my set
This is one of the first rehearsal videos with Lucy, in preparation for a show at Bradford University. I think I did pretty well at remembering most of the chords, and for the most part the song sounds very put together. I am playing the song at the correct temp, which is much easier when following a vocalist, as I usually play too fast when rehearsing solo. I am able to follow vocal cues quite well alongside Lucy, which really helps me to play the correct sections at the correct time.
The song’s bridge definitely needs a lot of work, in terms of tempo, dynamic and actually playing the correct notes. I learnt the bridge not long before this rehearsal, which may be what made me a bit confused, and caused me to lose some focus during it, and leading into the final chorus. With some more practise this can easily be fixed.
I do believe this song has helped me improve my left hand techniques massively. It has made me more comfortable with playing certain octaves at a slow tempo, and moving my left hand around the keys more.
This is a rehearsal without a vocalist, and it is noticeable almost immediately that the tempo is much quicker. This isn’t too much of an issue, as long as I slow down the tempo of the intro, since the tempo will be fixed and easy to follow when rehearsing and performing with Lucy.
There are a few points in the song where my singer slipped and I accidentally played the wrong note, however with more practise this will be fixed. A solid ending will need adding to this song too, using more octaves to make it sound resolved and finished.
Controlling my dynamics within this song specifically is something I will have to improve on. The song should start out quiet until the second chorus where it becomes much louder, and quietens back down within the first half of the bridge.
Similarly to ‘Read All About It’ the tempo in this song is quite fast when I have been rehearsing without a vocalist. Where I am not able to rehearse with Lucy, practising alongside a metronome would be ideal to keep me in time. As well as this, I need to focus a lot on the dynamics within this song to make the piece sound more interesting, and possibly adding in octaves.
In this video, I had only just finished learning this song, hence the many mistakes and pauses. If I stick to regular rehearsals I will be ready to play this in time for the showcase with little to no mistakes.
This was one of my first rehearsals of the full song. It was difficult trying to memorise the chords, whilst also focusing on playing them on time and in the right order. I am still struggling with the timing of some chord changes within the chorus, to improve this I plan to play along to the song more, to see where these changes should go, and also practising with Lucy to work out where they should naturally sit alongside the vocals.
It is clear to see in the above rehearsals that I am a lot more comfortable with the song, and have memorised the chord patterns quite well. I think the dynamics of the song are more or less spot on; quieter in the verses, louder in the choruses.
To help improve the timing of ‘Is That Alright’ I played along to a metronome. I think art helps the piece sound much more put together and allows me to know when I need to be changing chords, and moving into different sections of the song.
This was one of the first rehearsals with Lainnie, after a last minute cancellation from another vocalist. I believe it went very well. I’m glad that Lainnie already knew the song, as it made the process much easier. There are a few points where I messed up with the octaves, but with some more solo practise this shouldn’t be an issue.
Similarly to the other rehearsal, I believe this also went very well. Lainnie is pretty comfortable singing the song, and knows most of the lyrics. There are little yo no mistakes on my part, since I am quite comfortable playing this song.
lainnie’s set
For our first couple of rehearsals with this song, I think it sounds pretty good. For me specifically, I think learning where to switch to synth will improve my part, and finding a better sounding synth that is closer to the one in original. Beside from that, the song sounds great, and is almost ready to be performed.