Song Swap Challenge

Song Swap Evaluation:

For our song swap challenge, we were given the task to cover an original song written by a first-year band and a first-year band had to cover an original song that we wrote. We decided to put forward our first original funk song “Conscience Alley” forward for the first-year band to cover. And we covered Benita’s bands original pop song “(I don’t need you)”. We were lucky to have swapped our song with this band in particular because we have almost the same number of instrumentalists in each band which made it much easier to learn the individual components of the song.

Our band decided to use one of our afternoon rehearsals in order to make an overall tutorial video for the first-year band and then individual tutorial videos for each of the other components. We took it in turns to explain what we were playing and then recorded what we were doing on our phones and compiled it into a folder for the first-years to be able to rehearse before the gig. So we did a drum, piano, bass, guitar, lead vocal and harmony tutorial, we also provided a video of all of us rehearsing the song and we wrote down the lyrics for the song too. I believe the information that Novacane provided was accurate, comprehensive and well-presented in a way that not just this first-year band could cover it, but anybody could.

On the other hand, Novacane weren’t provided with just as much information as we gave. We were given a video of the band playing the song together, guitar tab, lyrics and a full cello tutorial (Even though Benita is the only celloist on the course!). There was no vocal tutorial, piano tutorial, drums tutorial or bass tutorial. So unfortunately, this did make the rehearsal process much more difficult than it should have been. So, myself, Jack, and Leila had to learn the song by ear. After listening to the song a few times, we managed to figure out what we were playing and then continued to practice the song until we were sick of it, so we knew exactly what we were playing. I don’t believe that the information that was provided by the first-years was of a high standard, although Benita’s cello tutorial was in lots of detail even though we didn’t need it, which shows to me that Benita is probably the most organised in her band.

Although we weren’t provided with much information for “I don’t need you”, I feel everyone learnt their parts to a high standard and we repeatedly rehearsed so that we were very confident to perform it. I believe that I organised my own independent rehearsal time effectively. In the evenings, when I went home from college, I would find the track on the rehearsal folder we were provided with, connect the video to my speaker and then play my piano and sing along to the track which meant that I was then ready to rehearse the song with my band for the next few days without any complications.

The dynamics between the band during the rehearsal process at first weren’t great because none of us actually liked the song! I think this was because it had a completely different vibe to the original funk songs that we had written. It also didn’t help that we had to learn almost everything by ear, which frustrated us because we just wanted to rehearse without any complications. However, after figuring everything out, and after getting used to the song, we just got on with it. Our band dynamics changed from negative to professional. We rehearsed it until we were completely satisfied that we weren’t going to be nervous for our performance, and this method worked fantastically. In consideration of a role of a session musician, I definitely feel every member of Novacane accomplished the task in a professional manner.

I wouldn’t say that I particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to transfer my skills and knowledge to another musician. During the time in which we were recording the vocal tutorials I was ill so couldn’t show my full potential during the tutorial which was embarrassing! And I found it difficult to explain every little thing I was playing on piano with a camera right in front of me, it made me feel really anxious. However, I did really enjoy listening to the first years performing “conscience alley”. It was interesting to watch a song I had written being played from a different perspective.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first-years interpretation of our song, “conscience alley”. They clearly rehearsed their parts well performed with confidence and had good stage presence! There were a few faults in the song but apart from that I really think it was fantastic. Benita’s and Ellies vocals really suited one another during the harmonies in the chorus although they did miss out a lot of vibrato in the vocals, but I don’t think either of them usually sing soul/funk style vocals. In the original version of our song, I play keys, but it isn’t a prominent feature throughout the song because I sing co-lead vocal on the track, too. However, Rueben played piano throughout the entire song and I really liked his rendition of the song, and how he followed the chords on guitar to match the piano, it made the song sound much fuller, so I will definitely try to use his techniques in that song when we are performing it live at the O2. The guitar and bass were in tune and were in time with one another, however they missed out the drop out section at the end of the second verse which would have been a fantastic opportunity for both Alex and Seb to show off their timing capabilities as musicians. Despite that, they played the chords and bassline correctly, and again played with confidence and had fantastic stage presence.

Individual analysis of “I don’t need you” performed by Novacane:

Despite not enjoying the rehearsal process of this song, I thoroughly enjoyed performing it on stage. I feel everyone learnt their parts and practiced them to a high and professional standard. Ellie sang the main melody in the key of “B” and I sang the harmonies up an octave. I found it hard to sing that high, but I managed it well and believe I sang with confidence. I am pretty sure I was supposed so sing my harmony throughout the entire chorus, but I didn’t in the end because I found it really difficult to sing the harmony over the complicated melody line that Ellie also really found difficult. However, what we did sing, I think fitted well together and sounded good. I think all the instrumentation were in time with one another, like we had rehearsed, and as it is quite a repetitive “chordy” song, we didn’t struggle with this. Obviously, Leila, Jack and myself couldn’t play our parts exactly like the original track, because we weren’t provided with any tutorials or music to follow, but I think if we were given this, then we would have absolutely smashed the performance. I think the audience really enjoyed it and Benita’s band enjoyed hearing us play it.

Overall, I extremely enjoyed the song swap challenge. Not only was it interesting to play another bands original material, but it was also really interesting to have to learn a song and rehearse under pressure to try and get it absolutely perfect. Although we were supposed to be provided with more information from the first years, the lack of materials enhanced my aural awareness when listening to music and recognising chords to play in a short space of time. It was challenging to sing and play a song in a genre that I wouldn’t usually consider or particularly listen to and watching another band perform my song was brilliant!

Here are some photos that were taken of us during the gig:

Here is the video of us performing “I don’t need you”:

Here is a video of us rehearsing “I don’t need you”: