Listening style (Lesson 5 (Electro)

Q1: Give as clear as possible an account of all the different sounds and instruments in the first 3 minutes and 35 seconds. You probably won't know exactly how each sound is made but you should be able to make an educated guess whether something is sampled, synthesized or actually recorded in.

• The first thing you can hear you will hear in the song will be the drums which is recorded/programmed by a Drum machine.
• After the drums what comes next is the synthesized baseline and this two instruments keep playing for about a minute.
• The next thing you will hear in the track is the breakdown and there is only one instrument playing which is the drumbeat and then the synthesized baseline.
• then there's a guitar added in the song but it doesn't sound synthesized and after the guitar being added the vocals comes in.

Q2: What is this song about? How do the electronic instruments / sounds help to create the mood?

I don’t know really know what this song is about because there isn’t a specific theme for it but I know that this type of song are created to be played in clubs. As you can see, in the song the instruments are stronger than the vocals and the tempo of the song is moderately and the song has a sci-fi type of feel.

The name of this track is called ‘Blue Monday’ and because of the title of this song the first thing people will think when they start listening to it, is that the song is sad because that’s what most of the blue songs are about.

Listening style (Lesson 4 (Blues)

Q1: Describe the harmony in this song. (Try and describe the pattern even if you cannot pick the chords - eg. the first chord lasts for two beats then it changes to a chord that last for 8 bars). Is the pattern familiar at all?

The first part of the song which is the introduction lasts for 2 bars and then then they add the instruments (Guitar, bass, drums, piano. The chords being played in the song don't change much, because they just keep playing the same chords for another 12 bars and then they change to a different chords for 2 bars.

Q2: This song has "Blues" in the title. Is it a blues song?

This song is a blue rock song and there are things in this track that tells you if it is blue or not, for example:

• In the song there's a element of the 12 bar blues.
• The blue rock sound of the song is coming from the electric guitar, the drums and the bass.
• The fast tempo in the song distinguishes it to be a blue rock song.
• The song also go through the blues scale.

Listening style (Lesson 1 (Reggae)

Question 1: In the first song, describe the melody (especially saying what notes it uses - feel free to use a keyboard to help you with this).  

• The chords used in this song are I, IV and V.
• The melody of the song is what the singer is singing.
• In the song you can hear the pentatonic scale in the key of E flat.
• In the first songs the instruments play for a few seconds and then the singer comes in and sing a phrase and keep repeating it for 3 times singing a minor 3rd. 

Question 2: For each song, name the style/genre of the song and list three things (musical and/or sonic) that support your assertion.

The first song:

• The genre of it is Reggae.
• They use a rhythm on the guitar called 'Skank'. It is a off beat guitar and it plays on the beat of 2 and 4.
• The tempo of the song is slow.
• Use of the syncopated rhythm.
  

The second song:

• The genre of the second song is also Reggae but it is a different reggae called dub.
• Just like the first song, the second one uses the same chord sequence which are I, V and IV but there are some changes that make it sound different from the first song.
• Different from the first song, the second song has the instruments playing for about a minute and then the vocals come in.
• Use of the syncopated rhythm.
• Use of shifts.

Listening style (Lesson 3 (Latin)

Question 1: Give an account of the vocals in this track. Things to consider: effects, timing, style, articulation/phrasing, improvisation etc.

• She sings wide variety of notes.
• She pronounces her words differently from the original version, giving the song a more jazzy feel.
• She does a lot of  improvisation in the song such as scatting.
• She sings the song in a swayed and free way.

Question 2: Compare this track with the other version above. Does the track feel different? If so, why?

When you hear the original track which is in Portuguese you can recognise the genre of the song which is Latin because of the instruments and what they are doing, the tempo of song is slow which gives for the people who are listening to it a calm feeling, because of the way the vocalist is singing the song which is very calm, gently and quietly. Also what helps the song sound so calm are the instruments in it, because they are not that loud so what you can hear more is the vocals which is ahead of the instruments, but you can still hear what each of the instruments are doing, for example, there's a acoustic guitar and it is not playing chords it is just playing notes and the way the guitarist is playing the guitar is the same way a bassist play a bass which is just using the fingers and thumb to pluck the strings.

On the second track which is in English by 'Amy winehouse', you can see that the track doesn't sound Latin like the first one. The second version sounds more Jazzy and one of the reason for that track to sound like that is because that is Amy's style of music, so she made the song sound different and unique because of what they she sings because every word she says she improves it and make it sound different. The tempo of the second version is faster than the first one which makes the song sound jazzy and dancing.

Listening style (Lesson 2 (Funk)

Question 1: Describe the mixing and panning in this track. (Which instruments are prominent and which are in the background; which are central, which are left and which are right?) Make some suggestions about why the track has been mixed and panned in this manner. 

The instruments used in that track are:

1. Bass

1. Keyboard

1. Vocals

1. Trumpet

1. Saxophone

1. Drums

1. Horns

1. 
   

The bass is the strongest instrument in this track, it's the instrument opening the intro and it is also the main groove of this track.

As you can see while you listen to the music is that the vocals are behind the bass and the piano  is on the left and the trumpet is on the right, and about the horn and the drums they are panned to the centre.

