Comments on: Masters Of Song Fu #4: Round 2 Challenge Revealed!

By: Pat Misterovich

Pat Misterovich — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:13:07 +0000

There are some notable, post-Sousa American Marches with lyrics

Over There
Anchor’s Away
76 Trombones

By: Caleb H

Caleb H — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:13:27 +0000

I’ll probably get ninja’d by Edric, but the wait is over: http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2009/06/09/song-fu-4-round-2-voting/

By: Caleb H

Caleb H — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:10:05 +0000

Huh… How did I not know that S&SF actually had lyrics?

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that for marches with lyrics, I went to the pre-Sousa marches of the American Civil War — Battle Hymn of the Republic, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, and Marching Through Georgia.

But yes, I have plenty of Sousa in my march as well…

By: Hazen of His Name Is Legs

Hazen of His Name Is Legs — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:18:06 +0000

@Berg: Does that make “Jessica” by The Allman Brothers Band or “The Call of Ktulu” by Metallica or, to a lesser extent, “Wipe Out” by The Surfaris any less songs than their lyrical counterparts? I don’t think so. If anything defines a song, it is “Is it in a pop(ular) style?” The fact of the matter is most marches don’t have lyrics (if they do, odds are they were written far after the fact). To mind, the only notable exception is “Stars and Stripes Forever,” which Sousa himself penned the lyrics.

By: Berg

Berg — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:30:37 +0000

not to start anything with any of the entrants, but i thought of the very few actually defined rules were, “Remember, you must be able to realize a song both lyrically and musically.”

By: Travis Norris

Travis Norris — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:48:04 +0000

@Lex: Yeah, I thought the example song (involuntary GUAM!! here) was more of a…. frolic than a march.

By: Hazen of His Name Is Legs

Hazen of His Name Is Legs — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:56:15 +0000

Have to agree with you, Lex. Marches are, not surprisingly, very regimented in their style.

By: Lex Vader

Lex Vader — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:26:46 +0000

BTW I don’t care what anyone says, that Harry Nilsson song is not a march. It’s ABOUT a march, and it’s a tip of the hat to a march, but it’s clearly a pop song written in SWING time. There’s no way you could march to that without breaking into a tap dance. And that always pisses off the drill sergeant.

By: Lex Vader

Lex Vader — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:45:05 +0000

I dreamed there were half as many entries as last time, and some were unplayable due to the filenames having weird characters in them. *coughgodzpoodlzcough*

As long as we’re thumbtwiddling, my song is entirely sequenced. I apologize if anyone’s expecting me to sound the same twice. *coughjutzecough* I probably won’t. I have no “sound.”

By: Tom M

Tom M — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:11:05 +0000

In the spirit of the unofficial disclosure bandwagon, I have written a song from the point of view of somebody who has gone stark raving bonkers. It is called March As A Mad Hare.

This is going to be SO FUN. Look forward to hearing you lot march your way to victory 😀

By: Caleb H

Caleb H — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:31:30 +0000

Clarification: By “sampled” parts I *actually* meant “sequenced” parts — i.e. the notes typed out into an editor instead of being played live. Though in my case, the two are the same.

By: Caleb H

Caleb H — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:21:08 +0000

@Ian&Melissa – If it is a march over 1:15, I have a hard time believing it will not be accepted. But I probably won’t scream about peeps while listening, since my coworkers might look at me kinda funny.

Also, wow… at least three lyric-less entries now that I’m aware of, and several possible mentions of non-entrants. I ended having to go fantasy-themed, and Richard above apparently went sci-fi…

Is there nothing worth marching for these days? 🙂

The temptation to write something without lyrics was strong for me too, but I want as much practice writing lyrics as I can get (whether these are any better, I’ll let you judge). That was one of my whole reasons for entering these challenges. Another was getting practice in recording live instruments instead of just sequencing MIDI. Personally, I think I *could* have composed a really cool instrumental march for a full orchestra — using all sampled sounds — but it would have defeated my whole purpose for entering a *songwriting* competition.

As it stands, the only sampled instruments I’m using this time is a tuba and the percussion (except the 2 triangles). The rest is played live.

By: The Perfect Place (Bud)

The Perfect Place (Bud) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:54:31 +0000

@ian: we had some vocal volume issues as well. i got the song sent in before 9pm our time [the cutoff] and sent in a better mix after the deadline. we’ll see which one goes up there. looks like we’ll have to definitely put the lyrics up if it’s the one with softer vocals because it’s difficult to understand what we’re saying if you don’t have it in front of you.

something i learned this time is that you definitely need an outside opinion to get a good vocal level. i always think the vocals are fine because i already know what we’re saying, so it seems perfectly clear to me. if the person listening can’t make out the lyrics without a lyric sheet in front of them, the vocals are too quiet. ;-P

By: Hazen of His Name Is Legs

Hazen of His Name Is Legs — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:42:51 +0000

@Denise: So we have another instrumental on our hands, eh? Sounds interesting.

By: Denise Hudson

Denise Hudson — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:12:03 +0000

I have finished my march, and there are less problems than last time.

I’m fairly well pleased with it.

It’s called ‘Anna’s Gerbil and the Singularity;’ and you’ll have to wait for tomorrow – at least on my end … because I’m going to have a cupcake and then going to bed.

🙂
DH
ps. (oh, there’s no lyrics. snick, snick, snick …)

By: Ian & Melissa (Ian)

Ian & Melissa (Ian) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:49:56 +0000

Well, we wrote a march called “March of the magical hobos to magic hobo land”. It had everything you would ever want in a song. Sadly, it was hit by a bus.

In its memory we wrote our “Song FUneral march”.

I know a lot of people complained that the vocals were too soft in our last song, but unfortunately something horrible happened this time and they’re completely inaudible. Well, maybe if you turn up the volume really loud. Um. yeah. 🙂

Truth is we had a miserable time writing words to a march so went for something instrumental. If you really want words, feel free to scream “put the peeps in the stomach” at any time throughout the piece.

Also, any mistakes you hear are part of the avant-garde nature of our song, and are completely intentional.

All of this assumes that our “song” is even accepted…

By: Richard Clayton Spring

Richard Clayton Spring — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:13:30 +0000

WHOA!! Glad that’s over. Thinking about marches put me in war/soldier mode, so that’s what I wrote about. Turned out cyberpunk/depressing/space-opera.

By: Hazen of His Name Is Legs

Hazen of His Name Is Legs — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:02:58 +0000

Hey all,

We just finished and submitted our entry. It’s called “The Ocoee Shopper” after a non-existant, small-town newspaper deep in the heart of Florida. Break a leg, all!

By: Derrek J. Thompson

Derrek J. Thompson — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:29:53 +0000

I atempted to record and submit my entry called “March of the Farys (Oh Such A Joyous occasion)” Apparently the mic jack gods decided to protect your ears this time arround. Never fear, I will be back with another uber-lo-fi recording next round.

By: Caleb H

Caleb H — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:53:53 +0000

I’ve heard Edric’s entry. Without spoiling it, I’ll just say that 76 trombones is the least of your worries… 🙂