https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px 11 Weeks Of Disagreements en-us 2017-12-14 23:37:20 UTC 2018-01-25 09:47:06 UTC hello@padlet.com cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358435 This session was essentially a case of scrambling through a series of songs that fit both mine and Grace's vocals effectively. 

The very first song we attempted - Piece By Piece by Kelly Clarkson - conveniently became apart of our end setlist. Complete with myself on the guitar and Grace on vocals, we both practiced this on a solitary basis out of college and returned to it as a duo during the occasional Magnet session whilst practicing our other songs. Piece By Piece was one of our simpler songs, therefore little practice was needed.

Young And Beautiful by Lana Del Rey was also chosen during this session and we decided I'd sing the lead whilst Grace participated with some harmonies. However, this was a little more difficult than expected and I just couldn't seem to reach certain notes effectively. As a result of this we decided to drop this song during a future rehearsal  and experimented with Ex's and Oh's by Ellie King instead. ]]> 2017-12-14 23:41:10 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358435 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358468 2017-12-14 23:41:35 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358468 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358559 Week 2 was a slight repeat of the previous rehearsal, however just consisting of adding a little more accuracy into our performing.
Week 3 was the decider - or so we thought - of our final setlist, the set being:

1.Bloom - Paper Kites
2. Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Rey
3. Ex's and Oh's - Elle King
4.Back When - Cate
5. Piece by Piece - Kelly Clarkson 

The order of our set was decided upon the way the songs progressed from a mellow start to more of an emphasised ending, due to Piece By Piece consisting of a wide range of dynamics. Also, the way we arranged the set was so the songs where I'd be playing the guitar were all towards the end - allowing for smooth transitions.]]> 2017-12-14 23:42:03 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358559 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358595 To have efficiently improved our progress throughout our early rehearsal sessions, learning the lyrics by heart would have enabled us to have had more time to fiddle with effective harmonies rather than stopping part way through the songs to check the lyric sheet (this was mostly my fault and became a common flaw throughout our rehearsal sessions). ]]> 2017-12-14 23:42:29 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358595 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358909 During this week I was unable to attend the rehearsal session, however Grace made progress with Piece By Piece by finding a suitable tempo for us both to efficiently work with.]]> 2017-12-14 23:46:18 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358909 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358951 Don't be absent.  ]]> 2017-12-14 23:46:45 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216358951 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216359139 With being typical Cate, I decided I no longer wanted us to incorporate Ex's and Oh's into our set as I was struggling quite a lot with the high notes despite practicing the song a great amount during out-of-college hours. As a result of this, we fiddled with the set and replaced the song with Cry Baby by Melanie Martinez.

To avoid a repeat of my indecision, we ensured the parts we were both singing fitted our vocals nicely by alternating between and experimenting with parts of the song we would each sing during the live lounge. Due to this, we were able to progress smoothly as a performing duo.

Unfortunately Cry Baby was the only song we rehearsed during this session which meant we were unable to practice the entirety of our set.]]> 2017-12-14 23:49:04 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216359139 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216359206 Don't try to perfect a song I don't actually know lyrics to yet.]]> 2017-12-14 23:49:38 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216359206 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216359315 This week was the FINAL DECIDER of our setlist, being:

1. Bloom
2. Angels - The XX
3. Cry baby
4. Back When
5. Piece by Piece

Focusing more on perfecting a few of our songs before the end of term (rather than continuing to skim through our entire set and not really progressing) we decided to run through Bloom and Cry Baby a few times, ensuring they were near-enough polished. ]]> 2017-12-14 23:50:51 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/216359315 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224549897 With the live lounge fast approaching, we've decided to stick with the set decided previously in week 6.  

Week 8 was a little more difficult as we were unfortunately sharing a room with another ensemble; therefore, meaning we spent half of the lesson rehearsing in the corridor where there were a few distractions. 

After the changeover we were only able to rehearse 'Angels' to ensure our harmonies were up to scratch. Initially, Grace had just been harmonizing on this track; however we decided to mix it up this lesson and alternate between who sang each verse.. I personally thought this sounded a lot better, but I'm not sure Grace was overly keen on the idea as we had returned to the original vocal structure by the end of the lesson. (Maybe we were both feeling a little grumpy after not being able to properly rehearse for long) ]]> 2018-01-25 08:52:44 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224549897 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224550627 Being easily distracted is a huge flaw during our rehearsals. To improve this I think we need to either:

- Prevent people coming into the room as we're rehearsing.

- Use this as a learning curve and practice through said distractions in case it were to happen during our live lounge performance and potentially throw us off track.]]> 2018-01-25 08:55:48 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224550627 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224553841 AAA THE LIVE LOUNGE IS FAST APPROACHING! 

After weeks of fiddling and faffing with singular songs, we spent the entirety of this session running through the entire set... A lot. 

It wouldn't be a rehearsal with me if it didn't involve a LITTLE faffing though; therefore, we contemplated changing the key for Bloom and rather me doing just the harmonies - maybe I'd sing a verse or two.. or three (It was all very muddled, but we figured something out in the end). We also thought James could play the keys during this song, too, but I'm not sure how long that idea will stick around. 

]]> 2018-01-25 09:09:01 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224553841 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224555541 Again, even though we spent the lesson rehearsing our entire set multiple times, we still hopped over the odd song mid-way through each run-through. 

Next lesson, it's mandatory we don't do this as our live lounge performance is in two weeks!]]> 2018-01-25 09:15:40 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224555541 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224556409 This week was our dress rehearsal which went.. okay? The only issue we had was ensuring our set fulfilled the '20 minute' requirement. We found it ran a little short so we extended the outro on a couple of the tracks and spoke a little more during intervals (it all adds up). 

During the actual performance, nerves unfortunately got to me and my vocals were a little wobbly/flat during some of the songs - especially 'Angels'. Despite making little to no mistakes during the dress rehearsal, I was disappointed with the outcome after how well we had been performing during our practice earlier in the session. ]]> 2018-01-25 09:18:51 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224556409 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224558696 Unfortunately only part of our set was recorded as the camera ran short of memory space... Technology, eh!]]> 2018-01-25 09:27:33 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224558696 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224559357 My voice had got the better of me during this session and I wasn't able to sing due to having a chest infection. With the Live Lounge in just a couple of days I didn't want to strain my voice, so we spent our rehearsal ensuring we both knew the lyrics off by heart... Sorry Grace!]]> 2018-01-25 09:29:53 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224559357 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224560492 Again, nerves unfortunately got the better of me and I made a few mistakes during the set.. More than the dress rehearsal. My vocals still weren't entirely up to scratch since our last practice, which meant my voice broke a couple of times during the high harmonies!

Another issue we had was me taking ages to tune my guitar during our acoustic tracks. Whether it was the cold weather or my poor skills as a 'musician', I think this would have really affected my final grade. 

A plus side of the performance, no lyrics were forgotten and - as a duo - myself and Grace communicated well with one another during our songs and intervals. 

To improve if we were to ever do a live lounge again, I think ensuring my guitar had been properly tuned beforehand would be beneficial... Meaning I won't spend 10 minutes tuning one string. ]]> 2018-01-25 09:33:53 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224560492 cateconfetti https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224564218 2018-01-25 09:46:27 UTC https://padlet.com/cateconfetti/8soaymnaz0px/wish/224564218