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Refectory Gig

We started by figuring out the foundations of the song and working on making sure that me and Madison knew the chord progression well and that Izzy and Emily knew the melody and the lyrics. We also spent a lot of this time working on being able to play it all in time with one another. 

The next session, we solidified this as a strong foundation of the song and were able to go through the entire thing without having the words or the chords in front of us. We also added me and Madison singing "ooo"s of the root note of each chord during the chorus to give it a more dynamic sound. 

After that, we began exploring harmonies in the song and where they might fit and added a few on the end of the song which were quite loosely put there as we didn't know them very well. 

Then, we polished our performance. We added differences in the chord playing and riffs and stuff to make it more interesting to listen to and we got rid of the ukulele on the second chorus for a quieter dynamic which made it more dramatic and I played lower on the piano for a deeper sound during the second chorus to the end of the song. We also added more interesting and complicated harmonies, having a part where we sing "doo,doo,doo" split into a three part harmony with me doing the top harmony, Izzy and Emily doing the normal melody and Madison doing the low harmony.

The picture above is from the performance in the refectory. I think that it went well and I think that adding in the lower notes during the second chorus when it was just singing and piano (no ukulele or backing vocals) as this gave the song more depth and provoked a more cathartic response from the audience. However, we started at a different speed to normal due to the nerves and so this did mess with our tempo a bit as it caused us to be a bit out of time which can be something for us to improve on in the future. We also had very little rehearsal using microphones and so, for future projects, we nee to remember to rehearse using microphones so we get used to using them and it doesn't change the sound too much. 

Below is the video that Michael took of the performances, our song is at 8 minutes and 7 seconds. 

 /16/10/2023/

On Saturday the 14th of October, I performed at Strode Theatre with five other people. Four of the people acted as the four Beatles and the other one was a Ronette (like me). 

We had a few weeks of rehearsal where we met up twice or three times a week apart from the last week where we rehearsed for a lot of the day on Thursday before the show. We had the tech rehearsal on Friday. 

We performed "I want to hold your hand", "She loves you" and "Be my baby". I did the harmonies/backing vocals for the two Beatles songs whilst Freddie sang the lead and then I sang the lead part for "Be my baby" and Freddie sang the harmonies and backing vocals. 

I think that the final performance went well as I had the confidence to sing in front of the audience and, during the second show, I was able to have better stage presence. I think my stage presence could've improved though and I think we should've had more interaction between the different members of the band. 

 Friday 17th November 2023 - Open Mic

I did my first open mic at the Victoria Club in Street on Friday evening. I played two original songs of my own ("Fairy Dust" and "Blackhole") and I also played guitar for my friend for one of her original songs ("Summer"). We prepared by practicing the songs all day and then we were very nervous to do it. It went well though as I think I sang well and I didn't forget the lyrics or chord progressions. However, I need to have better stage presence and also remember to introduce my songs to the audience. Below are pictures of the performance space ("Fairy Dust", "Summer" and then the space). In future, I'd like to be able to perform more songs and be more confident with the audience and I need to open my mouth more when I sing as well as improving my ability on the guitar. 

Christmas Concert

For the Christmas Concert, I am playing the piano part of a six minute long arrangement that a second year (Michael Elton) did of the Doctor Who theme tune. 

Firstly, Michael sent everyone in the group (six, including them) recordings of each part and what it all sounds like together. After one rehearsal, they wrote down the chords for me to use to know what to play and this was incredibly helpful as I had very little understanding of what I was meant to play before I had it written down in front of me. You can see how the chords were written below:

After learning my part, Michael told me that I wasn't entirely staying in time a lot and so I went home and I practiced more with the track and played my part along with it in order to improve my timing. This allowed me to better recognise where I was in which parts of the music is relation to the other instruments which helped me to stay in time a lot better which resulted in some of the others following me in order to keep time. Using a metronome also helped to improve my timing. 

However, Michael wanted the Middle 8 section to be a different rhythm than the rest to add variety and so showed me how they wanted it and then I struggled with it and so practiced it a lot at home and I found that using the sustaining pedal helped me to get the correct rhythm. For the next rehearsal, I was prepared to be able to play it in time and with varying rhythms for interest. 

