It's
that time of year again! After 2013's Songs For Syria project and
last year's Winter Wonderland album, we've been firing up Cubase and
hitting social media to promote this year's TUNEICEF 2015 charity
album.
So,
if you're not familiar with the idea, let me give you the gist of it:
The
basic idea is that each student writes a song, we record it here at
the studio with bass and keyboard parts added by my bass and keyboard
students, with drums and vocals added by guest artists where
necessary. Along the way, students learn how to use all the theory
and technique they've accumulated in a practical context – layering
up guitar parts, composing solos, learning about arrangements,
harmony and so forth – and then end up with an actual tangible
accomplishment they can point to. It's also a good indicator of
progress – listening to students tracks from the last two years and
comparing them to this year's, it's great to hear how much they've
improved.
Last
year we expanded the idea to include local (and not so local) guest
artists giving us a huge range of styles – probably the only album
in history to feature a track with guest vocals from former Iron
Maiden and Wolfsbane frontman Blaze Bayley alongside a track sung by
a seven year old girl! Lots of great music, lots of talent on display
– lots of work gone into it but lots of fun got out of it.
The
album launched online courtesy of Bandcamp, with a night of live
music with performances from students, guest artists and finished up
with Dave The Rock Band's set of crowd pleasers, raising well over
£100 for UNICEF – not a bad evening!
Special
thanks must go to (among others):
My
Dave The Rock Band comrade-in-arms, Matt Chubb for many, many
great vocals, along with a huge amount of promotion and organisation
work.
Elisabeth
Barker-Carley from Dreaming In Colour Productions for organising the
launch party
Tony
Wadsworth and BBC Radio Leicester for having us on his show and
helping plug the project, Steve Ward for some excellent drums, DaveThe Rock Band, Charlotte Bond for some great lyrics and vocal
performances, The Bench That Rocked, Jonezy, Matt Humphries and each
and every one of my students for creating something really special!
So
what have we learned for this year?
Shorter
name! “Winter Wonderland Charity Album” is all well and good, but
on Twitter you're limited to 140 characters – that's half of them
gone in the name!
Timeframe
– this year, we've left plenty of time, tracks are already coming
together with guest vocal and drum performances. I'm encouraging
students where possible to experiment with other interests – there
are several tracks where the same student has written the song,
tracked up the guitars, the bass, and the keyboard parts.
Social
media – This year we have a website, a Facebook page, a Twitteraccount and a hashtag #TUNEICEF... hopefully, between all these
outlets and what elements of the conventional media we can harness
(as well as the clout of UNICEF themselves) we can really generate
some interest.
So,
here's the deal – we don't need to crowdfund or get a Kickstarter
or anything like that. We don't have overheads. 100% of the proceeds
go to UNICEF – a charity that knows what it's doing, and sadly
there are no shortage of crises around the world where this money can
make a difference.
We
don't need donations
We
need you.
We
need you to share the Facebook page, retweet the Tweets, tell people
about this cool little project you've stumbled across online, and
then when launch day comes (December 18th) bnrowse your
way to our Bandcamp page and shell out £5 for what will be an album
crammed with great tunes and unlike anything else you're likely to
come across. One thing I've learned is how much raw musical talent
these kids possess, and quite apart from the fundraising angle, I
want to give them a chance to be heard.
Aren't
you just a bit curious to hear this? #TUNEICEF
