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More from RhubarbTheBear
I've never been the world's biggest Andrew Lloyd Webber fanboy; however, like most people who perform anything resembling musical theater, I've been obligated to tackle his works on occasion. I've done musical direction for Joseph, arranged selections from Evita for a famous family singing group you may remember from TV in the 70s, and someday I want to try my hand at "Damned For All Time" from Jesus Christ Superstar just to see if I can produce a frantic, slamming track and coax the requisite agony and desperation out of my aging vocal chords.
And then there's this little song. With so many songs in the Maximum fuR&B show being comic fragments, I needed to perform a real song all the way through on occasion. I wanted something that would appeal to an artsier-than-usual crowd, but which fit Rhubarb's friendly, half-hapless disposition. I liked the message of the lyrics, and the relative ease of the chord progression; since I knew I'd have to play piano in paws, though, I practiced it a lot. The track is just bass and drums, the bare minimum required to get the song across. This works well in a live show; if I were ever to do a "real" album version, I'd sweeten it up a lot. I introduced it each time "…as if Ray Stevens was doing it"; there's more than a slight hint of "Misty" in this arrangement.
I'm not happy with most of my actual performances of this song. Foolishly, I didn't work out a proper piano solo and just "winged it" each time. I made all kinds of mistakes. The last few Fringe shows benefitted from sheer repetition, but I'd lost my touch by Anthrocon and turned in a fumbly, nearly atonal rendition; Megaplex didn't seem to go much better. Still, it was the one song which people went out of their way to tell me they enjoyed, so what do I know? Though I'm using my fursuit voice, I notice that my "real" voice tends to creep into the gentler corners of this one, and for once it doesn't seem unseemly.
Like most of my projects, this is the best I can do as of today, and I'll just leave it here while I pursue the next project. I'll try not to forget it, in case anyone actually requests it in the future.
Dedicated to the one I love. :*
And then there's this little song. With so many songs in the Maximum fuR&B show being comic fragments, I needed to perform a real song all the way through on occasion. I wanted something that would appeal to an artsier-than-usual crowd, but which fit Rhubarb's friendly, half-hapless disposition. I liked the message of the lyrics, and the relative ease of the chord progression; since I knew I'd have to play piano in paws, though, I practiced it a lot. The track is just bass and drums, the bare minimum required to get the song across. This works well in a live show; if I were ever to do a "real" album version, I'd sweeten it up a lot. I introduced it each time "…as if Ray Stevens was doing it"; there's more than a slight hint of "Misty" in this arrangement.
I'm not happy with most of my actual performances of this song. Foolishly, I didn't work out a proper piano solo and just "winged it" each time. I made all kinds of mistakes. The last few Fringe shows benefitted from sheer repetition, but I'd lost my touch by Anthrocon and turned in a fumbly, nearly atonal rendition; Megaplex didn't seem to go much better. Still, it was the one song which people went out of their way to tell me they enjoyed, so what do I know? Though I'm using my fursuit voice, I notice that my "real" voice tends to creep into the gentler corners of this one, and for once it doesn't seem unseemly.
Like most of my projects, this is the best I can do as of today, and I'll just leave it here while I pursue the next project. I'll try not to forget it, in case anyone actually requests it in the future.
Dedicated to the one I love. :*
Category Music / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 85 x 120px
File Size 4.62 MB
The point (if there was one) of the Maximum fuR&B show was to attempt, and fail in interesting ways, to keep the show in theme. Rhubarb generally took the opportunity during the intro of this song to gently castigate his "manager, who shall remain nameless" for making him do a showtune to pander to the crowd.
I actually like the little sweet spots where your real voice creeps in, and they're very subtle and not at all jarring. It adds a nice touch of vulnerability to Rhubarb's voice, so I like it.
The piano also sounded fine to me. Really enjoyed the chord progressions. I liked how it was a country song with decidedly "bluesy" interludes.
Good work as usual!
The piano also sounded fine to me. Really enjoyed the chord progressions. I liked how it was a country song with decidedly "bluesy" interludes.
Good work as usual!
I will admit that the piano you're hearing here isn't one full take; I stitched the best parts of several takes together and just hoped they'd still sound organic. This version is better than any of my live attempts, although I think my final Fringe show was pretty darn good.
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