Suggestions for future festivals

[64Guitars]

MimicFest

I know a lot of people like to put their own spin on covers. That's partly because they want to express their creativity. But I think it's also partly because it's hard to figure out all the parts of a song and play them precisely, and a lot of people can't be bothered. So they take the easy route and do it their own way. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but you can learn quite a lot by taking the time to study the playing and singing of other musicians and trying to mimic them as closely as possible. So that would be the objective of this festival. Learn all the parts of the song (bass, chords, guitar solo, vocals, etc.) and try to reproduce them as accurately as possible. For vocals, try to impersonate the original singer as best you can, paying close attention not only to pitch, but also to dynamics and the rhythm/timing of the vocal.

Perfection isn't required. But try not to get frustrated and end up winging it. The challenge of this festival is to push yourself to learn new skills by copying other musicians. If you have trouble with certain parts, you can collaborate with other Songcrafters. For example, if the guitar solo is beyond your current skill level, you can ask another Songcrafter to do it for you. However, a better solution would be to choose a simpler song. You'll find that it's extremely rewarding when you figure stuff out for yourself, even if it's quite simple. You can use tablature, video lessons, etc. as an aid. But, again, you'll find it more rewarding if you resist the temptation to use such aids and work it out yourself instead. Like I said, if you're finding it too difficult, choose an easier song. The objective isn't to show off your musical skills - it's to learn how to copy from other musicians. So choose a song that you can manage.

[64Guitars]

FalsettoFest

I've often heard singers say that they don't want to cover a particular song because the vocals on the original are too high for them. Quite often, it's because the original singer sang in a falsetto voice. But I've found that a lot of singers shy away from singing falsetto. It's not that they can't do it. It's just that they don't like the sound of their voice when singing falsetto. They say they sound like Mickey Mouse, or it just doesn't sound like them. But you'll never get good at something by shying away from it. So the challenge of this festival is to embrace your falsetto voice and record it proudly. This will be for the Originals fest, which means that you're encouraged to record an original song but you're also welcome to do a cover (Bee Gees, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Curtis Mayfield, Tiny Tim, etc.).

Falsetto is often used for background vocals. There have been many songs where I thought the background vocals were sung by women. But when I later saw the band perform the song on TV or wherever, I saw that it was the male bassist and keyboard player, for example, singing in falsetto. So I think falsetto is a worthwhile skill to work at. Even if you never choose to sing your lead vocals in falsetto, it will come in handy countless times for your background vocals. So use this festival as an opportunity to embrace and improve your falsetto voice.

[64Guitars]

Past Fest Revisited

Choose any past fest and record a song specifically for it.

Each submission can only be for one fest. No double-festers, triple-festers, etc. The reason for this is partly because it would be too much work for the admin team to keep up with all the jukebox updates. There are so many past festivals covering a broad range of themes that it wouldn't be hard to choose a song that fits a half-dozen or more past fests. The other reason for this rule is that, like all of our fests, we want you to think about the fest theme and record a song specifically for that fest. We don't want you to merely go through your past recordings or your repertoire of songs that you already know and choose something that fits a past festival. Instead, we want you to write a brand new song with a particular fest theme in mind. Or, if it's a covers fest, to learn a new song that fits the theme of the fest.

We've had a lot of great fests in the past. But often, life gets in the way and we don't find the time to record anything for a particular fest. This is your chance to do some of those songs that you really wanted to do for one or more past fests but didn't find the time for whatever reason.

[Rata-tat-tat]

STP Fest.... just sayin... don't think it's been done here. Would love to cover some of their tunes

[64Guitars]

BandFest  (virtual bands)

A bit like CollabFest which we did in 2012, but with a twist. Instead of collaborating with a couple of songcrafters for one song, then maybe collaborating with some different songcrafters for another song, in BandFest you'd have to choose your collaborators at the start of the fest to form a virtual band, then post as many songs as you like performed by all of the members of that band (and no one else). You have to give the band a name for your first post and stick with that name for the duration of the festival, and you can't be in multiple bands. The idea is to form one band and stick with it throughout the festival, posting as many songs as you can complete as a band.

Many of our members have found that one of the best things about Songcrafters is collaborating with other Songcrafters, especially those few who have been fortunate enough to meet in person as part of a real (if only temporary) band (MET). I think BandFest could be a lot of fun because it would allow members who can't afford the luxury of physically meeting with other members to have a sort of virtual MET in the form of a virtual band for a couple of months. And who knows, perhaps some of these bands will go on to create more songs long after the festival ends.

As a bonus, in addition to the BandFest jukebox, I'll create separate band jukeboxes for any band that posts 6 or more songs for the festival.

As with all our festivals, all songs submitted must be performed only by members of Songcrafters. So your virtual band can't include anyone who's not a member of Songcrafters, and you can't use downloaded backing tracks, midi files, etc. Everything in your submitted songs must be performed by the members of your virtual band who are all members of Songcrafters. The only exception is drums. If you're lucky enough to get a real drummer in your band, that's great! But if you don't have a drummer, then you're welcome to use a drum machine or software to create your drum tracks.

[Hook]

That sounds cool ...but I don't like the only one band rule...but I don't make the rules

[64Guitars]

That sounds cool ...but I don't like the only one band rule...but I don't make the rules

Without that rule, it wouldn't be much different than the CollabFest we did in 2012 as there would be multiple collaborations involving various members. The idea of BandFest is to form a virtual band and, for the two months of the festival, you'd devote all of your musical energy to that one band (other than your non-fest recordings, of course). It's kind of like being in a real band. Most of us would find that challenging enough, so we wouldn't have any time or energy left to be in a second band at the same time.

I think what will make BandFest interesting is the structure of being in a band as opposed to the usual freedom of being able to collaborate with anyone. It will be fun to discuss with your bandmates potential songs to do, then start recording your tracks, knowing that you can rely on the rest of the band to do the other parts. And, if you decide on several songs from the start, rather than doing one at a time, you'll be able to work on them whenever it suits you without having to wait till the other parts are done and everything's mixed and posted.

And I forgot to mention, this would be for the Originals fest, so the bands are encouraged to write their own original songs, though covers are welcome too.

[Rata-tat-tat]

Stepping Stone is missing a band member... Where r u Eman??? We miss u bro!!!! If you see this... whatayasay eeeeaaayyyy!!!!


Chant:

STEPPING STONE STEPPING STONE STEPPING STONE

[Mike_S]

"Sign Up For" Fest.

So was thinking... something along the lines of Bandfest. But a bit different. So this would be a covers fest where a few tracks are chosen beforehand. So say we had for eg. Smoke on the Water, A Beatles track, A Neil Young track, A Rolling Stones Track and maybe an AC/DC track or something, lets say Highway to hell.

People would put their name up for as many tracks as they like stating what they could contribute to the track, eg vocals, guitar or whatever. Kind of first come first served... so when guitar slots are filled then that song would just need a singer, bass, drums, etc. But it should have a time limit. Lets say give it a week or so for people to sign up. After that see what way the land lies and after that if there are unfilled spaces then the remaining members must finish the song with the signed up members to that particular song.

The song could then take the form of a full band if there was a good take up, or equally could end up being just done by the one or 2 members that signed up. This wouldn't pose as big a problem as you might first think as I think most people on here have a go at more than one instrument and can have a go at virtual intrument programming which would be useful if there was limited sign up for drums and bass. But would hope that the meat of most songs would be filled by willing participants - ie, vocals and all guitar parts.

[Mike_S]

and another idea...

Homelessness Fest...

or a fest to do with a disadvantaged group of some sort. I just thought people that are homeless could be a good creative well too for lyrics.