Disclaimer:
This guide is mostly based on my own Subjective, so if there’s anything you guys do differently be sure to reply about it and we can all learn. I am not an expert/veteran on this just someone who enjoys this form of Roleplay
What Is MusicRP/SongRP??
Based on context clues of the name it’s when a character plays RP out singing a particular song or playing an instrument for a song, sometimes both. This form of Roleplay just like ArtRP it’s very broad but for me I see MusicRP to be more involved with developing our character, for who they are and most importantly what they sound like. And there are many things that come to mind when it comes to MusicRP in my point of view Which I will get to right now!!
Character’s Voice
This part is super subjective as this is based on your character’s talking voice. Here are some questions you can ask yourself and I will answer some of these myself. And by doing this you will be able to find a rough or fully official representation of what your character's singing voice will be like
Questions you should ask yourself before doing musicRP- Does your character have a naturally high or low pitch voice?
- How do they sound when experiencing different emotions, Excitement, anger, sadness, disgust, Fear, etc
- Do they struggle with speech impairments like stuttering?
- What are other people’s perspectives on how your character speaks?
- If you can base both their Japanese and English voice with any form of Media or content, what can you compare it to? Also do the same for other languages if you have Language authorization (Minus JSL).
[!] By understanding and answering these questions for yourself not only will you start to get a better understanding on what artist you want to base a character’s singing off of, but you’ll overall have a better understanding of your own character as a whole. This kind of information can also help in the long run if you ever plan on writing your character’s Biography. [!]
Here are my answers on my own Character Amane, my favorite musical bug
1. Amane has a surprisingly middling deep voice yet mature voice. But overall her singing is still considered a Soprano
2. When Amane is simulated she usually be her doubling down on how she's feeling and expresses it with raising her voice to making riffs in her singing.
3. Amane does not have any speech impairments which could affect her singing
4. Some people think she's just some really high pitch and conceded person when really she's more like [Kazusa] or [Saki] from Blue Archive
5. JP: Rei Tuyu/Aizawa Channel - EN: WIP as she only doesn't know English too well
Language
We should all know by now or really remember this OOCly we’re typing in English, but ICly our characters are speaking In Japanese (assuming it’s fluent-semi fluent). This is important to realize because in some cases or most, your character would more than likely be singing an English song but singing it in Japanese dubbed, which unless that's what you want, that’s great but personally for me it does confuse me a lot and I wouldn't wanna try and piggyback on it. But if you wanna represent the song in its English version you DetailRP it out in one way or another.
Ex.
/it In English [Character’s name] pitches their voice, making significant riffs in their singing [Song lyrics]
With that said you can use whatever song you want (so-long it’s SRP appropriate), however I do emphasize on using a Japanese song since it calls for it a lot more natural ICly. But again this may not be needed but for me it helps keep the In character immersion with a W2G playing the song which you would presume is being sung by someone on the server. Plus some players like myself can be easily confused by this since we don't know if ICly the character is singing in English or Japanese.
And if you choose a song that isn't Japanese or language it is certainly possible to use the /lang [Whatever language] Though doing that is very complicated and I personally it's still somewhat in a gray area in terms of being allowed. But even then I would still stick with Japanese or English songs when doing MusicRP.
Ex.
/it In English [Character’s name] pitches their voice, making significant riffs in their singing [Song lyrics]
With that said you can use whatever song you want (so-long it’s SRP appropriate), however I do emphasize on using a Japanese song since it calls for it a lot more natural ICly. But again this may not be needed but for me it helps keep the In character immersion with a W2G playing the song which you would presume is being sung by someone on the server. Plus some players like myself can be easily confused by this since we don't know if ICly the character is singing in English or Japanese.
And if you choose a song that isn't Japanese or language it is certainly possible to use the /lang [Whatever language] Though doing that is very complicated and I personally it's still somewhat in a gray area in terms of being allowed. But even then I would still stick with Japanese or English songs when doing MusicRP.
