Before and After: The Art of Song Reinvention
This class teaches personalized arranging. It asks students of any musical style to delve deeper into the performance art of reinvention; that is, to take repertoire from, for example, jazz, rock, the Great American Songbook, country, Beatles, soul, Brazilian, pop, and original tunes and modernize assigned pieces to complement the student as an artist (or as producer, studio arranger, etc). These arrangements become part of the students' professional performing repertoire. One of the goals of the class is to experiment, sometimes drastically, with preexisting songs through harmonic, metric, and orchestral elements, while remaining respectful of the original melody and lyrics. The class includes a rhythm section; each week students experiment with and finesse ideas with the band in this new territory. The class is geared toward vocalists, but instrumentalists who also sing are welcome.