Oxjam project
10/09/13
In this project we are working and developing a musical ensemble. We have been asked to play at an oxjam gig to show to show our improvements in an ensemble. In my group i had Cameron, Somer, and Charlie. Cameron showed that he has a high skill in piano and so he would be the pianist of the band. Somer was a great singer and so we all decided to make her the lead singer. Charlie and a drummer at a high level and so it was obeous to make him the dummer for the band. We then all decided i would play guitar for the band. I think this was a good mix and has the potential to be a really good band because of the verity of different instruments and not just filled up with 4 drummers. This meant we could create a more defined sound as an ensemble. Today we all discussed what song we were going to do. We all had some good ideas, for example Coldplay. We all went home and thought about what songs to do. Targets for next lesson is to find a song we all want to do and enjoy doing.
In this project we are working and developing a musical ensemble. We have been asked to play at an oxjam gig to show to show our improvements in an ensemble. In my group i had Cameron, Somer, and Charlie. Cameron showed that he has a high skill in piano and so he would be the pianist of the band. Somer was a great singer and so we all decided to make her the lead singer. Charlie and a drummer at a high level and so it was obeous to make him the dummer for the band. We then all decided i would play guitar for the band. I think this was a good mix and has the potential to be a really good band because of the verity of different instruments and not just filled up with 4 drummers. This meant we could create a more defined sound as an ensemble. Today we all discussed what song we were going to do. We all had some good ideas, for example Coldplay. We all went home and thought about what songs to do. Targets for next lesson is to find a song we all want to do and enjoy doing.
17/09/13
Today we all met up in the lesson and discussed what song we wanted to do once we had all be home and thought about it. Everyone was pretty fixed on Coldplay or any other recent music. I had recently wrote a song with my band Atlantic Shore called heights. I thought this song would go well in this project if we performed it well. I showed the group our song and they all liked it. We then suddenly agreed to use this as our Ensemble. I think this was good because it was my bands own ensemble so that means i know the song better then any song that we haven't made. This also meant that it was easier for everyone to learn their parts as i would just teach them rather then going out by them selves and learning the song by themselves. This also meant that i could give good advise on what to do and how to play certain parts and i would know when someone isntl playing their part right or it just doesnt sound very good because i could compare it to how my band play it. This Song is in an ordinary verse chorus structure with and intro a bridge and a pre chorus playing before each chorus and as an outro. I played the structure over and over again so they all new how the song went and them melody. This was good because i could drive the song into their heads and so by heart would roughly know the structure and the melody. Charlie didnt have a drum kit at this point because we were all cramped up in this small room but everyone else was trying to learn their part by ear. This was the down part because the drums were on of the crucial parts to the song but charlie being silent also meant i could focus on teaching other people their parts which was easier for them to learn. Next session i am going to teach Cameron the piano part to the song and to get the rest of the group to know the song a lot more.
Today we all met up in the lesson and discussed what song we wanted to do once we had all be home and thought about it. Everyone was pretty fixed on Coldplay or any other recent music. I had recently wrote a song with my band Atlantic Shore called heights. I thought this song would go well in this project if we performed it well. I showed the group our song and they all liked it. We then suddenly agreed to use this as our Ensemble. I think this was good because it was my bands own ensemble so that means i know the song better then any song that we haven't made. This also meant that it was easier for everyone to learn their parts as i would just teach them rather then going out by them selves and learning the song by themselves. This also meant that i could give good advise on what to do and how to play certain parts and i would know when someone isntl playing their part right or it just doesnt sound very good because i could compare it to how my band play it. This Song is in an ordinary verse chorus structure with and intro a bridge and a pre chorus playing before each chorus and as an outro. I played the structure over and over again so they all new how the song went and them melody. This was good because i could drive the song into their heads and so by heart would roughly know the structure and the melody. Charlie didnt have a drum kit at this point because we were all cramped up in this small room but everyone else was trying to learn their part by ear. This was the down part because the drums were on of the crucial parts to the song but charlie being silent also meant i could focus on teaching other people their parts which was easier for them to learn. Next session i am going to teach Cameron the piano part to the song and to get the rest of the group to know the song a lot more.
