Join my Patreon for little as $1/month! Benefits: Listen to new music 24 hours in advance! Unedited versions of new music! Occasional previews! Exclamation points!
Music
Everything is done by me, jimlapbap, unless otherwise noted. I probably need friends or something.
| Albums: $10 | Cover Songs: $1 | Originals/Public Domain: $0.90 |
ALBUMS
 |
Millennial Shanties and Madrigals Shanty and Madrigal covers of pop songs |
 |
Eerie Halloween Minor Halloween covers and cover of Halloween |
 |
Smooth and Easy, Classic and Quirky A mishmash, smorgasbord, hodgepodge of covers and originals |
 |
Troll the Yuletide (Vol. 1) Christmas songs will never be same |
 |
Stop Pretending You’re Irish Just being your typical American during March, only musically |
SINGLES
 |
Sail Shanty (2014) The “shanty” that started it all |
 |
Leave Her Johnny On Hold (Self A.I. for narration) A smooth jazz arrangement of the sea shanty “Leave Her Johnny” |
 |
Teenagers (Barbershop Quartet) They scare the [doo doo doo] out of me💈 |
 |
Hear the song as it may have been originally intended! |
 |
S.I.M.P. (Squirrels In My Pants) (Sea Shanty) Yes, Dan has seen this |
 |
Phineas and Ferb Theme (Old-Timey Version) feat. Krazy Dan B Hear it how it was (kind of) originally made! |
All cover songs have been licensed through EasySong and Affordable Song Licensing for the legal purchase through downloads. Cover songs cost more to offset the additional fees of licensing the songs.
All tracks contains ZERO generative A.I. unless noted. All music is arranged, mixed, and produced by jimlapbap. “Self A.I.” means that I recorded the vocals myself a low volume, then superimposed a model trained on my own voice from before my vocal damage was severe. “Synth Voices” means I used licensed synthetic voices, which are technically Generative A.I., to perform the music that I wrote or arranged. I still had to write the notes, type in the words, adjust syllables and shape the performance to my liking.
Sheet Music
Sheet music for arrangements can only be sold through a website who has an agreement with the publisher, so they are only available at these websites:
| Title | Original Artist | Style | Ensemble | Sheet Music Plus/Direct | MusicNotes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Madrigal | Cast of Encanto | Renaissance Madrigal | SATB choir | No | Yes |
| HOT TO GO! | Chappell Roan | Sea Shanty | SATB choir (flexible) | Yes | Yes |
| Iris | Goo Goo Dolls | Sea Shanty | SATB choir (flexible) | Yes | Yes |
| Milkshake | Kelis | Sea Shanty | SATB choir (flexible) | No | Yes |
| Sail | AWOLNATION | Sea Shanty | TTBB choir (flexible) | No | Yes |
| Single Ladies | Beyoncé | Sea Shanty | SATB choir (flexible) | Yes | Yes |
| Sorry | Justin Bieber | Renaissance Madrigal | SATB choir | No | Yes |
| Teenagers | My Chemical Romance | Barbershop Quartet | TTBB | No | Yes |
| Teenagers | My Chemical Romance | Ragtime | Solo Piano | No | Yes |
| Truly Madly Deeply | Savage Garden | Renaissance Madrigal | SATB choir | Yes | No |
| Watermelon Sugar | Harry Styles | Renaissance Madrigal | SATB choir | Yes | Yes |
| Willow | Taylor Swift | Renaissance Madrigal | SATB choir | No | Yes |
About jimlapbap
Jack of all Musical Niches, Master of None
Or, "Hey you did that one song in that other style"
With experience in many musical backgrounds, jimlapbap is most known for taking well-known songs and arranging them in less-popular styles. The most popular videos are "sea shanty" arrangements of "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls, and a smooth jazz hold music version of the Imperial March from Star Wars.
jimlapbap began posting online in 2008 with quasi-educational arrangements meant to show the range of genre arranging possibilities. Since 2021, he has been posting on the "shorts" with the same approach.
jimlapbap's influences are many to name, but is mostly music "Weird Al" Yankovic's polka covers, the Bobs' a cappella covers, and Richard Cheese's jazz covers.
jimlapbap (Dr. Wesley) also has a real life PhD in Music Composition and 9 years experience teaching composition, arranging, orchestration, and music theory at the collegiate level. His approach to teaching is to try to share his perspective on what makes music work and help people realize they know more about music than they previously thought!
