Week 1:
On Monday we came into the hubs and our goal was to get at least one song done and
the first song we chose to do was to make you feel my love by bob Dylan however, we
had to change it to the Adele version due to the register being to, low for Eva to sing. The
only other issue was that there was no drums guitar or bass within the song so we
decided the bass and the drums weren't needed for this song and it would be one vocalist
one acoustic guitar and one piano. However, due to this song being far too easy to do and
was already out of the way we decided to move onto lucy in the sky with diamonds but
Oscar couldn't play it with us due to not knowing the song as of yet, so we ran through it
with just piano drums vocals and guitar however we did run into issues in the break in
between the verses as we was playing that for to long and realised we need the bass to
know when to come back in so we just played through it with what we had even if it
sounded messy because we knew we could pick it up the next day.
On Tuesday in this session fortunately our group was all in so we decided to run through
these songs again as Oscar had learnt the bass line and fortunately to my logic from
yesterday the break in the verse was finally working so now we was just tidying up the
song in general as we played it through it more. After this we decided to play to make you
feel my love again just so we didn't forget about playing it and it went quite well however
we all agreed there is too much guitar in this song so I would use dynamics to make the
guitar sound softer. After this we was deciding on our 3rd song and it was a choice
between love spreads by the stone roses or Valerie by the Zutons, but we decided on
Valerie due to timing reasons and it being easy enough to play in standard tuning so Oscar
left the room to learn the bassline in standard tuning and i showed Oliver the chords as I
already knew how to play this song and the lead part it turns out the Georgie also knew
how to play this song and Alex was joining in by ear. I t took us 3-4 attempts at the song,
and we had another song fully completed which would only need tidying up in the coming
weeks.
On Wednesday i was absent from college due to feeling unwell and not wanting to pass it
on to any other band members.
On Thursday in the hub, we did our usual artist of the week, and this week was the letter
o and the artist we learnt about was oasis. In this session we analysed the lyrics, song
structure and instrumentation of the song don't look back in anger and we learnt they are
heavily inspired by the Beatles and have many different genres they can fit into such as
alternative and Britpop. It was also all about how texture in a song can bring a fullness to
the song which can make it catchier. In the second half of this session, we had a mini
rehearsal where we just ran through our three songs again just to try and tidy them up.
Problems and issues that appeared:
We struggled to understand the break in
the middle of the verse in lucy in the sky
with diamonds due to not having a bass. The solution was as I expected the bass missing within the break to indicate when we come back in after the break.
We were indecisive about our 4th songs due
to rally wanting to do either Valerie or love
spreads due to both being popular choices Our choice came from a vote and being logical with timing and tuning down or up due to this taking a lot of time we happily chose Valerie because we also enjoyed playing this
song a lot as a band because we had jammed it beforehand.
We struggled with timing a bit one lucy in
the sky with diamonds due to someone
being a beat ahead in the breaks This was solved by finding the issue and running through the song repeatedly just to make sure it sounded more polished than it did before hand and it eventually fell into place and worked.
Reflection:
In this week's sessions I learnt with determination and commitment from everyone over
the half term we could get a lot done within the first week and I believe this the reason
we got ¾ songs done within two days and now we have enough time to work on our 4th
choice smooth.
Targets for next week:
My first target is to listen to smooth and start learning smooth bit by bit due to it being
the most difficult song in the setlist. I'm going to achieve this by dedicating my practice
time to this one song as our other songs our all complete
My second practice is to make sure that my vocals are matching the song as they are
important to songs such as lucy in the sky with diamonds as I am doing the main melody
in chorus, so I don't want to try and match Eva's harmony. I'm going to do this by
practicing my vocals with Eva.
​
Week 2:
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
On Monday we did nothing due to craig not being in for practical and there being no
power to start coursework.
In Tuesday's session we were in the studio and due to us already having 3 of 4 songs we
made enquiries about our 4th song due to there being issues about what song we are
playing. We were originally going to play smooth but another group in another class really
wanted to do it so we said we would swap however we didn't know if this 4th song would
be assigned, or we would pick it ourselves, but Liam decided to let us pick ourselves and
we sat a brainstormed many ideas but couldn't come up with any ideas so we ran through
lucy in the sky and Valerie with the help of a trainee teacher named ollie who helped us
tighten up our songs more however we struggled with the timing in Valerie and Liam
helped us get used to learning with a click track after this it was time to pack up so not a
lot of development made.
