13/06/10
This will be my final blog! As I sit here in front of the computer with my ankle in bandages I feel a wave of relief at this fact. The latter half of this week has been one of tying up loose ends and attempting to recover from wedding related injuries. The wedding which was on Thursday was truly lovely. I was not only a guest but also involved in organising the music and playing the piano too. Unfortunately towards the end of the festivities wet grass and questionable shoes led to the familiar snap of my ‘Glastonbury Ankle’. Joy of joys.
Lessons have been going extremely well. In Phillipa’s lesson on Saturday we started to look more at the ABRSM Grade 5 theory material. I am determined to help her pass the exam by November. Georgie is coming on similarly well, and little Josh is just flying along too.
Wednesday
Audition! Scales. Done. Arpeggios. Done. Clare De Lune. Done. Did I remember to bring a second piece to play with me. No. In usual fashion I’d forgotten about that bit. I was preparing to play a piece from memory when Andrew remembered he had a copy of the Chopin piece that I’d played for my assessment. All in all, aside from that little glitch, I feel the audition went quite well. I spoke about what I hoped to achieve during degree and about what I felt I had achieved during the last 2 years studying for HND. Rather than being nervous I think I was just relieved that there was finally light at the end of the tunnel to getting all the work finished. It’s been a hard slog but I don’t think I have enjoyed anything more in my life than these 2 years at college. I’ve learned some hard lessons about time management and organisation and I am determined to put what I’ve learned to good use next year. I really really hope I get accepted for degree.
Monday, 14 June 2010
06/06/10
It has been the most beautifully sunny week. However, we have spent the majority of it down in the windowless bowels of college, rehearsing for the Composition class performance on Friday. Having this time all working together so intensely for long periods of time has made me realise just what we can achieve when we have the motivation and most importantly time. I have no doubt that given the time in the rehearsal rooms that we’ve had this week that we would be able to put together the performances for group work that usually takes us half a semester to put together. It was really enjoyable to play on a variety of different tracks as well. Liam’s compostion ’Music For An Animated Short’ was great fun to play and really effective, and it was great to get that contrast with pieces like Daryl’s which was quite reggae influenced and Mark’s that was very swing-based. I ended up singing on my own piece which was one of the most nerve-wracking things I have done in my whole time in college. I have sang and played on-stage before but it has always felt like playing a part. We are invariably dressed up and working to a brief. It feels very different to be singing your own song on such a big stage as yourself. The gig went well I think and was really fun to do, the adrenelin come-down afterwards was not so much fun!
The course work is coming together as well. DAW is nearly finished, and I hope I have nailed Adorno, cantankerous old communist that he was. It is just really a case of waiting to see if I’ve passed everything.
It has been the most beautifully sunny week. However, we have spent the majority of it down in the windowless bowels of college, rehearsing for the Composition class performance on Friday. Having this time all working together so intensely for long periods of time has made me realise just what we can achieve when we have the motivation and most importantly time. I have no doubt that given the time in the rehearsal rooms that we’ve had this week that we would be able to put together the performances for group work that usually takes us half a semester to put together. It was really enjoyable to play on a variety of different tracks as well. Liam’s compostion ’Music For An Animated Short’ was great fun to play and really effective, and it was great to get that contrast with pieces like Daryl’s which was quite reggae influenced and Mark’s that was very swing-based. I ended up singing on my own piece which was one of the most nerve-wracking things I have done in my whole time in college. I have sang and played on-stage before but it has always felt like playing a part. We are invariably dressed up and working to a brief. It feels very different to be singing your own song on such a big stage as yourself. The gig went well I think and was really fun to do, the adrenelin come-down afterwards was not so much fun!
The course work is coming together as well. DAW is nearly finished, and I hope I have nailed Adorno, cantankerous old communist that he was. It is just really a case of waiting to see if I’ve passed everything.
30/05/10
This week has been a veritable nightmare! My parents are on holiday, Tennessee has been off school and I have had my Graded Unit Interview and Presentation and also the deadline for articulation. Thursday night saw me pulling an all-nighter, ironing out my score for articulation, finishing off the Powerpoint presentation for the next morning, and generally stressing about everything. The articulation score has come together well I think. It has ended up being 52 pages long and it was a real challenge to attempt to score the string and brass sections, but the triumph of finally printing it out and putting it in a folder was immense. It was also hard to write about a piece that has so many elements in it. It would have been possible to continue pointing out features and devices for pages. The graphic score part was actually quite fun to do. I ended up making a giant pop-up card. Nearly super-gluing your fingers together at 4am is not so much though. The graded unit presentation was a different kettle of fish altogether. I know that others had produced all-singing, all-dancing presentations but what I really wanted to focus on was the job in hand, namely teaching. All the teaching work I have done over the last year at drama and privately has really focussed my mind on what I want to do but also why I wanted to do it and I felt that it was important to put this across during my presentation. I think the presentation didn’t go too badly. I wait with baited breath for the results!
On a brighter note - The fundraising gig went AMAZINGLY well. All the bands were fabulous and we raised £650 on the night for Pancreatic cancer. This however will be the last time I organise an event like this so close to al the course-work deadlines. Having to confirm all the bands, beg for the P.A, sort-out running times, raffle prizes and basically do everything on top of college commitments has nearly given me an anuerysm. But I am extremely proud of what we managed to do. Arran the sound engineer was truly amazing and did a great job and it was great to see all the college from NQ right up to honours year come-together to support something like this.
