Month: Mar 2019

Two words, Chris drumming.

Within College today the new Doctors were being showed around by our current principal with interest for the role of being our new president due to Nigel wanting to retire recently after receiving his OBE, which is another reason to why our college is Outstanding…

Today we rehearsed a fair amount, during our first session we went through our set three times to be exact with a few minor cock ups during the final time through due to fatigue. During the time taken to go through each and every song it has became clear to us which ones we have been struggling with the most, well I say “struggling”; it’s the occasional slip up when I am a crotchet behind thanks to my wrist seizing up at all the convenient times.

Supposedly one of the HNC students is teaching the guitar lessons now, if so I think I’d rather go over all of my work on my own and with my partner as I only just about comfortable with my ability with Dan which is great. If the lessons do become compulsory I will attend but for now I will opt out as Jack is being a bit of a nob too which doesn’t help my enthusiasm towards the lesson.

I haven’t been a hundred percent all week so when it came to lunch time I was hoping to go home for an hour or so too take a nap but my partner had a rehearsal so we didn’t have enough time to get food and go home sadly, so we sat in his car instead because sitting in the corridor at lunch on a Wednesday is the most crowded experience and I am not incredibly fond of a lot of people in tight spaces…

When we came back it was mean’t to be theory time with Chris but instead of that we had a big rehearsal session in the big room with some major mood lighting too which was cool, when we came out of the room everything had a tinge of green which was painful.

We went though our set two more times before setting off home, whilst we were doing such we were representing our department which I am always proud of doing; especially when our new principal is touring around.

This morning we were proposed to the idea that there is a thief amongst us who has stolen some ticket money which should have went towards the cost of our up coming gig. This has led to speculation that happened all day and I’m assuming until the money is either found or the culprit has been kicked off, then it is a process of elimination…

After we were told this shocking news and Chris rambled on for a solid half an hour in pure RAGE, we had a delightful rehearsal session. Yesterday was the day of our video live lounge performance, and today we agreed upon addressing our mistakes as a band and individually, especially for me.

We powered through our set as per usual but took small breaks between each song just as a extra pro-caution considering how little time we have before the gig, none of us want to give it our all only in rehearsal so when it comes to the real thing we sound as bad as the other bands.

In our allocated hour with Jason I fixed up my essay, because it is due in on Friday, but in comparison to everyone else I think I’ve taken it overboard once again… It will be on my blog over the weekend as I’ll be giving it some final touch ups on the weekend to ensure I get the best possible grade.

Whenever we have a second rehearsal in a day it is slightly more tiring than usual, unless you’re in The Preachers, because every rehearsal session is special fun times. Joking around and communicating is one of the key attributes to our enthusiasm this term, we started off in tatters and now we are stronger than ever, without a doubt we are going to be the best band at our gig next Tuesday.

Tutor was incredibly short today which I was fond of but we found out short after that Chris was going to get his hair cut, I thank Jason greatly for this information. We then watched Chris get his hair cut for a good hour which was quality entertainment, even though it was ice cold and beginning to rain, Me and Tom held out to watch the final product.

Today was alright in comparison to most other Monday’s, the main focus of our time was to record our Live Lounge thingy which was something special; I still cannot comprehend how it will all piece together without it seeming too forced…

I will be going into sheer detail for my assignment brief into a separate blog post and section, so keep an eye out for that.

When it was our turn to record our video we spent about an hour playing which also included rehearsal time too, I felt a bit on edge afterwards as I picked up on every small and large mistake I made during the video but having it on tape to assess I can point out my gradual improvement as we near closer and closer to the gig.

Lunch was lack lustre, I went home as I didn’t feel to well right from the get go this morning which didn’t help my nerves when it came to preforming on camera, I have had a great track history with failure when I see a camera pointed at me which is excellent.

