28/03/2011

Session Skills

Today we created a jingle. Our bassist Danny had written a bass line. I was off the week before so I created an annoying guitar part, jingleish. Our other guitarist Craig then created another part which worked off the bass line. We recorded it which went well. Danny Craig and I then laid down a barber shop style harmony over the top at the end pronouncing 'Perth UHI.' It was either that 'Dundee.' We then got the file from the engineer.

Music Theory

I failed the test. It was a very bad day for me and I shall pass the re sit easily enough. I shall however revise and be ready for it after the holidays.

Graded Unit

We had meetings with Andrew. I showed him my plan and blog which was fine. He had some good suggestions. Though I have been writing my blog wrong. Its ironic i'm writing that in the blog. That is wrong.

However, I have a made good progress on my Graded Unit and am creating the pop section soon. I am working off my plan which is a great aid. I have written perhaps 1500 words so far. I am still to collect all my evidence from college and am going in on Monday and Tuesday.

1st Study

Steve was off. Again. Scott, Danny and I just worked through on 'All the things you are' and some of the other tunes. I didn't get any further with them. I shall make more progress on them at home.

DAW

I managed to delete my whole orchestration and save it so I had to re do that. It took most of the class up but I did make the parts better so it was a time consuming necessary thing.

Band

Aidan and I worked through our tunes. We made great progress and have 2 songs finished. We are going to work on a song of mine next and one of Aidans. We look forward to the gig and feel that we should be ready for it.

21/03/2011

I was off Wednesday due to having to arrange a fundraiser that same evening. I contacted the college to notify.

1st Study

Steve was off so we all went through to Cameron's. We immediately set out on 'dog river' which the whole class is gradually getting better at. I have pretty much completed the song but need to do some finishing touches. The middle section is the only part I need to work on. It changes position so can be strange to sight read. We then went onto 'all the things' which is fine and I really have the melody sorted. We also played through 'summertime' which is tabbed out so it isn't too difficult. I shall work on all the pieces for next week.

DAW

Daw was an absolute disaster. The computers wouldn't work for me and I only managed to get working 7 minutes before the end of class. I literally didn't get anything done. I know how to fix the problem but it took all of class to figure it out.

Band

Aidan and I went to the practice room and pretty much completed the song. We have all the sections finished, we just need to practice. We have one week until the gig. I have my own work to present to Aidan so we should be ready for the gig. We are arranging separate practices to be ready. We have arranged one for Tuesday in fact. I have been enjoying band and we are really making progress. I look forward to the gig. We went away with the idea to practice and be ready to start on new material in the next practice session.

14/03/2011

Session Skills

No one really arrived for session skills for some reason. I met Gavin and he gave me work to work on for next week. It is 'sir Duke' by Stevie Wonder.

Music Theory

We had our 1st Theory assessment. It went quite well. I am yet to find out the result. It was harder than i thought it would be. It covered everything we had done over the past month or two. I feel I should have at least a B. The first rhythm recognition question I feel I did quite poorly in. The rest of the exam I feel went ok, with exeption of a few examples but again overall I think the mark will be generally quite high.

Graded Unit

Music Theory took priority over Graded Unit so we didnt have any meetings.

1st Study

We had steve first and we paired up to practice improvisation. In the pair one would play chords while the other practiced they're improvisation. I found it ok, I am interested in chordal improvisation so I was exploring that. Cameron asked us to demonstrate 2 pieces to him just as an update to see how we are doing. I played my piece with Scott. We began with 'all the things you are.' I played reharmonised chords while scott played the solo that was given to us by Cameron earlier. Scott then in the B section played his reharmonised version over mine. It worked quite well though we will need to work on it. We then played 'summertime' which I hadn't played in a while. Still it was fine as I was sight reading and wasn't doing it from memory. Though still a bit of work needed.

DAW

Daw was really fantastic. I made great progress in my piece again so I am pretty much finished with the exception of mastering and perhaps adding a few more melody lines with the cello on Reason. I shall be finishing next week and then I must crack on with my website.

Band

Aidan and I have paired up and we went off to the room with the real upright in it. We didn't make as much progress and we would have liked but we still have a better understanding of the parts we are going to play and we worked out a melody over most of the sections. There are three at the moment. I look forward to playing live with Aidan. We plan to get the electric grand piano on stage with my Fender Twin Reverb. It will a jazz sort of set up. We plan to work on the same piece next week and perhaps start a new one. I have material already so I shall include this in the rehearsal.

7/03/2011

Session Skills

We ended up in the recording studio laying down the Al Green tune we had been wokring on. I enjoyed the process though I feel I could have produced a better last take. It ok though. It took us
perhaps 5 takes to get it down tightly. Nicole then layed down the vocals seperately. We will hear the end result next week. There will be brass recorded on top of it as well. I am enjoying session skills.

Graded Unit

We had individual meetings with Andrew. We talked about the deadline and the interview. I am currently on track with my graded unit and plan to create a pop up book style portfolio.

Music Theory

Unfortunately my meeting with Andrew over ran and music theory was full. I was meant to be in the class but people from the different group took part taking away spaces from the people who were meant to be in. OH WELL!

1st Study

Steve was off again so we had Cameron for the whole duration. We worked through all the pieces. We are all getting to end of the pieces and look like we are nearly ready to record them.

DAW

I got a lot of work done this class. I managed to almost fully finish a piece on Cubase with the beginnings of orchestration using reason re-wire. I am really enjoying the class though need to catch up on my website design.

Band

We have now started our new groups. I am doing a duet with Aidan. We have already started a tune Aidan wrote. Its funky and the timing is interesting. We have 4 weeks to produce 4 songs. We have already made a good start. In this 4 weeks we dont have to score our pieces though in the next band we will be writing for other musicians. I look forward to this.

