Music Rehearsal Skills

Rehearsal Skills: Demonstrate the skills to rehearse effectively for a specific music performance and identify strengths and areas for development.

You will begin this unit by completing a whole class performance of 'Counting Stars' by One Republic. This should help you to identify strengths and weaknesses with your performance skills and allow you to set personal goals and create a plan for your Rehearsal Skills unit. The live music event will be a concert at the end of the course (April 2017) but you will have other live performance opportunities during the course that you can work towards in order to increase your performing confidence. You must also complete a full dress rehearsal on stage that is videoed before your final performance of the set. 

1.1 Your Goals: What are your personal goals, in relation to the effective rehearsal of your fifteen minute set? Describe your goals. You must include in your goals consideration of:

methods for effective preparation for each rehearsal;

methods for ongoing refinement of personal instrumental and/or vocal part(s) throughout the process; 

refinement of own image as an artist/ performer;

impact of consistent punctuality and attendance;

impact of active engagement with other musicians or peers.

1.1 DISTINCTION: Define and take ownership of a set of realistic and achievable personal goals in relation to their aspirations and expectations of the rehearsal process, having identified their reasons for undertaking the rehearsal process. There will be little or no tutor input into this undertaking.

MERIT: Define a set of realistic and achievable personal goals in relation to their aspirations and expectations of the rehearsal process, having identified their reasons for undertaking the rehearsal process. There will be nominal tutor input into this undertaking. 

PASS: Define a set of personal goals in relation to their aspirations and expectations of the rehearsal process, having identified their reasons for undertaking the rehearsal process. There will be some tutor input into this undertaking.

1.2. The Plan - In your booklet or on your blog answer the following questions about your rehearsal plan (you may wish to type your notes from your booklet onto your blog to keep all your evidence in one place): 

a. What is the purpose of your rehearsal process? (rationale)

b. Describe the repertoire that you will use in rehearsal and why you have chosen this repertoire....

c. How will you record your developments and document ideas? e.g. recording; why will you use this method? what impact might it have?

d. How will you ensure and collect peer/tutor feedback along the way? What impact will this have on the rehearsal process?

e. What are the Health & Safety implications of rehearsing your chosen repertoire in your rehearsal space?

1.2 DISTINCTION: Evidence clear understanding of what the rehearsal process will look and feel like and how they will engage with it. Within this there will be strong evidence of clear understanding of where potential issues may lie. Strategies for how these may be overcome effectively will be in place. Clear understanding of the relevant health and safety implications associated with rehearsing music in context will be evident, with clear understanding of where issues may occur and how they may be avoided.

MERIT: Evidence clear understanding of what the rehearsal process will look and feel like and how they will engage with it. Within this there will be evidence of some understanding of where potential issues may lie and some thought as to how these might be overcome. Clear understanding of the relevant health and safety implications associated with rehearsing music in context will be evident. 

PASS: Based on their personal goals, evidence understanding of what the rehearsal process will look and feel like and how they will engage with it in order to refine their performance effectively. Learners must also evidence understanding of health and safety implications associated with rehearsing music, relevant to the context in which the rehearsals are taking place.

1.3 Follow your plan for rehearsal that you just described in 1.2 in order to refine your 15 minute set - Keep your blog updated, include teacher and peer comments and reflect on recordings along the way. Keep looking back to the plan!

1.3DISTINCTION: Evidence excellent musical, technical, self-management, interpersonal and safe practice skills relevant to, and throughout, the rehearsal process.

MERIT: Evidence good musical, technical, self-management, interpersonal and safe practice skills relevant to, and throughout, the rehearsal process.

PASS: Evidence of competent musical, technical, self-management, interpersonal and safe practice skills relevant to, and throughout, the rehearsal process.

1.4 Evaluate - Write an evaluation outlining the success of the rehearsal process by responding to tutor comments in relation to: 

• a full dress rehearsal of the set;
• the rehearsal process as a whole;
• and explain your updated strengths and areas requiring further development in relation to developing strategies for effective rehearsing in the future 

1.4 DISTINCTION: Evidence clarity and realism in evaluating the degree of success of the rehearsal process as a whole and of their role within it. Strengths and areas for development are defined clearly. Strategies for the ongoing refinement of the rehearsal process will be in place.

MERIT: Evidence clear understanding of the degree of success of the rehearsal process as a whole and of their role within it. Strengths and areas for development are defined clearly.

PASS: Evidence understanding of the degree of success of the rehearsal process as a whole and of their role within it. As part of this, learners are expected to assess their strengths and areas for development. 

