Hello!
The last wee while has been pretty busy. Last Wednesday night we performed our first external gig in The Twa Tams pub in Perth. My band played three songs, two of which I sang in - "Dancing in the Dark"-Bruce Springsteen (backing vocals) and "Kiss"-Prince (lead). I felt "Kiss" in particular went down pretty well as it is a fun song. I danced about on stage and had a great time, I hope the video recording of it is good so I can use it in my graded unit evidence.
This Wednesday (last night) I sang in Finn Anderson's degree performance. We sang a medley of songs from his musical "Streets", which we performed in its entirety in Dundee and St Andrews earlier this year and plan to revisit in 2012 (including a stint at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). I think that the performance was really good, I love the songs and can't wait to perform in it again.
In First study last Friday we were doing a lot of harmony singing. I feel this is very beneficial, especially as quite a few of the singers in our year have never done harmony singing before.
This Wednesday in Session skills we were rehearsing in our session bands, ours will be recording after the Christmas holidays. We are playing "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" and I am singing the backing vocals. It is a pretty tricky arrangement to get the hang of as there are lots of different parts that make up the song, it changes quite a lot. Thankfully Andrew played out my part for me on the piano and with the amount of practice time I have over the holidays I should be able to get it nailed for the recording. Here's hoping!
Graded unit progress is slow going at the moment, however, I have now purchased a video camera for myself. This will be easier than borrowing from the college and means I can do impromptu recordings of practices and rehearsals.
That's mostly it with regards coursework. Other than that I have been busy with a very successful performance as part of a choir in St Andrews singing broadway hits with a swing band, rehearsals for Sweeney Todd and for a Christmas carol concert at Bowerswell home this Monday coming.
Over and out
LcB
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Monday, 28 November 2011
Previously on...
Hello!
My run down of the last weeks events will be a very short one as I was hit with a bad cold. Luckily I got the "First-Defence" out in time to catch it before it got to my throat. This meant my voice was in fine form for Friday's First Study Assessment. I stayed cosy in bed for the majority of the week, leaving me rested and refreshed for the assessment. I got in to college early to be in good time for the warm-up (I even had time to fit in my own one before leaving the house). I was first to be assessed and I think it went pretty well all things considered.
The only other update I have from last week is about band work. We performed our "Pulp Fiction" Medley ("Son Of A Preacher Man", "Misirlou" and "Jungle Boogie") to the rest of the class and it went well, probably not the best we had done it that day but not too bad at all. We were assigned the task of choosing a James Bond theme to play next week. We chose Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name", the theme for "Casino Royale".
This week in band we rehearsed and performed "You Know My Name" to the others. It was a challenging song for me as it goes to the bottom of my register in places and I was having to use my belt voice. Belting is something I am still getting comfortable with and so this was a good opportunity to practice. My range is very high at the moment (in "Sweeney Todd" rehearsal the first sopranos go up to top As etc) and so I did have to adapt certain lines in the song and sing them higher. Every time we went through the song there was progress, and at the time to showcase it all went rather smoothly :).
I have found out my theory result from last week and it's not great and I have to re-sit. This is nothing that I did not expect however. It's going to be hard work from here on in.
GU:
I have started making up my weekly schedule to try and organise my time better. This was one of the targets I set myself as part of my graded unit development. I am also looking in to joining the Musicians Union - I have to have a look at if I can afford it. It is only £6.75 per month for students, so it should be fine...
That's really all I've got this time around.
Over and out,
LcB x
My run down of the last weeks events will be a very short one as I was hit with a bad cold. Luckily I got the "First-Defence" out in time to catch it before it got to my throat. This meant my voice was in fine form for Friday's First Study Assessment. I stayed cosy in bed for the majority of the week, leaving me rested and refreshed for the assessment. I got in to college early to be in good time for the warm-up (I even had time to fit in my own one before leaving the house). I was first to be assessed and I think it went pretty well all things considered.
