Project notes from music teacher/producer Eric Sullivan:

The Process

We created “Carry On” and “Always Tomorrow” by each student sending me both a section of the song “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers and their own improvisation in the key of C. Their challenge was to learn a section of the song and use their imagination and music theory skills to create a part that I could use to create a collaborative piece of music. Each student sent me a short memo of their parts playing to a metronome at 70 beats per minute with headphones.

It was my job as producer, to weave them all together into a tapestry of sound. Everything you hear was played by our students with the exception of some of the drum and percussion parts.

The Product

These creations are a tribute to the great American soul singer Bill Withers, who sadly passed away earlier this year. We studied and analyzed his classic song “Lean on Me” as part of our remote learning music theory project. The style is heavily inspired by Dub music from Jamaica. Dub music traditionally relies on rhythms and studio production techniques and less on “pop” music song structure. The idea was to create loops and use effects to create a musical world where all these different ideas could interact without the musicians ever hearing one another!