I'm not going to make a massive post about this, but this was a massive thing organised by my college just mostly for FE students to help them get into the industry. I was the only one from my course that joined in with the events, which if I'm honest I think is quite shameful. Not on my part, but for the lack of interest displayed when all the students here, you'd think are all here for the same thing; to get into the music industry.
Anyway, let me stop myself ranting and talk about whats actually been happening...
On Tuesday, I went to a positivity talk lead by guest speaker Andy Cope. Even though he was in a bit of a rush to get a train to his next gig he left us with some eye opening thoughts. Not many people wake up first thing in the morning with a positive attitude and then continue to keep that same attitude throughout the day, according to his research surveys it is only usually 2%. Even I, myself couldn't honestly say that I wake up with a positive attitude and manage to maintain it, but I do tend to be and remain positive around other people. This talk really made me think about all I do in a single day, I am quite gutted that I didn't win the t-shirt though.
Wednesday was the "BIG" day, not only for me but for two departments of the college. The BA Film & Production students came up from the Adams building in the city centre to set up a live broadcast that would then be streamed to YouTube. The live sound was mixed by the two Andys using the new digital desk and used for the video. The music students became the talent that was the main quality of the show, alongside the interviews in-between band change overs and worked as really good showcase for all of the work the students had produced over the last few months.
The video is available to view here on the College's new YouTube Channel.
I had to play in two bands this day; one if in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the morning I was playing drums for the level 1 band that I had been working on and then later I was playing bass with the level 3's that I toured schools with a couple of weeks. It was a pretty intense day with all of the students taking part in performances throughout the day, there was even a performance from Pendulums Fall, a five piece metal band formed at college - after everyone else had played on their drum kit.
The only day left that was relevant to me was Thursday. There was a performance from The Sarah Knight Band mixed with a talk from their guitarist, also lecturer Andy Scoffin on improvisation, making irregular time signatures sound more natural when he wasn't showing off his guitar skills. Then finally, there was a talk from a member of the PRS about making money from music by collecting royalties, which for the most of us was rather like an updated in-depth Music Business lesson just on the subject of the PRS.
All in all, a very busy yet successful week!
Saturday, 11 February 2017
Monday, 30 January 2017
School Gigs "17 (23/01/17 - 27/01/17)
So, this manic week is finally over. It has been hard work and full of new memories, with at least one gig each day. We played eight gigs over the course of the week and I can't say it hasn't been stressful at times. Each day we would have to load the van with all of the gear. We did work very well as a team, so we managed to get this done quite quickly most days, the same goes for unloading.
On Monday we were at Carlton Digby School in Mapperley not too far away from college, but before this I had a practice session with the BA Students for their Musical Direction which I was playing drums for, so my morning was quite busy. We met up for school gigs at about 12pm to load the van. Once we got there we had a fair amount of time to set up which was nice and we had to unload into the building from the side because it was the shortest route to the hall, which was quite large. We managed to get the stage set up quite quickly for our first go, but when it came to the actual the show the sound wasn't that great. I could hardly hear my bass and for the last song I had to drop tune quickly to D on my E string and ended up being a note out, the problem being that I didn't know it was out by a semitone so it must have sounded terrible, either that or like jazz.
Once we got back I had to drive home to get changed and then drive back into Nottingham. Matt, my tutor had arranged for my course group to go and see a talk on theremins at the Theatre Royal, it just meant I had to do a bit of running about. I didn't want to turn up all sweaty from the gigs and I was desperate to wear my new boots, hand made in Italy. I quite enjoyed the show, I can't remember her name but the lady played the Zelda theme and the Doctor Who theme and that is plenty enough to make me happy. Everything else was just as interesting, but those themes were certainly highlights.
