{"id":1767,"date":"2019-03-19T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10577750\/?page_id=1767"},"modified":"2019-05-21T14:51:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T13:51:26","slug":"cocktail-piano","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10577750\/cocktail-piano\/","title":{"rendered":"Cocktail Piano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Performing in the Grove<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the beginning of 2019, I have been lucky enough to have held a weekly piano residency at the Grove restaurant in Bradford. I usually perform between two and three hours with the most common times being between 6pm and 8.30pm. In this time, I have played a range of corporate and themed nights at the Grove which have provided an interesting mix of circumstances.<\/p>\n

Here are a few pictures of the restaurant and my set up.<\/p>\n

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Repertoire<\/strong><\/p>\n

My repertoire has included a mixture of styles throughout the weeks that I have performed at the Grove. I mainly use whatever music books I can find either at home or at college. My main base for repertoire is the real book which contains hundreds of jazz standards. Currently, I probably know twenty – thirty tunes from the real book that I can play to a high enough standard at the Grove. These range from blues, ballads, bossa novas and more up tempo tunes.<\/p>\n

I have also delved into the Beatles songbook, the La La land soundtrack and a Sam Cooke songbook.<\/p>\n

Overall the Grove is amazing practice for my sight reading and gives me an incentive to work on a range of material every week. It is for me essentially public practice and has a lowed me to grow more confident when playing in front of people.<\/p>\n

Equipment Arrangement<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I live quite far from the restaurant and can’t drive yet, I rely on taxis and lifts to get me to and from the restaurant. This means that I can’t carry all of my gear and therefore I needed to make alternate arrangements in order to be able to perform at the Grove. Luckily the Grove is part of Bradford college meaning that I can use college resources in order to help me out. When I begun doing this,\u00a0 therefore made an agreement with the media department for them to supply me the pa system. This has worked like a dream and has allowed me to take on this job with way less hassle.<\/p>\n

Italian Evening – Thursday 14th March<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Italian evening was one of a few themed evenings that spanned my time as a cocktail pianist at the Grove. The restaurant had been changed up a bit and there were interactive activities including a photo booth. Unfortunately , I hadn’t had enough time to prepare for the Italian evening, however I managed to just about get through a version of Bella Ciao.<\/p>\n

Other themed evenings included Valentines day and a Las Vegas themed evening with which I had to share the stage with a Cher impersonator which was an interesting experience.<\/p>\n

Parents Evening<\/strong><\/p>\n

Parents evening was taking place in the cafe space in the Lister building of Bradford college. Nic had asked if a few of us could play at this event, however Leah and the rest of the band were unable to make it and therefore I played a piano set of about 30-40 minutes before going to the Grove to play my weekly slot.<\/p>\n

Ual Standardisation Event<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the UAL standardisation event, I was asked to perform with the covers band consisting of Fraser on drums, Cain on bass, me on keys and Leah on vocals. We put together a thirty minute set consisting of a mixture of jazz and pop covers.<\/p>\n