On Wednesday for most of the session we talked about march and how it's going to be a
very busy month and how we have many trips and gigs planned for the term after all of
this is was time to practice and yet again not much was done due to trying to find a fourth
song to do as a group because we didn't like the song we decided on Tuesday so we
agai9n went around in circles and due to a lot of us being ill we couldn't really practice as
we didn't have enough energy in us to have a go at the songs.
On Thursday we had artist of the week in the hub and the artist of the week was Polyphia
and we learnt about them so we could learn a new word and to listen to how they
became what they were as a band. The word we learnt today was “Polyphone” and this
means multiple tones, and this is what inspired Polyopia as their songs are many tones
within one song and using many advanced techniques in the song for example in “GOAT”
they all have a solo each on their instrument, but it was really meant to just sound
difficult. Then we also learnt that that they are virtuosic and can play many types of
genres from bubble-gum pop to classical.
Problems and issues that appeared:
We were set back due to the confusion
between two bands on who was playing
smooth as their 4th song We decided that the other band would get smooth, and our group would decide on a new 4th song which we would all pick and agree on a song we want to play
We struggled to keep the same timing
through Valerie, and we sped up after the
intro of the song due to the tempo We practice clapping to the tempo of the song on a click track to have the tempo within our muscle memory for when we next play it as a band
We wasted a lot of time thinking about a 4th
song to choose instead of tightening up the
three we already had finished in the first
week. We have decided we would discuss it over the weekend instead to see which we would prefer playing as a band as some people weren't happy with suggestions we gave and if we still haven't come up with one next week we aren't going to worry about it as much.
Reflection:
in this week i have discovered that worrying to much about stuff that needs to be prepared in the future will make you fall behind even more and you will make no progress on the things you already have finished and they wont get any better. I also learnt some new words such as polyphone and virtuosic.
Targets for next week:
Target 1 is to have a 4th song as we are struggling to decide at this moment in time but
hopefully we will all agree within the next week of the project.
Target 2 is to make sure by the end of the week that all 4 of our songs are complete and
we have a set list order of the songs
​
Week 3:
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
On Monday we started our session in the hub with going through the 3 songs we have
already and then for the rest of the session we decided on a 4th song yet again as we had
scrapped isn't she lovely. So we moved onto looking at some new songs to see which we
liked and we decided to do the riverboat song however we knew it was going to be a
challenge because its a very filled out song with multiple guitar tracks and the transitions
are strange so craig advised us against it but we wanted the challenge.
On Tuesday we never went to the studio due to there being gig so our session took place
in the hub again and we decided to scrap the riverboat song by the ocean colour scene
due to being to difficult, so craig suggested an Elton john song and we chose rocket man
due to to being quite easy and not as hard to put together so we decided to spend the
remainder of the session practicing that song just so we have a bare bones version of the
song.
On Wednesday we was in the hub and in this session we didn't get anything done due to
Eva not being present in the session however me and Alex filled in on vocals and did our
entire setlist the best we could but we decided to wait for Eva to come back in the next
day as we wasn't going to get very far without her so me and Alex decided to perform to
make you feel my love by bob Dylan
On Thursday we were in the hub for artist of the week and this week the artist was queen
and we were learning new information about queen and we also listened to bohemian
rhapsody and figured on the meter of the song the structure of the song and the songs
meaning. We also found out that there album at the time was the most expensive album
made at the time and it was operatic prog rock however, after this we had a little mini
performance but most of us didn't perform.
