UCL PLAY - WEEK 1
ONE SONG, NEW IDENTITY
We’re changing things up a little this term TO GET THE CREATIVITY FLOWING!
We’re mixing things up a bit this term! Rather than working as one big UCL PLAY group, we’ll be splitting into three smaller groups — 2 x Wednesday and 1 x Thursday — with each group taking on the same creative challenge, but working with a different song. 🎶
That means three groups, three songs, and potentially three completely different musical directions. It’s your chance to put your skills to the test, experiment, take a few creative risks and see where your ideas lead you! There’s no single “right” answer — we want each group to create something that feels genuinely their own.
And who knows where it might lead? You may find a sound, idea or combination of people that you’d like to keep exploring beyond the challenge.
Our Music Leaders will act as group mentors, helping you develop your ideas, make arrangement decisions and get the most from each session. They can also jump in as session musicians if your arrangement needs an extra instrument, voice or pair of hands! Each brief will last two weekly sessions but can be continued throughout term. You will have the option of booking rehearsal space outside of class hours if necessary up to 2 hours free of charge per group throughout the term. More on that in class.
This week’s brief: One Song, New Identity
Each group will choose a familiar song from the UCL festive repertoire and reimagine it, giving it a clear new musical identity while keeping enough of the original for it to remain recognisable.
Decide what you want your version to feel like, then experiment. You might change the groove, tempo, instrumentation, dynamics, texture, harmony or structure — or take the song somewhere completely unexpected.
The aim isn’t simply to play it differently. We want you to make deliberate musical choices that give the arrangement its own character.
This could potentially become one of the songs we perform at the UCL Fundraiser later in the term. So think of this not just as a one-off exercise, but as the beginning of something we may continue developing into a performance piece and then who knows where. . .
That means three groups, three songs, and potentially three completely different musical directions. It’s your chance to put your skills to the test, experiment, take a few creative risks and see where your ideas lead you! There’s no single “right” answer — we want each group to create something that feels genuinely their own.
And who knows where it might lead? You may find a sound, idea or combination of people that you’d like to keep exploring beyond the challenge.
Our Music Leaders will act as group mentors, helping you develop your ideas, make arrangement decisions and get the most from each session. They can also jump in as session musicians if your arrangement needs an extra instrument, voice or pair of hands! Each brief will last two weekly sessions but can be continued throughout term. You will have the option of booking rehearsal space outside of class hours if necessary up to 2 hours free of charge per group throughout the term. More on that in class.
This week’s brief: One Song, New Identity
Each group will choose a familiar song from the UCL festive repertoire and reimagine it, giving it a clear new musical identity while keeping enough of the original for it to remain recognisable.
Decide what you want your version to feel like, then experiment. You might change the groove, tempo, instrumentation, dynamics, texture, harmony or structure — or take the song somewhere completely unexpected.
The aim isn’t simply to play it differently. We want you to make deliberate musical choices that give the arrangement its own character.
This could potentially become one of the songs we perform at the UCL Fundraiser later in the term. So think of this not just as a one-off exercise, but as the beginning of something we may continue developing into a performance piece and then who knows where. . .
Your creative toolkiT
These PDFs will come in very handy during this term. They will be discussed in more detail during classes.
This guy explains chord families in 2 mins - way faster than i could!! Hope it helps?
NOW OPEN