Question 2: Is this track a funk track? What musical / sonic components of the track suggest that it is and which suggest that it is not?

When you listen to this track you will recognize the genre of it which is 'funk' and the reasons why are:

• The instruments in this track (Bass, Drums, piano, trumpet, saxophone) and these are The instruments you will find in funk songs.
• The bass being in the front and maybe being the main instrument in the song, because as you can hear in this track the bass is the main groove and that's what many funk songs have the bass doing in it.

Functions of a keyboard (2)

Q1: Briefly describe the functions of the three pedals you would find on a grand piano.

There are three pedals on a grand piano. One of the pedals is called 'Una corda' which is the one on the right side then we have the 'Sostenuto pedal' which is the one in the middle and the 'Sustaining pedal' which is the on the left.

• Una Corda: It makes the sound quitter, it dampens the sound.
• Sostenuto Pedal: It hits one note, letting the others strings vibrate and resonate.
• Sustaining Pedal: it makes the notes vibrate and resonate. It brings the hammers up.

Q2: Give three differences between a grand piano and an upright piano.

One of the differences between the grand piano and the upright piano is that the Grand piano is more expensive than the upright piano and the grand piano is more resonate, bigger sounding. The way you press the keys on the upright piano it doesn't give you a full range of characteristics of dynamics than a grand piano.

Q3: What parameters can you control with the keys of a midi keyboard?

The parameters you can control if you are on a Midi keyboard is that you can be able to change the volume of it because all Midi keyboard has a botton when you can change th volume up and down, you can also control the modulation and bending the pitch of it. 

Q4: If you use a sustaining pedal on an electric keyboard or with a midi controller keyboard, what does it do? What does it not do which a real sustaing pedal does?

Q5: What are the advantages/disadvantages of shaping midi data using a keyboard? Give some examples of when using the software interface may be better.

Landmark Songwriter Analysis

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson style of music was Pop, R&B and soul. One interesting thing about Michael is that instead of writing his songs on a piece of paper like most artist do, he used to record the words/lyrics in a voice recorder then record them in the studio just by memory.

He was not limited to just doing Pop, R&B and soul, he often explore different genres of music, for example, Rock, Funk, Dance, Motown, etc...

Michael Jackson is noted songwriter in the music industry, this is proven as he as actually won a Grammy Award for 'Song Of The Year' and that Award can only be won for songwriters for the song, and the song he won this award was the song 'Beat It'. Michael Jackson's songs have wide range of topics for instance his world wide called 'Thriller' which was based on the concept horror films because in the video clip you can see zombies and abandoned house. There's another song called 'Heal the World' which is a song that he wrote, it was the hit album and the song talks about helping people and generosity. One of the things Michael Jackson said about the song 'Heal the world' is that it was the song he was more to have created and also because of that song Jackson created a charitable organisation which it is a place for children to improve their lives and the name of that charity is called 'Heal the World Foundation'. There's also another example of Jackson's song and it is called 'Dirty Diana' which is about a provocative and sensual woman who go after 'Boys in the band.

The way he writes his music:

Michael Jackson best known as 'King of pop' was one of the best songwriters we had in the music industry followed by Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley and David Bowie but they are all different because their style of music.
Michael began his music career at the age of five with the vocal group called 'Jackson family' and because of that Jackson got loads of experience with music and learnt loads of things but with all these things he had to work really hard to become one of the most important people in the music industry and the king of pop.
Michael has loads of song that are famous for example: 

• Thriller
• Billie Jean
• Human nature 
• Beat it
• ABC
• Dirty Diana and many others.

The song 'Thriller' talks about demonstrates that nobody can resist the temptation of evil. Thriller is a thrill song and in the video clip you can see Michael dancing with the living dead and there are werewolf, zombies, were cat and all this scary things/Halloween stuff.
The Key of the song is in 'C sharp major' and the structure of the song is Intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, then verse again, pre-chorus, chorus, then there's a middle 8 and then another chorus which is repeated twice and the breakdown. The tempo of the song is moderately and the instruments you will find in the song are the guitar, piano, synths and some effects. The style of that song is a dance pop song.

Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse style of music was Jazz, R&B, blue and soul. Amy was an English singer, songwriter and composer.

Amy's parents influenced her that's why most of her songs are Jazz because of her parents influencing her with that style because many of her family members were professional musicians and their style were Jazz.

All of her songs were about what she was feeling, about her life, what she was going through and many of Amy's song were about her feeling depressed. The people who inspired Amy Winehouse were the American Jazz singer 'Sarah Vaughan' and the American Jazz, blues, gospel, etc singer called 'Dinah Washington'. One of the things that Amy had different from the other singers was her unusual deep voice and that made people listen to her once and don't forget that the way she sings and her deep voice. The album the opened the door  of fame for Amy Winehouse is the album called 'Back to Black' that album is the one that set off her music career and listening to that album and the lyrics you can imagine what she went through because it talks about  Amy's experience with drinking, drugs and sex because she through a period where she started drinking a lot, and started using heavy drug and started loosing weight.
Unfortunately at the end of Amy's career as a musician she suffered drug abuse and alcohol abuse and at some of her concerts she drank alcohol and used drugs before she goes on stage and that really affected her performances. Amy is musically and specially lyrically good, she tells her story and the things she went through when she started using drugs, drinking alcohol etc through her songs.

