Luke Chapter 1
Luke Chapter 1 is a demo for The Bible Society. The Bible Society are wondering what it would sound like for Chip K (thebandwithnoname) to read the Bible over some beats. If it goes down well, they may consider commissioning the whole of Luke and who knows, maybe the whole Bible?! So Chip K put out the word (literally) by giving people a copy of him reading the first few chapters of Luke. People then send back their offerings with some comments.
This project is no easy task. For starters, it's not just a case of setting Chip's reading to music - he could easily read over any track just like he does on his radio show. Nor is the project an artistic interpretation of the Bible through music. What I have tried to do is a mixture of the two, by blending the music and the reading together into one production. Hopefully this means that the music has some integrity rather than being just incidental. It means thinking about the reading - looking at timing, paragraph breaks, etc. It also means looking at the music to see how it will fit without it sounding forced. The instrumental music must be generic without being bland, but at the same time it must not dominate or compete with the words - after all, it's all about the scripture! Blending the music and the words is like moulding clay into the right shape - both the music and the reading need to be crafted together without losing expression and feeling. This is achieved through careful attention to timing but also by adding incidentals. In the demo I tried to create a subtle difference in the voice of the angel, emphasis of certain words, young Mary singing words from the Magnificat, and sonic imagery when Zachariah is in the temple.
The music was written and recorded by me, Gavin Tyte with executive production from Tom Newton-Smith. Bible read by Chip K.
Coming to iTunes soon (hopefully)!!