Hannah Baumgardner - Creating Original Art (6 points)

 

Hannah Baumgardner (C/O '26) - Creating Original Art (6 points) 

This year, my classmates and I created an original arrangement for Erykah Badu's "Didn't Cha Know." As members of Noire, we often work with our directors, Dr. Christina Buter and Britini Ruff, to collaborate on arrangements for the ensemble's final spring/fall performances. Wanted to take on a larger challenge, a small group of us decided to arrange Badu's song from scratch, with minimal help from the directors. 

To create this arrangement, we met outside of class several times, broke the song into three parts, and experimented with various harmonic and rhythmic ideas. The process mainly consisted of individuals throwing out ideas, and the rest of the group building on them. The most challenging part was trying to interrupt the creative process. For me, with anything I create, I edit and attempt to polish as I go. With music, I've learned it's best to just throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. This is an approach I hope to adopt beyond music...making creation an enriching and less anxious experience. 

I have attached a link to watch our creative process and the final production to this blog post. Feel free to listen! 

Didn't Chan Know - Noire Arrangement 

Didn't Cha Know Arrangement Process