The way she writes her music:
Amy was an amazing songwriter, she was young and didn't take long for her to become one of the best songwriters in the music industry. Because of her lyrics which are very strong and the meaning that it gives to the people who listen to her music.
Instruments you will find in her songs are guitar, piano, backing vocals, percussion, etc.
The songs by Amy Winehouse that are very famous in the music industry are:

• Valerie
• Back to black
• Rehab and many others

The song 'Back to black' talks about how her falling in love with this guy and her love for him, and being together. The song is sad and the lyrics gives a feeling of her losing someone because he goes back to his other girlfriend and leave her behind, and she goes back to black which means nothing and she just wishing to have what she wants but she can't because the person she wants left her to be with someone else.

The key of the song is in 'D minor' and the structure of the song is Intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus then chorus again, then middle 8 which is just instrumental and then she repeats the chorus twice before the songs end. Tempo of the song is moderately and the instruments you will hear in this track are the guitar, piano, percussion, tambourine and bells.

The feel you have when you listen to this song is sad, because of the way Amy is singing the song, specially after the second part of the song which is the second verse and chorus, the song goes emotional and it affects the people who listens to it because it show how sad she is. 

Bob Marley

Bob Marley style of music was Reggae, Ska and rock steady. Bob was an Jamaican singer, guitarist and composer. Bob is the most famous Reggae singer of all time and he is also known as 'The king of Reggae' because he was the one who created the Reggae style. The instruments that Bob knew how to play were:
Vocals, guitar, piano, saxophone, harmonica, percussion and horn, and these are some of the instruments you can hear in a Reggae song and most of his song you can hear the guitar being played on off beat which is beats 2 and 4 and the name used for that action is called is 'Skank'.
Bob Marley took inspiration from 'Ricky Nelson' which is a American singer songwriter, a band called 'The Moonglows' which were a American R&B group and also the American Rock n roll and R&B pianist called 'Fats Domino' who were also a singer songwriter.
Bob also had a band called 'The Wailers' which was formed in 1963 which were a Reggae band created by Bob Marley, he was the lead singer and the guitarist of the band and during his time in the band they had success and fame. Bob Marley was born in 1945, in the late 1960s he created the Reggae and in died in 1981 because he had cancer, and just because he died that didn't make him less famous because after Bob's death he became more famous than when he was alive.

The way he writes his music:
Bob Marley is a great singer songwriter and very famous because he created the style of music Reggae and because of his lyrics which has strong messages in it and the people who listen to it can feel it.The songs by Bob Marley that are very famous in the music industry are:

• One Love
• No woman no cry
• Could you be loved
• Three little birds and many others. 

The song 'One love' is one of the most famous song in the music history, the song talks about Bob's love for the world, for other people, for God and to make people realise that we are all one (we are all the same). 

'One love, one heart
Let's get together and feel all right' 

The key of the song is in 'Bb major' and the structure of the it is  Intro, verse, chorus, verse, 
chorus and then repeats the chorus again. The tempo of the song is a bit slow and the instruments you will find in that song are the guitar, piano, backing vocals, percussion which is a reggae one and the strum.

The feeling you have when you listen to this song is relaxed, because the tempo of the song is not fast and the instruments. There are harmonies in the chorus and the backing vocals comes in the first and second line of each verse.

If you don't know what reggae is, then that song is the best example of a reggae song and I'm not saying that just because it was created by the 'King of Reggae' but because of the instruments, the off beat, the guitar, repetition of chords, the song being played in a slow tempo, the strum, etc. These are the things you will find in a Reggae song.

David Bowie

David Bowie style of music is Rock, Pop and rock. David is an English musician, record producer and arranger. David Bowie took his inspiration from the artists 'Elvis Presley' which is an American singer and also the singer called 'Little Richard' which is an American pianist singer and songwriter and that is some of the artists that David Bowie used inspirational ideas from and David also took a similar style to 'Anthony Newley' who was an English singer and songwriter. Bowie didn't listening to other people's music to have a ideas of something, he just listened to his owns. One of the remarkable things about Bowie is his distinctive voice, and some people call Bowie 'a vocalist of extraordinary technical ability' because Bowie is able to pitch his singing to particular effect. In the late 1960s, that is when people started to get more interested about Bowie's music, because one he wrote which is called 'Space Oddity' was the song that reached the top five of the UK singles Chart.

The way he writes his music:

In some of his lyrics David bowie used a technique called cut-up which is influenced by another songwriter called Kurt Cobains. As I've said before, Bowie's inspiration came from the artists Elvis Presley and Little Richard.
David wrote a song  and has a album called 'Space Oddity' and in this album you will understand his ability of writing songs. The song 'Space Space Oddity' which is one of the most famous songs by him and what inspired him to write this song was the movie called 'Space Odyssey' which is a song that tells the story of an astronaut who cuts off his communication with Earth. One of he greatest ability he has is using his voice to make any sounds in a song.

Style Band Workshop

Reggae

7th January (Monday)

Today our teacher because we started a new term, our tutor Olly told us that we are going to cover 4 different genres and they are: Reggae, Latin, Funk, Blues and Electro.

