Bibliography...

Bibliography...

Levitin, D. 2009. The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature. London: Aurum Press. 

Classic FM. 2014. John Rutter: A Life. [Online]. [Accessed 23rd December 2014]. Available from: http://www.classicfm.com/composers/rutter/guides/john-rutter-story/ 

Chordify. For The Beauty of The Earth. [Online]. [Accessed 3rd January 2015]. Available from: http://chordify.net/chords/for-the-beauty-of-the-earth-john-rutter-fromwithintheheart

Ultimateguitar.com. 2008. Defying Gravity Chords. [Online]. [Accessed 7th January 2015]. Available from: http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/w/wicked/defying_gravity_crd.htm  

Family Friend poems. 2006. Where Words Fail Music Speaks. [Online]. [Accessed 8th January 2015] Available from: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/where-words-fail-music-speaks

Discography...

Discography/Youtube History...

thekingssingers. 2009. The King's Singers - Blackbird. [Online]. [Accessed 1st October 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywkarAwB0W8

This Is Creative Enterprise. 2011. Many Directions TICE 2011. [Online]. [Accessed 8th October 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uZQ6X-qd6E

josecriss7. 2013. Glee - Full Performance of "Rumor Has it". [Online]. [Accessed 5th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roAmRztQsbU 

Sandra M.G. 2012. Start me Up/Livin' On A Prayer - Glee Full Performance. [Online]. [Accessed 5th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpTnbZs9a5w 

ANGELICA :{D. 2010. GLEE Girl's Mash-Up Halo/Walking On Sunshine. [Online]. [Accessed 5th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PisP9FW79Bc 

Paloma Paulette. 2012. Glee Thriller Heads Will Roll Official Music Video. [Online]. [Accessed 5th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjXkJvCNekE 

SamoJulz22. 2009. Glee - It's my life/Confessions Pt II!. [Online]. [Accessed 5th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC8-Y4k3zXQ

Glee OntuBe. 2012. Glee - Hit Me With Your Best Shot/One Way Or Another (Full Performance) (Official Music Video). [Online]. [Accessed 5th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO9oU86tI2Y

Sebastian Gonzalez. 2013. Timber/Counting Stars MASHUP - Sam Tsui Lyrics HD. [Online]. [Accessed 5th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-pL09fZgh4

The Spiri. 2014. Sam Tsui - Let It Go/Let Her Go Mashup (Lyrics Video). [Online]. [Accessed 5th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzSX3PKIZgU

HowcastArtsRec. 2011. Master Your Breath in 10 minutes a Day| Vocal Lessons [Online] [Accessed 14th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8k6MiEJjo4

Ellie Joi. 2014. 8 Easy Breathing Exercises for Singers. [Online] [Accessed 14th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwQgguZslwY

VoiceLesson.com. 2014. Breath Control Exercise For Singers. [Online] [Accessed 14th November 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhWx1FCozkM

The Axis of Awesome. 2011. 4 Chords [Online]. [Accessed 8th January 2015]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ

Evaluation...

Within this evaluation, I will critically evaluate my final performance from my Independent Composition Task. My idea was to write a song, based on a poem that I could potentially develop at a later date into a 4 part harmony.

One strength of the composing of my piece was writing the lyrics. As I struggle with song writing, I took inspiration from a poem and wrote a song based on the words in the poem. This meant that I didn’t need to spend longer than necessary on writing my song, which in turn meant that I could spend more time on putting my accompaniment with my lyrics and making sure it fit together how I wanted it to.

A strength of my choice to record and present my composition, rather than perform live, was that I didn’t have to worry too much about trying to get playing the chords in time with singing. Due to recording it, I had as many takes as it needed to get a good recording to present. This meant that while I needed to have a good timing between singing and playing the next chord at the right time, I didn’t need to worry about getting it right under the pressure of performing it well.  

