What Happens When 5 Boston Bands Bare Their Creative Souls to a Berklee Film Crew? October 6, 2011

Five Boston bands were given this task: write and record an original song. Sounds easy, right? Now do it in front of the expert ears of Berklee professors and the watchful lenses of a Berklee film crew.

On Thursday, October 6th, 7:00 pm, at the Brighton Music Hall, the songs will be unveiled at a live concert featuring Zili Misik, Aloud, The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library, Ghost Box Orchestra and Tumbleweed Company, along with a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the upcoming documentary, Banded. These eclectic bands represent a spectrum of genres ranging from world-soul and indie-baroque to americana, psychedelic, and indie rock.

Banded aims to show how the academics of music theory connect to the creative spark and inspiration behind writing a song in a band. To capture the process, cameras followed the musicians as they wrote, rehearsed, re-wrote, recorded, and even completed music theory assignments. At the Brighton Music Hall, the cameras will be rolling again to capture the finished songs as they are performed live.

These five local bands were cast to serve as real-world examples for underserved 4th-12th graders studying music through Berklee PULSE, an innovative online music curriculum currently available at 30+ sites around the country.

Throughout the process of Banded, each band was partnered with a Berklee faculty member (think the musical equivalent of Project Runway’s Tim Gunn) to help hone their skills.

“I thought it was wonderful that kids are going to be able to come and see this whole process of a song and see how the individual parts are put together and see what it really takes and what it’s like to be a band,” says Ryan Toll, a Berklee graduate and member of Tumbleweed Company.

“It’s uncharted territory as far as songwriting coaching,” says Mark Simos, a Banded coach and assistant professor of Songwriting at Berklee who’s well known as a writer for Alison Krauss. “The moments that we are struggling with are things that all bands deal with.”

The Banded Showcase will kick off with a brief panel discussion featuring the Berklee faculty coaches (from the Composition, Music Production & Engineering, and Songwriting departments at the school) and members of the bands talking about their experiences with this groundbreaking project. Video trailers of each band will be teased out to viewers. Then, special student guests from the Berklee City Music Ensemble will perform to start a night of eclectic and original music.

Tickets are $10, and proceeds will benefit a technology scholarship for the Berklee City Music program. Tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0100470B0E04A7DF

To learn more about Berklee PULSE, Berklee City Music, and all the bands, visit: http://on.fb.me/pOacEO