Today was the extended deadline for our collaborative music technology performances and I think it's fair for me to say that we're all glad that it is now out of the way. I was personally stressing a little with wondering if we were going to be a man down (which we was), but Rob kindly stepped in last minute to play drums for us. I ended up returning the favor by playing guitar with his tribe because they were also missing a member. It just helped to give their piece a sense of melodic direction rather than just a rhythmically driven track. I tried to add a few harmonies in the "verse" section too, and I learnt that it is quite difficult to learn the entirety of an original piece when played on a pitched instrument within the hour, but it was certainly a good challenge.
Given that I've had two practice sessions and two performance sessions today, I'd say that they all went very well. I want to grab the videos and audio recordings from my tutor, Matt for the memories. I've never seen The Venue's stage packed so tightly with gear.Thinking about it, it was difficult to operate the foot switches I was using because of all the cables hanging around my feet. I really need to finish off my recording journal and evaluation for this Friday; preferably before. I've really not been at all focused again this week, maybe it's just the new season bedding, but I felt so tired and ill yesterday. I'm thankful that this hasn't continued through into today, that I'm managed to shake of whatever that sick feeling was yesterday and I just feel the tiredness now after the evens of today.
I'm quite irritated with myself, if I'm honest. I've put myself in that situation again where I have a lot of work to do within not a lot of time. I won't get much of a break over the Easter holidays, but that's not what's bothering me the most. I need to learn to finish work soon rather than start it and then either forget about it or off-put it until the deadline looms. I want to make a promise to myself now for next year that I will start to work like this and not put myself in these situations. I've procrastinated enough this week to forbid starting this moto now, as much as I want to I really am struggling with the motivation just because I'm tired, yet I will happily type up this blog post to try and put me in the right mood.
Tuesday 28 March 2017
Current mood:
I washed my car yesterday and now it's raining.
I have work to be submitted by Friday, I'm worn out from today's performance work and have very little motivation to complete anything else.
Still, I'm sat in the college library trying to force myself to concentrate and do some work because I don't want to go home yet because it's raining.
I WASHED MY CAR YESTERDAY.
I have work to be submitted by Friday, I'm worn out from today's performance work and have very little motivation to complete anything else.
Still, I'm sat in the college library trying to force myself to concentrate and do some work because I don't want to go home yet because it's raining.
I WASHED MY CAR YESTERDAY.
Wednesday 22 March 2017
The Transpose Button; A Fatal Error.
Ok, so a funny moment happened earlier during band practice and it's worth mentioning because our keyboard player, Marcus wants to forget that this ever happened to save any future embarrassment. We rehearse the jazz standard, "Misty" as a part of our setlist in preparation for the gig next Thursday. The song is originally in the key of Eb Major, but to suit our session vocalist Lauren, we've transposed it down by a perfect fourth to Bb Major. It took me a short while to transpose the chords in my own time outside of rehearsal so that I could figure out a new bass line, whilst my friend Marcus here simply presses a button to change which key he's playing in. In fairness he does sight-read from the score which is an amazing skill but, this transposition function is a lazy approach and I'm not quite sure why they co-exist on electronic pianos. Just because they could? Maybe.
Anyway, imagine this; we had just finished practicing, "Misty" after a couple of goes and had decided to run through Mary J Blige's "Family Affair". We have our own intro for this song and then we're all straight in for the same thing over and over again until the end of time... I mean, the song. Hannah, our drummer counts us in on the high-hat. Intro into the verse. Something doesn't quite sound right. What's going on?? It sort of works, but sounds completely different to how we had been playing it before although we we're doing it all the same. We all suddenly realised what was wrong. The transpose button was still on from playing "Misty" and we all burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. I've never laughed so much in a practice session through all my experience. It's musical mistakes like these that are the best, just maybe not on stage. It took us a while to calm down, to switch off the transpose function and start again. The irony is that AS had mentioned that this can be a typical problem on stage, remembering to switch off the transpose function when starting a new song. I guess it's better to experience hiccups like this now rather than on stage next week.
I don't think I will ever forget this, nor will I let Marcus forget this either!
Anyway, imagine this; we had just finished practicing, "Misty" after a couple of goes and had decided to run through Mary J Blige's "Family Affair". We have our own intro for this song and then we're all straight in for the same thing over and over again until the end of time... I mean, the song. Hannah, our drummer counts us in on the high-hat. Intro into the verse. Something doesn't quite sound right. What's going on?? It sort of works, but sounds completely different to how we had been playing it before although we we're doing it all the same. We all suddenly realised what was wrong. The transpose button was still on from playing "Misty" and we all burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. I've never laughed so much in a practice session through all my experience. It's musical mistakes like these that are the best, just maybe not on stage. It took us a while to calm down, to switch off the transpose function and start again. The irony is that AS had mentioned that this can be a typical problem on stage, remembering to switch off the transpose function when starting a new song. I guess it's better to experience hiccups like this now rather than on stage next week.
