I’m in 2 bands, Laney Agogo, (I don’t know what the name means), and East of Every, which is named after Every road, a road that is west of the lead singer’s house. Laney Agogo is more rock/indie, and I have more say in the songwriting. East of Every is mostly the lead singer’s band; she writes all the music and lyrics, I just make a drum part for myself.
The biggest issue for us high schoolers is organization. Getting three seventeen year olds into the same room for 2 hours might be one of the most difficult things in the world. Then, having all of them actually practice and work on music on their own time while we aren’t having practice is another story, because most of us don’t, (except for the lead singer of EofE, who is a girl, and is therefore competent).
This post is more about Laney Agogo, though, because it is about the music making process.
We practice in my friends basement who plays guitar and bass in our songs. He has a drumset and all the instruments we need, so it’s our veritable command center; it’s a perfect setup. Most adult bands practice at least 5 days a week, usually more, because it’s their job. With our schedules we need to get as much done as possible in 1 to 0 practices a week.
This brings me to my main questions: How can we create thoughtful and well rehearsed music together with such little time? Should we try to hurry our music, just to get out as much material as possible or should we take our time making sure each song is as good as possible?
Each member of Laney Agogo has a different idea of what each song idea should sound like, which is a blessing and a curse. It allows for more variety in our sound, but it slows down the songwriting process because it starts arguments and such. Given our differing musical objectives It seems like the answer to my question is that maybe we should try to write as much as possible, because the longer we take on a song, the more arguments arise. Sometimes somebody decides that a certain part is bad just because we’ve heard it over and over again and we get annoyed by it.
After writing all of this I’ve come to a conclusion that I think may be unavoidable. We just need to play together more. We need to practice 3 days a week and move around other plans. The creative process takes time, not 2 hours on a sunday after all of us are partied out and anxious about homework that is due the next day.
In all, the unavoidable truth is that being in a band requires tons of time, which everyone needs to be willing to put in. For high schoolers, that fact can be quite hard to swallow sometimes.
The biggest issue for us high schoolers is organization. Getting three seventeen year olds into the same room for 2 hours might be one of the most difficult things in the world. Then, having all of them actually practice and work on music on their own time while we aren’t having practice is another story, because most of us don’t, (except for the lead singer of EofE, who is a girl, and is therefore competent).
This post is more about Laney Agogo, though, because it is about the music making process.
We practice in my friends basement who plays guitar and bass in our songs. He has a drumset and all the instruments we need, so it’s our veritable command center; it’s a perfect setup. Most adult bands practice at least 5 days a week, usually more, because it’s their job. With our schedules we need to get as much done as possible in 1 to 0 practices a week.
This brings me to my main questions: How can we create thoughtful and well rehearsed music together with such little time? Should we try to hurry our music, just to get out as much material as possible or should we take our time making sure each song is as good as possible?
Each member of Laney Agogo has a different idea of what each song idea should sound like, which is a blessing and a curse. It allows for more variety in our sound, but it slows down the songwriting process because it starts arguments and such. Given our differing musical objectives It seems like the answer to my question is that maybe we should try to write as much as possible, because the longer we take on a song, the more arguments arise. Sometimes somebody decides that a certain part is bad just because we’ve heard it over and over again and we get annoyed by it.
After writing all of this I’ve come to a conclusion that I think may be unavoidable. We just need to play together more. We need to practice 3 days a week and move around other plans. The creative process takes time, not 2 hours on a sunday after all of us are partied out and anxious about homework that is due the next day.
In all, the unavoidable truth is that being in a band requires tons of time, which everyone needs to be willing to put in. For high schoolers, that fact can be quite hard to swallow sometimes.