YouTube, (2008). Children Will Listen by Bernadette Peters. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gey1PtXYwLI [Accessed 4 Dec. 2015].
YouTube, (2013). AMAZING Bateria samba BATUCADA. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQLvGghaDbE [Accessed 4 Dec. 2015].
YouTube, (2014). First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKL4X0PZz7M [Accessed 4 Dec. 2015].
YouTube, (2009). Dido - White Flag (Official Video). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-fWDrZSiZs [Accessed 4 Dec. 2015].
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Bibliography
Wilkins ML. (2013) Creative Music Composition: The Young Composer's Voice: Routledge p.16
Cooper. G and Meyer LB. (1963) The Rhythmic Structure of Music: University of Chicago Press p.6
Uribe E. (1994) The Essence of Brazilian Percussion and Drum Set: With Rhythm Section Parts ; Rhythms, Songstyles, Techniques, Applications: London, Alfred Music Publishing p.16
Cooper. G and Meyer LB. (1963) The Rhythmic Structure of Music: University of Chicago Press p.6
Uribe E. (1994) The Essence of Brazilian Percussion and Drum Set: With Rhythm Section Parts ; Rhythms, Songstyles, Techniques, Applications: London, Alfred Music Publishing p.16
Ensemble Performance
Our assessment did not start out very positively. My group had booked a final rehearsal just before the assessment and only three of us turned up to it. We could not get hold of the other two group members and as it neared the time of the assessment we had to prepare for the possibility that neither of them were going to turn up. Summer, Abi and I rehearsed quickly with piano chords that were thrown together in case this was to occur and I had to sing in for Yahya. Fortunately at the last minute they both turned up and the assessment went ahead. We started off with 'Reflection', this went mostly to plan. We were all in time and our dynamics were as we had rehearsed. I think Abi was panicked by what had happened prior to the assessment and got her hands muddled with the chords at one point, but you couldn't really tell as she did not make it obvious. I believe that we performed with confidence and a great range of instruments and sounds were used. I think that when we got around to performing that piece I lost a little bit of my folk style that I had been working hard on in rehearsals, it went a little bit into a musical theatre style, but mostly I feel like I stuck to the folk style. We got some really good feedback for the piece, the class said that they really liked the use of instruments and how we changed the piece to fit the style of folk. They also liked how it went from really upbeat and dancey to quite slow and sombre and then back to upbeat at the end.
The second piece, 'Man in the Mirror', I thought went very well. It started off shaky because the guitar chords were wrong which made the singing slightly off key. By the second verse we were back on track and all our harmonies were really good, the dynamics were great and all our voices blended really well together, which showed from the feedback we got from the class.
If we were to do this again I would definitely have arranged more rehearsal to get us more prepared for the final performance. I think the people you choose to work with are very important because everyone needs to pull together to ensure we perform as well as we possibly can in order to get the best grades possible. It isn't fair on the rest of the group when people are absent for rehearsals and let everyone else down when everyone has worked so hard.
Overall I think we did the best we could have under the circumstances, however I do not feel like we performed to the best of our ability and I am quite disappointed about that. During this experience I have learned that for a group project to really be successful, there must be a level of respect that you have for the rest of your group. This is very important
The second piece, 'Man in the Mirror', I thought went very well. It started off shaky because the guitar chords were wrong which made the singing slightly off key. By the second verse we were back on track and all our harmonies were really good, the dynamics were great and all our voices blended really well together, which showed from the feedback we got from the class.
If we were to do this again I would definitely have arranged more rehearsal to get us more prepared for the final performance. I think the people you choose to work with are very important because everyone needs to pull together to ensure we perform as well as we possibly can in order to get the best grades possible. It isn't fair on the rest of the group when people are absent for rehearsals and let everyone else down when everyone has worked so hard.
Overall I think we did the best we could have under the circumstances, however I do not feel like we performed to the best of our ability and I am quite disappointed about that. During this experience I have learned that for a group project to really be successful, there must be a level of respect that you have for the rest of your group. This is very important
Friday, 4 December 2015
Mock Assessment Performance
To show Hayley and the rest of the class how far we had all progressed we had to show one of our pieces as a little mock assessment performance. We decided to show 'Man in the Mirror' as it was our most polished piece. We had decided on the formation and the movement of the piece and it was coming along nicely. We performed it to the group and I thought it had gone really well apart from one minor mishap of someone getting the words mixed up, but that wasn't a huge issue. We got some fantastic feedback such as that we all looked really confident, well rehearsed and the harmonies and dynamics worked really well. My group were really happy about the comments and the only criticism we got was that if something goes wrong, we shouldn't let it show on our faces. I thought this was a really important point even if it was only a small one and I think we all took that on board.
After watching all of the other groups work I was really impressed with what I saw. I definitely think that my group is ahead of the others but even so there were some lovely harmonise and dynamics in the other groups pieces. I especially liked Amy, David and Erin's piece, their voices blended really well together, with David's low voice, Amy's soprano voice and Erin's alto voice.
