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.