Today started with a call with my band and lecturer which was going to be interesting giving current circumstances. The conversation was mainly about our progression, and learning any songs that we may have add to our set and to make sure that we have been practicing as per usual.
There is a small chance that we may be able to go back to college before the end of the year and to perform our songs to a small crowd but I think it unlikely as this pandemic will not come to a close any time soon…
It is always good to keep practicing over and over so we don’t forget our set and we are able to keep the same playing ability up to a high level consistently.
Within the call our lecturer talked about giving us other tasks to work on, this is because we are unable to complete the final two tasks for our course,put on a gig and evaluate it, this is because of the current pandemic.
He is going to send me a lead sheet to look through to help me get ready for moving onto university. This will help me push myself to a higher level of playing and deeper understanding of Jazz and Music Theory.
At the moment I’m not focussing on anything particular at the moment, my music theory is definitely something I’d like to be on top of before I goto University. I am working through my Grade 5 book every day so I can move onto Grade 6 properly today working on finishing the ‘band knowledge’ section with some assistance from the multiple books within my possession.
Today I mainly focussed on my theory work trying to slowly progress onto six with a solid understanding of everything before it.
I had a call in the morning with the rest of my class where we went through some more of the Rockschool Grade 3 music theory sample paper which is always great to go through, but it’s a bit boring repeating old stuff.
We mainly focussed on the music notation, scales and intervals. It is always useful to go back over the basics of scales and intervals, etc as it’s something you move to aside when learning new things. Looking back at the sample paper it shows me how much I have progressed within such a short time, knowing what I know now gives me a lot confidence within myself and what I have learnt alone.
Due to the lockdown I have been spending as much time as I can with my family to ensure that my mental health doesn’t crumble by overworking and thinking. I try to do most of my work outdoors in the sun so I don’t get all cramped.
I begun the band knowledge in the Grade 6 Theory book as my brother has been practicing his clarinet a lot more and it has been a good to be able to help him more than I could before hand!
I spent the rest of my day on a walk, then I went through my practice routine before going to bed which is key to my progression as a musician.
In the way of calls/meetings, today I only had to attend a whole class refresher sort of thing which wasn’t something I was looking forward to as everyone in one place is very chaotic.
Hayfever is ass, I forgot how much of a burden it is without the pills so until I get out I have some scratchy eyeballs, etc. After finishing the stuff in my grade 5 book I started to stab at the grade 6 book.
Rhythm and numbers and stuff, is not my strongest point. When I can I will ask my tutor for some help as I’m struggling big time and I don’t trust half of the stuff online. Check out my Pringles stationery set, it’s one hundred percent keeping me from going insane at the moment!
After trying to get my head around that I decided to focus upon my instrument as it doesn’t make me cry over stupidly hard theory questions.
I thought it was long overdue for me to take a look over my favourite things ever! Intervals, I was beginning to forget them the other day when I was just noodling around on my guitar so I put this together in my book.
I spent the rest of my day going over my bands set, and going other the scales from last week just so they stick within my thick skull. Then I was on the hunt for some cool new music, as I have gotten a tad bored of the albums I’ve got in my library at the moment.
Here is what I found below, they’re all super cool to me as I can just listen to them, and some help me to focus when it comes to doing coursework and theory.
All of it maybe rock, but that is my current mood at this moment in time four weeks indoors has taken a toll on me…
This morning I woke up to find that we have a theory class before lunch. It was our first class call after having Easter half term for two long, boring weeks. In comparison to the others we have a smaller group so it is much easier to talk and keep track of the conversation if we stay on topic. It was fairly short call as our lecturer had a meeting, we had a quick catch up by working on time signatures and scales from the Grade 3 Music Theory Rockschool sample paper.
Luckily I had already finished it at the start of the year so I was just marking my answers as went along, it was a nice recap as I have swiftly moved along to five and I am on my way to starting six properly. Next week we will go through a couple more pages as a class and tomorrow we have a catch up meeting with everybody which I am not particularly looking forward to.
