Intro
A musical ensemble can also be referred to as a musical group. It is a group of musician’s who either play instruments or are vocalists join together and play songs together. It makes no difference what genre of music the ensemble is playing it will still be a musical ensemble. In this unit we were asked to form ensembles within our music class. We were asked to show that we understand the elements of a musical ensemble, and to blog the development of our practice session in the weeks counting down to the Oxjam gig. We were also asked to show all our planning. We also have to show our performances and evaluate them.
My Ensemble
In our first few lessons on working and developing as a musical ensemble we were told to think hard about the ensembles that we were going to form, also to think about the genres that we wanted to play and importantly; the songs we wanted to perform. We aranged that we were going to practice in the music department in a small practice room once a week, we made sure that the room was free every week at the correct time and it was. In the first few lessons Jasper Jynch and I began to talk about playing a song with a gypsy jazz feel. We tried a few gypsy jazz song ideas however they were not quite what we had in mind so we had a talk about what we were trying to achieve and we decided that something that is a bit different that people might not often hear or have never heard before. We liked the idea of playing a Spanish or flamenco song since I showed Jasper some of the flamenco songs that I have learned in the past. We had a listen to some Rodrego and Gabrella, they have lots of great Spanish songs that if jasper and I put the time in we could master.
Ensemble Practice 1
The video above is a recording of jasper and I experimenting with Stairway to Heaven in the first practice session. We did also discus playing some different songs some gypsy jazz songs and like Fast Car by Tracey Chapmin and Youth by daughter and Snow by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. We decided against these ideas and thought about doing something that had a Spanish or Flamenco feel to it. We watched the Spanish version of Stairway to Heaven by Rodrigo and Gabriella and decided that we liked the idea of playing our own instrumental version of it with a Spanish feel. In this recording I am playing the chords sequences from the original Stairway to Heaven whilst Jasper is improvising using an Am pentatonic scale. Jasper is playing in a flamenco style since we had just listened to Rodrigo and Gabriella’s version of the song. We found that we liked the Spanish feel that the Am pentatonic brought to the original Stairway to Heaven. I have the book of tablature and sheet music for the Rodrigo and Gabriella album that has Stairway to Heaven on it so I set myself the goal of learning the introduction to the song. I also learned it using tabs of the internet to look at alternative ways to play some of the fast runs.
Here is the URL of the version I looked at on ultimateguitar.com:
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/r/rodrigo_y_gabriela/stairway_to_heaven_intro_tab.htm
Since we recorded this video where Jasper is improvising using the Am pentatonic scale we have figured out another way to play the Am pentatonic scale further up the neck of the guitar an octave above what Jasper is doing in the video. We also messed around with playing some parts of the vocal melody using octaves on the high four strings of the guitar. The octaves are quite hard to play if you’re fingers are not used to the shape of the chord because you have to mute 4 of the strings on the guitar so that no sound comes from them whilst you sound the low octave and the high octave which have one string between them.
When I look back on the improvisations that Jasper is playing I can see what we were trying to achieve with the improvisations. There are parts of jaspers improvisations that I really like the part where he sweeps a fast run across the high four string and when he stars doubling what he is playing on the D and G string towards the begging of the recording. I think that a lot of the improvisations could have stronger melodies and could be improved a lot but there is definitely potential for some very nice Spanish sounding improvisations. Jasper has now got an idea of what he’s got to work on during the cores of the next week when he is at home.
Here is a youtube clip that helped me to work some of the intro:
In this video Rodrigo from the group ‘Rodrigo y Gabriella’ is playing the intro the way that he arranged it in their version of the song. When you listen to their version you can hear that he picks out some of the vocal melodies and also follows some of the original picking that was written by the almighty Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin.
Here is the URL of the version I looked at on ultimateguitar.com:
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/r/rodrigo_y_gabriela/stairway_to_heaven_intro_tab.htm
Since we recorded this video where Jasper is improvising using the Am pentatonic scale we have figured out another way to play the Am pentatonic scale further up the neck of the guitar an octave above what Jasper is doing in the video. We also messed around with playing some parts of the vocal melody using octaves on the high four strings of the guitar. The octaves are quite hard to play if you’re fingers are not used to the shape of the chord because you have to mute 4 of the strings on the guitar so that no sound comes from them whilst you sound the low octave and the high octave which have one string between them.
