Oct 2018 – Ellie Thornton Music

Wednesday the 31st of October 2018

To start off the day we had rehearsal, we went through our two new songs, I picked them up pretty quickly considering I didn’t get much rest yesterday.

We went through them a couple of times then talked about how we are going to conduct our selves during our upcoming gigs which went alright, we also mentioned about doing a tune by Queen considering the sudden popularity of the hit Biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

We know as a band that we all have to work on our parts still to get them to our high standards, when I get home I will work on my bass part until it drives me insane. After that we had our instrumental lessons, well I did at least with Dan, we went over our grade 6 guitar scales and arpeggios, which is always good wholesome fun, next week we are going over the chords and then from that point on its about repetition and hardcore learning.

Lunch was fun I had the same epic meal as yesterday, this ensures me that I am always engaged within lessons and ready to destroy chord progressions, after lunch we had theory fun times with Chris.

I enjoy Aural Perception as I tend to pick up everything first time, but I tend to keep what I get to myself so I don’t seem like a big Nerd which is always epic. Chris’ aim was to go through a powerpoint by the end of class but we only managed to get through one slide properly then get on to the next one, so that will definitely be a months project right there. Throughout the lesson Jason popped in and out which kept me sane considering how disengaged I can become on a Wednesday.

After the lesson we were given the tickets to sell for our Christmas Concert which Jason painfully numbered individual which made me chuckle, I should have the money for mine by Friday, I ended up the day talking to Jason to wind down which helps me out a lot.

After that I walked home with what I need to improve upon for next week on my mind!

Tuesday the 30th of October 2018

This morning instead of rehearsal we had Peer and Self Evaluation with Jason which I enjoyed about fifty percent and for the other I felt fairly exposed. Before our band went up we watched two other bands perform a handful of songs then gave them both some pointers on where to improve and how to do so, most people found this process funny and not a serious matter which Jason found rude and so did I.

I didn’t want to say anything to the other bands that was brutally honest so I tried just laying back until it was our turn to go up, Jason eventually found me in the back and asked me what Faith could improve on as a singer and during in her performance which I did accordingly. When it was our turn to go up our singer wasn’t really feeling like singing any of the songs we have been doing up until this point of time, so we went through ‘I Want You Back’ by The Jackson 5 which was mediocre at best when she sung but she eventually forgot or just didn’t feel like going through the song when hit a certain point which was embarrassing, so I started to get the audiences attention towards me until she came back in which didn’t happen.

Then we brought our old male vocalist back on stage and then all of a sudden she felt a lot more comfortable when singing the song, so went through the song from the beginning which I thought went well as I didn’t miss any notes or play anything wrong and everyone’s parts sounded pretty tight to me so I was expecting a subtle roast. I was trying to interact with the audience but this time my wing didn’t want to acknowledge me so I ended up walking up to the front of stage for no reaction apart from Chris watching me and Tom because the groove is where it’s at for him. Whilst performing I tend to stick to what I’m playing so it’s note perfect and I don’t end up slipping on my own mistakes, and when I think I can engage with others and feel safe with playing I’ll engage with Tom mainly or jump about with the guitarist.

But when we came off I was pretty confused and agitated for the rest of the day as we were told to keep it cool as the attention should be on the lead singer but we should still interact with the crowd but not take the attention off of her so, I am going to be on the fence whilst performing next which I think will be at our warm-gig.

Afterwards we had composition which still isn’t my strong point as trying to work out stuff on keys for other instruments doesn’t feel right, I’d feel a lot better using my bass to come up with something a hell of a lot better than I am at the moment on a MIDI keyboard. So I need to improve massively because it doesn’t help my confidence going into this lesson and at the end of it having this 30 second piece of absolute tribe, which I do not feel like sharing to anyone as I know I could do better on the actual instruments.

We had to compose a 30 second piece based upon a mobile phone ringtone and well to be brutally honest nothing came to mind so I tried to come up with something that consisted with the following instruments, Bass, Cello, Drums and a Xylophone because I was feeling it. This didn’t go particularly well, but neither have any of my previous works so if I feel like I’m going down a downwards spiral I will be sure to tell Chris before I just spontaneously explode.

We then had a break which consists of the majority of the pack going to smoke, but with my select few we go sit down somewhere but going out side at this moment in time is like asking to become an ice cube willingly. When our venture had concluded we had Theory with Jason which consisted of us going through our stylistic Analysis work which I have essentially finished so I am just left to sit and tidy it all up which is alright I suppose.

Currently I am going through the songs we had touched upon and have dropped from our set to keep myself occupied and to display to the board that I am more than capable of assessing four different genres. When this is done all that is left to do is to ask Jason nicely to go through it and to ask if there is anywhere I can improve my work which will be fun to do.

