REHERSING
In these videos we practiced the song as a whole. Some of the times I’m not on the drums but if not I would be on the percussion. When I play I find it had to keep doing the same drum pattern for a lower period of time without shifting in and out of rhythm.
When I first started rehearsals I had the basic understanding of the drum beat and didn’t really add anything to it. There would be times where I forget to miss a kick in the second bar but I have since listened to the song and slightly improved the structure of the song.
On the second day of rehearsals that we did, I went into the practice room on my own and played along with the song. I listened to the song in my earphones and tried to keep in time with the beat and learn the structure a bit more. I found some areas that requires me to drop the snare and its just the kick and high-hats. When I did the whole song, the first few times weren’t the beast but after a few go’s at it I got the idea of it. I repeated it until I rather had to go or I got it perfect or pretty much there.
Since practicing on my own I have learned the structure more and learned when to drop in and out of the beat. I have also started to make the drum beat interesting by adding a symbol hit on the start of the verses and the choruses so its not just the hi-hat snare and kick throughout the whole thing.
To improve more I would like to be able to play it all the way through whilst keeping in time and not changing speed so the whole track has the same flow all the way through. I would also like to maybe add some drum fills where appropriate to make the track a bit more interesting.
To do this I would have to come into the practice room on my own during the day and run through the track over and over again. I could watch some videos on YouTube about playing the song on the drums and maybe do some research on how to do drum fills in a song. I just need some overall practice to polish things up.
Its hard to rehearse when there isn’t a full band but when there isn’t we run though what we can without the vocals ad the keys. we found an acapella version of the song on YouTube but we didn’t have much time with it.
For the second song I am on the keys.
During the verse’s of the song I am playing a few notes quietly so it doesn’t have too much gain over everything else. In the chorus’s I increase the volume and I play along to the singers and match the notes.
I find it hard to play along with the tempo of the song and to play the notes that match the melody.
I can practice this in my spare time which I will do. since listening to the song I have kind of understood the melody and which notes to play but its hard to keep up with the rest of the band but this will come with time.
Fore the third song I am on the drums again.
He song is quite a loud song and a long song but we are cutting it down.
I already have an idea of the structure as iv listened to this for a while
Theres only 2 drum beats in the song. The chorus is a full kick snare hi-hat and crash.
The verse is the floor tom and the kick drum. When switching from verse to chorus and chorus to verse I will do a drum fill leading into a crash for the next part.
Keeping in time is a big issue because I drift in and out of the tempo a lot.
I have been practicing drum fills in my spade time and my drum lessons and I will hopefully carry that over to the performance to make it more interesting.
When I practice on my own I put my earphones in and listen to the track over and over again and then when I have an idea of it, will ten play along until I get it near perfect.
What went well
- Knowing our parts within each song
- Knowing the structure of the song for the most part
What could be done better
- Stage presence – We need to look like we’re enjoying it and we are acting professional while on stage.
- Confidence while playing – If we play confidently it will show in our performing and will improve the overall performance.
- keeping in time with the rhythm – Keeping in time with the song is important sp no one goes off beat, this will affect the performance.
- practice topping and tailing the songs to make sure we start and end perfectly – We need to make sure we all start at the same tie and we need to know when and how the ending is so we all do it at the time we need to
Personal – What went well
- played all throughout the sings without any noticeable mistakes.
- used drum fills to transition from verse to chorus and vice versa
- Played quite comfortably in all 3 songs
Personal – what could be better
- be more confident when playing
- make eye contact with the audience a little bit rather than staring at the drums and keyboard – Gives an engagement with the crowd.
- I could have lowered the volume of the keyboard in the second song because when I listened to it back it was quite loud in the verses.
- For the main performance i need to just do what i did for the mock one but more confident.
- I need to hear the vocals on the first and third song because that’s – the vocals gives me help in knowing the structure of the song and when the choruses/verses/breakdowns are.
As a group we could give each other a small signal when we need to end and change etc.
What we need to practice
- We need to make sure the start and end to all three songs are sorted and known off by heart.
- We need to know when we come into the song and when we drop out
FINAL PERFORMANCE
For the live performance the set list was
- Il be missing you
- Gangstas paradise
- Zombie
For the first song I was on keyboard using a synth sound and that went with no issue and nothing went wrong for me.
The second song (Gangstas Paradise) I played the whole song without missing a part and I kept to the structure that I knew. I used some drum fills that I was practicing to make the performance a bit more interesting as the drums were a main part in the song.
We improved the starting and ending as we finished all together and at the same time. For the last song (Zombie) we started all together without an issue. just after the start I dropped the left drum stick as my hands were shaking a little bit but I recovered and tried my best to keep the drum beat going without many people noticing.
We all finished at the same time and at the right time for this sing as well which Is an improvement as that one of the things we needed to work on.
what went well in the final performance
knew the structure of all the songs
added drum fills to make the performance more enjoyable and interesting
changed over quickly and got ready early
started and finished with the rest of the band and at the same time as we have rehearsed it many times before the performance.
What could have been better
I could have been a bit more confident with the drumming
I could have looked at the crowd more when playing they keys and when I was on the drums