This week has been a veritable nightmare! My parents are on holiday, Tennessee has been off school and I have had my Graded Unit Interview and Presentation and also the deadline for articulation. Thursday night saw me pulling an all-nighter, ironing out my score for articulation, finishing off the Powerpoint presentation for the next morning, and generally stressing about everything. The articulation score has come together well I think. It has ended up being 52 pages long and it was a real challenge to attempt to score the string and brass sections, but the triumph of finally printing it out and putting it in a folder was immense. It was also hard to write about a piece that has so many elements in it. It would have been possible to continue pointing out features and devices for pages. The graphic score part was actually quite fun to do. I ended up making a giant pop-up card. Nearly super-gluing your fingers together at 4am is not so much though. The graded unit presentation was a different kettle of fish altogether. I know that others had produced all-singing, all-dancing presentations but what I really wanted to focus on was the job in hand, namely teaching. All the teaching work I have done over the last year at drama and privately has really focussed my mind on what I want to do but also why I wanted to do it and I felt that it was important to put this across during my presentation. I think the presentation didn’t go too badly. I wait with baited breath for the results!
On a brighter note - The fundraising gig went AMAZINGLY well. All the bands were fabulous and we raised £650 on the night for Pancreatic cancer. This however will be the last time I organise an event like this so close to al the course-work deadlines. Having to confirm all the bands, beg for the P.A, sort-out running times, raffle prizes and basically do everything on top of college commitments has nearly given me an anuerysm. But I am extremely proud of what we managed to do. Arran the sound engineer was truly amazing and did a great job and it was great to see all the college from NQ right up to honours year come-together to support something like this.
23/05/10
I am too busy to write much this week. Been running around begging people for raffle prizes for the fundraiser, doing loads of college work and also have no babysitting as the folks have gone off on their yearly sojourn to Cyprus. Think of this post as a kind of cliffhanger for the culmination of everything next week.
I am too busy to write much this week. Been running around begging people for raffle prizes for the fundraiser, doing loads of college work and also have no babysitting as the folks have gone off on their yearly sojourn to Cyprus. Think of this post as a kind of cliffhanger for the culmination of everything next week.
16/05/10
Went to watch Elaine and Rob’s degree project, ‘Rocky - The Musical’ on Tuesday. It was amazing considering the utter stress I’ve seen Elaine under during the last few weeks. Coupled with the work I’ve done at drama it’s really inspired me to get going with the musical project I’m planning for degree. I know that a lot of people fancy writing a musical, since being involved with this production but I’m hoping that the experience I’ve gained from working with drama will allow me to create a really professional show.
Managed to get the posters done for the fundraiser really cheaply through my friend who’s a printer. Got them all up around college this week as well. Have also started selling raffle tickets for the event. Now I need to start working on getting some more really good prizes.
Went to watch Elaine and Rob’s degree project, ‘Rocky - The Musical’ on Tuesday. It was amazing considering the utter stress I’ve seen Elaine under during the last few weeks. Coupled with the work I’ve done at drama it’s really inspired me to get going with the musical project I’m planning for degree. I know that a lot of people fancy writing a musical, since being involved with this production but I’m hoping that the experience I’ve gained from working with drama will allow me to create a really professional show.
Managed to get the posters done for the fundraiser really cheaply through my friend who’s a printer. Got them all up around college this week as well. Have also started selling raffle tickets for the event. Now I need to start working on getting some more really good prizes.
21/03/10
The Hip-Hop Gig
This week has been stress, stress and more stress. I have suffered immeasurably at the hand of Franco Fabbri and am still unable to successfully type the word ’semiotic’ on the first attempt. However, ’appropriation’ seems to come with relative ease. Why is this? The dreaded Will Smith Medley that was planned for the grande finale’ of our Hip-Hop set inevitably bit the dust on the morning of the gig. After spending most of the day in college on Tuesday attempting to create a believable backing track from samples taken from the actual songs we intended to medley on the dreaded CuBase, I finally had to admit defeat as the final product sounded not unlike a poorly put together karaoke track. HOWEVER! It is better to try and fail than to never have tried at all! The ditching of the track was met with true Dunkirk spirit by the hasty re-working and inclusion of Rapper’s Delight . We did not succumb to the pressure of Glasgow and rose suitably to the occasion. This last minute change of plan also allowed me time to set my paws on some proper hip-hop bling-bling. I would like to mention that the morning of the gig was also the first occasion in which we were able to rehearse in a proper rehearsal room with a working P.A. Such are the occasional joys of Perth College. The gig went, I believe, rather well. I feel we were able to deal smoothly with any on-stage hitches and last minute changes that occurred. I also felt that it was a good gig in so far as we had great fun on stage and I think the audience enjoyed it too. Beer was drunk in celebration, kebabs were eaten in hunger and a good night was had all round! It was a real change to be performing outside of college and I think this really added to the atmosphere and sense of purpose for all of the bands. It is soul-destroying to work over such a long period towards a performance only to be faced with a practically empty hall (and no chance of a beer afterwards.) So thanks to Andy and Marlisa for organising everything. Next time Wembley? Everything was filmed for Graded Unit so next weeks task will be to get everything off film and onto computer to begin the task of editing. Will the joyousness never end!?
Almost as exciting was my first lesson with a proper pupil on Tuesday afternoon. - proper meaning small child who I have not met before. Scary stuff! Josh is 7 and totally new to music but a really quick learner. Can you tell this early whether someone will be good ? I’m not sure but he certainly picked up the key concepts quite fast. I really hope he gets ‘the bug’. Anyway, it wasn’t half as scary as I imagined! Another lesson next Tuesday where we shall reconsolidate what we learned last time (crotchets, minims, semi-breves, barlines, loud and soft…….) and move on a little further in the book!
My child off with tonsillitis again so a missing of classes Thursday and rehearsal with Ross on Friday. I hope to make this up to him on Monday! On a brighter note, parents evening alleviated any fear that my child may have sociopath tendencies. She is doing really well, “has not a mean bone in her body” “ has a calming effect on other students” and will “never be in danger of suffering from high-blood pressure”. Hooray…. Onwards and Upwards…..
