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I think this recording went well as everything flowed smoothly and everyone was confident about what they had to play and when until the very end. All the layering of different guitar solos and vocals worked and no one was overpowered as everything was well balanced. Also the buildups worked well, for the beginning and for the final chorus both achieved the desired effect. Overall, the cover was able to keep it's reggae inspired sound yet we were also able to manipulate it and add our own blues and modern pop twist.

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In this video, we do a full run through of the song to see if it all works together and what parts need to be practised in particular before the final recording. The buildup at the start is good, balanced and works well by adding in the instruments at separate points. The harmonies and layered vocals also worked to the desired effect and added dynamics to the music and the narrative. The tempo worked overall as it wasn't too fast to not be a reggae song yet not too slow so it's strenuous to play or sing to. As well as that, the staccato offbeats are clear and accentuated well to give the piece the bouncy feel it needs for a reggae song. However, this video highlighted how unsure and under-confident we still were about when the solo came in and how to finish the piece as the solo came it too early and the ending wasn't as clear or crisp as we'd liked it to be so we need to practise that part before the final recording.

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We (me and Jessica) decided to take some inspiration from blues music when we were deciding on what to do with the lyrics. We decided to add a layer of "ooh"s for the pre-chorus because we didn't want both people singing it as it wouldn't add as much impact when we both sing in the chorus so we decided on having one person singing the melody whilst the other sings background vocals. This as well as the added harmony layers during the choruses and the second verse link to blues music as blues music evolved into gospel music which is well known for having layers and harmonies for added effect on the audience. Also, we decided to turn the section after the choruses into a call and response section which is commonly used in traditional blues music (as well as gospel). Since the same bits are repeated it makes it easy to turn into call and response. We decided to have Jessica singing the call by herself and then the response melody whilst I only sing the response but I harmonise to give it more impact and therefore making the call and response work. Along with singing, me and Jessica decided we wanted to challenge ourselves by playing hand held percussion instruments during the choruses to emphasise the syncopated rhythm and to add more dynamics to the chorus, so there's more of an impact on the listener/audience and the pre-chorus buildup is more successful.

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In this video, we practised the solo, pre-chorus and the final ending. We found that it all flowed nicely and we didn't need to change anything. However, our confidence in what we were doing was lacking and the playing wasn't as smooth as we'd want it. So to improve, we made sure everyone knew when to tone down for the pre-chorus and the cue to come back in again for the finally. We also need to decide how long the outro is and how we want to trail off the music. We also needed to work on the vocals to make the harmonies fit more cleanly and to work on the call and response part after the chorus and whether or not there should be harmonies all the way through that section or just on the response part to emphasise it.

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This is a video of the run through of the solo just before the final chorus. We decided for the solo to add some blues notes so during the end the guitarist (Will) flattened certain notes by a semitone by pushing the strings. This adds extra effect to the solo by making it more interesting with the different pitch changes yet still keeping the reggae rhythm.

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In this video, we were discussing and deciding how to make the ending and the final chorus have more of an impact. To make the final chorus have more of an impact, we decided to tone down the pre-chorus by having the guitars only strumming one chord at a time, slowly and by having the bass only playing the notes of the chords at the start of the bar. Also, we wanted the drums to either stop altogether or only playing a high hat to keep the beat. Then, we'd all come back in for the final chorus which would create the impact we wanted as we wanted the finally to feel like the largest part of the song. We also decided we wanted a small outro after the lyrics have stopped of a few bars so that it doesn't feel like the song just comes to an abrupt stop it has a clear and tapered ending. We decided to do that by having the chords and drum beat gently slow down until they were just strumming the first chords of each bar and then right at the end to have the drummer (Jack) to play a short

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Our first run through of the song was a good base to build off however there was a lot we needed to improve. First of all, we needed to make the bass heavier and thicker as that's one of the main instruments in reggae songs. To do this, Nathan added glissando bass slides in the intro and made the bass sound more fluid by joining the notes and making them more legato. This made the bass more prominent and therefore added a more bouncy feel to the song which is what we wanted as reggae songs have that feel too. Too accentuate the bouncy feel, we decided to emphasise the syncopated off beats by having the keyboard also playing the staccato chords with the guitars. We also wanted to add more variation and layers so we had one guitarist (Luke) to play a solo styled part during the second verse and we also decided we wanted an instrumental after the second chorus where the second guitarist (Will) would have a chance to play a solo. We also wanted to make the vocals more clipped and add more vibrato to fit the melodic and jumpy music. We also wanted to add harmonies to add dynamics to the piece and split the lines so each singer has a chance to sing alone as well as together.

