We’ve featured this 1965 Bacharach/David tune before, but this 2020 cover, performed and produced by students at Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, really speaks to our current moment. It’s certainly one of the most successful virtual choir/orchestra endeavors I have seen. Key change at 2:00.
Tag: 2020s
Grant Stott | Save Lives
Grant Stott is a Scottish broadcaster who went viral at the 2011 Radio Forth Awards with “That’s Fife,” a parody of Frank Sinatra‘s “That’s Life” and a tribute to the county of Fife in Scotland. Here, he utilizes the same idea with a different message, and even throws in a key change at 2:21.
Camden Voices | True Colors
One of the bright spots during these long days have been the many virtual choir videos being produced from all corners of the globe. Here, Camden Voices covers Cyndi Lauper‘s classic “True Colors,” key change at 2:16.
Theme from “Steven Universe Future”
Steven Universe Future was an American animated series which aired on Cartoon Network for only a few months, wrapping up in March 2020. It revisited the longer-running series Steven Universe and a movie by the same name.
Starting with a brief a capella intro in Eb major, there’s an upward sweep to E major at 0:05; the theme remains in E major for all of its remaining 25 seconds!
Jacob Collier | Hallelujah
I have posted Jacob Collier singing a different arrangement of this same song here before, but I came across this rendition today, filmed a few days ago, and it is so transcendent that I have to share it again. As Collier says before he begins, “It starts in C Major, but we’ll see where it ends up,” making it particularly fitting for this page.
Charles Cornell | Imagine
As a response to the COVID-19 crisis, actress Gal Godot recently convened a group of celebrities to cover John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The vocals, while heartfelt, are a cappella and all over the place in terms of key. Multi-instrumentalist Charles Cornell has devised an accompaniment which knocks some of the harsh edges off of the, um, transitions.
Many thanks to MotD contributor Alex Mosher for this submission!
UPDATE: a few days later, the YouTuber Charles Cornell uploaded this update, explaining how he approached smoothing out the modulations:
Jacob Collier | Moon River
Jacob Collier‘s newest release is an arrangement of “Moon River,” written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer in 1960 — it will blow your mind. Starting in Bb, it modulates to Db at 3:48, then to D at 4:34. After a long, winding transition, we end up in Eb at 5:55, and go in many different directions from there before ultimately landing on a…C major chord. 🤯 There is no one like this guy, and this might be his most epic masterpiece yet.
UPDATE | April 12, 2020:
This update isn’t strictly a modulation, but in this 90-minute video Collier breaks down, in granular detail, how he put together the arrangement. It is staggering, and includes a fascinating discussion of harmony.
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