First Group Rehearsal/Chat

'Music can change the world because it can change people' - Bono 

This week our groups were decided for our final assessment so today was our first rehearsal but first we needed to chat about what we wanted to do. We felt it was important to find one song we really wanted to do and then find something that links with this as it would be easier and more efficient then finding a link and struggling too find songs that fitted with this. Immediately we wanted to do a mashup but decided against this because we wanted to find something more musically and technically challenging so tried to head away from this direction. The discussion took place and after a while we realized that we needed to work to the strengths of individual members of the group. As we had Summer who played viola and Constantine who plays guitar we decided for one of our pieces we wanted to form a mini band and that due to Yahya picking up the drum pretty quickly he could do something simple on this. Also, as we all enjoyed working on acapella Music when we had previously done it, we kind wanted to look at this area as well so these are the two ideas we settled on. 

It was a slow start to the rehearsal but necessary as we just sang through different songs to exploring what to do and which worked with our voice's and what we made an immediate connection too or worked well as this would give us a good basis to start the piece upon instead of starting from complete scratch. I think I soon as we sung 'Man in the Mirror' we were drawn to it, naturally adding harmonies and different textures such as 'ooo's' and 'ahh's'. I think the main thing that made us decide on a song was because it was the first song where we actually smiled when trying it out. We do Music because we enjoy and this showed it as well as the song suiting us individually and as a group. Upon deciding on the song, we needed to think of a theme and quickly came up with the idea of reflection, and our other piece 'Reflection' from Mulan was decided on, however we knew that we wanted to do this in a different style and transform it. Because we felt it key to play to everyone's strengths, the genre we immediately thought to transfer it into was country/folk as this would mean that Summer could make her viola poignant .We started work first on 'Man in the Mirror' and we sung through it a couple of times to see whose voice suited what and arranged it that way. We then began to work through it, breaking down the chords to find notes for the 'ooo's' and 'ahh's' that we had fitted into natural points in the song. 

Blending with a Choir

'Music has the power to bring people together like no other art form'- Michael Franti

Being part of a choir is a totally different ball game to solo singing and this is why I feel it is really important to look at the power of blending voices and tones. This is also why I have based a section of my essay upon this.

In the University choir we have been looking at the song we are doing for the Christmas Carol service. For two of the songs we're doing Jazz versions of two well known Christmas songs, Jingle Bells and Carol of the Bells. I think within Jazz it is very important that you get a good blend and all sound in unison with each other because there are lots of aspects that need to be tight such as slides which are very common in Jazz and occur in both pieces. I've already mentioned this briefly in another blog, but when watching The Naked Choir (2015) a tip that Gareth Malone gave was too watch the other people's mouths when singing because you immediately and subconsciously copy what others are doing. 

I think it is also very important as a choir to focus on listening to help achieve good balance and tonal quality. For example, if your part is not singing the melody then you need to adjust your volume so that it is lower. This is extremely important because the main parts need to stick out and that the rest of it is accompaniment. A lot of the time during arrangements there is constant changing of parts as this makes a piece engaging and interesting, therefore it is important to be aware of other singers within the choir and changes within the Music so that you can make these changes as smoothly as possible. I have learnt that it is important to remember you're not the only one in the choir and you're not there to do a solo performance. I think this is an essential thing to know when doing choral work. 

'Listening to each other is not exclusively for improving the sound and blend either. Once you feel they are getting the hang of it, you can use this technique for rhythms, pitch, diction and many other aspects of music.'

Accapella Arrangements

 'Singing bonds people together, exercises a range of muscles and makes you feel happy.'
-Gareth Malone 

I have found it so interesting working on arranging an acapella piece for me and Meg as a duo and it has really challenged me and a musician. However I really enjoyed it and been very inspired by a programme called 'The Naked Choir' (2015) so in this blog I will analyse that programme and discuss what I've learnt from it, before going onto analyzing and explaining what we did.The Naked Choir was a competition with Gareth Malone in which acapella choirs competed form across the country to try and be the best acapella choir. I'm going to be mainly focusing on the final in which three choirs remained.

The Stratford East Singers were a community choir from East London who came third in the competition but were my personal favorites because they expressed so well the importance of music being a way of bringing people together. They had a strong bond and chemistry between them which I think really came across onstage. I have learnt from this that when you're performing as a group it is important to have good teamwork and get along as this will come across positively to an audience during a performance. This was clear in The Stratford East Singers because I felt they drew in the audience and included them the best out of the three choirs. However although they had energy and fun, they did lack in technique and this stood out against the other two choirs.

I think Choral Stimulation, a choir of students from the University of Glasgow, have improved the most through the process. Not only has there technique developed but also there performance style and creativity which is why I personally thought their performance in the finale was the best. It was varied and styled which meant the audience stayed engaged and felt included in the performance.

Not only did Son's of Pitches,a six piece, have brilliant and solid technique but they were insanely inventive and creative often taking a comedic approach to songs. I think although they weren't as strong as Choral Stimulation in the final performance, they have been the most consistent throughout and really deserved to win.

This week's task was to create an acapella arrangement of a song of our choice in groups and Me and Meg chose Britney Spears 'Toxic'. I think mine and Meg's chemistry really came across within our performance and this was our main strength. Because of that friendship and connection, it enabled us through the rehearsal process to create a good blend between our voices and tones. In the rehearsal process, and the actual performance, it helped us if we watched each other's mouths so that we could make it tight, such as the endings of phrases and words. This was also helped through a lot of rehearsal as we were able to keep practicing until it was tight and accurate.

Watching The Naked Choir, I have learnt the importance in staging and performance being a key element of making a good acapella piece. This is why I think to improve mine and Meg’s cover of ‘Toxic’ it would be important that we look at the staging of the piece. I think we still would take the minimalist approach but still have a bit more movement so that it wasn’t as simple to create a more engaging piece for the audience. I think also something I’d changed if we were to do it again would be to create more variety in the second chorus so that in contrasted more with the first. This would add more of a range within the piece and would create more of an interesting end for the piece and leave more of an impact on the audience.

I think something I want to take forward into group work for our assessment is the rehearsal method me and Meg took to the song. We broke the song down into sections and made sure each part was accurate and inventive before moving onto the next section of the song. It was a quick and effective way of rehearsing which is what we need when working on our assessment.