Tuesday was a lot better, even though a little more intense. Once the van had been loaded we had a long drive to Newark, for our first gig at Newark Orchard School. We struggled to find it, but we got there in the end. The hall was quite small and our stage set up and PA ended up taking up nearly half the space, but it worked and the sound was much better. Later we had a second gig at their sister school, basically it was the same school but another site which meant we had to take down the equipment not only to put them back in the van but also to set it all up again. The hall was slightly larger at the second site and it was obviously used as a dinner hall as they were still clearing the tables when we arrived. This caused a bit of a conflict between Andy Oakley and the dinner ladies, especially with us now being pushed for time. He explained to us that we need to be in and out as quick as possible otherwise we will have to wait for all of the minibuses to leave which would mean waiting about an hour. The sound was much better again and I think that day we packed down in record time, it took us about 10 minuets, maybe and then we were off. Obviously, no one wanted to be waiting around!
Wednesday was a nice easy one and bit closer to home, or college even: St Ann's Wells Academy, though before I could even think about playing this gig I had to finish and send off my context essay as it was was the deadline and I wasn't sure what time we would get back. Playing this school was quite a treat. I bumped into Ruth, who was my tutor for the first year of my level 3 course and it was nice to sit with her and have a bit of chat about this years tour after we had the PA and backline set up. It's fair to say that our best audience reaction came from this school. Every other school we had been to up to this point was a special school, this one I believe was infants and juniors and the children were lovely. I watched from the back with Ruth and our drummer, Hannah as the kids started to get up and dance, one or two at a time and they were all really enjoying themselves. By the time that we got on stage, more than half the kids were up on their feet to one side of the room, organised a little by the staff for health and safety reasons, but it really was amazing. For our last song, the head sat them all back down again so that they could watch exactly what each of us were doing on stage and so they could learn a little about how a band functions. The only difficulty that came with this school was the stairs, so loading and unloading was slow, but thankfully there was a lift that we could use for some of the gear.
Thursday was another full-on day and was very intense. We had an early start of 08:15am and three gigs to play at two different locations. I decided to take my Ukuelle with me for extra musical entertainment purposes because we had such a long day ahead of us and it is the perfect size for travelling. Our first gig was at Yeoman Park School in Mansfield Woodhouse. It was another fair sized hall complete with lighting and all of the walls were white which gave it quite a contemporary feel. The second and third gigs were at Ash Lea School in West Bridgeford, so was a fair drive from our first gig of the day. At this school we were booked to play two shows in the same hall. For the first show, we played our set first for a change to give the Andy's a chance to have a bit of a lunch break, the day had already been a rush as it is and with them doing the driving and coordinating the most of it, it's important that we kept them well maintained.
Our last big gig on the Friday was far away in the likes of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire at Melton Vale Post 16 Centre. I'm not sure if this was our biggest audience, comparing it with the room full of dancing children on Wednesday, but they were certainly our oldest audience. This was a sixth form so we were all wondering whether or not we would be able to pull this off, as youths within their age range or much more difficult to please, or at least know that they are pleased, but in the end it went really well. The stage looked like a stage for once as the students watched from the strangely american styled layered seating which reminded me of the seating arrangement in the High School Musical scene, when the cast sings "Stick To The Status Quo."
After packing down, we had already made the decision as a group (or at least the staff had) that we had to go to the Melton Mowbray pie shop on the way home. So, we parked up the mini van and Luton van with all the gear in a pub car park so we could walk into the town centre. Jasmine, one of the helpers that came with us that day pointed out that there was a KFC around the corner so most of the boys ran off across the road (with permission) to get some chicken, while I went off with the staff to grab myself a pork pie. Young Andy Peet was debating buying a six pack of mini pies and a larger one, but I think I convinced him that that was a bit much. I just brought myself one of the average sized ones which cost me about £3.50 and lasted the Journey home.
It really was such an amazing experience to do school gigs all over again and it's helped my with my course too because I've been about to familiarise myself with the basic PA set up, while showing and helping the level 3's to do the same. I'll never forget some of the kids reactions to hearing live music, especially Wednesday, that was phenomenal. It was a chance for me to bond with the level 3's a little more and really get to know them too, which I think was vital to do for the sake of networking. They know, or they should know now that I'm the one to ask (studentwise) if they want anything recording within college or even if they want advice on a project. It amazes me how some of my group don't tent to interact with the other levels, it is really is so important for us to work together. Other than the teaching staff, I am fast becoming the connection between these different groups that makes it work. I was nice to get a big special thank you from everyone for all of this at the end for all of the hard work and extra effort, both from Andy Scoffin and Andy Oakley. I even got a warm firm handshake from Andy Scoffin, which meant a lot - but these thanks were not only me, but also for Hannah. An amazing intro (level 1) student drummer whom I can only expect amazing things from as she learnt the songs in our setlist within two weeks just before the tour, after we lost our first drummer when he decided to quit the course, Amazingly fantastic!
I wonder if I will do this all over again next year? If the offer is going - most probably.
On Monday we were at Carlton Digby School in Mapperley not too far away from college, but before this I had a practice session with the BA Students for their Musical Direction which I was playing drums for, so my morning was quite busy. We met up for school gigs at about 12pm to load the van. Once we got there we had a fair amount of time to set up which was nice and we had to unload into the building from the side because it was the shortest route to the hall, which was quite large. We managed to get the stage set up quite quickly for our first go, but when it came to the actual the show the sound wasn't that great. I could hardly hear my bass and for the last song I had to drop tune quickly to D on my E string and ended up being a note out, the problem being that I didn't know it was out by a semitone so it must have sounded terrible, either that or like jazz.
Once we got back I had to drive home to get changed and then drive back into Nottingham. Matt, my tutor had arranged for my course group to go and see a talk on theremins at the Theatre Royal, it just meant I had to do a bit of running about. I didn't want to turn up all sweaty from the gigs and I was desperate to wear my new boots, hand made in Italy. I quite enjoyed the show, I can't remember her name but the lady played the Zelda theme and the Doctor Who theme and that is plenty enough to make me happy. Everything else was just as interesting, but those themes were certainly highlights.
Tuesday was a lot better, even though a little more intense. Once the van had been loaded we had a long drive to Newark, for our first gig at Newark Orchard School. We struggled to find it, but we got there in the end. The hall was quite small and our stage set up and PA ended up taking up nearly half the space, but it worked and the sound was much better. Later we had a second gig at their sister school, basically it was the same school but another site which meant we had to take down the equipment not only to put them back in the van but also to set it all up again. The hall was slightly larger at the second site and it was obviously used as a dinner hall as they were still clearing the tables when we arrived. This caused a bit of a conflict between Andy Oakley and the dinner ladies, especially with us now being pushed for time. He explained to us that we need to be in and out as quick as possible otherwise we will have to wait for all of the minibuses to leave which would mean waiting about an hour. The sound was much better again and I think that day we packed down in record time, it took us about 10 minuets, maybe and then we were off. Obviously, no one wanted to be waiting around!
Wednesday was a nice easy one and bit closer to home, or college even: St Ann's Wells Academy, though before I could even think about playing this gig I had to finish and send off my context essay as it was was the deadline and I wasn't sure what time we would get back. Playing this school was quite a treat. I bumped into Ruth, who was my tutor for the first year of my level 3 course and it was nice to sit with her and have a bit of chat about this years tour after we had the PA and backline set up. It's fair to say that our best audience reaction came from this school. Every other school we had been to up to this point was a special school, this one I believe was infants and juniors and the children were lovely. I watched from the back with Ruth and our drummer, Hannah as the kids started to get up and dance, one or two at a time and they were all really enjoying themselves. By the time that we got on stage, more than half the kids were up on their feet to one side of the room, organised a little by the staff for health and safety reasons, but it really was amazing. For our last song, the head sat them all back down again so that they could watch exactly what each of us were doing on stage and so they could learn a little about how a band functions. The only difficulty that came with this school was the stairs, so loading and unloading was slow, but thankfully there was a lift that we could use for some of the gear.
