Community / Youngster Ruben pens catchy Christmas song to dance to
Proceeds from the sales of (I Hope That We Can) Dance This Christmas on Bandcamp will go to community group Bigton Collective
A BUDDING young musician and producer from Bigton is providing some much-needed festive cheer in the shape of a Christmas song encouraging folk to dance along.
Ten year old Ruben Ritch has written, recorded, produced and sung (I Hope That We Can) Dance This Christmas and an accompanying video with a host of neighbours doing some Covid-friendly line dancing.
You can watch the video on YouTube and the song is also available for digital download via Bandcamp, with all proceeds going to the Bigton Collective.
Ruben is the son of Alice and Jonathan Ritch, and has clearly inherited some of his parents’ creativity.
Alice said the arts-focused community collective was doing a dancing challenge this month and “we needed a catchy song to learn some dance steps”.
“Line dancing is the perfect Covid-friendly dance style and our neighbours Jamie and Myleen helped us learn some basic steps,” she said. “The members of the Bigton Band added some instrumental layers and have been working out how to sign the lyrics.”
She said Ruben had recently discovered digital recording, programmed the whole track himself and came up with the hook line for the chorus.
“The rest of the lyrics were a collective effort, inspired by the first robin of the season we spotted on the fence outside,” Alice added. “Ruben was a bit shy to sing on the track himself but he thought he would give it a go and we’re so glad he did!”
Ruben said he began using the GarageBand app on an iPad a few months ago, then realised he could use LogicPro on the family’s old Apple Mac computer.
“For the song, I started with a bass line, then chose some chords and programmed the drums,” he said.
“I like creating bass lines because I’m learning double bass. Then I connected up a proper Midi keyboard and used it to play in the notes for the melody.”
Ruben, who is in P6 at Dunrossness School, said he had not intended to sing the song himself but borrowed his mum’s USB microphone and “gave it a go”.
“I’m pretty happy with the result, but I wouldn’t want to sing at a public concert! I hope people like my song and can dance to it this Christmas – it’s amazing to see people dance to the song that I recorded.”
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