The Hip-Hop Gig
This week has been stress, stress and more stress. I have suffered immeasurably at the hand of Franco Fabbri and am still unable to successfully type the word ’semiotic’ on the first attempt. However, ’appropriation’ seems to come with relative ease. Why is this? The dreaded Will Smith Medley that was planned for the grande finale’ of our Hip-Hop set inevitably bit the dust on the morning of the gig. After spending most of the day in college on Tuesday attempting to create a believable backing track from samples taken from the actual songs we intended to medley on the dreaded CuBase, I finally had to admit defeat as the final product sounded not unlike a poorly put together karaoke track. HOWEVER! It is better to try and fail than to never have tried at all! The ditching of the track was met with true Dunkirk spirit by the hasty re-working and inclusion of Rapper’s Delight . We did not succumb to the pressure of Glasgow and rose suitably to the occasion. This last minute change of plan also allowed me time to set my paws on some proper hip-hop bling-bling. I would like to mention that the morning of the gig was also the first occasion in which we were able to rehearse in a proper rehearsal room with a working P.A. Such are the occasional joys of Perth College. The gig went, I believe, rather well. I feel we were able to deal smoothly with any on-stage hitches and last minute changes that occurred. I also felt that it was a good gig in so far as we had great fun on stage and I think the audience enjoyed it too. Beer was drunk in celebration, kebabs were eaten in hunger and a good night was had all round! It was a real change to be performing outside of college and I think this really added to the atmosphere and sense of purpose for all of the bands. It is soul-destroying to work over such a long period towards a performance only to be faced with a practically empty hall (and no chance of a beer afterwards.) So thanks to Andy and Marlisa for organising everything. Next time Wembley? Everything was filmed for Graded Unit so next weeks task will be to get everything off film and onto computer to begin the task of editing. Will the joyousness never end!?
Almost as exciting was my first lesson with a proper pupil on Tuesday afternoon. - proper meaning small child who I have not met before. Scary stuff! Josh is 7 and totally new to music but a really quick learner. Can you tell this early whether someone will be good ? I’m not sure but he certainly picked up the key concepts quite fast. I really hope he gets ‘the bug’. Anyway, it wasn’t half as scary as I imagined! Another lesson next Tuesday where we shall reconsolidate what we learned last time (crotchets, minims, semi-breves, barlines, loud and soft…….) and move on a little further in the book!
My child off with tonsillitis again so a missing of classes Thursday and rehearsal with Ross on Friday. I hope to make this up to him on Monday! On a brighter note, parents evening alleviated any fear that my child may have sociopath tendencies. She is doing really well, “has not a mean bone in her body” “ has a calming effect on other students” and will “never be in danger of suffering from high-blood pressure”. Hooray…. Onwards and Upwards…..
14/03/10
Where has Graham gone?
Ah…. The joys of playing 4 hours of piano on a Sunday lunch time. More specifically a Mothering Sunday lunchtime. At times I love my job but after four years in the same place it becoming slightly lack-lustre although swapping Saturday nights for Sunday afternoons has meant less having to fight with the ever-increasing volume of the dinnertime crowds. However….. The boss has disappeared! A sharpish transfer to Edinburgh! And we are to have a new manager in May! I have now seen out approximately 7 of them - although I fear I have lost count some-what.
Spent Saturday night working on Fabbri (may black-horned imps prick his heels for eternity in a fiery pit ringing with the screams of the souls he has tortured in life and filled with the stench of the charnel house). That was fun.
Friday was practice with Ross for his degree project. We’re working on the Oletta Adams’ track ‘Get Here’ along with some Paul Young. More work on the horrendous Will Smith Backing track is follwed by articulation class and an hour and a half with the wonderful Keith Jarrett. Who I quite like. Pete explained to us what is expected of us in regards to course work for assessment. We have to choose a piece of music, produce a score, write an analysis of the track and also produce a graphic representation of the piece. I feel the stress piling on my shoulders already. I think the key is in the choosing of the track. Although in a notational sense some pieces of music may be slightly more complicated I think they might possibly offer more scope for analysis and graphic representation.
Thursday we had a one to one with Marlisa. Which was nice. Everything seems all good but the prospect of completing all I intend to achieve in relation to Graded Unit hangs heavy on my soul. I think time constraints are a real issue as far as it is concerned. Where as most people will be using their Easter Holidays as an opportunity to put some real leg-work into the completion of Graded Unit presentations and portfolios I shall be attempting to entertain one easily bored insomniac 6 year old. I fear I shall have to be either cruel or devious or both in order to get any work done. Logistics! It’s all about the logistics! Later on Thursday we ran over Fabbri again (although unfortunately not literally). Session skills yet again was comprised of a lot of hanging around and slow-coach sound engineering students. Again I recorded nothing. I think it is as frustrating to Gav as it is to the rest of us, although , as with real-world gigs, real-world recording sessions involve a lot of hanging about so I suppose it’s true to life. Afterwards started on Will Smith Backing track in DAW as have decided it just is not going to work with the keyboard….. it had better bloody work with cuBase!
Wednesday.
Practice. Stuck in the smallest room ever again! Without a properly functioning PA! Been trying to programme backing tracks in to my keyboard for the ill-fated Will Smith medley over the beginning of the week. Not convinced it’s going to work. We have to put together a soundtrack to a Tom and Jerry cartoon excerpt in Marlisa’s composition class. The instrumentation and compostion in the original scores of similar cartoons are of great complexity and I think even though we have a strong group of musicians that this will be an extremely challenging task.. Hope to perhaps have a look at it during DAW tomorrow and see where we may be able to work on sound effects that we can trigger on laptop during the actual performance. First Study is plodding along well also. Feel much more confident with my scales both Major and harmonic minor in 3rds and major scales in 6ths. The harmonic minor 6ths are still causing me grief but I believe they will come with practice. Generally ….All quiet on the western front.