Thursday was another full-on day and was very intense. We had an early start of 08:15am and three gigs to play at two different locations. I decided to take my Ukuelle with me for extra musical entertainment purposes because we had such a long day ahead of us and it is the perfect size for travelling. Our first gig was at Yeoman Park School in Mansfield Woodhouse. It was another fair sized hall complete with lighting and all of the walls were white which gave it quite a contemporary feel. The second and third gigs were at Ash Lea School in West Bridgeford, so was a fair drive from our first gig of the day. At this school we were booked to play two shows in the same hall. For the first show, we played our set first for a change to give the Andy's a chance to have a bit of a lunch break, the day had already been a rush as it is and with them doing the driving and coordinating the most of it, it's important that we kept them well maintained.
 |
| Friday -Pre show shoot. The band, L-R:, Kim (me), Zane, Chris (standing), Keiran (below), Jacob and Hannah. |
After packing down, we had already made the decision as a group (or at least the staff had) that we had to go to the Melton Mowbray pie shop on the way home. So, we parked up the mini van and Luton van with all the gear in a pub car park so we could walk into the town centre. Jasmine, one of the helpers that came with us that day pointed out that there was a KFC around the corner so most of the boys ran off across the road (with permission) to get some chicken, while I went off with the staff to grab myself a pork pie. Young Andy Peet was debating buying a six pack of mini pies and a larger one, but I think I convinced him that that was a bit much. I just brought myself one of the average sized ones which cost me about £3.50 and lasted the Journey home.
It really was such an amazing experience to do school gigs all over again and it's helped my with my course too because I've been about to familiarise myself with the basic PA set up, while showing and helping the level 3's to do the same. I'll never forget some of the kids reactions to hearing live music, especially Wednesday, that was phenomenal. It was a chance for me to bond with the level 3's a little more and really get to know them too, which I think was vital to do for the sake of networking. They know, or they should know now that I'm the one to ask (studentwise) if they want anything recording within college or even if they want advice on a project. It amazes me how some of my group don't tent to interact with the other levels, it is really is so important for us to work together. Other than the teaching staff, I am fast becoming the connection between these different groups that makes it work. I was nice to get a big special thank you from everyone for all of this at the end for all of the hard work and extra effort, both from Andy Scoffin and Andy Oakley. I even got a warm firm handshake from Andy Scoffin, which meant a lot - but these thanks were not only me, but also for Hannah. An amazing intro (level 1) student drummer whom I can only expect amazing things from as she learnt the songs in our setlist within two weeks just before the tour, after we lost our first drummer when he decided to quit the course, Amazingly fantastic!
I wonder if I will do this all over again next year? If the offer is going - most probably.
Monday, 23 January 2017
Fuck
I've never felt so angry and let down, all mixed up with everything else. Everything above shoulder height feels like it's going to explode. These are not the only things I feel currently. I feel stress, pressure, anxiety and confused in different orders throughout the day. I know exactly what I need to do this week yet I feel the complete opposite. I need to rest, I'm tired but I still need to finish my essay that is due in this Wednesday and do all of the other things I promised I'd do. I think I've reached the point of "mental breakdown" and I'm so much into it that I just don't know what I'm doing anymore. I need to cry it out, but I can't... not here in the library. I did a little, but I had to hide myself because I didn't want to make anyone else feel uneasy. The most I can do right now is put it into words, phase it and express in these muddled up sentences how I feel, but the problem is I feel so much - it's painful.
I have no doubt that I will finish my essay, I just don't know when. I might end up having to ask for an extension which might be the sensible thing, but I'm unsure of the possibility of this. I do feel like I'm going to need it. I have another early start tomorrow following the continuation of the School Gigs Tour with the level 3's which probably won't finish until late and then I will have another practice session with the BA students for one of their Musical Direction projects where a 15 minuet original piece needs to be ready to perform in less than two weeks. The day after is the deadline hence the title. I literally have no time. I'm going to a concert tonight with my course group at the Theatre Royal tonight to see Etherwave: Adventures with a Theremin which I really can't miss. I already missed the workshop earlier due to being on School Gigs, but I'm quite excited about this. It doesn't stop all of the gloom leering over though, but hopefully the atmosphere of the concert will give me the boost of inspiration that I need... That or I will be over emotional due to my current state and end up balling my eyes out in front of my tutor. Wish me luck. Fuck.
