I’ve been in DoubleShot! for years now. In that time I’ve learned to listen to music with an arranger’s ears because, even though I don’t directly arrange much of the music that DS! performs, I’m constantly participating in the final product, and there’s always a way to make the music better. Rare is it that I take an introspective look at the product that I am helping to make. Now, when I say introspective, I don’t mean in relation to the group, but rather a look to my own thoughts and emotions.
Recently, I found myself trying to think of a way to make one of our songs “rock” more. It wasn’t fat enough. It didn’t drive like I wanted it to. As you can imagine, this can be a frequent difficulty for a contemporary a cappella group. Capturing the sensation that you get listening to a song on the radio will ever be a challenge for the all-vocal world. I frustrated myself with that though process for as long as I could tolerate, but eventually gave my mind the respite it needed. My thoughts managed to remain on the subject, but shifted gears. Was it even possible to get the sound that I was looking for from six voices?
I quickly found this to be a frustration as well. Although I am very proud of the work that my group mates and I do, and the happiness that we’ve been allowed to share with people, I found myself resigned to the fact that I just wasn’t going to be able to crank the sound out of the group that I was looking for.
What does that mean? It may mean that it’s okay for me to explore other methods of creating music. That sounds pretty rational to anyone reading this post, I’m sure, but let me assure you that it was a revelation to me. I don’t know if this is the case with most people, but when I get in the mode of doing something one way, I all but forget that there may be another way to do it. This is what happened with DS!. I got used to the fact that I had one group of people that I made music with, and that was it.
When that occurred to me, I got depressed for a second because I irrationally thought that it was one or the other. Then I got excited at the thought of doing something new, even if my current group had to say goodbye (in due time, of course. There’s procedure in our handbook to follow). Finally, I realized that I can continue with DS!, and possibly do something new at the same time. This rocks.
Since then, I’ve seriously pondered how I would approach multiple musical styles and the sort of sound I would like to accomplish with each. Just the possibilities make me excited, and in the meantime, I get to continue making music with DS!