Today in the first lesson of the term our teacher told us that we were going to start doing a cover song and the song is called 'One Love' by Bob Marley and the genre of that song is Reggae. He put us into two different groups but both groups are playing the same song and in my group I have Donavon (Vocalist), Demver (Piano), Shannon (Vocalist), Caitlyn (Vocalist), Joe (Bass), Jacob (Drums), Kline (Piano) and myself playing the guitar.

After telling us about the cover song and the groups we were in, he put my group in another room so we could start rehearsing the song because after the rehearsal we were going to perform for the other group to show them how we were progressing.

My group is doing good but there are things we need to improve, for example, the vocalists need to learn the lyrics, the string players need to know the right chords because my group decide to add one more chords in the verse, so it sounds and in my opinion the drummer is doing ok. What we need to do now is just communicate with each other because some of the people in my group think the song is a bit slow, so if we talk to each other we can change the tempo of the song.

When we found out the song was a bit slow, was too late because the teacher came back in the room we were to tell us we were going to perform for the other group. The other group performed first and they were good, they were in time, the vocalist knew the lyrics and the pianist and the string players also know what they were doing I just couldn't really hear the guitar but the bassist knew what he was doing. Then we performed and we know what we need to do make the song sound better.

(Smart Target): My smart target is to learn the right chords and listen more to the song, so I know when to change chords.

9th January (Wednesday)

On Monday our teacher put us into two groups because we are doing the cover of the song 'One love' by Bob Marley and the genre of that song is reggae and each week we are going to do cover songs but in different genres and same with the original songs we are going to write.

Today in the rehearsing  lesson our teacher put us into different groups because we are going to start writing original songs but in different genres and the genre of this week is Reggae and the people who are in my group for that song are Caitlyn (Vocalist & Acoustic guitar), Harry (Bass), Danielle (Vocalist), Garnett (Piano) and me who's playing the acoustic guitar. We had a good start, we've done the first and second verse, the chorus and maybe we are going to add a middle 8 and if it happens then Harry is going to rap the song. All of us is doing something different, Caitlyn in playing the acoustic guitar and she is the one playing the chords, then we have Danielle who is singing, then there is Garnett who is playing the Piano and what he is doing is just holding the chords, Harry didn't start doing anything yet because he came late to the lesson and what I am doing is just playing the same chords that Caitlyn and Garnett is playing but I'm doing like a riff for the song so it doesn't sound the same.

After the rehearsal we went back to the main rehearsal room and performed the song to the other groups to show them how we are progressing and how our song sounds like.

(Smart Target): The only smart target right now is just to write a middle 8 for the song and teach Harry the chords for the song and help him to make a nice bass line that goes well with the song.

Funk

14th January (Monday)

Each week we are doing different genre of music, last week the genre was 'Reggae' so we had to do a cover song and a original song and it had to be Reggae style. Now on the second week, the style we are doing is 'Funk' so we had to do a cover song about that style and the song we are covering is 'Super Freak' by 'Rick James'.

My teacher put us in different room so we could start rehearsing the new cover song. The people in my group are me (Guitar), Garnett & Kline (Keys), the vocalists are Yemisi, Le Shaun, Emanuel, Shannon. Harry (Bass) and Matty (Drums). While me and harry were learning the chords, the singers were learning the lyrics and deciding who were going to sing each part of the song. The person who were leading us was Kline, he was the one asking people in the group if they knew what to do and if they didn't then he was going to help them to get things right. The only problem we had during the rehearsal was with the singers because some of them didn't know the lyrics, there wasn't enough mics and some of them forgot the harmony but me, Harry, Garnett, Matty and Kline knew what we were doing. Then the teacher put the singers into another room so they could work their harmonies and learn the lyrics. After that the singers came back to the room we were and then we went through the song all together and it was sounding good.

(Smart Target):  The things we need to do now is just work more on the pre-chorus & chorus, and make sure all of us know what we are doing, make sure the singers know the lyrics and know what part each of them is singing and just go through the song together and make it sound better than before.

16th January (Wednesday)

Today we are on our second week which is the funk week and we have to a cover song which we already did on Monday and today we are doing a original song.

In my group I have Caitlyn and Danielle who are singing, Garnett on the keys, me playing the acoustic guitar and Harry playing the bass.

The chords we are using in our Funk song are D-Fm-G-A and we just keep playing the same thing in the whole song, but we try to do different things with it, for example, in the beginning of the song which is the Intro the acoustic guitar is the instrument opening the song and what I am doing is just playing this 4 chords but instead of strumming the chords I am plucking them and the Danielle who's the one singing, decided to go on the Drums just to do something in the beginning with me and then stop and just sing the song, Garnett is playing the four chords and harry is doing the same.

In the end of the rehearsal we were pretty happy with our progress because we finished the song and it sounded really good.

(Smart Target): My smart target for that song is just to keep playing it on my free time and at home, so I don't forget how it goes and try to do something else on the guitar to make it sound better.

Latin

21th January (Monday)

This week the style of music we are doing is 'Latin' so it means that we are going to do a cover song and original song about that style of music. Because today is Monday, we need to do a cover song and on Wednesday with my group we'll have to write a Latin song.

