P4 Week Commencing 29th May Targets

Reflecting on our previous weeks targets, I would say that we were incredibly successful. We have hit all of the targets with the exception of the choreography which we have scrapped for the time being as we need to focus more on our songs.

We have recorded the song with the producers and we are awaiting the stems from the recording session.

For this week we have only one target for ourselves and that is as follows:

• Complete the set

This is an incredibly vague target however it involves us finish the joining and transitions between songs and also making sure we can get from the start of our set to the end in succinct performance.

The main goal will be to get the interludes between songs correct

P4 Personal Statement

So far throughout my musical career I have focused on a wide range of genres instead of sticking to just one and mastering it. I have had a few favourites but never one that I would confidently say I am best at. My personal target for this is to stick heavily to the roots of our set genre (funk) throughout the entire performance and setlist. This will help me with committing to a certain feel for an extended amount of time as well as constantly applying similar fills and styles in my playing.

P4 Week Commencing 22nd May Targets

2 of my targets set for last week were for writing tasks. Both of these have currently been completed but not checked by lecturers. These targets were to finish writing Tasks 2C and 3 and I have completed these meaning I no longer have any outstanding written work other than blog posts.

My third target was for the band to learn two songs and make them segue together. This target was slightly altered over the course of the week and some learned different songs as individuals which is great for their own technical development but is not ideal for a full band to practice to. Nevertheless it did develop out skills in segues and will roughly translate to applying it to our project.

The tasks for Week Commencing 22nd May are:

1. Record 'Play On' with the aid of producers

This will allow to practice the son gin our time and also demonstrate our ability to work with other musicians/producers who are not in out band.

2. Finish '7/4'

This is one of our 2 unfinished songs and we have been putting it off as it is very challenging. We will have to finish this song for our performance so that we can play it live. It is worth noting that we do have pieces of this song learnt but we do not have a set structure.

3. Start looking at Choreography for our own performance.

In order to make our performance more interesting we will work on our choreography. This was mentioned in Task 2 and is necessary to make an eye catching performance.

P4 Task 3 Preparation

In order to prepare for writing my Task 3, I enquired about what tech will be available at the gig. This is evidenced by this email which I received from Laura Moors. (Management)

As well as this; I recently attended a gig at The Star, where the performance will be held, and took a picture of the stage layout there so that I could begin to write my tech spec and stage plan. Here is the photo:

P4 Week Commencing 15th May Targets

As far as my targets for last week went, I was only successful in completing one of those however I have tackled some larger obstacles so I am by no means behind on my project.

The target we managed to achieve was to decide one song from our vocalist's repertoire which we would use as a band cover. We decided on her original titled 'Float Away'

(Click here to view a live performance of the original song by Shana Germain)

Despite not reaching these goals, the things I have achieved in the week have been incredibly useful such as:
Completing Tasks 2A and B to the best of my ability and organising when our band's weekly rehearsal will be.

Completing Tasks 2A and B has taken a lot of pressure off as I do not have to worry about them anymore and only have 2 more written task pieces until my performance. Another incredibly useful thing is having a designated time for my band to rehearse. It's on a Wednesday evening at 16:00. This means we can get everyone in the band together at a set time to either discuss important subjects or practice our music.

The remaining targets from week commencing 8th May where:

1. Write out the first song of our set into Logic Pro X

2. Figure out a sufficient structure for our 7/4 song

Although these tasks will be completed eventually I have come to the realisation that it will be more beneficial to focus on these 3 targets for this week:

1. Finishing writing Task 2C

Finishing this task will enable me to apply techniques used in other band's music into my own. This is useful for our band  as we are still writing music and it also means one less written task for me to do.

2. Complete (What I can of) Task 3

Although Task 3 is on going with the practice diaries, I will aim to complete the tech spec and stage plan aspects of this task this week. It will involve me asking The Star Inn what equipment they will be using for the performance. This will be the final piece of written work out of the way (other than the blog posts) meaning I can focus mainly on writing out our songs and practicing them.

3. Segue between 2 songs (Potentially covers) as a band

Learning to lead a cover into another cover will help us greatly with doing the same with our own music. This will also improve our syncopation as a band as we will need to make eye contact and communicate, especially throughout BPM changes.

P4 Practice Diary - Wednesday 10th May

Attendance

All of our band members attended this rehearsal as it was in lecture and we have been assign a new guitarist (Oliver Crosta) to join our band.

What we planned

For this lecture I planned to meet my third target for the 4th project which was decide on which song by the vocalist we will turn into a band cover. This had to be done so we could have at least one song that we are confident in and that we will be performing.

Result

We decided on a song called 'Float Away' (click here to see the original version) as it works really well as a slow, soul, motown song in our funky set. It was a group decision and we are adding a chorus to it to make it feel more structured as the original lacks one.

Task for the end of week

In order to meet my weekly targets which are to finish the structure of the 7/4 song and to write out one of our songs into Logic. These will both be achieved by me working hard as an individual on both targets, I will document the process of one of these tasks too on my blog.

Conclusion

After another successful rehearsal I am excited to continue working with the band. I will have to work hard to reach my goals but it has been am incredibly successful start. I know this because everybody left the rehearsals feeling confident and performed well.

P4 Week Commencing 8th May Targets

For this week my three targets are as follows:

1. Write out the first song of our set into Logic Pro

This will be useful as our band will be able to listen to our music anytime and practice it. This will give us the maximum amount of time to learn this piece and make sure that it is flawless. Writing it out into Logic will also improve my knowledge of the program which will be useful for writing out our other pieces.

2. Figure out a sufficient structure for our 7/4 song

This is important as we need to get our songs written out soon so that we can learn them. Figuring out a structure to this piece is especially difficult as it is in an odd time signature. This will be a useful skill for me if I am writing out an odd time piece or common time piece out in the future. Figuring it out for our 7/4 will make it much easier when doing a 4/4 piece.

3. Decide which song by our vocalist we will use as a band

In order to practice and adapt a piece by our vocalist, we need to decide on one. We have picked several and need to narrow it down to one. This is using skills learnt from Project 2 as we will have to transform the acoustic singer-songwriter style song into a funk band piece. 

P4 Practice Diary - Tuesday 9th May

Attendance

All band members were present for our first rehearsal.

What we planned

As this was our first official rehearsal our plan was to figure how we would approach working on our songs.

Result

We decided one of them will be in odd time to match up with my goals, one will win 4/4 focusing heavily on groove and another will be a funk band rendition of a song written by our vocalist. This was successful and we got along well as a band and were efficient in planning and choosing how we would approach this project. This was evident as we now have a practice schedule sorted out and a practice date and time. (3:00PM every Wednesday)

Task for next time

As we are writing a song in odd time we tasked ourselves to learn a 7/4 song so that we can be more comfortable with playing around in that metre. For this song we chose Money by Pink Floyd. Also we tasked ourselves with choosing which song written by our vocalist will we play as a band, we will decide on this by communication through social media so that we can prepare it for the next lecture.

My verdict

After the great start to this project with my band, I have a lot of confidence for the future rehearsals and am incredibly interested in what this group can create.