The Sing-a-ma-jig Symphony: An Interview With Erin Knight
T. Bloom's Q&A with the YouTube musician who found inspiration in tiny, singing robots
[A version of this article was originally published by Penguin Random House in 2015]
Fear not, the Sing-a-ma-jigs come in peace. You may have already encountered them on your local toy aisle and thought little of them — or perhaps you were squicked out by their weird little mouths, robotically belting out classic kids’ tunes one note at a time with the continued squeezing of their plush bodies.
In the hands of a gifted musical arranger, however, these critters have vaulted across the Uncanny Valley and proven themselves as a complex electronic chorus with genuine heart and soul.
Musician Erin Knight’s inaugural Sing-a-ma-jig Symphony video — a cover of Journey’s “Open Arms” — has already gathered nearly 50,000 views [editor’s note: now over 223K] and a slew of song requests. Her follow-up video, “Hey Jude,” proved she has only begun to scratch the surface of the singing beasties’ true potential. In the interview below, Knight reveals the intricate, time-consuming process of creating these videos, as well as the insights she’s obtained from her time spent living among the Sing-a-ma-jigs. If you happen to have one of these critters in your own home, you’d better hold onto it: someday she might need to commandeer it as an emergency back-up singer.
T. Bloom: Tell us a bit about your musical background and interests — what instruments you play, and what you generally aspire to accomplish musically.
Erin Knight: I have a degree in music education, and I taught middle school band. I am primarily a trumpet player and violinist, but it would be easier to list what instruments I don’t play. I’ve always loved making music since I was a kid, so I’ve done my best to learn any instrument I can get my hands on. I enjoy writing original compositions, but my real passion is in arranging. I would love to become a published arranger.
TB: My friends and I were freaked out by these toys when we first saw them in the store, we thought they were ugly and kind of creepy. We were humbled and inspired when we discovered your videos, seeing how you brought out the heart and soul in something we’d dismissed as soulless. How did you first happen upon the Sing-a-ma-jigs? What was your own original impression of them, and how did you discover their potential as a musical instrument?
EK: I was introduced to Sing-a-ma-jigs by John Green in a vlogbrothers video, Making Adorable Music. I had the same initial reaction as most people: confused and a little afraid. I really enjoyed that they harmonized with each other, though. When a friend of mine had a baby, I got her one, and it was entertaining that the adults enjoyed it more than the little kids. I tried to get one for another friend a couple years later, but to my dismay, the store had stopped carrying them. I had envisioned having a few of them myself, and realized by the time I had kids of my own, they may not be available. So, I did what anyone would do, and turned to Ebay. Someone was selling a lot of 12 of them, so I jumped on it. I still don’t think I had imagined making actual music with them, that evolved fairly organically when I realized how broad of a range they had when combined together.
TB: Once you see the final product, all this seems completely justified. Were there moments along the way, however, in which the idea struck you (or others) as impossible, or totally nuts?
EK: Story of my life.
TB: Do you have ALL of them? Were there any that were difficult to acquire?
EK: No, I don’t have them all. I knew I wanted the mint colored one (the lowest bass voice), the yellow one, and a red or pink one. I figured that would cover the broadest range. The lot I found included those, as well as many others.
TB: As a total musical ignoramus, I’ve imagined that constructing a complex arrangement required you to sit down and map out all the notes sung by each of the Sing-a-ma-jigs. If so, does that mean there’s a document you can reference now to help you recreate other songs, or are you just feeling your way through it each time?
EK: That was exactly the process. Most of the time spent on creating the first video was purely documentation. I am able to reference it, so making future arrangements is much faster.
TB: Obviously, you’re limited to using the notes provided by the toys. Are there gaps you have to work around, or is the whole scale pretty much represented?
EK: This picture was taken while figuring out which toys could play which notes. I have duplicates of a couple of the toys, and because I keep the batteries lower in two of them, they are actually a half-step lower than their twins, which allows me to cover nearly every note of about a 3-octave range.
TB: Was Journey’s “Open Arms” the first song you attempted? Was there a personal reason for choosing it, and/or were Sing-a-ma-jig-imposed limitations a factor?
EK: Yes, “Open Arms” was the first song I made with them. I am a big Journey fan, but it was really a combination of factors that brought me to it. First, I knew I wanted to do a ballad, because while I can play fast notes on them, many of the syllables they say have a hard consonant at the beginning, so if you play a short note, you get mostly that instead of any tone. Long notes sustain the pitch, so it sounds better.
I also knew I wanted to arrange it in the key of C#, because that is the key of the Sing-a-ma-jig’s arpeggios (the chord they all can play together). By arranging a song in that key, I can make the most use of those built-in harmonies. “Open Arms” is originally in D (only a half step off), so it would sound pretty close to the original.
TB: How long, overall, would you say it took you to film the initial video? Did the “Hey Jude” follow-up take you just as long, or is there a learning curve you’ve cleared that makes it a lot easier?
EK: The first one took about a month and a half (off and on) to map out all the notes, figure out the best way to arrange it, and record it. It’s not only figuring out which toy can play which note; I also try to use them efficiently by looking for which toy can cover several notes in a row, instead of just one note at a time. “Hey Jude” took about a month to arrange and record, but it was also a longer and more complicated arrangement. I would guess making future ones will take about a week (of my free time) for every 30 seconds of video.
Here’s a page out of the “Hey Jude” score. (Yes, I write a score to record them from.) The “AH” lyric indicates the built-in arpeggio, and the numbers indicate what syllable of their song will play that note.
TB: Absurd as it might seem, there’s a strong emotional component to the Sing-a-ma-jigs performing so earnestly in chorus. In a sense you have liberated them from the constraints they were created with. Do you see them differently now than you did when you first started out?
EK: Hah, I hadn’t thought about it that way, because as I record them they still seem mechanical. The “life” really comes when I layer all the tracks together. I do refer to them by name though (which reveals I am probably talking to them… not scoring sanity points here.)
TB: Are the Sing-a-ma-jigs’ batteries changeable/rechargeable, or will they eventually die?
EK: The batteries are changeable; they each use 2 AAA’s. I am worried though about their mechanical parts failing over time; I have a couple whose buttons are sticking, or causing me to squeeze them very precisely to change notes. I figure if the time comes where they stop working, I will put out a plea to the internet to send me their old ones and I’ll put them to good use.
TB: You have invited song requests for your Sing-a-ma-jig Symphony. What are some of your favorite requests? Can you tell us when the next video will arrive, or what it might be? (No pressure on that, if you prefer the element of surprise.)
EK: I haven’t started the next video yet, but I plan to try the suggestion of “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana. I like to imagine a little viking helmet on them; we’ll see if I can make that happen. I laughed picturing the suggestions of “Let It Go” from Frozen, and “Through the Fire and Flames” by Dragonforce. I would like to do some shorter clips, too, to be able to make videos more frequently. Keep the suggestions coming!
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