In bands/ensembles create a repertoire of original songs that demonstrates your ability to

creatively blend genres together. Your finished repertoire should consist of at least 4- 6

original compositions. Your research from task 1 should be used to inform your decision

making.

Week 1

As shown in the videos below, Emily came up with a chord progression on piano for our first song which we decided is going to be a ballad/ rock/ metal. In our first lesson together as a band we wrote the first verse and also the chorus, we also figured out the chords for the entirety of our song during this time.

verses/chorus - Gbm, Fm, Emaj, Fm

Bridge - Bm, F#maj

During this lesson we also came up with a concept for our song. We decided among ourselves that our first song will tell a story, its written from the perspective of a girl who is married to a man but he treats her awfully so she will stop at nothing to get out of this abusive relationship. The girl has also fallen in love with someone else but her husband has no idea about it as it would break him due to the fact that the person she has fell for is another woman. By the end of our songs it will have told the story of how everything planned out and also how the girl has ended up killing her husband to be with this other girl. In the song we have just started writing we plan to use lots of metaphors so that the song has so many different meanings and also plan on making the song really heavy at the turning point of the storyline.

We also found a name for our band which we all love, we are GRLBND as our band consists of only girls, the name of our first song that we wrote is She's Mine, refering to the woman she fell for.

Lesson 2

During our second lesson we ended up getting a bit more of the song writing done managing to figure out a melody for the second verse and also wrote lyrics to the second verse. We also had quite a long conversation talking about when we want the tempo to change in order to make it more heavy and metal, we decided that the best place to do this would be after the first chorus as this is the point in the song where she is talking more about the woman she is deeply in love with. After we had gone through all of this we practiced through what we had so far of the song and started thinking and talking about what harmonies we would like to add throughout, due to us having three vocalists we are able to do three part harmonies which i think will sound really cool given the style of music we have gone for with this song.

lesson 3

Our biggest focus of this lesson id say was finishing the lyrics to our song, we came up with a melody and the lyrics for the bridge section of the song which meant that we had finished the writing of our first song. We went through the song a few times in order to become more familia and comfortable playing/ singing the song, unfortunately we didnt manage to get any videos therefore that will be more of a focus during next weeks lessons.

Week 2

During this week i was absent quite a bit due to being ill therefore this week i didn't get as much done in my band as i had hoped to.

Thursday

During our first lesson on Thursday, we went down to the studios to continue the recording of our song that the girls started on Wednesday. The first thing that we did was record my vocals for the second verse and also the bridge section, when this was completed Lucy went in the studio to record guitar. We also ended up adding bass to the song as it sounded a bit empty without it, Casey came up with a quick bass line and i feel that it really elevated the song.

Week 3

At the start of this week i was absent due to being ill therefore whilst i was gone Casey Emily and Lucy started thinking about and figuring out one of our other songs. This song already had a name as we spoke about each of our songs the week before this and decided that our songs are more of a concept album as they all tell a story. To start off the girls started playing about in the studios and came up with a hook for the chorus and also a chord progression on guitar which is cmaj7, dmaj7, Ebmin7, Bbmin7. The first part of the lyrics that Emily came up with was "i can't make you fall in love if you don't want to".

When i came back in to college we continued writing this song, this song is written about how the girl in our story has started to become obsessed with this other girl even though at this point she is still with her husband. She knows that what she is doing is wrong but she wants nothing more than to meet this woman and be with this woman. During our first lesson we wrote the whole chorus as usually its a lot easier to write the chorus first, we also wrote the pre-chorus and also the first verse of this song.

Later on during the day we went back down to the studios to work with Verity and Izzy on our song "she's mine" this was to attempt to finish everything off but we didn't quite manage it, we finished all the vocals and i re recorded my verse as i wasn't to happy with it, even though it still isn't perfect i think its alright considering i was unwell. Another thing that i didn't like within the song was a few of the harmonies, not specifically that the harmonies were bad it was the fact that the mixing of the harmonies was done poorly from the production students.

During the start of this week Emily ended up starting to write one of our other songs, this song is called Cognitive Misconduct and its written about the sadness and the trauma the she feels end experienced from being a murderer and doing all the awful things that she did. She still doesnt feel as if what she did was completely morally wrong as all she keeps doing is making everything about her and how her feelings were basically above the other people in the situation. She can't see how badly she needs help and how what she did was so terribly wrong. This song has a very haunting dark vibe and the lyrics of this song id say are the main thing to be heard as they are so meaningful but they're also so beautiful.

