Month: Nov 2018

There is nothing much installed for me at college today apart from a potential rehearsal session, a guitar lesson and a theory lesson.

We went through our set again as a three piece because our singer wasn’t in for the rehearsal, so to the rest of the band it was claimed to be pointless. It is good too work together musically and get ourselves tight so we are able to drive the song without relying upon the singer to be in rehearsals always which isn’t the truth at the moment. But anyhow we went through the rest of our set with great pace then we waited for a while for our guitar lesson which is always fun. Currently we are studying the natural minor scale within five positions which I am struggling with considering I am playing bass a lot lately thanks to Primus!

After lunch we had Theory with Chris, currently I am working through Grade 1 Music Theory which is entertaining but on the other hand insightful considering that I left some aspects out whilst I was studying alongside all of my other GCSEs. What I am saying is that it is a breather compared to the noose which is Grade 3.

Afterwards I went home early and caught up on some sleep because this evening I am going to my secondary schools Presentation Evening, my dad is staying at home looking after the rest of my siblings whilst my mum helps my brother prepare for his cooking exam for tomorrow, so Jason is tagging along with me which was very kind of him.

During this I picked up my GCSE results and my art course work. I was also nominated for the Music award amongst myself, Jack Gilder and somebody else and yours truly won it which was a very good feeling, I’ll be going to see Ben on Friday to Thank him personally. 

This morning we begun rehearsal upon our set as whole alongside starting to busk through ‘Black Velvet’ as a band, since the start of the month we have gone through our set as whole and treated the time we are at a venue every time. 

We still need to figure which key signature to play within, the guitarist wants to play in E, but I began to look it in E flat so did our singer and drummer so it is up in the air at this point.

Nearing the end of the session Jason came in and gave us a hand on piece what we have together, it sort of worked but not one of us knew the structure off by heart throughout so we left it like so and agreed to pick it up again tomorrow when we looked at it in the evening.

During Composition we went through more details on our Work Experience at the 1865, Chris is still consistent on ticket sales, I have sold my starting four and then on Monday I will have sold another three. Hopefully I will be able to sell some more to promote our band further on the headline.

Within theory with Jason I sorted out my blog again and formatted my stylistic analysis on my blog and in word again, all that is left to do is to get it checked by Jason which I keep forgetting to ask but I can wait. I then spent the rest of the lesson helping out Tom with his blog which I enjoy doing alongside my own.

After lunch we had rehearsal, we continued to go through our set with a steady pace with only a few minor trip ups. The day then ended with tutorial which is always a blast, I was fairly tired by the end of the day so I wasn’t paying attention much but this week it consisted with most of the class being loud and uncontrollable.

I Want You Back by The Jackson 5 – Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Breakdown 1 (Forte), Chorus, Breakdown 2 (Piano), Chorus.

Just a Girl by No Doubt – Intro/Verse 1, Chorus, Post-Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Post-Chorus, Solo, Post-Chorus, Breakdown (Verse 3), Chorus x2, Outro.

Ironic by Alanis Morissette – Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Bridge, Verse 3, Chorus x2.

Black Velvet by Alannah Myles – Intro/Verse 1, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Verse 2, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Solo, Chorus, Outro.

 

This morning went okay, I came in with a wrist brace this morning because of my ever growing concern for what is going on with my wrist. I have my appointment on Friday so we shall have to wait and see but take it easy until then, as I have reason to believe it is early signs of carpal tunnel which isn’t the most reassuring thing. 

We started off the day with theory with Chris, he began to talk us through how Concert Stage and Production would go down before each band went in with Dan to get assessed upon our communication as a band whilst setting up a stage, also our Health and Safety when it came to the layout and organisation.

Starting off with the back line we had the guitar amplifier on the left, drum kit within the central line and then the bass amplifier to the right. Our drummer set up the kit whilst me and the guitarist set up our respective amplifiers, we plugged in our amps to our respective power supplies then went on to help our Drummer set up the cymbals then that was the back line completed. 

Then after that, Dan talked to us about what we could have done that he would have done differently, and the only issue was the drum kit not being central upon the stage, it was a mistake on our end, but we soon countered that fact by saying we did it intentionally so our singer wouldn’t take the attention away from the drummer.

We then pressed forward to set up the front line, which consisted of the keys, a vocal monitor, and the two front of house speakers one left, and the other right. The sound desk was then placed behind the keys, for easy accessibility, once that was all up we began to running the XLR cables back to the desk.

There were 8 different channels that we used for each instrument;

• Bass
• Kick Drum
• Snare Drum
• Guitar
• Vocalist
• Keys, which required two channels
• Overhead, Cymbals

We then swiftly went over the rest of the requirements and spoke with Dan about other methods and how to make what we have done more tidy which was a very nice insider.

The rest of the day I sat out from rehearsals due to my wrist and I over looked the rehearsal, we are soon going to pick up ‘Black Velvet’, probably this week when I ease up with my wrist, Friday I will hopefully be given strong painkillers which will help a lot rather than me constantly taking ibuprofen.

We ended the day early so I was able to get some rest and to leave my wrist alone which was great, now to see what tomorrow has installed.