Artist Statement:
We decided to pick the song Put Your Head On My Shoulder by Paul Anka. We had heard this song a lot on social media (ex: Tiktok), and liked the sound of it. I, Farin, personally hadn’t played a song in this genre before, so it was a nice challenge (as well as playing two instruments on one song). I also think that it was abnormally hard because of COVID. It made it harder to coordinate with our group, and less time to practice in person. Motivation is also hard during COVID times as days seem to blend together. However, we managed to make it happen, and created something we are happy with.
Finn played piano, and ended up doing two different piano parts. There was the piano backing that was in the original song, and added a piano part to substitute for the backing vocals. Miles played the drums, and added a tambourine part as well. Farin played both saxophone and electric guitar. The saxophone part was to replace the vocals, and the saxophone has a unique sound which added an original twist onto the song. Electric guitar was also an interesting choice as the original song used acoustic guitar. These changes added a personal touch to the piece.
Recording instead of playing live gave an interesting experience where we got to learn more about the recording process. There are pros and cons to both recording and playing live (ex: recording gives more leeway for mistakes, but is a lot more time consuming). Overall, it still ended up being a fun experience despite the challenges of a new situation.
Credits:
Originally composed by Paul Anka (1959)
Farin (sax, guitar)
Miles (drums, percussion)
Finn (piano)