The only other update I have from last week is about band work. We performed our "Pulp Fiction" Medley ("Son Of A Preacher Man", "Misirlou" and "Jungle Boogie") to the rest of the class and it went well, probably not the best we had done it that day but not too bad at all. We were assigned the task of choosing a James Bond theme to play next week. We chose Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name", the theme for "Casino Royale".
This week in band we rehearsed and performed "You Know My Name" to the others. It was a challenging song for me as it goes to the bottom of my register in places and I was having to use my belt voice. Belting is something I am still getting comfortable with and so this was a good opportunity to practice. My range is very high at the moment (in "Sweeney Todd" rehearsal the first sopranos go up to top As etc) and so I did have to adapt certain lines in the song and sing them higher. Every time we went through the song there was progress, and at the time to showcase it all went rather smoothly :).
I have found out my theory result from last week and it's not great and I have to re-sit. This is nothing that I did not expect however. It's going to be hard work from here on in.
GU:
I have started making up my weekly schedule to try and organise my time better. This was one of the targets I set myself as part of my graded unit development. I am also looking in to joining the Musicians Union - I have to have a look at if I can afford it. It is only £6.75 per month for students, so it should be fine...
That's really all I've got this time around.
Over and out,
LcB x
Friday, 18 November 2011
Let us begin...
Hello and welcome to my blog. Here I will track my progress through the development of my graded unit and the HN2 course.
Before I start with my update, I will just mention that my completed graded unit portfolio will be geared towards the job of a west end singer.
Now, this week I have been preparing for my First Study assessment which will take place next Friday. I will be performing the following songs for this first assessment; "With Every Breath I Take" (written by Cy Coleman for the musical "City of Angels"), "February Song" (written by Josh Groban, Marius de Vries and John Ondrasik), "Holding Out For A Hero" (written by Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford) and "J'aimais"/ "I Loved" (written by Jacques Brel). This assessment requires me to show diversity and adaptability in my singing and performance. It will also, hopefully, be recorded and I should be able to use this footage for my graded unit.
I sat my first theory exam on time signatures this week, I still find theory a big challenge and so I'm not confident that my mark will be anywhere near a pass. I have had some offers for one to one tutorials which I am hoping to do as I really do need assistance with my theory studies.
In digital audio workstations this week I had already completed the task we were previously given two weeks ago and so I filled my class time researching music producers for my music production essay.
With regards to my graded unit, I received back my planning stage for graded unit, I got 25 out of a possible 30. I'm quite happy with this mark as it puts me in a strong starting position for the rest of the unit. As long as I keep to schedule, I should be able to achieve a good overall result. I now have to decide on 5 actions I plan to take to start the development of my graded unit.
Over and Out
LcB x
Before I start with my update, I will just mention that my completed graded unit portfolio will be geared towards the job of a west end singer.
Now, this week I have been preparing for my First Study assessment which will take place next Friday. I will be performing the following songs for this first assessment; "With Every Breath I Take" (written by Cy Coleman for the musical "City of Angels"), "February Song" (written by Josh Groban, Marius de Vries and John Ondrasik), "Holding Out For A Hero" (written by Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford) and "J'aimais"/ "I Loved" (written by Jacques Brel). This assessment requires me to show diversity and adaptability in my singing and performance. It will also, hopefully, be recorded and I should be able to use this footage for my graded unit.
I sat my first theory exam on time signatures this week, I still find theory a big challenge and so I'm not confident that my mark will be anywhere near a pass. I have had some offers for one to one tutorials which I am hoping to do as I really do need assistance with my theory studies.
In digital audio workstations this week I had already completed the task we were previously given two weeks ago and so I filled my class time researching music producers for my music production essay.
With regards to my graded unit, I received back my planning stage for graded unit, I got 25 out of a possible 30. I'm quite happy with this mark as it puts me in a strong starting position for the rest of the unit. As long as I keep to schedule, I should be able to achieve a good overall result. I now have to decide on 5 actions I plan to take to start the development of my graded unit.
Over and Out
LcB x
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