I have no doubt that I will finish my essay, I just don't know when. I might end up having to ask for an extension which might be the sensible thing, but I'm unsure of the possibility of this. I do feel like I'm going to need it. I have another early start tomorrow following the continuation of the School Gigs Tour with the level 3's which probably won't finish until late and then I will have another practice session with the BA students for one of their Musical Direction projects where a 15 minuet original piece needs to be ready to perform in less than two weeks. The day after is the deadline hence the title. I literally have no time. I'm going to a concert tonight with my course group at the Theatre Royal tonight to see Etherwave: Adventures with a Theremin which I really can't miss. I already missed the workshop earlier due to being on School Gigs, but I'm quite excited about this. It doesn't stop all of the gloom leering over though, but hopefully the atmosphere of the concert will give me the boost of inspiration that I need... That or I will be over emotional due to my current state and end up balling my eyes out in front of my tutor. Wish me luck. Fuck.
Thursday, 19 January 2017
Intro Practice Gig Reflection
This was meant to happen earlier this week, Monday afternoon but was rearranged due to timetable clashes. One of the other recording groups from my class was recording the Grand Piano in the venue, just like my recording group did the week before so we ended up just having a practice instead. Today was just as good.
We had about half an hour practice beforehand and managed to just about run though all of our setlist. We were playing four songs and out of all of the groups had the most songs ready to perform. I would like to say that this is obviously because I am in the band, but it's a team effort and we've all been working together perfectly over the last couple of months. We have a laugh every now and then where it's appropriate and we clearly all fully enjoy what we do. It will certainly be a shame if any of them weren't to progress up to the next level and further their studies and follow the educational path just as I did.
All in all, the gig went great for us. I was quite nervous, but tried my best to hide this because I didn't want my nervousness effect anyone else in the band. Our bassist, Emily told me she felt a bit uneasy about it and felt like she would have been more ready on Monday and all I could do really was reassure her and tell her it's good to have these nerves. This was my first in a long time (maybe two or three years) and the first time I had ever performed on a drum kit live. The sense of pressure really was real and heavily present, being a HND (level 4) student I had to make sure I shown that off a little too. Just not too much. I guess what I mean is despite the short time I've been playing, if I had played like shit I would have felt that I've really let my course down as a representative and I would have been furthermore disappointed in myself. My whole performance wasn't perfect and I did make a few little errors, but this is fine. This was just a practice gig and it's given me a chance to experience the buzz of playing live on stage all over again. I thought that I managed to stay in-time, which is the most important thing and feel like I played quite confidently.
The energy is incredible and is certainly different to that of a practice because everyone is much more focused, yet it's still fully functional to "vibe" of each other musically and is very much enjoyable. It's saddening that this almost brings our band's journey to it's end. We have our final gig for their assignment sometime in March and after that the bands will change around, but it nice to feel the transition of this all starting to feel complete and meet the end of it's full cycle as it all starts again.
We had about half an hour practice beforehand and managed to just about run though all of our setlist. We were playing four songs and out of all of the groups had the most songs ready to perform. I would like to say that this is obviously because I am in the band, but it's a team effort and we've all been working together perfectly over the last couple of months. We have a laugh every now and then where it's appropriate and we clearly all fully enjoy what we do. It will certainly be a shame if any of them weren't to progress up to the next level and further their studies and follow the educational path just as I did.
All in all, the gig went great for us. I was quite nervous, but tried my best to hide this because I didn't want my nervousness effect anyone else in the band. Our bassist, Emily told me she felt a bit uneasy about it and felt like she would have been more ready on Monday and all I could do really was reassure her and tell her it's good to have these nerves. This was my first in a long time (maybe two or three years) and the first time I had ever performed on a drum kit live. The sense of pressure really was real and heavily present, being a HND (level 4) student I had to make sure I shown that off a little too. Just not too much. I guess what I mean is despite the short time I've been playing, if I had played like shit I would have felt that I've really let my course down as a representative and I would have been furthermore disappointed in myself. My whole performance wasn't perfect and I did make a few little errors, but this is fine. This was just a practice gig and it's given me a chance to experience the buzz of playing live on stage all over again. I thought that I managed to stay in-time, which is the most important thing and feel like I played quite confidently.
The energy is incredible and is certainly different to that of a practice because everyone is much more focused, yet it's still fully functional to "vibe" of each other musically and is very much enjoyable. It's saddening that this almost brings our band's journey to it's end. We have our final gig for their assignment sometime in March and after that the bands will change around, but it nice to feel the transition of this all starting to feel complete and meet the end of it's full cycle as it all starts again.
Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Updates & Boss Micro BR
Yesterday, it was a bit of an unusual day with it officially being "interview day" so my group was mostly off timetable. We still had our Live Sound session in the morning, but after that we had to organise ourselves to work on our collaboration projects because Matt, our tutor was busy with interviews and meetings all day. He did pop into our practice room a couple of times in between to check up on us and see how we were going and I did manage to show him my new toy that I got for Christmas at the end, the Boss SY-300 Guitar Synth.
We finished up earlier than usual having missed out on our Music Industry lesson, but our creative music technology practice session was much longer than usual and stopped once we thought we couldn't do anymore, meaning we finished about an hour early. With this extra time, I decided to nip into Nottingham briefly after Uni to have a nosey around the shops. It felt like it had been ages since I last went into the city centre, it probably wasn't though. I moved my car from Uni and parked up at the Park n' Ride to get the tram, a much better alternative to the fifteen minute walk. I walked towards Broadmarsh first from Market Square and aimed for Playtime, a retro games store I always have to visit. I stopped off at a Charity shop first, where I found a few pocket scores which I thought would come in handy, a Doctor Who spinners and pencil top set and a large Thunderbird 2 to amuse my dad.
Eventually, I found myself at Victoria Centre after catching the free bus from Broadmarsh. I didn't buy anything from Playtime in the end, but it's always worth a look. I had spotted something in another window, mind. In the window of Cex... a small, silver box and it intrigued me. I didn't really know what it did or could do except record sounds so I assumed it was just a decent dictaphone, but what were all the buttons for? There was a guy in the way of my view so I couldn't look at it properly and quite stubbornly he wouldn't budge, so I moved away for a moment hesitantly and went into Pulp next door. They have a clearance sale at the moment which really quite upsets me because next month the store is officially closing down. It was never my favourite shop if I'm truly honest, but it certainly played its part in my development. The "band t" years and David and Goliath hoodies. I brought a few bits from their, almost out of sympathy, but couldn't help but feel a little guilty with how little I had contributed. I spent £6.50 on a t-shirt and a fiver on some purple jeans. Hardly anything.
Eventually, I went back to Cex to stare into the window more. A guy had just walked off after taking a photo of the display when I arrived back at the scene. There was no one in my way anymore, yet I still couldn't quite work out exactly what it's function was but I didn't want to leave it there anymore. I had already walked away from it once. It was marked up at £40 which I though was a decent ask. It looked reliable and like new, so I went inside to ask to buy it. The problem with Cex is that they really don't get value. They've recently started selling retro gaming systems across all stores because of it's rise in popularity and demand when a couple of years ago they would have turned them away because they were too old. Even worse, is that these are the very same guys that hike up the prices just like on Ebay. I saw a Nintendo 64 in this very same shop yesterday priced at £65 which is at least £15 more that what Playtime would ask for and it's mostly because its a larger organisation. Just like Game, but I'll shut up now before I go too far off subject. My hate for Game as a business is very intense.
The guy that sound me the unit didn't seem to have a clue what it was or that it was even a product available in store. Being from Cex means that it is second-hand so he let me check it over. It is always a bit awkward when they come through the till doors and pass you the unit so you can inspect it. There is a certain trust that isn't quite there which entails the possibility of me running away with it without making payment. I imagine it has happened before, but I'm not like that. I paid the man his £40 and went away smiling, still intrigued by just what this little silver box of tricks can do.
I kept picking it up out of my bag and playing with it during the journey home. I found it very difficult to leave it alone that night, even when it became frustrating to understand but I soon realised that it might be in a silver mirrored casing but this thing is golden. It has so many extra things about it that I count have possibly seen just through the shop window. It turns out that this thing is a portable four track recorder and because BOSS are so fancy it also has COSM Guitar sounds too. I did some research after buying and found that they still tend to sell on eBay for around £100. This is technology from 2006 and BOSS have since released a never model. It's complicated to use, but there definitely seems to still be a place for this practical gear and it is still very useful. I'm amazed that it can run off battery power and that it stores everything to an SD card. This will also act as my new guitar tuner... See! There's just so many features! (Ahem, this is starting to sound like an advertisement now.)