FAQ
What does jimlapbap mean?
“Jimlap” is a bird from an alien planet, and “bap" is another word for sandwich.
My real name is NOT James Lapriel Bapperson. 20 years ago I wrote a sci-fi musical comedy. I had to make up a bunch of alien names for things. Those made for good unique usernames. I used “jimlapbap” when I signed up for YouTube in 2005.
Do you take requests?
I do, but I get so many requests per day, I weigh them either on 1.) It’s a idea I want to try, or 2.) it has a lot of likes. So, requests should go in the comment sections of videos in the style you’re looking for, or where I ask for requests.
Do [song] as a sea shanty!
Sea shanty arrangements are incredibly time consuming. I permanently damaged my voice in 2015, and so it hurts to sing, long/loud/high/gruff, so I have to pace myself. Sea shanty arrangements are about the worst thing for my voice so I’ve recently started using my cloned voice from years ago on top of gentle recordings now.
How did you damage your voice?
I taught. I had bronchitis. I couldn’t get a replacement. So I kept teaching for weeks. The bronchitis got worse, but I kept teaching. I ended up with a permanent tear in my vocal chords.
What have you taught?
I have 9 years experience teaching university level music composition, arranging, orchestration, intro to computer music software, and intro to music theory. I have some experience teaching music appreciation and the hilariously named “World Music.”
What software do you use?
Dorico for scorewriting, Logic for the Digital Audio Workstation, Final Cut for video editing. Most of my virtual instruments are from Native Instruments. I also use NotePerformer in Dorico which has an EastWest Hollywood Orchestra patch which I use for orchestral sounds.
What software do you recommend on little/no budget?
MuseScore is free, I’m not sure what DAWs allow for external virtual instruments (please recommend if you know). CapCut is free and cross platform, and DaVinci+Resolve has a free version. There are free virtual instruments, but I’d recommend a subscription service like EastWest composer cloud.
Hey, you remind me of
Hank Green. Andy Dufresne. Ralph Cifaretto. J-roc fro the Trailer Park Boys. Dexter Holland. Foggy Nelson. Tim from Tim and Eric. Colin Robinson.
Are you really a doctor?
Yes, I have a PhD in music composition from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
Where are you from?
I’m an American citizen, but I grew up in Japan. I went to international schools instead of Japanese schools, so my Japanese language level is good, but not native.
Why didn’t you do that song more like the style?
For my arrangements, many songs and styles are incompatible, and so as an arranger I have to make the choice whether to preserve the song to make it recognizable, or preserve the style to sound authentic. I usually end up somewhere in between.
How come you don’t write original stuff?
I do, but they get about 10% of the engagement that the arrangements get. Also, all my songs seem to be about about food, writing music, or people (these aren’t romantic at all).
You made a pop song sound like something old, why not make something old sound like a pop song?
Updating pop songs is what everyone else does. I generally don’t enjoy it as much, and I also don’t have the voice for pop. So, I leave that to the people who do.
What are your influences?
There are so many to name.
What’s the best way to support you?
Patreon. Becoming a patron is the equivalent of about 70,000 views. You get unedited versions of arrangements 24 hours in advance of the short versions I post everywhere else.
Are you going to release [song] on [online platform]?
Making a full version for streaming/download costs about $40-50, so my rule is generally if something gets 100,000 likes, I’ll do it. Also, it might already be there, my name is the same there as here, jimlapbap. My last album is Millennial Shanties and Madrigals in 2022.
What was the first “weird” arrangement you ever made?
I’m not sure, it’s either a bluegrass version of “Outside” by Staind, a New Orleans style brass quintet arrangement of “Lithium” by Nirvana, or a Fugue arrangement of “I’m a little teapot.” These were all around 2000-01.
Why don’t you get external performers?
Most of the time it’s out of my budget. I do this all on the side and it’s not even close enough to make a living. I occasionally collaborate with volunteers, but it’s a long process because they also do this on the side and for free (well, I try to compensate them some, but it’s a pittance).