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I viewed some stuff on youtube and had an idea. I watched 6 different bands perform "RC Cola and Moon Pie". You could recognize the song but each was just enough different that each band put their own small spin on it.

Who would like to do that Real Band style? Let's all do a cover version of a classic and see what kind of arrangement or spin we each put on it. And set a deadline of the end of February.

I vote for Jobim's "Wave" for this exercise. (Though Matt Finley will likely come up with the killer version since that it his genre....) Just my humble opinion but I think that is one of the finest pieces of music ever written.

Who's in?

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there's still the problem of posting material covered by somebody else's copyright, which is strictly against forum rules whether we like it or not.

I suggest that somebody start a private yahoo group and invite forum members to join. That way people can post whatever songs they want and it will not implicate PGMusic in any way.

Don't invite members in the forum, because that could still implicate the forum. Send PMs with a link to the yahoogroup,and people can take it from there

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Good point. Anybody interested PM me. I'll find a home for the uploads.

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another challenge that would be legit for this forum:

It would be interesting to hear songs "in the style of" some well-known band. The trick would be to imitate their style closely enough that it would be obvious who you were imitating... but without actually doing one of their covers

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Would this work if a new song was written specifically for this challenge, with whoever wrote it foregoing any copyright issue? Basically making the new song an open license if you like.

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Hy Pat - your suggestion was interesting
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The trick would be to imitate their style closely enough that it would be obvious who you were imitating... but without actually doing one of their covers



This is the approach used by "the industry" looking for original material on Taxi.com. A la style of . . . . . without actually copying - in the spirit of . . . . so and so.

Just couldn't ignore the coincidence - I mean if someone is trying to write with originality, and the industry is looking for "close" copies, we could all save a lot of brain power.

Cheers - Ian


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I thought it would be an interesting challenge because a lot of people want to show how accurately they can reproduce a cover... unfortunately, we can't post covers.

It would demonstrate the same skill if you can recreate the FEEL of a song without stealing its melody, lyrics or signature licks.


The other approach works just the opposite: you'd keep the melody, chords and lyrics, but change the style , tempo and feel of the song to make it fresh.

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How about picking a public domain song? It's a popular approach. I've got an old orchestration book that uses "America" as it's example, and Nelson Riddle's orchestration book uses "Brother John ("Are You Sleeping") for its examples. "Billy Boy" seems to be the popular choice for jazz arranging texts.

Melodies like "The Water Is Wide" and "Wandering" are public domain. The trick is to find the original lyrics, since often new (copyright) verses are added by people doing covers.


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Well, interesting but how do we find out if a song is public domain? Is there a formula for "number of years after composition" or something? I have never had to check on this before. I can tell you that Wave was done 45 years ago, in 1967.

The only reason I chose Wave as the subject was that I have heard it done at least 10 different ways as far as big band arrangement vs pared down, one rendition did a key change, one bridged out into 1 Note Samba and came back, etc....

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Quote:

Well, interesting but how do we find out if a song is public domain? Is there a formula for "number of years after composition" or something? I have never had to check on this before. I can tell you that Wave was done 45 years ago, in 1967.




Here is PD lIsting: http://www.pdinfo.com/list.php

Works created after 1/1/1978 - life of the longest surviving author plus 70 years - earliest possible PD date is 1/1/2048
Works registered before 1/1/1978 - 95 years from the date copyright was secured.
Works registered before 1/1/1923 - Copyright protection for 75 years has expired and these works are in the public domain.


Quote:

The only reason I chose Wave as the subject was that I have heard it done at least 10 different ways as far as big band arrangement vs pared down, one rendition did a key change, one bridged out into 1 Note Samba and came back, etc....




Wave is not PD, but it would be cool to hear multiple arrangemetns. Wave is a wonderful creation by Jobim, and it is a shame we can acknowledge that only by listenting to recordings and not by actually play playing it.

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...it is a shame we can acknowledge that only by listenting to recordings and not by actually play playing it.




There's a gazillion ways to do this guys, there's copywritten and other highly sensitive and illegal material everywhere on the internet. Just ask any teenager hiding stuff from their clueless parents, they'll tell you about 9 ways to do it.

You just can't post it on any large well known commercial forums, you have to find some small forums nobody knows about but you and a few close friends. You know, like terrorists and criminals...and several hundred million teenagers.

Bob


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Or use FTP and don't even have a website. Just a domain name with random files/folder names.


Unless someone has a link, nobody knows its there. A domain is $8 a year; cheap for the features it allows..

Last edited by rharv; 01/29/12 06:34 AM.

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don't most versions of Linux come with a web server? if you have an old PC you aren't using, you could be hosting content a few minutes from now.

And since the address would be dynamic,you could just email the current members the address each time it changes

Even if somebody stumbles onto the address, it will be different when they come back.

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and as previously stated, Yahoo Groups can be private,by invitation only, and they come with a files section that is accessible to the members

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We DO need to remember that there are 2 issues here and they are really not related. Protecting PG by not posting copyrighted material, ok. We get that.

The other side of the sword contains remembering that if we would all do a version of "Wave" (since that was at the start of the thread) we are paying homage to Antonio Carlos Jobim, and to have the song there to learn it means we all have a copy of it that we purchased. (In my opinion, one of the finest pieces of music ever written. The "perkiness" of the way it flows.... you can close your eyes and see that girl from Ipanema walking down the beach in her long, flowing white gown.)

I am the type who would actually do something like this and compile the results on a CD and send it to them just so they know their original work was appreciated, given that imitation is the highest form of flattery, and let them hear how other musicians interpret their work. Of course I am 18 years too late for Jobim, but....

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Eddie,

Quote:

The other side of the sword




Hey! You took my "sword" to a different thread! LOL.

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Quote:

Hey! You took my "sword" to a different thread! LOL.




So in a sense we are swordfighting?

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you can close your eyes and see that girl from Ipanema walking down the beach in her long, flowing white gown.)




Did someone say Ipanema? I am in no way a singer ,lol in advance!
http://youtu.be/nYH43lyD7w4

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Quote:

The other side of the sword contains remembering that if we would all do a version of "Wave" (since that was at the start of the thread) we are paying homage to Antonio Carlos Jobim, and to have the song there to learn it means we all have a copy of it that we purchased. (In my opinion, one of the finest pieces of music ever written. The "perkiness" of the way it flows.... you can close your eyes and see that girl from Ipanema walking down the beach in her long, flowing white gown.)






This is too narrow as a way of sharing and comparing different ways of using BIAB for cover songs. It would only attract those who happen to be interested in that particular song. If this "cover sharing forum" idea ever gets off the ground it should be for sharing any cover songs.

Also The idea isn't just to see how close to the original we can get - again, too narrow. It is actually just as interesting to see how the same song can be interpreted differently.

Tony

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Consider Tony that this was more about how people would interpret a standard and a classic like Wave more than BIAB itself. What prompted the thought was hearing a few bands here in town do the same song several different ways, and Wave is my favorite piece and I started to wonder what peopel would do given a free range and a blank canvas.

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