The Art of Acapella

Around November last year I auditioned for and joined my uni's Acapella group. We get together twice a week to sing a wide repertoire of songs (just not choral/classical). Most of the time we sing old classics like Bon Iver and Simon & Garfunkel. Yesterday our Acapella group took part in the London Acapella Festival from 10am-7pm, and intensively participated in workshops designed to better our vocal skills. There is no way anyway can give you a satisfactory set of tips to better your voice in hour long sessions when they have no idea what kind of voice you have, but they did provide us a good summary.

There was one workshop on music arrangement which I found particularly inspiring. The speaker was Christopher Diaz of the podcast Mouth Off, who gave us a very refreshing approach to music arranging. Rather than thinking of scores and notes etc, he advised us to arrange based on feelings. Depending on where we are, what we are feeling prior to writing, what we FEEL like getting out of the original track, we will all produce very different interpretations.

For anyone wanting to do arranging, a basic understanding of music theory is crucial. This automatically implies that the main difference of what makes a good arrangement and a rubbish one does not lie in how deep your knowledge of chordal progressions and triads are, but of how capable you are of delivering a feeling. I'm pretty sure I have written on this very blog in the past that music is an art form, and if it evokes your senses, then it is a successful piece of art. And there was Diaz on the stage, saying exactly what I believed in. He told us, who cares what methods you used to arrange the track. At the end of the day if your listeners like what you did, you did well and your method was a good one.

His particular method was listening to the song over and over, and jotting down the main lyrics/bass lines he wants to pick out from the original. From there he would think about the lifespan of the song, ie techniques the singer could use to bring out the places that need accentuating. When I heard this it really rang a bell because when I make remixes, this is exactly the way I go about doing it. I listen to the original track and pick out bits I want to expand on and bits I want to give a different feel to. In our acapella rehearsals we sing to each other and work out the best ways to deliver the songs together. Everything is trial and error, but at the end, it always works out.

In the talk he also emphasised the importance of singers singing together in acapella groups. Not just singing together but a real tacit understanding of each other, where we know when to start and stop singing just by looking at each other, when to control our vocal projection to compliment the others' voices. There's a lot of science behind singing in unison, for example on average a person's breath lasts around the same time, and so if we sing a note, naturally the dynamics will vary the same way for different people, and when we sing together we should sense when we are all going to finish that note, even without looking at each other.

I first knew about acapella through DBSK when I was around 14, I was just blown away by their acapella version of Whatever They Say:

I was so impressed by how they enunciated the words in exactly the same way, making sure their dictation emphasised the same words with the same level of impact. It's clear that their vocal bond does not only come from practising together, but years of living and understanding each other to know how to sing as a group, and not as a soloist. I watched interviews of them discussing each others' voices, and at the time I didn't think much but now I am even more impressed how much each member knows about the other members voices. From my experience singing with others it's not easy to give all rounded judgments on what you know about voices that are not yours.

Acapella singing is to me the most natural art form. Every person is born with a voice, and fron the moment we were born we used that voice. Possibilities are limitless and you could do so many wonderful things with it. People began singing together ever since civilisation began, and now we have perfected the craft so well it's created the world of Acapella. Some groups blow our minds with technique, eg pretending to be musical instruments as Cluster did in their version of Jingle Bells:

Nothing from what you just heard was made by an actual instrument. It is 100% entirely vocals.

While this sort of thing is amazing, I still think real talent of a group lies in the unison of their voices. When you hear a collective voice that rise and fall together as one, whose singers speak and breathe together down to the last syllabic detail, you can tell straight away whether the singers understand each other well. Whilst it's important to pick singers whose voices SOUND well together, it is ever more crucial to make sure the singers BLEND well together. Successful groups will know how to fit in with each others voices instinctively, and the sound they create is just sensational.

Listen to the way they begin and end the notes so precisely in unison. It feels like one person is singing the song.

After the long day we all chatted for ages and talked about new ways to rehearse. In some ways I'm glad we are becoming so comfortable with each other. I think it's the only way we can understand each other's singing voices: by understanding each other first.

Money vs. Mozart

Early start today and I thought I'd update this barren land as a brain warm up session.

It's already half way through the summer and I've had both fun and regrets. The month straight after exams had just been a total nightmare with having to sort out accommodation for next year. Aside from literally removing the whole of my room from halls back home (believe me it was like an evacuation mission), I've painfully endured roughly 30 days of 8am mornings trying to get an early start on the letting agency lines. Flats around London go like hot potatoes, and unless you're an aristocrat that can pay up to £300 a week, no hope for you unless you torment yourself a bit.

So finally I've settled on one, frustration finally effaced and out of my system, and it was time to decide on a summer for myself. Unfortunately this year I had no plans on beach trips abroad with my friends/family, so I had to find a way to busy myself until a possible holiday later on. I was initially planning on China or Japan again in August, but it's already 8 days in and I don't even know where my suitcase is. Seems quite unlikely now which is a massive downer for me since I hadn't made plans earlier. In the humdrum of waiting for exam results, I went out excessively around London with no purpose in mind, often adhering my mind to exercise rather than extensive shopping. Not very fancy for a holiday, but it at least obsoleted my original plan of staying at home and watching my weight plummet. Late June/early July saw me touring some fine attractions in London in the okay weather. Strolling around South Kensington/Knightsbridge had become the norm and a late night drink catch up with uni friends was I think time well invested.