Goals

My personal goals for this course is to become a successful musician. I've always aspired to be a full time musician/songwriter or at the very least, be a part of a band. I've been inspired by various musicians and bands such as Ed Sheeran and Paramore. I would've chose composition but one of my main weaknesses is performing as I sometimes lack in confidence when I perform. This is another one of my own personal goals, to eliminate my fear of performing in front of others.

Plan

My plans to achieve my goals is to perform more in front of an audience or a small group of people. Also, to keep practicing and improving everyday.

a. What is the purpose of your rehearsal process? (rationale)
The purpose of our rehearsal process is to ensure that we can erase the flaws in our performance and be confident enough to play in front of an audience.

b. Describe the repertoire that you will use in rehearsal and why you have chosen this repertoire....
Our repertoire includes a variety of music genres such as rock, pop and folk. We have chosen this repertoire as me and Ross like these songs and so that we can perform and practice different styles of music.

c. How will you record your developments and document ideas? e.g. recording; why will you use this method? what impact might it have?
We don't really record that much in lesson but instead do these blogs to show our progress. There have been an occasion, once or twice when we recorded our piece in order to listen to for future references. We would use this method as it will greatly help us recall what we did last lesson. Recording would help us greatly. 

d. How will you ensure and collect peer/tutor feedback along the way? What impact will this have on the rehearsal process?
We could ask other people to listen to our repertoire and ask for their opinion in what was good about it and what we could improve on. This would help us as we would know which areas to focus and improve on.

e. What are the Health & Safety implications of rehearsing your chosen repertoire in your rehearsal space?
Tidy the wires up as it could trip people up when they pass by. Also, refrain from drinking liquids when near equipment as it could damage the wires, the actual equipment and there could be an electrical problem with the sockets etc.

========================================================================Lesson 1 (Rehearsal Skills) 22/09/15
In today's lesson, we were asked to bring or come up with songs to play in our assessment in the end of the summer. Our performance is meant to be 15 minutes. For now I've picked I see fire by Ed Sheeran and Misguided Ghosts by Paramore. Ross has picked I see Fire as well and Make Me Wanna Die by The Pretty Reckless. We have started to rehearse I See Fire as we knew the song quite well. We are aiming to come up with more songs next week to fill the gap of 3 more songs. We are also aiming to rehearse this next lesson as we still don't know the chords of Make me wanna die. There is a big contrast between these songs as it goes from heavy rock to quiet songs to mellow and relaxing songs. This means that it might be quite hard to transition the songs because of the contrast. It would be quite hard to make our performance "flow"

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Lesson 2 (Rehearsal Skills) 29/09/15
In today's lesson, we have started practicing Misguided Ghosts by Paramore. I have started to learn the tab intro of the song but I struggle to transition from tabs to the chords. To improve on this i must practice more at home. Ross brought in the song "Make Me Wanna Die" by the Pretty Reckless but we wanted to do Misguided Ghosts first. Ross has also started to learn the bass tab of the song. We have also agreed in playing the song I See Fire from Ed Sheeran so we have pretty much picked most of the songs needed for the 15 minutes. Personally, I think my guitar skills can be drastically improved as I sometimes struggle in the tab of Misguided Ghosts. My strengths are that I can uickly adapt and learn a song as I practice quite hard at home. For next lesson,we will aim to practice the whole song and learn all the chords before the lesson so we can rehearse it for our performance in the 20th of October.

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Lesson 3 (Rehearsal Skills) 29/09/15
In today's lesson, we have continued practicing Misguided Ghosts by Paramore. I have smoothened the transitions between the chords and made it sound better as last week it sounded like the tab part was cut. Ross has learnt his bass tab so for next week we just need to practice together and try to get in time with each other. For my own personal goal for next week is to smoothen out the part when I switch from the chords in the chorus into the tab after in the next verse. I switch from tab to chords after the verse and it was good but I found it quite hard to transition from chords back to tabs as it sounded a bit wrong. I will practice that at home and so I will be ready for next lesson.

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Lesson 4 (Rehearsal Skills) 13/10/15
I did not get much done in this lesson as Ross wasn't in. We were planning to practice today in order to run the recording smoothly for next week but unfortunately he wasn't in today. It would be quite difficult for next week as we didn't get to practice as much as for the past few weeks Ross was having difficulty in learning the bass tab of the song and I couldn't really help because I don't play the bass. I have pretty much learnt the song and I just need to work on my timing and transitioning from the chorus' chords to the tabs of the verse. I will learn this by practicing more at home. Me and Ross could hopefully meet up sometime before next tuesday either at school or outside school to practice Misguided Ghosts in order to achieve a great recording next week.