Within the afternoon I then proceeded to go out on my daily form of exercise and after being for half an hour and seeing groups of teens out, I went home slightly frustrated as I can’t see my partner so why should they…
Well half term was not very eventful, turns out being stuck indoors for two weeks doesn’t have many perks at all. My younger siblings are loving it as they don’t seem to get bored of TV and just doing nothing, I on the other hand struggle to keep my self occupied.
For the first week off I tried watching as many movies as I can which seemed appealing to me. As Disney+ came out that week I stuck to everything on there as it didn’t require me to get out DVDs etc.
I got round to watching ‘Incredibles 2’ and I was more distracted my the score at times rather than the plot of the film! The drums draw you in when a fast pace fight takes place and then the brass section just hits you hard.
Going out for about half hour a day was fun until my hay fever made it impossible to see without clawing my eyes out. Despite having taken the tablet that is meant to help I felt like garbage, so after recovering from my cold thing I have a new threat.
I did acquire a new found interest within drums and I have been toning out everything else whilst listening to anything I’d normally chuck on in the background. Whilst going through my bands set list I could find myself hitting a imaginary guitar kit as no one is around to judge me…
With YouTube at my disposal, I decided to dive into a plethora of videos, drum notation and breakdowns of the tracks I have been listening to.
My favourite drummer at the moment would have to be Gavin Harrison, he is a beast, obviously I can’t explain what he is doing technically but it’s like woah. He has written a couple books full of drum things, and all the notes are a bit much for me to comprehend but it’s still cool to see noice into sheet.
Apart from that I mostly practiced and went though my grade 6 and 8 books for guitar, I did pick up my theory books here and there but I didn’t want to force myself into doing them otherwise I wouldn’t be getting anything right.
I donated a fair bit of money to the NHS rather it be through the text thing and the raffle someone put together. Musicians where donating certain items, tickets, etc and when I saw Steven Wilson’s name I instantly lit up.
I had brought two tickets for myself, my Mum had got one on her behalf, and so did my Nan. Then I brought one for my partner before the raffle shut, it was fun to participate within, but unfortunately we didn’t win.
But at least the money went to a good cause.
After warming up to play my instrument with scales, chords, etc. I began to draw my attention back to these scores I have been hearing behind films, TV and games.
In most the arrangements where huge, especially when it came to films and the games I picked up. The one that stood out the most to me was ‘Cuphead’.
It is a classic run and gun action game heavily focused around its big boss battles. It is heavily by cartoons of the 1930s which I adore, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era including; traditional hand drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.
The game has won many awards, for its art style, animation and soundtrack. Not to mention the BAFTA it one, since then the game has begun to develop a somewhat underground following.
Now that the score behind it has gained even more interest they’ve put together a website where you can purchase the score in different ways. These include scores for a high school concert band, high school jazz bands, barbershop quartets and as professional charts which is awesome.
Here’s a preview below,
On YouTube there are a few clips behind the making of the music where are a good insight but I wish there was more to sink my teeth into as it is amazing to see how it all unfolds. Feel free to check out the game or not, it is available on most platforms and it’s definitely worth your time.
Now that I have seven days a week to do anything music related I will definitely take any opportunity I can to read about any path music could take me, and or learn any genre I desire.
I hope that the lockdown is lifted whenever is necessary but it is best if we all take our time and make sure we can prevent as many deaths as possible and create a plateau effect so we can all return to our normal lives.
Today is technically our last day of term, and the start to our half term which seems odd but oh well. Being indoors isn’t all too fun, running out of things to do in my pass time that aren’t to do with music which is irritating.
We had a meeting today with our whole class and lecturer which is always interesting, it’s nice to hear everyone’s voices but being at home makes me a bit unenthusiastic to it.