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I suggested the idea of this song because I knew the band's genre was reggae fussed with pop and therefore it fits in with the topic of Fussion Music and Music from Around the World. The band Magic! was formed in 2012 and was influenced by bands such as The Police and Bob Marley and The Wailers. Rude was their biggest hit as it sold over 8.5 million units in 2014, was in the top ten charts in countries such as the UK, USA and Australia and also won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. The genre of reggae originated from Jamaica in the late 1960's, around the same time as the liberation of Jamaica, when the country became independent from British and American ruling. The lyrics are often concerning religion (as a way of hoping and praying), liberation or setting people free. This is because reggae songs were used as a way of spreading information or speaking to many people to raise awareness of certain issues. "Rude" fits in with this lyrically as the lyrics are about escaping with someone you love from judgemental parents, breaking the rules for the right/moral thing, much like what traditional reggae songs are about. However, the tempo of "Rude" is 144 bpm which is considered fast for a reggae song but not fast for a modern pop song, so you can hear the fusion of traditional reggae and 21st Century music. "Rude" also has the recognisable counterpoint between the percussion beat and the bass as well as the staccato, syncopated chords played by a guitar which is common in reggae songs and therefore they are characteristics we will incorporate in out cover.

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Within the first few practises of this song we noticed we were struggling with certain aspects of the piece. First of all, the key of the song was too low for the two female singers (me and Jessica) to sing comfortably however it was the only key the bassist (Nathan) knew how to play the song in and since the bass is such a key role in this style of music we went with the key he knew it in. Also, we found that the original song had a lot of build up in the chorus with brass instruments and vocal effects (that were created and added in the production process). We did have a musician who could play the trumpet (Jessica) but since she was a vocalist for this cover (and her main instrument is vocals) we couldn't have her playing the trumpet in the chorus and therefore couldn't build up the chorus with the same effect and the piece became boring to play and listen to, since we were repeating similar parts over and over. We attempted adding variation during the verses by having the guitars playing different parts but it started to sound too cluttered with all the different layers. We then tried only adding in instruments for the chorus to try and add more intensity to that part however that meant that people had nothing to do during the verses and those sections felt and sounded empty and bare due to the lack of instruments. Overall, we decided this wasn't the right song choice so decided to try Rude by Magic!.

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We decided to try out a cover of UpTown Funk by Bruno Mars first. This song was released in 2014, is in the style of funk and is heavily inspired by 1980's funk music and Minneapolis sound but with a modern twist (other inspirations include boogie music and electronic dance music). It was highly successful as it spent 14 consecutive weeks at number one in the US charts, topped the charts in many other countries (such as the UK, Australia and Canada) and won two Grammy Awards as well as being one of the best selling songs of all time with over 2.5 billion views on YouTube. As I've mentioned, the reason why this song links to Fussion Music and Music from Around the World is due to it's Minneapolis Sound. This style of music is a sub genre of funk which contains elements of synth-pop and new wave. It's believed to have originated from Minneapolis (a city in Minnesota, USA) and became popular in the late 70's/early 80's due to artists such as Prince. The characteristics of this genre are very recognisable and ones that we'll try to incorporate in our cover. Synthesizers are used for a main portion of the music rather than just as background noise so we tried to create similar sounds on the keyboard by altering the settings/voice of the instrument. We also decided we'd try to play the song faster and less syncopated compared to traditional funk music as that's typically a characteristic of this genre. We also decided to have two guitars playing the rhythm, making the bass slightly less prominent (then traditional funk) and increasing the role of the beat/drums as these are also typical features that distinguish Minneapolis Sound from traditional funk music.

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First, we had a group discussion/brainstorm of songs that we think would link to the topic of Fussion Music and Music from Around the World. Our first idea was UpTown Funk by Bruno Mars due to it's 80's inspired funk sound. Another idea was Rude by Magic! as it's one of the most famous, modern, reggae songs that we all know. We also had the idea of doing a song from the band Madness as they are a ska band and therefore are strongly inspired by Jamaican music and also the band Of Monsters and Men as they're from Iceland and could have some Icelandic influences in their music.

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Georgia Bué-Smith (me), Jade Marvin, Jessica Tinker, Luke Eaton, Nathan Whalley, Jack Hose, Will Szmydt