24/09/13
This is our second rehersal and today im trying to teach Cameron the piano part. Usually in the song there is no piano because we use a synth bass and a guitar, so cameron had to make some of the song up himself. I told him the chords for the verse and he played along with me. during this time Charlie was playing a simple beat on the drums to keep us all in time, this was useful because sometime when a band plays together they tend to go faster so having someone keep a tempo it was easier to stay in time and sound smoother rather then speeding up the song and making it sound messy. Somer was humming along to the song as i have not told her what the lyrics are. We went through the whole songapart from the bridge which i was not sure on, it sounded messy and i wanted to change it. I think this because if we changed it the song should sound a lot more smoother and it would fit because now we have a pianist it can be more calm and less messy. By the end of this session cameron new how to play the chords of the song. I also taught him the piano lead riff dudring the chorus which he had fiddled about himself and mastered that day. I thought this session had gone well and that Cameron was quick to fanially learn his piano part. Targets for next session is to teach Somer the words for the song and the melodys.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-zoom2
Go to around 26 seconds and hear Cameron trying to work out the piano chords.
This is our second rehersal and today im trying to teach Cameron the piano part. Usually in the song there is no piano because we use a synth bass and a guitar, so cameron had to make some of the song up himself. I told him the chords for the verse and he played along with me. during this time Charlie was playing a simple beat on the drums to keep us all in time, this was useful because sometime when a band plays together they tend to go faster so having someone keep a tempo it was easier to stay in time and sound smoother rather then speeding up the song and making it sound messy. Somer was humming along to the song as i have not told her what the lyrics are. We went through the whole songapart from the bridge which i was not sure on, it sounded messy and i wanted to change it. I think this because if we changed it the song should sound a lot more smoother and it would fit because now we have a pianist it can be more calm and less messy. By the end of this session cameron new how to play the chords of the song. I also taught him the piano lead riff dudring the chorus which he had fiddled about himself and mastered that day. I thought this session had gone well and that Cameron was quick to fanially learn his piano part. Targets for next session is to teach Somer the words for the song and the melodys.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-zoom2
Go to around 26 seconds and hear Cameron trying to work out the piano chords.
01/10/13
Today I taught Somer the words and melodys to the song. For this i had to write out all the words for her and sing out the melody. I did this so that she could just read the sheet so that she new what the words were, all she needed now was to get the melodies right. Eventually she was able to sing both the verse and chorus. Originally in the song both first and second verse had the same lyrics. Therefor Somer and I had to create our own words for this. This was good because now we have a variety of lyrics in our song and it wasn't boring for the audience to listen too. I feel that Somer knowing the words meant that we knew the structure of the song a lot better, we used the sections of the lyrics as indications to where we were in the song. We played throughout the song a few times improving each time. Cameron showed of his skills on the piano and had improved his piano chords to make the song sound more easy flowing and smooth. We tried not to have all instruments playing at the same time during the first verse because it would then sound really messy. This is because i want it to be quite a soft verse before the chorus and pre chorus. Throughout this session we focused on Cameron getting his piano riff correct and Somer getting the melody correct. She had no struggle remembering the words. I feel in this session that the musicality of the song was a lot better then when we started. We were all a lot more in time with each other and we all knew what we were doing so far to what i have taught them. Target for next session is to teach Charlie the drum parts of the song and get him to know the structure really well.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-memo2
This is where i teach the words to somer.
Today I taught Somer the words and melodys to the song. For this i had to write out all the words for her and sing out the melody. I did this so that she could just read the sheet so that she new what the words were, all she needed now was to get the melodies right. Eventually she was able to sing both the verse and chorus. Originally in the song both first and second verse had the same lyrics. Therefor Somer and I had to create our own words for this. This was good because now we have a variety of lyrics in our song and it wasn't boring for the audience to listen too. I feel that Somer knowing the words meant that we knew the structure of the song a lot better, we used the sections of the lyrics as indications to where we were in the song. We played throughout the song a few times improving each time. Cameron showed of his skills on the piano and had improved his piano chords to make the song sound more easy flowing and smooth. We tried not to have all instruments playing at the same time during the first verse because it would then sound really messy. This is because i want it to be quite a soft verse before the chorus and pre chorus. Throughout this session we focused on Cameron getting his piano riff correct and Somer getting the melody correct. She had no struggle remembering the words. I feel in this session that the musicality of the song was a lot better then when we started. We were all a lot more in time with each other and we all knew what we were doing so far to what i have taught them. Target for next session is to teach Charlie the drum parts of the song and get him to know the structure really well.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-memo2
This is where i teach the words to somer.