We rehearsed for a final time at the end of the day but soon ended briskly because we were incredibly tired after the hundreds of times we went through our songs this morning. There’s only so many times you can listen to Prince without going insane as you begin to see so many similarities between all of his tracks, it is clever but a kick in the head when you go to sit down and write your own material but in reality not be able to do it.

Productivity is key over at Fareham Music, we started off our day with what was supposed to be a rehearsal but instead we were ushered into the rehearsal room to supposed coursework, but trying to work in a crowded room is not something I can do easily. So I soon escaped back into the wild (the corridor) to where I sat around waiting patiently until my guitar lesson.

It was soon then till I was told by Dan that he had to go pick up his Son Oscar so that meant no guitar lesson, so I’ll have to go through my handouts as home as per usual which I do not mind at all; but that lesson was one of two leading reasons to why I come in at the crack of dawn on a Wednesday.

Instead of sitting in the corridor all afternoon I decided to go home with my partner to watch TV instead of sitting in a smelly crowded corridor full of people being incredibly loud which I’m not fond of at all.

After Lunch we came back because I had a lovely Theory lesson with Chris, we are starting to go through our Grade 3 RGT books which is an interesting change to Grade 1 and 3 ABRSM Theory as I can easily apply it to the work I do day to day in college.

Here is what we went over today, I can’t wait to do more at home and at college to slowly be able to work towards my certificate which I’ll get by sitting the exam outside of college.

Had “Aural Perception”, Recorded our set, rehearsed.

My day started off with a rehearsal without our singer to start off with, so to replace the gap with no vocals Me and Lucy tried to sing Millie’s part which was entertaining but we some how managed to get through all of our set apart from “Let’s Go Crazy”.

Nearing the end of the session Millie eventually turned up and we were saved, so now we were stuck with doing our backing vocal parts which I prefer massively because I hate the sound of my own voice ninety percent of the time every time. However, when we started to go through our set as a full band Chris and the second years all came out of the mac room and proceeded to stare into our rehearsal room like we are some kind of Gods, which we are…

We were soon forced out of the room because Millie had to go sort out her lanyard and Chris has to teach his bass lessons which sounds incredibly exciting. I then proceeded to sit in the corridor for a solid hour in which we were mean’t to actually rehearse in but we didn’t so I was sat waiting until my guitar lesson which was incredibly boring.

What I should have done is made my way over to the library to do some rehearsal diaries but they tire me out very fast and I didn’t have a hell of a lot of energy to be wasting upon something I can do at home or during the multiple D.I.S sessions I have on Monday.

In my guitar lesson we went over what we do and don’t know, surprisingly I don’t know an awful amount off the top of my head but I can go over the exercises thoroughly so I am fairly torn at the moment on learning everything in such a short space of time..

Lunch was fun, Me, my partner, Jack and the rest of The Dusty Trims went to the shop and joked around about random things just like every Wednesday.

Our Theory lesson was incredibly questionable, we were put into groups with and now I’m a so called “Study Buddy”.but I have been placed with the a pair that I am sure dislike me. I just sat there unenthusiastic just like everyone else who has passed their theory test, when the lesson ended we all went home and it was happy days from there on out.

Surprisingly I was late this morning, but I got in before Chris did so I am taking that as a personal win and a note to self how late I can get up on a Monday morning…

Chris kindly reminded us all first thing that our examining board were coming in today which was lovely to know at the time because at the back of my head I knew that I was missing three posts from ages ago which I soon completely rushed during that session.

Afterwards we had rehearsal which was fun, we went through the entirety of our set in the big room because Chris didn’t want us anywhere near the individual from UAL. We now know what we need to work on tomorrow extensively, and that would be the endings to each of our songs and to how they flow from one to another.

After my intense recall session this morning when it came to my lacking blog posts was all for nothing when Chris burst in last minute telling us that the UAL person doesn’t want to talk to anyone this time around which was frustrating. The only reassuring thing was that if she did want to talk to anyone Chris said I could finally talk to her, as it is something that I have personally longing for as I don’t really know what I am working towards…