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Bad and Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson on Wednesday, 11th March 2026

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We had an extra band rehearsal today, we worked on dividing up the guitar parts between Jacob, Ethan and Oliver and practiced transitioning from Bad to Smooth Criminal and then back to Bad for the final chorus.

Andy suggested the previous week that transitioning back to Bad for the final chorus would give a complete feel to the set.

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Miss Moonlight (Feel the Sun) on Wednesday, 4th March 2026

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We did a play through of our original song - I need to revisit the harmony I'm doing during the chorus to refresh myself on what notes I'm singing.

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Bad by Michael Jackson on Wednesday, 4th March 2026

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Our band decided that we are going to do a medley where we play Bad and then transition into Smooth Criminal before the second chorus starts.

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This was a valuable experience as it was one of my first solo piano performances and first performance with clarinet quartet. We played Baby Elephant Walk together and I am very happy with how we played. On piano I played Malaga by Marcos Fernandez, my performance went well but I was extremely nervous. After the first 30 seconds of the piece I began to play well once I settled.

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I played Malaga by Marcos Fernandez on piano which is approximately 2 minutes long. In the first section of the piece, I made an error in the first bar because I was nervous. In the sections that are quieter with sustain pedal, I think those went well but I have a habit of slowing the tempo down when it should remain the same speed as the starting section. I could improve this by playing with a metronome.

In bar 45 where there is an ascending scale, I could’ve made the rit. smoother as I think I made it sound disjointed, I also don’t think I slowed down enough. This is the part of the piece that I had to work the most on because I found the fingering difficult, so I might have just been trying to play it correctly instead of expressively. I hit a couple of wrong notes at the end of the section but I tried not to let it impact how I played the rest of the piece.

I learned that I should take a little more time to make sure I am comfortable before I begin playing so that I don’t rush or make mistakes. I could practice walking over to the piano, setting up and starting the piece on my own so that I get more comfortable with it. I only gave myself 30 seconds to prepare when I could have given myself longer. When I was on stage the 30 seconds felt much longer so I felt like I needed to just get started. I felt very nervous when I was playing because I haven’t played piano on my own in front of people much. I get very nervous compared to when I play other instruments just because I feel like the margin for error is a lot smaller.

After watching my performance back – I think that I could sit further away from the piano so that I don’t need to move as much when I am playing. I should also be putting more of my weight on my feet, especially my left foot so that I am more stable when I am playing and can lean over to the lower notes and be supported. I also need to move the piano stool further back and sit on the edge of the stool so that my weight is supported more by my feet so that there is less tension on my back.

I think the thing I need to practice the most is playing in front of people more. I think what impacted my performance the most is how nervous I was. I could practice this by doing recordings where I am not allowed to start over and playing the piece for other people.

I will work on my posture and technique when I am playing so that it is easier to play the different sections of the piece without moving on the stool. I will also practice playing softly so that the dynamics have even more contrast.

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During our last rehearsal we changed the key of the song from B♭ minor to A minor, so I had a look at all of the parts that play during the pre-chorus so that I know exactly what is being played. Our singers were saying that they were getting confused during the pre-chorus so I wanted to make sure I'm playing it as exact as I can.

I also listened to the chorus and the bassline changes slightly, with variations from how it is played during the verses which I found interesting.

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https://youtube.com/shorts/ZWL-9Wmb9sU?si=2mJcz2zikI1l46JP

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Wednesday, 25th February 2026 - Band Rehearsal

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We were missing our drummer and bassist today so Jacob was playing drums and I was playing bass. I didn't know the bassline exactly for the pre-chorus and chorus but I knew the bassline for the verses because the synth plays it as well.

Listening back to this I think that the organ accents are missing and it would be nice to add this into our version of the song, whether it be on guitar or myself playing it.

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How to Get Better at Piano Sight Reading, Learn Piano with Jazzer Lee

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In the video, Jazzer recommends that when you are sight-reading that you should not look at your hands as it will disrupt the flow of your playing. He said that it is best to use spatial awareness by feeling where the black keys are with your sense of touch to figure out where the notes you need to play are and also keeping your fingers close to the keys at all times.

Practice at a speed where you can hit 99% of the notes correctly.

When you are sight-reading you should be scanning ahead.

He suggested to analyse the piece before playing it, looking for patterns in the left hand or the melody.

Alberti bass - a pattern of the bass, bottom note, top note, middle note, top note and then repeat.

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How to Get MUCH Better at Piano Sight Reading

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Monday, 16th February 2026

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The Process From Songwriting To Released Song

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Monday, 16th February 2026

Common metal guitar techniques:

Palm muting;

Pinch harmonics;

Tapping; and

Sweep picking.

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Monday, 16th February 2026

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How to write Chords and Songs in Minor [Songwriting Basics / Music Theory]

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Monday, 16th February 2026

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Metal Music Theory: The Code Of Complexity

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The Ultimate Resource for Metal Artists. Become the Total Package. Create Your Own Sound.