Oh and now we all have to audition for degree. My cup runneth over.
Where has Graham gone?
Ah…. The joys of playing 4 hours of piano on a Sunday lunch time. More specifically a Mothering Sunday lunchtime. At times I love my job but after four years in the same place it becoming slightly lack-lustre although swapping Saturday nights for Sunday afternoons has meant less having to fight with the ever-increasing volume of the dinnertime crowds. However….. The boss has disappeared! A sharpish transfer to Edinburgh! And we are to have a new manager in May! I have now seen out approximately 7 of them - although I fear I have lost count some-what.
Spent Saturday night working on Fabbri (may black-horned imps prick his heels for eternity in a fiery pit ringing with the screams of the souls he has tortured in life and filled with the stench of the charnel house). That was fun.
Friday was practice with Ross for his degree project. We’re working on the Oletta Adams’ track ‘Get Here’ along with some Paul Young. More work on the horrendous Will Smith Backing track is follwed by articulation class and an hour and a half with the wonderful Keith Jarrett. Who I quite like. Pete explained to us what is expected of us in regards to course work for assessment. We have to choose a piece of music, produce a score, write an analysis of the track and also produce a graphic representation of the piece. I feel the stress piling on my shoulders already. I think the key is in the choosing of the track. Although in a notational sense some pieces of music may be slightly more complicated I think they might possibly offer more scope for analysis and graphic representation.
Thursday we had a one to one with Marlisa. Which was nice. Everything seems all good but the prospect of completing all I intend to achieve in relation to Graded Unit hangs heavy on my soul. I think time constraints are a real issue as far as it is concerned. Where as most people will be using their Easter Holidays as an opportunity to put some real leg-work into the completion of Graded Unit presentations and portfolios I shall be attempting to entertain one easily bored insomniac 6 year old. I fear I shall have to be either cruel or devious or both in order to get any work done. Logistics! It’s all about the logistics! Later on Thursday we ran over Fabbri again (although unfortunately not literally). Session skills yet again was comprised of a lot of hanging around and slow-coach sound engineering students. Again I recorded nothing. I think it is as frustrating to Gav as it is to the rest of us, although , as with real-world gigs, real-world recording sessions involve a lot of hanging about so I suppose it’s true to life. Afterwards started on Will Smith Backing track in DAW as have decided it just is not going to work with the keyboard….. it had better bloody work with cuBase!
Wednesday.
Practice. Stuck in the smallest room ever again! Without a properly functioning PA! Been trying to programme backing tracks in to my keyboard for the ill-fated Will Smith medley over the beginning of the week. Not convinced it’s going to work. We have to put together a soundtrack to a Tom and Jerry cartoon excerpt in Marlisa’s composition class. The instrumentation and compostion in the original scores of similar cartoons are of great complexity and I think even though we have a strong group of musicians that this will be an extremely challenging task.. Hope to perhaps have a look at it during DAW tomorrow and see where we may be able to work on sound effects that we can trigger on laptop during the actual performance. First Study is plodding along well also. Feel much more confident with my scales both Major and harmonic minor in 3rds and major scales in 6ths. The harmonic minor 6ths are still causing me grief but I believe they will come with practice. Generally ….All quiet on the western front.
Oh and now we all have to audition for degree. My cup runneth over.
28/02/10
Very sad week this week. We will all miss Glenn terribly. Have been thinking about how much Glenn has helped to improve my playing over HNC year. Was so out of practice with the basics when I started college I wouldn’t even attempt 2 octaves of E major for the audition. Now I’m flying up and down 4 octaves in 3rds and 6ths and tackling things like dominant 7th arpeggios. Studying for my grade 8, applied for grade 5 theory…...Attempting improv and playing things that would have made me quake in my boots a year ago and all thanks to Glenn. He gave us all confidence and inspiration, was funny and kind and one helluva musician.
Very sad week this week. We will all miss Glenn terribly. Have been thinking about how much Glenn has helped to improve my playing over HNC year. Was so out of practice with the basics when I started college I wouldn’t even attempt 2 octaves of E major for the audition. Now I’m flying up and down 4 octaves in 3rds and 6ths and tackling things like dominant 7th arpeggios. Studying for my grade 8, applied for grade 5 theory…...Attempting improv and playing things that would have made me quake in my boots a year ago and all thanks to Glenn. He gave us all confidence and inspiration, was funny and kind and one helluva musician.
21/02/10
Have started working on a new piece for First Study - Debussy’s Claire De Lune. It’s going ok…. The trick is to get it to flow. The mid section is a bit sticky but will get there I think. Other things piano-wise I have started ‘teaching’ (as mentioned before) with some other students on my course as I mentioned before. I have looked out pieces for them that I hope they will find to be at a suitable level. Liam wants to get to grips with using the sustain and damper pedals and Mark is look for more jazz oriented and latin-style music (the latter of which I am unfortunately lacking in).