I don't think I will ever forget this, nor will I let Marcus forget this either!
Monday 20 March 2017
Unfocused
I don't feel focused at all today. I think this is because I'm still recovering from the stress of this month and I got caught in the rain. My trousers are still wet and so are my Nikes which I've dirtied by walking through puddles and over the field to take pictures of ducks. My feet are not quite swimming anymore, but they're still uncomfortably damp. My rucksack is still wet too and feels cold to touch. I've been sat in the college library for the last half an hour or so trying to dry out, but my plan doesn't seem to be working as I'm just starting to feel the cold more.
It's a good job that I haven't got to do much today, I just have a practice session at 1pm and that's all I'm required for today. We will hopefully be finishing off an original song today which we started working on the other week, I'm just hoping I can remember my drum part because I feel like that is not possible at the moment given my current concentration levels. I feel a bit brain-dead.
I could do with preparing myself for the next hour until lunch and see if I can make much sense of me. Maybe I just need a couple of Ibuprofen tablets to perk me up today. I still need to shake off this illness which I've had since late January.
It's a good job that I haven't got to do much today, I just have a practice session at 1pm and that's all I'm required for today. We will hopefully be finishing off an original song today which we started working on the other week, I'm just hoping I can remember my drum part because I feel like that is not possible at the moment given my current concentration levels. I feel a bit brain-dead.
I could do with preparing myself for the next hour until lunch and see if I can make much sense of me. Maybe I just need a couple of Ibuprofen tablets to perk me up today. I still need to shake off this illness which I've had since late January.
Friday 17 March 2017
Too Busy To Post Anything
These last few weeks have been absolutely mental, but very positive and productive too. The last time I posted was the day before my Live Sound assessment which I was worrying about. Well, the good news is that I got my grades back for that last Friday when I went to see AO about my written assignment for the same subject and he told me that I got a Distinction for set up and a Merit for everything else, desk wise. I'm quite happy with that. I really wanted to get a Distinction for both and it bothers me that I know why I didn't achieve it, just from forgetting to pan the tracks that I worked on.
I also had a gig the same night as the assessment which went really well and was quite rewarding. The gig was with the intro students I've been working with, who are considered generally to be lowest ability and its been nice to watch them progress as I have with my drumming.
I've been spending more time practicing with the lvl 3, year 2s who are working on original tracks which means I get to play my own original stuff, allowing me to explore what I would actually like to play provided it fits with the song. Considering we all have similar musical interests, minus the metal so much; it seems to work. We're a bit "Pearl Jammy" at the moment with the combination of guitar riffs the guys are punching out and the slow and heavy drums I add in. We only have one original that is full complete so far, but we have another two on the way!
I've also been doing a similar thing with the intro students new project, where they are experimenting with song writing. We have an intro, verse and chorus so far and it's sounding very good to say we have just had the two practice sessions all together.
I've just been finishing off the most part of my research proposal that really, maybe I should have handed in on Wednesday. Yesterday I just decided to completely rewrite it as I managed to find something to base it on. A part of my problem is that I hadn't done any research beforehand which was why my previous one was so lacking and bland. "You can't write a research proposal without doing any research." - NR. Life lesson of the week. That's all sent off now. It's nice to not have to worry about anything for a couple of days, until I have to focus on my literary review next week!
I also had a gig the same night as the assessment which went really well and was quite rewarding. The gig was with the intro students I've been working with, who are considered generally to be lowest ability and its been nice to watch them progress as I have with my drumming.
I've been spending more time practicing with the lvl 3, year 2s who are working on original tracks which means I get to play my own original stuff, allowing me to explore what I would actually like to play provided it fits with the song. Considering we all have similar musical interests, minus the metal so much; it seems to work. We're a bit "Pearl Jammy" at the moment with the combination of guitar riffs the guys are punching out and the slow and heavy drums I add in. We only have one original that is full complete so far, but we have another two on the way!
I've also been doing a similar thing with the intro students new project, where they are experimenting with song writing. We have an intro, verse and chorus so far and it's sounding very good to say we have just had the two practice sessions all together.
I've just been finishing off the most part of my research proposal that really, maybe I should have handed in on Wednesday. Yesterday I just decided to completely rewrite it as I managed to find something to base it on. A part of my problem is that I hadn't done any research beforehand which was why my previous one was so lacking and bland. "You can't write a research proposal without doing any research." - NR. Life lesson of the week. That's all sent off now. It's nice to not have to worry about anything for a couple of days, until I have to focus on my literary review next week!