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Monday, 16th February 2026

This was very interesting to see the different ways you can record a snare and then options for how to layer them in a mix professionally. I liked the sound of the snare when the SM57 was placed a couple of inches from underneath the snare and then the recording from the room, it made the snare sound bigger and more impactful. The producer in the video would also layer a sample on top of the recording to make the attack of the snare sharper. He showed the different options for how to add reverb and what it sounds like when you layer the different recorded audios. Typically he uses 4 audio tracks for the snare, one mic above, one mic underneath and then a different mic to pick up the sound of the room and then stack a sample on top before adding a compressor and playing with reverb and audio effects.

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The Paramore Snare | Misery Business, crushcrushcrush, That's What You Get, and more

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We have decided to add Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson into our setlist, creating a medley where we start with playing Bad and then just before the second chorus we transition into Smooth Criminal. We are going to incorporate elements of the Alien Ant Farm cover into our version of the song, mostly in the chorus.

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We have decided to add Bad by Michael Jackson into our setlist.

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Logic Screenshot on Friday, 13th February 2026 at 2:50pm

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In class today, we are learning about compression, particularly with how to apply it to vocals.

Scott recommended that we download stems from the Cambridge Music Technology website or record our own vocals to experiment with the compressor audio effect in Logic.

Compression should be used before any wet effects - such as reverb and delay. Scott recommended that we turn Auto Gain off.

The ratios typically used in songs are 2:1 or 4:1.

Scott mentioned that in music from the 70s and 80s, compression wasn't used as much as it is today. In current music people generally prefer listening to compressed music.

I'm beginning to understand what some of the different terms mean within compressors, such as ratio and make up, attack and release. I need to watch some more explanations of what the threshold does to understand it better.

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How Serious Pianists Practice - 8 Habits You Can Steal

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Mix of Glasses on the Table, Friday, 6th February 2026

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Screenshot of Logic Session Friday, 6th February 2026 at 3pm

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Avoid these three big mistakes when playing keys in a band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJb5W4gy2l8

3 Tips For Playing With A Band - Piano Lesson (Pianote)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NnDq7cdiPU

How to play Keyboard in a Band (1) - Basics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX_fDVhYJR8

Jordan Rudess Hears "Thunderstruck" For The First Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BptR5OZ9zlw

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I'm personally finding it tricky to switch from solo playing or accompaniment style piano into a band setting. I understand the basic concept of adding melody and adding to what is already there and staying out of the low end to avoid muddying the sound, but it is tricky to find things that add to the sound without just doubling the lead guitar. Especially if there is no keys part in the song. It asks for a lot of composing on the spot and improvisation.

Although, on the positive side, I'm realising I don't need a full size keyboard for band settings due to this. This is helpful, as whatever keyboard I end up getting - it will be easier to transport and be cheaper.

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Jordan Rudess Teaches The BEST Left Hand Piano Techniques

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGCdxH-wB3A

Watching this has been extremely helpful - he shows stride playing with your left hand halfway through the video, and I was able to pause the video and see what fingering he is using for the left hand second inversion triads. He uses 5, 2 and 1 to play a second inversion C major chord. From watching other pianists playing ragtime music, I had already seen that when jumping from the octave to the chord, is that you usually use inversions - but it is helpful to see which inversion and what fingering can be used.

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Our band were discussing the possibility of writing another song so I was researching ways to structure a jazz song and chord progressions to start off a jam.

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Writing Jazz Songs is EASY with this Method

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Screenshot of Logic Session Friday, 30th January 2026 at 5pm

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I've made a start on the chorus vocals, harmonies and acapella section by trying to balance the levels using the mixer. I've also went into these tracks individually to cut out sections where there is no singing to remove background noise and sounds where the vocalists are taking in a breath prior to singing. I have also learned how to use the fade in and fade out tools in the region section, which I am making use of to blend the harmonies together.

I removed the duplicate tracks for now to make it easier for myself initially - once I have finished trimming out all of the background noises in the vocals and harmonies I will add them back in and experiment with panning them and try binaural panning.

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Screenshot of Logic Session Friday, 30th January 2026 at 4:30pm

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In the highlighted region during one of Brian's acapella recordings, I can hear a bottle being dropped towards the end of his vocal line. I tried to EQ it out but it would also be cutting out a good majority of the vocals too. I think the best solution would be to double his other acapella line as he is singing the same notes there. I will also move it back slightly to create the chorus effect that the removed track was achieving originally.

I tried cutting that part of the recording and fading it out but it made the harmonies lose the thicker sound quality. So, I think it is best to duplicate the other recording.

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Trinity College London Press - Piano Scales & Arpeggios

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In my instrumental lessons with Katrina, we have been learning all of the scales and arpeggios for Grade 5.

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Song Analysis of Mr. Blue Sky Pages 1 & 2

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Mr. Blue Sky is a lot more complex than I thought, it has a lot of chromaticism, secondary dominants and other borrowed chords within all of the chord sequences. It utilises the typical jazz chord progression in parts of the song as well, ii-VI-I. The rhythm is very simple, however, the chord progressions are more complex.

I wish I balanced the different modules of Project 2 a bit better so that I had more time to analyse and fully understand what is happening with the chord sequences. I wanted to challenge myself by analysing a more difficult song from our setlist but I didn't give myself enough time to delve deep enough.

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Flashcards that I drew for bass clef practice

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Katrina has asked me to time myself identifying all of the notes for bass clef and try to beat my own personal best each time. This has helped tremendously with being able to read piano parts from sheet music a lot faster. I can read treble clef well because I learned clarinet at a young age, but I am slower at bass clef.