Within this meeting, the whole situation with our break was explained and how we are being marked overall which is a relief for all of us in fear. Afterwards we all had meetings within our band, discussing our final set as we are all gearing up to if we were to play it.
The whole meeting thing took place mostly over the phone, but we made sure to include our keyboard player and lecture on what we are intending to play! Here’s a brief compilation below, I missed out ‘Don’t Start Now’ by Dua Lipa.
We decided to get rid of a few songs, so our set is 45 minutes long, but we have enough in our back catalog to play for longer if necessary.
After all of this I began to gear myself up for a very uneventful half term stuck indoors, luckily I’m surrounded by my instruments and family, along with being able to keep in contact with my partner.
Today we did not have any scheduled lessons apart from tutorial in the afternoon, if I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t check it as I think it’s a load of rubbish apart from the bits where it goes over what’s going on within college.
But as you all know, we aren’t in so it’s pointless. I did as much work as I could today, despite feeling very low, and tired after finally getting over the cold I had.
I decided to focus more upon triad inversion as it had recently came up within my grade books, and I was about 25% uncertain upon it. Turns it it’s stupidly simple, and I need to calm down and stop trying to over complicate everything that steps in front of me as it holds me back massively…
Later on, I went over my bands set list which is the same old routine gets a bit boring but it needs to be done so I don’t turn up to a gig and be clueless to what is going on. I then proceeded to go over the final scale this week which I am focussing on which is below.
This morning I woke up just before our theory lesson which started at 10:30, I had a call with my mates before hand as we’re cool then it was theory time.
We went over the grade 3 book as it was a reminder sort of thing, we focused on the band analysis section and we each answered a question when we asked too. Afterwards I had a shower then went ahead to practice my guitar.
I started off with my bands set list so it doesn’t stray away from me, then I go ahead and pull out the exam book. The more I go though the intervalic structure in theory, then applying it to the fretboard there’s a higher chance of me remembering it!
I tend to stick to one scale, chord, or arpeggio a day to make sure I focus upon it properly. Today’s scale was the Natural Minor Scale over 3 octaves, within grade 6 we covered this scale within 5 positions, so it’s interesting to see it being played over 3 octaves.
Then after this I made sure my blog was running to a T, and everything was in the right place otherwise I’d be a bit on edge. I decided to remind myself that intervals are a thing and finished up my day by jotting this all down and then applying it to my guitar afterwards!
Today I am trying to get everything back to a more professional standard, I’m slowly getting over my week long headache and the not being able to breathe side of things which means more time to practice without feeling sleepy.
This morning I started off my finishing up all of the sections for the proposal thing and putting them together into a word document, which didn’t take too long.
This is now one less thing I will have to stress about whilst recovering, now that I have been put onto the furlough scheme I don’t have to worry about coming into contact with others at work.
I decided to then go over chord relationships within both major and minor keys. I started off by hitting down the order within basic triads then along with extended chords as well.
After I did that, I made up a example within C major to keep it simple so I don’t get all twisted up. The result was successful, now I know how to apply this to other major keys.
I also started to read into the relative minor key, both major and minor share the same chords but the formula starts on a VI if we were looking from a major perspective so to speak.
Yet again, I played it safe and stuck to a key signature that I’m comfortable with when it comes to basic understanding, etc. I also went over the V chord as it is often changed to a Dominant 7th as you can see above.
At 2pm today I attended a class meeting which was a bit crowded but it was nice to hear everyone’s voices, we went over on who was in which theory class and what we are meant to be doing to get our grades.
I’m well on track for getting what I want I just need to keep giving it my all and updating my blog with my targets, goals etc.
To finish off my day I went over my bands set list along with the exercises within my grade 8 guitar book, now that I’m regaining energy it is a lot easier to focus upon my upcoming exam!
I started it off with the easiest scale over 3 octaves, it is a demanding shape if you’re taking that approach. But if you think about the scales ‘spelling’, it’s easier to think of what notes and the spaces between each.
Ellie Thornton Music 