# data[].attributes.body
I think this intro is better than it was in the practise video as not having the drum sticks keeping the rhythm in the background whilst the bass line kicks in makes the bass more pronounced and it feels more professional. When the keyboard section came in it sounded ever so slightly off pitch and that may be due to wrong notes being played but also because the riffs being played may not have fit perfectly so if we got the chance to play this again I'd go over the keyboard part and double-check it works well with the piece. Another improvement I would make would be to split up the vocals during the verses as having all four vocalists sing the same thing at once can sound pretty cluttered and song can become overpowered. I think what would be best is to divide the lines so each person has their own section and that'll make the lyrics clearer and the song better to listen to. The breakdown/bridge section needed work as the transition from the chorus was quite blunt and it didn't really flow. This was probably down to not enough practise of the transition as we mainly practised the bridge and the rest of the song separately. Something that would've made the transition smoother is if we'd elongated the final note the vocalists sing and on the keys to mask over the sudden change in the bass riff. I thought the vocal harmonies during the bridge worked well and really built up the finale effectively. Also, the increase in tempo and the way the instruments were played during the bridge built up the ending of the song well and had the effect we wanted. However, with that said, the overall ending to the song was very abrupt, sudden and just seemed unpolished. It felt as though it was lacking something especially because the drum just stopped and didn't even let the cymbals ring out or anything. I think a better way to have ended the piece would've been to let the drums ring out and then have a cyclical structure so we'd end with the same bass riff that was played at the beginning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
QS17 3  FUSION WORKSHOP  OWN STIMULI 2  ROOM 4 6.11.17

# data[].attributes.body
We wanted the Blues inspired theme to stick throughout the lyrics as well as the music so we used call and response in the chorus as it was commonly used in Blues Work Songs originally. We had every vocalist sing the repeated word "I" and then individual vocalists sang the line afterwards. This choral singing also links to Gospel music which is a genre of music that evolved from Blues so still links to our theme. We were also inspired by Gospel music as it contains a lot of vocal harmonies so during the bridge section the singers repeat the line "Karma's gonna get ya" and as they overlap their voices they also harmonise like Gospel songs do. Also, the use of abbreviated words and slang like "gonna" and "ya" is inspired by Blues music as a lot of their lyrics can contain typical slang as it was a genre that originally was sung by lower class communities so this was a key part of their vocabulary and gives the genre it's authentic twist. Straying from Blues slightly, we were inspired by Celtic Folk music too as they have a lot of repeated vocal chants with no lyrics to act almost as a vocal riff. We included our own version of this at the start of our song by singing the "ah" together and overlapping the melody with harmonies which is also inspired by Celtic songs as they use harmonies a lot.

# data[].attributes.body
To stick with the theme of having a very Blues inspired, rock song, we got George to play the electric guitar which is a typical Blues instrument and we set the tones of the amplifier to be clean and raw much like a guitar in a Blues song would be. Because the other main instruments are a bass and the drums, we wanted to make sure the counterpoint between these two was strong and catchy much like how they are in reggae songs as they're also key instruments in this genre. Also like reggae, there's a strong walking bass line which is played throughout the song and acts as the main riff. To compliment all the low frequency instruments, I played higher frequency notes on the keyboard and created a Latin Pop inspired riff that went up and down in semi-tones and had harmonised notes in it. This was effective as it broke up the lower pitched notes and gave the song more dimension. I also changed the sound of the keyboard by clicking the instrument button so it didn't sound like a classic piano as it didn't fit with the Blues rock style piece. Therefore, I changed it to a more electronic sound which again was inspired by Latin Pop music which often has techno/electronic sounds in it too. We then wanted to have a bridge section that slowed down a lot to give it a more reggae/ska feel. To do this, we cut out all instruments apart from the bass (as it's one of the most recognisable and important instruments to this genre). We had the bass play a slow riff that has ornamentation (a Blues note) in it but we didn't exactly structure this section instrument wise as we wanted it to be partly improvised like many instrumental parts of Blues songs are. Then, we had the drum beat kick in but this time it's a lot slower than it was through the rest of the song to fit in with the slower and Reggae inspired tempo. We had the drums play a Blues and Jazz inspired, slightly shuffle, beat that includes a lot of high-hat to compliment the low, gruff bass riff. Also, the drummer used a technique of cross-sticks to play this section which was inspired by Reggae music as they use this skill a lot in Reggae music. On the keys, I play another semi-tone changing riff that's on the higher pitched keys and sticks with the Latin Pop inspired feel. We decided this bridge section was going to speed up as it went along to link it back to the original tempo from the rest of the song so it didn't seem like two completely different tracks.

# data[].attributes.body
We wanted this song to have a heavy bass and strong drum beat because we wanted the stimulus to be something dark and possibly angry and thought this would compliment that well. We were inspired by Blues music for the stimulus as a lot of there traditional songs were about hardships people face in their life and overcoming them. They can be very dark and hard hitting as well as uplifting. So we decided our stimulus was going to be a cheated relationship and being the victim of cheating and wanting revenge. We wanted to tell a clear story through the lyrics and have the song told from a first person perspective. We were inspired to do both these things by Blues music and Celtic music as both these genres tell stories through their lyrics and that often means they're in first person.

# data[].attributes.body
Truman Brain (drums), Will Smyth (Bass), Me (Georgia Bué-Smith, Keyboard), George Clements (Guitar), Jessica Tinker (Vocals), Jade Marvin (Vocals), Daniel Goodwin (Vocals) and Kirsten Mather (Vocals).