What we practiced up till now

Today we practiced Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston.It is going good.We kept thinking about a song instead of Lady Gaga-Million Reasons.The practice went good.Infact,even now as I am saying this again,I will practice individually whatever I had been doing with the group in these sessions which I do as to not waste time along with other work.This is going to be the change in plan for the next two lessons after spring break.We will make Harmonies as well.What went wrong is,Sometimes while practicing, We end up stretching the notes /phrases for long,but we will practice and know what we are doing,So that we don't go wrong in any particular stanza etc.

What I had also done to make this group work process for this Ensemble Assignment,Good is that I cooperated and communicated well with the group and participating in the rehearsals and paying attention to what Opinion we are talking about.Giving Options of Songs to rehearse and Choosing the best ones to perform it.

Today's written work

We will have to change the song from Lady Gaga to something else as I spoke about it before along with Whitney Houston-I wanna dance with Somebody.Otherwise all is good.

The group is very helpful and want went well and will we do better is that whatever we are rehearsing,We take a video of ourselves while rehearsing.That is a good part and I also do my individual practice in order to sing better and not just with the group.

In my previous post I wrote about a review about the Beatles but I might choose other albums as well to speak better.

One option could be the Beatles,to give a presentation on 10th May or some other Album/Ensembles

Thursday, 1 September 2016

A review of the Beatles -Abbey Road.

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr,they became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential act of the rock era."

"Trivia (39) The most successful pop group of the 20th century;they changed popular culture forever.From their first studio contract in 1962 until 1970, the Beatles lineup consisted of John Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr".

John Whinston Ono Lennon,MBE was an English singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beatles,the most commercially successful and musically influential band in the history of popular music.

Sir James Paul McCartney,MBE is an English singer-songwriter,multi-instrumentalist,and composer.With John Lennon,George Harrison,and Ringo Starr,he gained worldwide fame with the rock band the Beatles,largely considered the most popular and influential group in the history of pop music.

It has been a very good experience for me to listen to the songs of the Beatles-Abbey Road. It is a Rock Band and I also liked Reading about the history of it as well. I didn't know about the Beatles before. This is a new experience for me. I have recently relocated from India. The song which I liked the most from the Beatles is ' Hey Jude' because as they keep performing, many people come and join and then they start singing together and of course I liked other songs as well. I like all the singers of this group band. My favourite Musician is Paul McCartney as he plays the piano very well. Especially when I was listening to the Song " Because" and my favourite Instruments are the piano and keyboard.I also John Lennon playing the Keyboard. Now, I know that the Beatles is a very old Band and it is very Interesting to hear their music and see them performing.I also liked the Medley of the Rock band Songs.

Biographical information about my ensemble:- 



From their first studio contract in 1962 until 1970,the Beatles lineup consisted of John Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The famous lineup is also known as the "Fab Four" while many other musicians claimed the "Fifth Beatle" status."

The Beatles were a legendary rock group that formed in Liverpool,England,in 1960,and went on to transform popular music as a creative,highly commercial art form over the next decade. The Beatles were one of the most popular bands of all time,producing songs like "Yesterday,"Hey Jude," "Penny Lane, "With A Little Help From My Friends," " Norwegian Wood(This Bird Has Flown)," " Day Tripper" and "Come Together". Learn more about the "Fab Four"-John Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr-by exploring our Beatles collection.

Production techniques:-

According to Rodriguez, Revolver marks the first time that the Beatles "deliberately incorporated" the studio into the " conception of  the recordings they made", rather than using it "merely as a tool to capture performances". A key production technique that the band began using was automatic double tracking ( ADT), which EMI engineer Ken Townsend invented on 6 April. This technique employed two linked tape recorders to automatically create a doubled vocal track. The standard method had been to double the vocal by singing the same piece twice onto a multitrack tape, a task Lennon particularly disliked. The Beatles were  reportedly delighted with the invention, and used it extensively on Revolver. ADT soon became a standard pop production technique , and led to related developments such as the artificial chorus effect.

Another EMI engineer , Geoff Emerick, recalled that the Beatles encouraged the studio staff to break from standard recording practices, addings. " It was implanted when we started Revolver
that every instrument should sound unlike itself : a piano shouldn't sound like a piano, a guitar

shouldn't sound like guitar."

