Put a few music majors in a room, and the result will no doubt be a little music. Put 10 music majors in a room, and the result will be The Primaries.
In February of 2013, The Primaries played as part of
UCLA’s Cultural Affairs Commission’s concert series at Kerckhoff Coffeehouse, the band’s first show together. Fast forward just one year, and the collective is 10 strong, preparing to release an EP next month and set to play as part of the Fowler Out Loud concert series.
While its early performances consisted of R&B; and soul-style covers of popular songs, the collective has evolved and begun writing its own material. Third-year ethnomusicology and communications studies student Ryan Yoo, who co-founded The Primaries and provides vocals for the band, said its set list for Fowler Out Loud will consist mostly of original songs. The Primaries said they hope that the performance will serve as a testing ground of sorts for some of the group’s newer songs.
“We have a lot of unreleased material,” Yoo said. “At Fowler we’ll be playing some new stuff and then some stuff that we played last quarter at a performance at Kerckhoff. We’re looking forward to being able to see what works and what doesn’t.”
The collective has grown by four members since 2013, bringing its number to 10, making the band more akin to a small symphonic army than a typical musical group. However, guitarist and third-year jazz student, Chili Corder, said there can be strength in numbers.
“It’s always a good thing. There are so many musical influences and backgrounds and ideas as to what the best song will be,” said Corder. “How eclectic everyone’s input is can really be one of the best things about the band. Although, it can make for an interesting process.”
Like any equation with multiple variables, it’s no surprise that student bands often have a difficult time scheduling band practice around classes and other commitments. The Primaries has 10 variables in its equation. This can make it difficult both in organizing rehearsals, as well as during performances. Ethnomusicology student and pianist Alan McDonnell said he believes that the band’s size requires a higher level of arrangement.
“It means that we have to really decide on structure things like arrangements and solo orders, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing,” said McDonnell. “You have to understand that you’re playing in a big band, so you have to make sure that what you’re playing doesn’t clash with what the guitar is playing, or the horns or the vocalist.”
The band’s songs are initially written and given structure by Yoo, McDonnell and Corder, who then show them to the rest of the band members so that they can, in turn, arrange their own musical parts, said McDonnell. While this sounds like a fairly formal means of songwriting, their formula does leave room for improvisation. Each song usually lends itself to a feature player.
“The way we write our songs, there will usually be a main part and then an instrumental feature. It’s always hard to pick who gets that feature, because everyone is so good,” said Corder.
Feature pieces and song parts are something you have to fight for, said pianist McDonnell.
“In rehearsal you have to be willing to tell someone, ‘Hey, I was listening to what you were playing, your this part was clashing with my that part.'” said McDonnell. “Everyone is really talented though.”
The Primaries have seen a significant amount of growth over the last year. The band has gone from a group of musically inclined friends putting a jazz twist on covers to a musical platoon, writing and recording their own material with an EP on the way.
However, this momentum comes with its own pros and cons, said Yoo.
“On one hand, being a real band means that you have to be organized, and, again, with 10 people that’s hard to do,” Yoo said. “It can get stressful, but at the end of the day it’s always really cool to be able to think to yourself, ‘Yeah, I’m in a band.’ It’s pretty cool. I’m really proud of the music we’re making.”