It seems I aways make good impulse buys in January. This time last year I brought myself my Washburn six string electric guitar, which is now my favourite six string out of my collection. It's like there's just something about this month that makes me buy good things.
We finished up earlier than usual having missed out on our Music Industry lesson, but our creative music technology practice session was much longer than usual and stopped once we thought we couldn't do anymore, meaning we finished about an hour early. With this extra time, I decided to nip into Nottingham briefly after Uni to have a nosey around the shops. It felt like it had been ages since I last went into the city centre, it probably wasn't though. I moved my car from Uni and parked up at the Park n' Ride to get the tram, a much better alternative to the fifteen minute walk. I walked towards Broadmarsh first from Market Square and aimed for Playtime, a retro games store I always have to visit. I stopped off at a Charity shop first, where I found a few pocket scores which I thought would come in handy, a Doctor Who spinners and pencil top set and a large Thunderbird 2 to amuse my dad.
Eventually, I found myself at Victoria Centre after catching the free bus from Broadmarsh. I didn't buy anything from Playtime in the end, but it's always worth a look. I had spotted something in another window, mind. In the window of Cex... a small, silver box and it intrigued me. I didn't really know what it did or could do except record sounds so I assumed it was just a decent dictaphone, but what were all the buttons for? There was a guy in the way of my view so I couldn't look at it properly and quite stubbornly he wouldn't budge, so I moved away for a moment hesitantly and went into Pulp next door. They have a clearance sale at the moment which really quite upsets me because next month the store is officially closing down. It was never my favourite shop if I'm truly honest, but it certainly played its part in my development. The "band t" years and David and Goliath hoodies. I brought a few bits from their, almost out of sympathy, but couldn't help but feel a little guilty with how little I had contributed. I spent £6.50 on a t-shirt and a fiver on some purple jeans. Hardly anything.
 |
| The magic silver box. I give you, the Boss Micro BR. |
The guy that sound me the unit didn't seem to have a clue what it was or that it was even a product available in store. Being from Cex means that it is second-hand so he let me check it over. It is always a bit awkward when they come through the till doors and pass you the unit so you can inspect it. There is a certain trust that isn't quite there which entails the possibility of me running away with it without making payment. I imagine it has happened before, but I'm not like that. I paid the man his £40 and went away smiling, still intrigued by just what this little silver box of tricks can do.
I kept picking it up out of my bag and playing with it during the journey home. I found it very difficult to leave it alone that night, even when it became frustrating to understand but I soon realised that it might be in a silver mirrored casing but this thing is golden. It has so many extra things about it that I count have possibly seen just through the shop window. It turns out that this thing is a portable four track recorder and because BOSS are so fancy it also has COSM Guitar sounds too. I did some research after buying and found that they still tend to sell on eBay for around £100. This is technology from 2006 and BOSS have since released a never model. It's complicated to use, but there definitely seems to still be a place for this practical gear and it is still very useful. I'm amazed that it can run off battery power and that it stores everything to an SD card. This will also act as my new guitar tuner... See! There's just so many features! (Ahem, this is starting to sound like an advertisement now.)
It seems I aways make good impulse buys in January. This time last year I brought myself my Washburn six string electric guitar, which is now my favourite six string out of my collection. It's like there's just something about this month that makes me buy good things.
Friday, 13 January 2017
No Pain, No Gain.
If there is something that I've learnt this week other than the basics of cello playing, it would be the very title of my post. Not that I didn't know this before, but it has been nice to have a reminder. I'm talking about real, physical pain and that can stop you in your tracks. On Monday, a blister started to form on my hand from drumming and the way that I hold my sticks - just on the left hand though, so might right hand technique must be perfect. I popped it and it's starting to heal nicely now even if it is still painful, but then it gets better. During my practice on Thursday, two more of these menacing devils developed - one rather large just above a join in my little finger and one at the base, I popped these last night and have been suffering quite a lot today. Playing bass with the level threes was challenging this morning, though not as painful as expected - it was only for half an hour.