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Lesson 5 (Rehearsal Skills) 20/10/15
Today, me and Ross managed to keep in time for the first parts of the song, but our timing fell apart after the chorus as we found the transition quite weird. At first, it was difficult as Ross also forgot the chords as he wasn't in last week and he thought that he lost his sheet at the first part of the lesson. He then found the sheet and learnt the chords again then we played. In my opinion, our first try was ok but can still be vastly improved. We kept on getting confused from time to time but the good thing is that we can recover without actually stopping and making it sound even worse. Even though we didn't get recorded today as we ran out of time in the lesson, Miss Rotchell said that we will get recorded first thing next lesson. Aside from not getting recorded I believe that we made some progress in our piece and will hopefully remember and continue making progress until we have fully grasped the song's rhythm and play it as it was played by its original band, Paramore.

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Lesson 6 (Rehearsal Skills) 10/11/15
Today, we had a great lesson. We were able to play through Misguided Ghosts and it sounded pretty good, although we had the backing track on. We only use the backing track as when we play without it, it doesn't sound complete as there are 2 guitars on the piece. Unfortunately, we took to much time to get ready for our recording so Miss Rotchell told us that we will record next lesson. But overall, I think we're doing good as we have memorised Misguided Ghosts and will hopefully move on to I See Fire as soon as possible. Our own personal targets for next lesson are to prepare quicker, practice at home and play as fluent as possible for our recording.

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Lesson 7 (Rehearsal Skills) 17/11/15
Today, we finally recorded Misguided Ghosts. It sounded different as it was the first time me and Ross played the song without the backing track. We found it quite hard to play as it was hard to keep in time without the backing track. We played until the ending of the chorus but me personally, didn't play as well as I could. I think I hadn't warmed up properly and my sleeves were muting the other notes. For next lesson, me and Ross have to work on our timing, keeping in time to make it sound better. It already sounds quite weird as there are meant to be 2 guitars, one on the tabs which is continually played throughout the whole song and the other one for the chords which as muted in the verses but played in the chorus. So, for next week, we have to try to keep in time together, then hopefully start another song as quickly as possible to be able to meet the deadline of 5 songs for our assessment piece in 15th of December

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Lesson 8 (Rehearsal Skills) 24/11/15
In today's lesson, Ross wasn't in so I practiced on the song that i'm going to do as part of the 15 minute recording. I decided to do Warriors by Imagine Dragons and when Ross comes back, I need to find out the tab for the song I Ain't Got You by The Blues Brothers. I reckon it would be a challenge as there would be a blues improvisation which i'm not really familiar with as my style is more rock and alternative. I also rehearsed with Naomi today. We tried out songs like Photograph, Thinking Out Loud and A Team. I think we performed Photograph the best. For next lesson, I have to find the tab for I Ain't Got You and play it with Ross. I am still thinking of the other songs I'm going to do to achieve the 15 minute performance we need for December 15th.

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Lesson 9 (Rehearsal Skills) 01/12/15
In today's lesson, we have chosen songs such as I See Fire, Misguided Ghosts and The Wanderer. Ross changed his mind about I Ain't Got You and picked The Wanderer instead by Dion. We're also going to perform with Naomi for one song but we haven't decided what song yet. I might perform Warriors by Imagine Dragons as one of my songs but if me and Ross have time, we might be able to squeeze in a practice session for Warriors. Now we have 3 songs which is quite good I think but we need to speed up a bit as we still need 2 songs to fill in the 15 minute mark for the next 2 weeks, when we record for real.

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Lesson 10 (Rehearsal Skills) 08/12/15
In today's lesson, me and Ross have decided on out songs for next week. We have yet to decide on our fifth song but we have 4 songs to play so far. We have Misguided Ghosts by Paramore, I see Fire by Ed Sheeran, The Wanderer by Dion and Half The World Away by Oasis. We still have to work on the last 2 songs. I need to practice The Wanderer more and Ross has to learn the bass tab of Half The World Away. Today I practiced Half The World Away and tried to perfect it. It sounded quite good but again Ross needs to learn the bass tab. We both also need to work on The Wanderer. The guitar tab looked quite easy as they were just primary chords, A, G, D, A7 and B7. For next week, we need to learn and perfect everything. We will rehearse before our performance to further improve it

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Lesson 11 (Rehearsal Skills) 15/12/15
In today's lesson, we recorded our 15 minute  piece which Miss Rotchell will assess throughout the Christmas holidays. We did the songs : Half The World Away by Oasis, Misguided Ghosts by Paramore, I See Fire by Ed Sheeran and Riptide by Vance Joy. Our feedback was that we did good but try to be more organised and practice the songs a bit more as there were some crucial mistakes which made the songs sound weird. Sometimes, either me or Ross will pick the wrong string or play the wrong chord and it doesn't sound as pleasing to the ear. But overall I personally thought we did ok and am looking forward to see how we did when miss gives us our feedback.

