Creating my music

My original piece was discussed with Hayley, and we discussed what kind of piece I was going to create. She suggested to go down a folky route as a piece I have posted further down has that kind of feel (Gabrielle Aplin and Lewis Watson-Droplets cover). I originally wanted to create a piece on the ukelele, however I don't think I'll be up to the standard I'd like to be when the performance comes around. We discussed creating a layered harmony piece on audacity. I think this will be effective as I can record my voice with different harmonies, and layer it up on audacity.

The droplets cover by Gabrielle Aplin and Lewis Watson has a real laid back feel to it, and the fact it was performed in a chapel allowed the voices to have a nice quality to them.

For my original piece I wanted to create something with my ukulele and my voice. As the ukulele is a new instrument to me, I decided to keep it simple and use easy chords to create my song. I decided to use the chords C, Am, F and G. For the strumming pattern, I used a down up down up down up pattern.

Vocal Techniques

I looked at “The Performer’s Voice” by Meribeth Bunch Dayme. This book discusses different vocal techniques and the ways in which you can potentially improve you vocals. Not only does it look at the vocals, but it explores the performance side and what makes and creates a good performance. Dayme gives us several different techniques and exercises to try for ourselves and I feel this a good way to reflect on our own skills as a vocalist and performer.

Looking at creating poor vocal and performance technique allows me to understand what is critical to be able to produce something good. Dayme tells us to try a phrase or sentence using “poor posture”, “so much abdominal pressure that the vocal folds are thrust apart at the onset of sound”, “by means of poor breathing patterns such as pulling the chest down” “by deliberately producing a breathy sound”, “ holding the breath before beginning the tone”. She gives us these areas so we are able to immediately realise what not to do. I think good posture is such an important part of singing and performing. The way you hold yourself and carry yourself not only helps the vocals flow and sound better, but it also portrays a much more confident and proud performance. Whereas poor posture displays an attitude of not wanting to be there and it most definitely does not allow for the vocals to sound to the best of their ability. After applying these bad techniques to a short phrase I found that my sound and vocals sound breathy and under pronounced. Working on these bad techniques and changing them, definitely showed a big difference. I could definitely hear how much my vocals sounded after changing my stance and my breathiness.

She also talks about phonation and how it generally comes natural to professional singers, however, to inexperienced performers, it’s something that tends to need to be worked on and nurtured. I feel that phonation is definitely something that vocalists need to pay attention to as pronunciation is important to a vocal piece. I have always found that certain words or letters I find difficult to pronounce well and clearly for an audience to understand. Working on pronouncing will definitely improve my performance.

I think after looking at Dayme’s ideas and work I have found it helpful towards my future work and skills. Understanding different techniques and the right and wrong ways to perform a piece will definitely be incorporated into my solo work or piece.

 

I have also been looking at diction and pronunciation with my vocal development as this is something I deem extremely important. "Although both music and lyrics are important for the musical accompaniment. if the words cannot be understood, the song can become meaningless.". (Diction for singers, 2001) If the words are clear and pronounced correctly it makes a lot of difference to the listeners as they feel much more included.

 

Meribeth Bunch Daye, The Performer’s Voice, 2005
Vocalist.org, Diction for singers, 2001, http://www.vocalist.org.uk/diction.html  

Ukulele

I recently bought myself a ukulele and want to try and teach myself. I have been using some simple books and videos such as this one to start learning. I have been following simple tutorials and managed to tune the ukulele. Listening to the notes and matching the ukulele strings. 

CHORDS



These are the major chords on the ukulele. I'm finding it tricking to remember the fingering of the chords. Also the fingering of the strings is proving difficult as I feel like I'm catching my fingers on the other strings whilst trying to play chords. 

I've been working on strumming the chords in sets of threes one after the other to try and get used to playing them and working on remembering the finger placements of the different chords on the strings and which ones are which. I also still need to remember the order of the strings.

Here are some videos of me playing some chords:

G Chord

F Chord

C Chord

This is the chord chart for beginners.

"Don’t strum near the hole of the ukulele. As I mentioned before you want your strumming hand to be able to reach the 12th fret of the ukulele as this is where you will be strumming from. I know it seems odd but strumming from there makes the best sound and also makes holding and playing the ukulele much easier." (ukulele for beginners, 2010) This definitely helped me being a beginner on the ukulele as I did struggle holding it steady without it sliding as I strummed.

ukulele for beginners, 2010, http://www.ukuleleforbeginners.com/ 

Ukulele Underground, Uke minutes 100- How to play the ukulele in 5 minutes, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad4MpwnZFdY 

Vocal Circle: Improvisation

CMU205 Musicianship 2A: Vocal Circle: Improvisation

Using improvisation we created a vocal circle with our voices. Creating sound using breath and simply our voices came to be quite effective and sounded interesting. At first we were all quite reluctant to beginning the vocal circle but as time went on we all became much more comfortable with the prospective of doing this and creating such a different piece of music. The outcome proved effective and as a group worked well. Not only were we creating a piece using improvisation and different sounds and notes that we decided on spontaneously, but without realizing a lot of us listened to other voices around us and tried to harmonize. This was mainly done unconsciously as it just tends to happen after listening to other noises around us. Without it being set in stone and "practiced", it started to sound like it could be a practiced piece. 

