Grade 8 Practice Session

This week in vocal studies we focused on vocal grades. Vocal grades are a very beneficial thing for a vocalist because you are able to trade them in for UCAS points if                                                                                                        you are going to university or they                                                                                                      even look good on your portfolio, etc... 

During the lesson we focused on a grade 8 vocal song which was ' Apologize - One Republic. The reason why we chose this song was because, it was a Grade 8 piece, Involved all the criteria needed for any grade however a more detailed version and will help us vocally on what some expectations are when singing in the future. When we were singing apologize from the rock school grade book it required us to have a 16 bar improvisation of ad - libbing throughout, that you had to change some of the lyrics in the song and to change the key in one of the verses. So we decided to do this throughout the song and also decided to loop some of the lyrics whilst others were singing different lyrics on the 3rd chorus.

WEEKLY TOPIC:

Be able to improvise on songs that I feel are too hard.

Recently as a vocalist I have been rehearsing a few songs out of my comfort zone and I would really like to learn on how to improvise on songs that I cant really sing.So to improve I am going set myself a plan on how I can work around these difficult songs for example: I would really love to sing if I were a boy by Beyonce,however I cant really hit all the notes, so as a strategy I am going to change the key a bit and improvise on the things i feel that personally needed to be changed.My overall deadline for this goal is probably a week because I feel that if I can rehearse a song and work on it throughout the week im sure I will be able to achieve this goal.

WEEKLY TOPIC:

Be able to sing with emotion.

My current status with emotion is not the best. Recently I have been trying to be able to sing with emotion but when I rehearse I always tend not to sing with expression.So to improve I am going to start practicing singing in the mirror which will help me see how I am singing and how my posture is whilst doing so.Also when I am practicing I am going to try and sing without lyrics in front of me because when I am reading                                                                          of something I tend to show no emotion.

My overall deadline for this goal is most likely to be around a month this is because I want to record myself each week so I can see how much progress I can make in a month and do a before and after video of the same song of me singing.

WEEKLY TOPIC:

Be able to warm up my voice successfully

Before I  started instrumental studies I never really warmed up my voice,because I didn't think it was really needed. However after learning about what not warming up can do to you I decided that I defiantly need too. So I decided to set myself a vocal routine to when i rehearse or sing, so what I did was I wrote a list on the main vocal warm ups I need and I stored them on my phone and wall. During the weeks I found this technique very helpful because now in every band rehearsal I take out my phone and practice vocal warm ups just before we sing. Also at home I tend to stay in my room and song so on my wall I have list of vocal warm ups I do just before I sing.

Here are some examples of vocal warm ups I use:

 

WEEKLY TOPIC:

Be able to control on how I use my vocals when singing.

As a vocalist I would really like to improve on controlling my vocals,for example:breathing , thick and thin vocal folds and diction.To improve on diction I am going to practice with tongue twisters because  this helps me with lips,teeth and tongue. This warm up is very good for you're diction because it helps you with your pronunciation. To improve on breath I am going to be doing some breathing exercises which help me to control my breathing. This is very beneficial because if you are belting in a song for a long period of time you have to learn on how to control your breath, this does not only help you with that certain song, it will help you on being able to belt for much longer.

 Finally to improve on thick and thin vocal folds. To do this I am going practice songs that balance out both thick and thin vocal folds, because it will show that I able to control my soft and loud parts throughout a song.

My overall deadline for this goal is most likely going to be  4 weeks ,this is because I want to get the best possible outcome for this big goal. I also find the time bound very reasonable because, it is such a big goal and to achieve this the best way possible, i feel that breaking down my goal helps me go into more detail with each and every aspect.

Harmonies

HARMONIES

This week in vocal studies we focused on harmonies and as usual we would discuss what we think harmonies are and then we finally would come to a decision on what a harmony is. 

Harmony -  2 different notes sung at the same time. for example someone would sing a, C and maybe the second vocalist would sing 3 notes above that.

This week we chose to do 'Let It Go - James Bay'. This gave us the opportunity to separate ourselves into soprano and alto and come up with 2 harmonies that will fit together with the main melody.. once we worked on the harmonies we ran through the song and turned out to be a success.

During that lesson I had learnt that the best and easy way to do a harmony is to either move 1, 3 or 5 notes up or down for the best harmony. This lesson also helped me really expand on my harmony exercises, which were to be more confident on experimenting with different keys which also helped me in my rehearsal sessions.

Ad - Libing

AD - LIBING

This week in vocal studies we decided to focus on Ad libing. At the start of the lesson we discussed what we thought ad libing was as a group activity, I learnt that ad libing is moving freely with your vocals during a song or that it is just improvisation during an instrumental for example: using vows like ooo or ahh during that certain part in the song. We then decided to do a vocal exercise after warming up, So we decided to  sing over a cover and taking turns going around the room to ad - lib. I found this very helpful because in songs it was very hard for me to ad - lib in, but now that I have seen other versions of Ad - libing it has really given me a clear understanding that you can practically Ad - lib in any part of the song and how it doesn't have to be words.

So this week I decided to go home and practice some ad- libing and I did this by going on YouTube, typing in a song and decided to ad - lib throughout the instrumentals. This gave me a positive outcome.

MIC TECHNIQUES 

This week in instrumental studies we focused on Mic Techniques. This is based on the way you hold hold your microphone whilst singing. The first thing we did, was watch some live performances on some famous singers on how they perform. Some of the suggestions were: Dolly Parton - Coast Of Many Colours, Eminem - Lose Yourself, Katherine Jenkins - Time To Say Goodbye, Michael Buble - Home, Mariah Carey - Without You and Christina Aguilera - Hurt. The songs we listened to, we were asked to focus on how they hold the mic and in which vocal quality for example Hurt - Christina Aguilera; she was moving the mic closer when she was on falsetto quality and moved the mic further when she was belting. Also that she was angling the mic which was also showing  that she was avoiding the plosives.What i learnt was that when angling the mic you are able to avoid the plosives. Also that when belting you should move the mic further away because it believe it shows more emotion which is a great way towards a performance.

Weekly Topic: Being Able To Work On Emotion

This week i decided to work on my emotion this is because i have an end of term concert coming up and we get graded on emotion, so i would like to work on that. Also that it would benefit me a numerous amount because every singer should show emotion whilst performing because it gives of the effect that your singing your feeling from the song. I decided to try some vocal quality's that can give off the effect of emotion. These include the following: falsetto quality, belting and sob/cry quality. These usually help the singer to show a range of feelings like, hurt, pain, anger or sadness.
Some of these vocal quality's did help me and what i did to try it out, was sing the song Sam Smith - I'm Not The Only One. 

Weekly Topic:Expanding On My Vocal Range

This week i decided to work on my vocal range which was one of my main goals as i am really motivated to expand. Throughout the week i decided to try some vocal exercises that can boost my vocal range, these include the following: 

• Scales: This helped me especially with the low notes. i figured if i try and go down the scale starting from C major i would be able to find my lowest note.
• Sirens: I also tried this to help me get through my break point on a high note, so i can try and push past it.

In conclusion i think these exercises have helped me with good results in a week as i am able to sing a little higher and a little lower. 

My goal this week is to try and sing a song that covers both aspects of what i am working on.