TOUGH NUT 2 CRACK
Notes
The Elephant in the Room RST Labs
Judy Rounda, Brendan Shaffick, and Schneata Shyne-Turner were enrolled in Berklee Online songwriting class, with Neil Diercks as the instructor, when Neil offered a choice to collaborate on a song with groups he assigned by the first letters of last names. One other person was assigned to their group, but she chose not to participate. The RST Labs collaboration group met and wrote their first song for that assignment, called The Elephant in the Room, in which the elephant in the room is personified. Schneata's (Dr. SasT) husband, Ray Turner, produced a track for their song.
I Care RST Labs
Once they completed their first collaborative song, members of the group agreed that they wanted to collaborate further, and settled on the idea of creating a song to follow The Elephant in the Room. Would someone befriend the ignored elephant in the room? The song I Care resulted from this collaboration.
Out the Door RST Labs
For a third collaboration, they decided that the elephant does get out of the room and out the door. Felita LaRock provided the vocals.
I Go to the Water Judy Rounda
This song was written by Judy as an almost meditation about her mindset shift as she had begun going to the aquatics center for water fitness classes. Ray as co-writer supplied ambient pads and effects to add to the piano accompaniment.
Goin' Down this Road RST Labs, JazzAnarchy
That familiar elephant is not only out the door, but is now going down the road. JazzAnarchy provided the vocals.
Connect Me Dr SasT, Ginesthoi
Dr. SasT began collaborating with a different group on this song about how we are connected through our music to friends and family and across generations.
Tough Nut 2 Crack RST Labs
When RST Labs began discussing releasing their collaborative songs, they decided that they would call the release Tough Nut 2 Crack, then talked about creating a title song. At first, the song was a piano ballad, then it acquired somewhat of a samba beat, and Ray created the track, and JazzAnarchy once again provided vocals.