In the same vein as Alan's example of the Dave Brubeck
Quartet's experimental track "Take Five", I also want to use an
example of musicians manipulating variables that we would probably see as essential in
order to produce a great song. For Brubeck and his bandmates, this independent variable was time
signature, and for Kurt Hugo Schneider and Kina Grannis, it was the instruments they chose to use. Instead of going for traditional strings or
percussion instruments for their cover of Justin Bieber's What Do You Mean, Kurt and Kina opted to use things you can
find around the house like keys, a garbage can, a coin, and so forth.
Of course, the dependent variable in this example was the performance. Would it sound good?
You be the judge:
As for me, I loved it. Not only was this a creative way to
cover a hit song, it also ended up sounding sublime. In terms of controls, I would
say that everything from the lyrics, to the melody and rhythm remained the same. In
other words: same track (except better!).
Nice reminder that music is unbelievably versatile. I personally love when artists do covers of songs, but turn it into a different genre. It's always interesting to see how the lyrics lend themselves to different moods and themes. P.s. I really liked this cover! Helps that Kina's voice is beauitful.
ReplyDelete