I was also impressed with Emma, Olivia and Jess's piece. I thought it was really original as Emma was tap dancing the beat of the song. Although the timing was slightly off I can tell that with more practise it will be a really good piece.
With regards to our performance pieces, we are going to arrange a few more outside class rehearsals as we need as much practise as possible. I'm not worried about our assessment as with what we have already I'm sure we are going to do the best that we possibly can and I am quite excited. All we have left to do is polish 'Man in the Mirror' and finish and polish 'Reflection'.
After watching all of the other groups work I was really impressed with what I saw. I definitely think that my group is ahead of the others but even so there were some lovely harmonise and dynamics in the other groups pieces. I especially liked Amy, David and Erin's piece, their voices blended really well together, with David's low voice, Amy's soprano voice and Erin's alto voice.
I was also impressed with Emma, Olivia and Jess's piece. I thought it was really original as Emma was tap dancing the beat of the song. Although the timing was slightly off I can tell that with more practise it will be a really good piece.
With regards to our performance pieces, we are going to arrange a few more outside class rehearsals as we need as much practise as possible. I'm not worried about our assessment as with what we have already I'm sure we are going to do the best that we possibly can and I am quite excited. All we have left to do is polish 'Man in the Mirror' and finish and polish 'Reflection'.
Assessment Rehearsals and Solo Assessment Prep
To progress on our pieces it was important that we booked extra rehearsals as well as using the time we have in class as this takes a lot of time. We started thinking about our second piece and how we could turn 'Reflection' from Mulan into a folk song. I researched folk singers such as First Aid Kit to get some inspiration as I would be singing the main tune of the song and I would need to adapt my voice into a folk style. I also took some inspiration from Dido who has a folk twinge to her voice. This was more difficult than I expected as I have a Musical Theatre voice. It helped to play around with my voice and see what I could do with it and I found that imitating some folk singers really allowed me to work on the folk technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKL4X0PZz7M(YouTube, 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-fWDrZSiZs (YouTube, 2009)
In the mean time, Summer was working on the introduction of the song and trying to make it sound folky, whilst Yahya arranged a drum beat to go with it and Abi and Constantine worked on chords for the whole of the song. The song would be faster than the original with a completely different style. The idea is to not make it sound like the original at all.
We also worked on 'Man in the Mirror' again and Abi had written a rap to go after the chorus. While she was doing this, myself, Yahya and Summer were free styling with some 'oohs' and 'aahs' and some other trills which sounded really good. My favourite part of this project is that we all have an equal input to the pieces. We work in unison and depend on each other. Without the whole of the group, it just doesn't work.
I am really proud of what we have got so far and I am really excited for the assessments, as I know the rest of the group is as well.
After the holidays we have another assessment. Two solo pieces with a specific theme. After mulling over some options I have decided on the theme of Jazz. A musical theatre piece with a jazzy twist 'Life of the Party' from the musical 'The Wild Party' and a Michael Buble song, 'All I Do is Dream of You'. I have arranged an accompanist to play 'Life of the Party' and I am going to sing the other song with a backing track. I have had to research some Jazz artists to learn some jazz techniques and allow my voice to develop in that area. I also need to transpose the Michael Buble song as the song was written for a mans voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-fWDrZSiZs (YouTube, 2009)
In the mean time, Summer was working on the introduction of the song and trying to make it sound folky, whilst Yahya arranged a drum beat to go with it and Abi and Constantine worked on chords for the whole of the song. The song would be faster than the original with a completely different style. The idea is to not make it sound like the original at all.
We also worked on 'Man in the Mirror' again and Abi had written a rap to go after the chorus. While she was doing this, myself, Yahya and Summer were free styling with some 'oohs' and 'aahs' and some other trills which sounded really good. My favourite part of this project is that we all have an equal input to the pieces. We work in unison and depend on each other. Without the whole of the group, it just doesn't work.
I am really proud of what we have got so far and I am really excited for the assessments, as I know the rest of the group is as well.
After the holidays we have another assessment. Two solo pieces with a specific theme. After mulling over some options I have decided on the theme of Jazz. A musical theatre piece with a jazzy twist 'Life of the Party' from the musical 'The Wild Party' and a Michael Buble song, 'All I Do is Dream of You'. I have arranged an accompanist to play 'Life of the Party' and I am going to sing the other song with a backing track. I have had to research some Jazz artists to learn some jazz techniques and allow my voice to develop in that area. I also need to transpose the Michael Buble song as the song was written for a mans voice.
Tuesday, 1 December 2015
Ensemble Assessment Piece Prep and Rehearsal
For our ensemble assessment piece we selected our own groups and it was decided that I would be in a group with Summer, Abi, Yahya and Constantine. We decided to start off by grouping our ideas together and discuss them with Hayley to come up with our overall theme. We put across several ideas such as a Disney Medley, which we decided against when we spoke to Hayley due to it being very overdone and difficult to change with it still being able to sound good. We also discussed a theme of Magic and Fairy tales, however the whole group was not able to agree on it. We ended the discussion with a few ideas that we would try out on piano; Royals by Lorde, Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson and 'Want You Back' by the Jackson Five.