On Wednesday I arrived to find that our Hip-Hop band had it exploded. It then went on to implode… I shall explain. We suddenly found ourselves with 13 drummers, 9 vocalists, 12 and ½ guitarists and a keyboard player (me). Ok. So that may be a slight exaggeration but if we were a ragtag group before we were now certainly less of a band more of a collective. It was going to be unworkable. Therefore, after some renegotiation (which was rather uncomfortable to say they least) Alex, John and I have decided to go it alone and retain out Hip-Hop genre. Is it possible to have a hip-hop 3 piece? Time will undoubtedly tell. However, this is the first time I have worked with either Alex or John and I find the experience to be extremely enjoyable. Alex seems a very confident front man and handles the rapping side of things really well. John is a fantastic (is possible the loudest ever) drummer. I think we shall have to re-prioritise and focus not on ‘authenticity’ but on stage presence and audience enjoyment which, is, after all half the battle when playing live. On a darker note - Keyboards are disappearing from around college in a speedy and disconcerting fashion. How is it possible to appropriate a keyboard?! Perhaps they are being sucked into some kind of rift in the space/time continuum, the NC sound engineer students having mistakenly ripped a hole in the very fabric of the universe while attempting to run cuBase and Logic in tandem (such is the mysterious and evil powers of the digital audio workstation.
On Thursday we watched the people who had opted for ‘Session Musician’ for their graded unit do mock interviews for a position at ‘Centre Stage’. It was very useful to note the ‘do’s and don’ts’ that arose from this. It was always better when people were able to recognise and admit their weaknesses but then turn these weaknesses into strengths. Body language is highly important: seem interested, friendly and open. There was quite a lot of hesitation and ticks of speech as you will that occurred with some people’s interviews that I feel could let a person down. But most of all I think the motto of the morning was, like the Scouts… BE PREPARED. (Dib dib dib).
Rehearsals for the play at Drama are still going well. I have been ordered to flex my authority and order everyone to be off-script for next weeks rehearsal. On Friday we ‘hot-seated’ the main characters in order to get the kids to think up back-stories and motivations for their characters. I’m amazed at the ability of some of them to really get under the skin of their part. It is really encouraging and I hope that they will be able to maintain this through until the performances.
Have started working on a new piece for First Study - Debussy’s Claire De Lune. It’s going ok…. The trick is to get it to flow. The mid section is a bit sticky but will get there I think. Other things piano-wise I have started ‘teaching’ (as mentioned before) with some other students on my course as I mentioned before. I have looked out pieces for them that I hope they will find to be at a suitable level. Liam wants to get to grips with using the sustain and damper pedals and Mark is look for more jazz oriented and latin-style music (the latter of which I am unfortunately lacking in).
On Wednesday I arrived to find that our Hip-Hop band had it exploded. It then went on to implode… I shall explain. We suddenly found ourselves with 13 drummers, 9 vocalists, 12 and ½ guitarists and a keyboard player (me). Ok. So that may be a slight exaggeration but if we were a ragtag group before we were now certainly less of a band more of a collective. It was going to be unworkable. Therefore, after some renegotiation (which was rather uncomfortable to say they least) Alex, John and I have decided to go it alone and retain out Hip-Hop genre. Is it possible to have a hip-hop 3 piece? Time will undoubtedly tell. However, this is the first time I have worked with either Alex or John and I find the experience to be extremely enjoyable. Alex seems a very confident front man and handles the rapping side of things really well. John is a fantastic (is possible the loudest ever) drummer. I think we shall have to re-prioritise and focus not on ‘authenticity’ but on stage presence and audience enjoyment which, is, after all half the battle when playing live. On a darker note - Keyboards are disappearing from around college in a speedy and disconcerting fashion. How is it possible to appropriate a keyboard?! Perhaps they are being sucked into some kind of rift in the space/time continuum, the NC sound engineer students having mistakenly ripped a hole in the very fabric of the universe while attempting to run cuBase and Logic in tandem (such is the mysterious and evil powers of the digital audio workstation.
On Thursday we watched the people who had opted for ‘Session Musician’ for their graded unit do mock interviews for a position at ‘Centre Stage’. It was very useful to note the ‘do’s and don’ts’ that arose from this. It was always better when people were able to recognise and admit their weaknesses but then turn these weaknesses into strengths. Body language is highly important: seem interested, friendly and open. There was quite a lot of hesitation and ticks of speech as you will that occurred with some people’s interviews that I feel could let a person down. But most of all I think the motto of the morning was, like the Scouts… BE PREPARED. (Dib dib dib).
Rehearsals for the play at Drama are still going well. I have been ordered to flex my authority and order everyone to be off-script for next weeks rehearsal. On Friday we ‘hot-seated’ the main characters in order to get the kids to think up back-stories and motivations for their characters. I’m amazed at the ability of some of them to really get under the skin of their part. It is really encouraging and I hope that they will be able to maintain this through until the performances.
7/02/10
Wednesday morning. No Alex. No John. No Jamie. But another drummer - yay! Now we have 3! What more could a band want?! This will have to be resolved somehow. We either do Samba-Hip-Hop or change genre. I’m not sure how either of these suggestions might work.
Thursday - heaved my entire computer into class to do my Beatles presentation. I am getting extremely fed up with this rubbish computer/no internet situation! Anyway, after finally getting the machine set-up and working which took goodness knows how long, I commenced on my presentation which dealt with the many Beatles conspiracies. In retrospect I believe that I chose an aspect of their career that was too wide. There are so many conspiracies regarding the Beatles and some of them are very very interesting with lots and lots of information that I found it very hard not to get bogged down in detail. Coupled with the fact that I was highly aware of the time constraints (I had heard about a 15 minute presentation that had lasted for an hour), I felt that it would have been possible to produce a presentation that dealt with only one of these conspiracy theories and for it still to be engaging and interesting. I think that I had found it difficult to structure whilst writing but was reluctant to revise my original plan due to my lack of access to the internet making it difficult to do further research at home. Technical difficulties and problematic content aside I feel that it didn’t go too badly and that I can take lessons from this experience forward to future presentations.
