Studio Series

The Songwriter’s Workshop

Sunday, May 21, 2017 at 5:30pm Jenny Hansen Recital Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center

Pacific Lutheran University School of Arts and Communication / Department of Music presents

Studio Series

The Songwriter’s Workshop Jeff Leisawitz, Director

Sunday, May 21, 2017, at 5:30 pm Jennie Lee Hansen Recital Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center

PROGRAM

Call Me Anytime ...... Class Song Melody Coleman, vocals; Ethan Wiederspan, drums Jesse Herinckx, guitar; Gillian Dockins, bass

Hound Dog (Cover) feat. Madison Willis ...... Taylor Rimer

For my cover of Hound Dog, originally performed by Elvis Presley, I wanted to deliver something much more unexpected and new to the song. In order to do this, I decided to change the key from major to minor and slow down the tempo while the vocals (Madison Willis) offered a more jazz-inspired interpretation to the song. All these factors contributed to a much darker, rock/jazz influenced version of “Hound Dog.”

How It Goes (Original) feat. Evangeline Read ...... Taylor Rimer

How it Goes is an original song that details the experiences of an artist who feels inadequate or mediocre in her talents and ambition. The song is an exploration of feeling not good enough to tackle life’s obstacles while learning how to set those negative emotions aside in order to complete the task at hand, and in order to succeed in life.

House of the Rising Sun (by The Animals) ...... Ethan Wiederspan

My main obstacle in covering this song was creating a feeling of escalation. The vocals, which are the focus of the song, have little variation so I was forced to manufacture this escalation using the instrumentals. I did this partially by procedurally adding layers as the song progressed and partially with the use of a counter melody I wrote to give the feel that the instrumentals and vocals were communicating with each other.

Get to Seattle ...... Ethan Wiederspan

This song started as just a drumline, which sounded like the up-beat alt-rock that I like to listen to. As I added more instruments, the tone of the song began to shift because of the slightly melancholy chord progression and melody I had written. The more I added the more I started to feel the “character” of the song. The singer changed from myself to some imaginary lonely street performer and his amateur band who are just trying to make it big and get to the nearest city. When it came time to write lyrics I started realizing I didn’t want to write anything from my perspective and instead wrote from the eyes of the street musician. This was the result.

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (by U2) ...... Gillian Dockins

I chose to cover U2's song I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For because I've always been drawn to the song lyrically for its themes of searching for seemingly unattainable goals such as lasting happiness or spiritual enlightenment. The simplicity of the chord structure allowed for a lot of experimentation in production, and I thought it would be a great song choice for me to use to get acquainted with ProTools.

Medication Mama ...... Gillian Dockins

Medication Mama is a song inspired by my ADD diagnosis at 14 and subsequent adolescence on Adderall. I wanted to capture the imposed drugging that a lot of kids go through and juxtapose it with an adamant refusal to take medication. The production mirrors this thematically as I utilize pitch bending and vocal filters to convey a woozy feeling.

Hermana Norman ...... Jesse Herinckx

Less conventional in structure, Hermana Norman (Sister Norman) consists of only two verses amidst a musical introduction, interlude, and outro. An enjoyable challenge with this song was the incorporation of several tones which, on their own, do not represent any one major element, but when combined, create a distinct texture of sound. In this aim, for instance, I recorded tracks of single acoustic guitar notes, individual harmonic tones on acoustic guitar, as well as the sounds of bells, shakers, and echoing electronic notes. As for the vocal tracks, I sang and recorded each individual part twice, but on different microphones to create a doubled-chorus effect; a technique often associated with the late artist Elliot Smith. I believe the resulting tonality of the vocal tracks lends itself well to the ethereal atmosphere of the instrumentation. Hermana Norman is the first instance of my own work in which I have experimented with this vocal technique.

Too Little Time ...... Jesse Herinckx

For this song, I explored various methods of recording acoustic guitar parts, in a search for differing tones. Namely, I ran a hand-held cassette recorder at the same time that I recorded these parts on the studio microphone, and then played the cassette back into a microphone to retrieve the tracks. Keith Richards, who used a similar process on recordings such as Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man, was the inspiration for the inclusion of this element. A main artistic aim of this recording was to construct a melodic chord progression, but then to deliver the music through more abrasive sounding instrumentation. In this sense, this song seeks to approach aspects of melody and disharmony within the same piece of music.

Alive All Night ...... Jesse Herinckx

This song consists of three distinct sections, in which the introduction establishes a calm mood, but also builds towards the body of the song. There is then a dramatic shift, as the rhythm and force of the instrumentation increases throughout the body, and then concludes by returning to a calmer state. I challenged myself in this piece to use not only vocal harmony, but to construct varying vocal lines that work in conjunction with one another. Another way in which I sought to expand from the tonal pallet with which I normally work was to employ fuzz bass during the body section, for an added level of energy. Furthermore, the lyrics of this song are written in a narrative form, and reflect the dynamics of the music as it progresses. Lyrically and tonally, this piece of music seeks to portray the unfolding of the narrator’s nighttime experience and the resulting effects.

Every Heartbeat ...... Melody Coleman

This song was made for a specific point in my upcoming album’s story. The main character, supervillain Azure Anarchy, joins other villains raiding the night, pledging to change the world order and challenge the hero’s black-and-white definitions of right and wrong. It starts out in the raid, where everything seems to be going more than well, but things take a dark turn when the heroes fight back. I wanted the energy to creep in, so I created a four-part vocal line that leaks in one voice at a time. The track has another component that stays with it through most of the song and becomes prominent at the end – the wind sound. Not only does it help fill out the frequencies, but the meaning of it at the end is an important part of the storytelling: the wind and silence are just as much of the song as the music itself.

Our Utopia ...... Melody Coleman Guitar 1 – played by the amazing Jesse

This piece was also made with story in mind. Much later than the events of Every Heartbeat, Azure is faced with a disheartened and hurting group of villains. The heroic arsenal (which includes giant ‘super tanks’) is about to be unleashed upon them. But Azure rallies them all to fight back, realizing that if they don’t challenge the notion that ‘villains never win’, they will all die. This is her rallying call. For this song, Jeff suggested that I combine my interest in motivational speeches with my music. This was the one. I had two verses to fill and no lyrics, so I created a rap that would become the centerpiece for the story’s turnaround. Also - the weird fuzzy sound? Earbuds plugged into the microphone jack with a tissue rustled over them.