28/02/2011

Wednesday I had an appointment in Edinburgh so I phoned in to let college know of my absence.

1st Study

Steve was off so we had Cameron for 3 hours. We went through all the pieces we are going to be presenting for our exam. We have begun a tune in various timings being influenced by Eastern music. I have been re harmonzing all the things you are as well. I feel prepared for the exam.

DAW

I worked solely on my CUBASE project. I didn't get much done as I was trying to figure out various tones and effects I could add to my track. I know where I am now so I can now concentrate on writing and recording. I will work on my website next week as well.

BAND

We watched our band gigs at FAT SAMS. We had to evaluate each other and ourselves. The performance was better than I thought. There were still some mistakes which was inevitable. Over all though I gave the band and myself a B plus. It was interesting watching myself back on video. I learnt a lot about my stage work and what I need to improve on.

7/02/2011

My internet has been down.

Session Skills

We worked through the new piece we were working on but I arrived late as I was coming up from Edinburgh and the bus was delayed. We didn't get through much work as other members were late as well. We played through it and got to the end of the piece. We shall be recording it in 2 weeks time as we are off next wednesday.

Music Theory

We did listening tests, recognizing time signatures and rhythms. I am doing pretty well in theory in that I am pleased with what I know. I have a good grasp of harmony and extended harmony but time signatures, at least writing them, has passed me by. I am glad I am covering it now. Marlisa explains it clearly and there is never any confusion.

Graded Unit

I have borrowed a video camera from the college and am recording myself practice.

1st Study

Steve is preparing us for our end of term assessments, we are getting 'all the things' worked out melody and chords. I am re-harmonizing it still and doing A LOT of self study on chord harmony which is helping me towards re-harmonizing it. Cameron has introduced us to an Eastern piece which runs through different time signatures. It fun and relatively easy though working out the time signatures and sight reading does take a time.

DAW

Daw we primarily worked through our IWEB design. I am losing my work every week on it though as the computer system had some sort of change. We were working through automation in CUBASE as well.

BAND

Now with the gig looming we are really getting out stuff together. We went away with the expectation of everyone learning every piece properly.... Everyone did. It was a great rehearsal. Again for next week we are just touching up and properly learning every song.

14/02/2011

WEDNESDAY WAS AN INSERVICE DAY.

Friday

1st Study

Steve asked us to pair up and so we worked through 'all he things'. I was working with Danny and we took turns to play melody and chords. All is going well though I need to find a partner to play with in the final assessment. Cameron took us through augmentation and diminution. Also note recognition in different positions on the neck. Again the Eastern piece and Summer time.

DAW

Colin showed us how to plug our instruments into Cubase. He also demonstrated all the amp modeling software which is excellent. I recorded something briefly but really was just messing around with it, getting to grips with it. We also worked on our IWEB, unfortunately is had been wiped again.

Band

We had a band practice on the Tuesday which really helped. Now on Friday we are really just tightening up. Our gig in next Tuesday at Fat Sams.

21/02/2011

wednesday was called off for all HND students.

Friday

1st Study

There weren't many people in so we had individual lessons. Steve and I focussed on using sus4 triads to improvise. Also using the chord tones and individual Pentatonics, utilizing the key notes such as the 7th. It was excellent. Unfortunately I then had a break and got carried away with my Ted Greene chord harmony book which over ran into Camerons class. I ended up missing it though I learned a lot in that hour and I just worked through what we would have done in class at home.

DAW

I worked briefly on my wed page but quickly went onto my Cubase project. I was figuring out different tones for my guitar through the amp modeling software.

Band/Music History

As we had played the gig on Tuesday we just had music theory with Marlisa. We got our marks back from out last papers and worked through more ear tests. I had to leave at 3.30 to get to Birnam. Though I learnt more about writing rhythms and evaluating notes.

THE GIG

The was gig was a kind of success. We played our seven songs. Some were a bit sketchy. The on stage sound was lacking in quality and we didn't get a sound check. NO matter though, we played the gig and enjoyed the other acts. There was great communication with the band on stage and we followed each other well when there were a few mistakes. Definitely not my best gig though saying that it definitely wasn't my worst.

31/01/11

Sessions Skills

The year has now been split into two groups and I was in at 9.a.m. We were given new music to work through. We got through three quarters of the song successfully so we were all quite pleased. We shall be working through the same tune next week until it is ready to record.

Music Theory

Now into our new semester we began our new class in Music Theory. Marlisa takes the class and she going through last years work to clarify that we were Ok on everything. She began the class with time signatures which I'm glad she did. I am a bit patchy on them and she has cleared everything up for me. We are going to be having homework every week from her.

Graded Unit

This class was not on.

1st Study

Steve worked asked us to pair up, in my case I joined two other guys. We worked through 'All the things you are.' I was developing new parts and re-harmonizing sections. I was happy how it went though a lot of work is going to be needed to become tight. I had an essay deadline which I hadn't managed to finish so sadly I missed Cameron's class. I spoke to him and he was fine about this. I had a conversation about composition which was great and he gave me a book in Composition to look over. It has some of my favourite artists talking about their work. Pat Metheny was great to read.

DAW

The class was cancelled.

Band work

Band work didn't go as planned. Laura was off and we didn't have our bassist. We worked through what we knew and a bit on The Black keys song. We will be ready for the show but we are going to have to arrange some out of class practices to get to the point of being able to perform. We have chosen our 7 songs and are learning them all for next week.

It was a good week though more could have been accomplished. The cancellation of DAW wasn't so great as I needed to get work done. However I did have plenty of time to finish my essay. I am going to be more organized for next week and really work towards having 7 pieces finished in band to a performance standard.