Monday 6 March 2017
A Late Night Worry Before My Assessment
Right now, I have a lot of things going through my mind. I'm not so much worried about the assessment itself more everything that is surrounding it. This week, I have four deadlines. One tomorrow - this assessment for Live Sound. Then I have two deadlines on Wednesday, one that is a Music Business assignment and the other a simple research proposal for Music in Context. I'm not really that worried about either of those two, especially now my Business one is almost complete and reading very well if I do say so myself. I still have some last few bits to add like a reference list and a few extra bits, I have about 200 words spare with my word count.
I have a gig tomorrow night after lessons have finished and hopefully will be doing the practice one in the daytime too. I believe both are in The Venue, which I still like to call "The Recital Room" as it is it's former name that I'm more familiar with.
I'm mostly worried about my Live Sound Assignment, combined with the other levels of work that I have to do that are preventing me from making a proper start. The assessment I mentioned tomorrow should be a breeze if I can manage my own patience and step up the leadership a little without telling everyone what to do; after all, we all have to take it in turns to show off the skills that we have learnt. I think I'm a little more relaxed after todays short practice session setting up the PA, channeling some drums and having a chat with AO. He seems pretty confident that I should get a good grade, I just hope I do enough and don't forget anything.
I have a gig tomorrow night after lessons have finished and hopefully will be doing the practice one in the daytime too. I believe both are in The Venue, which I still like to call "The Recital Room" as it is it's former name that I'm more familiar with.
I'm mostly worried about my Live Sound Assignment, combined with the other levels of work that I have to do that are preventing me from making a proper start. The assessment I mentioned tomorrow should be a breeze if I can manage my own patience and step up the leadership a little without telling everyone what to do; after all, we all have to take it in turns to show off the skills that we have learnt. I think I'm a little more relaxed after todays short practice session setting up the PA, channeling some drums and having a chat with AO. He seems pretty confident that I should get a good grade, I just hope I do enough and don't forget anything.
Thursday 2 March 2017
Happy World Book Day!
Mostly for the purpose of my Music Industry assignment on the internet, new media and music I have been reading "The Naughies, A Decade That Changed The World." by Tim Footman. I've just been focusing on Chapter 8 - And The Band Played On, as he talks about iTunes, the iPod, Napster causing the industry's decline, YouTube and Glastonbury. Maybe, I'll have a glance at the other Chapters once it is back in my possession (One of my lecturers wants to borrow it because it's good).
General Updates 101
It's been a busy week already and it will certainly be a busy month. There is absolutely no stopping this month because if I stop, I fail. I have found sometime to give myself a bit of a break this week, but I don't think its possible anymore. I need to switch to non-stop overdrive just like January to make it through March, but I knew this anyway and I've not really helped myself with my lack of essay writing. I'm currently finishing off my music business assignment that is due in next Wednesday and I'm just shy of a thousand words from finishing it. I'm, hoping that I can get it complete today, mainly because to be on target with the rest of work I really need it out of the way, plus then I can still get some feed back tomorrow possibly.
Working with the level 3, year 2's is becoming interesting. We had a bit of a slow start with forwarding ideas to me about songs, but I think we're getting there now and starting to sound like a new band. Their project is to write and perform half an hours worth of completely original music, which is quite a challenge for me too. I'm playing the drums for them and still don't have all that much experience (or at least I feel I don't feel confident enough, AS recons I've had enough time on a drum kit), I do surprise myself sometimes. We have had two practices now and today we managed to run through the whole of one song, A completely new song that I had to figure out a drum part for and I actually feel quite proud of myself.
It was nice to have a chat with A.O. today about my groups live sound assessment next week. It's made me feel a bit more confident about everything anyway regarding how he will be assessing us and knowing exactly what I don't need to be worrying about. Now, I just need to continue working on my essay so I can start his!
Working with the level 3, year 2's is becoming interesting. We had a bit of a slow start with forwarding ideas to me about songs, but I think we're getting there now and starting to sound like a new band. Their project is to write and perform half an hours worth of completely original music, which is quite a challenge for me too. I'm playing the drums for them and still don't have all that much experience (or at least I feel I don't feel confident enough, AS recons I've had enough time on a drum kit), I do surprise myself sometimes. We have had two practices now and today we managed to run through the whole of one song, A completely new song that I had to figure out a drum part for and I actually feel quite proud of myself.
It was nice to have a chat with A.O. today about my groups live sound assessment next week. It's made me feel a bit more confident about everything anyway regarding how he will be assessing us and knowing exactly what I don't need to be worrying about. Now, I just need to continue working on my essay so I can start his!
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