Musical style and lyric Content( Music and lyrics):-

Rad rogues writes that Revolver has been recognised as having " sparked (musical) sub genres with every track," anticipating electronica, punk rock, baroque rock and world music, among other styles. The album itself covers many genres, including acid rock, chamber music R and B and raga rock. In Rodriguez's view, the influences of Indian music permeates the album; aside from the sounds and vocal styling used on much of the recording, this influence is evident in the limited chord changes in many of the songs, suggesting an Indian-style drone.

Author and critic Kenneth Womack writes of the Beatles' exploring "phenomenologies of
consciousness "on Revolver, and he cites as examples "I'm Only Sleeping"'s preoccupation with
dreams, and the references to death found in the lyric to . " Tomorrow Never Knows". In Womack's estimation, the songs represent two important elements of the human life cycle that are "
philosophical  opposites".

Side one:-

        The guitar solo from "Taxman"

Womack characteristics the solo " like nothing else in the Beatles' corpus to date; for that matter, it hardly bears any resemblance to anything in the history of recorded music." He credits the track
with announcing a sweeping shift in the essential nature" of the Beatles' sound. 

  The backwards guitar solo from "I'm Only Sleeping":-

"I'm Only Sleeping" was the first of the three tracks cut from the US version of the three tracks cut
from US version of Revolver.

 Side two:-

" Good Day Sunshine" was written by McCartney,whose piano playing dominates the recording. Music critic Richie Unterberger describes it as a song that conveys"one of the first fine days of spring, just after you've fallen in love or started vacation."

Sound and Instrumentation:-

The album's sounds include the incorporation of tape loops and backwards recordings on the psychedelic "tomorrow never knows", the use of a classical string octet on "Eleanor Rigby", and the Indian - music backing of " Love You too."

Although strings were commonly used on pop recordings George Martins suggestion that a string
quartet be used on pop recordings George Martin's suggestion that a string quartet be used for the recording of " Yesterday " marked a major departure for the Beatles. McCartney recalled playing it to the other Beatles and Ringo saying it did not make sense to have drums on the track and John and George saying there was no point having extra guitars. George Martin suggested a solo acoustic guitar and a string quartet.

During the recording of "Eleanor Rigby" on 28 April 1966, McCartney said he wanted to avoid
"Mancini" strings. To fulfil this brief ,Geoff Emerick close-miked the strings-the microphones were almost touching the strings.

George Martin had to instruct the players not to back away from the microphones.

Microphones began to be placed closer to the instruments in order to produce a fuller sound. Ringo's drums had a large sweater stuffed in the bass drum to 'deaden' the sound while the bass
drum microphone was positioned very close which resulted in the drum being more prominent in the mix:" Eleanor Rigby " features just Paul and a double string quartet that ' the musicians were in horror'. In " Got to get You into My Life ," the brass were miked in the bells of their instruments then put through a Fairchild limiter.

According to Emerick, in 1966, this was considered a radically new way of recording strings ; nowadays it is common practice.

John Lennon- Guitars, Keyboards , Vocals.

George Harrison-Guitars, Sitar, Bass, Vocals.

Paul McCartney-Bass,Piano,Vocals.

Ringo Starr- Drums,Percussion, Organ, Vocals.

  For explaining about the band members in brief,these are as follows:-

John Lennon plays Guitar,Keyboard and Sings.

George Harrison plays Guitar,Sitar,Bass and Sings.

Paul McCartney plays Bass,Piano and Sings.

Ringo Starr plays Drums,Percussion,Organ and Sings.


For the overall above,whatever Songs they are performing,all of them sing and play the instruments which they are good at performing in front of the Audience.
Biographical information about my ensemble:-

From their first studio contract in 1962 until 1970,the Beatles lineup consisted of John Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The famous lineup is also known as the "Fab Four" while many other musicians claimed the "Fifth Beatle" status."

The Beatles were a legendary rock group that formed in Liverpool,England,in 1960,and went on to transform popular music as a creative,highly commercial art form over the next decade. The Beatles were one of the most popular bands of all time,producing songs like "Yesterday,"Hey Jude," "Penny Lane, "With A Little Help From My Friends," " Norwegian Wood(This Bird Has Flown)," " Day Tripper" and "Come Together". Learn more about the "Fab Four"-John Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr-by exploring our Beatles collection.