After my incredible luncheon which consists of weekly sitting under the stairs and or in the Media corridor because eating in the music corridor is like a forbidden fruit, me and Tom exchange some fiery jokes whilst Reece and Jack talk amongst themselves which is epic.

During rehearsal for the first half I went through the set for the other band Chris has put me in for an extra challenge or push so to speak playing guitar which is enjoyable at times when things go to plan which I need to mention to Chris at some point to try help the band progress in a good way rather than the little giggles between the singer and drummer which is at the moment making me want to leave them to it as it seems to be the only thing on their minds.

When I came back in the room there was a special surprise and that was Chris standing there playing some tunes which he wanted us to learn for Wednesdays rehearsal slot which we had to book with Dan, so I will be sure to go over them briefly before trying to get some sleep tonight amongst my other work.

Then at the end of the day we had tutor which is always special fun times, today’s bulletin was about healthy eating which is a good reminder but by the end of a day on a Tuesday everybody is just asleep and or dying to leave which is fair enough.

Knowing what I need to work and improve upon, I went home laid everything out on my bed and tried to have a little nap but I couldn’t so fun awaits me.

Monday the 29th of October 2018

Our first day back went fairly smooth considering we’ve just had a week off and the rest.

The first lesson of the day was Music Business and in today’s lesson we went peer assessed and critiqued each other’s blog, but before that we went through and discussed our album reviews of Carole King’s ‘Tapestry’.

I enjoyed reading through my friend Tom’s review as it was funny but also truthful and insightful, which made my day that little bit better. Whilst going through each other’s blogs, to help Tom out I wrote down what he needs to improve and how to do it, if he needs a little help making it look better and improving his work I’d be more than happy to help!

Chris told us that tomorrow Ofsted are coming in and that we have to be on our best behaviour because they’re specifically checking out our department as Chris keeps going on about how great we are which I do not blame him for, so I am therefore looking forward to that.

After this lesson we had rehearsal, during this time we went through our set list for the Christmas concert, which went smooth considering we haven’t touched upon them in a week or so. The songs we had a bit of trouble was ‘Mercy’ by Duffy and ‘Treasure’ by Bruno Mars, we aren’t to sure how to play out the breakdowns but we can finish the songs properly so on Tuesday we are definitely going to work on that.

So when I get home I’ll take notes down for my rehearsal diary at the end of the week, and I will go over our songs a handful of times so I am able to improve a lot quicker than the others.

Looks like I have made a return to the climbing wall!

Today I returned to Red Spider Climbing, I worked on my Blues and Greens, then I started to work on Oranges. I have been skipping them and going straight to green but they’re essential to help with my technique. It would be great to find a partner to do it with but no one has seemed interested yet at college so I’ll keep it under wraps for now, the crew at red spider are great and everyone on the wall is very friendly it’s a great environment!

My goal is to now perfect my Dropknee technique for the following three reasons:

Employing a dropknee can help you reach holds that seem far away. When you lock in a great dropknee your hip turns toward the wall, taking most of the weight of its corresponding leg, and your feet stay in a stable position. This allows you to generate upward motion with your feet and your hips, as opposed to using your arms to pull. You’ll find that this actually increases the overall distance you can reach.
Employing a dropknee can help you balance on the wall while climbing, and therefore stick to relatively bad holds. Given the relative stability of your body and your ability to reach a long distance, you create more time to optimise your grip on the next hold—a huge advantage, if said hold is terrible.
Employing a dropknee at any given moment gives you the appearance of a climbing master. All the hotties in the gym will be impressed which is always a bonus.

With a little bit of repetition and constant practice I should begin to feel the natural feel of the position and the motion it creates, when I watch other climbers attempt the competition wall they use it a lot the amount of energy it saves is very helpful.

The technique depends upon the climbers level of flexibility, which I find myself to be during BJJ, the possibility of damaging tendons, ligaments, and muscles around the knee are very much real.

Whilst doing this if I start to feel any pain I’ll drop, taking my time is crucial too just in case if I were to jerk my knee into the position then end up tearing my Medial Collateral Ligament.

Family musicianship

I never knew until today that four year olds possess the capability to draw Les Claypool and to tolerate his works alongside Primus. I was sat down at my desk doodling, then my brother Freddie comes upstairs asking why I’m playing music and calling it “weird”. He came over sat down and added to what I had started, I have a picture on my desk as I had just finished drawing Les properly and I think Fred picked up that he is tall…

He has started Primary School in September, ever since his vocabulary has expanded and hes beginning to understand what I tell him and what I am listening to, which is Primus most of the time so a part of me feels bad as he does not know what is going on especially when it comes to the music videos.