Problems and issues that appeared:
One problem was picking a song at the start
of the week as we still couldn't decide as a
band on what was the right fit. We solved this with the help of craig and we all finally agreed on rocket man by Elton john due to our previous choice being to had to put together in the little amount of time we have
Another problem was we didn't make much
progress in the week due to differences and
absences within the sessions We didn't have much of a solution due to our singer being absent when we all knew the song on Wednesday and we couldn't tidy up our other 3 covers due to me and Alex struggling with the vocals
We didn't get a lot of practice in this week
due to being quite far ahead at this stage Next week we aim to get more practice into tightening the songs and have a flowing setlist to fit into our time slot
Reflection:
This week I learn that I need to look after my voice more as i struggled with the backing
vocals on our songs and struggled getting into the right register for the backing vocals i
also learnt that not practicing as much can waste time in your sessions and will cause a
shift in mood i also learnt absent band members can cause setbacks
Targets for next week:
One target of mine is to get more practice in on our songs so we can finish our setlist and make sure we are perfect on the day of our gigs
My second target is to look after my vocals for my gig on the weekend and for our band
in college so i can hit the rigisters i need to hit.
​
Week 4:
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
On Monday we were in the hub and the only thing we really had to do was practice rocket
man however we was missing our bass player so the song would sound empty which
meant we wouldn't be able to make much progress as a band and I also forgot my capo
which led to more setbacks as the song required a capo however we still had 3 other
songs to tidy up but due to not having a capo to make you feel my love could also not be
played. Overall, it wasn't a very productive day because we had a lot of set backs in the
session.
On Tuesday at the studio the overall mood of the session was apathetic, and no one
seemed to have a real interest in being there and this was mostly affected towards our
group because it seems like we didn't have a lot to do due to being quite a bit ahead at
this stage of the course so it became a bit disheartening that we couldn't make as much
progress as we didn't in the opening weeks of the course but we worked on rocket man
today and we felt there wasn't a lot we could do without bass but the session was a bit of
a right off due to the mood. We also went through to make you feel my love and Georgie
was struggling to come up with a drum beat to suit the style of the song which was
another setback
On Wednesday we just ran through the setlist in set order a few times, but the set still
sounded empty as Oscar was still not here, so we still weren't happy overall with the
quality of the sound due to it missing a lot of low ends however I suggested running
through rocket man with acoustics to see if can help balance out the dynamics in the song
but it felt even emptier due to missing the bass so we decided one of us would go on
electric guitar and one of us would go on acoustic guitar. We also worked on fitting
Georgie into to make you feel my love by playing the song and helping fit a drum part in.
On Thursday we had artists of the week and this we it was Ren and we explored his
unique style of playing finger style guitar and rapping by also using a method called word
painting and this was used to come to a conclusion in a story. After this we listened to his
sogs Hi Ren and the tale of Jennie and screech also at the end of the session we ran
through Valerie and lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Problems and issues that appeared:
One problem this week was the overall
mood of the sessions which affected how
much we did in the sessions at the starts of
the week We decided to push on and have resilience even if it did sound empty now in time it was good to still get it tighter when Oscar comes back
Another problem was our songs felt like
they were missing a lot of low ends and felt
empty due to Oscar not being in This will be solved after this week when Oscar is back, and we will hopefully have a fuller sound and make the songs tighter when he eventually comes back
Georgie didn't have a part on to make you
feel my love due to it being a piano song
and it being difficult too fit into a slow
ballad song We spent time going through the song top let Georgie come up with a part in the song as he eventually did by the end of the session
Reflection:
This week I learnt that if you let a missing member get your mood down then you don't have the ambition to put effort into your setlist and it becomes disheartening when it starts to sound empty. I also learnt that I need to look after my voice more as I struggled to sing this week
Targets for next week:
One of our targets is to play rocket man by Elton john with bass in it for the first time so
we can make the song sound fuller and work on making sure its tight enough for the gig
Our second target is to focus on stage Prescence and choreography and tighten our
songs further by focusing on dynamic shifts in between sections of the song and our
transitions into each section.
​
Week 5:
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
On Monday in the hub, we had to just go through our entire set and try and fit Oscar and
Georgie into the song however Oscar was going to prioritise the other group in this
session as they needed to play break my stride so our main focus was making to make you
feel my love less boring so Georgie put some drums over the song by doing a cross stick
beat however in this session there wasn't much to do but run the set.