Today in the lesson, not much students were in because of the bad weather so instead of putting us into two different groups, our teacher put the students who came in, all in the same group to do the cover of the song 'Tropicalia' by Beck and the genre of that song is Latin. The people in my group are Demver, Donavon  Jacob, Matty, Shannon, Emanuel, Andre, Danielle, Garnett, Jordan, Harry and Kline. That is my group for the Latin song, because the other students didn't come my teacher had to make another group.

The first thing we started doing was to know what each of us was going to do and our teacher was telling was, then he was showing each of us what we were going to do, were telling us what chords to use, we telling the singers about the harmony and playing the song for us so we had an idea of the song and to know what each of us were doing.

In the beginning we were a bit lost, but the when we were going through the song and making sure about what we were doing, the song was getting much better.

The teacher put the singers in another group so they could start learning the lyrics, knowing what each of them were singing and what part they were singing. Then in the other room where I was, we were learning the chords of the song, listening to it so we knew where to change chords and know what to do. We played the song many times because some of us were kind lost because we didn't know when to change. But in the end of the day, after rehearsing the song many time we got much better and the song sounds better now because all of us now know what we are doing.

(Smart Target): The things we need to do is just to listen more to the song we are covering because today was the first time we heard that song and because we didn't know the song that well we were kind lost, but if each of us listen to the track and practice at home or even in College in their free time so we can play the song perfectly.

23th January (Wednesday)
The people in my group for the original songs are Caitlyn, Danielle, Harry, Me and Garnett.
This genre for this week is 'Latin' and we need to an original Latin song in group, so the first thing we've done together was to research on the Internet some Latin songs plus we listened to some Latin songs on you tube to have an idea of the rhythm, tempo, etc.
After spending about 10 minutes looking on the internet to know more about that style we came up with some good chords which are E7/Eb7/Am/Am6, Garnett which was on the piano started playing them and we agreed the chords were good, I got the guitar and started playing the same chords but in a different way so it didn't sound boring, while Garnett was just holding the chords I started strumming them and then Harry started playing the bass and just playing same chords and Danielle went to play the Conga' which is a Latin instrument and would make out song sound more Latin. After listening to all the instruments playing together and having an idea of what the song would sound, Caitlyn started writing lyrics for our song and she had an great idea of putting some Spanish words on our song which made it sound better.
We only had an hour to make our new song, so the only things we came up with was a verse and a chorus.

(Smart Target)
Smart target for this week is just to book a room and practice the song again, so Caitlyn can listen to the song and write another verse for the song and maybe a middle 8 or we can just play the instruments for the middle 8.

Blues

28th January (Monday)

Today in the 'Band workshop' lesson we started doing our blues cover and the song we are doing is 'a change is gonna come' by Sam Cooke. The first thing the teacher did was two put us into two different groups and then we tried to work out the chords but they weren't all correct so the teacher came back in the rehearsal room where we were and told us the rights, after that he played it on the piano so the people who were playing the keyboards which were Dar and Kline knew what they had to do on the keys, after that my teacher asked me if I knew all the chords and told me to play the strings one by one instead of just play chords because the people who were playing the keyboard were playing chords, so if I change what I was doing the song would sound better because each one of us were doing something else.

We kept practicing the song for nearly two hours and the teacher kept helping us with the song, because sometimes we didn't know where to stop, or where to change the chords because some of us didn't know the song or knew but just didn't listen so much.

In the end of the day just like the other rehearsals we had in the last few weeks, we had to perform the song for the other group and they had to do the same, so we could show them how we progressed for two hours and see how well they done.

In my opinion both group done well, but our one was a bit better because of the instruments and the singers. The reason why I think the other wasn't that good was because of the instruments because they had drums, piano, bass, violin, guitar, and the vocals but what you could hear more in their song was the guitar and the drums and a bit of the violin sometimes.

(Smart Target): My smart target is just to listen to the song, check the chords again and practice it at home.

30th January (Wednesday)

This week is the 'Blues' week, that means we have to do a cover song and a original song based on the genre of music 'Blue' and on Monday we've started our cover song, which is 'A change is gonna come' by Sam Cooke and today we started writing our Blue original song.

Just like the last few weeks, our teacher put us into different rooms to rehearse and helped some of us to get the right chords, because most of the Blues songs you will find major chords, 7th and 9th, etc so he wanted us to use it.

When we got in the room where we were going to practise, one of the people in my group Garnett who's the one playing the keyboard he said he already had some chords for us to use in the song, and they were the right chords and actually sounded nice together, the chords are F7,C7,Gm and Dm7 which are some good chords to be in a blue song. After 10 minutes listening to the chords Garnett were playing, we talked to know who were going to do what and we decided that I was going to playing the acoustic guitar, Harry and Danielle were going to sing, Garnett keys and Caitlyn who came 20 minutes late for the rehearsal was going to play the Harmonica.

After we talked and decide what each one were going to do, Danielle and Harry started writing the lyrics for the song and we had 30 minutes to write something, so we just kept playing the chords for them so they had an idea of what to write and in the end of the rehearsal we came up with 2 verses and a chorus and just like the other rehearsing lessons we had, we had to perform for the other groups what we've done and again in my opinion, our group was the best one but one of the reasons for that is because we were the only group that actually had all the members in it, because in the other groups some people came late or weren't in.

