I Know You Got Soul Concert, Monday The 17th Of September 2018

Yesterday evening went very well for all of the first year bands: level 2 and 3!

It started off with the Level 2 band then we began to go through each Level 3 band, my band being the last one before the break. Our performance was fairly explosive compared to the gradual build up before hand; as a band we were visually appealing to, we agreed to wear black and white to set the mood for the soul song we were playing and for its historical background too, for soul players at the time they were expected to dress smart to try impress the white audience, because typically most soul performers were black.

Playing wise, I could of done better and this goes to both me and the guitarist here, as we didn’t have time to warm up our hands. For me this could of brought up more strain than need within my hand from playing in the cold, next time depending on the temperature either way I will be warming up before and after.

The change within dynamics from forte the first time to piano on the second, was also a big help for impact, no one else thought of the effect it would have on the audience; I thought it made the song a lot more meaningful and it helped to show that it meant a lot to our band!

However, it was a very good first performance overall and I cannot wait to further improve as a professional musician and play more venues representing Fareham Music!

Monday The 17th of September 2018

Today we went over ‘I want you back’ for the I know you got soul concert tomorrow which everyone in my band is looking forward to a lot, personally I cant wait to showcase my abilities to everyone attending and my old music teacher if he can make it from work which would make my evening a lot better, especially confidence wise, but I’m not going to get my hopes up because he’s a very busy man, either way I’ll perform to the best of my abilities as either way he’d be proud of me alongside Chris and Jason!

In our theory slot this morning we went over whats going to go on in college in the weeks to come which is always handy as I like to know whats going on rather than walking into things completely blind which I have tendencies to do.

My new bass finally arrived also, it’s a fender Jazz bass made in 2002 and it’s in mystic blue which is a cool colour. Its the same model and colour as my old music teachers bass without the fifth string essentially because when I played his bass it was a pain as the neck was so wide due to the extra string so I chose the four string which I love. Chris came in and gave it a whirl, he liked it also but we both agreed that the action could be lowered and the bridge needed to be sorted out and the trust rod also, but that’s something to do in the future because Chris is a busy guy.

Then after lunch we had rehearsal again, which is self explanatory. We went over the song as many times as we could without inflicting injuries upon ourselves or the vocalists voices otherwise tomorrow wouldn’t go down particularly well in my eyes if that were to happen.

Tuesday the 11th of September 2018

Within rehearsal this morning, we yet again went over ‘I want you back’, its about nailing the new structure now and our on stage presents is going to play out. Rather than standing completely still we’ve all agreed to jump around and move within reason and look lively which other bands may have not even thought about.

We began to start use composition as an actual lesson today, Chris showed us how to use Logic X and he also explained to us what Midi is. Our aim for the lesson was to create a jingle or short 30 second piece to a certain key signature that we were assigned: I was given F Major, the key signature with one flat in which being B flat.  

After composition, we had theory with Jason which I enjoyed, we began taking notes for our Pop Music In Practice. As a class we went over Soul as a genre and its key aspects which vary depending on what part of America you were from back in the day, doing work like this interests me a lot as I like learning about history and all that fun stuff. I’ll eventually go through our arrangement for I want you back but for now I will stick to learning the song and nailing my part and continue going through Soul’s highly engaging and historically deep background.

Then after lunch we had rehearsal again which is fun to end the day off with, we yet again went over ‘I want you back’ and have nailed looking all lively whilst we play it but our guitarist still needs to figure out what chords hes playing as he can play then play within the wrong tonality then end up tripping me up playing the bass line which is great as I already struggle to hear myself as he makes himself louder than me in rehearsals which is great for my hearing.

Monday The 10th of September 2018

Today within rehearsal we went over ‘I want you Back’ By The Jackson 5, I’ve essentially nailed the bass line after a solid 10 hours plus of rehearsal/practice, we’ve established that there’s going to be two breakdowns to show a contrast within dynamics to show Chris that we are more than capable of making things more challenging for ourselves right off the bat!

Our drummer wasn’t in today as he had a cold (so do I though and its not the most pleasant thing to get second week or so into college), it staggered the rest of the band in many ways, but I managed to tanked through it with the the split on my index finger I have acquired also which is always fun times.

Yesterday, I went to go see Ghost at the Royal Albert Hall; it was my second time going to the venue and it’s been magnificent both times, I partly regret that I sang my heart out as consequently I’ve lost my voice but it was definitely worth it, last time I went I saw David Gilmour which was amazing for the first gig I’ve ever been too! 

 

First blog entry

Chris is holding me by gun point to write my first blog and so far I’M ENJOYING IT. I’ve been studying at Fareham Music for a whopping four days so far and I’m slowly losing my sanity (thanks to Chris and Jason). I listen to almost everything like Sleep and Ghost all the way too Kamasi Washington, the only thing I won’t listen to is Oasis because they’re trashy and not the best band I’ve came across, change my mind…

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