When I look back on the improvisations that Jasper is playing I can see what we were trying to achieve with the improvisations. There are parts of jaspers improvisations that I really like the part where he sweeps a fast run across the high four string and when he stars doubling what he is playing on the D and G string towards the begging of the recording. I think that a lot of the improvisations could have stronger melodies and could be improved a lot but there is definitely potential for some very nice Spanish sounding improvisations. Jasper has now got an idea of what he’s got to work on during the cores of the next week when he is at home.
Here is a youtube clip that helped me to work some of the intro:
In this video Rodrigo from the group ‘Rodrigo y Gabriella’ is playing the intro the way that he arranged it in their version of the song. When you listen to their version you can hear that he picks out some of the vocal melodies and also follows some of the original picking that was written by the almighty Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin.
What did i input this week that had a possitive effect on the build up to the performance?
This week our ideas for the performance are starting to come together and we are starting to see improvements and we can now see that if we rehearse and put in the time and the effort then it wil pay off in the performance and we will do well hopefully and get a good end result. This
week I have made sure that I have done everything that I can do to assure that everything goes to plan. One of the things I did was organising weekly rehearsal time with jasper. I am lucky enough to be living very near to the college grounds so I decided that I might as well make the most of that and use my house to practice with jasper. So I said to jasper and jasper agreed that every Wednesday until the oxjam gig we will spend at least 45 minutes working on our song. If the rooms in college are full then we can always go back to my house and practice there. Because of me making this weekly practice schedule idea our piece is definitely going to be better in the end because if we don’t practice every week how can we expect to gel as an ensemble and how could we expect to do well? I think that this idea I had had a very positive effect on
the end result. One of big benefits of doing it at my house is that I have a big living room with a pa system set up in it which means there are no
problems setting it all up because it is my own kit. So we save time on setting up and we have more time to practise, as it getts neerer to the performance time then we can set EQ levels and make sure everything is ready.
week I have made sure that I have done everything that I can do to assure that everything goes to plan. One of the things I did was organising weekly rehearsal time with jasper. I am lucky enough to be living very near to the college grounds so I decided that I might as well make the most of that and use my house to practice with jasper. So I said to jasper and jasper agreed that every Wednesday until the oxjam gig we will spend at least 45 minutes working on our song. If the rooms in college are full then we can always go back to my house and practice there. Because of me making this weekly practice schedule idea our piece is definitely going to be better in the end because if we don’t practice every week how can we expect to gel as an ensemble and how could we expect to do well? I think that this idea I had had a very positive effect on
the end result. One of big benefits of doing it at my house is that I have a big living room with a pa system set up in it which means there are no
problems setting it all up because it is my own kit. So we save time on setting up and we have more time to practise, as it getts neerer to the performance time then we can set EQ levels and make sure everything is ready.
Ensemble Practise 2
In this lesson, Jasper and I figures out that the chord sequence toward the end of the original Stairway to Heaven is: Am, G, F, G. This is the chord sequence that Jimmy Page’s famous Stairway to Heaven guitar solo is played over. I decided that I should learn the solo. We then discovered that the chord sequence from Dani California by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers is only two chords different from the Stairway to Heaven chord sequence. Jasper already new the lead line from Dani California and I knew the chord sequence which is: Am, G, Dm, Am. In the video we are trying the transaction from the end part of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and the Chilli peppers Dani California. We liked the idea of blending these two songs because they are two totally different songs from two totally different eras of music, yet they seem to fit very well together. In this lesson I also showed Jasper the first part of the Spanish version of the Stairway to Heaven introduction. I was also set myself the goal of learning the verse section that follows the introduction before the next practice session so that I can be sure that I’m progressing in the piece and improving my sweep picking method.
When I listened back to this practice session I can see that we have made a good amount of progress and came up with some good ideas that we can work on and put into our performance. I like what jasper has done with the octaves in the beginning of the video. I like it because it does follow what happens in the Flamenco version of the song that was arranged by Rodrigo and Gabriella and it has a very nice Spanish feel to it. I do not like the strumming that I do right at the begging of the video because it sounds out of time and messy. This is because I was using a Spanish techniques witch I was not very used to using so it didn’t sound like I wanted it to. I like the way that we change the song half way to through the video and I think that when jasper plays the lead line he plays it very well and it fits perfectly. I think that we have made a lot of progress this week because we have started to get some ideas and foundations for our song which we are talking about putting together.
