16 02 2008 - First Song-writing workshop

Matt Hales (aka Aqualung) inspires a group of young people to help him write and record half a song for Faerham in Harmony to add to their growing repertoire.

You can hear a rough mix of their work here (Fareham in Harmony part 1)

Workshop report - Week 1                                                  

Matt Hales, never having run any sort of workshop before, had asked that the group for the first session should be made up of older young people (11-16) and be relatively small in number so that he could check out his ideas to ensure that they would work!

He had prepared for the workshop by drafting the melody and outline words for a new song that he felt would be suitable for Fareham in Harmony to sing at concerts - and his challenge to this group of young people was to work on the first verse and chorus - and to compose the 'outro' (end bit!) (the second workshop the following week will compose the second verse and add more ideas).  He also brought with him a complete recording studio and set it up at Portchester School.

Having introduced the session and sung through the draft song - he asked if the group thought it would be a good basis on which to proceed - thankfully everyone was in favour so they began work.

They first had to sort out some technical issues - what musical key would suit both the song and the vocal range of the Fareham in Harmony singers?  Several sing-throughs helped them to make a good decision.  Then there was the matter of tempo - vitally important both to decide for future concert performances and, more immediately so that they could record several different musical lines that could be mixed together to produce a professional recording of the song.

The next job was to learn the draft song, sing it through and tweak it to add improvements - everyone joined in enthusiastically and the intro, first verse and chorus began to sound great!  Each component was then recorded - needing several 'takes' to get the right sound and the right blend of voices.  The group began to learn that making a record can be a repetetive process - and hearing their own sound played back to them helped them adjust their performance and enhance the recordings.

Having really got into the song by this stage, the group set about composing the outro - they were asked to contribute words or phrases that encapsulated their enjoyment of music and of singing - and Matt organised these phrases so that they made lyrical and musical sense.  Each individual then recorded their own phrase to add to the final mix.

The last bit was the addition of extra musical tracks - clapping, clicking, stamping, glockenspiel, drums, other percussion, bass guitar - whatever the young people could use to make an intersting sound.  The rythym filled the studio and much hilarity was evident!

So - after 4 hours hard work - what did the group think ...... some comments from the feedback .......

I particularly enjoyed:

• 'Learning the song, Doing my solo phrase, thinking of phrases to sing, recording,n the snack break, EVERYTHING!'
• 'Recording, listening to us improving'
• 'Singing our own bits and being able to play/bring my own instrument'
• 'The recording of the song'
• 'The song'
• 'Listening to the replay to see how we did'

I would like to do more:

• 'Recording of percussion'
• 'Work with Matt a bit more from time to time'
• 'Record more songs that we write'
• 'Do more but with different genres of music'
• 'Add more harmonies and layers'
• 'To work solo and together'

The session might have been better if:

• 'We had more time' (everyone)
  
• 'I had brought my whole drum kit'