Collingwood’s Senior Jazz Band has had a busy first term. The high level 13-piece ensemble has now played in numerous assemblies, events and concerts, on top of covering the fundamentals of jazz in class. Their most recent project? Rearranging Shawn Mendes’ Treat You Better for the Canadian Music Class Competition.
The Canadian Music Class Competition, run by the CBC, gives music classes across the country the opportunity to choose a Canadian song from the provided list and create a cover version. The cover could be performed in the exact same style as the original song or it could be reimagined in a completely new fashion. The class would then film themselves performing the song live and send it into the three judges for assessment. The judges will then choose six winners, who will be awarded with a plaque and a classroom recording studio kit, valued at around $5000. For more information on this competition, click here.
For Collingwood’s entry, the senior jazz band decided to rearrange Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes into numerous genres of music. They worked tirelessly for months to convert different sections of the song into funk, reggae, waltz, swing, latin and rock. Not only did they change the beat to fit these different styles, but they also reharmonized the song accordingly. For a final touch, Collingwood’s brand new drumline was added to accompany the last chorus.
“As awesome as it would be to win the contest,” said Mr. Corey Smith, the director of instrumental music at Collingwood, “our true aim is for our video to go viral. We hope that our video is shared and posted enough to catch Shawn Mendes’ attention!”
“Ultimately,” he continued, “this was a great experience for the band. We were able to meet many of our learning objectives while also learning about arranging music and how to use software for mixing. The band should be proud of themselves no matter what the result is.”
Senior Jazz Band plans to donate the recording kit to a high school in East Vancouver, should they be chosen as a winner.
Watch the full submission here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVFssWAt7sA
Catch the Senior Jazz Band and other jazz ensembles on January 31 at January Blues,Collingwood’s 1st annual jazz cabaret.
By: Riley Tam
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