In my lessons at school, for the past 3 years, I have learnt to play Passenger on the ukulele, How Long Will I Love You on piano and Step Into Christmas on piano also. Another thing I had learnt was how to write songs and compose them as well. Even though some of the songs were simple, it took a lot of hard work to complete.
I have had previous private music lessons in the school and I am currently having song writing lessons. My previous lessons were piano. I did it in year 7. I am also having private singing lessons outside of the school, to improve on my singing. I also used to have piano lessons in my primary school. I remember completing songs such as Merry-go-round and playing the classic 'She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain' for the whole school.
I would like to be able to understand music notes better and be able to read them easily as well. I think I need to improve on the piano as I can already play the basics and I think it would be a good accompaniment for singing. In the next two weeks I am hoping to get started on creating music and recap the basic music notes. By the end of the course I would like to pick up the courage to perform in front of a big group of people. A good example of this is the summer concert. I have performed main roles before in my drama group and I am used to performing in front of big crowds, however I think my confidence would boost up even more by performing to people at the summer concert. I have also performed at a wedding which would be similar to this but I would love to do something like it again with the support of friends and teachers.
Week 1
In my private music lesson, we sang through 'I Won't Say I'm In Love' from Hercules. I like it because it involves acting through out the song and I love acting. Mr Gower is my teacher for private lessons and he said my power was good and I needed to work on finishing my words properly. This is called articulation. This means the formation of clear and distinct sounds in speech.
In my music lessons with the class we had to choose a song and work on it. I joined together with Rebecca and Monique to create a group and we chose the song 'Someone Like You' by Adele. Monique was playing the piano while Rebecca and I were singing.
We found out that the piano part wasn't easy, so we decided: Monique would practise the piano part for a few lessons and Rebecca and I would practise the singing and maybe some other songs until we are ready to join again to complete the song.
Week 2
This week in my private lesson, Mr. Gower and I thought of the idea of covering a song but with only my voice. So making the noises from the piano with my voice. and using garage band to put it all together. I would like to do the song 'Royals' by Lorde. I think this would be a really good song to do and it's not too hard either.
In my music lessons with the whole class, I helped Monique practise her piano part as Rebecca was rehearsing the harmonies as part of her private music lesson target. It was fun as I hadn't playing the piano in a while and it was good to help someone.
Week 2
This week I had a conversation with Miss Harris about what songs I could rehearse then eventually perform. Rebecca, Monique and I have decided to go off and practise different things, instead of doing 'Someone Like you' by Adele. I have recently done 'Defying Gravity' from the London West End show Wicked, so I am going to practise that. Also, the next school musical coming up in 'Little Shop of Horrors' so I am going to download some songs to practise from that.
Week 3
In my lessons with Mr Gower, we have been recording myself doing the harmonies and melody for 'Royals'. It's going really well so far and sounds good. I am hoping to get the sounds, of the instruments used, recorded but with my voice not the instrument.
In my classes I looked through different musical songs I could do. It was hard and I couldn't decide so Miss Harris decided I could do my most recent solo 'Tomorrow' from Annie. I'm unsure about doing this song as I don't think I can achieve my best, but I will give it a try and see how it turns out.
Week 4
This week in my private lessons we carried on with 'Royals'. It's going well so far and sounds good with the harmonies over the top of the melody. We moved on for a bit onto something different. We decided to do 'Rather Be' by Clean Bandit ft Jess Glynne. It helps to work on the power in my head voice and also in my chest voice. It's also a good song to work on mixing between head and chest.
Unfortunately this week in my class lessons, we only got to have one lesson and that was in the ICT room, due to inset days and open evening. I printed of lyrics to songs, however, that I am interested in recording and am considering doing.
Week 5
In my private lessons this week we looked at 'I'm Telling You I'm Not Going' from Dreamgirls. I thought the song was really good and powerful. We didn't go over it too many times because I don't know the song well at all. We then moved onto 'I Have Nothing' by Whitney Houston to work on my head voice. I love the song and enjoy doing it.
In my class lessons I decided to do the song 'Let Her Go' by The Passenger. I found an instrumental version on Youtube and fortunately there was a female pitch, which made it easier to sing. I recorded it and gave it to Miss Harris.
I'm pleased with my piece however I definitely think theres room for many improvements.
- I need to come in on time and not miss parts out.
- I need to pronounce the ends of my words clearly.
- Make some areas stronger so the power is varied throughout so it's not boring.