One weakness within my final composition was the quality of the recording. I used Audacity to record my piece. Using this software made it difficult to get a recording of my backing track and then a recording of the vocals and layer them in time. When recording, I had to play piano and sing at the same time which is quite a hardship, especially if, like me, you don’t often play piano and sing at the same time. This meant that the recording of my composition wasn’t as good as it could have been due to trying to concentrate on playing the chords of the melody and trying to sing as well. To improve this, I could have used a different piece of software, like Cubase, to record my composition. Cubase is a more developed version of Audacity and would have allowed me to work more on my composition, specifically on layering my melody and vocal recordings.

Another weakness I found in my recorded composition was that, as a person who isn’t trained in piano and is self-taught for the most part, writing a piece of music was a struggle. Struggling to write an accompanying piece of music for my composition, I chose to just play the chords I had decided to use in my accompaniment. Just having the chords as my accompaniment meant that there wasn’t much ‘colour’ to my song. To improve this, I would ask someone who is trained in piano to help me make my musical accompaniment more colourful using the chords I have selected for my piece. This would make the song more interesting to listen to as it would have a tune rather than just block chords. I could also, in my potential development of turning my composition into a choral piece, add in parts for different instruments. This would again assist in giving the composition a more interesting sound. 

Uploading Mash-Ups...

*PLEASE NOTE THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE POST AFTER 'Inspiration...'!!*

Here is my mash-up that I did having researched mash-ups.





Once Chloe, Jess and I had taught everyone the mash-up, we recorded it so we could have a listen and learn from it. 

Here it is...




After having a bit of a singing day, I came home, went to choir rehearsal and then wanted to continue singing once I'd gotten back from rehearsal... So I did! 

I decided to record Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye. 

Before I upload my recording of it, here is an amazing cover of Somebody That I Used To Know as performed by the two leads from Ghost the Musical. 



Anyway, here's my recording of it...

Presentation...

Here is my presentation for my Final Composition. 

Within this presentation I looked at my individual development since the beginning of the semester and the developmental process while making my composition.
  

Finished Composition...

Here is my final, finished composition. 




I feel very much like I do when I watch Phoebe Buffay - from Friends - when I listen to this. As proud as I am of my composition and the fact that I have managed to write and record a whole song - even the accompaniment - I cringe hearing my voice everytime I play this.  

Deciding Chords...

Having figured out what my song is going to be about, I focused on getting the chords for the song sorted. 

At first I looked at the musical Wicked for experience. Looking at the chords for Defying Gravity, I discovered that the verses consist of the same four chords and then the chorus doesn't vary too much from the verse. 

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/w/wicked/defying_gravity_crd.htm

I then again conducted some Youtube research at chords for songs. I found a video by The Axis of Awesome called 4 Chords. 




This video, while being funny, helped me a lot in terms of deciding what chords I would use in my composition. Given that there are a lot of popular songs out there that all have the same chord progression, I decided to follow suit and use 4 chords in my composition. 

Back to Independence...

Having researched John Rutter and looked at his compositions, I realised that given time constraints, I wouldn't be able to write a whole composition for a choir. 

Having revisited and revised my initial idea, my new idea is to write a song that I could potentially develop into a choral piece later on. To get me started on songwriting I will use a poem as stimulus. 

I found a website that had a number of different poems to be found on there, depending on the category. http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/ 

I looked at a number of the poems on there that seemed to strike a personal note with me. In the end though, I chose a poem called Where Words Fail, Music Speaks. This poem caught my attention due to a discussion we had right at the very beginning of the semester about 'What is Music?'. Music can trigger a memory, can say exactly what you want to say to someone when you’re stuck for words and can sum up a feeling without you realising it.

http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/where-words-fail-music-speaks

Breathe...

One of my development points for this semester was to better my breathing while singing. Having Youtube researched this I found 2 videos that were really helpful and interesting and another one that was a bit sillier but just as helpful. 

The first one is quite simply breathing in for 10 counts and then hissing to exhale in 15 counts. 




