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So for our solo performance that we did for our second to last project, me and Ruairidh performed Now That You're Gone, which was the original song that Ruairidh suggested that we record and perform. Originally, we were originally going to do our cover of Twenty Flight Rock by Eddie Cochran, but we switched to Now That You're Gone as it was a song that Ruairidh could keep in time to as that was something that he tends to struggle with. Overall we both enjoyed performing in front of the class, and we will hopefully strengthen our skills more for the Mash House performance in 3 months time.

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So in Jess’s class we were handed questionnaires regarding our live performances and we had to write down what we think went well and what could be improved own, I’d say I made some fairly decent evaluations here.

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I put this short piece of horror music together using LogicPro.

Most of the instruments that I've put into this piece are typically what you'd hear in a classic horror movie like a piano being played on the lower keys or a creepy drone bass in the background.

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So today I'm going to talk about what makes up a good Christmas song

The key and the feel of the song:

This can be one of the main factors that can make a really good Christmas tune, most popular Christmas songs have been recorded in a major key which can show the happy sort of tone the song is setting for the listener. The feel of the song is also an important factor, a lot of Christmas song tend to have extra instruments playing in the background such as sleigh bells or church bells. There are some examples of Christmas songs that don't tend to have the main sort of instruments that can make up a Christmas song that still keep the feel of it being a Christmas related song. A good example of this is Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee which was recorded in 1958. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7QPZti18Dk&list=RDg7QPZti18Dk&start_radio=1

The song of course still has that rock sound that was popular then, but at the same time it still keeps that same Christmas feel to the song which in my opinion makes it an excellent Christmas tune.

The Atmosphere of the song:

A lot of big band and orchestral Christmas songs that were done by musicians such as Frank Sinatra Dean Martin and Andy Williams tend to have a really atmospherical sense to them, now that the instrument quantity is a lot more larger, there's much more going on in the background and it feels way more atmospherical. A really good example of this sort of style would be Let It Snow by Frank Sinatra which was recorded in 1950 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km-Nlo5bgCQ&list=RDKm-Nlo5bgCQ&start_radio=1

The lyrics and storytelling:

One of the absolute necessities of a good Christmas song are the lyrics, they're the part that mainly makes a Christmas song what it is, most lyrics in Christmas songs mostly talk about being all cosy by the fire next to the Christmas tree or going outside in the snow. Some songs go as far as telling stories. One pivotal example of this is Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer by Gene Autry which was recorded in 1949. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_hcT51Fo-8&list=RD44bL90HP0Ys&index=2

The song tells the story of Rudolph and how he came to be, and it has forever remained on of the most famous Christmas song of all time.

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Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (1958)

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So today I put together this short Christmas theme using Logic Pro. It's got a sort of jazz inspired groove to it with a descending sequence that is pretty common in a lot of Christmas songs. The instruments that I used for this are Piano, Upright Bass, Sleigh Bells, Church Bells, and a solo featuring a saxophone. I feel like I could've done a better job at improvising the solo but then again piano isn't exactly my forte. But other than that I think I did a pretty decent job on this piece.

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The performance that I've chosen for my presentation is Lonnie Donegan's performance of the song "Puttin' On The Style".

Song Background:

"Puttin' On The Style" was first recorded by Country singer Vernon Dalhart in 1925 along with many other recordings of the song that were performed by various artists over the years.

Lonnie Donegan first recorded his iteration of the song while performing at the London Palladium on the 9th May 1957, and by the next month the song had reached number 1 on the UK singles chart where it remained at number 1 for a month

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For my 2nd live performance on the course with the band Van Swish, I'd say it went pretty well. While there were some improvements that needed to be met, we could all agree it was good enough for our 1st performance as a band together as we all equally worked hard on making both Revolution and Open Your Eyes sounding good for the people to listen to.

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When we had finished performing our two songs, we went backstage to do a band interview with Jess who was recording the interaction for us to put up on our padlets.

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Writing down sentences to see if any of them could work well as ideas for song lyrics 25/11/2025

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Writing down sentences to see if any of them could work well as ideas for song lyrics 25/11/2025

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Something we were tasked to do in Jess's class today was try and write down a sentence, it could literally be anything and then we were tasked to write down another sentence using one of the words from the previous sentence. Then were were tasked with writing down,

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This absolute bop of a tune was originally written by Ruairidh. We both decided to record the song for Project three and we think it turned out absolutely fantastic and it's arguably the better tune over the other song we recorded. Ruairidh had written the song near the end of the previous semester, and he wrote the lyrics that showcased the positive aspects of what you could do after a messy breakup. During the early stages of recording, we were worried that it wouldn't turn out as good as Twenty Flight Rock, but we were quickly proved wrong after we played the finished track back and it sounded fantastic. The main instruments that we used for this track were guitar tracks for the rhythm and lead sections, an electric bass, a synthetic snare kit that I played on the keyboard, and hand claps for the solo. When we finished the track we were more than confident to perform the song.

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Me and Ruairidh decided to do a cover song for Project 3. Since we both knew Twenty Flight Rock by Eddie Cochran we felt like it was a good song to record. We started the recording process in late January and by the time February 9th rolled around we had finally finished it. During the song Ruairidh would sing the first half of the song while I sang the second half of it, and for the very last part of the song we both sang the last verse. For our first song that we recorded together it was certainly a pretty decent start

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The song we're performing is revolution by The Beatles

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We've managed to somewhat get the hang of performing Revolution, hopefully we'll be able to nail the song

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So for the band that Im currently in, we've decided to do an original song that I've written called Ain't In The Mood For Love, it was originally going to be the 2nd track for the Project 3 performance but me and Ruairidh changed it out for an original song that he wrote.

I first started writing the song in May of last year, progress on it was slow but I finally managed to finish the song in January. The overall sound of the song was inspired by a lot of song done by Faron Young in the late 50s and early 60s. A good example I can think of is his 1963 re-recording of I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night https://youtu.be/iwLYmNNZKNY?si=risYsVl8yLw5eMOI

The chorus of the song however was a tad bit different, the chorus of the song would have a completely different chord progression which really didn't do well on my vocals, so I switched it out to have a similar chord progression to the verses which was in the key of A Major.

Me and the band are going to perform this song at the Mash House, hopefully the audience will like it.

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I've Got Five Dollars and It's Satorday Night

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Ain't In The Mood For Love Home Demo 05/03/2026

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Ain't In The Mood For Love Home Demo 05/03/2026

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This is a wee home demo that I recorded of my original song Ain't In The Mood For Love. I do apologise for how rough my vocals sound as I was barely half asleep when I recorded this.

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During band practice me Robin and Asher got the chance to do a video performance of my original song, it was a very rough performance but it was still pretty decent nonetheless.