08/10/13
Today I was teaching Charlie his drum part in the song. In our original song the drum parts always changed so i told Charlie to make it up himself. I felt like this was good because that way Charlie was free to do what he wanted and not stick to a certain stimulus which would be harder to remember. I also told him to keep it quiet. This was because it was a build up from the verse to chorus during the pre chorus and so the first verse was meant to be quite quiet. He isn't playing in the first verse and in the pre chorus he is only tapping the bass drum. Its only when he coming into the first chorus he goes more heavy and loud. This is because i wanted to make the chorus powerful and big so that it shows dynamics in our song. We kept the whole song so far in 4/4 so Charlie didn't struggle at all. In the chorus he was playing a complex half time drum beat with the crash to make it more crescendo. This helped because it made the chorus fell a whole lot more bigger and fatter. In the verses he played another simple rhythm with a double snare hit in some parts with fills. He has also said he wants to do a fill before the chorus. This i felt benefited in making the build up to the chorus. We went through the song as a full band in it defiantly sounds more full now that we have drums. The song sounded a lot more in time after adding the drums which was provided to creat a tempo and beat. It helps us jell as a band and made the musicality of the song a lot better. Target for next session is to made the bridge sound a lot better with timings, and quality of playing.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-zoom5
at 1.14 is where Charlie is experimenting with drum riffs.
Today I was teaching Charlie his drum part in the song. In our original song the drum parts always changed so i told Charlie to make it up himself. I felt like this was good because that way Charlie was free to do what he wanted and not stick to a certain stimulus which would be harder to remember. I also told him to keep it quiet. This was because it was a build up from the verse to chorus during the pre chorus and so the first verse was meant to be quite quiet. He isn't playing in the first verse and in the pre chorus he is only tapping the bass drum. Its only when he coming into the first chorus he goes more heavy and loud. This is because i wanted to make the chorus powerful and big so that it shows dynamics in our song. We kept the whole song so far in 4/4 so Charlie didn't struggle at all. In the chorus he was playing a complex half time drum beat with the crash to make it more crescendo. This helped because it made the chorus fell a whole lot more bigger and fatter. In the verses he played another simple rhythm with a double snare hit in some parts with fills. He has also said he wants to do a fill before the chorus. This i felt benefited in making the build up to the chorus. We went through the song as a full band in it defiantly sounds more full now that we have drums. The song sounded a lot more in time after adding the drums which was provided to creat a tempo and beat. It helps us jell as a band and made the musicality of the song a lot better. Target for next session is to made the bridge sound a lot better with timings, and quality of playing.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-zoom5
at 1.14 is where Charlie is experimenting with drum riffs.
15/10/13
Today we arranged to have another practice in our lesson. This was useful because we had a set time to practice and everyone knew when to come and so wouldn't be late and they all knew how long they were practicing for. I also made a Facebook chat so that we could communicate a lot more easier through social networking and so organising practice sessions would be a lot more simple. We went through the a couple times and decided that we needed a new bridge because it sounded really messy. I this this made the song sound a lot better and smoother. Me and Cameron had decided to change the timing to make the song. We did this because we wanted to vary the time signature to make the song sound more interesting. We both thought 3/4 would be suitable and so me and him wrote a riff based on 4 different chords. We then all had a listen and Charlie played along with it. All three of us had eventually played through the bridge solidly and it sounded smooth. Somer at that time was writting some words for this bridge and when she was done she showed us and we all liked it. From then on till the end of the session we played through the song improving as we went adding the bridge in. The song now sounded more complete and ran a lot more smoother. Target for next session is to become a lot more syncronised and to be a lot more in time and in tune. This is so that we can finalise the song and polish it off.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-zoom3
This is us playing through the new bridge.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-memo1
at 3.05 is where somer is trying to make up words for bridge and we also discuss the length of the bridge.