(Smart Target): My only smart target for that song is just to keep practicing it at home so I don't forget how it goes, and try to find some nice chords to play in the middle eight.

Electro

4th February (Monday)

Today in the 'Band workshop' lesson we started doing a electro song because this is the electro week which means we have to do a cover and write a new song based on that genre.

The song we are covering is called 'Heartbeat' by The knife and just like the other weeks, our tutor put us into two different groups and in my group I have Demver, Donavon, Shannon, Matty, Le-shaun, Harry, Andre and Danielle and we went to the second biggest room which is the 140 and there we had some instruments to help us with our electo song, for example, there are electric guitar, bass, electric drums, pianos, mics and synth.

I was the one playing the Electric guitar, Demver was on the keys, Le-shaun was rapping in the beginning of the song and also playing the synth, Matty was playing the drums, Andre was on the bass and the vocals in our group were Shannon, Donavon, Harry and Danielle. Some of us struggled because of what was going on on the song, for example, when our teacher told us what to do, he told me to play single notes and that's what was going on at the end of every chorus but because I don't know the song that well I didn't really know what to do so I started playing power chords and at the end of each chorus I tried to do something with the notes he showed me. Also who were struggling in our group was Demver, he knew what notes to play but he didn't know when to change but the rest went well.

After an hour rehearsing that song we went to the big rehearsing room to show to the other group how we were progressing and what we've done. Both groups went well but I think our group were better than the other one, first cause we had Andre playing the bass and because the vocals were much better.

(Smart Target): The smart target for this week is to listen to the song on my free time, practice  try to do more and not just play the power chords which didn't sound bad but I can do more. With my group we need to make the song sound more Electro because it wasn't sound that Electro to us.

6th February (Wednesday)

This is out last week of covering and creating song about the music genre Reggae, funk, Latin, Blues and Electro. Since we started the second term we were told that we were going to do cover and write song about this 5 styles and today is the last week.

On Monday we did a cover of an Electro song and as today is Wednesday we have to write a Electro song. For the original songs the people in my group are Caitlyn, Harry, Garnett and Danielle.

The first thing the teacher did this morning was to put us into different rooms so we could start our original song. Before we start the song we talked to know what each of us was going to do and we decided that I was going to play the electric drums and there wasn't going to have a electric guitar, Garnett and Caitlyn were on the keys, Danielle was singing and Harry was on the bass.

We had an hour before we go back to the big rehearsing room and perform what we've done together. when we got in the room we talked and then Caitlyn went on the keyboard and started to put some chords together which sounded pretty good and then all of us started joining what she was doing. Because it is a Electro song we need to worry more about the instruments than the lyrics. After knowing what we were going to do we started changing the sound of the instruments so they could sound more electro, the only instrument we didn't change the sound was the bass because we didn't have the right Amp for that, then our teacher Olly came in the room listened to what we did and gave us some feedback to make the song sound better.

After an hour rehearsing we came up with some interesting things but we just didn't have enough time to finish the song, so on our free time in college we were going to book a rehearsing room to finish then song.
While we were in the rehearsing room rehearsing everything went well but when we went to the main rehearsing room to perform in front of the other students something went wrong, Garnett who were playing the piano started playing out of time and we all had to stop because of it, but apart from that it was sounding good.

(Smart Target): My smart target for song is just to learn more things on the drums, even though I don't play it just to make it sound better and more electro because in a electro song the drums are very important.

Developing the songs

25th February (Monday)

Today we were rehearsing the songs called 'One love' by Bob Marley and 'Heartbeat' The knife. The first thing out teacher did was to put us into different rooms so we could start practicing our songs.

The first song we started rehearsing was 'One love' and in my group I had Demver, Caitlyn, Danielle, Donavon, Joe, Jacob, Andre, shannon and Sade. Me and Joe was playing the guitar, Jacob was on the drums, Andre on the bass, Demver on the piano and the rest Donavon, Caitlyn, Sade, Dani and Shannon were singing.

We didn't have problems tin rehearsing the song again because most of the people in my group practiced the song at home and didn't forget the lyrics, the chords and how the song goes. We had 45 minutes to rehearse each song which is not much time for us to practice  on the rehearsals we had more difficulties to remember how the song 'Heartbeat' goes because it is not an easy song and it has  a lot of things going on, but when we got in the other room we started practicing the song. The good thing about it was that all of us knew what the chords were and the bad thing its because we couldn't remember how the song goes so some of us watched the video our teacher filmed the last time we rehearsed it.

(Smart Target): The smart target for this week is just to keep practicing both songs at home so you know what you are doing and with the whole group to book a room and practice all together and not just wait for the lesson to rehearse it but also do it in our free time, and this is not just to make us remember how the song goes or to remember the chords but also to make it sound better and more interesting because that's what happens when you practice, you improve what you are doing. 

27th February (Wednesday)

On Monday we started developing out cover songs and today we started cover our original songs. The people in my group for the original songs are Caitlyn, Harry, Me, Danielle and Garnett. From the 5 original song we done we could only pick 3 of them and the songs we decided together to pick was our Funk, Blues and Latin song and in each of this songs some of us is doing something different for example, today the songs we practiced were our Funk and Blue original song and in the funk song, I'm playing the acoustic guitar, Harry is on the bass, Garnett on the keys, Caitlyn and Dany is singing and Dany is also playing the drum bass on the intro with me which she doesn't normally do because she always sings.

