Recycling, Chilla and T's...

Hey what's up guys!

We just finished sorting the recycling. It's hard work! We were given boxes upon boxes of cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles. We had to sort them into different plastic garbage bags. I must admit, the work is tedious, but it is a lot of fun to be with my fellow band mates. If anyone ever said recycling is easy they are crazy! It's a vast amount of effort to put in in order to save the planet, but it is so worth it!

Not long ago we had an amazing chilla! For two straight days we camped out, read books (books called "Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things" and "Zen Guitar") and played music. The first book was about how much is put into products like coffee and newspaper. It truly amazed me how immoral these companies are and how they use child labor to create their products. The "Zen Guitar" book was about how the mind set of music practice is one of the most important parts of practicing. You can "practice" all you want but if you do not put your mind into it, it can be worthless.


The recording part of our chilla was just awesome. Since I am a vocalist, I got to use a killer microphone and learn how to use the recording software vaguely. It is really interesting. I really like being up there singing and laying down my vocals. It was a really fun and interesting experience and it opened up my eyes to see how it would be to be a working musician. It really appeals to me to become a performer and to record music. There is something about recording - it is fun to think that your recording could be around for all time - even when we are dead and gone, our recording will live on. It is almost difficult to comprehend. I love recording. I hope to get another opportunity like that again.

Guess what?!! If you have not heard, we have t-shirts! What? I know...how awesome! They are made from 100% pure organic cotton or cotton bamboo mix. The shirts are amazingly soft and are a great bargain. They are great for the environment for all you Earth lovers - there were no poisons like pesticides or other harmful dyes used to make our shirts, keeping our rivers and streams and oceans clean from horrible chemicals. But you must hurry - the t-shirts are going fast. Limited on bamboo, we are mainly taking orders for organic cotton so hurry and buy your very own funk band t-shirt. I promise you will love them!

Thanks for checking in!
Until next time, Groove Green!

Max

The Chilla...

Recently, Mr. Zorn told us about this thing called a chilla, which is an Indian tradition where a musician goes off to an isolated place to play music for 40 days straight without stopping. Then he had an idea that we should do a little mini chilla for one weekend. And during that chilla we would record all of the songs that are ready to be recorded. So we did Waiting on the World to Change, Play That Funky Music, Beautiful Day, All Along the Watchtower (Live!) and some kid's songs for Mr. Zorn's 2nd and 3rd graders. It was a really good experience. It was fun watching everyone play their parts and watch it all being put together like the pieces of a puzzle. We had our own little sections where we would practice our own parts, like up in the classroom. I was in the cafeteria and I set the drums up on the stage. It was so loud because the acoustics were really good - I had people on the other side of the street by the bus stop staring at the school!

When it was my turn to record, I kind of flew through it all at once 'cause it was just the same beat over and over again. I didn't get to put in that many fills because the vocals weren't recorded yet and my fills gotta follow the vocals. It was a good experience that I think every musician should try. I'm glad I got that experience.

Kule'a

Recording & Performing

Hey Everyone...

We had a very productive week-end. We got pretty much everything recorded. My favorite song we recorded was Watchtower, but I also loved our versions of Beautiful Day and Waiting on the World to Change. I can't wait to hear the final mixes because at the moment we only have rough mixes. Hopefully we get to do another one of these sessions so we can record all of the new songs we are learning. I got a lot of practice done during the weekend. I think that the best part of our mini-chilla was watching everybody nail their parts for the recordings. I loved hearing the numerous solos we recorded.

Well, from here on out all we have to work toward is our Friday Funk on the Lawn shows and our Ala Moana performance. I hope that we can get enough practice in so our live versions are as good as the recordings we did. Getting the right tone for our instruments live will be another huge challenge for us. I worked out a lot of my settings during the chilla. I got the tones all set but the sound will be very different at Ala Moana. I am super excited for our performance. The chilla gave us a good idea of how we are capable of sounding. I think we definitely are going to learn a lot from our Friday Funk on the Lawn performances. There is really no way to simulate playing live so we are going to have to make some adjustments when we get down there.

The guitar sound running through the computer sounded so awesome through the recording headphones. I think that Micah deserves the biggest high five ever for his Watchtower solo. It's my favorite one. We did such a good job on that weekend and got our stuff, but you have to remember that the classical musicians (in India) do what we did at a higher level and for 40 DAYS. I don't think anyone that I know could handle something like that. I hope we get to have another recording date because we got so much done during this one.

I want to nail all my parts at our performance. Our Ala Moana performance will be the culmination of everything we have done during the year. With a lot more practice we could put on an amazing show. We have worked so hard toward this so there is no way we are going to be unprepared at the time. The Ala Moana performance last year was awesome and I was a spectator because I wasn't in the funk band yet. I think we have even more potential this year because we have a huge set list. I am really excited for the final mix of our recordings. Gotta go practice!