We found the chords for those three songs and just free styled and played around with them until we had a basis to decide what song we would choose as our first assessment song. After we had decided on one then we could create a theme and choose the second one. Man in the Mirror sounded the best so that was chosen as the first song. I came up with the theme of Reflection and that meant we could still incorporate our original idea of Disney by doing the song 'Reflection' from the film Mulan. We realised we still had to put a twist on both songs and change the styles. We knew we wanted 'Reflection' to be sang in a folk style, but we started on 'Man in the Mirror' deciding on who would sing what section and adding harmonies. We got to the first chorus in the song, Yahya would sing the first verse, I would sing the second verse, Summer would sing the 3rd verse (with Abi singing harmonise) and chorus and I would harmonise the chorus with Abi and Yahya singing oooh's. Constantine would be playing the guitar for the whole of the song. We experienced some timing issues with the guitar and also difficulties with lyrics as I wasn't sure of the tune or lyrics as I wasn't familiar with the song. This was quickly overcome and we are now well on our way with the first song.
We found the chords for those three songs and just free styled and played around with them until we had a basis to decide what song we would choose as our first assessment song. After we had decided on one then we could create a theme and choose the second one. Man in the Mirror sounded the best so that was chosen as the first song. I came up with the theme of Reflection and that meant we could still incorporate our original idea of Disney by doing the song 'Reflection' from the film Mulan. We realised we still had to put a twist on both songs and change the styles. We knew we wanted 'Reflection' to be sang in a folk style, but we started on 'Man in the Mirror' deciding on who would sing what section and adding harmonies. We got to the first chorus in the song, Yahya would sing the first verse, I would sing the second verse, Summer would sing the 3rd verse (with Abi singing harmonise) and chorus and I would harmonise the chorus with Abi and Yahya singing oooh's. Constantine would be playing the guitar for the whole of the song. We experienced some timing issues with the guitar and also difficulties with lyrics as I wasn't sure of the tune or lyrics as I wasn't familiar with the song. This was quickly overcome and we are now well on our way with the first song.
Duet
For a mock assessment, myself and Abi were put into a group to create an accapella duet to a song of our choice that we would have to change/put a fresh twist on, add harmonies and perhaps combine with another song. The song we chose to do was 'Toxic' by Britney Spears after experimenting with several other songs such as 'Fix You' by Coldplay and 'Viva La Vida' also by Coldplay, but decided against them because we felt the style we wanted to go for was portrayed better in 'Toxic'.
We started off by finding the piano chords for the song so we could find our starting notes and decided that we would slow the song right down and make it eerie with lots of dynamics to make it really effective. It was decided that it would all be sung in our head voices as this meant we were able to add slides to notes and really play around with dynamics which would be difficult if we were singing full belt.
We started off with a really soft, eerie tone - with a really simplistic setting and then from the second line onwards we added harmonies and a range of quite and loud dynamics (piano and forte). We experimented with adding another song, 'Mad World' by Gary Jules to sing over the top in some sections but then decided that less is more and the song suited a more simplistic set-up and just stuck with the one song. To suit the simplicity theme it was decided that there wouldn't be much movement involved when we performed it and just arranged to stand facing inwards opposite each other which on reflection and through feedback we realised that we should have added some movement in and changed our stances. I was stood with my hands in my pockets which is not an appropriate stance for singing and performing, however it worked that we were looking at each other and engaging during the performance to judge when to come in to make sure we were completely in sync and this really worked well. If we were to do it again we would add movement, keep the simplicity but add another eerie song into it to add an eccentric twist to it.
CMU105 Musicianship 1A : Meg and Abi Vocal Arrangment
We started off by finding the piano chords for the song so we could find our starting notes and decided that we would slow the song right down and make it eerie with lots of dynamics to make it really effective. It was decided that it would all be sung in our head voices as this meant we were able to add slides to notes and really play around with dynamics which would be difficult if we were singing full belt.
We started off with a really soft, eerie tone - with a really simplistic setting and then from the second line onwards we added harmonies and a range of quite and loud dynamics (piano and forte). We experimented with adding another song, 'Mad World' by Gary Jules to sing over the top in some sections but then decided that less is more and the song suited a more simplistic set-up and just stuck with the one song. To suit the simplicity theme it was decided that there wouldn't be much movement involved when we performed it and just arranged to stand facing inwards opposite each other which on reflection and through feedback we realised that we should have added some movement in and changed our stances. I was stood with my hands in my pockets which is not an appropriate stance for singing and performing, however it worked that we were looking at each other and engaging during the performance to judge when to come in to make sure we were completely in sync and this really worked well. If we were to do it again we would add movement, keep the simplicity but add another eerie song into it to add an eccentric twist to it.
CMU105 Musicianship 1A : Meg and Abi Vocal Arrangment
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