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UK reissue vinyl single * Jet * S JET 104[b/w One Summer Dream] Artwork

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Porter, R. (2025). Jeff Lynne Song Database - Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky song analysis. [online] Jeff Lynne Song Database. Available at: https://www.jefflynnesongs.com/mrbluesky/. Accessed: 18/01/2026

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Initial Project Proposal Ideas to Consider:

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Initial Project Proposal Ideas to Consider:

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Idea 1: Solo piano with Katrina

Idea 2: Out of the Box Fest

Idea 3: Life as a session musician

Idea 4: Making an original music video

**weigh out pros and cons of each proposal idea, as Scott said to not let what you perceive to be your weaknesses decide what your final project will be, for example the music video idea (I believe composition and songwriting to be one of my weaknesses).

Pros:

Idea 2: I wouldn't be overworking myself as much because I was good at documenting our journey as a band in Project 2, I also have lots of ideas for band identity, visuals and have a good idea now of all of our band members strengths and music taste.

Idea 3: Could work in with YouTube content to begin working on social media presence. This would sharpen my skills in terms of videography, video editing and confidence with talking and appearing on camera.

I already have a student subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud and I am familiar with Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier and some experience with After Effects, so I have excellent resources to work with, as well as all of the recording equipment in the college and Logic Pro, which I now know how to use at a basic level.

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Handout from Rocio's class during Project 1

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I watched this video to try and find different perspectives/interpretations of the song, to see if there are any perspectives that I haven't thought of myself.

The YouTuber, Rooben, suggests that the song, despite its many different sections and styles, is tied together by its strong 4/4 rhythm (4 crotchets to a bar) - which is played on all instruments at one point or another throughout the song - despite its diverse song structure and different styles in each section. I agree with this take - that the rhythm is what ties the whole song together despite its multiple styles and arrangements.

An interesting detail is that the percussive bell sound that occurs prior to each verse was actually a fire extinguisher being hit and that was recorded and added into the song, during some live performances they brought this on the stage to be played live.

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How is Mr Blue Sky such a happy song? | amateur analysis

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Song structure I wrote out for Mr. Blue Sky

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I wrote this condensed song structure to use for my own reference during our performance. This is because the chord sheets I have with lyrics are 3 A4 pages long and the sheet music was over 10 pages long, so it wasn't feasible to have all of that in front of me and would impact how I perform. This was the first time I performed with this as a reference, it worked quite well but I needed to practice with it a few times. I could have made it clearer because the arrows were confusing initially when I was trying to play from it the first few times.

Ideally, I would have all of the songs memorised but I can work towards this more for the next performance. I have the chorus memorised (which is why I haven't written the chords down) so I am halfway there. Next time, when I am learning a new song - I will create a song structure sheet a lot earlier as this will likely help me memorise songs faster.

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Photo taken by Andy from our performance on Wednesday, 14th January 2025 in the auditorium

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General Thoughts

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I believe that our performance as a group overall was strong, as we had good tuning between string instruments, we were cohesive and we listened to each other whilst we were playing.

I am the keys player within my band and I also help with backing vocals with Jacob. Initially we had 4 lead vocalists, which then reduced to 2 over the course of Project 2, so I believe it adds a lot to the overall sound of the band and opens up more harmonic possibilities. I attend Ni's singing classes in addition to my piano lessons with Katrina on Wednesday mornings to develop my vocals further. Oliver, Ethan, Jacob, Aidian and Jackson are great at adding different voicings to the chords of our songs, so I believe I can contribute a bit more if I also help with backing vocals.

It would be ideal to eventually buy a synth or keyboard that can fill out the sound of the band more, especially string and brass sounds.

My own stage presence wasn't very good during this performance. I should have my chords memorised so that I can engage with the audience more. I will work on that for my next performance. I wanted to stand up whilst playing as I find myself a bit limited sitting down, our sound technician suggested that we can do that the next time if I let him know in advance.

I believe that the start to each song in our setlist could've been a lot stronger. The transition between our first and second song needed to be rehearsed as it was a last minute addition to add the talking segment between song 1 and song 2.

Miss Moonlight by Sex Wax

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I believe our song that was executed the best during our performance was our original song. Ethan's introduction to the song worked well because the song then slowly built up from there, adding more layers and textures gradually as more of the band started playing. When we were setting up the band looked unsure before starting, which impacted how strong the start of song 1 could've been.

I believe that the contrast of the verses and chorus was very effective. The moody, relaxed feel of the jazz chords (D7 and Bm7) suit the theming of the verse and then the chorus has a different colour due to the 3 major chords (E, B/D# and D) after the F#m used at the end of each line.

Star Girl by McFly

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After watching our performance video, I believe that this was our weakest song of the setlist. I relistened to previous recordings during our Wednesday rehearsals and think that we have performed it a lot better. I believe it is because the last time we were all together as a band was only the Friday before our performance, so the winter break definitely affected how confidently we were performing it.

During Star Girl, I believe that the countdown into the interlude that I did was strong, but I feel like it was too low because usually all of the vocalists sing it together there. I could've backed away from the microphone a bit as well, it was too loud.