Groove Green,
Tem

2 Day Chilla

For those of you who may not know, a chilla is a musical retreat that musicians in India go on - they play music for 40 straight days and nights. They travel to a secluded place with basic necessities and start playing. Eventually, through lack of sleep and constant focus, they start to see visions as they play and since music and spirituality are very closely tied in Indian culture, those visions are very important.

So, inspired by the Indian chilla, the funk band decided to have a mini-chilla of our own. For 2 days, 12 hours each, we came to school with the intention of only focusing on our musicianship. We had our recording studio set up in the band room and practice spaces set up in Mr. Zorn's classroom. We even had some very interesting reading about listening, practicing and a book on the environment.

We had planned to record 7 songs from our repertoire and 5 or 6 songs for the elementary school's music program. I have to admit I had my doubts that we would get everything done. Last year during our 1 day of recording in 12 hours, we only recorded 3 songs with the whole band and 1 song with a couple of people.

However, I was pleasantly surprised on Sunday night when I realized that even through all our interruption and unexpected complications, we managed to get nearly everything we wanted to record.

I was also proud of my fellow band members. Each one has improved so much and they deserve recognition. Melissa's voice was beautiful and her guitar solo in All Along the Watchtower was amazing. Tem's solos get faster and more intricate by the day and yet they always fit into our songs. Max was able to sing on pitch and with volume and emotion, even though he had a sore throat and congestion. Micah was able to record most of his parts perfectly just one time through and he was able to focus and get most of his parts done in a couple of hours. However, Kule'a was the one who made me the most proud. He has come so far since the beginning of the year and played his parts so well. It was obvious he knew the forms and he even added fills we hadn't heard before.


So while we may not have had a perfect chilla, I came home on Sunday night feeling proud and excited to be a part of this year's funk band.

Claire

The Chilla Sessions

Hey Funk Band Friends,

So... it is 5:25 Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting in the Lab School band room. Today, as well as yesterday, we are recording our songs. We have a total of seven songs that we are in the process of putting together and I'm praying that we get all of them done before 9 tonight. It's a stressful process, recording. Each one of us must play our parts for each song separately and it must be perfect! That's scary, because it seems like a second before your part is being recorded either your mind goes through panic or, if you're confident, you just jam through your part. It's quite complicated and that's not including all the singing to the songs - Max's lead and Micah's and my background/harmony singing.



I think recording the singing is the most fun. We turn off all the lights (because the lights make noise on the recordings) and we sing into the microphone. The room is almost completely dark and it's the trippiest thing ever.

After all that, we gotta edit and put all the songs together. It's a long and tedious process, so wish us luck! And don't worry, our awesome CD will be available very soon. So stay on top of it for future news!

Melissa

Our Sound System...

Now, I don't consider myself a particularly technologically advanced person; however, I do mostly understand our sound system. And for that I am proud.

But I think my knowledge of our sound board stems more from my observation skills rather than my knowledge of technology. I can memorize which buttons to press and the order of things to turn on. I can also easily remember which places to plug things into. The differently colored (and shaped) cords only help me in remembering.



That was my train of thought when I first started out. The more I use our PA the more I learn vocabulary. I learn why to use certain knobs or buttons or why not to. For example, I've learned how to turn up someone's volume in 3 different places. First, we have the pre-amp which is right below the mic inputs; then you have the "mix" levels, and finally there is the master volume level. Since I've started, I've learned that the mix levels are used to balance the singers' volumes because we all know that not everyone sings at the same decibels.

Last year during our recording session, I learned not only to record parts, but also many other important things. I learned how to cycle sections of music, to recognize a clip in volume, and that good food can a long way (wink wink, nudge nudge). Hopefully I will be able to remember all the buttons and choices on the recording program by our next session on March 7th and 8th.

Wish me luck,
Claire

Being in a Band...

Being in the funk band is an amazing experience. I have been playing in the funk band for a year and a half and I've learned so much. I walked into funk band my sophomore year only knowing how to play power chords and not a clue how to read music. Though I still have a lot to learn about music, my skills have tremendously improved.

To me, being in the funk band is about dedication, loyalty to the music and your band mates and believing in yourself. If I didn't have those things, I would have never gotten as far as I have in the last year and a half. Most kids think being in the funk band is just about playing your favorite songs in a band and looking cool because you can play a musical instrument. I'm not going to lie, that was on my mind when I was thinking about joining in the tenth grade. But I've come to realize it is so much more than that. And I'm here to tell all the kids who want to be funk band members in the future, you have to be serious about music, passionate about music and overall just love music.

Oh, and did I mention we're going into the recording studio soon?

Melissa