Bridge | Lesson 6

We decided to spend this lesson working on the bridge of Blank Space as we assigned parts last lesson but we didn't have much time to rehearse the harmonies. We started by doing the warm ups we did last lesson because we found them effective, but instead of singing "Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry" we sung "Red Lorry, Green Yellow". We changed the phrase to improve our pronunciation of different words. This was effective as it helped us pronounce the words in the song correctly while singing the tune of the song.

We started by doing a run-through of the whole song to see what the harmonies sounded like and also to refresh our memory on what we have to sing in the song. Then once we had done one run-through we decided to focus mainly on the bridge. We listened to the original song and studied the different harmonies that were apparent. Once we had heard each others harmonies we spent some time singing them and finding the right notes to sing. When we thought it sounded accurate, we did a run-through of the bridge without the backing track first and then with it to see how it sounded without and with the music. When we thought the harmonies sounded accurate we did a few run-throughs of the whole song and liked the outcome of the bridge. We've agreed as a group that we should all individually rehearse our solo parts and harmonies just so we can perfect the song.

We  then started working on our next ensemble song which is Rude by Magic. We listened to the original song to try and find some harmonies within the song that we could use in our ensemble piece. We found a few harmonies in the chorus but we weren't sure if the song suited us as a group. We have decided to listen to the song individually and in our next lesson we will decide whether we want to carry on with the song or not.

Harmonies | Lesson 5

To start this lesson we did a group warm up. We warmed up through singing the scale of C while singing multiple phrases such as "Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry". This helped improve our pronunciation of words as well as warming up our vocal cords. We also warmed up through singing arpeggios while singing "la" to prepare us for any leaps that we may have to sing when rehearsing our ensemble pieces.

We decided to start rehearsing Ho Hey first as we thought it would be fairly straight forward for Amelia to learn her parts and join in with the rehearsals. We started by showing her what parts she was going to sing, and we did a run-through of the song to show her what it sounded like so she could pick it up fairly quickly. Once she picked up the song and she started rehearsing with us, we decided to focus on the harmonies throughout the song so we could perfect them. Once we thought the harmonies were perfected and we were happy with the outcome of the song we decided to move onto Blank Space.

We did a run-through of Blank Space without Amelia first to show her what the song sounded like and so she could pick up the song. Once we did one run-through we showed her what parts she was going to sing, and then we did a run-through with Amelia and she picked up the song fairly quickly. Some of the harmonies in the chorus were a bit off so we decided to focus on those harmonies so we could perfect them and move on. To do this we decided to sing our parts separately and then come together and sing in unison. Myself and Evie sung our parts together before Maddie joined in with the melody. Amelia joined in with the lower octave of the melody after Maddie joined in. Then once we were happy with the harmonies we decided to do a run-through of the song. When we were happy with the outcome of the song so far, we decided to move onto the bridge of the song.

We knew what the harmonies in the bridge were roughly, so we only needed to assign everyone harmonies and decide who would sing what. We decided that Evie would sing the melody at the beginning of the bridge and she would also sing the high note at the end of the bridge. We also agreed that Amelia should sing along with the melody after myself and Maddie have joined in with our harmonies and she should also sing the melody while Evie was singing the high note. Once Evie had started the bridge with the melody, I will come in on the second line with a high harmony, and Maddie would follow in the next line with a higher harmony, then Amelia would come in with the melody before Evie sung the high harmony. We thought this was effective as it helped build up the dynamics of the song and also it worked well with the transition between the bridge and the last chorus. We did a run-through of the bridge to see what it sounded like, and we have agreed to carry on working on it to perfect the harmonies.

Ho Hey | Lesson 4

To start the lesson we did the same warm up as last lesson as we knew it warmed up our voice well and we found it effective. After our voices were warmed up we decided to do a run-through of Blank Space to see how the harmonies sounded in the chorus. Evie still needed to improve her harmonies, so we spent the first part of the lesson going through her harmonies with and without the backing track to help her. After a few run-throughs of the song, she learnt her harmonies, so we decided to move onto our next song which is Ho Hey by The Lumineers. 