In our session skills class we were given a talk about music production by Dave Patterson, which I found really interesting. Dave’s background comes from the famous Ca Va studios in Glasgow and he has worked with many Glasgow acts who I admire such as Isobel Campbell of Belle and Sebastian and it was enlightening to hear his take on what we, as musicians, should be considering not just as songwriters but marketers and producers of ‘our product.’ He talked to us about demographics, production techniques, producing a product for certain markets. It highlights how much more thinking there really is behind a finished song that you might hear on the radio other than just writing the song and recording it in the studio.
On Friday we received “THE DEGREE TALK” from Pete Honeyman in Articulation class. Really puts into perspective the level we are expected to attain in order to progress to degree and what we can realistically achieve with our qualifications. Degree isn’t necessary to become a session musician or instrumental instructor. Neither is it a sufficient qualification to become a class room teacher. Nor does is automatically allow you to train become a primary school teacher. However, employers in many fields look favourably on job candidates who are music graduates due to the nature of study requiring students to be creative, confident and self-motivated. He told us that this year there is a record number of applicants for places on the degree course and that there may have to be some kind of audition or exam process to determine who will receive the limited places available. There were over 40 people in the classroom today and a further 20+ outside applicants. There are only 26 spaces on the degree course. Eeeek. Major competition.
On a more instrumental instuctory note … Elaine has asked me if I can tackle some of her students as part of her teaching module for her honours degree. She has had more than 12 applications for extra tuition and is up to her eyeballs with work for her degree project so I have said that I’m happy to help as it will be a great experience for me to get to grips with teaching older students and learn to tailor lesson plans for pupils who generally already have studied music.
Oh and finally - results back for The Beatles gig - A- for overall band. B- minus for me. Apparently the only thing that has detracted from my mark has been time-keeping. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that this class starts at 9am which is the same time that I have to have my daughter at school for. I have no car and there is no direct public transport. Currently I have to rely on friends and family for childcare and lifts and if they’re not available I have to pay for taxis around the place. I am NOT able to get to college at 9am on a Wednesday morning, Although I always endeavour to try and be as close on time to that as possible. Now, the argument could be that if this was a job then there would be no excuse as to why I’m not there on time and should have to arrange a child minder in order to get to work on time. However, I would be getting paid for the job and also be able to claim working tax credits in order to pay for childminding. I’d also try and arrange my working hours to fit in with my family life if I could! So I think that my personal situation should have been taken into account when considering a mark for this particular gig. And also if that was the only thing wrong with my performance and musicianship I ask why it warrants a B MINUS?! Surely the inclusion of pluses and minuses in a score system means that the utmost best is an A plus, therefore the only complaint being that I can’t always make a rehearsal on time (and considering the fact that half the rest of the band were bloody late or not there or whatever half the time anyway!) is it really a serious enough factor for marking me down by a possible 6 degrees in the marking scale?!?! If you were to look at it from this point. If my performance warranted a B + by these calculations my mark would be reduced to a C-! Boo Hiss. Rant. Sob. Ok …. I am a calm and peaceful person. J
Wednesday morning. No Alex. No John. No Jamie. But another drummer - yay! Now we have 3! What more could a band want?! This will have to be resolved somehow. We either do Samba-Hip-Hop or change genre. I’m not sure how either of these suggestions might work.
Thursday - heaved my entire computer into class to do my Beatles presentation. I am getting extremely fed up with this rubbish computer/no internet situation! Anyway, after finally getting the machine set-up and working which took goodness knows how long, I commenced on my presentation which dealt with the many Beatles conspiracies. In retrospect I believe that I chose an aspect of their career that was too wide. There are so many conspiracies regarding the Beatles and some of them are very very interesting with lots and lots of information that I found it very hard not to get bogged down in detail. Coupled with the fact that I was highly aware of the time constraints (I had heard about a 15 minute presentation that had lasted for an hour), I felt that it would have been possible to produce a presentation that dealt with only one of these conspiracy theories and for it still to be engaging and interesting. I think that I had found it difficult to structure whilst writing but was reluctant to revise my original plan due to my lack of access to the internet making it difficult to do further research at home. Technical difficulties and problematic content aside I feel that it didn’t go too badly and that I can take lessons from this experience forward to future presentations.
In our session skills class we were given a talk about music production by Dave Patterson, which I found really interesting. Dave’s background comes from the famous Ca Va studios in Glasgow and he has worked with many Glasgow acts who I admire such as Isobel Campbell of Belle and Sebastian and it was enlightening to hear his take on what we, as musicians, should be considering not just as songwriters but marketers and producers of ‘our product.’ He talked to us about demographics, production techniques, producing a product for certain markets. It highlights how much more thinking there really is behind a finished song that you might hear on the radio other than just writing the song and recording it in the studio.
On Friday we received “THE DEGREE TALK” from Pete Honeyman in Articulation class. Really puts into perspective the level we are expected to attain in order to progress to degree and what we can realistically achieve with our qualifications. Degree isn’t necessary to become a session musician or instrumental instructor. Neither is it a sufficient qualification to become a class room teacher. Nor does is automatically allow you to train become a primary school teacher. However, employers in many fields look favourably on job candidates who are music graduates due to the nature of study requiring students to be creative, confident and self-motivated. He told us that this year there is a record number of applicants for places on the degree course and that there may have to be some kind of audition or exam process to determine who will receive the limited places available. There were over 40 people in the classroom today and a further 20+ outside applicants. There are only 26 spaces on the degree course. Eeeek. Major competition.
On a more instrumental instuctory note … Elaine has asked me if I can tackle some of her students as part of her teaching module for her honours degree. She has had more than 12 applications for extra tuition and is up to her eyeballs with work for her degree project so I have said that I’m happy to help as it will be a great experience for me to get to grips with teaching older students and learn to tailor lesson plans for pupils who generally already have studied music.