During our recording session today when we were recording the grand piano, we had to set everything up. The twisting and screwing of microphone stands was extremely difficult yet some how I still managed and held back the tears whilst swearing under breath. Later when we were recording percussive hits using sounds from the piano, unnoticeably... things started to get more destructive to the health and wellbeing of my hands. I had been using my right hand to replicate the sound of a bass drum. It did hurt, but I didn't take any notice. It wasn't until the end of the session that I noticed a part of the skin on my little finger was hanging off and it wasn't until I got back into the studio upstairs that I noticed I had a rather large bump just below my wrist which has since become very bruised. One thing I don't feel is irritation. I'm not irritated by the fact that I have caused damage to myself, heck I hardly knew that it happened. This shows to me that I put in my all and that I must have thoroughly been enjoying playing percussively on such an incredible instrument to manage to completely ignore the pain. It wasn't even a matter of tolerating it, my brain had literally not registered that there was something wrong until afterwards. I probably could have continued and sprained my wrist and I still wouldn't have known.
It's amazing what you can do when you're running off inspiration and the right amount of sleep. I went to bed rather early yesterday after a long day practicing and then working on my essay for several hours. During the session today, I was constantly reminding myself of the piano guys and asking myself, "what would they do with an open top grand piano?" and of course put the answers forward into practice.
During our recording session today when we were recording the grand piano, we had to set everything up. The twisting and screwing of microphone stands was extremely difficult yet some how I still managed and held back the tears whilst swearing under breath. Later when we were recording percussive hits using sounds from the piano, unnoticeably... things started to get more destructive to the health and wellbeing of my hands. I had been using my right hand to replicate the sound of a bass drum. It did hurt, but I didn't take any notice. It wasn't until the end of the session that I noticed a part of the skin on my little finger was hanging off and it wasn't until I got back into the studio upstairs that I noticed I had a rather large bump just below my wrist which has since become very bruised. One thing I don't feel is irritation. I'm not irritated by the fact that I have caused damage to myself, heck I hardly knew that it happened. This shows to me that I put in my all and that I must have thoroughly been enjoying playing percussively on such an incredible instrument to manage to completely ignore the pain. It wasn't even a matter of tolerating it, my brain had literally not registered that there was something wrong until afterwards. I probably could have continued and sprained my wrist and I still wouldn't have known.
It's amazing what you can do when you're running off inspiration and the right amount of sleep. I went to bed rather early yesterday after a long day practicing and then working on my essay for several hours. During the session today, I was constantly reminding myself of the piano guys and asking myself, "what would they do with an open top grand piano?" and of course put the answers forward into practice.
Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Is Music Theory A Science?
A quick google search defines science as “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.” [Google, 2017] which to my interpretation answers the question as both yes and no, making things difficult and rather confusing. Yes, to learn music theory, frequent practice is essential - this is the practical activity, doing this becomes intellectual within a class or study group that share the same interest. To understand music theory takes deep understanding and to “systematic study”, methodically improves the logical thought processes needed to master the ideology, concept and correct use. Analyzing both the rhythmic and harmonic structure furthers the knowledge and understanding - this can be done simply by reading a musical score - this is observation.
The behavior of music theory is one that is more difficult to portray to someone with little knowledge of the subject, maybe the simplest way to explain this is with basic moods. The most commonly used keys are Major and Minor - Major, sounding simple and happy usually and minor, sounding more harmonically complex and generally, dark and sad. Going back to analyzing scores, you can observe the behavior or mood of the piece by focusing on the harmony used within the chords. A blurred line starts to emerge once you focus on listening to the piece of music rather than the score because each listener will interpret the full sound of the music differently, even though this is still important practice and should still be considered a part in the observation process - just using our ears.
I think the real answer to this question is that it is a matter of opinion over fact, but I certainly do believe it to be true. I understand that it is difficult for non musicians, disheartened scientists or even music theorists themselves to accept music theory being realized as a science in it’s own right, but I think it depends on a mix of the level of knowledge a person has on the subject, understanding and finally the ability to apply the knowledge. My most basic way to summarize this would be that non musicians may just accept music theory as a completely different subject that only directly relates to music (which is true), but could not possibly fathom any form of link to the science surrounding the subject because this is neither what they know or have been taught.
Originally answered on Quora.
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