After a few rehearsals, we were able to get almost the entire band in for a rehearsal and this made it easier for me to stay in time as I had the melody from the lead guitar to be able to follow so I knew where I was. After practicing a lot and having lots of rehearsals, I think that it is currently going well and everyone seems relatively confident on their parts and I know what I am doing - the next step for me is to practice without the chords written in front of me. I think I'll be able to do it but I am worried about forgetting one bit considering I've relied so much on the chords being written down. 

We had another rehearsal with nearly everyone in the band and it went well as we all managed to stay in time and I personally didn't have any mistakes in what I played. This was our last rehearsal before the actual concert (with the exception of the soundcheck earlier in the day of the concert). However, after this rehearsal, Michael asked me to instead play full triads for the section where we play half time and it's only the piano and synth playing. As a result, I practiced doing this over the weekend and I also practiced over the weekend without having my phone in front of me with the chords. 

Despite my practice, I didn't feel confident enough to not use my phone on the day and so I ended up using my phone anyway. Other than that, I think that the soundcheck went well as I was able to hear everyone else - this was especially helpful as a lot of my cues come from what Michael plays and, in the second section, I don't play during Dan's solo or during the small bit after and so it was important that I could hear what he was playing as it was my cue into when I came back in. Another helpful thing was that we had been practicing with everyone set up in a very similar layout to how the stage was on the night which made it an easy adjustment to play on the stage. 

Looking back onto the concert, I have some things that I think went well and some things that I think I need to work on for the next time I do a performance. I think that I need to get better and more efficient at memorising the part I'm playing as it doesn't look as professional having my phone on the piano - despite this, my phone wasn't actually very visible to the audience as it blended in more. However, I also got lost at one point in the music as my eyes jumped down to a different part of the music that was similar to what I was meant to be playing but not the same and so I accidentally started playing the wrong thing and this then threw me off. Luckily, the chords still partially fitted with the melody and so it wasn't hugely noticeable. Another thing was due to the stress, despite having used the square breathing method in order to become more calm, I did not remember to play triads during the half speed section and I think it's because of how late on I started practicing it - but, I don't think it made too much of a difference so it was alright. I think at times we went too quickly but, we were all in time with each other so it wasn't hugely noticeable. Something that I thought I did well was I stayed in time the entire time and even when I fell out of it a bit when I messed up what I was playing, I managed to quickly get back into time with everyone else. I think that a lot of these problems could've been avoided if I had memorised the piece - this also would've allowed me to have better stage presence, resulting in a more enjoyable experience for the audience. Another good thing I did was begin the piece in the correct tempo - at the beginning, I start off by playing purely by myself and it often worries me that I'll play too quickly in the adrenaline of the moment but I didn't and so that allowed it to move slowly when the rest of the band joined in. 

This experience has given me more ability to be able to work and rehearse in a large group as well as be able to play in time with others. It's also prompted me to start practicing playing things with a metronome in order to give me more of a natural rhythm which allow playing with other people to be much easier as well as making it easier for when I want to record my own songs as having all in time allows it to be easier to then layer other instruments on top (whether midi or an actual musician). 

/15/01/2024/

I did some music for the Friends Of Strode Theatre in the foyer with four other people. Me and Madison performed together, doing two of her songs and two of my songs. I was pretty relaxed during the performance and I think this is because the people weren't actively listening as they were talking to one another and so it made it easier. 

I remembered all of the lyrics to my song and the harmonies on one of Madison's songs and, overall, I think it went very well. To improve, I think that I should open my mouth more and also have better stage presence as I had a bored look on my face again - I'll need to practice in front of a mirror more in order to improve these things. I could also use feedback from my peers.