Oh and finally - results back for The Beatles gig - A- for overall band. B- minus for me. Apparently the only thing that has detracted from my mark has been time-keeping. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that this class starts at 9am which is the same time that I have to have my daughter at school for. I have no car and there is no direct public transport. Currently I have to rely on friends and family for childcare and lifts and if they’re not available I have to pay for taxis around the place. I am NOT able to get to college at 9am on a Wednesday morning, Although I always endeavour to try and be as close on time to that as possible. Now, the argument could be that if this was a job then there would be no excuse as to why I’m not there on time and should have to arrange a child minder in order to get to work on time. However, I would be getting paid for the job and also be able to claim working tax credits in order to pay for childminding. I’d also try and arrange my working hours to fit in with my family life if I could! So I think that my personal situation should have been taken into account when considering a mark for this particular gig. And also if that was the only thing wrong with my performance and musicianship I ask why it warrants a B MINUS?! Surely the inclusion of pluses and minuses in a score system means that the utmost best is an A plus, therefore the only complaint being that I can’t always make a rehearsal on time (and considering the fact that half the rest of the band were bloody late or not there or whatever half the time anyway!) is it really a serious enough factor for marking me down by a possible 6 degrees in the marking scale?!?! If you were to look at it from this point. If my performance warranted a B + by these calculations my mark would be reduced to a C-! Boo Hiss. Rant. Sob. Ok …. I am a calm and peaceful person. J
22/12/09
Dying with the cold/flu (it is as yet undecided). At school for 2pm to run over carols with the entire school for their end of term Christmas service. The carols chosen are: The First Noel, Calypso Carol and Hark The Herald Angels Sing. Some of the words/lyrics are quite complicated, especially for the P1’s-P3’s in terms of pronunciation of words and phrasing. In my memory it was ALWAYS a bit of a struggle to fit in all those ‘heavenly’s’. A lot of the older ones are familiar with the 1st verses of these songs but (like the rest of us, I suspect) are approaching subsequent verses from an ‘eh?!?!’ point of view. Luckily the schools educational arts teacher, Mrs Young was on hand to coax everyone through tricky words and points of phrasing. Also much of the music for these carols is written in a high register and although the melodies usually span no more than an octave , when that octave starts on the E or F above middle C it quickly turns into a screech fest. Luckily, I discover that I’m not actually too bad at all at transposing on the hoof and it makes it much easier for everyone to tackle, (Keeping in mind that the church is usually packed to the rafters with mums and dads, all of whom are also not very keen on attempting to hit that top E either.
Even with coaching, the younger ones struggle with the complicated and unfamiliar wording, so I figure as long as we get a rousing chorus it will make up for us all fumbling through the verses. Employing age old panto technique I spilt the school in half - the little ones trying to beat the older ones in volume. Kids love a good fight.
Afterwards I speak to Mrs Young and ask if she’ll be working on anything with children after Christmas that I might be able to become involved in. She explained that her remit is to take each class for 50 minutes to provide classroom release for their teacher and therefore her days are “extremely varied” having to jump between adifferent age groups and abilities and all the challenges that can pose, such as how to best to motivate the different age groups and tailoring activities to suit ability.
I am constantly disappointed that music is not given more importance in the primary school curriculum by local authorities and indeed wider government. Although there should be an emphasis on promoting all the arts in our education system, primary teachers who are responsible for teaching a broad range of subjects (and this might be controversial but….) are more than capable of teaching art. At primary level it doesn’t require a specific level of ability or training to teach and encourage it and anyone can pick up a paintbrush. However music even at the most basic level requires some knowledge of theory and musicality. It is not possible to just pick up a musical instrument and play it, it requires training in technique etc. I was lucky enough to have been taught the recorder from Primary One (not sure whether this was standard policy in England or just a musically minded teacher) but at the age of 5 I had my first introduction to reading and playing music. After moving to Scotland, when we finally picked up the recorder again in Primary 4 I was leaps and bounds beyond the rest of the pupils in my class. As someone who hopes to become an instrumental instructor and also as a parent I am VERY frustrated by a curriculm that leaves room for musical study at an early age which is when I feel it is MOST important. OK. Rant over.
The upshot is that I hope to spend sometime shadowing Mrs Young next term and hopefully I’ll be able to learn more about working with children in a classroom environment. Sigh……
Still Dying of cold and Flu ……. Tis the day of the Beatles Gigs. Don’t get to sound check although we are told to be in early. Typical. Rehearse for an hour and a half and it is the best rehearsal I’ve had all year, chiefly I think because this time we rehearsed in a large room and finally I could hear myself! Don’t know is this is due to space but am usually drowned out by guitar/drums etc. (and not to miss an opportunity to compare myself to Beethoven - I rekon that this must have been how it felt to him, being deaf and playing the piano - although lacking even a smidgeon of Ludwig’s genius it is often the case of hitting a chord and hoping it’s right - it doesn’t allow any room for improv or flair!) It’s made me realise how much I rely on ’hearing’ what I am playing as a guide to making sure I’m doing it right. This is not such an issue when we have music or chord charts but there’s not much use in ’playing by ear’ when you are rendered deaf by every one else. Regardless, the getting drowned out/ not hearing thing is something I’m going to have to sort out for the next band, I.e. avoidance of the tiny practive rooms at all costs.
Bumped into Elaine who is now taking NQ second study keys and asked whether I could sit in on some of her classes in order to get a different perspective on instrumental instruction for older students as opposed to younger as I am used to.
I helped a few of my classmates through second study last year so it will also be interesting to see if and if so, how Elaine approaches this differently to myself.
