Let's make music

Subject: Let's make music
From: GUEST,Leadbottom
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 01:13 PM

How about we do some of the old "folk process" here at Mudcat? First, let's see if there are any ideas out there for forming a virtual band. I was thinking that anyone can participate in a file swap. We will use the files to arrange and produce a song. We will need you to make voice files on your cell phone and send them in. If you play an acoustic instrument, you can record a motif of melody or a chord progression. You can use music writing software and synthesizers. You can write a lyric or develop someone else's lines. You can arrange all this stuff in audio workstations like audacity. You can sample up to five seconds of a recorded sound. If this is controversial, you can record sounds around your house or neighborhood. Pull all of the pots and pans out of the supboards and bang away. What else?

I have an idea for a lyric project. We can use natural voices and also a text to voice converter and the lyric will be a conversation between us and a computer. We can make lyrics that are socially relevant or not. Satire? OK. I'll post some text to voice conversions later.

I spose there will be vatiations on this, so we will have multiple versions floating around.

220630 Leadbottom 0001 F G F


Here is a short mp3 clip of electronic sound. The notes are F G F, but you can manipulate it. Anyone who wants can use this as a starting point. You can imitate it on an acoustic instrument or continue with use of synths. Piano? Anything goes. If you want to talk about theory as we go or folk motifs, OK. It's the Mudcat House Band.

I am sharing using my Google Drive account. I made a folder and am dropping mp3 files in it and posting the links here. Any other ways to do this? It might be good to store all of the files in one place. I guess I'll just number my files. Might be a good thing to put your name on the clip so we know who to refer to in discussing the development of our first song.

Subject: RE: Let's make music
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 01:27 PM

Leadbottom, this sounds like a Mudcat version of Playing for Change. Have you participated in any of the Mudcat Worldwide Singalongs? It started early in COVID-19 and Joe Offer has run then almost every Monday since. Mudcat Worldwide Singaround - On Zoom Mondays!

I hope you get some participants!

Subject: RE: Let's make music
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 01:29 PM

Whozit

time to say howdy
to Skipjack Flap and Apple Pan Dowdy

Skiz the Squeak burped a curry burp
at a banquet of medieval jerks
they stamp their feet and sing along
cuz they were right and you were wronged

Here's a link to my folder.

There's a text to voice covesion files there. I'm going to play with the pitches of the voice so that it might sing.

Subject: RE: Let's make music
From: GUEST,Leadbottom
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 01:31 PM

Thanx Stilly River Sage. No, I didn't know about the singalong. Well, this might be something different because we are going to write, arrange and produce the music together. We can compare the two methods once we have produced something.

Subject: RE: Let's make music
From: GUEST,Leadbottom
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 02:25 PM

Stilly River Sage - I took a look at that thread for the singalong and believe that these projects are substantially different. Are there recordings of the Zoom meetings for us to watch?

Subject: RE: Let's make music
From: leeneia
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 02:37 PM

I'm afraid that most of your methods are Greek to me, but see this new thread:

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=171430&messages=3

where Will Fly describes doing just what you suggest.

Subject: RE: Let's make music
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 03:55 PM

I think individual participants have recorded the meetings. If Joe looks in on this thread he can give you an answer.

Subject: RE: Let's make music
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 04:00 PM

We've had some wonderful singing at our weekly singaround, but the consensus was that we shouldn't record the sessions. We do allow individual singers to record their own performances, but we do not record the entire session.
If you'd like to join the Singaround, the best thing to do is get on the email list by contacting me, [e-mail]

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Let's make music
From: GUEST,Leadbottom
Date: 30 Jun 22 - 05:01 PM

OK, Joe, I might want to do that in the future. But, for now, this project is altogether different. That will become apparent as we get going.

It's OK if we sound awful. The idea is to build a conglomeration of lyrics, singing, rapping, harmonizing, writing and composing. It's a sort of exercise in the folk process, since the music will be made by the Mudcatters as a community - similar, but not quite the same to the old days of community music & song making.

For instance - You can take that electronic sound I filed and record a traditional folk song over it with your voice, using the pitch as a jump off point. If you don't like the electronic sound, it may be ommitted in one of the versions that this whole project will be diverging to. We are going to be doing all kinds of wild stuff. We will be changing the lyrics, the melody, the instrumentation. You do not have to use what is posted literally. Or you may do that. That's why it's a process.

So, I've posted some lyrics and used a text to voice converter to get a comuterized vocal. You can use the lyric and sing it with your voice, if you like. You can use only a word or a line if you wish and develop a better couplet or a whole different verse.

You can communicate your melodic ideas using musescore software or tyrn your cellphone on and record it with your piano. Anything goes. Eventually something interesting may emerge out of the chaotic mess that we are going to make and a New The Beatles is born!