I found some of the sweep picking in this song very hard to master so i watched some youtube totorials to help me. Sweep picking isone of those things that you cannot master over night. It takes lots of time and it takes lots of practice and it takes lots of patience.
Here is one of those videos:
When I listened back to this practice session I can see that we have made a good amount of progress and came up with some good ideas that we can work on and put into our performance. I like what jasper has done with the octaves in the beginning of the video. I like it because it does follow what happens in the Flamenco version of the song that was arranged by Rodrigo and Gabriella and it has a very nice Spanish feel to it. I do not like the strumming that I do right at the begging of the video because it sounds out of time and messy. This is because I was using a Spanish techniques witch I was not very used to using so it didn’t sound like I wanted it to. I like the way that we change the song half way to through the video and I think that when jasper plays the lead line he plays it very well and it fits perfectly. I think that we have made a lot of progress this week because we have started to get some ideas and foundations for our song which we are talking about putting together.
I found some of the sweep picking in this song very hard to master so i watched some youtube totorials to help me. Sweep picking isone of those things that you cannot master over night. It takes lots of time and it takes lots of practice and it takes lots of patience.
Here is one of those videos:
Ensemble Practise 3
In this lesson Jasper is playing the introduction and I am trying to pick out the vocal melody on top. We liked the idea of picking out the melody line because it means we can have sections that are not totally dependent on singing and still have the famous melodies that people recognise from Stairway to Heaven. From this session we had the idea of playing the melody line using octaves to create a nice instrumental flamenco sound. We left this lesson thinking about different way to put octaves into our piece. In this lesson I also gave Jasper my Rodrego and Garbella guitar tab book to take home and learn the introduction from there version of Stairway to Heaven. We decided that Jasper should play the introduction and take the lead role for the first part of the song because I'm playing the solos in the latter sessions. I started to look at the solo from Stairway to Heaven this week.
When I watch back the video I notice that jaspers playing his guitar part absolutely flawlessly and that he has really perfected the finger picking technique that is involved in playing this song. I know that I have a lot of work to do to improve my finger picking, I can learn from the way Jasper finger picks and incorporate that into picking part and my parts in the song. In the video I am improvising around the Am pentatonic scale and I think that I clearly have a lot of things that I could improve on in my improvisations. The few parts in my picking part where I tap into the vocal melody that was written by Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. When I am not following the vocals ii think that the improvisations sound like they don’t really fit and they sound a bit random and out of place but because the vocal melody is so recognisable and famous when you hear it you automatically tune in to the song. I think that I could sort out some kind of way to pay the vocal melody and alter it slightly so that it is not quite the same as the vocal melody from the original. I do not like the part where I palm mute it and play it like it’s a build up because it sounds so alternative and punk rock witch just ruins the beautiful melodies of the masterpiece that is Stairway to Heaven.
Here are the tabs to the original version of the solo which is more or the version that I intend on playing. Here is the version of the tab that i looked at on ultimateguitar.com:
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/l/led_zeppelin/stairway_to_heaven_solo_ver3_tab.htm
When I watch back the video I notice that jaspers playing his guitar part absolutely flawlessly and that he has really perfected the finger picking technique that is involved in playing this song. I know that I have a lot of work to do to improve my finger picking, I can learn from the way Jasper finger picks and incorporate that into picking part and my parts in the song. In the video I am improvising around the Am pentatonic scale and I think that I clearly have a lot of things that I could improve on in my improvisations. The few parts in my picking part where I tap into the vocal melody that was written by Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. When I am not following the vocals ii think that the improvisations sound like they don’t really fit and they sound a bit random and out of place but because the vocal melody is so recognisable and famous when you hear it you automatically tune in to the song. I think that I could sort out some kind of way to pay the vocal melody and alter it slightly so that it is not quite the same as the vocal melody from the original. I do not like the part where I palm mute it and play it like it’s a build up because it sounds so alternative and punk rock witch just ruins the beautiful melodies of the masterpiece that is Stairway to Heaven.