During this day we also went back down to the studios to work with the production students for the last time to finish off the mix or our recorded song Shes mine. I wasn't to happy with the mix at all as quite a lot of my harmonies were muted but by the end we explained what we wanted the song to sound like and my harmonies were again heard, a few of Caseys were also muted but we also changed that and the song sounds alot more full with all of them. Overall i didn't enjoy working in the studios very much but also think that if i was in for the first lesson of recording that it would be different down to the fact that i would have sung a completely different section of the song as i wasn't keen on my part.

Week 5

During week 5 we had quite a lot of focus on our completed songs in our repertoire, Shes Mine and also Amoristic Killer. We also attempted to get some more of our song cognitive misconduct completed as we realised that time is running out quite quickly.

During on of our lessons this week we had one of our teachers Judith sit in and listen to our song Amoristic Killer which i think was really helpful for all us girls as Judith gave us some ideas and even played some of her own on piano. We also think that after hearing what Judith came up with on piano that if at some point we want to record this song, we will likely add in piano possibly even bass to make it feel more like jazz/funk. I overall feel like Amoristic Killer is definitely one of our most improved songs as a collective as at the start this was the song that was not our strongest, i now feel like it is one of our favourites and really enjoy performing this song.

We performed our song Shes mine in live lunch and i feel like it went very well for us again, i think that this is as a whole our strongest song and really love the haunting vibe that the lyrics in the song give off. I feel like every time we perform this song it just gets stronger and stronger, the instrumentalists Casey, Lucie and Emily we all really together which just made the song sound so amazing and exactly how we imagined it to be. Although the instrumentalists are all in time with each other i do feel as if the tempo was sped up by quite a significant amount as i was struggling to finish the words in time to sing the next part. Lastly i really love the way that Emily sings "ooooo oooo ooo" over me during the strt of the song. Overall i feel like we definitely could have done better but im really happy with what we did.

For our LPW Emily was unwell therefore was unable to be there, this week for the first time i did it by myself and although i dont think it went perfectly i really tried my best and am proud of how well i actually did. Whilst singing Amoristic killer i realised its quite a difficult song to sing by yourself as you have to cut off a few of the words off early in order to sing the next line. Usually i will be singing and as im finishing the lyrics im singing Emily will come in during and will sing the next line. Although i didnt have Emily i think the song overall sounded good and im happy with the way it sounded even with only one lyricist.

Whilst performing shes mine i also felt it went very well, this song is quite hard to sing alone as its a lot of belting, my voice was not feeling as strong during this performance so i dont think i sang it to the best of my ability but did try very hard. Due to this, although i think the choruses still sound really good i can hear the slight breaks in my voice  Also i feel that the song did sound a bit empty without the piano but when Emily is in again the song will once again have piano giving it a more full feeling again. As usual. Casey (drummer) and Lucie (guitarist) both did an amazing job even without Emily on piano, the song sounded really good and i am overall pretty happy with this LPW.

The last thing we did this week was spend a little bit of time on our other song that isnt quite finished called Cognitive Misconduct because we only had a slight piano piece and some lyrics at this point. Lucy and Casey added there instruments to the song coming up with a slight Bluesy feeling guitar piece and also a kind of indie drum beat. On piano we also decided it would sound even more haunting if it had a sort of synth effect, Emily did this and i think it elevated the sound so much.

Week 6

During week 6, we all new as a collective that we really needed to get a move on and continue trying to finish our repertoire in time for the deadline. Our main goal for this week was really to focus on the songs that we really hadnt worked on so much, Cognitive misconduct and also Lighter girl. Until this week i dont think we had even started lighter girl so we knew that was something that needed a big focus.

