Writing He Left Early Morn. Working with People from different backgrounds and translating ideas in a group.

September saw the start of our working together as a group, looking into creative practices and ways of making music. We used the first few weeks to learn about each other as musicians understand our goals as a group. Working with new techniques to produce ideas allowed us to better understand peoples strengths and musical personalities. While we produced a piece during this period being unaware of each others backgrounds (mixed in with a bit of timidness) it is my belief that this piece was integral to our development as a group however arguably not our best work. After this we started work on a new piece, which was to become He Left Early Morn, a soul inspired song about a lover leaving before the narrator had woken up. I am focusing on this piece as I believe it showcases us working together as a group the best. It was interesting for me as I had to translate mine and other peoples ideas in ways I had not done before, as I hadn’t worked with people from these different backgrounds before.

With this piece we were given more freedom to create whatever we wanted. Coming from a jazz background Harmony is one of the most foundational parts of any piece of music for me. This means that in my writing process I tend to start with the changes and then move on to the other aspects of the piece. I took this to the group by writing a progression in F minor. We started with a I^–7, IV^–, VI^∆7, V7 chord progression, which then developed by adding a repeating turnaround at the end. This is where we ran into our first challenge as the different backgrounds of people dictated how we communicated these ideas, not everyone was familiar with Jazz chord symbols. We overcame this in a number of ways. First for the members of the group who learnt mostly by ear we recorded a track of just the chords for people to play over and learn. Then we translated the chord symbols to standard notation for the classical players in the group, so they could understand the notes we were using. For my own reference I wrote down a chord chart (please note the chord chart attached has been rewritten for ease of reading).

Melody was another area where our processes differed. We had to understand each others processes and how to integrate ideas with the group. My Jazz and Blues background means that improvisation  is central to my musicality. For my peers they had not had the same experience as me either being used to solo songwriting or playing music by classical composers. This was made evident to me when Chloe, a peer on songwriting, said that she often doesn’t come up with melodies and lyrics on the spot but instead figured them out in private. Incorporating this into our process we discussed the different influences we could see in the parts we already had. We identified similarities with Amy Winehouse, with the chord progression and feel of the track being akin to her track Back to Black (Winehouse, 2006). The next week Chloe came back to the group with an initial melody and a few lyrics, the first of which, and title “he left early morn.” of the track being influenced by Back to Black directly. This melody continued to develop throughout the weeks. However in the last couple sessions Chloe was unable to make it and as a result I had to step in on Vocals as a result I was forced to improvise the lyrics.

Developing the structure of this piece was an iterative process. We knew from the beginning that it would be a Jazz/Pop inspired piece and in keeping with that style a simple structure was likely to be used; lending itself to the short time we had to write it. With this in mind we discussed different options, thinking we would eventually have a chorus/bridge at some point. I have attached an image of the proposed chords for the chorus. However we found this to be incongruous with the rest of the song, opting for a strophic form harmonically. We created variety between sections by tweaking instrumentation, feel and shifting the focus. The full structure can be seen on the attached image, below the chord chart. We decided that that a live and improvisational feeling should be carried out throughout the piece, keeping idiomatically aligned to the Jazz tradition. We were able to achieve this by knowing the form very well (this is easier with a strophic form) and having people drop in and out or change dynamics throughout the different sections. For example we started with a softer intro with a sparse instrumentation and a small solo, this contrasted the later full solos where the full band was playing, helping us to create an exciting development throughout the song.

It is evident that this piece in particular gave me, and I believe the group as well, an opportunity to develop our skills in all areas. We were able to focus on the different components of the song and leverage our own backgrounds to aid the writing of the song. For me the biggest learning experience would have to be working alongside people with vastly different backgrounds to me. As stated throughout I was constantly learning, and figuring out ways to communicate the ideas I had and process those of my peers. I believe this will help me going forward as I will be able to continue to work with more people and collaborate on a wider range of projects, not just the Jazz, Blues and Pop ones I am used to. I hope this will give me more opportunities to challenge myself as a musician and step outside my comfort zone.

Bibliography

1. Winehouse, A. (2006) Back to Black. London: Island Records.