PRIYA
For this project, I chose to do an arrangement of Sweet Home Alabama. I chose this song because I think everyone has heard it so they will be familiar enough with it to notice the subtle changes I made, and I also happen to really like Lyrnd Skynrd, especially the lead guitarist. I tried to adjust the song to sound a little bit more varied throughout by incorporating different instruments and sounds, like the interplay between the Latin drums, trumpets, and electric keyboard, while also preserving the original song as much as possible. I did my best to create two distinct sections, with the verse having a drum beat that is more characteristic of rock music, and a little solo riff on the electric keyboard that was accompanied by the Latin drums. Overall, I really enjoyed doing this project! |
LUCY
For my project, I chose "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." To make it different, I added the chords to the beginning note of each measure and added a loop in the background. I chose the conga drum beat because I felt that it fit well with the song and gave it a more tropical vibe than before. I also slowed down the entire song from 120 to 95 beats per minute because the beat sounded better when it was slower with the track. |
RAIKA
I used "Surfing' U.S.A." by the Beach Boys to create my rock song arrangement. I wanted to make it sound more mellow in contrast to the upbeat tone of the original song, so I decided to play the melody a little slower. I also added a strong beat in the background to add a more "modern" feel to it because many modern music have a strong bass in the background to keep the beat. In addition to the inverted chords, I added a recording of me playing only the roots of each of the chords to make the song sound more firm and "have a bottom", as Ms.Linza put it. While I had a hard time trying to come up with an arrangement because I knew the original song too well, once I started playing the song in different ways, I was able to come up with several different arrangements. |
LAUREN
There were many things that inspired me to create my rock song arrangement. First, I really like the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", so I thought that that would be a perfect song choice for me. I wanted to make my arrangement sound like the original, but of course somewhat different, so I did this by playing the melody on the guitar. I also added a catchy drum beat in the background. The second time I played the melody, I added maracas in the background to give the song a more jungle-like feel. |
CELESTE
When making my composition of Sweet Caroline, I began by learning the melody. I moved the melody up an octave for guitar and wrote tablature so thatI could learn to play it in a shorter period of time. After recording the melody I learned to play and recorded the chords on piano using a repeating rhythm. Then I added a drum loop that fit with the melody and chords and created a mood. The main thing that changed was the mood of the song, which now has a more cultural feel due to the drums and the melody has a very clean acoustic sound from my guitar. |
NIKITA
For my rock song arrangement, I chose the song: The Lion Sleeps Tonight. I used various loops to change the tempo of the original song. My version of the song had a fast tempo and I created three distinct sections for my arrangement of the piece. I added transition points from one section of the song to the other with the different loops. I wanted to evoke a happy and relaxed mood for my song. I did this by adding drum loops along with instruments like the trumpet and piano. |
RAMYA
“The Lion Sleeps Tonight" has a jungle-like feel that has a sort of swing to it. I wanted to add more bass to that beat as well as make it a bit heavier (through a more substantial drum beat instead of a light one and a bass guitar) and more energetic. So, I started out the song with a light, swing feel, using acoustic guitar to create a relaxed atmosphere. Then, I added the “Motown Drummer” beat after a 3 beat transition because it has a similar jungle-atmosphere feel but is still more substantial than the beat of the original song. After, I wanted to surprise the listeners and rapidly change mood and add energy, so I changed the main instrument to Tonewheel Organ, which gives the song more character and sharper edges. I also change the drum beat to “Basic Vintage Break,” which is a faster feel that adds energy to the song. In this section, I also added bass as the harmony to the organ, creating a deeper tone than the original song, and I added a fade at the end. |