Today we arranged to have another practice in our lesson. This was useful because we had a set time to practice and everyone knew when to come and so wouldn't be late and they all knew how long they were practicing for. I also made a Facebook chat so that we could communicate a lot more easier through social networking and so organising practice sessions would be a lot more simple. We went through the a couple times and decided that we needed a new bridge because it sounded really messy. I this this made the song sound a lot better and smoother. Me and Cameron had decided to change the timing to make the song. We did this because we wanted to vary the time signature to make the song sound more interesting. We both thought 3/4 would be suitable and so me and him wrote a riff based on 4 different chords. We then all had a listen and Charlie played along with it. All three of us had eventually played through the bridge solidly and it sounded smooth. Somer at that time was writting some words for this bridge and when she was done she showed us and we all liked it. From then on till the end of the session we played through the song improving as we went adding the bridge in. The song now sounded more complete and ran a lot more smoother. Target for next session is to become a lot more syncronised and to be a lot more in time and in tune. This is so that we can finalise the song and polish it off.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-zoom3
This is us playing through the new bridge.
https://soundcloud.com/cf-muspe/ensemble-memo1
at 3.05 is where somer is trying to make up words for bridge and we also discuss the length of the bridge.
22/10/13
This will be our last rehearsal besides soundcheck for the concert. Today we just ran through the whole song over and over again and tried to look for parts of the song we weren't very strong at. This was crucial because we had to make to every part we played was 100% and we made the song sound the best it could. We struggled with this because Charlie's electric drum kit failed to respond and so the song didn't sound as full or as smooth as it would normally do. But besides that the song sounded good and was running smoothly. Cameron again had improved the chords he used and now are so much more complex then they used to be, adding in a few more notes and different playing patterns. I thought this had improved the song because the piano chords didn't sound as harsh and now sound more mellow and makes the song sound a lot nicer. The song was running well and we all think we are now ready for the gig in the 24th.
This will be our last rehearsal besides soundcheck for the concert. Today we just ran through the whole song over and over again and tried to look for parts of the song we weren't very strong at. This was crucial because we had to make to every part we played was 100% and we made the song sound the best it could. We struggled with this because Charlie's electric drum kit failed to respond and so the song didn't sound as full or as smooth as it would normally do. But besides that the song sounded good and was running smoothly. Cameron again had improved the chords he used and now are so much more complex then they used to be, adding in a few more notes and different playing patterns. I thought this had improved the song because the piano chords didn't sound as harsh and now sound more mellow and makes the song sound a lot nicer. The song was running well and we all think we are now ready for the gig in the 24th.
Performance Evaluation
Audience - Friends family and public people came to our event This means we managed to get a variety of different people to our event through publicity. This also meant that we were quite comfortable with the people we were playing in from of because we new most of them rather then knowing none of the audience. The audience also consisted of the Henley Standard and teachers, this meant that there was publicity and a small paparatzy there, this did make some of us a little more nervouse but we were all still very confident and comforatble when we stood up on that stage.
Communication - In my ensemble we communicated a lot with each other and even when Somer forgot her words i helped her by singing them near her. For my group eye contact was an important. Not only did we from communication help eachother with the words but timing. At the end of the bridge this was vital because this was the hardest part of staying in time, this is beacuse we all had to come in sync. Communication in the group also helped us look proffesional and made it look like we knew what we were doing.
Stage Presentation - As a whole in the ensemble, we all new that stage presentation was very importantant in our performance, we all needed to look relaxed and confidant and if we had any mistaked we shouldnt show them other wise the croud would more likely notice it. If you look messy and dont look confidant, the croud will assume your performance will be too. We all dressed well and none of us looked as we have just come out of the garbage tip, we all looked proffetional and all looked the part. Eye contact from Somer especially was very good with the croud, she manage to look at the croud for a good time but also mainted concentration in her performance.
Musical Competency - I felt that we all played together very well, we sounded very smooth and we all looked pretty confidant on stage. The guitar was in tune and the singing was in tune aswell. Charlie on the drums was perfectly on time and kept the whole ensemble together and made it very tight. Levels of indeviduals as well was very good, the singing was not over powered by any of the instruments and you could hear all of it very cleary and so didnt soundmuddy. We went through the song very well and so it sounded very smooth, when we changed fromchorus to bridge or verse to pre chorus it sounded smooth and didnt sound clashy, we all ded very well to keep the performance consistant. We also handed timing of the different sections well too, we all monaged to go into different sections smoothly apart from when we left the bridge. But everything else went very smooth