Beatles vs One direction.

"Harry Styles might have claimed that One Direction are " even bigger" than The Beatles,but Paul McCartney vehemently disagrees that any modern band will ever take his band's crown.The British singer and former Beatle, 73,believes the "Yellow Submarine" gang rose to global fame because they wrote their own music."

The Beatles and One direction:-

When Beatles first arrived in America,it was similar to when One Direction arrived in America. They were welcomed by Screaming girls who had already knew who they were. The personalities of the Beatles and One Direction are quite similar. When The Beatles were young, like One Direction,something audiences loved about them was their fun and energetic performances. One Direction keeps the audience intrigued by not only their popular hit songs,but also their upbeat  and funny selves. The personalities of the members of The Beatles and One direction are very comparable. The outfits of both bands all correlate. The boy band look is always the same;the color schemes of the boys all match. The look is a big part of the band especially for One Direction because they are more modern and today the look is everything. The bands perform in a similar way because they both have a ton of fun on stage and are ecstatic about their music and performing it. The bands connect with their audiences and make their fans feel special. A major difference between the bands is that One Direction doesn't play any instruments. The Beatles amazed their audience with their singing and ability to play instruments. One Direction just has One member,Niall Horan,who
plays the guitar in some  songs  and in the Beatles, all members of the band play instruments.

The songs, "Little Things" and "Yesterday", use Ethos similarly because they both cause the audience to feel true emotions. They relate The bands are different because The Beatles wrote the song "Yesterday",and One Direction didn't write the song "Little Things". The band builds a bridge to their audience in a way because the song is relatable to every day situations. During both of these songs,the bands connect with their audience on an emotional level in concerts. During concerts,tears are pouring down girls faces whether it's as they look at five boys of One Direction telling them that they're perfect and beautiful in every way or whether it's The Beatles belting out their inspiring words to their fans. Both bands are highly credible and one is not more convincing than the other. The simplicity of the instrumentation emphasises on the vocals of the boys. The tone of this song are similar because they reach out to the  audience and shows them a deep and sensitive side of The Beatles and a deep and sensitive side of themselves.

  

For today's lesson

For today's lesson,We should be working on some other song from the list which consists of the options of songs,Instead of Million Reasons by Lady Gaga because it is from 2000 along with I wanna dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston.And the same things happen in the next two lessons after spring break.

Change of songs for the ensembles assignment

We will have to change the songs from Million reasons to Something else because it is from 2000 with the other one which is Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston.Phoebe who is in another group,told Shania in my group and then She told me that.

Video of our rehearsal

https://youtu.be/D9txVssg-EE

This link gives the video of rehearsing the Song,Million reasons by Lady Gaga.The first week of our practice when we began to work on the Ensembles Assignment.

Blog post including what I rehearse individually at home as an ensemble

I have started rehearsing giving me a million reasons by lady Gaga with the backing track to get an idea of how are we actually practicing during the certificate lessons on Wednesdays.What we rehearse in the practice rooms in college are actually different because when we are working on music nose bless,It is a group practice and performance.I also listened to the Song "Whaitney Houston-Dance with Somebody" and I could sing along with the voice.When we get back on Wednesday for class,We are going to practice this song and if we have time,we can also practice million reasons by lady Gaga again. Overall the practice is going good.We will practice to make a better performance on 3rd May.

Listened to the song million Reasons by Lady Gaga

What I did is that,After practicing with the group in college,I had a listen to the song as well and I was practicing a little with the lyrics.I was just listening to get an idea as to how the song goes.

Options for Songs for Musical Ensembles

These are basically the options of Songs we are thinking of Performing on 3rd May for the final Assignment.I got my actual group for the assignment today as we are beginning today.

Songs:-

lady Antebellum-Need you know (2000)

Bob Marley - one love. (1977)

MJ Micheal Jackson -Pretty young thing. (1983) Pop music.

John Lennon -imagine (1971)

Whitney Houston -Dance with Somebody (1987)

Whitney Houston -How will I know (1985)

Ben E. King-Stand by Me (1961).

