Funk Unit

Now we have started the funk unit. We have listened to music by James Brown who was a funk music artist 1933-2006, he was even called "The Godfather of Funk" and the "King of Funk". The climax of his carrier was in the 60s and 70s. People thought he was the hardest working man in show business because of his crazy performances. Some of his most famous songs are, I Got You and Papa's Got a Brand New Bag.
Within funk music there is a lot of cutting out and repeating, the main instruments are the bass and the drums, the trumpet is also very much included in the hits.
Without funk music a lot of the music we listen to today wouldn't be the same, especially hip hop. 
In this unit we will be mastering the skills of James Brown's song I Got You. I will be playing the drums for it, which is exciting.
Here is the song sheet for the advanced drums. 

  

After looking over the basic version of I Got You and looking over the advanced version I decided to start practicing the basic version first. However after analyzing it and playing it I noticed that I should be able to manage playing the advanced version. So as my plan goes I started with the first part, A, without thinking about the open and closed high hat. This went very well so I started practicing with the open and closed high hat which took some time getting used to, but by the end of the lesson I mastered it. I still feel rusty at that part and I need to practice it more so I can relax a bit and for when the performance comes be really comfortable with it. Because from prior experience I felt like I know my piece until I get on stage. 

The B part was not very hard to get since it is basically the same thing except you are changing the high hat to the ride cymbal. I thought the transition from the high hat to the ride cymbal was a bit tricky. 

Part C was also in the beginning the similar thing and the ending was a bit more tricky. I think the hardest part will be able to keep a steady beat and also making the right transitions at the right moment. Since the drums are such a big part of funk music and any mistakes will be highly noticeable it is quite nerve racking.

I think I overall know the skills quite well, I just need to practice to get comfortable and also work on the transitions.  

Second Practice

6/3- 2013 

In this lesson we had the whole class, well almost, to practice our individual pieces. I started with just going through the song from the beginning and I realized some things were a bit rusty from last time. Partly because I guess that's how it is when you just learned something, but it also made me realize I need to go over it, over and over again before I feel comfortable. After having Sabrina listen to the first part of the song, I got some feedback that I should really make sure to let go and press down the high hat in time so that it doesn't go on for another hit. From this I really paid attention to the high hat and went through it very slowly. Other than that I played the song over and over, starting over if I made a stupid mistake. So I did not focus to much on the end of the song. I think I can improve by making sure I count better in my head, stay focused and press the high hat down exactly when I need to. 

18/04/13

Last practice session we have finally managed to play the A part very well. Philip gave us feedback. This feedback included that we play our different parts well, however we don't play synchronized. So we practiced counting and keeping a steady beat, which we then improved increasingly after repeating the part several times. Something I need to think about is that I sometimes count us in, in a different beat than what I start playing in. This is something I know I can manage if I focus better. I believe we have taken some major steps in our development and now we can start focusing on playing the song with attitude and confidence. I can also improve by playing the advanced part fully, because now I am using the open and close on one part of the song, or rather in one part of the A part. In the future I am striving for fully playing the advanced part.  

29/05/13

The time has come for the evaluation of the Funk unit, we have had our final performance. I must say we managed well. There were no major fails or any times of complete confusion. I tried to have a positive attitude during the song, since that was a big part in the performance and I believe the group was very good at keeping the whole performance fun and easy going by moving around. I found it quite hard knowing what to do, since I was sitting down with my arms at use so I tried to just keep a happy face. I must admit there were times where I made mistakes and I did not use the high hat throughout the performance, but I tried my best. I believe we kept an constant tempo and consistency through the song.

As for the unit I have partially enjoyed it. Instruments are not my strong suit, but I believe my group worked very well to get were we were at the end. I was fun working with a fun and catchy song as this one. In the beginning of the process I do believe we had a slow start, however when working we did it very efficiently. At one point in our practice sessions we felt like we were fairly confident, however with some feedback we realized the importance of practicing it over and over again. I think one thing the group was very good at was working well amongst each other, improving from feedback and giving a good performance with enthusiasm. The things we might could have improved on would be the work ethic and the skill of pointing out issues within the song whilst practicing. What I could have done to improve would be to have been consistent when it came to playing using the high hat.

Stomp

13th December

This is our final performance, after all the hard work! I was pleased with the outcome. I think it was very entertaining because we kept moving and used various props to make beats. We all kept on the beat throughout the performance and I really enjoyed the part were we placed the bottles on the floor all at ones because we were all synchronized, which made it very effective.