I believe that I could have come up with something more interesting to do in the bridge of the song where it switches to B major 7 and G sharp minor. After watching the video back - I noticed that some of the lead vocals could have been altered to suit our lead vocalists better. To remedy this, we could have changed the key of the song to suit our vocalists range better. The bridge definitely needed more work. I believe what our guitarists were playing was very well played and helped carry that section forward. I was not confident in that section myself and definitely needed to study the section more and come up with solutions to improve how I was playing. In hindsight, if I played some legato arpeggios with sustain on keys, that could've really worked for that section and made it sound more dramatic, and contrast more with the verse and chorus even more. The transition to the interlude from the bridge was strong due to the strong straight rhythm being reintroduced during the major chords.

I believe that my backing vocals were sufficient, but they could've been a lot stronger at the end of the choruses. Myself and Jacob were singing the root note of each chord on an 'Oo' vowel, I feel like my pitch wasn't great during the first note and I was having to find it before moving onto the next two notes. I rehearsed it a lot at home but I find it difficult to pitch it exactly with the whole band due to the noise level. This is something I will continue to work on.

The vocals during the start of the chorus, the 'Oo' melody prior to the start of the lead vocal line, could've sounded better. I believe these parts needed to be split between vocalists, for example if myself and Jacob sang the 'oo' vowels it would've been cleaner and give space for the lead vocalists to sing the chorus.

I thought that Oliver's harmony that he did with Jacob's guitar solo during the interlude worked extremely well, and that his guitar could've been a lot louder.

Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra

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The transition between songs worked very well. To link the songs we played an E♭ chord, to E and then to F. We realised that the songs were close in key, so Oliver suggested we move chromatically into the key of our next song, it worked very well in my opinion and helped to maintain the energy and flow of our setlist.

During the start of Mr. Blue Sky, the vocals were not very audible. I did my best to figure out where in the song that we were so that the chords are in the correct place with the vocals.

The high notes during the 'So Long' could've been a lot better on my part - I needed to practice them more as I did not feel confident in them. Ni suggested during our soundcheck to go for it regardless, which I did. I would've liked to help more with the vocal harmonies in Mr. Blue Sky but what I was playing on keys was more difficult than our other songs.

Last Thoughts

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I would've liked to tighten up the vocal harmonies more but it's difficult when not everyone is at rehearsal at the same time.

There were also a lot of last minute changes on the day, which I try to avoid as it can cause mistakes when you're on stage.

Watching back the recording was very helpful, I feel like the time that it took us to get started could've been a lot shorter, but our communication prior to starting was good. It doesn't take me long to set up, so in future I will try to help others get ready to speed up the time it takes for us to start.

*I spoke to Andy and Ni after this and asked what I should do during set-up and soundcheck. They suggested that if you have less to set up and can just walk on you are better waiting at the sides and then walking on when you are about to start. So, for myself I can go on later as I don't have much I have to set up and the vocalists could walk on when we are ready to start, as this also signals to the audience that we are about to begin.

In terms of song choice - I do think that our songs go well together and I also think that the order our setlist in was very good, as the tempo initially was slow and then increased with each song.

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Band Performance on Wednesday, 14th January 2026

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Visuals

I leaned on my previous experience of the first band's performance during Project 1 to help decide what I think our look as a band could be on stage. In my previous band we agreed to wear a mix of black, pink and white - which looked good but I think it made it so we blended into the stage too much. Instead of wearing black, I felt it would look better to wear more colour. Even though I love wearing black!

I thought about the theming of all of our songs, Miss Moonlight, Star Girl and Mr. Blue Sky. I felt that the obvious answer was to wear blue because of the ELO song that we are covering. I also felt that it tied in with our other songs, Miss Moonlight and Star Girl - except a darker blue, to portray the feeling of night. I felt an accent colour of yellow or orange would look great, and tie in with the themes of the sun and stars that our songs touch on.

I also had to think practically about what all of us had already and could afford should anyone choose to buy something. I brought up the question during one of our extra rehearsals - asking what people would like to wear. I put forward the idea of a dark blue and some people agreed with this. I found it kind of difficult to come to an agreement initially with everyone because we all have different styles and what we have available to us currently. Jacob and Ethan were suggesting flannels and converse looking shoes/trainers. I agreed with this as it matches with the genre of our songs, which are a mix of rock, pop, funk and prog rock. I also suggested jeans/denim skirts as they are blue and most of us have those.

In the auditorium, there is a projector behind where we perform - it would add a lot visually if we had a video that could play visuals whilst we are performing. My idea would be to have a mix of B-roll footage of the sky and clouds for Mr. Blue Sky, then galaxy kind of footage and the night sky for Star Girl, and then for our original song switch between the night sky, for our verses, and then the sun for our chorus.

I did not have time to implement the idea for this project, unfortunately.

Depending on what I choose for my final project - I will definitely take this idea forward. Although, it also depends on the venue whether this would be possible or not.

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Recording from Tuesday, 14th January 2026

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This was some extra rehearsal on Tuesday evening in a practice booth with Nadz. I was extremely tired so I probably should have rested instead of rehearsing more, hence all of the mistakes, but I enjoyed this.

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Date: Tuesday, 13th January 2026

Name of Band: Sex Wax

Which Song(s) You Worked On: Original Song, Mr. Blue Sky and Star Girl

I booked a rehearsal room for 12:15pm-1:15pm today for people who couldn't make yesterday's additional rehearsal or Friday's extra rehearsal.

