Below is a log of all recorded practices/rehearsals in which our band are performing the songs in preparation for the live performance at the end of the project. All the successes, not-quite-successes, and evaluations are included so we know how to improve, learning with each day.
14/09/21
In our first rehearsal as a band, I believe we did rather well, and personally I surprised myself. For context, I am a guitarist but as Harry is more experienced than me, I took up the role of bass player – an instrument I had never even picked up before. Looking for the bass tabs online for “Valerie” I found a simple enough tab and got going, it took a while to get to grips with it but I feel like I started well.
I managed to learn what exactly I was playing relatively quickly, knowing what to do in the verses and choruses compared to the pre-choruses. I think I did a decent job of holding the rhythm too. As a group, I think it’s a strong start; we’d never played together before so to dive right into a song and play it how we did, I think was impressive. We all played our parts and got through it together.
Alternate picking is something for me to look into as I only played on the down strum which can be quite rigorous on the hand/wrist, so with that technique could sound smoother and save myself some pain. Altogether I think we certainly need to nail the structure of the song by giving the track a good few listens, that second verse keeps tripping us up.
16/09/21
Back again with “Valerie”, and we had discussed the intro and finish in a bit more detail as we believed the bulk of the song was sorted, it just needed more practice.
On a positive note, I believe this was a very solid take with us all doing our part to a high standard; I improved my picking with some alternated where I felt comfortable in the verses/choruses whilst the other band members also seemed to be improving on prior attempts. Also, I like the intro very much, it kicks things off well.
Similar to before, we need to sure up that song structure. The second verse having many more bars compared to the first can be confusing, personally I find myself almost waiting on Leah to start singing the pre-chorus so I know when to switch what I’m playing, which isn’t ideal. I’ll keep listening to the song, playing along to it, and hopefully I’ll get the hang of it. We also need to have more of a conversation about how to finish the song, we have tried a couple variations but we are yet to find something that sticks with us.
17/09/21
Second track we decided to properly give a go was Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven”, it’s a brilliantly groovy track that was everywhere in 2012 that is sure to go down well with the audience when we perform. By this point the band had better chemistry so we did more to help each other out with what we needed to play.
I found it to be a fun track once I had the main melody down, I also memorised the other sections soon after. As a group, we worked well together, helping hands across the board. Again, everybody soon had the gist of what they were doing, which has given us a solid base to build on.
Lots of room for improvement however, once more we’ve been thwarted by a song’s structure (should be remedied with revising the song/lyrics). Beyond that, timing wasn’t quite right in places, and on a personal note I did end up losing myself near the end of the session, I had my part down but at the end I somehow lost it which means I will give extra practice time so I can get it firmly in my memory.
As a band, this was our first somewhat public performance, in which we performed “Valerie” in front of the Level 2 and Level 3X students. A pretty nerve-racking affair for many of us who had never performed anything musical in front of an audience of any size, so we were rather scared but we got up there and got through it.
Considering this was the band’s first performance I believe we coped quite well, I know a couple of us had shaky hands during the whole thing but, looking back, it wasn’t as noticeable as I originally thought. We remembered our parts, we got through the rough patches of the song, and we had each other’s backs afterwards.
Speaking of the rough patches, there were a few, once or twice during the second verse and around the last repetition of the chorus the instrumentalists hesitated when not sure if they were switching to a different section of the song or maintaining what they were playing at the time. For me, I lost the rhythm and even had to pause for a moment as I needed to find my way back into the song.
To build on this we need more experience performing to an audience so that we aren’t as nervous, allowing us to play with more freedom. How we can do this is by performing in the same circumstances or potentially even in the canteen when people are in there. We also need to really practice our parts and drill that song structure into our heads to ensure we know when to play certain parts and so that I don’t lose rhythm like I did above.
21/09/21
After some feedback from Nic we decided to try out a more laid-back version of “Valerie”, this included altering Harry’s guitar parts to a slower tempo and Blake playing drums a little softer to really give off the vibe we wanted to show here.
As a group we adapted well to the alterations we made with regards to slowing tempo with instruments or playing around with the dynamics in certain sections when we needed to be a tad quieter. Even with the new changes I see us becoming more confident and I am sure that once we really get a feel for this version we will really progress with it.
Mentioned many times before is the structure and our spottiness when it comes to recognising the time to change from verse to pre-chorus, we will memorise it all eventually! Personally I most certainly need to find a steady picking rhythm that I can hold onto and maintain throughout the whole song, I tried one here that could work but it needs some getting used to so I can ensure it stays consistent. Besides that, I think we need to get to grips with this new version, with more practice and communication we should see improvements.
Next up was “Locked Out of Heaven”, we had more time to work on it and, while we are a bit shaky at times, I think it is coming along at a steady pace. It is a pretty tough song but we are committed and ready to work on making this song the best it can be for when we perform.
What has taken this track to another level for us is the clarity on the final chorus, with Nic’s help we chopped and changed a few things, played with dynamics and taking out/reintroducing instruments. At one point Blake stops completely which leaves a lot of room for the song to breathe, and Leoni comes in with some arpeggiated synth chords to spice up the guitar-bass constant in the back, before Blake comes back in to take us home – I really like this ending.