  I have to admit I did not have complete accuracy of the rhythms. This was because I got a bit distracted about being on stage so that I forgot to properly look at the sheet or think about what I was doing. If I would do it again I would be more focused on doing the right thing, however maybe that would have made it less relaxed... 

The message of cleaning the room came through since in the end the stage was pretty clean, so it was very obvious. I liked how we moved the chairs to the middle, picked up the plastic bags and threw the bottles in the trashcan. 

Not only was this very fun, but I also learned quite a bit. My knowledge in reading breaks and notes have greatly improved, I am much more confident now. I also found that effectiveness in rehearsals was on a much better level. 

If I were to do this again I would probably have made my composition more complicated. When I was doing it I didn't think that if the beat was a bit simple that it would be so obvious when it all came together and with different kinds of sounds.

5th December

Last Thursday was the last practice before the composition. :O We got to practice it on stage infront of Mathias and he gave us feedback. These are some of the things he said:
In general it was entertaining, good use of props in some parts. We have to remember to keep on the beat and try to improve our movement, relax and go with the rythm. So it looks more natural. We also have to have a less obvious count in and he suggested that someone makes a slow gesture before starting. He said our transition needs serious work so that its smooth. For my composition he said that it should be more entertaining, more movement and relaxed.

Improvements we made:
We went to practice after school on Tuesday and worked on our composition. The transition is much better now and since we knew it better we were able to relax a bit more. For our count in Vasko is now making gestures in the air with a bottle. For my composition we decided that at the last beat we would throw the plastic bags in the air at the audience. I think that will be very effective. 

I believe if we just go through it once or twice before the performance it will go fine! Even if we mess up a bit it doesn't need to mess up the whole performance, the most important thing is that we are quiet when we are supposed to and are all at the same bar.

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 21st November 2012

Last week we went through our whole composition! Since we all knew our part well, it went pretty smooth. The only issues we had was understanding what movements we should do, remembering them, being able to do both things and also some confusion understanding some of the notes and breaks. Mainly it was combining the moves with the beat that was the issue. 
I did not get much feedback since I didn't bring enough plastic bags for everyone, so we were not able to go though it properly with everyone. The feedback I got was that my composition was a bit easy and so so complex. I do agree with that, but I think it will sound nice when we are doing it with the plastic bags and making different sounds and maybe it will be a nice change to hear something simpler.
I believe it is going to be hard to remember the moves and do the composition because with some of the props there are quite complicated movements. However with organized and prepared practicing I do think we could manage in time.

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 17th Oct. 2012
Now everyone in our group have finished their composition. Last week and the week before we have started going through everyone's compositions and giving each other feed back. We also got our rough draft back. My group said that I should have more syncopated rhythms. From Mathias I got a lot of feed back, so I will not mention everything, but I should make it more complex, however I should still have it balanced and I should also make it longer. Last lesson we also watched some performances from Stomp for inspiration. For tomorrow I'm going to fix my composition and improve it.
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 Last week we started to talk about efficient ways to compose. I thought this was very useful because I have very little experience with composing music. We got into our groups for the big assessment and started to discuss ideas. We brain stormed for quite a while and it got very intense. We disagreed on quite a lot. But in the end we had a idea, however not everyone in the group think it's going to be very sufficient, including me. We are going to have a motel theme. What we came up with for everyone to do it just too much. We need so many tools to make it happen and for it to fit on that stage without having pauses where we get the things its going to be quite hard. The tools include: trash cans, pillows, bottles, sheets, chairs, plates, forks, knives, mops and I think that is it.
I also had another issues. When we finally agreed on a theme we didnt have a lot of time left to talk about what everyone was going to be doing and we all discussed ideas for everyone. But in the end everyone had something to do except for me. Now I have to figure something out by myself and I am fine with that, however the fact that I helped with giving ideas to some other people and then I am the one who is going to have to do it by myself is a bit annoying.

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 I just realized that the video I uploaded last is not viewable. I hope this one works.
In my group, the same as last time, we created a fairly simple beat using newspaper. It was quite simple, yet interesting. It contained some movement wish I enjoyed.
We we're very in synced the whole time except for the first few seconds were I was doing the wrong beat. This was because I usually get nervous when performing and freak myself out and in my head i am very unsure even though I actually know the beat if I just relax. But from then on we were good. I thought it was very interesting how we paired up and made a beat together by hitting the newspapers. This was quite hard because we needed to be in sync and also start from different sides each time we hit so we would actually hit each others newspaper. The count out was a bit unclear however we managed to stop at the same time. I enjoyed this exercise.  