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Date: Monday, 12th January 2026

Name of Band: Sex Wax

Who Was Present: Nadz, Ellie, Ethan

Which Song(s) You Worked On: Original Song, Mr. Blue Sky and Star Girl

Nadz asked if we could rehearse today, Ethan booked a rehearsal room for the evening and we had an extra rehearsal.

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Clip of rehearsing and learning Miss Moonlight (original song)

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Date: Friday, 11th January 2026

Name of Band: Sex Wax

Who Was Present: Ellie, Evan, Aidian, Ethan, Nadz, Jacob and Maysen

Which Songs We Worked On: Miss Moonlight, Mr. Blue Sky and Star Girl

I am glad that I attended this extra rehearsal as I felt extremely rusty in my playing. I had not been well recently so I had not been working on the songs we are playing as much as I would have liked to.

I'm happy with how this rehearsal went, it was productive and helped us begin getting our setlist up to a good standard again after the winter break.

Since this video - I moved where I was playing up an octave as it suited the song better and made it so I wasn't competing with the guitars or bass parts as much or where the vocals are pitch wise. Instead of playing heavy octaves on my left hand I used it to play the triads and then used my right hand to extend the chord and create more interesting voicings, as well as adding in minimal fills before the singers come back in. During the verses we are moving from D major 7 to B minor 7.

Jacob had put a lot of work into reworking the lyrics and melody of the verses and pre-chorus of our original song. This was to help match the chorus we made in our last rehearsal before the winter break.

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What skills have you developed so far this year that you would like to develop further?

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What skills have you developed so far this year that you would like to develop further?

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The skills that I have developed the most this year by far is my piano technique. Before coming to college I was self-taught on piano for 2 and a half years (on and off), so this is the first time I have had lessons with a teacher and the progress I have made in a short space of time has surprised me a lot. I couldn't do a 2 hand 2 octave scale before, and now I can do that with C, D, E, G and A major and harmonic minor scales, and I am working on more for my Grade 5 exam at the end of the year. The way Katrina has been grouping the scales together in terms of fingerings has been extremely helpful.

I have also been refining my ensemble skills, attending Trad Band, Street Band and Choir. I have been in various concert bands regularly since I was around 13 or 14, but I hadn't been in any ensembles for about a year since I moved away from Dundee a few years ago. I have really enjoyed playing in the ensembles and started playing clarinet again regularly, and have been enjoying it a lot. Before college I hadn't played clarinet for over a year.

This is also the first time I have ever been in a choir. I have been singing the female alto parts and have found that this has helped my ability to sing harmonies tremendously.

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Date: Wednesday, 7th January 2026

Name of Band: Sex Wax

Who Was Present: Ethan, Jacob, Evan and Aidian

Who Was Missing: Ellie, Nadz, Maysen, Jackson & Oliver

Which Song(s) You Worked On: Original Song, Mr. Blue Sky and Star Girl

It was the eighth band rehearsal today.

I wasn't feeling well, so I did not attend this rehearsal.

I spoke to Jacob and he said that they did a run-through of all of our songs, including our original song, and that he rewrote the verse to fit with the chorus that we had created the previous rehearsal.

We are going to have an additional rehearsal on Friday which I will attend and another one on Monday and Tuesday.

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We are learning this version of Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra.

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BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover VST Spitfire Audio

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I found a free VST that I can use that has 34 different instruments, including piano, strings, woodwind and brass. I particularly enjoy the brass VSTs within this as they are very rich sounding.

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BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover - Spitfire Audio

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Write music with the world-famous BBC Symphony Orchestra — now including a concert grand piano.Discover 34 instruments, brought to life inside our free, easy-to-use plugin, compatible with any major music creation software – from Garageband to Pro Tools. A whole orchestra at your fingertips, Discover is designed to mak

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Ni suggested that I have a look at Arturia software instruments to add more diverse sounds to our original song. I could plug the keyboard into a laptop and use it as a MIDI controller and output the sound from my laptop into the PA if I use a DAW or VST.

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A recording of our original song from Wednesday, 17th December 2025

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Chorus for Miss Moonlight (Original Song) with Vocals

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Chorus for Miss Moonlight (Original Song) with Vocals

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I really liked the upper harmony I came up with for our song, as I felt it made our chorus catchy, but it is extremely straining for me to sing - so I suggested that Maysen could sing this harmony if she is happy to do so in our future rehearsals as I felt her voice is more suited to this. I stopped doing the high vocal part until the end of the chorus, or else I felt like I was overdoing it. So I only did it for the 'Feel the sun' part at the end in future rehearsals.

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Photograph of notes during rehearsal on Wednesday, 17th December 2025

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I took notes of the structure of our original song for future reference.

Scott said that it should be D sharp and not E flat, and this is just a passing chord from the parallel key. Kiss from a Rose is a song he recommended I listen to as it uses borrowed chords a lot.

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Recording of our original song so far, instrumental only

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Date: Wednesday, 17th December 2025

Name of Band: S3xwax

Who Was Present: Oliver, Ethan, Jacob, Jackson and Ellie

Which Song(s) You Worked On: Original Song

We had our seventh band rehearsal today.

