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QS17 2  1 11 17   FUSION  COVER ARR ROOM 3

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Uploaded by lawrence stewart on 2017-11-01.

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After our performance, those of our peers who knew the song commented on our use of keeping the spoken intro and bridge in the song, saying that it kept it interesting and helped the structure flow. They had also said that having some percussion to help keep the timing would have helped to improve the piece and I agree.

In regards to my own strengths in the song, I think that accurately playing the chords on an instrument that wasn't what I would typically play was an achievement. I also played a larger role in the song when it came to the spoken parts, where I got involved in the performance of the intro and bridge.

In order to improve, I do need to practice more on the guitar as it isn't my main instrument.  However I believe I played to an acceptable extent when playing my role in the song as it helped add texture rather than playing bass alongside the ukulele. I think the performance wouldn't have been as exemplary overall if I had done so. A further improvement could have been to use a keyboard perhaps too.

Overall, I think that our cover was a success, as we had performed it in an entirely different genre as tasked and were representative of this in the performance through the lesser use of texture in the instrumentation. Though, we could have potentially further developed the song if given the chance to do so.

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[Spoken intro]
You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini and croquet. You can't swim, you can't dance and you don't know karate. Face it, you're never gonna make it.
I don't wanna make it, I just wanna...

Verse 1
Well if you wanted honesty, that's all you had to say.
I never want to let you down or have you go, it's better off this way.
For all the dirty looks, the photographs your boyfriend took,
Remember when you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor?

Chorus
I'm not okay
I'm not okay
I'm not okay
You wear me out

Verse 2
What will it take to show you that it's not the life it seems?
I've told you time and time again you sing the words but don't know what it means
To be a joke and look, another line without a hook
I held you close as we both shook for the last time take a good hard look!

Pre-bridge
Forget about the dirty looks
The photographs your boyfriend took
You said you read me like a book, but the pages all are torn and frayed

Bridge
I'm okay
I'm okay!
I'm okay, now
(I'm okay, now)

[spoken]
But you really need to listen to me
Because I'm telling you the truth
I mean this, I'm okay!
Trust Me

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D, Bm, Em, A

Played throughout as stummed on guitar, and occasionally picked/strummed on ukulele.

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In the performance, we open on the lines of dialogue seen in the music video to make the piece more exciting and interactive. We then have the chords being played on the ukulele and then bring the guitar in to strum the same chords on the second bar for the first verse. We play through the verses with the ukulele picking the broken chords and the electric guitar strumming the same block chords,  and the two vocalists singing together. The chorus is built up from single strums through the guitar to strumming the chords more frequently. This is repeated, and then we go into the bridge. In the bridge we use single strums that ring out on the guitar and ukulele, and the guitar then drops out for some more of the dialogue as seen in the music video. This is used as a change of pace from the song as all the members of the group interact and have a vocal-based role, including the speech used. Following the dialogue, we go back into repeating the chorus again to build the song back up, and then finish the song on the end of this chorus.

Prior to performing our song, we described it as being a soft pop-rock cover that differed to the heavier original. I feel that we met this criteria, particularly through the use of the ukulele throughout the song, as well as the higher female vocals, and the lack of heavier instruments in the song such as the bass or drums not being used. However, I do think we would have benefited from having the addition of a lighter form of percussion in the song as it would help keep time and further establish the song's structure in my opinion. An example of this could have been using wood blocks, claves or a tambourine over the guitar and ukulele, which i am confident would have helped to progress our performance piece. We could have even made the song more interactive in terms of audience, by encouraging our classmates to clap to the beat in order to keep time which would be equally as progressive.

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A significant development was the use of dynamics and how we responded to this with a different instrumentation to that of the original. To do this, we worked with the use of vocals and having them softer in the breakdown, and both vocalists singing in the chorus together for instance.

Another development was the use of instruments. For instance I swapped out playing the bass guitar in order to play the chords on the electric, and we later added in the ukulele to be used in the song, and particularly the bridge which we wanted to sound soft and simple. The ukulele also played throughout the song alongside the guitar, strumming in the chorus and picking chords in the verses.

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In this week, we were told to take a previously written song of our choice and to change the genre it was originally performed as. For this, we decided to do I'm not okay by My Chemical Romance, and change it from an emo styled rock piece into a soft pop cover. We used an electric guitar, a ukulele and vocals.