Here are the tabs to the original version of the solo which is more or the version that I intend on playing. Here is the version of the tab that i looked at on ultimateguitar.com:
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/l/led_zeppelin/stairway_to_heaven_solo_ver3_tab.htm
Ensemble Practise 4
In this lesson we were continuing the idea of octaves in our song. In the beginning of the video I am picking out the chord progression from the verse of the original Stairway to Heaven whilst Jasper is beginning improvising with the Am pentatonic scale and beginning to work out the vocal melody using octaves. Towards the end of the video we play through the build up section before the solo like in the original Stairway to Heaven and we decided that we were going to change it a bit. Though in the video Jasper is only improvising over the chords that I play, we left this lesson with an idea of working out an exact octave to the low picked chords higher up the neck using a varsity of bar cords across the E, B, G and D string.
When I watch back the video above I see that I am strumming the chords to the song a bit too hard and they would be a lot more affective if I was strumming them a lot more delicately. I could achieve this by strumming them with my fingers or even sorting out some kind of finger picking arrangement. I like some of the improvisations that jasper is playing and I think that his use of octaves on the higher four strings of the guitar are very nice. I think that it would be a good idea to try playing the vocal melody using octaves. It’s just an idea because it could very well be a bit too much and make it look like we are trying too hard to give the song a Spanish vibe. When jasper is using octaves I also notice that he was accenting the off beats of the bar. Whether he did that on purpose or by accident I think it has great potential to be used in one of the guitar solos or the guitar its parts in the version of the song that we are putting together at the moment. When we change from the verse section too the next section and jasper starts fixing slightly faster higher up the neck I think that this creates a very nice Spanish feel and I think that it is a good vibe and we should aim to get more of that in out song.
When I watch back the video above I see that I am strumming the chords to the song a bit too hard and they would be a lot more affective if I was strumming them a lot more delicately. I could achieve this by strumming them with my fingers or even sorting out some kind of finger picking arrangement. I like some of the improvisations that jasper is playing and I think that his use of octaves on the higher four strings of the guitar are very nice. I think that it would be a good idea to try playing the vocal melody using octaves. It’s just an idea because it could very well be a bit too much and make it look like we are trying too hard to give the song a Spanish vibe. When jasper is using octaves I also notice that he was accenting the off beats of the bar. Whether he did that on purpose or by accident I think it has great potential to be used in one of the guitar solos or the guitar its parts in the version of the song that we are putting together at the moment. When we change from the verse section too the next section and jasper starts fixing slightly faster higher up the neck I think that this creates a very nice Spanish feel and I think that it is a good vibe and we should aim to get more of that in out song.
Ensemble Practise 5
In the video above we are experimenting with singing whilst i play chords in the background and jasper doubles out the singing melody using octaves. I believe that this both, strengthens the vocal melody and adds a nice flamenco feel. Jasper and I discussed whether or not we did wanted singing in our piece and if we did want it, where it is load and quiet. We agreed that our version of Stairway to Heaven/Dani California was to remain mostly instrumental in the Stairway to heaven section of the song. This means we only have one verse of the original Stairway to Heaven. But as soon as we start the Dani California part of the song we are putting in two verses back to back and then the chorus. This is the same structure that the RHCP play in the beginning of the song.
In this practice session we made a lot of progress because we figured out the structure for the verse and we played our introduction going into our verse and we knew that that was the way we were going to keep it for the final performance at Oxjam. Jasper had been practicing the guitar part where he follows the vocal melody for only one day before we recorded this video so baring that in mind i think that Jasper has done a great job to play it to that standard. I noticed that I am strumming the chords a lot more gently and it does sound a lot better that it did when I was playing too aggressively. I did also try playing it with finger picking but it was hard to keep the same sort of beat going without the percussive element of strumming when you slap you hand down to the strings to keep the beat. I think that we can make some improvements on the dynamics in this section because when we are constantly playing at the same volume it is easy to lose interest in it because it can get a bit boring. When we make certain sections go very quiet and then go very load it does help to keep the audience interested. I am going to add more dynamic range by making my guitar parts die down and let the octaves that are following the vocal melody lead a bit more whilst my guitar part is in the background.