We were asked to finish our original song today - we already had a verse and pre-chorus which we had written as a group the previous week. Today, we wrote the chorus, lyrics, a bridge and then found a way for the song to finish.

It felt really rewarding to write together today, since we had a smaller group - I found it a lot easier to work in this setting. Ethan and Oliver worked together to create most of the chord structure, then myself and Jacob worked on how the melody for the chorus should go. I said that I felt 'Feel the Sun' was working for the chorus, then Jacob fleshed out the rest of the melody and lyrics for the chorus.

Throughout the process I was making sure to keep track of what the structure of the song was. I made sure to communicate with our guitarists so that I knew what chords they were playing and I made sure to write them down as we went along.

Ni suggested different kind of drum beats we could try with the chorus, and not to leave gaps at the end, adding different fills between the last chord changes so that the song doesn't feel disjointed and flows better. Jacob was playing drums today.

After rehearsal today, I stayed in the rehearsal room longer and spent an hour and a half working on my vocals. It has helped a lot with my confidence, as Ni pointed out when I was singing the microphone wasn't picking it up because I wasn't close enough. I didn't realise how close you need to be to the microphone - but spending that time after rehearsal on my own practicing was very beneficial. I am going to do this more to continue building my confidence with singing.

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Date: Wednesday, 10th December 2025

Name of Band: S3xwax

Who Was Present: Nadz, Maysen, Jacob, Ellie, Oliver, Aidian, Ethan, Jackson and Evan

Which Song(s) You Worked On: Original Song

We had our sixth band rehearsal today.

We managed to write a verse for our original song today and a pre-chorus section. Our guitarists composed the chord structure and funk rhythm of our song. Nadz, Maysen and myself worked on the vocal melodies and lyrics. We used a combination of Nadz's lyrics and my own which we had prepared before rehearsal.

I found the environment quite difficult today as it felt quite chaotic. I would have preferred if we split into smaller groups. Due to this, I tried to take on a more editorial role - listening to what each band member was doing and give suggestions as to how to develop the melody or chord structure further.

We got stuck in a cycle of playing the verse over and over and then after a while the song stopped developing. It would have been better to stop and discuss as a group where we would like the song to go, figuring out different rhythms, chords, dynamics and arrangements we could try.

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Star Girl Piano Part from Ultimate Guitar

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This song only had a small piano part, so I used the chord chart to help decide what to play during the chorus, bridge and other verses.

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All audio tracks within The Black Hole project

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This project has been extremely helpful in terms of becoming more familiar with using Logic. I have learned about more shortcuts that I can use on the keyboard, which have sped up my workflow tremendously. In particular using the Enter key on the numpad to play my project and '0' to stop. Also using the command key with the arrow keys to expand and collapse the size of the tracks.

I have used a condenser microphone for the first time during this project as well, which I now know is available to use for future projects too.

I got more familiar with the automation feature which is something that I will definitely use more in future.

I wanted to create some music for the credits but I didn't have enough time to do so. Although, without the music I feel like it makes the ending feel more dramatic. Making the knocks from the inside of vault more impactful.

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Logic Session Screenshot on Thursday, 11th December 2025 at 7pm

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I wanted to create a sound effect for the light flickering and then turning on - I reused the sound effect I recorded earlier for the non-diegetic sound of the green scanner light. I used my clarinet to create this sound. I then used the automation feature again to phase the sound in and out, timing it with the frames of the movie.

I also used a distortion audio effect to make the sound a bit more jarring. I was going to use both of the audio tracks I recorded as they are a semitone apart but I preferred how it sounded with just one note.

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Logic Session Screenshot on Thursday, 11th December 2025 at 7pm

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Scott suggested that I could make use of panning throughout the project, I used it to pan the main characters foot steps left and right to make the sounds more immersive. I made use of the automation feature to achieve this to avoid having to separate the audio into 2 tracks.

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Logic Session Screenshot on Thursday, 11th December 2025 at 5pm

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I have found that the Quantec Room Simulator reverb audio effect has worked quite well throughout my project. I have tried other reverb audio effects and this has been the best one for what I am trying to achieve. I like the ChromaVerb audio effect but I find that works better for instrumental tracks rather than foley.

I also used the Expander audio effect to increase the volume of some of my recorded sounds that needed a boost. I think this was to do with using the SM58 to record sounds before switching over to a condenser microphone.

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Thursday, 11th December 2025

I am adding final touches to my project - my main priority is balancing the sound levels a bit more. I felt for the end scene where the main character gets stuck in the black hole, it was far too loud compared to the rest of the short movie. So, I have moved that onto a separate track so I can lower the volume a bit.

I am rewatching my project and adjusting the volume levels bit by bit as I feel necessary.

I am grateful that I have previous experience in using other software as such Photoshop and Illustrator, as I have transferred my way of working over into Logic. I have tried to edit in non-destructive ways, similar in the way you would work for creating illustrations or editing photographs, by working in multiple layers, or tracks in this case. I have tried to name the tracks as I have gone along to keep them organized, so that it is easier to go back in and edit sound levels or add effects.

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These are some lyrics I prepared for our song-writing session.

Andy and Ni asked that we prepare something to bring to tomorrow's rehearsal as we are going to start writing our original song as a group. I decided to write lyrics as we have a lot of guitarists that were writing the chord structures.