We also discussed when a piece becomes rehearsed, rather than improvised. Does a piece become rehearsed if you improvise the same piece every night? For example if on the first night of a tour you improvise a piece from scratch and then replicate the same improvised piece for two weeks every night, does it then become rehearsed and practiced rather than improvisation? I believe that a piece can still be classed as improvisation after replicating it.

In class we looked a piece of improvisation scat singing by Ella Fitzgerald. Improvisation was a heavily used technique within Jazz at this time and was used a lot within this style of music. Scat singing brings an element of improvisation to it itself. Jazz is one of the first things that will come to mind when we mention improvisation. It is generally slightly easier to improvise with jazz as there are set tunes and melodies that are associated with jazz.



"Let go of the need to be perfect and be playful instead. Improvisation can be spontaneous, and not competitive. Take yourself lightly, laugh at your awkward places, and release criticisms." (Yurco, 2013)Improvisation skills will definitely come in use when creating my own piece and as I will most probably start by primarily playing about with different melodies and tunes and hopefully play with different chords on the ukulele.

Cherie Yurco, 12 Improvisation tips, 2013, http://makingmusicmag.com/12-improvisation-tips/  
diegodobini2, Ella Fitzgerald : One note Samba (scat singing) 1969, 2012, 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbL9vr4Q2LU 

Original Piece and Feedback

This is myself and Veronica's original piece called "Red Rose". We worked as a pair to create lyrics and a melody with inspiration given from a poem called "Valentine" Carol Ann Duffy. (2013) We worked with this poem by selecting certain lines that we thought were significant and stood out to use in our song. We also discussed what we thought the poem was initially about. We thought that the poem looked at heartbreak, yet not in the typical sense of betrayl and trust. I think that through our original song, we looked at the ups and downs and the depth of relationships and friendships.

Looking at feedback we received after sharing our piece, we received a lot of positive comments such as:- "nice piano playing and melody" "good harmonies" and "good lyrics to match the theme". However we did receive improvements that we can definitely work on, such as:- "be aware of where the mic is placed" and "lyrics were unclear at times".

I think next time taking the feedback on board, I would make sure I was able to use better quality recording material to create the best recording I could possibly make.

"Valentine" by Carol Ann Duffy, 2013, http://emilyspoetryblog.com/2013/03/08/valentine-by-carol-ann-duffy/  

Home by Gabrielle Aplin (ukulele cover)

Something to aim for

This piece "Droplets" is a cover performed at Exeter Chapel. I really enjoy this piece, especially the laid back quality that it has. The song is originally performed by Colbie Calliat and Jason Reeves. 
I would like to create a piece similar to this, however possibly using the ukulele which would create a slightly happier tone to the melody and the song in general. 
Gabrielle Aplin is one of my favourite artists and I admire her work.



I like the idea of taking a song and completely changing it up and making it different. Her cover here of One Direction's "Best Song Ever" almost sounds like a whole different song. "Even though it’s not your own song, it feels amazing to be appreciated for appreciating something else." (Dorit, 2013). I think this sums up how I feel perfectly. Covering a song you love always feels great, because I feel like even though I'm using someone else's song I am trying to do it justice. Changing an already written song I feel is a skill on it's own as although you already have the lyrics and the basis of the song set in stone, you have the freedom to change it up however you want to, and make it feel like your own.

I want to be able to take the song "Droplets" originally by Colbie Caillat and Jason Reeves.
I would like to try and make it more upbeat and speed it up slightly with the ukulele. This will be a challenge as I have only just tried to start teaching myself the ukulele. I am finding this tricky and will need to spend a lot of time working on basic chords and fingering of strings.


Dorit, Guitar world, 2013, http://www.guitarworld.com/acoustic-nation-turning-cover-song-your-own

HolyLoowis, Lewis Watson & Gabrielle Aplin - Droplets (Live at Exeter Chapel, Oxford), 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZzXXbufSZQ

shoestringconcerts, Colbie Calliat and Jason Reeves "Droplets", 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_aAMGl8rEA

Starting fresh

Beginning my 2nd year at university with musicianship seems to have opened a new chapter. I am already feeling like I'm beginning to accomplish different things within music. At the end of this module I want  to be able to play another instrument, either guitar or ukulele. 
At the moment, I feel that I am limited in what i can offer musically, as my main instrument is my voice. Learning a new instrument is something to look forward to and something to accomplish. I have always admired the acoustic guitar along with a mellow, relaxed tone of voice. It's always made me want to pick up a guitar myself and incorporate my voice with it. It's a talent that I've always wanted to have myself. So I finally feel like I'm going to be able to accomplish this and gain a new talent/skill.

We have also focused a lot on discussing what music actually is. Everyone is allowed and can have their own opinion on what music is and what music they like. Music is universal and can be enjoyed by anyone of any age, gender. Music can be simply someone walking down the street engrossed in their headphones or a famous rock star playing a gig to 20,000 people. Whatever it is, it's still music to someone and makes people feel different emotions.