Overall, I think this song is sounding really good already. We as a group seem to pick up learning new songs very quickly and independently. We decided to learn this mid-lesson, after deciding to no longer learn ‘Life Is A Highway’. This happened because I and Tia started jamming to this song in a swung pattern, similar to the way we play it now, and the rest of the band caught on and liked it. As well as this, we have asked John, one of the college tutors, to play the trumpet for us in the song as we feel it gives it more of a jazzy feel and really adds a lot to the song in general.
Group And Individual Strengths
I think the biggest strength for us as a group was the fact we were able to adapt quickly to a new genre and style of playing. None of us are jazz players so turning this song into a jazz/soul piece was quite the challenge for us. We discovered a jazz version of this on youtube and used that for inspiration, but the majority of the song was all our own ideas and with some help from tutors, we made chords and drum beats that suited the song and were original. The main change to the song for me is playing the whole piece swung as I am used to playing it as the original in a different band out of college. The swung feel makes the track for me and is very important for the delivery of the song.
The most important part of a performance is playing your parts right. As we had only learnt the song this week, we had to focus a lot on playing the piece and our own parts correctly, rather than doing a performance and more creative things as such, which we can instead work on later. The structure is very simple; it essentially is just ABABAB, so remembering this is very easy, we just need to all remember when the pre-chorus part comes in where we build up because some people are missing that and forgetting where it is. The timing of the song is getting better, and this will be improved as we keep playing together and becoming more confident with each other’s parts.
As for my drum part, it is very simple. The rhythms are uncomplicated throughout and the whole song isn’t challenging for me to play. This allowed me to have some time experimenting with different rhythms. For example, I started using a bossa nova pattern on one of the choruses to give it a syncopated and samba feel, which I thought worked well, but the cross-stick was a little quiet. As well as this, I used a lot of dynamics, bringing the verses right down to about mp, and the choruses up to f, with the final chorus being around ff to give it more effectiveness and action.
Group And Individual Improvements
A major fault in the second video was the fact the instruments were out of tune. This is a very easy mistake to make, but making sure this doesn’t end up happening in a performance is huge, as everyone will be able to hear that something isn’t quite right. A way to prevent this is by making sure your instruments are in tune before you start playing and keeping a clip-on tuner on the head of your guitar so it’s there when you need it. Also, our guitarists should try not to bend the strings during playing too much as this tends to move them out of pitch; your fingers should be flat on the fretboard and not pushing the strings flat or sharp. If different instruments are out of tune, it becomes hard for the vocalists to figure out which key to match when they start singing.
Another thing we need to work on as a group would, again, be ‘performing’ the song so it is more engaging to the audience and they feel like they can join in more. Crowd interaction is important for us too as it will boost our confidence and enjoyment during the final performance if we know other people are enjoying our work. We could do this by using a call and response technique where the crowd shouts back certain lyrics of a song, or perhaps something more simple such as just clapping along to the chorus in a song. To do this, we need to work on performing the set as a whole, including introducing the band members, naming the next song and more general conversations that will make the concert feel more personal and pleasant for the audience.
Something I plan to work on next week is a drum solo after my tutor mentioned that I should do one at the end of Seven Nation Army if we plan to have this as our final song in our set. This gives me a chance to show off a little bit and show how much I enjoy performing. I have never been given the opportunity to solo like this before so this will be a new experience. Also, in general, I could work on making the drums sound more lively and energetic throughout the choruses by doing fills or licks so it matches my confident look on stage.
Targets For Next Week
-Look at how we can interact with the crowd more as a band, preferably during this song, perhaps using a call and response technique.
-Work on a drum solo for the final song.
-Piece all four songs together and play them back-to-back in time for next week’s mock performance.