We have access to all our rehearsal videos which help us to remember what we were doing. On Monday we watched all the videos and today when we started practicing we knew all the chords, the structure of the song and how it goes, and that was good because we didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure out the chords, etc.

Before the end of the lesson we had to perform for the other group our funk song, so then they could give us some feedback and maybe ask if anyone wanted to join our song, but I don't think we need more people in it.

4th March (Monday)

Unfortunately our teacher is ill today so he's not here to teach, so we had to rehearse by ourselves, but that didn't happen because on of the music teachers let us in the rehearsing room to practice the song we're suppose to practice which is the cover song called 'Tropicalia' by Beck. While some of us was in the room trying to rehearse, some of the other students were just jamming, so some of us went to the other rehearsing room because the main room where the other students were jamming was too loud, so we went the other rehearsing room to try to practice the song by ourselves but it was a bit hard because the 'Tropicalia' song has most of us in it playing together.

Most of the people in my group wasted the 'Band workshop' lesson today doing something else when they were suppose to do the 'Tropicallia' song.

(Smart Target): The smart target today is for the people who are in my group to rehearse at home their roles in the Tropicalia song, so the next time we play together as a group we know what we each of us are doing, and know the chords and how the song goes, and also the lyrics of the song.

6th March (Wednesday)

Today in the band workshop lesson, we practiced one of our original songs which was our 'Latin' song, and the people in my group for that song are Caitlyn singing, Danielle playing the Conga drums , me on the acoustic guitar and on the bass. Unfortunately Caitlyn and Danielle couldn't come for the rehearsal so me, Harry and Garnett had to rehearse by ourselves but then our teacher told one of the other student Sheva to join us because she wasn't doing anything, so she came and joined us. The only problem we had with it was that we couldn't remember the chords for out Latin song so we had to research for new chords which we did, but because Danielle or Caitlyn wasn't there to help Sheva and Harry decided to write another lyrics for the song so see if it works, so we spent the whole lesson working on the new chords and the new lyrics, Harry and Sheva wrote 2 verses and 2 chorus and Garnett and I came up with some good chords, before the lesson finish we keep practicing the whole song and that's when Caitlyn arrives, so we stop what we are doing and ask her to sing the old lyrics, because if the first lyrics didn't sound good we were going to use the second one but then Caitlyn started singing our original lyrics which we did together before, and me and Garnett started working on the chords and we found them so we decided to keep the original lyrics because Caitlyn knew it and now we know what the chords are.

(Smart Target): Smart target for this songs are:

• Practice it at home/free time/at college with the band members.
• Don't forget lyrics or chords for it.
• Develop the song by adding another instruments or do something interesting things with the instruments we already have.

11th March (Monday)

Today in the band workshop lesson we spent one hour developing our covers and then another hour with the original songs because some of the songs were in need of practice plus we needed to practice them because our performance is going to be in few days.
The people who were doing the 'Tropicalia' song stayed in the big rehearsing room to practice it because most of the students were involved on this song and it is the song we need more help with. Our teacher was there to help us to make the song sound better, he instructed us on what we need to do and to tell us if something was wrong, so we could make it better. The problems we had with this song was that some of us forgot the structure of the song, me and another guitarist forgot the chords for the chorus, the instrumental bit at the end of the song everyone forgot what they were doing and didn't know when to come in so everything was just a mess at the end and the people who were singing couldn't remember what they were singing so we just kept practicing till all of us know we were dong and for the people singing to remember their lyrics. We had an hour to practice that song, It started sounding better but the song needs more work.
The we worked on 'One Love' by Bob Marley and 'Heartbeat' by The Knife and the only problems we had with that song was that some of us need to listen to the songs to know how both songs go and we had some problems with the chords for 'One Love' because in some part of the song I was playing the wrong chords and the other guitarist didn't know the chords for the song, so that was the only problem we had with one love, with the 'Heartbeats' song our drummer Matty wasn't here so Jacob had to drum for us but we didn't have a lot to do on that song because we know what to do, we just need to keep practicing it at home or book a room and practice all together.

Running through the whole set

13th March (Wednesday)

Today we received from our teacher the set list for our concert on Wednesday and today is our last day to rehearse as a group all the songs we are doing on Monday. The set list is:

1. Heartbeats

2. Shadow's Gone

3. Baby Don't Come 'Round Here No More

4. Waiting for You

5. Sweet Sugar

6. Tropicalia

7. One Love

Today in the class was we've done was to practice the whole set to make sure we knew the order of the songs and who were playing in each song. There are some song we already know what we are doing, for example, most of the cover song are done such as 'Shadow's Gone', 'Baby Don't Come 'Round Here No More', 'Waiting For you' and 'Sweet sugar. We just need to go through them once and don't worry about them because all of us knew the structure of the songs, the lyrics, the chords and knew what their roles was.