In this practice session we made a lot of progress because we figured out the structure for the verse and we played our introduction going into our verse and we knew that that was the way we were going to keep it for the final performance at Oxjam. Jasper had been practicing the guitar part where he follows the vocal melody for only one day before we recorded this video so baring that in mind i think that Jasper has done a great job to play it to that standard. I noticed that I am strumming the chords a lot more gently and it does sound a lot better that it did when I was playing too aggressively. I did also try playing it with finger picking but it was hard to keep the same sort of beat going without the percussive element of strumming when you slap you hand down to the strings to keep the beat. I think that we can make some improvements on the dynamics in this section because when we are constantly playing at the same volume it is easy to lose interest in it because it can get a bit boring. When we make certain sections go very quiet and then go very load it does help to keep the audience interested. I am going to add more dynamic range by making my guitar parts die down and let the octaves that are following the vocal melody lead a bit more whilst my guitar part is in the background.
Ensemble Practise 6
Three weeks before we recorded the video above, Jasper began learning the introduction from the flamenco version of Stairway to Heaven by Rodrigo and Gabriella. In the lesson we put the Flamenco introduction leading into the second half of the original introduction chords being improvised over by Jasper playing the Am pentatonic scale. We also began to work out a structure for our song. We are making our own version/mash up of Stairway to Heaven and Dani California. We decided that it would be better to take a lot of little sections out lots of the different versions Stairway to Heaven and just string them together and work out a structure than to simply cover one version and play what’s written down on a score.
When I watch back this video I am very pleased with the way that Jasper is playing the intro. I also think that his improvisations have improves a lot since the last time we were working with the Am pentatonic scale. I also like the way that the intro leads in to the first verse with vocals and with Jasper doubling up the vocal melody using octaves. I think that I could have done more to improve the dynamic rage in the verse. I think that when the singing came in I should have got my guitar pat to have died down to be very quiet so that the main thing is the vocal melody and the octaves. I think that there is a lot that I can improve on in terms of the singing part. I need to make sure that I get the words right for the real performance. I also think that I could make the singing in the verse sound a bit more natural and I am going to try and put more emotion into the vocals and think about the words when I am singing them because it is such a powerful song and the words are so meaningful.
Here is the basic structure we figured out in the lesson; this is very similar to what we play in the video above:
· Introduction Part One (Rodrigo Y Gabriella)
· Introduction Part Two (Original Chords with Jasper Improvising on the Am pentatonic scale)
· Verse One with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Pre Chorus with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Quiet section, like the original Stairway to Heaven(Jasper plays the original guitar riff written by Jimmy Page, whilst I play some subtle melodies using the Am pentatonic scale
When I watch back this video I am very pleased with the way that Jasper is playing the intro. I also think that his improvisations have improves a lot since the last time we were working with the Am pentatonic scale. I also like the way that the intro leads in to the first verse with vocals and with Jasper doubling up the vocal melody using octaves. I think that I could have done more to improve the dynamic rage in the verse. I think that when the singing came in I should have got my guitar pat to have died down to be very quiet so that the main thing is the vocal melody and the octaves. I think that there is a lot that I can improve on in terms of the singing part. I need to make sure that I get the words right for the real performance. I also think that I could make the singing in the verse sound a bit more natural and I am going to try and put more emotion into the vocals and think about the words when I am singing them because it is such a powerful song and the words are so meaningful.
Here is the basic structure we figured out in the lesson; this is very similar to what we play in the video above:
· Introduction Part One (Rodrigo Y Gabriella)
· Introduction Part Two (Original Chords with Jasper Improvising on the Am pentatonic scale)
· Verse One with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Pre Chorus with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Quiet section, like the original Stairway to Heaven(Jasper plays the original guitar riff written by Jimmy Page, whilst I play some subtle melodies using the Am pentatonic scale
Ensemble Practice 7
In the seventh practice session (the video above) we are working on the bridge section. We had an idea for this at the end of the fourth practice session. In the video we are trying this idea together for the first time. Jasper is playing the low picked version like in the original and I am trying to work it out a tone above the original. I am trying to work out what jasper is playing using bar chords across the high E, B, G and D strings. The idea for this came to us when we were listening to the bridge of the original Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin and we noticed it was
played on a 12 string guitar. When you duplicate things one tone up on two different guitars at the same time it gives the exact same effect as a twelve string guitar because a twelve string guitar is strung with six sets of two strings. The strings are the exact same notes as a six string guitar; the only difference is that there are two strings of the same note in a different octave to every-one string on a normal guitar.
