Two of DSU’s most creative societies are aiming to smash their previous fundraising record with their very own charity single this Christmas.
Two of De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU)’s most creative societies are aiming to smash their previous fundraising record with their very own charity single this Christmas.
The Music Society and Music Recording Society have joined forces to write, record and release a brand new song to celebrate the festive season and raise money for emotional support charity Samaritans, and are asking students plus friends and family to give generously this Christmas.
Buyers are asked to give a minimum donation of £1, or even more generously if they can.?
Matt Coll, a third-year Music Technology student at De Montfort University (DMU) and Chair of the Music Society, said: “[This is] our second, hopefully annual, charity Christmas single.
“We’ve written an original Christmas song and recorded it with the help of the Music Recording Society.”
The song, which features 12 members of the Music Society, a grand piano and even sleigh bells played by Santa himself, was recorded over evenings and weekends on the DMU campus.
It was composed by society members Sam Rodmell and Gary Jovanovitch-Barnett alongside Matt, with lyrics and lead vocals by Kait Baker-Smith.
The student groups previously teamed up in 2016 to record their first charity single together, but Matt feels the new release is a step above and beyond what he helped produce last year.
“It’s far better,” he said. “It’s more ambitious, both musically and in production terms as well. We knew what we were doing this year!”
Tom Snell is a third-year Audio and Recording Technology student, and is also Chair of the Music Recording Society.
He explained how the recording process wasn’t all plain sailing. “We’ve got an actual grand piano in the track,” he said. “We had to book out the Dance Studio on the ground floor of PACE (Performing Arts Centre for Excellence).”
Matt continued: “We got to the piano and realised it had actually been locked shut, so we scrambled around for half an hour, but we managed it in the end!”
Matt sat at the – mercifully open – grand piano in DMU's PACE Dance Studio.
And while there may have been bumps along the road when it came to recording the song, the groups had no problem choosing a cause to raise money for.
Matt explained: “Ultimately, it was the members who came up and put forward societies and charities they’d like to raise money for, and we put it to a vote.
“If anyone doesn’t know what Samaritans do, they are basically a helping hand [who] listen to and help people deal with any problem they might have – especially with regard to suicide prevention – which is something that we can definitely all get behind.”
The song, ‘Christmas Ain’t The Same (Without You)’, is now available to download from the DMU Music Society’s Bandcamp page.
Buyers are asked to give a minimum donation of £1, or even more generously if they can.
(L-R) Tom Snell helped produce the song, written by Matt Coll, Kait Baker-Smith and two other Music Society members.
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