The gig itself went well I feel. I think it’s the first college gig where I’ve not felt particularly nervous. Whether that’s down to being so familiar with the material having played it since September or being more used to playing in front of classmates (of whom the majority of the audience was comprised) or having my daughter there (never show fear when parenting - children are like Big Brother - show them what bothers you and you’ll end up spending the next 20 years in your own private Room 101). Anyway, it is now just a case of getting the presentation out of the way and I shall hopefully never have to think about listen to or play The Beatles ever again. Ever. Please.
Still reeling from the panto success at the beginning of the month! Everything went really well. Even when the keyboard stand collapsed at the end of the first night, which unfortunately got more laughs than anything when I reassembled it and then it collapsed again 2 minutes later. I had to play the rest of the set on the floor. This is the story of my life.
Dying with the cold/flu (it is as yet undecided). At school for 2pm to run over carols with the entire school for their end of term Christmas service. The carols chosen are: The First Noel, Calypso Carol and Hark The Herald Angels Sing. Some of the words/lyrics are quite complicated, especially for the P1’s-P3’s in terms of pronunciation of words and phrasing. In my memory it was ALWAYS a bit of a struggle to fit in all those ‘heavenly’s’. A lot of the older ones are familiar with the 1st verses of these songs but (like the rest of us, I suspect) are approaching subsequent verses from an ‘eh?!?!’ point of view. Luckily the schools educational arts teacher, Mrs Young was on hand to coax everyone through tricky words and points of phrasing. Also much of the music for these carols is written in a high register and although the melodies usually span no more than an octave , when that octave starts on the E or F above middle C it quickly turns into a screech fest. Luckily, I discover that I’m not actually too bad at all at transposing on the hoof and it makes it much easier for everyone to tackle, (Keeping in mind that the church is usually packed to the rafters with mums and dads, all of whom are also not very keen on attempting to hit that top E either.
Even with coaching, the younger ones struggle with the complicated and unfamiliar wording, so I figure as long as we get a rousing chorus it will make up for us all fumbling through the verses. Employing age old panto technique I spilt the school in half - the little ones trying to beat the older ones in volume. Kids love a good fight.
Afterwards I speak to Mrs Young and ask if she’ll be working on anything with children after Christmas that I might be able to become involved in. She explained that her remit is to take each class for 50 minutes to provide classroom release for their teacher and therefore her days are “extremely varied” having to jump between adifferent age groups and abilities and all the challenges that can pose, such as how to best to motivate the different age groups and tailoring activities to suit ability.
I am constantly disappointed that music is not given more importance in the primary school curriculum by local authorities and indeed wider government. Although there should be an emphasis on promoting all the arts in our education system, primary teachers who are responsible for teaching a broad range of subjects (and this might be controversial but….) are more than capable of teaching art. At primary level it doesn’t require a specific level of ability or training to teach and encourage it and anyone can pick up a paintbrush. However music even at the most basic level requires some knowledge of theory and musicality. It is not possible to just pick up a musical instrument and play it, it requires training in technique etc. I was lucky enough to have been taught the recorder from Primary One (not sure whether this was standard policy in England or just a musically minded teacher) but at the age of 5 I had my first introduction to reading and playing music. After moving to Scotland, when we finally picked up the recorder again in Primary 4 I was leaps and bounds beyond the rest of the pupils in my class. As someone who hopes to become an instrumental instructor and also as a parent I am VERY frustrated by a curriculm that leaves room for musical study at an early age which is when I feel it is MOST important. OK. Rant over.
The upshot is that I hope to spend sometime shadowing Mrs Young next term and hopefully I’ll be able to learn more about working with children in a classroom environment. Sigh……
Still Dying of cold and Flu ……. Tis the day of the Beatles Gigs. Don’t get to sound check although we are told to be in early. Typical. Rehearse for an hour and a half and it is the best rehearsal I’ve had all year, chiefly I think because this time we rehearsed in a large room and finally I could hear myself! Don’t know is this is due to space but am usually drowned out by guitar/drums etc. (and not to miss an opportunity to compare myself to Beethoven - I rekon that this must have been how it felt to him, being deaf and playing the piano - although lacking even a smidgeon of Ludwig’s genius it is often the case of hitting a chord and hoping it’s right - it doesn’t allow any room for improv or flair!) It’s made me realise how much I rely on ’hearing’ what I am playing as a guide to making sure I’m doing it right. This is not such an issue when we have music or chord charts but there’s not much use in ’playing by ear’ when you are rendered deaf by every one else. Regardless, the getting drowned out/ not hearing thing is something I’m going to have to sort out for the next band, I.e. avoidance of the tiny practive rooms at all costs.
Bumped into Elaine who is now taking NQ second study keys and asked whether I could sit in on some of her classes in order to get a different perspective on instrumental instruction for older students as opposed to younger as I am used to.
I helped a few of my classmates through second study last year so it will also be interesting to see if and if so, how Elaine approaches this differently to myself.
The gig itself went well I feel. I think it’s the first college gig where I’ve not felt particularly nervous. Whether that’s down to being so familiar with the material having played it since September or being more used to playing in front of classmates (of whom the majority of the audience was comprised) or having my daughter there (never show fear when parenting - children are like Big Brother - show them what bothers you and you’ll end up spending the next 20 years in your own private Room 101). Anyway, it is now just a case of getting the presentation out of the way and I shall hopefully never have to think about listen to or play The Beatles ever again. Ever. Please.
Still reeling from the panto success at the beginning of the month! Everything went really well. Even when the keyboard stand collapsed at the end of the first night, which unfortunately got more laughs than anything when I reassembled it and then it collapsed again 2 minutes later. I had to play the rest of the set on the floor. This is the story of my life.
In no specific order,
Okey Dokey. Here we go I about to publish a whole pile of blogs from different days in no particular order just to confuse everyone. I apologise in advance but time is ticking on. There may be vast gaps between dates - but this will have to suffice!
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