When it comes to any music that’s being played round the house by me and Harvey or in the car he always picks out the drums and keeps a steady beat with his head or feet, its hilarious but on the other hand it’s fairly impressive for a four year old. I am definitely going to keep on encouraging him towards music because all my other siblings so far have picked up an instrument or something musical.

Harvey picked up the bass when Ben joined school which is cool, hes picking it up fast and he’s trying to pick up guitar alongside learning theory with me, at the moment he is in year 9,
Jack has singing lessons at school which he enjoys and doesn’t let his autism get in the way of what he wants to do with himself, he’s currently in year 10 and working through his GCSE music with Ben,
Sadie has just started secondary school and has begun piano lessons in school with Ben’s influence through his engaging lessons which is great for her to try and push herself with,
Max is in year 5 at the moment and at the beginning of the new term he has picked up the clarinet with high hopes of progressing through to playing the saxophone when he gets the hang of it,
And finally we have Zach he is in year 2/3 I can’t recall, he hasn’t had any interest with any instruments, he is into technology and all that fun stuff so I am not too sure on what he wants to do, he isn’t a big fan of loud noise either so we shall see.

Bohemian Rhapsody The Film

Bohemian Rhapsody is simply a celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury.

Freddie exceeded the stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most admired entertainers on the planet. The film explores the sudden rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound. They reach unparalleled success, but an unexpected turn struck Freddie to other darker influences, which led to him shunning Queen in pursuit of his solo career.

Having suffered enough without the collaboration of Queen, Freddie manages to reunite with his band mates just in time for Live Aid which was organised by Bob Geldof. While bravely facing a recent AIDS diagnosis, Freddie leads the band into one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music, especially for the band themselves.

To this day Queen cements a legacy that continues to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day through their music, performances and backstory.

The only problem I had with the film was the tameness of the script, whose narrative begins and ends with the Live Aid concert. To me its like the writer is uncertain about the details of Mercury’s relationships and lifestyle as a gay man,

But on the other hand they go ahead and re-imagine the timeline of his life, inserting a scene in which Mercury reveals to his band mates that he has contracted HIV ahead of Live Aid, two years before he was thought to have been diagnosed, in a grasping attempt to give the concert, and therefore the film, additional meaning which frustrated me massively after walking out of the cinema.

It would have made more sense for them to play Sun City before Live Aid, it would have made the film more authentic.But sticking with Live Aid made more sense for the nerves of the audience and wanting to blow the competition away.

Personally being a bit of a Queen fan myself for a solid 4 years, I keep it to myself though, here’s what I’ve been working on in that time.

I came away from the film thinking there was no cohesiveness to the sub plots. For example a bunch of the scenes were thrown together with little bits for fans of the music. The first half was way too tame and long, the second half wasn’t as bad but they could have done way more to work on the loneliness, drugs, sex, homosexuality without going overboard, to me it was all kinda just suggested.

Yet again the movie represents Freddie Mercury as he would have wanted to be remembered, as a performer who made music, and respects him by not delving too deeply into his private life which is completely understandable and respectful.

The best thing I can say is Rami Malek’s performance totally saved this from being a straight to DVD release which I am thankful for as he is a great actor and has starred within one of my favourite series called “Mr Robot” I recommend you check it out on Amazon Prime.

This film could have been fantastic, however due to the script being so poorly written (honestly, some of the scenes are woeful) and stripped of any negativity of Queen. You’ll learn more by just reading this article.

Overall the film is highly enjoyable for fans of the music and the general public as a gateway or something along the same guidelines into the deep stories and meaning behind Queens true image and rise to fame!

Tapestry – Carole King

By the early 70s Carole King’s legendary status was already assured by her work as a staff writer in New York’s Brill Building during the previous decade.

To me ‘Tapestry’ is definitely one of the most successful albums in pop music history. It’s a fairly remarkably, expressive and intimate record non the least, it’s a work of pure craftsmanship and precision all in one album.

The album was released within 1971 under a record label called Ode Records and it was produced by Lou Adler.

Her second album still to this day overflows withe emotionally honest, subtly soulful singing; masterfully written pieces that merge many genres like Pop, Folk, and R&B; this is all wrapped up with a toasty, organic but very smooth and laid back production.

The sheer intimacy right from the beginning with the album which is what hooked me in personally at an instant, the steady pace and pulse make the songs very enticing for everyone listening to join in and enjoy what they’re about to experience. “I Feel the Earth” is my favourite track with its piano riff right from the start which is soon led on by the inviting bass part alongside the guitars input!

Highlights such as “It’s Too Late” and “You’ve Got a Friend”, perfectly demonstrates how compassionate Carole is when it comes to song writing and production even upon her second album, it’s clear that she is more than capable to create many masterpieces at her very fingertips.