I tried to tie the song in with our two other cover songs. I thought it would be interesting to do the opposite of Mr. Blue Sky but also tie it in with Star Girl. Thematically, I think that all of our songs are tied together by the different states of the sky, so the stars, the moon and the sun.

I was feeling kind of low because of the winter, so my lyrics were tied to the notion of it being difficult to cope with reduced daylight - and how it isn't even close to the darkest day yet.

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The brass parts during the Interlude of Star Girl by McFly from the Ultimate Guitar (second slide is transposed for Bb instruments)

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Initially, I thought it would be a good idea to play soprano saxophone, as Evan volunteered to play cornet whilst hitting the bass pedal and high-hat simultaneously. This idea didn't come to fruition, which is both a shame and also for the better in a way. I believe it would have been great to add a different texture and colour to the song, as it would also be true to how the original track is played.

Myself and Evan ended up not playing the brass Interlude parts as Jacob knew the Interlude part on guitar and was playing it well - so, I took a step back. I did start learning the part on soprano saxophone, so it was good experience regardless. Oliver, also created a harmony to play alongside Jacob and it sounded full and was executed well. So whilst the different timbre of brass and woodwind would have been a welcome addition it would have required a lot of additional preparation.

It would have also been, not completely impractical, but difficult to switch to soprano saxophone. Soprano saxophone is a very difficult instrument to play in tune as is, due to the smaller mouthpiece and more delicate embouchure that is required, so for the instrument to also not be warmed up would make it difficult to play well and in tune.

In hindsight, if I were to have played this - I could have left the guitarists to play the bridge and prepared the soprano sax in a timely manner. If I am going to play additional instruments during a song, I need to think carefully about the execution of how I will actually achieve this during a live performance and weigh up the pros and cons of whether it is worthwhile doing.

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Logic Session Screenshot on Friday, 5th December 2025 at 4pm

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I used the automation feature within Logic to increase and decrease the volume of the rustling sound effect to work better within the scene, as there are multiple sound effects playing simultaneously.

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Reaching into the vending machine using the black hole

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I recorded the sound effect for the rustling of the chocolate bar using the condenser microphone - I used a paper receipt to record the sound, as the low weight of the receipt paper produced a high pitched rustling sound which works well for this scene.

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Logic Session Screenshot on Friday, 5th December 2025 at 3pm

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As the violins creep up in pitch I also increased the velocity of the notes to create a crescendo - adding to the tension of the scene, trailing off with a quiet high note to resolve the suspense. I also added a reverb effect to make the violins sound richer and fade away more smoothly.

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Scene where protagonist picks up coffee cup from black hole

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I created a short violin composition using software instruments to build tension in the scene where the protagonist picks up his coffee cup from within the black hole. The violins creep up in volume and pitch in thirds atonally to create suspense.

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Scott recommended that I use this resource for finding cinematic sounds and sound effects to use in my project.

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Bring your story to life | Music & SFX for videos | Epidemic Sound

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Get unlimited access to our catalog of high quality music, sound effects and soundtracking tools. Use them worry-free, worldwide, all rights included.

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Practice Booth Set-up for Recording into Logic on Friday, 5th December 2025

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This week I'm going to try and populate the sound effects for the last few scenes of the short film - the last 50 seconds before the credits roll. I want to compose a short 15-20 second piece of music for when the credits roll but I will focus on that another time.

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SE Electronics SE2200 A Condenser Microphone and Mic Stand on Friday, 28th November 2025

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I switched to using a condenser microphone this week and the sound quality has been so much better compared to when I was using my dynamic vocal microphone, the SM58. I asked Ross at reception if the college has a condenser microphone I could use and this has been producing much better results. Even the fact that it has a stand to go with it helps a lot, as it frees up both of my hands for making sound effects.

When I was using my SM58 microphone, I didn't have a stand to use for it, so I was having to hold the microphone with my hand or hang it off of the edge of the desk. You can hear me handling the microphone in some of the sounds I have recorded the previous week. The condenser microphone also picks up quieter sounds, so it has been very helpful for recording clarinet, bass clarinet and paper sounds.

Now that I know the college has this, I will use it in future projects for recording instruments, such as clarinet, flute, acoustic guitar and possibly piano as well.

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Logic Session Screenshot on Friday, 28th November 2025

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Logic Session Screenshot: Friday, 28th November 2025

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Friday, 28th November 2025 - Notes during class

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Logic Session Screenshot: Friday, 21st November 2025 at 2:10pm

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I made use of the effect Pitch Shifter multiple times throughout my project - mostly to lower the pitch of some of the sounds I have recorded. I used it for the scene where the protagonist kicks the drawer when the scanner isn't working. I also used it to lower the pitch of some of the sighs I recorded to make his voice appear lower.

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Logic Session Screenshot: Friday, 21st November 2025 at 2pm

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Band Recording of Star Girl by McFly and Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra

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Date: Wednesday, 3rd December 2025

Name of Band: S3xwax

Who Was Present: Nadz, Maysen, Jacob, Ellie, Oliver, Aidian, Ethan, Jackson and Evan

Which Song(s) You Worked On: Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra and Star Girl by McFly

We had our fifth band rehearsal today.

We practiced playing both of our cover songs - Star Girl by McFly and Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra.

We rehearsed the transition between Star Girl and Mr. Blue Sky, the guitarists and keys play an Eb major chord (which is the ending chord for Star Girl), to an E major chord (for one beat) and then to F major, which how Mr. Blue Sky begins. This is what the band decided to do to transition between the songs without stopping. Usually, I prefer to have a break and solid ending between songs, but I think that it works well in this case. Especially as during our final band performance we've to play the songs one after the other without a break.

Andy suggested that we all try to get to the point where we don't have to look at our sheet music, song structure or chord sheets to play through the songs - and to challenge ourselves without them to see how far we can get. I definitely over rely on my sheet music when it comes to playing keys in a band, as I am used to working with singers and accompanying them only, so if they missed a bar or came in late I could check to see where they were. When it comes to solo piano I don't have an issue playing without sheet music, but I am not used to doing it in a band situation.

I felt more confident today doing my backing vocals, particularly in the Star Girl chorus. Although I am finding it difficult to pitch myself correctly in loud rehearsal environments. I think because I haven't been singing as much recently I have lost a lot of confidence in that area.

I found rehearsal quite a struggle today as I was extremely tired. I used it as an opportunity to listen to the band more as a whole though, and the band is sounding cohesive. Oliver's guitar solos in Mr. Blue Sky are sounding great, the tone he gets out of the guitar is suitable for the song, the solos are executed very accurately and with excellent timing and technique. Andy suggested that when our guitarists are playing solos they need to increase the volume of their guitars substantially.

Evan's drumming is excellent and always strong rhythmically.

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Wednesday, 26th November 2025

We had our fourth band rehearsal today.

We practiced playing both of our cover songs - Star Girl by McFly and Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra.

Towards the end of our rehearsal, we were working on how we can transition from Star Girl to Mr. Blue Sky.

Today's rehearsal was productive and the time was spent well. For next week, I will suggest we work on the bridge for Star Girl and the interlude section. Evan suggested that they would like to play the cornet at the same time as the drums. The brass part has two parts, with one part playing an octave above the other. I have borrowed the soprano saxophone from college and have been practicing with it the last couple of days (this is also because I wanted to try the soprano saxophone, as it would be a good fit for Street Mash), and will work out with Evan what part they'd like to play. I think it would be better for the soprano sax to play the higher part, as I believe that it's easier to play from middle C to upper G on a cornet compared to high notes. I will check in with Evan to see how they are getting on with the part and which they'd prefer to play.

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McNab Sound & Billy Wilson Clarinet Part

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Thursday, 20th November 2025

Rehearsal went well, we worked on the transitions between pieces today. I need to work on these pieces, as the tempo is very fast and the pieces are in difficult keys. Particularly the end of McNab Sound and Roxburgh Jig.

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Wednesday, 19th November 2025

We had our third band rehearsal today.

We collectively agreed that we wanted to change our second song, This Love by Maroon 5. Personally, I felt the song was a bit repetitive and that it would be better to choose a song that is a bit more difficult. Nadz, one of our vocalists, also wanted to be more involved in choosing which songs we are going to cover, as she wasn't well last week and wasn't at our second rehearsal.

We agreed to continue with Star Girl by McFly as our first song. It isn't a song I would choose to cover personally, but the song has grown on me over the last week. There is a lot that we could do with the song to develop it further - we are working on ideas on how to flesh out the vocal harmonies and backing vocals further. We are lucky to have 5 vocalists and 3 strong lead vocalists.

It is difficult to make decisions as a group when not all band members are present, to help with this, we will make more use of our online group chat before finalising decisions.

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Chord sheet I formatted from Ultimate Guitar

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This is the version of Star Girl by McFly that our band is learning for performance.

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Chord sheet that I made from the Ultimate Guitar Official Tab and Chord Chart

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When I'm formatting my chord sheets - I like to try and condense it as much as possible whilst it still being legible. I format it so that 2 pages fit on a piece of A4 paper that is landscape. I could condense this more by creating a synthesised layout of the structure, once I am more familiar with the lyrics and where the chord changes line up with them.

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Psychedelic Rock Sounds

I am researching different sound effects that I could be used for our original song.

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Notes from Rocio's class on Friday, 5th December 2025

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Reflection after Rocio's class on Friday, 14th November 2025

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I found this very helpful to help visualise where different instruments fit in together in terms of note ranges.

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Guitar Notes in Relation to Piano Octaves

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Guitar Notes in Relation to Piano Octaves

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Screenshot from BoBeats video about beginner synths - Yamaha Reface CS Synthesizer

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I'm trying to learn more about synths, as this would be a good way to expand my role within a band and add more to the overall sound.

A mono synth is monophonic meaning that only one note can be played at a time.

(Many mono synths are actually duophonic meaning they can play 2 notes with limited articulation at once)

A poly synth is polyphonic, meaning that they can play more than one note at a time.

Mono synths are suitable for bass sounds and lead sounds.

Poly synths are more suitable for chords and pad sounds, as well as other sounds where overlapping notes are important. Poly synths are more versatile and fun to use.

GREAT BEGINNER SYNTHS — a guide to picking your first synthesizer! (UPDATED for 2025!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3de88ws5_I