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Now we have started with a unit called "Stomp". We have watched performances by the group Stomp and practiced repeating different rhythms. Stomp is a group of people who create music by putting different rhythms together using tools from everyday life. They also incorporate dance into some of their performances, or some kind of movement. And that is exactly what we are going to do in this unit.
We have also, in groups, have made our own short body percussion.
This is what my group came up with. I was in a group with Sabrina, Johanna, Amien and Soren. Sabrina was the team leader as you may have noticed, she was the one counting us in, out and also when we were supposed to change rhythm. We decided to divide our group into two groups. Each of the groups making two rhythms lasting for four counts and then combining them with the other group.
I really liked what we came up with. It was simple, but together made it sound more complex. I also liked how we incorporated some movement into our body percussion, just like Stomp did. We all stayed on the beat and ended and began when we were supposed to.

Gavotte Unit

Gavotte used to be a form of dance from France that the peasants used to dance in the Baroque period, however the Gavotte I'm going to be talking about is a piece of music that is composed for or in the rhythm of dance. 

My Gavotte

This is not the original Gavotte I created, I lost the worksheet so I had to start over from scratch. So like I said this is not my old version, I wasn't very pleased on how the old version sounded and I was not aware of that I had to have note one and three from a chord. I am not very experienced with notes and note values, so I felt very confused and unsure. Though this is what I came up with the second time. I think I worked to my ability, though I think I should have maybe asked for help before I kind of guessed myself through it. I believe the reason for me not understanding is because when we were handed the task it sounded like a impossible mission to compose something, so I kind of just assumed it was going to be hard and so in my mind it became a like i said, impossible mission. 

 I am pleased on how it sounds, but I haven't fully completed it to what we were said to complete it to. I finished the first eight bars, but I didn't start my second phrase as you see. Since I had only two lessons to come up with a new first phrase and then complete the eight bars I found it very hard in the amount of time I had to make it to my liking. Because I hadn't fully grasped on how to play it on the piano and what it sounded like, I didn't feel like I could move on. However I do like the beginning of my second Gavotte better that my first. 

In this Gavotte I decided to keep it very simple and repetitive, so I wouldn't make it too hard for myself and still keep it sounding good. The melody is also very simple. I have no breaks as you see. Im not really aware of how the last four bars sound like joining the bass and treble clef together. I wanted to not jump around to much with the notes since I heard that that makes it not very consistent or smooth. The presentation of my work could also be better and I really need to improve my organization of my worksheets. 

Reggea - End of Unit Summary

In the beginning of the unit when we did research I thought I did a pretty good job. I got all the information done to be able to play my instruments, though I maybe should have written about it more in my developmental workbook. My skills in music have improved a lot, I definitely didn't know much when we started, nothing actually. The rehearsals in our group went well, even though we were one man done and often someone, including myself wasn't present. The performance for me didn't go well at all, at least not for "No Woman No Cry" because I completely forgot to count because I was nervous. "I Shot the Sheriff" went good. Overall my weak point was reflecting and keeping my developmental workbook updated.

Reggae - No Woman No Cry - Piano Research

Now we started a Reggae unit and we been listening to Bob Marley songs. We been divided into different groups and we're going to be performing two songs, "I Shot the Sheriff" and also "No Woman No Cry". I chose to play the piano for one song and drums for the other.
This is some research I did to be able to play the piano in "No woman no cry".



9/11/11

Today I've looked around on some piano tutorials on youtube, though it didn't go so well, but I got a better understanding of the song. But now I know what notes I will be playing and I have a piano at home so I'm going to try and  get some work done at home...

16/11/11

I don't need all of these chords, the ones I will be needing for the song are: C G Am F C. So the D and B dimihished I won't be needing.

Today I have been practicing the different chords and how long I should hold them for... It's going okay so far. But I havn't, as you see, done any research on how to play the drums for "I Shot the Sheriff",I am planning on doing that for homework, because I will probably have time for it and also because I have a drum set at home. I was supposed to be finished with all my research today acording to my planning, but I'll just have to catch up at home.