Funky gospel

Howdy,

I haven't posted music in a while, and thought I'd put up a little something that I worked on today (well, actually now it's yesterday mostly ;) ).

One of our kids' Sunday school teachers had some lyrics to what was supposed to be a "rap", and she asked me to come up with some music for it so it would be easier for the kids to learn. I really enjoy gospel and some versions of funk, and this piece sort of came together in a funky gospel flavored arrangement, though it's not exactly "authentic" (as afficiandos of both genres will find) to either.

The vocal part could use a lot more filling out to be reflective of a really good gospel choir, but I tried to keep it pretty simple as a kids' arrangement. I might work more on it at a later time to get a good choral sound. And I'm sure you brass players will have something "constructive" to say about my brass parts (and please do - I have this week to polish this thing up and make a recording for the backing track ). But here's the version as it stands now. I've been using my Chaos GM soundfont, so I'm not sure how it'll sound on each person's system. But you can find out

<center><table border=1><tr><td>Funky Disciple .not
DiscipleRap done.not (177.0 k)</td></tr></table></center>

<center><table border=1><tr><td>Funky Disciple .mid
DiscipleRap done.mid (20.6 k)</td></tr></table></center>

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

It melds into a nice sound, for which the brass writing is responsible in no small part. For some reason, I am getting no sound from the electric piano preset, so I listened with the standard GM voice oohs and synth voice, then choir aahs, which sounds best. But I am surprised that kids can sing that low. This is the first thing I've heard in which the brass section preset sounds legitimate, and that is due to your use of it, I'm pretty sure. I still wonder if there wouldn't be more depth using trumpet(s) and trombone(s)? That 'section' preset always seems to be more tinny than brassy.

And finally, the piece is going pretty well with my late snack, which is a fudge brownie heaped with Cool Whip.

all best,
mgj

Hi Sherry,

And another "Funk Star" is born!

Nice job! I never heard you do funk before. You ain't no slouch, gal!

One very quick way to add depth and power to the brass part would be to simply copy it and add one trumpet staff and one trombone staff and paste the copied brass part to both. Then lower the trombone staff an octave. You could then delete some of the redundancy, but it's not really necessary.

The hard way would be to go to www.gary0001.com and check out Gary's use of brass ( 4 trumpets and 4 trombones using full chord harmonies ). He sequences a lot of Mark Taylor arrangements and he is incredible. I used the introduction to "Cherokee" as an interlude in the drum and bugle corps medley I did earlier. I want to take it out eventually, though, because it isn't mine. I download a lot of his stuff just to learn some of his techniques.

You should write more funk. You really did a nice job!

Cheers,
Fred

Howdy guys,

Thanks for the tips on the brass - I'll have to try the "trumpets/bones copy and drop" method Fred. That sounds easy enough I also tried the above link to Gary's site, but got a "problem loading page" error. Is the link above correct?

I also need to add in a "groove" bass line, to complement the slap "hits" that are already there, but the drum line is so full (that was the foundation of the whole thing) that I haven't done that yet, and may not. We'll see how I like the sound (and how my kids like the sound), and how much time I have to mess around with it in the coming week

If anyone wants to take it and mess around with it, and then post the edited version, feel free. I'll give you credit in the church bulletin for collaborating

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,

Oops! My mistake. It should be www.garyw0001.com. I left out the "W".

I would be glad to mess around with Funky Disciple, but I have to go to Baltimore tomorrow for a few days, at least. I would not be able to make your time frame. That would be a lot of fun, though! I really enjoyed our last endeavor.

Just for kicks, here is Gary's "Cherokee". His Sax sections rock, too. He is awesome. Crank it up!!!

Cheers,
Fred
<center><table border=1><tr><td>
cherokeej.mid (183.0 k)</td></tr></table></center>

Howdy,

Fred, just listening to the bass line in the first half of the song at tempo in the "Cherokee" piece made my fingers sore What a great arrangement! And yes, I did crank it up!

Given the horn section that he has, this next installment is going to seem really lame. But you guys have to remember, I've never taken an honest to goodness music lesson in my life, my only brass instrument is a pennywhistle, and I couldn't even read music notation at all til I was 34 years old "Excuses, excuses" you say - and you're right ;)

I beefed up the brass section a little bit, and I messed around with adding an organ part, but decided not to do it for now, because I wanted to keep the rhythm part out front for the kids to be able to follow for practicing. So, here's the next iteration:

<center><table border=1><tr><td>Funky Disciple more brass
DiscipleRap brass work 2.not (209.3 k)</td></tr></table></center>
<center><table border=1><tr><td>Funky Disciple more brass MIDI
DiscipleRap brass work 2.mid (20.1 k)</td></tr></table></center>


I'd love to have some of you guys mess around with it and add (or take out) as you see fit, and see what we come up with. I did get the practice CD made for the kids, but the "real" performance won't be for another month or so, so if you guys (and this means anybody!) have some changes to make, I can include them in the "final" version. The kids should be solid enough with the practice version to have all kinds of goodies thrown in to the "performance track" version

ttfn,
Sherry