The W2G.TV mini guide
Although using a Watch2gether for musicRP is optional, it's a really good way to create an ICly Immersion, as it's one of the few outside websites that can be taken ICly in some circumstances. Like music being played in a restaurant and of course, the music that your character is playing either in real time or being blasted on SRP's Blockify. Generally when you use a W2g link when performing, you usually want to paste your songRP binds the moment a verse of a song starts and going in tempo of the W2G. Additionally I could also be wrong about this, but some official events (and it usually varies) like the Gothic Ball which took place in shopping district, it does required a w2g and try your best to stay in sync with the video which is provided by the people from the event team. Though it usually varies from what your using it for. Personally I love using a w2g and if you don't feel comfortable swapping taps you don't have to do it.
The Playlist
Once you pasted a YouTube link into the W2G link it'll give you the option to add to the playlist shown as followed
↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
Now the song will be on the playlist, where you can select a song you want to play, and you don't have to keep reapplying a YouTube link into it.
Security measures
This can be optional but I do recommend you do this but do change the permissions of the w2g board. As people are able to pause/play or skip a part of a song, which can overall ruin the flow of MusicRP, and worst of all people are more likely going to not only pause the song but play an entirely different song which will ultimately ruin the entire performance as a whole.
Little antidote there was this one time doing my usual routine of MusicRP with a W2g link and there were around 3-4 people including myself on the link. And apparently one of these guys decided it would be funny to Add The Freaking LAVA CHICKEN Song, With The First Thing I Hear Was Jeff Black’s “LaLaLa LAVA- ChiChiChi CHICKEN!!” From then on I started changing the permission of all members before sending the link out.
Little antidote there was this one time doing my usual routine of MusicRP with a W2g link and there were around 3-4 people including myself on the link. And apparently one of these guys decided it would be funny to Add The Freaking LAVA CHICKEN Song, With The First Thing I Hear Was Jeff Black’s “LaLaLa LAVA- ChiChiChi CHICKEN!!” From then on I started changing the permission of all members before sending the link out.
These are the settings I go for though not optimal
The DetailRP/Keybinds
Now the moment y'all been waiting for. Before I start making keybinds I would first look up the English lyrics of the song I want to use. Especially if you're using a Japanese song, search for the English lyrics of the song not the Romaji. From there copy paste all the lyrics and separate them from Verse, Chorus, Bridge, etc. Personally speaking I recommend listening to the song while you do this and writing it down the song, verse by verse. When you listen to the song, think about just the overall vocals of what the artist does when singing along with smaller actions of what your character is doing as they’re singing. This can be something as simple as batting their eyes at the audience (if there is any), tapping their feet as they sing, Playing an instrument, or any bodily gesture which will give the incentive that this character is in the groove of the song and is fully locked in. As for the singing itself, this is where the subjective side of musicRP comes in, you could be using any kind of song, any kind of artist whether it’s an official song or cover and this really depends on what song you are using. Once you finish the detailRP, you could then format it making it look nicer and more appeasing.
Another thing you can do is interactions with other things then singing. This can be in the form of how the character interacts with the instrument they're playing if they are playing one, how they interact with the microphone they're singing if they're using one, and eye contact with the crowd. All of which can be put into detailRP.
Another thing you can do is interactions with other things then singing. This can be in the form of how the character interacts with the instrument they're playing if they are playing one, how they interact with the microphone they're singing if they're using one, and eye contact with the crowd. All of which can be put into detailRP.
Some More Questions to ask yourself when you're writing your binds
- How does your character sing, the song itself
- are they playing any instruments? If so how are they playing it?
- What is their body language while performing the song
- are they doing extra stuff to add to the song
- Are they singing the song in Japanese or a different language
My Personal Experiences
This part is also where I myself am starting to improve on as a whole (Afterall I did say this was based on my own subjective experiences). When writing down song keybinds I want to think about how the artist or the w2g reference is singing the song, like if they’re performing riffs within their singing, increasing or decreasing the pitch of their singing voice, maybe they’re taking small breaths before each verse, etc. And from what I'm seeing this is probably also why people mostly use /it > /me or /my but personally I do all 3. Back then I used to song-bind without /me or /it but now I don't do that any more since it’s easier to control the volume with C or L (for whisper or Yell actions). Also I sometimes do see people only using some parts of a song verse, personally I just try to make 1 or 2 whole actions using all my appends for an entire Verse using the English Lyrics I copied and Pasted onto a google doc or notepad.
Overall what my DetailRP looks like:
It’s not the greatest but I’m happy with what I have since I made it myself
(Looking back now I have a lot that I've improved)
Thank You For Reading this!!! <3
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