Two weeks worth of White Ripple Community Band (part 2)

Two weeks ago we discussed chord progressions, last Monday it was verse and chorus. Verse and chorus go together like Moose and Squirrel, only more musical! And we demonstrated the concept with three Beatles songs.

Song 1: Drive My Car

Song 2: Ticket to Ride. George's adorable top hat!

Song 3: Come Together (post-Beatles clip)

Next week starts a new session of White Ripple Community Band. If you've always wanted to play in a band, here's your chance! No matter the voice or the instrument, you have a place in the band. We meet every week at 7 p.m. at the White Ripple Gallery & Co., 6725 Kennedy Avenue in Hammond.

Two weeks worth of White Ripple Community Band! (part 1)

White Ripple Community Band played an acoustic jam at the Fox Gallery Festival this past Saturday. It was a beautiful, and HOT, but beautiful time getting to make music with good friends.

I was on vacation last week, a glorious computer-free time, so now I'm going to catch up on two weeks worth of work on my lunch hour. Here goes....

On July 18th's class we talked about song structure, demonstrating with three different songs that have the same chord progression.

Song 1: Careless Love
Song 2: Red River Valley
Song 3: Mama Don't Allow

The chord progression looks like this:

I               V             I               I

I               I               V             V

I               I               IV            IV

V             V             I               I

I think of chord progressions as something like song skeletons. Chord progressions are the bare bones of the song that we can add melody, harmony and rhythm to. Once you know the chord progression, and then the key, you're off to the races!

For example, here's Careless Love. We did it in the key of A. In the key of A, our I chord is A. Four up from A is D, our IV chord. Five up from A is E, our V chord.

A            E                          A             A
Love, oh love, oh careless love
A            A                         E
Love, oh love, oh careless love
A            A            D          D
Love, oh love, oh careless love
        E            E                         A        A
You see what love has done to me.



Here's another example: Red River Valley. This time our I chord is D.

                 D               A                D                     D
From this valley they say you are leaving
              D                         D                     A         A
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
               D                   D            G                       G
For they say you have taken the sunshine
               A                     A                 D                D
That has brightened our pathways a while


So while I think of chord progressions as song skeletons, I think of our I chord (pronounced "one chord") as home base. When we change home base, we change the relationship of the notes to one another.

So now that we're in the key of D, now D is our I chord. We've changed home base, so now the relationships to the other notes will also change. So now, four up from D is G, our IV chord, and five up from D is A, our V chord.

                                                         I                  IV   V                (the octave)

D,   E,   F,   G,   A,   B,   C,   D

Skeletons, home base, music's got it all!

Up on the Roof, take 2

And here's how Rich heard the same bridge part. Just another way of interpreting the same section:

"On the Roof" bridge notes

Hello, guitar players! Here are the melody notes for the bridge part of Up on the Roof. That's what they look like to me, anyway. (I hope a big fight breaks out in the comments!) It's a C scale ending on a G and then back into the rest of the song.

White Ripple Community Band July 11th, 2016

We're back! Tonight we covered three tunes.

Song 1: Ripple, by The Grateful Dead. I can't believe we've gone almost a year of White Ripple Community Band without doing Ripple! Rich says we have to do all songs with 'white' in the title now, watch out.

This clip is the last scene of a long gone but not forgotten TV show called Freaks and Geeks. "I wish I'd never heard this album so I could hear it again for the first time"-- talking about the Dead's incomparable American Beauty.


Song 2: Up on the Roof, by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. We're singing the James Taylor version. This is Rich's favorite music video ever, thank you Sesame Street.

Song 3: Sweet Home Chicago. Sweet blues in A.

It's good to have a break, but it's even better to get back to doing what you love.

Thank you

First off, please wish Linda Gutierrez a speedy recovery from the emergency appendectomy she had on Thursday. Email me if you want to send her a get well card.


And now-- Alan Lee, Cindy Contractor, Greg Brown, Janice Polka, Linda Gutierrez, Maria Reyes, Sarita Reyes and Sherdes Kubiak, this is for you...

The Live in the Ville and the Hammond Public Library concerts could not have happened without you. Thank you for all the time you put in learning songs and performing-- it was a busy month!


Classes start back up again on Monday, July 11th. Linda, get well soon and you all have a safe & happy Fourth of July!