Friday 19th January - Open Mic

 

I did another open mic at the Victoria Club in Street but I did it by myself this time. I was much more confident this time as I have written a lot more songs since then and also got to grips better with the guitar. I was kind of nervous for the first two songs but, for the most part, I was pretty relaxed and it was really quite a lot of fun. I did four original songs and the people there told me they liked them. I did forget the lyrics once and mess up the chord progression at one point but I was quick to carry on, I now know to equally practice all the songs as I was especially worried about one song so practiced it more than the others which then resulted in another one of the songs being more neglected which meant I messed up. My stage presence was a lot better than last time however, I still look slightly bored and so I need to practice performing in front of a mirror to make it look more entertaining and also to open my mouth more.  

/31/01/2024/

I did a lunchtime gig in C13 today with Madison and Nimai - we did Madison's song ("Separated By Water") where she sings the main vocal whilst playing ukulele, Nimai played bass and I played a keyboard and sang harmonies. We rehearsed this a lot before the performance and made sure that everybody was happy with their parts. On the day, we were worried about the harmonies sounding off and so we sang them acapella and figured out the notes that we were singing slightly wrong which meant the harmonies sounded really good in the performance. However, I did get nervous which meant I closed my mouth again which caused my singing to be quieter and more nasally than intended. I think that our timing and my piano playing was all really good though. But, when I came in to play, I realised the chord was off and the keyboard had been transposed and I hadn't realised which meant I had to stop the performance as, in the adrenaline filled state, I didn't know what to do (luckily, someone came over and turn the transpose off). In the future, when playing after another pianist, I need to make sure that it is all set to the way that I want to use it to prevent this from happening again. 

/02/02/2024/ - Open Mic

I did an open mic in Ashcott at the Ring O'Bells pub and I performed four songs in total. Originally, I planned to do two of the same songs as last time and two new ones, however, I got too worried about forgetting the lyrics and so ended up doing the same four as I did previously instead. I was also worried about the two new songs not being good enough and people not liking them. I didn't forget the lyrics or the chord progression at any point although, I did play a slightly dodgy chord at one point when I was trying to play a D. In order to improve, I need to rehearse more and perfect my guitar technique as well as learn new chords to keep my songs interesting. On top of this, I am opening my mouth more but I am still too scared to open my mouth all that wide and so I need to record myself singing a small part of a song, watch it back and keep doing it until I am used to and know how it feels when I am doing it right. 

/01/03/2024/

I did an open mic at The Crown Inn in Pilton and I performed four songs in two different sets of two. They were the same four songs that I always play as I am worried about stepping out of my comfort zone and playing a different song as I know that these songs tend to go down well. Next time I do an open mic, I'd like to switch out at least one of my songs for another one in order to be more confident in more of the songs I've written rather than just these four. I think that I did ok in this performance but it wasn't really my best because, although my singing was alright for the most part and I got the chords right on the guitar, my strumming was a bit out of practice for one of the songs as I'd previously been practicing plucking the strings instead for a different audition. I also completely forgot the words on one of my songs and had to play the chorus again in order to jog my memory (luckily, it worked). Next time, I'll try to remember to bring sheets with the words on in order to prevent this from happening again as well as practice the way that I'm going to perform them in order to ensure that I catch and fix all the possible mistakes before I perform. Overall, I think it went well though because it was good experience in not only performing but also knowing what to do if something goes wrong. 

/08/03/2024/

I did another open mic at the Victoria Club and I decided to push myself a bit more out of my comfort zone by switching out two songs of the normal four I've always done with two other songs I've written to try them out. I ended up doing three sets of six in the end due to there not being that many other people there. I've learnt that one of the new songs was good and well structured and everything however, I got feedback from my Dad that he thinks that the other one needs to be restructured and changed as it plods on and is a bit boring. Although, I also got feedback from my Dad that I had more expression this time and I performed better than I did last time and I think I even opened my mouth more when singing which I think is because of my singing teacher having told me that when I play with guitar, I tend to have more confidence and this gave me more confidence. Also, my Dad also said that, unlike last time, my guitar playing was much better and on time and worked well with my singing. I think this is because, I practiced the songs a lot more this time than I did before in order to be better prepared. 

Next time, I plan to try to open my mouth even more, try to be energetic the whole way through (I became tired towards the end and you could tell by my expression and the way I sang) and also to try out new songs more often.