On Tuesday we was in studio and still couldn't do rocket man however we still need to
make to make you feel my love less boring and get Oscar involved but after this it was just
run the setlist and do a performance of two songs which where lucy in the sky with
diamonds and to make you feel my love where our criticism was the guitar tones where
off and in to make you feel my love the dynamics weren't great and it was quite boring to
listen
On Wednesday we were back in the hub still just going over the set however we didn't
feel like we were making much progress due to having all our songs ready but we were
still trying to make to make you feel my love a lot less boring to play as a group but when
Oscar eventually came into the room we was informed that he was still yet to learn rocket
man and it grew a bit frustrating however we move on from that as he was having it
learnt by Thursday
On Thursday it was artist of the week and we was on the letter s and the artist was
Shakira and we found out she was apart of a genre that i had never heard of before which
is called reggaeton and I learnt that reggaeton uses early reggae techniques such as
toasting and it typically sang in Spanish. I also learnt that reggaeton uses things such as
dembow riddim which is a weird rhythm pattern that is used in most of the songs in this
genre and tresillo rhythm which is also typically used in this genre.
Problems and issues that appeared:
Our bassist still hadnt learnt rocket man for
when he said so we have to wait until next
week to practice it with the whole band He is going to learn it over the weekend so we can make sure we practice it on the day we come back
To make you feel my love by adele is slow
and boring to play and makes our set seem
quite quiet and too slow We are going to add more drums into the song and just all together liven it up with some bass and energy
We didnt feel like the general mood of the
band was right on stage and we looked like
we didntwant to be in the same band as
eachother As a solution next week we are going to try livening everything up and giving more stage precence in our preformances
Reflection:
Once everyone learns there parts correctly you can realy feel everything coming together,
not just musicaly but you feel like you dont have to worry as mutch
Targets for next week:
Pur first target for next week is to practice rocket man entirely with bass included so we
can finaly get our last song done
Our second target for next week is to liven up our set and make it less boring, we are going to do this threw adding more stage precence in our preformances and also adding more to the songs in general
​
Week 6:
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
On Monday we were in the hub with craig and our session was to focus on making to
make you feel my love better and fitting oscar into rocketman and it was quite smooth
sailing however to make you feel my love was more just making it a full band and thinking
of ideas to make it elss boring for example adding harmonies and possibly making it abit
more dramatic. After this we did a mini performance and it was one of the first times we
went through all of our songs infront of the class.
On tuesaday we focused souly on getting a 4-part harmony for to make you feel my love
however it wasnt really working so we needed to try and think of ways to do harmonies
different so me and alex would be the only harmonies so it was just wiorking on getting
the harmonies ready for gig day. After thisd we started running the set and started
thinking about a running order and we decided on rocketman then to makew you feel my
love then lucy in the sky with diamonds and then valerie and we ran it in that order and
timed the set on the stage which came to 16 minutes.
On Wednesday we didnt have any practical and we had to do our presentations and my
presentation was case studies on manager allen klein and guitarist noel gallagher which
went okay in the sense of proffesionalism and information given in the portfolio so i
believe i did a good enough job to pass.my powerpoint included everything i was told to
include and extras with clips and videos however they didnt wok whilst i was giving my
presentation so i had to skip over them
Problems and issues that appeared:
We had a problem with making to make
you feel my love better in terms of spicing
it up so it was less boring to listen to and
play as a band. We had the idea of dropping out for a bar to make it more dramatic and we alos had the idea of adding atleast a 3-part harmony in the chorus section.
We had a problem with the 4-part
harmonies as we struggled due to us being
confused and folling the main melody as a
band. We decided that it will be a lower and higher harmony performed by me and alex which started to work better and sound tighter.
We was all ending on different parts of on
rocketman whichb was confusing everyone
at the end of the song We have not yet fixed this and will be making sure we make that a core focus of the first session back.
