference, songwriting seems much easier with a full stomach; Connor discovered this.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Getting Ready.
This is Alex.
Today, like most days, I played my guitar after school. Since the PSAT is tomorrow, I had no homework, and I played for about an hour. I created and quickly recorded many new guitar riffs that could easily go on to become full-fledged songs. I also played with tuning, such as going to Drop C, and keeping standard tuning but dropping the bottom E string down to a G. Look forward to many original songs coming your way very soon!
Tomorrow we plan on going to Connor's church and practicing with the professional equipment.
Afterthought:
You know, I could probably entertain myself endlessly with just a guitar. I never get bored with it; I simply run out of time.
Today, like most days, I played my guitar after school. Since the PSAT is tomorrow, I had no homework, and I played for about an hour. I created and quickly recorded many new guitar riffs that could easily go on to become full-fledged songs. I also played with tuning, such as going to Drop C, and keeping standard tuning but dropping the bottom E string down to a G. Look forward to many original songs coming your way very soon!
Tomorrow we plan on going to Connor's church and practicing with the professional equipment.
Afterthought:
You know, I could probably entertain myself endlessly with just a guitar. I never get bored with it; I simply run out of time.
Friday, October 7, 2011
10/07/11
This is Christian.
I've just read a number of poems by Jim Morrison, the singer/songwriter of The Doors. He seems to write disjointed, sporadic ideas; these are often brilliant. I've never been a Doors fan, but am intrigued by these poems and may need to listen closer to his music.
I've just read a number of poems by Jim Morrison, the singer/songwriter of The Doors. He seems to write disjointed, sporadic ideas; these are often brilliant. I've never been a Doors fan, but am intrigued by these poems and may need to listen closer to his music.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The beggining of greatness!
Soooooo, today. I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to do, and I was super exhausted from the week of school, so I wasn't expecting much out of the period. It turns out, however, we somehow all got "into the rhythm" and wrote a song in about 20 minutes!
It started out as just a normal jam sesh, then I said, "hey Alex, play some simple chords." And so he did.
What he was playing just let me get into the rhythm, and I started drumming on the bongo to the beat. Soon after, Christian started singing just straight notes for the melody. It sounded so cool that we decided to start writing lyrics for this new song. WE HAVENT EVEN NAMED IT YET!
So, after we had completed a verse and a chorus, Mr. Matthys came into our practice room and said, "play for me." And so, we did.
He liked it so much! It felt really good to know that what you are making is something people will actually like.
I am so glad we have this google 20% project. It lets me forget all about the stresses at home and at school and lets me just expand my curiosity and creativity with two of my closest friends.
P.S. Click on the link in the post below and please give us some constructive criticism on our rough draft.
It started out as just a normal jam sesh, then I said, "hey Alex, play some simple chords." And so he did.
What he was playing just let me get into the rhythm, and I started drumming on the bongo to the beat. Soon after, Christian started singing just straight notes for the melody. It sounded so cool that we decided to start writing lyrics for this new song. WE HAVENT EVEN NAMED IT YET!
So, after we had completed a verse and a chorus, Mr. Matthys came into our practice room and said, "play for me." And so, we did.
He liked it so much! It felt really good to know that what you are making is something people will actually like.
I am so glad we have this google 20% project. It lets me forget all about the stresses at home and at school and lets me just expand my curiosity and creativity with two of my closest friends.
P.S. Click on the link in the post below and please give us some constructive criticism on our rough draft.
10/05/11
This is Christian.
Today in class, we used our time efficiently. In just over an hour, we managed to write the major content of a song. Not finished yet, but the first draft of lyrics are essentially done. Will practice and post a recording at a later date.
Today in class, we used our time efficiently. In just over an hour, we managed to write the major content of a song. Not finished yet, but the first draft of lyrics are essentially done. Will practice and post a recording at a later date.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
What a Wonderful Day!
Alex here. Today went much better than expected.
During class today, Connor, Christian and myself secluded ourselves in one of the soundproof rooms of the band hall. For about an hour, we worked on creating an original song that we have not yet titled. I played a guitar part, Connor created a drum rythm for both the conga and the full drum set, and Christian wrote a set of lyrics that I consider to be outstanding given the speed and ease in which they were written.
We were able to construct a solid verse, bridge, and chorus, which we repeat as needed. We plan to incorporate a small instrumental section as well. We performed this 'rough draft' peice for Mr. Matthys, who was very pleased and stated that we were making a "perfect Google project." He suggested that we post a video here of ourselves performing the song for everyone to see, which we will do within the next few days when we are able to record it properly. I could post a very rough sketch now, but I do not want to lower the expectations of potential fans.
I learned today that if we sincerely open wide a new song and pour in our musicality, we can easily exceed our previous expectations of ourselves.