Emily and Casey both came up with some really beautiful melodies to go with the pretty piano part i feel that both could work amazing in the song potentially at different parts. After the girls were figuring little bits out they started adding lyrics to the melody, Casey was singing the melody and Emily was singing the higher harmony which sounded angelic. Although i was unable to sing i was still listening to everything the girls were doing and coming up with and in my head i was thinking about things i could do or add to the song to even improve it. Also whilst Emily and Casey were doing this Lucie came up with a guitar piece almost immediately and the best way i can describe it would be to say its a sort of punk piece. Although at the star of doing this song it seemed like it could again be a sad song i thing that we are going to try to make this one a lot more upbeat than the other ones giving off a much happier vibe. Overall i really feel like there was so much progress made for this song and am glad we now have a point where we can more easily go back to it.

We also spent a chunk of our time this week figuring out how we actually wanted our song Cognitive Misconduct to sound like. It sort of has elements of both blues and also indie vibes and we put a synth effect on the piano to give off that haunting feel to the song. This song instrumentally is probably one of our more simple but still technical. Casey plays quite a simple but effective drumbeat whilst our guitarist Lucie solos during the song, this specifically makes the song feel emotion and will hopefully make our audience feel the same way. Towards the end of the song the instrumentals have a breakdown which kind of signifies the end of the story as i believe this will be the last song on our setlist.

Even though a lot of our time this week was taken up trying to figure out our unfinished songs we still managed to go through our setlist and play Shes Mine and also Amoristic Killer. This week i have noticed that these songs are now so strong for us and its rare for us to play them now and make mistakes. Overall i feel like we are definitely on track to finish our songs in time and feel like we have got a really strong repertoire overall.

We decided to rehearse lighter girl a few times but didnt manage to get any videos as i ran out of storage and we just didnt really think about it in the moment. We created some gorgeous vocals with three part harmonies that sound angelic. I think that even though we havent got as far with this song than the others that its going to turn our really beautiful and potentially one of our most angelic and happy songs we have written.

Week 8

To start off week 8, we all knew that we needed to finish our last songs as this is the last week we have to complete them. Our main plan for this week is to finish writing lighter girl and to also start and finish writing the last song of our repertoire which we have now named Silver Lining because it shows that there is an ending to the story. At first i thought lighter girl was our final song but then realised that we still had this one to write. Silver lining will again be a bit more of an upbeat song like lighter girl and its about how in the end everything will end up alright as there is always a Silver Lining to every story.

During our first performance lesson of the week a bug chunk of our time was taken up by going through one of our newer songs called Lighter girl. We focussed a lot on the genre blend for this song as we already had so many ideas for he this song should sound, its a fusion of pop and punk and we were inspired by Sabrina Carpenter and also Wet leg. This song is our most upbeat song that we have written which i feel makes people enjoy it a bit more as the majority of our EP is quite sad but beautiful.

We also went through our entire setlist and discussed potentially creating transitions between each of our songs in order for a quicker more smooth performance. This was only a short discussion for us as we knew that we still had  fair amount of song writing and perfecting to do. Each of our songs went very well, cognitive misconduct is improving so much as we do it more often the same with lighter girl.

During the week Emily left early one day as she wasnt feeling to good, she decided to begin writing Silver lining as we only have 2 days left to complete our full repertoire. This is the last song on our repertoire and although it seems like it could be a sad song if you listen to the lyrics its quite positive and pretty much talks about how you can always see the positive in everything.

Emily wrote this part on tuesday so on wednesday whilst in college we started to rehearse what we had and sorted our some of the harmonies throughout, as we only had one performance session on wednesday its still not quite finished but i believe that Emily is going to continue writing when she gets home ( she has a piano at her house so its a bit easier for her to do so). On Thursday we came back into college and Emily had finished writing the song so we got straight to rehearsing the whole song.

These are the finished lyrics we have for Silver lining, we had to do an LPW during thursday so we had less than an hour to rehearse the song before this. We didnt have an actual practice room therefore played it through a few times acoustic. As i said this is our most recent song therefore it doesnt sound as polished as our other songs, i feel that during our LPW we all handled the pressure quite well. I also need to learn the lyrics as soon as possible because whilst i was on stage i couldnt see the lyrics on the phone so Emily had to sing my part until i found myelf again. Overall i feel like this was a very productive week for us as we managed to get quite a bit done in the shot amount of time with not may rehearsals. Our other songs also went very well during our LPW, the only other song that needs a bit more rehearsal time i would say is lighter girl as i also still dont fully know the lyrics.

At the end of the week we also decided to name our EP " dont come any closer.