Reflection:
In reflection i learnt this week that sometimes it isnt necesary to add more to a song and
it is better for the sound and the band to just keep it simple
Targets for next week:
Next week we are going to make sure that our set has more energy in terms of stage
presence and the way we play the songs
My second target is a personal target, i am going to keep working on my solo peice easy love’ as i have been practicing in my guitar lessons but i want to make sure i have more of it completed myself to make it easie on myself and my guitar teacher
Week 7:
Outline of recording/rehearsal session:
On Monday we had an assessment in the hub all morning where we had to carry out our
job roles. For example, the roadies had to make sure everything on the stage was set up
right like piecing the drum kit together correctly and setting up the PA right to make the
right sounds come out of the correct places. As a manager I carried out by my job role by
organising how we would set up the stage so I said we said up amps to Pa and when we
pack down Pa to amps which made a lot of sense to everyone. I also had control of when I
could send people on a break and approving of the set up so for example when we first
set up there where to many exposed wires and I wasn’t very happy with this so I told
them start over and make sure it looks less messy and safer by tidying up the wiring. As a
manager I also had to make sure everything was done in the time frame so we could carry
out the gig quicker. After this it was time for a line check and we all have a few minutes
each and line check when quite well and no mistakes where made. When line check was
done it came to the performance and me and my band where the 3rd group on I’d say the
first 3 songs went quite well however when it came to Valerie something went wrong and
my overdrive channel was not making sound so I got lost in the live mix and was
unheard.After our performances I got everyone to pack down in the reverse order of how
we set up and take everything back over to the hub and set it up again for the rest of
lessons within the day. we received feedback on our roles telling us what we could have
done better, what we did well and what we need to improve on for next time. As a part of
the manager team i think as a group we worked well to organise everyone.
On Tuesday at the studio, we were on stage, and we spoke to Liam on what we needed to
improve, and he told us we need to improve our stage presence to engage more with the
audience. For example, Eva the singer started talking to the audience introducing the
songs and just talking to the audience in general. In the performance we started in setlist
order and our aim was to get within 15 minutes which was our time slot so our first 2
songs went quite well which where rocket man and to make you feel my love this was a
quick change as the songs flowed straight into each other I’d say they where quite well
performed with greta lead vocals and harmonise on the backing vocals. In Lucy in the sky
with diamonds it went slightly wrong as my mic had an echo effect which through me off
which ultimately led to me not singing on the rest of the set so we did lose the harmonise
but it was for the good of the band over apart from this the song went quite well. In
Valerie I think it went particularly well as it was our strongest song in the set anyway as it
was the first so we had all learnt.
On wednesday we had a session in the hub were we just got straight in and practiced our
sets so we could have as much time as possible in the actual session to practice as a band
then go out for a performance. Our set is pretty much nailed and done we just need to
make sure that we are now fitting it into the 15 minute slot every time we do it so we
don’t run over. After our session i had my guitar lesson. And in my guitar lesson I was
going over my solo piece which is easy lover by Phil Collins and as I knew the whole song
already I just need to learn the solo part I am struggling with as it was quite fast for me
but I want to push myself after Dave listened to this he told me that it is based around the
pentatonic scale it’s pentatonic licks which made it feel a bit easier for me. After this we
went over the start of the solo and learnt the first few licks which were easier than what I
thought however Dave suggested I learn the rest at home and show him so he can help
me correct any mistake.
On Thursday it was hand in day so we went to 205 and had to hand in all of our planning
documents for next weeks gigs which for me it was a risk assessment and a word
document with all the conversation I had with my other managed and other teams about
deadlines for there planning documents we also did artist of the week however I can’t remember the name of the group but it was a really cool fusion genre with elements of prog rock metal classic rock jazz and many more it had a really nice feel to it and I would recommend listening to them.
Problems and issues that appeared:
The assessment on Monday was frustrating
and difficult as no one knew what they was
doing and things took to long to set up We will learn from our mistakes and be more efficient on gig day as we had another go and it was a lot better
I struggled with the faster part in my solo
piece as I’d never played anything that fast
before Dave eased my mind with telling me it’s just working making your pentatonic licks faster and more efficient which made me feel a lot better and more confident
We struggled to get our set within 15
minutes and it became frustrating Instead of making the songs faster as our set was quite a slow set we decided we would just work on our set up time and our transitions into each song
Reflection:
This week i have learnt that now we are officially done and have our gig next week i feel
better when i know that we have everything completed rather that panicking that I’m
going to do something wrong
Targets for next week:
Next week for our gigs i am going to make sure that i remember all of my parts of when
i come in, when i drop out and what chords to play in certain places
Another target for our gigs is to make sure i dont look nervouse on stage and make sure
my stage presence is right for the right songs, for example swaying along in to make you
feel my love and becoming more lively in valerie
​