When I listen back to us working out what we are going to do in the bridge section I notice that it is talking me a long time to work out the duplicate of what jasper is playing an octave up. In this session we did eventfully work it out and it did sound very nice and I know that our song is really starting to come together. I am starting to look forward to our performance at Oxjam instead of being nervous because things have been taking shape. Jasper has also made some huge improvements on the introduction of Stairway to Heaven so the song is really starting to come together.
We were continuing our song structure in this lesson and we have a new section to our structure. The song structure now looks like this:
· Introduction Part One (Rodrigo Y Gabriella)
· Introduction Part Two (Original Chords with Jasper Improvising on the Am pentatonic scale)
· Verse One with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Pre Chorus with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Quiet section, like the original Stairway to Heaven(Jasper plays the original guitar riff written by Jimmy Page, whilst I play some subtle melodies using the Am pentatonic scale
played on a 12 string guitar. When you duplicate things one tone up on two different guitars at the same time it gives the exact same effect as a twelve string guitar because a twelve string guitar is strung with six sets of two strings. The strings are the exact same notes as a six string guitar; the only difference is that there are two strings of the same note in a different octave to every-one string on a normal guitar.
When I listen back to us working out what we are going to do in the bridge section I notice that it is talking me a long time to work out the duplicate of what jasper is playing an octave up. In this session we did eventfully work it out and it did sound very nice and I know that our song is really starting to come together. I am starting to look forward to our performance at Oxjam instead of being nervous because things have been taking shape. Jasper has also made some huge improvements on the introduction of Stairway to Heaven so the song is really starting to come together.
We were continuing our song structure in this lesson and we have a new section to our structure. The song structure now looks like this:
· Introduction Part One (Rodrigo Y Gabriella)
· Introduction Part Two (Original Chords with Jasper Improvising on the Am pentatonic scale)
· Verse One with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Pre Chorus with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Quiet section, like the original Stairway to Heaven(Jasper plays the original guitar riff written by Jimmy Page, whilst I play some subtle melodies using the Am pentatonic scale
What ideas have i had and input to our song that had a possitive effect on the end resalt of the performance?
This week jasper and I are very close to the end performance and I have had the idea of dropping the tuning of the guitar by one half tones. This is exactly the same as is done famously by the almighty Jimmy Hendrix and SLASH from guns and Rosses. When we drop the guitars down a half tone then I means that the sinning in the song will also go down a half ton which means for me that the singing will not be as high and I will not have to strain my voice in order to reach the higher notes. I know that this will have a very positive effect on the performance because I feel a lot more comfortable singing the song when its down a half tone because there is a chorus that dose go very high in my range when the guitar is in standard. Because of this it means that the performance is stronger in a lot of ways.
Ensemble Practice
In the video above we are experimenting with the change between Stairway to Heaven and Dani California like we did in the second video I uploaded. In this video we are experimenting with different flamenco guitar techniques. I am playing the normal chord sequences but instead of strumming I am playing flamenco beat with my fight hand that adds percussive affects that can help to bring out the Spanish feel of the song.
The piece for our performance for Oxjam is really starting to come together. In the video above we are just experimenting with different ways to make the song sound more Spanish because we know that the main idea for this piece was that it’s going to stand out from the rest of the performances at Oxjam because it has a Spanish vibe to it.
In this lesson we also finneshed our song structure.
Here is the finished stucure;
· Introduction Part One (Rodrigo Y Gabriella)
· Introduction Part Two (Original Chords with Jasper Improvising on the Am pentatonic scale)
· Verse One with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Pre Chorus with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Quiet section, like the original Stairway to Heaven(Jasper plays the original guitar riff written by Jimmy Page, whilst I play some subtle melodies using the Am pentatonic scale
· The next section is the change to the solo
· Solo
· Dani California intro
· Dani California verse 1
· Dani California verse 2
· Dani California chorus 1
· Dani California guitar solo
· Spanish outro
The piece for our performance for Oxjam is really starting to come together. In the video above we are just experimenting with different ways to make the song sound more Spanish because we know that the main idea for this piece was that it’s going to stand out from the rest of the performances at Oxjam because it has a Spanish vibe to it.
In this lesson we also finneshed our song structure.
