Make a Joyful Noize
Chapter Two: Free Ya Mind
Lesson Three: Flip the Script
How would you create your own original backing track to support the first vocal verse of “Free Ya Mind?”
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Your Assignment
- Watch the video in which Soul Science Lab tracks the evolution of their song “Free Ya Mind.”
- Note how Asante created new musical material based on the verses that Chen created.
- Take the stem of the a capella version of Chen’s vocal and drag it into a new session in SoundTrap.
- Create your own musical arrangement to go with Chen’s vocal stem.
- Make sure you set the tempo of your session to 75 bpm. That’s the tempo of the original song and the tempo of the verse.
- Use what you learned in the last lesson to create your own instrumental accompaniment and arrangement for Chen’s verse. Feel free to incorporate some of the stems you used in the last segment, but you can also create something completely new. Do you!
Explore Other Parts of Make a Joyful Noize
Introduction: Joy in the Artist’s Calling
In this introductory video, Chen and Asante ask you to create your own artistic mission statement as a way of kickstarting your creative process.
Chapter One: We Got That | Lesson One: Community, Context, and Culture
What is your personal definition of culture, and where do you find joy in your life?
Chapter One: We Got That | Lesson Two: Finding the Heartbeat
Listen deeply to your favorite music and define a musical “heartbeat” that you can use as a seed for your own piece of music.
Chapter One: We Got That | Lesson Three: For the Culture
Create a lyrical hook that expresses your artistic mission statement in music.
Chapter Two: Free Ya Mind | Lesson One: The Art of Collaboration
Chen and Asante introduce the qualities of strong collaborations and ask you to think about your favorite examples of two artists working together to create music.
Chapter Two: Free Ya Mind | Lesson Two: Reimagine and Remix!
Chen and Asante share some of the musical elements of the song “Free Ya Mind,” and ask you to create your own remix of the song using the stems from the recording session.
Chapter Three: Victory | Lesson One: The Mission and Rhythm
Chen and Asante demonstrate how to create a song around the ideas and images expressed in a personal artistic mission statement.
Chapter Three: Victory | Lesson Two: A Soundtrack for Victory
Build the musical accompaniment for the new hook that you created out of your mission statement.
Chapter Three: Victory | Lesson Three: Make a Joyful Noize
Chen and Asante demonstrate how to tell a compelling story through song verses and show you how to shape your new song into a finished artistic statement.