With Amelia still absent, we had to decide her parts for her, but it wasn't too complicated as we knew what she would be able to sing. To start the rehearsal we gave everyone both melody and harmony parts. Evie will sing the first verse and I will come in with the harmony at the end of the verse. Amelia will then sing the second verse with Maddie who will also come in with the harmony at the end of that verse. For the first chorus, after the second verse, Evie will be singing the melody while I sing the harmony. The melody of the third verse, after the chorus, will be sung by me and Maddie will be singing the harmony along with the melody. Amelia will sing the melody, and Maddie will sing the harmony for the second chorus. We've then split the bridge in half with Evie and I singing the first lines and then Amelia and Maddie singing the last line along with the first line of the third chorus. Evie and Amelia will be singing the melody and myself and Maddie will be singing the harmony. Then for the last line of the last chorus Evie and I will join in with the others with Evie singing the melody with Amelia, and myself singing the harmony along with Maddie.

Once we decided these parts of  the song we started to rehearse the song. Without Amelia there, it was difficult to song the harmony without the melody so we took turns singing Amelia's solo parts so Maddie could learn and rehearse the harmonies. Once we had the harmonies figured out, we all decided the song sounded really good and we liked the simplicity of it.

Blank Space | Lesson 2 & 3

In today's lesson I thought it was a good idea to start rehearsing Blank Space by Taylor Swift because I thought it would be a good starting point, and also the harmonies were clear in the song which meant it wasn't too complicated to work them out. We started rehearsal with a simple warm up of singing "la" up the scale of C, and then we did a run-through of the song. Amelia was absent in this lesson so we had to make decisions about her solo parts and harmonies without her. Luckily we knew her vocal range and we knew what she would want to sing. 

After the first run-through we disrupted solo parts to everyone in the group. I'm starting the song by singing the first verse, followed by Amelia who will be singing the second verse. Evie will follow after the chorus with the third verse and Maddie will be singing the fourth verse. We are all going to be singing the choruses in the song and the bridge with different harmonies along with the melody. We did a run-through of the song with her parts and decided it sounded really good and the parts we had given ourselves suited our voices well. 

Once the verses had to sorted out, we started to work on the chorus. Firstly, we decided that I would sing the melody of the chorus, however, as I knew the high harmony well I decided that I would sing the harmony and Maddie would sing the melody instead. This has worked out well as I can help others with their harmonies while Maddie sings the melody. 

With Maddie singing the melody and me singing the high harmony, we decided Evie would sing the low harmony which is an octave lower than what I am singing. Amelia will then sing the lower octave of the melody as we knew she would be able to hit the low notes in the chorus. As Evie needed to learn her harmony we decided that Maddie and I would sing the melody and the high harmony first to get it sounding correct and we would use that as a starting point. As Evie's harmony is a lower octave of mine, I helped her when learning the harmony. To do this I sung her harmony so she knew what she was singing and we did a few run-throughs of the song so Evie could get the hang of the harmony. We ended the lesson by doing a run-through of the whole song and we all did our own solo parts and harmonies in the chorus. It sounded good, but we still needed to work on some of the harmonies. So we decided to go away and learn our harmonies on our own to see how we have improved in the next lesson. 

Researching Songs | Lesson 1

In today's lesson we had to pick a variety of different songs that we could sing as our ensemble pieces. Before we could do that, we needed to choose an individual to be in charge of the ensemble pieces. This person needs to be in charge of taking the meetings and deciding what to do each lesson. The other group members agreed that I should be the person in charge because for the other ensemble songs we have done previously I have helped with finding the harmonies in a song. This meant I would choose what song we would start with once we had chosen three songs.

As a group we looked into different songs and discussed what we felt would be suitable for us to sing. We started off with 5 song choices. These choices were Blank Space by Taylor Swift, Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye, Rude by Magic, Wings by Little Mix and Ho Hey by The Lumineers. We decided that these songs would all be suitable for an ensemble song as we they all have clear harmonies and different parts that we could equally and fairly give members in the group. We all agreed that we didn't want to sing 5 ensemble songs in our final performance so we needed to pick 3 songs out of the 5 we had picked previously.

We chose Blank Space by Taylor Swift because it had an equal amount of solo parts for everyone and also it had a good amount of harmonies that we could distribute out to everyone in the group. 

We chose Ho Hey by The Lumineers because it had clear harmonies and we could easily distribute solo parts to people fairly. 

We chose Rude by Magic because it's an upbeat song and has a reggae genre to it which contrast to the other song. Also it has some harmonies and clear solo parts in the song.