The only songs we had some problems with was the cover song 'Tropicalia' and 'One Love'. the problem we had to 'Tropicalia' was because we didn't practice it that much so some of us didn't know the structure of the song and the chords, Me and another girl were the only ones playing the guitar and we had some problems with the chorus because we didn't know what chords they were and because of that the chorus of the song was sounding empty but I still have time to learn the chords properly which I did. The other song we had problems with was 'One Love' by Bob Marley because again there were two people playing the guitar, me and another student but he didn't know the chords for the whole and I had some problem with the chords for chorus but I sort them out before the end of the lesson and out teacher was trying to teach the other guitarist the chords of the song. This both song were the only problem we have to sort out, so we'll need to work hard and dedicate on them if we want it to turn on right for our Performance on Monday.

Performance

18th March (Monday)

Today was our performance day.

Before we go to the theatre to do the soundcheck for our performance, me and another student with my teacher went to a rehearsing room just to go through the chords for the song 'One Love' by Bob Marley to check if they were all correct and to make sure we knew the structure of the song so we knew where to change the chords and we stayed in the room for 15 minutes and then we had a break of 30 minutes and after that we had to go to the theatre to do our soundcheck to make sure that everything was on their place and the mics were working and with the right volume, to make sure the guitar and bass amps were working and the piano plugged in and that's what we've done before we go through the songs. After some of us plugging in the instruments (guitars and bass) we went through the songs to make sure they were all sounding good, and to make sure the knew the order of the songs, the chords, the lyrics and the structure of the songs. After doing our soundcheck we sat and waited till we perform.

At 2pm the concert started and the first group to perform were the level 2 music and then level 3 music production, after them all perform was our turn so we went backstage and talked to the teacher and the students to make sure they knew the order of the songs and everything was good, the first song we performed were 'Heartbeat' by The knife which sounded great because all of us knew what to do, the was one of the original song called 'Shadows gone' which also sounded great, then was another original song which I was in playing the guitar and that one something went wrong, the first instrument starting that song is the piano and the drums and the drummer forgot the tempo of the song, he started playing it too slow and the piano was playing in another tempo and I was trying to follow them but the verses and chorus of the song went wrong because of the instruments but then when we speed up the song, we were all playing on time which make things a little better but we needed to work out the velocity of the song for the second concert at 7pm, then after our song there were two more original songs which in my opinion sounded good and then the last cover song which was 'One Love' by Bob Marley, unfortunately our teacher cut off one of the guitarist because he didn't know the chords for the song, so the wasn't anyone doing the 'skank' on the Reggae song but it didn't make any difference because we sounded great, the people playing instruments knew what they were doing and the singers rocked the stage.

On our second concert at 7pm the only song we needed to worry about were our blue original song which was slow in the first time we played it but me, the pianist and they drummer worked out the velocity of it seconds before perform it and everything went great and all the songs.

20th March (Wednesday)
On Monday the only song we performed from all the original songs we've done together as a group was our blue song which in my opinion was our best song in terms of structure, and instruments parts, lyrics, chords and rhythm and melodies.
Today in the band workshop lesson we had to finish developing our two other original songs we chose to perform which are our 'Funk' and 'Latin' song, these are the songs we chose to play in the next gig because we nearly finished them, for example, we nearly finish the lyrics for both songs, we know the structure of the songs, we know what each of us is doing and for the people playing the instruments we know when to change, and the people who are singing know the lyrics of the songs.
So today we spend 30 minutes working in one song and another 30 minutes working in the other song. the first song we started working on was the 'Latin' because we had more to do on the one, because the last lesson we had to do that song Caitlyn which is the one who's singing it wasn't in we had to try to rehearse the song without her so we just kept playing the songs without the vocals, so today we have Caitlyn to sing the song and have the 'Congo' which Danielle is playing we could finish our song. After spending 30 minutes developing our song, we wrote another verse for it and a middle 8, the only thing we had problem with was on how to end the middle 8 so our teacher Olly helped us, then we played the chorus one more time and finished our Latin song. We spent more than 30 minutes with the Latin song because we knew what to do on our Funk song, we knew the structure of, the chords, the lyrics, so we just rehearsed the whole song twice and then we were done.

25th March (Monday)
Today is our last performance for the Reggae, Funk, Latin, Blues and Electro song.
On the 18th of March we performed in the theatre our best original songs and some covers, and today in the band workshop lesson we're going to perform the other originals songs we haven't performed yet.
Before we perform the songs, out teacher gave us 40 minutes to just practice the songs one more just to make sure we know what we are doing, and we know how the songs goes and the chords and lyrics for them.
In my group all of us knew what we were doing, we knew the chords for the songs, the lyrics and knew the structure of the songs. For the first 25 minutes of rehearsal we had to do instrumental because Caitlyn who are in my group and is the one singing was late for the rehearsal, so we just did some instrumental for few minutes, our teacher came in the room and said it was sounding good which all of us agreed.
After 30 minutes, Caitlyn arrived and we started rehearsing again but this time with her singing the song, just to make sure everything was sounding great.
After 40 minutes of rehearsal we went to the big rehearsing room 139 and performed to the other groups our Funk and Latin song, both songs sounded great the only thing was, In our Funk song Danielle was playing the bass drums and singing and before we perform it she decided she wasn't going to play it so the song sounded a bit empty without a drums beat, but apart from that everything went great.

Compositions