The next video is again quite simple. This one looks at breathing at different tempos. The vocal coach in this video simply sings scales at quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes while holding a metronome to keep time. 




The final video is, as I said earlier, a bit sillier than the other two but just as effective and helpful. This video shows you 8 simple exercises to help you improve your breathing.

On to the next task...

Once we'd completed our Group Assessment, we moved on to our Independent Assessment. 

My original idea was to write a composition for a 4 part harmony. Given that I am part of a choir in my hometown, this seemed like a good idea. 

In choir, we have sang quite a few pieces by the same composer, John Rutter, so I decided to do some research of John Rutter's compositions. 

When looking for John Rutter's writing inspirations, to give me an idea of what he looks at for inspiration when composing, I found this post by Classicfm.

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/rutter/guides/john-rutter-story/

I then looked at the chords for my favourite John Rutter composition that we've sung at choir - For the Beauty of the Earth. 

http://chordify.net/chords/for-the-beauty-of-the-earth-john-rutter-fromwithintheheart 

Inspiration...

Given our last session, I came home and did some Youtube research. First of all, I listened to the three songs Chloe and Jess have selected to use in the mash-up. After that, I listened to other mash-up's. 

One mash-up that I've heard before and really like is an Adele mash-up of Rumour Has It and Someone Like You by Glee. I know not everyone appreciates Glee - I'll admit, I am very much a Glee lover (more for the singing than the storyline) - but this mash-up is so well done and I love it. 



While looking at this mash-up, I remembered that Glee have done a lot of mash-up's in it's run. There are quite a few of these mash-up's that I'm very fond of and quite enjoy singing along to. 



After I monopolised far more time than I planned to watching Glee mash-up's I found another mash-up on Youtube by Sam Tsui. He took Counting Stars by One Republic and Timber by Pitbull - sounds like an unlikely combination but it works.



One of the suggested videos from this was another of Sam's mash-up's of Let It Go from Frozen and Let Her Go by Passenger.



This helped me understand mash-up's a bit more and inspired me to try and upload a mash-up of my own. 

Team Work = Dream Work...

Before our Independent Music Assessment, we had a group assessment to partake in. 

We decided to work as a whole class group, as there's only seven of us in the class. 

When discussing our options for this assessment, we figured that it would be a good idea to have at least one original song in our performance. Before we started working out what songs we were going to choose, we decided to pick a theme to loosely base our assessment piece around. 

In his book, The World in Six Songs, Daniel Levitin states the different types of song - "They are songs of friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion and love." (2010, p.4). 

After a lot of discussion, we decided that the most relevant category to us would be friendship. 

Given this, we decided to have one original song and 2 arrangements in our performance. Reece, Donna and I were to write the original song while Jess and Chloe and Ashley and Natalie worked on the arrangements. 

Once the song was written, Reece, Donna and I helped the other two groups with their arrangements. I worked with Chloe and Jess on their arrangement. Their idea was a mash-up of We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus and Price Tag by Jessie J, with a small section of Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus in there as well. I helped them run this idea through a few times and find parts for everyone to sing, to suit there voices. 

29th October 2014 - Musicianship Week 6...

Accapella 

In this lecture, we worked on some accapella songs. We had a selection of music to choose from, but in terms of getting all of the different ranges of the class into one song we choose to do Run - originally by Snow Patrol, covered by Leona Lewis. Having been part of a choir for the better part of 2 years, I am aware that I am a Soprano. Throughout the lecture we worked on the different parts that make up the song. As it is a four-part harmony arrangement, it has bass, tenor, alto and soprano parts. One of the struggles with learning an arrangement of a popular song is that you want to put in your own inflections and riffs, or you copy things that the singer(s) do in their version of the song. 

Within about an hour, an hour and a half, we had learned the first verse and part of the chorus. We recorded it once we'd rehearsed it a few times and I'm pretty impressed with how good it was. For a group of people who at the beginning of the lecture, hadn't necessarily sang properly or maybe hadn't been in a certain part, I think this is a good attempt.