Around mid July I wanted to do something actually worth my time so I looked around. Many of my friends landed jobs at the Olympics, which I was not so lucky on since I completely neglected the hiring process last year, so I thought I'd have to look for a part time job too. I have several CVs saved onto my computer, but all proved useless because in the end I never posted them out. A stroll to the huge music place in Brick Lane brought me to the the massive advertising wall at the back of the room, with masses of adverts posted by aspiring musicians wanting to form music groups. I had a good long read, and in the end sieved out two attractive projects. One was a 'The Xx' styled 2 man band needing a vocalist, which was not very experienced, the other a string trio with an on and off pianist, looking for another violinist. I contemplated on whether to sing or to play, and ended up choosing the string quartet. I've never done this sort of thing before, calling up strangers and going for a tryout, but it turned out pretty well.

Much more info in a future post about our amazing quartet, but we've achieved a lot in the last couple of weeks. I remember the first couple of sessions where we were breaking the ice were kinda awkward, so we chatted a lot on what we hope for and really got nothing much done. Now we're serious about this Mozart piece and also writing our own piece together. My early morning today is actually for this purpose. In the past weeks I've had to write a lot of music and since I haven't touched music theory for ages now I've had to devote a lot of my time and work really hard. Experimenting is easy, but writing it down isn't simple, partly because I only have the virtual piano on my iPad to work with and one violin when the music is for 4 people. And often the stuff we each come up with will clash and we'll argue about which bits to keep and which to shed. Honestly I've stressed out quite a lot but we're slowly but surely making progress and starting to sound pretty decent.

I'm happy, but there obviously comes the problem of Asian parents who complain that I'm having too much fun and need a proper job that pays a wage. Internship wise I managed to brag myself a short one with the help of my past mentor (won't disclose details due to security issues), so my parents are finallyyyy not nagging me about that, but now they want to see me working and making a contribution to my future rent. Sagacious thinking and all, but honestly? I'd rather stick to my music this summer. I chose maths over music for uni, so I at least deserve this bit of fun over the summer when I'm supposed to be NOT doing maths. I guess for my parents doing music does not produce tangible results like money so they think I'm wasting my time, but to me every note in that Mozart piece is worth more than a measly hourly wage. Writing and playing music, remixing tracks into dawn and going on Tumblr with a cup of tea for a break is to be a good investment of time and excellent substitute to a day of shopping in Milan for example. For one you learn more things than you'd ever imagine, be it mistakes or a breakthrough riff you randomly came up with. Even though your ears maybe buzzing by the end of the day, the satisfaction of loading your own produced track onto your iPod for a first round of sound checking is just indescribable. I try to balance it with going out too. It'd be a lie to say that that gives me inspiration at all, but at least an excursion will clear my mind and destress me for my next rehearsal. With the occasional Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, spot of shopping in Covent Garden, stroll along bankside and late night drink up with uni friends is a perfect way to spend this summer in London. I think. However secretly I know that my parents hoped that I'd land myself a job ASAP and pay for a holiday abroad. That would be nice but I'm farrrrrrrrr too lazy. But I've taken their suggestion and will actually send off some of those prewritten CVs sometime soon.

I've realised the lack of photography on the blog recently, but I'm sorry I just don't take pictures when I'm working. But I'll keep that in mind. For those of you curious on which Mozart piece, here's the 1st movt:

The Ragged Priest + Remix I made last month

Before I start, a little update about life..
I FINALLY SETTLED ON A HOUSE FOR NEXT YEAR!

the place is massive, with 2 floors, and spacious kitchen and long balcony
i'm sharing with 2 friends, I've already started fantasising about how I'm going to decorate it, how to position the furniture and how I'm going to have massive sleepover parties.

Because my room can potentially hold like 5/6 people sdjhsdhsghsagh

but anyway

this is actually a continuation from my previous Topshop post

After hours of controlling my hunger I still found myself downstairs not for the shoe section but actually for EAT so I could grab a sandwich, but along the way it was hard not to set your eyes on the 3 racks that were taken up by The Ragged Priest~ so many studs and tie dyes everywhere. To be honest, this brand was never my thing, as in, I can't see myself wearing it nor can I see myself buying it. The idea was a bit superficial, no exciting core concept, the 'handmade' thing is interesting but the quality isn't to die for. But I don't know I still sort of like it, afterall it's a successful brand :)

So being the pauper I am, I just took in a million pieces to the changing rooms to sneak pictures HOHO

I really like this top, even though it was a bit see through.. I might make it or something haha

the quality of this top is so bad ;A; but the design is nice.. however I didn't like any of the punk metal bands on them though..

LOOOOVE this so much, it's so warm and pretty, really considered buying it, but it was £50 ;~~;

some weird medieval tunic thing that looked so ugly on me but I tried it anyway :)

I just googled The Ragged Priest's summer look, not sure what I feel about all the pastels and cliche dreamy looks (I hate the wigs) but if it's something you're into, check out their website :)

http://www.theraggedpriest.com/

On to music!

Around a month ago I made a jazzhop (not really lol) remix using some tracks from some of my favourite artists. It's old news now, but I don't think I ever blogged about it... Anyways, here is the final work and also the original tracks I used :)



Originals:

Consider My Love - Kenichiro Nishihara (ft Pismo)


Kondor - Tribute to Nujabes


Alva Noto - Uni Rec


Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Trioon I


Right now I'm working on a dream pop instrumental (which was actually supposed to be a remix of Twin Sister's 'I Want A House', but I cba isolate the vocals or cover it with my own voice haha)

I'm got a great intro sorted out already, but the body is taking me so long because I had planned to use a lot of tracks by Toro Y Moi (Lissoms and Blessa to be precise) AND instrumentals by Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie Xx, but my intro has a bass riff and drone in a different key which I want to keep. I've tried so many things and I still don't know what to do, but hopefully something will work pretty soon. In the morning I actually remembered a Kuramoto piano track that might work.. haven't tried it yet but I'm lazy and I was watching Up..

But when I get it done and get it reviewed I will obviously post it here :)

ciao xx