Introduction:
On drums we have Abi, on bass we have Morgan, on vocals we have Lucy and on keys there’s me. We rehearsed for approximately 6 hours, which also includes around 2 hours of just individual practice too. We have currently been learning “somebody told me” by The Killers, and “clocks” by Coldplay. This is my first band that I’ve played in so it took a little getting used to working together.
Successes:
We all had really good timing so the song didn’t sound jagged or hard to follow because everyone was in time. The dynamics were varied a lot so you got to hear all different parts and could easily isolate and focus on them. The stops were all perfect so it give it a clean sound and a nice, sharp and halted end. We kept the audience engaged and they really enjoyed the performance because they couldn’t really hear any of the missing parts as other players made up for it. We had a very strong start and strong end so it left the audience with a good impression because we had a good first impression and a lasting one.
Improvements:
Everyone has their own individual aspects to work on but confidence is a main thing in the group as a lot of the time most people, including myself, looked down or away from the audience. My own improvements are to learn the verses and get some notes for my left hand so I can play all my parts in the song and not just the intro, chorus and bridge. Once all the parts are in, it’ll sound a lot more full and closer to the original and live performances they give. I’ll look up tutorials and ask my teacher for help with the left hand notes and verses so hopefully by next practice, I can play them.
Live Aspect:
We didn’t communicate much on stage or with the audience really so that’s something we could possibly work on a little more. The audience was just our class for now so we performed in the classroom, which kind of gave it a more friendly feel instead of intimidating. Our stage presence lacked a little but I think once we work on confidence, it’ll flow. Although, the drummer and bassist had really good stage presence by rocking out a little. Accuracy and fluency will need some work from me, once I’ve learnt all my parts, but as for the first performance, it was very well done because it flowed really well. The song has a little rock feel so once we all kind of jam out a little more, I think we will perform it really well, we just have to work a little on confidence.
Targets:
For the next performance, my target is to learn all my parts and perform them accurately. Lastly, I’d say if we all worked on confidence then our stage presence would be just as good as our playing and make the performance even more rememberable. Our next song is “clocks” by Coldplay so I need to learn the main riff and ask to be taught the left hand before our performance of it, also there’s a little change in riff for the bridge that I need to learn too.
Conclusion:
Overall, we all performed our parts really well and our fluency was almost perfect, I just need to learn the left hand and verses for “somebody told me” and then we should be good to go. Confidence is a little week but once everyone is secure in their parts, we’ll be able to work on stage presence. I need to try and look up some of my parts from YouTube and then ask the teacher to teach me the rest. For a first performance, we did really well, especially with fluency and making sure everyone’s in time so our stops are clean and the end is nice and sharp/abrupt.
“Somebody Told Me” – The Killers, Live