- If I am going to use vibrato, make it stronger and sound more confident.
Week 6
Last week was the half term but the week before, in class I was listening to songs thinking about what song I could do next. I came up with some ideas. I would like to either do 'I'm Not The Only One' or 'Lay Me Down', both by Sam Smith. I love these songs and I think I will defentaly try both of them.
This week (week 7) my music focus is accuracy of pitch/intonation. I am going ask Mr Gower to help me improve on this and see what he has to say. I think this would help me a lot. I feel that having a music focus every week will help me a lot to improve my singing.
Week 7
This week in my private lesson, we were going through 'I'm Telling You I'm Not Going'. As I didn't really know the song we went through step by step. My music focus was innonation/pitch. By going through the song slowly I was clearly told what pitch the notes were, so I could get on top of them and hit the note.
In my class, I got asked to record 'Do They Know It's Christmas' for a boy in 6th form. I learnt a lot as we used the proper equipment and recorded it around 3 or 4 times. Also repeating certain parts and recording them over and over. I think it helped me a lot as I had never done this before and it was a new experiance. It was almost like a tester of what I will have to do later on in the year.
I've decided I am going to record 'I'm Not The Only One' by Sam Smith, on the 14th November. and I am going to record 'Lay Me Down' by Sam Smith, on the 21st November.
Week 8
Unfortunatly, because I had to record for the charity song by Monkswalk, I wasn't able to record my pieces on time but I am going to record 'Lay me down' on friday (21/11/2014). I have ran through it and practised, now I just need to record.
My music focus is 'rhythm and timing'. I will ask to look at both of my music focuses this weeks lesson, technical exercises and rhythm and timing.
Week 9
In my class, I recorded 'Lay Me Down' by Sam Smith. I think it was okay but I will listen to it back and see how it went.
In my lessons with Mr Gower, we focused on technical exercises and rhythm and timing. We did exercises to warm up, such as; going up and down the scale. Mr Gower said my rhythm and timing was very good and didn't feel like there was any room for improvment.
This week, I have been recording a music video for the Monkswalk charity song 'Do They Know It's Christmas'. It has been really fun and also challenging. I think it's been a really exciting experiance and I'm looking forward to seeing the final product.
Week 10
In my lessons with Mr Gower we focased of pronounciation and finishing my words properly. We came up with the idea that breathing effected the way you finish your words. For example; if you breath in and push out the ends of your words, they will be stronger and clearer. If you don't breath in properly, the ends of the words often end up sounding breathy and muffled up. And in some cases, almost force you to strain your voice.
Mr Gower gives me targets such as: try and give more power in the warmups and it will make it sound stronger. He also gives me different ways to approach a note which I think really helps as it's easier to find the best way, for me, to hit the note.
This week, the Monkswalk charity song was released and played in house assemblies. I was really good and I'm pleased with the results.
Review:
Listening back to the finishing product has made me realise that I need to give more power into it. I sound quite dull and just singing the words. To improve I need to emphasise words and push and show more passion. This would make it more interesting to listen to.
Week 11
Lay Me Down - Sam Smith (cover)
Review:
I think that to improve on my song I could do warm ups before I record as this will help me breath better, I think it showed in my song. I also could have had a backing track or learn it on piano. Because I was tight with time and had to get a recording done that lesson, I decided to do it acapella. I think that if I did have a backing track it would be much more interesting to listen to.
Week 12
Review :
I think I did okay however I needed to warm up more. This affected the strength in my voice. I used techniques such as vibrato and breathing control. I tried to use expression and dianamics however it was hard to give emotion across as I was focused on remembering the words. If I knew the words I believr I would be able to do this.
I think if I had a chance to redo my video recording and change something about it, I would make it a duet and introduce harmonies. I think this would improve the performance by making it sound more interesting and keep the audience engaged.
Overall Review On Performance: Learning Aim A
I think this learning aim was really good and a fun experiance as I got to pick my own songs to do and record them. It was quite stressful at times because I had to get a certain amount of recording done by a certain date. However I managed to do this with a few change in plans. Looking through my work, I believe I did okay but could have bought better quality recordings.
Things I believe am strong at:
- Rhythm and timing (week 9)
- Technical exercises
- My range
- Accuracy of pitch (week 7)
- Expression and dynamics (e.g. Band Aid, Monkswalk School, cover)
- Breath control (e.g. Lay Me Down, Sam Smith, cover)
- Confidence
Overall I have really enjoyed Performance Learning Aim A and I learnt a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment