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

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