Dan Purcell has grown a lot as an artist since his days with Ithacappella.

He's just released the first episode of an "edutainment" series documenting a process of arranging and writing music on Garageband.

After Purcell documents the actual process of recording his ideas into Garageband, he sits back and explains what he was thinking as he went along arranging the song piece by piece.

"It's important to note that it's not the only way to arrange or write," Purcell told FloVoice. "It's after a few years of learning and figuring out my own techniques that I've come to the conclusions I present in this video.

"My hope is that someone, anyone really, learns from the lessons I've shared and plan to share in these videos!"



The genesis of the project stemmed from two things in particular.

Firstly, Purcell wanted to work toward putting out an album of original material as well as more personal and freelance narrative film and video content.

Secondly, he wanted to test run the notion of documenting the evolution of that content as a means to show his work and peel back the process in an effort to educate on top of create.

"I had toyed with the idea of creating a video journal before," Purcell said. "But those initial experiments were more to figure out the format and style more than anything.



"Those initial 'slice of life' videos on my channel showcase nothing beyond what I was doing that day," Purcell continued. "Essentially taking the Casey Neistat vlogging approach of 'try to make a movie every other day/week.'

"I eventually realized this process had gotten stressful after a while, because I'm a perfectionist and generally want to take the time to craft something more worthwhile than 'here is my day on camera.'

"Don't get me wrong, that format is incredible, and the people that are out there innovating within that format are pushing the boundaries of what can happen in the span of a single day, but that format is personally just not for me."

It was in pivoting from that approach that he realized that some form of "giving back" the knowledge he had acquired over the years would be a cool idea to explore.



"I've learned so much in the past 8-9 years about filmmaking, a cappella and music making," Purcell said. "The experiences I had in classes as well as the ones I shared with performance ensembles and film crews at both Bergen Academies and Ithaca College were so crucial to shaping my worldview and perspective on how to tell stories. Why not spread the way I interpreted those experiences to everyone else?

"I wanted to help people who might be starting out making their own music or movies, while at the same time honing my craft and working with others to create something beyond what I already know how to do."

Video essays on YouTube have gotten immensely popular as a form of "edutainment" so why not combine that style of education and entertainment with a filmmaker's or vlogger's approach to composition and editing?

We've all seen and heard interviews with people in the a cappella community who arrange vocal music and talk about their process, but we haven't yet seen anyone document his or her method of actually sitting down and writing or arranging the song or cover that's in his or her head.

The closest thing we could find are the videos that Jon Bellion put out documenting the creation of various songs on his albums, but even then, his videos are merely taking a fly-on-the-wall approach and observing the creation of the songs in the studio.

"I think ultimately, if someone benefits from the experiences I have to offer, then I'll feel like I've accomplished something," Purcell said.

Make sure to check out Dan Purcell's podcast:
Vital Vibrations on iTunes

--

FloVoice's best content, delivered directly to your inbox!

Don't miss exclusive videos, feature stories, event updates, and more. 

Sign up for the FloVoice Newsletter and never miss a beat.