Song Writing- Final Project- Mashups
One of the more popular types of songs today are mashups. Some people get the word mashup mixed up with medley. A medley is a collection of songs that are group together and sung separately. A mashup is a collection of songs that are sung in a way so that they overlap each other. Mashups and medleys sometimes overlap each other which is why there is some confusion but please remember that a medley could have some overlapping, it will usually be a series of songs that are performed one after another.
The following is a Michael Jackson medley. Notice how it is a series of videos that are spliced together. The transitions are fairly seamless which often happens in medleys (but not always) but the video really plays like a number of individual songs that are just performed from one song to the next.
The following is a Michael Jackson medley. Notice how it is a series of videos that are spliced together. The transitions are fairly seamless which often happens in medleys (but not always) but the video really plays like a number of individual songs that are just performed from one song to the next.
The following video is a medley that has mashup elements mixed into it. Again, you can clearly hear the songs transition from one to the next, but the artist also interjects other Michael Jackson songs over the songs he are singing.
The following video is a Michel Jackson Mashup. Notice how the songs are overlapped over each other so you have two songs or elements of two songs being played over each other. This is a true mashup.
Mashups do not have to be complicated (but as you can see from the previous videos, it is possible for mashups to get really complicated.The following is an excellent mashup of Photograph and Just the Way You Are. It is fairly simple but very well done. Your final project will be to create a mashup video on your own that mimics the video you see below.
Assignment: Mashup Madness
Part 1: Find your group.
NOTE- You will NOT need to chord/lyrics page for your video. You ONLY need a completed video for this project.
- If you are going to be in a group, the maximum number of people in a group should be 6.
- Be sure the people in your group can play different instruments.
- You may also do this project individually.
- Pick a collection of songs that you like. I would suggest having 7-15 songs.
- You need to find songs that have the same chord progression so take each of the songs and figure out the chord progression. You do NOT want to figure out the chord progression in pop style chords (C, Am, F, G...). Instead, you will want to use Roman Numeral chords (I, IV, V7...). This will enable you to better see if the chord progression matches between songs. I would HIGHLY recommend your split this work up among the people in the group.
- Look at all your song's chord progressions and figure out which pieces have the same chord progression. Hopefully, you find more than 6 pieces that have the same chord progression. If you do not, you need to look for more music.
- Once you have 6 pieces picked out, you need to figure out a tempo that works for 2-3 of those pieces. These will be the pieces you use for your mashup.
- Rehearsing a mashup is really important. You will need to figure out which sections of the song you want to overlap with other sections. This will take a fair amount of time.
- Practice your song until everyone in the group knows how it works. The song does NOT have to follow AABA form, however, it should have some recognizable form.
- Your song MUST have an instrumental, solo type section.
- Create a music video for your song. It does not have to be complicated. Doing a video like the Photograph one, is fine. It is up to you.
- The video must be as professional as possible. Your grade will be lowered for mistakes that the teachers see/hear in your video.
- Post your video to each of your portfolio websites.
NOTE- You will NOT need to chord/lyrics page for your video. You ONLY need a completed video for this project.