Original Performance Setlist:
Over the summer break, I have been practising the songs in our setlist, to perform at the showcase in October. These songs are:
- Next to me – Emeli Sandé
- I need a dollar – Aloe Blacc
- You know I’m no good – Amy Winehouse
- Sunny – Bobby Hebb
- Scar tissue – Red Hot Chilli Peppers
28/05/2020:
As you can see above, there are a few mistakes as I have only just started to learn how to play the song. So I used this hour of practice to work on getting the tempo right without making lots of mistakes and also moved onto learning the start of the verse.
Live Stream Setlist:
Upon returning to college in September, we realised that performing in front of a physical audience was going to be an impossibility due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. So we decided to put on a live stream event instead. To be able to do this safely, we have split into two bands (support bubbles) of 5. This meant we had to pick some new songs to learn. We had a look at various options, meaning that the set has changed many times before our final decisions. Many of our ideas were written off after looking at the time frame we have. Similarly, some of the songs we had chosen were just a little too much to learn in such a short time. Overall, we decided on 3 that could be focused on to make the best sounding set. These are: Still Into You by Paramore, Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis and Missing You by All Time Low.
Home Practice 1:
Prior to my first rehearsal, I decided to start practising still into you with a backing track. I recorded my takes into Logic Pro X using my AKG P120 condenser microphone and Behringer u-phoria UMC202HD interface. Once I had recorded a take, is listen back and try to improve my mistakes. This was the best take:
Week 1:
This week we rehearsed both of our songs. These are Still Into You by Paramore and Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis, which are the songs that I am going to be singing. We also decided to look at performing Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations and Missing You by All Time Low.
In the above video, we performed our first song choice: Still Into You by Paramore. This is after only 2 days of rehearsals. In this one; I am singing, Kabeer is playing acoustic guitar, Amelia is playing Electric guitar and Tom is on bass.
I think that the performance was successful because everyone was playing at the correct tempo and were therefore in time with each other. However, it was of course not perfect. As it was only the second day, there is a huge amount of room for improvement. At the start, we had to restart the song as Tom messed up and didn’t come in on time. As well as this, Kabeer is still struggling with the chords as the songs are very new to him. Amelia also could work on fine-tuning the tiny mistakes such as the error she made just before the second chorus.
Personally, I really need to work on my breath control during the chorus. This will enable me to project my voice more and be able to control my phrasing better for example on the lyric, “I don’t really need to wonder at all, yeah after all this time I’m still into you.” Another problem I had was the end of the bridge. This was because of the belted high note. Although I have reached it in previous attempts, I can not do it consistently. When this happens, it can throw me off for the rest of the song and leave me singing in the wrong key. In order to rectify these mistakes, I will practice for at least 15 minutes every day to make sure that I am training my voice to reach the notes and become more consistent.
Overall, as a band, we could work on a few individual issues as well as looking into adding dynamics and backing vocals to this song if possible. We can do this by relistening to the song and pinpointing where these are used in the original. This includes antiphony in the chorus after I sing “into you” as it is echoed. The dynamic changes come about when there are softer vocal lines like in the pre-chorus and bridge and a louder final chorus.
In our second song (Chelsea Dagger), things went much more smoothly as fewer mistakes were made. For example, on the final line of the song, I went out of key. This is only something that happened once and I just need to work on controlling my voice to prevent this in future. I would say this song was more successful because everyone looked as if they were enjoying themselves more than in the previous performance.
Targets for this week:
- Practice the ending of Still Into You, making sure that I stay in key for the final chorus.
- Work on some vocal exercises that allow me to gain some more control of my breath and voice.
- Get the hang of changing between D and B and A and B on ukulele for Missing You.
Week 2:
This week, we played through both of the songs in our setlist again. Time constraints meant that we had to drop Missing You and Build Me Up Buttercup from our set. I feel much more confident about these songs as we progress through the weeks.
I feel this run through was better than the last one. I had better vocal control throughout stayed in key for the whole song which was an improvement from the last session and was a key piece of feedback I took on board. I really enjoy how much more relaxed we all are during this performance. I feel we are starting to enjoy playing the songs more than being worried about perfection. This is probably due to the amount of practice we have done both at home and together as a band. I noticed the lack of acoustic guitar actually made us sound more like the original song which I enjoyed but I also feel that the guitar also adds a different element to our version.
This song is the one I am least confident in as I still am not sure on the lyrics. This is particularly obvious during the first verse. I need to focus on learning the lyrics and melody of the song. This performance does show how far our confidence has come along. We are all clearly enjoying performing the song.
Targets for this week:
- Learn the Chelsea Dagger lyrics by heart.
- Practice Still Into You just like in the above video.
- Work on stage presence.