Here is the finished stucure;
· Introduction Part One (Rodrigo Y Gabriella)
· Introduction Part Two (Original Chords with Jasper Improvising on the Am pentatonic scale)
· Verse One with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Pre Chorus with singing (original chords in the background with jasper playing the vocal melody using octaves)
· Quiet section, like the original Stairway to Heaven(Jasper plays the original guitar riff written by Jimmy Page, whilst I play some subtle melodies using the Am pentatonic scale
· The next section is the change to the solo
· Solo
· Dani California intro
· Dani California verse 1
· Dani California verse 2
· Dani California chorus 1
· Dani California guitar solo
· Spanish outro
Evaluation
I think that the Oxjam gig overall was a success. We were unfortunate in a lot of ways like how there was a misunderstanding in the booking of the gig and we were not on the day that we originally intended. We also left a lot of the planning a bit late. I feel that the whole planning process could have gone a bit smoother if we had thought things through and we had done it before because for many of us this was our first unit and we had never put on any gigs before so we did not know what to expect. We also did not get the advantage the other music group got which was that they watched our performance that was on the Monday and take notes of all the things we could have done batter and doing it in there gig on the Wednesday. Things like how we did not have any seating areas other small things like that that we would have realised had we had the chance to watch the other group doing there’s like a run though of ours. I think that the stage was set up well however in the future there are some things that we could to better like position the piano in a place where the audience can see the pianist playing the keys but not just putting it across the front of the stage blocking all of the other musicians. We also could improve on the sound check because I did all of the levels and sound checks from all the performers and then half way through Wilf took over on the mixing desk so we could have been better prepared.
I feel that the performances I did went well. I think that my ensemble piece that Jasper and I played to open up the evening went well and sounded nice. We did not make many mistakes in the actual performance of the song and I think that this is down to the weekly practices that we had been having because by the time of the Oxjam gig I knew the song very well. It is a shame that the videos that were taken of the opening piece by jasper and I were talked over and not held still. I think that the overall sound quality was not bad considering that all the performers were unfamiliar with the collages music gear. There was some trouble in the positioning of the mixing desk because the leads we had to connect the amplifiers to the mixing desk were too short. This meant that we had to put the mixing desk pushed over to one side where we would not be able to hear the full mix of the music in the same way that the audience where hearing it because the speakers were directed at the audience. I mix on the mixing desk could have been better if we had had more time to discuss what we wanted and where we wanted the levels of the vocals coming through the two main monitors on the stage both on the left and on the right. But given the circumstances we were in when we had to sound check all the acts within about one and a half hours it went well. There was quite a lot of feed back during and between songs which is something we will have to address the next time we put on a performance.
In terms of our performance and how we played i am very happy because I played the guitar solo correctly and didn’t play a note wrong. Likewise jasper remembered all of his parts and played the introduction note perfect. When I watched back the video of the performance I think that it is a shame that there was so much noise and talking during the introduction of the song. This was simply because Jasper and I opened up the event and played first out of all of the performers.
I feel that the performances I did went well. I think that my ensemble piece that Jasper and I played to open up the evening went well and sounded nice. We did not make many mistakes in the actual performance of the song and I think that this is down to the weekly practices that we had been having because by the time of the Oxjam gig I knew the song very well. It is a shame that the videos that were taken of the opening piece by jasper and I were talked over and not held still. I think that the overall sound quality was not bad considering that all the performers were unfamiliar with the collages music gear. There was some trouble in the positioning of the mixing desk because the leads we had to connect the amplifiers to the mixing desk were too short. This meant that we had to put the mixing desk pushed over to one side where we would not be able to hear the full mix of the music in the same way that the audience where hearing it because the speakers were directed at the audience. I mix on the mixing desk could have been better if we had had more time to discuss what we wanted and where we wanted the levels of the vocals coming through the two main monitors on the stage both on the left and on the right. But given the circumstances we were in when we had to sound check all the acts within about one and a half hours it went well. There was quite a lot of feed back during and between songs which is something we will have to address the next time we put on a performance.
In terms of our performance and how we played i am very happy because I played the guitar solo correctly and didn’t play a note wrong. Likewise jasper remembered all of his parts and played the introduction note perfect. When I watched back the video of the performance I think that it is a shame that there was so much noise and talking during the introduction of the song. This was simply because Jasper and I opened up the event and played first out of all of the performers.