Rehearsal Blog 14 - Week 14

Song List

- Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

- Yours by Ella Henderson

- Perfect by Ed Sheeran

- Seven Years by Lukas Graham

- Someone Like You by Adele

This is the last session before the Christmas break, and we only have 3 weeks before the show. This session I looked at Someone You Loved and Perfect. 

I did a few run throughs of Someone You Loved with a backing track and the transitions, pedal work and tempo are getting better. 

I did a few run throughs of Perfect with Jayden, I feel that this went well. We should continue to work together to ensure that we are both ready for the performance. 

Things that went well...

- I am now getting better with the transitions, tempo and pedal work for Someone You Loved. This shows that I have been consistent with my rehearsals. 

- For Perfect I have found that mean Jayden are able to stay in time together. I think that it helps that he practices with me with his guitar - which makes the song sound fuller.  

Things to Improve on...

- I need to ensure that I talk to my peers to see if I can find a singer for Someone You Loved - as I have not had a singer yet. 

Further Progress...

- I need to look for a singer for Someone You Loved 

- I need to work on Seven Years to ensure that I know it for the performance

Rehearsal review

 

Rehearsal Blog 13 - Week 14

  Song List

- Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

- Yours by Ella Henderson

- Perfect by Ed Sheeran

- Seven Years by Lukas Graham

- Someone Like You by Adele

Over the weekend I focused on Seven Years with my piano teacher. So I continued to focus on this during this session. I was able to make it further through the song this time. I found that my timing wasn't very good during this session. 

Things that went well...

- I managed to get further through the song this time. 

- I have found that I am becoming more automatic when using my pedal while playing. 

Things to Improve on...

- I need to work on my timing for Seven Years as I am finding it difficult. This will come with more practice and rehearsal. 

- I need to work on my transitions for Seven Years to ensure that they are nice and smooth for the performance. This will come with more practice and rehearsal. 

Further Progress...

- Adding more songs which I am comfortable with to my set list 

- I should focus on looking at Seven Years to ensure that I have learned the whole of the song. 

Rehearsal Blog 12 - Week 13

 Song List

- Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

- Yours by Ella Henderson

- Perfect by Ed Sheeran

- Seven Years by Lukas Graham

- Someone Like You by Adele

In this session I practiced Seven Years - I worked on that start of the song to ensure that transitions and tempo correct for the performance. 

I did another run through of Someone You Loved with the backing track. I have found that this is going more smoothly. 

I looked at Someone Like You during this session - I had a full run though of the song. To help with my hand strength, to prepare for the performance.  

Things that went well...

- I have worked on Seven Years and Someone You Loved, the transitions are smoother. and my timing is getting better

- It has been a while since I worked on Perfect but I am still able to remember all of the different sections and the chord progressions for each one. 

Things to Improve on...

- I need to improve on my hand strength for Someone Like You, as ensuring that I have the hand strength will mean that I am a better performer

- I need to improve on my speed/tempo for all the songs which I am planning on performing.  

Further Progress...

- Adding more songs which I am comfortable with to my set list 

- I should focus on looking at Seven Years again - to ensure that this is ready for the show. 

Rehearsal Blog 11 - Week 13

Song List

- Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

- Yours by Ella Henderson

- Perfect by Ed Sheeran

- Seven Years by Lukas Graham

- Hello by Adele 

I practiced Yours - I have been able to work through a little bit more of the song this time, so I almost have the whole thing down. The tempo is getting better for Yours and the transitions. I am finding it easier to use the sustain pedal during playing now as I have had a lot more practice. I have found now that it is becoming more automatic to use the sustain pedal while I am playing. 

I had started to look at Seven Years over the weekend with my piano teacher. I only looked at the introduction to the song so far. In this session I was just practicing to ensure that the timing was correct and the transitions were smooth between the sections which I have learned so far. 

In this session I decided that hello by Adele would be too hard to rehearse and get ready in time for the show. So I decided to add in another song which I know quite well, which is Someone Like You by Adele. 

Things that went well...

- I feel that the transitions of Yours are getting better. And the timings are getting better. I have been able to improve on this with more practice and timing. 

- I feel that the transitions of Seven Years are also getting better. I have been able to work on my timings too for this song. I have been able to improve on this with more practice and timing. 

Things to Improve on...

- I need to work on completing the whole of Yours, before the show. I can do this with more rehearsal sessions and working on it at home. I can also use the backing track to help me with this. 

- I need to ensure that I focus on using my sustain pedal while playing Seven Years - I had just started to look at this song in this session, so this will come with more time and practice. 

Further Progress...

- Adding more songs which I am comfortable with to my set list 

- I should focus on looking at Seven Years again - to ensure that this is ready for the show. 

Rehearsal Blog 10 - Week 12

   Song List

- Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

- Yours by Ella Henderson

- Perfect by Ed Sheeran 

This session I practiced with Jayden for Perfect by Ed Sheeran. It went well as we have practiced this together before. 

I continued to use my pedal during this session 

Having Jayden present helped to ensure that I was in time. I feel that we worked well together. 

Things that went well...

-We knew what we were doing together so I feel that this session went smoothly.

- The timings during this session went well - we were able to stay in time with each other well

Things to Improve on...

- I need to improve on the walkdown (which is a downwards pattern of descending chords) part of Perfect, as the transitions need to be done fast and I need more practice of this part to ensure that I have the correct fingering positions

- I need to improve on my speed of the song - as I am playing the song slower to ensure that I have the timing right. 

Further Progress...

- I need to add more songs to my set list which I feel comfortable playing

- I will continue learning Yours for the show

Ear training Log

For my personal development task I have decided to track my ear training.

This shows my progress so far and feel my skills and knowledge have progressed well.

I have continued to do this throughout my college years and use speaking and listening as a main way to learn music.

Rehearsal Blog 9 - Week 12

   Song List

- Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

- Yours by Ella Henderson

I continued looking at Someone You Loved and Yours during this session. I am starting to feel more confident with playing both of these songs. And my transitions are starting to get smoother.

I have also looked at working on the transitions for both of these songs, and I started to look at smaller sections to ensure that they were sounding good for the show. 

I have been focusing on my pedal work during this session to ensure that the songs are sounding fuller.

I am continuing to listen to the feedback which I am getting from my tutors and my LSA to ensure that everything is sounding ready for the show. 

My tutor decided that I should perform Seven Years which I am going to look at over the weekend with my piano teacher. And I also decided that I would like to perform Hello by Adele which I will also start to learn with my piano teacher over the weekend. 

Things that went well...

- Both songs are starting to come together more now. I feel that they are both starting to sound better and I am feeling more confident with my playing of both of them.

- My feedback from my tutors and LSA are both good for both of these songs. 

Things to Improve on...

- I feel that I need to improve on my timings for Yours - I feel that they could be better. I can work on this with more practice and some more time spent on the song. 

-  I need to spend some more tome working on my transitions for Yours. I can work on this with more practice and more time.  

Further Progress...

- I need to add more songs to my set list which I feel comfortable playing

- I will continue learning Yours for the show