During class today, Connor, Christian and myself secluded ourselves in one of the soundproof rooms of the band hall. For about an hour, we worked on creating an original song that we have not yet titled. I played a guitar part, Connor created a drum rythm for both the conga and the full drum set, and Christian wrote a set of lyrics that I consider to be outstanding given the speed and ease in which they were written.
We were able to construct a solid verse, bridge, and chorus, which we repeat as needed. We plan to incorporate a small instrumental section as well. We performed this 'rough draft' peice for Mr. Matthys, who was very pleased and stated that we were making a "perfect Google project." He suggested that we post a video here of ourselves performing the song for everyone to see, which we will do within the next few days when we are able to record it properly. I could post a very rough sketch now, but I do not want to lower the expectations of potential fans.
I learned today that if we sincerely open wide a new song and pour in our musicality, we can easily exceed our previous expectations of ourselves.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Hey everyone, Chocowalla here
Where do I begin? Hmmmm. I guess I'll start with just how EXCITED I am for this 20% project! This project is going to help me and my friends here on this blog grow as musicians and also expand our curiosity. Someone once said "Students start school as question marks and come out as periods." I believe this is because schools force students to learn certain subjects and leave no room for students to learn what they actually are curious about. This 20% project is certainly the start of something big! It will allow students to do WHATEVER THEY WANT! We will grow for sure!Me and my fellow companions here, Alex (Kayute) and Christian (Chicobrohe) Smith have decided that we are going to use our already-created band, Beacon Hill, to our advantage. We are going to all collaborate and finally write a song!
However, we aren't just stopping at that. We are all going to be focusing on different aspects of the song writing/producing journey we are about to embark on. For instance, Christian is going to be focusing on lyrical and song structure, while i focus on recording, mixing and producing!
Hope you liked my post! If you (the reader) have any suggestions or comments, please, feel free to email us at beaconhillmusicemail@gmail.com
-Connor
However, we aren't just stopping at that. We are all going to be focusing on different aspects of the song writing/producing journey we are about to embark on. For instance, Christian is going to be focusing on lyrical and song structure, while i focus on recording, mixing and producing!
Hope you liked my post! If you (the reader) have any suggestions or comments, please, feel free to email us at beaconhillmusicemail@gmail.com
-Connor
Monday, September 19, 2011
For today was established a great thing...
This is CHRISTIAN. Don't you forget it!
"For today was established a great thing, which would pave the way to new invention."
-Christian Smith
I don't know who said the above quote, but he must have been a genius. Oh wait... I think he has another!
"As the class ended, we stared into the vast expanse that was our future."
-Christian Smith
For my "Google project," I am collaborating with my bandmates of Beacon Hill: we are focusing on individual projects that relate to the group whole. As lead singer/songwriter, I have decided to concern my little student mind with the composition of lyrics. I intend to listen to purportedly well-written or meaningful songs, study the phonics of various syllables, read the poems and journals of great songwriters, and put to paper my own various words, which will hopefully find themselves applied to an official song (no way! their very own song?!). I would like to note that I have about ninety minutes in class per month to accomplish this, and realize that my project will be mostly completed at home.
PEACE
"For today was established a great thing, which would pave the way to new invention."
-Christian Smith
I don't know who said the above quote, but he must have been a genius. Oh wait... I think he has another!
"As the class ended, we stared into the vast expanse that was our future."
-Christian Smith
For my "Google project," I am collaborating with my bandmates of Beacon Hill: we are focusing on individual projects that relate to the group whole. As lead singer/songwriter, I have decided to concern my little student mind with the composition of lyrics. I intend to listen to purportedly well-written or meaningful songs, study the phonics of various syllables, read the poems and journals of great songwriters, and put to paper my own various words, which will hopefully find themselves applied to an official song (no way! their very own song?!). I would like to note that I have about ninety minutes in class per month to accomplish this, and realize that my project will be mostly completed at home.
PEACE
The Beginning.
Hey, this is Alex
Today was our first Google day! For my portion of our group, I have decided to study song structure and instrument harmonization. Hopefully this will contribute to our future songs.
I am a guitarist, and spent my day helping two students who had never before played the guitar. I showed them a few basic chords and strumming patterns. My quote for the day: "The best way to learn is to teach." While teaching the guitar today, I went back and re-experienced the most basic aspects of the instrument. I remember the little things that I had forgotten, and I believe that it has helped me further progress my understanding of music.
Today was our first Google day! For my portion of our group, I have decided to study song structure and instrument harmonization. Hopefully this will contribute to our future songs.
I am a guitarist, and spent my day helping two students who had never before played the guitar. I showed them a few basic chords and strumming patterns. My quote for the day: "The best way to learn is to teach." While teaching the guitar today, I went back and re-experienced the most basic aspects of the instrument. I remember the little things that I had forgotten, and I believe that it has helped me further progress my understanding of music.
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