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Lesson 12 (Rehearsal Skills) 12/01/16
In today's lesson, we went over our 15 minute set over and over and tried minimising mistakes in our performance. It went quite smoothly but I think we need to rehearse and practice more so that we can perfect our stage performance.

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Lesson 13 (Rehearsal Skills) 19/01/16
In today's lesson, we just repeated what we did last week which was going over our 15 minute set and trying to minimalise our mistakes in our performance. But again it still needs more work and practice in order for our 15 minute set to run as smooth and as flawless as possible.

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Lesson 14 (Rehearsal Skills) 26/01/16
Today, we repeated what we did last week. We just went over our 15 minute set and stopped at certain points of the performance where there were mistakes. We then correct these mistakes, minimalise them and then carry on.

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Lesson 15 (Rehearsal Skills) 02/02/2016
Today, we have rehearsed the same exact set piece. We are also bringing in another song to reach the 15 minute mark. the song is "Pieces Of The People We Love" by The Rapture. Ross has picked this song and we only decided to play this song at the end of the lesson so we haven't really practiced it. We intend to learn the song at home and play it together next lesson.

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Lesson 16 (Rehearsal Skills) 09/02/16
Today, we practiced our set even further. Because I couldn't find chords of "Pieces Of The People We Love" by The Rapture, we changed it into "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways. Again, this is a new song so it will require us to practice it. We aim to do our dress rehearsal sometime after half term therefore it will include in us having to practice individually or meet up to practice over the half term.

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Lesson 17 (Rehearsal Skills) 23/02/16
In today's lesson Ross got the bass notes for "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran. We practiced it today and tried to perfect the song. It went quite well but we didn't get to practice much else. Next lesson, we'll be aiming to practice our whole repertoire and aim to do the dress rehearsal in the next 2 weeks

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Lesson 18 (Rehearsal Skills) 01/03/16
In today's lesson, we just practiced our repertoire. We also now have a date for our first dress rehearsal which will be in 2 weeks time.

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Lesson 19 (Rehearsal Skills) 08/03/16
In today's lesson, we further rehearsed our repertoire. We rehearsed/practiced I See Fire, Riptide and Misguided Ghosts in particular as they have quite unusual stops/breaks and transitions.

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Lesson 20 (Rehearsal Skills) 15/03/16
In today's lesson, we discussed how to play, the order of the songs we're playing and the dress rehearsal in general for next week. We have also briefly practiced our repertoire.

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Lesson 21 (Rehearsal Skills) 22/03/16
Today, we practiced our set. Me and Ross have amalgamated with Naomi. We have merged the songs we've been doing. Here are our final playlist

I See Fire by Ed Sheeran
Stressed Out or Car Radio by Twenty One Pilots
Poison by Front Porch Step
Off With Her Head by Ghost Town
Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez

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Lesson 22 (Rehearsal Skills) 29/03/16
In today's lesson, we have practiced our new songs and rehearsed the old ones in preparation for our dress rehearsal.

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Lesson 23 (Rehearsal Skills) 19/04/16
Today, we practiced the song "Off With Her Head" and we briefly practiced "Dollhouse". Unfortunately, Ross couldn't be with the group as there is a history exam going on but we managed. He will catch up with us next lesson as we proceed to learn and perfect our repertoire.

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Lesson 24 (Rehearsal Skills) 26/04/16
In today's lesson,Naomi wasn't in, so me and Ross had to make do with the group. We managed to practice a little  but not much.

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Lesson 25 (Rehearsal Skills) 03/05/16
Today, we practiced our set to be performed next next Monday on stage.

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Lesson 26 (Rehearsal Skills) 10/05/16
Today, we practiced a bit of our repertoire. We have also decided FINAL setlist of songs:
Drown - Front Porch Step
Poison - Front Porch Step
Off With Her Head - Ghost Town
Riptide - Vance Joy

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Lesson 27 (Rehearsal Skills) 17/05/16
In today's lesson, we were meant to perform our repertoire but unfortunately Ross is ill so me and Naomi just practiced the repertoire to be performed next week if Ross feels better.

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Lesson 28 (Rehearsal Skills) 24/05/16
In today's lesson, we have recorded our repertoire. Overall, the content went well but unfortunately, there was some complications:
There was no one in the recording
Not memorised the chords
We are due to record our repertoire again on the first Monday back after half term

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