What we must do is sharpen up so we really hit the final part to make sure that the audience receives the full impact and not a beat is wasted. On my part, I was tiring near the end as my hands were exhausted so I feel my standard dropped the further we got into the take, as I’m not used to playing for so long I do struggle but my stamina will build with time and I should be able to keep up, what I can do in the meantime is research some exercise techniques to help me along.
Another take from the same morning and there are a few differences; a new sound on the keyboard being tested, Harry using a pedal to switch between a clean sound and a more distorted sound depending on the section of the song, as well as a more stripped back start to the second verse with just Blake on drums while Leah sings, before we all return together.
I think the changes made a positive impact, particularly the start to the second verse as I feel it really keeps the song fresh and exciting to listen to due to the variety in the dynamics.
Similar notes to the prior take, sharpen up and build stamina for future attempts. Also we need to secure that sudden finish, we don’t want any cymbals or chords or notes ringing out.
24/09/21
For our next track John recommended we try Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Californication”. We got some lyric sheets with chords then set about learning our individual parts and memorising the song as best we could.
As this was our first full rehearsal take I’m pretty happy, room to improve but a strong foundation, it is quite a long track with a few moving parts so we did well to at least make it recognisably “Californication”. This was rather tough for me at first as there is a lot of travelling up and down the fretboard (which I’m not too used to) but I improved as we went on.
Obviously we have lots to improve with yet another song with a somewhat unconventional structure. Knowing when we change from verse to pre-chorus is a must, as we had a few moments when we were unsure of what we were doing, revising the song and practicing our individual parts can help. At times we were very sloppy in how we played, lacking certainty, sounding not at all confident. On my end I fell short several times as I got confused about what exactly I was playing and had to take a moment just to figure it out, I’ll make sure to practice many times over so it’s embedded in my mind.
28/09/21
Nic assisted us in this topping and tailing exercise in which we rehearse the intro and finale to each song, often the hardest and most memorable parts of a song. Specifically rehearsing these parts should allow a smoother and more confident performance.
With “Valerie” we struggled with the timing of the intro, Blake and I either came in a little too early or a little too late, we need to tighten this up so we don’t see a repeat of this rehearsal in the actual performance. We will now be doing a proper count to combat this. As for the final part, I’d say we just need to tighten it up in the last moment and we should be good.
On “Locked Out of Heaven” we have the intro pretty much sorted, but we are finding that last part to be a tricky customer, Blake and I need to be aware of where we are in the track and what is coming up next, individual practice and constant rehearsal should remedy this. One difficulty I’m having is maintaining the rhythm when I need to play quite quickly, it is quite physically intensive on my hand so I’m going to try out using a plectrum in an attempt to take some stress away from my fingers so I can actually finish the song without seizing up.
“Californication” does have some tricky parts but luckily for us the intro and finale are relatively simple, we have them mostly down, it seems to be just a matter of tightening them up so we sound as polished as we can be on the day of the live performance.
Back with “Californication”, this time round showing much improvement. I spent parts of my weekend revising this to save myself some trouble when coming in to practice.
29/09/21
Our first performance on the exact stage where we are due to perform at the end of the project, not a bad attempt. It was certainly a bit strange getting up there as it made it feel quite real, yes we are actually going to perform three songs we learnt in about a month or so to a crowd of well over a hundred people.
As we had a bit of pressure I would say we did well to keep our heads and not mess things up in any major way; we played consistently, we played strongly, and we all did our jobs. Also worth considering that we had never rehearsed with Lucy before so to have a brand new singer makes things a bit more difficult.
Obviously, we had a false start. Not at all what we want on the night, the pressure might’ve got to us briefly, to get past this we can have another few tries at performing to crowds to hopefully become accustomed to the feeling.
Much like the above, we gave the songs a good run through given the circumstances. However, with us past the first track, it is my belief that we were beyond the worst of the nerves, and able to focus on the music much better.
Throughout both songs we stayed on top of everything and showed a tad more confidence, always a good thing as we need to make sure that we give a really good performance alongside the music itself.
At times during “Locked Out of Heaven” we were very wobbly, missing our cues or not quite hitting what we needed to – with enough practice we should eliminate these textbook errors. For me, I was flagging during the final chorus and my performance suffered for it, my hand was cramping up; to fix this I need to warm up my hands and maybe change my technique to alternating fingers so the stress is eased on my index finger.
14/10/21
In this tape we are simply miming the first track we are set to perform to allow us to focus more on the performance aspect as opposed to the musical. To give a strong performance we can’t all be stationary or we risk looking like we don’t even want to be on that stage, it’s crucial for us to practice this side of things for a good set all-round.
It is always good to rehearse, especially when it comes to things that are often forgotten about, so I did enjoy the chance to consider this side of things. With my speaking role, I just about remembered the main things I needed to mention, this is a very important factor in our set considering we are the first act of the evening.
Truthfully, I don’t believe we had many positives with that attempt; none of us looked massively comfortable, I was the only member to really move around much or show anything towards the camera/audience but that was all evidently tongue in cheek, none of that would be particularly useful on the night. We’ve got to force ourselves to look out into the audience (even if we really don’t want to) and move around, look like we’re having fun.
I need to script my speaking parts fully and memorise them so I can be as confident as possible with as little awkwardness as possible, I stuttered a lot and was very unsure of myself so I will work on eliminating this in the future.