As a lover of Primus, Ghost, and all things fun – it may come as a surprise to say that this is one of my all time favourite albums to just pop on whilst working or trying to calm myself down to get to sleep eventually.It is a timeless and gorgeous album with lyrics that are still relevant to today.

When Carole King started making music, she was just writing, that was the thing in the early days of pop – there are writers and performers – this is what makes this album different to most of the others from the time and what makes it a crucial part of music history!

For the following reasons not only did it become the best selling solo album of all time (until Michael Jackson’s Thriller) but it became a cornerstone of every thinking woman’s record collection and a new edition to mine.

Tapestry will always remain a classic because it never forgets the innate urban r&b understanding of great pop while it covers itself in patchouli, satins and silks.

I highly recommend that everyone goes out and gets a copy of this album on any platform and or all of them, I could go on for pages about each of the songs but we’d be here for days so I kept it short and sweet, because her songs should be how you see them and not how other people do. It’s practically an essential album for any and everyone no matter what you listen to, without her we wouldn’t have the music industry we have today.

Daniel Strauss, Guillotine Tour Seminar; Sunday the 21st of October 2018

My half term is going well so far, today I met Daniel Strauss, also known as “The Raspberry Ape”. He is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under 10x world champion, from Roger Gracie.

He has been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for the past 12 years and in that time hes had an active and successful competitive career: A British and English champion at black belt, NAGA elite European champion and a number one ranked black belt by the UKBJJA. He has also been invited to and competed in the world’s biggest submission grappling tournaments such as Polaris pro, ADCC and the Eddie Bravo Invitational.

In 2016 he started “The Raspberry Ape Podcast” with the goal of creating an educational and entertaining resource for the community. Since it began it has served as an important documentation of the history of UK Brazilian jiu jitsu with some of the country’s most influential individuals as guests.

Today we went over his signature move the Guillotine, it may come across as a simple move to the untrained eye but the sheer amount of time and additions Strauss has made and has proven to work very well to himself and everyone who has attended his tour, it is a brutal game changer within grappling especially to me!

If you would like to check out Daniel Strauss, there is a short video his website can also be found under Raspberry Ape.

Aural Perception, Wednesday the 17th of October 2018

The first song of the lesson today is called ‘She’ by Harry Connick Jr.

Time Signature – 4/4
Tempo – 104bpm (Andante)
Timbre
Style – Funk/Soul/Jazz
Instrumentation – Upright Fingered Double Bass, Grand Piano, Electric Guitar with Wah-wah effect, Male Vocals (with a potential harmony), Drums, Bongos/Congos, Electric Bass (fingered with wah-wah effect) and a Hammond Organ (could potentially be electric keys).
Structure
Pitch
Dynamics – Forte which Crescendos to Mezzoforte.

Next up is ‘Caroline in my mind’ by Dixie Chicks.

Time Signature – 4/4
Tempo – 75bpm (Andante)
Timbre
Style – Country/Rock
Instrumentation – [Audience], Acoustic Guitar, Male Vocalist and Three Female Backing Vocals.
Structure
Pitch
Dynamics – Forte which Decrescendos to Piano.

The final song today is called ‘Daughter’ and it is by Pearl Jam.

Time Signature – 4/4
Tempo – 97bpm (Andante
Timbre
Style – Alternative/Indie/Rock/Grunge
Instrumentation –
Structure
Pitch
Dynamics – Piano gradually crescendos to Mezzoforte, Pause to Forte which Decresendos to Mezzopiano/Piano gradual Crescendo to mezzoforte to forte again.

Wednesday the 17th of October 2018

Today was pretty lacklustre being a Wednesday in all, within D.I.S we chose to rehearse as three and go through our songs again without our singer because she wanted to catch up with her blog. In the other band I am in we have agreed to do ‘Year 3000’ by Busted which will be fun and an easy song to chug out in general.

After we had gone over our songs as a band, I then had a guitar lesson which is always interesting we went over everything that was given to us previously and a grade 6 booklet to look over during half term which will definitely occupied.

At lunch, Jason kindly came over to the library to check my stylistic analysis work and to have a chat which I always enjoy. I now know what I need to work on to complete this work and to take it further than the state it is in at the moment.

Afterwards we had Aural Perception with Chris, which I’ve grown to enjoy and I am obviously getting better each time we have the lesson and when I listen to music whilst writing up my many works which often makes me side tracked but that’s more than fine to work through amongst the chaos.

Chris then kindly finished up the day with restringing my bass which I have been looking forward to subtly all week, during that time Jason came in and looked through my blog which he enjoyed whilst having an entertaining chat with Chris non the least. When Chris was done and Jason had to go I double checked I had everything and went home for the half term ahead of me!