Lady Gaga- Million  Reasons (2000).

Today,we started practicing continuously the song "Million Reasons" by lady Gaga. The practice is going good and we took a video of us performing,will put it when it comes. We kept shifting to other rooms after every 40 minutes and practiced the same thing over and over again.

The two songs which we were supposed to choose for the recital,we already did that and the second one which we chose is Whitney Houston-Dance with Somebody and the first one is Million Reasons by Lady Gaga.We will practice the second song next week and we will rehearse both the songs before the performance.Overall,we are happy of what we chose for practicing for the performance on 3rd May,Why we have chosen it because it was our choice,the group members had asked me,whether it is Ok to practice these songs,I said yes because we are working as a group and can help each other.If it was a solo performance like the previous assignment,I would prepare my own songs which I would like to sing like I did in the previous assignment. Since,it is a group performance of working as a music ensemble,We can practice whatever will be suitable.

I list down the other options,in case if we need to change some of the songs.

Before we had started practicing to sing the song which we sang today,we had first made a list of songs to be prepared and keep the options open. I have never heard these songs before and it is easy to practice with the group if I work hard and pay attention as to What the group members and I are doing and being focused.

Open day performance last class

Last class which was on Wednesday,What happened was that some of the students were absent due to Acting performances etc.So what Philip did was that,he split all the girls in one group and the boys in one group and went to our respective rooms for practicing,As the teacher(Philip)said that we were going to perform on the open day at 4pm. So the girls were preparing one song with the backing track and the song which they had actually performed was one of the songs in which one of the girls in our class sang that particular song,It must have been Isabella if I am right or wrong.They performed with the backing track.

And we as the boys sang don't stop believing by journey and we made a group band.I was the singer,David was playing the bass and singing a little bit,Robert was playing the piano and Tone was playing the drums.The performance went Ok,We kept practicing in the individual performance rooms,And then finally we did a sound check at 4pm and performed in front of Philip,I sang the words clearly in the first performance during sound check and in the second time of performance for the actual open day on Wednesday,nobody came for the open day,So we again gave our final performance and I messed up  a little bit in the second part of the song because the tuning of structure
was the same for the three verses,but the lyrics were different in the second one.This gives a basic Idea about the music ensemble which is the next assignment we are going to work on.Now I have already got my actual group for the ensemble assignment and will work well to perform better and especially learn well individually and with the group of what songs we are going to select in order to make a better performance.

Viva voce examination essay

How I practiced for my recital is that,I had first selected the songs which would be Suitable for me and also which didn't have any backing vocals. After Selecting songs,I started practicing and rehearsing them and practicing to make a 25 minute performance while practicing for the final Recital. In my mock recital,I sang Castle of Glass by Linkin Park and wake me up when September ends by Green Day,I got a good feedback which Is why I performed these songs with other four songs for my Recital.My mock recital feedback was that I shouldn't stretch the phrases for long and find more shape in the phrases.Besides this feedback,In January when It was the time to prepare for the actual recital,Whenever Philip meaning you had asked,Who would like to Sing,I raised my hand and gave a mock performance and get a feedback to how I sang and whether this song was a good choice for me or not to perform for the recital. Why I wanted to do this is because,I felt that this was the time to prepare for the recital as part of the assignment and everyone is singing one of their songs and It was the only time before the recitals for the teacher to give feedback as to how to do better.

Similarly the week before my Mock recital,I sang wake me up when September ends,My feedback was that I shouldn't tap my foot as it will be distracting,Instead,I should tap my finger on the microphone and tap my left hand on my lap/leg which I did in my final recitals. In my recitals,I didn't stretch the phrases of the songs which I sang for my recital and especially the Hindi Song Dhooba Dhooba rehta hoon,In the end of that I let the music flow and it sounded good. In treat you better,I sang the phrase 'Better than he can in a lower octave rather than a higher octave because  We had to sing better than he can and immediately I had to sing the next part like from one phrase after the other. However,I feel that ,I was confident for doing well in this assignment and especially,for singing in my recital. I practiced a lot in my free time and for the next assignment,I can do even more better in the group performance as I will be working as a music ensemble.