Individual Composition

For my individual composition I wanted to create a soul and gospel influenced sound as this has had a strong influence within my musical experience and I wanted to portray this as I felt this would be a lot more comfortable for me.
To start off composing my individual piece, I played around with playing a variety of different sequences and struggled with making them sound soulful or like a gospel song. Instead I came up with a slow ballad sounding tune.

I always find myself struggling to create a build up in my compositions, so I looked at a few artists, that influence me, to see how they build up in their instrumentals:

• Jessie J - Breathe

In this song she uses the same piano sequence over and over and creates a build up by starting off with just piano then adding a few sound effects to go into a strong drum beat.

• Alicia Keys - If I Ain't Got You

Alicia Keys starts off with just a piano sequence in her into then introduces a subtle beat and uses a slight change in her piano sequence by putting more emphasis on the chords and builds up more in the use of her vocal projection.

From this I decided to have a slight change in my piano sequence for my chorus and bring in a drum beat toward my second verse to create my build up. 

To write my lyrics I looked at:

• Adele - Someone Like You 

• John Legend - All Of Me

Both of these songs are in the style of telling a story and expressing emotions, so I decided I'd write about something I felt very connected to, as cheesy as this felt, I wrote about my current situation with my partner, about how even through the arguments and petty fall outs, we have a connection that is stronger than anything we go through.

Lyrics:

Verse 1:

Siting here thinking about the way we started,

And I had no idea,

That you would mean this much to me,

And I,

I just have to let you know,

That I'd never need,

I'd never want,

Anyone else because,

I know your smile,

I know your eyes,

And the beauty you've hidden behind them

Chorus:

You always keep it real with me,

And I will always keep it real with you,

And that is what this is all about,

Yes it is

Verse 2:

It's not about the times that I let you walk away,

When I still have something to say,

It's not about the times that you turn back and scream,

That you just don't care,

Cos I know your heart,

The way it beats,

And I believe that it belongs with mine,

For eternity,

Yes I believe,

That you were made for me

Chorus:

You always keep it real with me,

And I will always keep it real with you,

And that is what this is all about,

Yes it is

Bridge:

And that's what makes us real,

And that's what makes us work.

Individual Development: Voice

Vocal Warm Up

Before I sing, not only do I warm up my vocal instruments, I relax my facial muscles, warm up my jaw, my shoulders, my lips and focus on my breathing using my diaphragm.

This is a YouTube video I use to help me warm up:

70s Group Work

Glam Rock - Development

Phillipa and I came back to work on our composition for the group and found it very hard to develop with the tune we had originally recorded. After a couple of hours of trying to play around with different sounds and instruments to build the composition up we decided to scrap it completely and I took it home to work on from scratch.

I listened over to the same Glam Rock songs playlist and came up with a new tune which I then developed by adding in a drum beat and bass.

At first the main tune was recorded in as a piano sound which I felt wasn't quite working, so I changed it to an electric guitar sound, which my group and I all felt sounded much better.

We then worked on fitting the Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun lyrics, which took a lot of work. I managed to get the singing tune set but for it to stick for everyone else in my group was a struggle. To get this new tune to stick I recorded in the vocals on top of the instrumental and converted the Garage Band file into a mp3 file and emailed this to my group members.  

60s Group Work

MOTOWN - Development

We decided to start with writing our lyrics and based these on heartbreak and betrayal. 

Johnny Come Back Lyrics:

Donna:

When I saw you two

I knew love was through

How can I want more

When you shut the door

My heart hits the floor

Johnny come back.. 

Sophie:

You’re the only one

Couldn’t be more wrong

I knew from the start

That you’d break my heart

I should’ve known and walked away

Johnny come back…

Bridge - 

Donna: Talk to me Johnny 

Sara: Tell me that you care

Sophie: I can’t wait forever

Donna: I need you by my side

I want you Johnny

Sara:

I was such a fool 

While you acted cool

You turned my head

With the words you said

You led me on knowing it was wrong

Johnny come back...

chorus to fade 

I then put a few simple chords with a electric organ sound to set a tune for the lyrics, on top of this tune I fit a simple bass pick and a tambourine beat.

Individual Development: Piano

After practising various piano pieces, I found that my hands started to cramp up and it became very uncomfortable to play, so I looked up some hand warm-ups and practised these and found that it really helped.

Here is a YouTube video that helped me:

Individual Development: Piano & Voice

I've never really attempted to put my voice and piano skills together, as even thinking about that working out sounds painful, which when I did attempt, it really was!!

Alicia Keys - If I Ain'y Got you:

Individual Development: Voice

To develop my voice I learn new songs and practice them over until I feel comfortable singing them. Through learning many different styles of songs I have learnt how to adapt my voice to each style and have learnt what my strengths and weaknesses are as a singer.

I started to sing publicly when I was 9 in my primary school choir where we sang popular children's songs and were taught to harmonise. I sang with this choir for 2 years, then joined my secondary school choir, which was a gospel choir, as a church goer I was already familiar with the material. Being part of a gospel choir strengthened my vocal projection and my ability to harmonise on my own.

• Joyful Joyful

• I sing Because I'm Happy