Influences: Eight Songs/Artists That Impacted My Musical Journey

Author

Ava Lynch, Western Michigan UniversityFollow

Date of Defense

4-19-2022

Date of Graduation

4-2022

Department

Music

First Advisor

Carter John Rice

Second Advisor

John Campos

Abstract

A song is often recognizable by catchy melodies, creative lyrics, and/or the rhythmic groove and feel of the overall song. Within the melody, there are catchy movements between notes that engrains it in the mind of its listeners for hours or days. When it comes to lyrics, if there is something resonating it will stick with the consumer forever, allowing them to sing along for years after the fact. Finally, the factor of rhythm is what gets people up and out of their seats to dance along, sway, or nod their heads to the beat. There is a lot of impact behind the words and musical elements that allow for a song to have such a strong reputation. When songs generate such a strong reputation, they become tracks that others want to create new versions of and perform live, whether that be in a room full of familiar faces, or up on stage in front of a huge crowd. Notorious songs generate a lot of future renditions done by tens of hundreds of musicians. The important factor to be mindful of when recreating a famous track is to maintain its integrity without creating a carbon copy of the original; the task of finding a sweet spot between the original form and a very abstract rendition is an art within itself. This project explores the pathway to finding that particular sweet spot. Utilizing string quintets, digital synthesizers, acoustic and electric guitars, and small vocal ensembles was an integral part of attempting to create new, unique renditions of these eight selected tracks while maintaining important elements like the melody, lyrics, and overall groove. By bringing new sounds and textures to the table within these tracks, these covers transformed from the popular tracks that are loved and replayed by thousands into new, unique versions that gave the track a whole new life.

Recommended Citation

Lynch, Ava, "Influences: Eight Songs/Artists That Impacted My Musical Journey" (2022). Honors Theses. 3557.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3557

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access