Due to the fact i had to finish the set list and wasnt able to submit what songs i wanted to doc till the deadline on the 4 week ive decided to carry on from there, meaning when i started thios project was week 5 howether im going to call it week 1 making it easier for me and the reader. 

In this week i started of by fully learning the song on piano without needing cues from the video and succeeded quite early in the week on the tuesday to what i believed to be a good enough level.  I then looked at singing along which didnt take long as the song is very slow as each chord is two bars long so i didnt have to constantly change chords at a fast rate meaning i was ok when it came to singing along. I also was able to do this quite quickly as i know the song very well as it is one of my favourate elvis songs so i didnt need to learn the lyrics as i already new them. I start after this trying to add little octive notes to give it some texture, I also used some vocal improvisation for example some little scales adding aspects of jazz. I also added some different patterns for the way i played the chords for examle i would speed up the tempo of the chords for instrumentals and then go back. I also changed the ending and did a whole improvised section.

Problems ive faced 

Due to me not being at a proffesional level when it comes to piano playing It took me awhile to actually learn the piece. For example, I struggle to remember where the notes are on the piano and then add base notes and turn that into a chord. Due to this problem, I have taken a while, trying to just learn the original piece instead of making up my own and adding that creative aspect. A problem has also been caused by. This is most jazz chords very difficult to play on there own and even harder together. I also struggle, remembering the chords for the whole song meaning I need to have notation in front of me while Play the piece, which isn't too bad of a problem to an extent. I also haven't experience singing and playing an instrument together, so this will be another school. I will have to learn alongside keeping on track with timing, so I'll have to learn quicker and more efficiently like if I was just learning the song, where is I also need to change it and make it my own. 

How I overcame the problems

The way I was able to overcome these problems was by finding a video that worked with me for example, beginner, piano players. Luckily, after doing some research, I was able to find one that broke down every little section of the song and explain how to play it, depending on your piano skills and the different kinds of gradfing you are at piano which made it alot easier for me to understand. When looking at jazz chords, I was able to find a video that showed you different ways on making a song, more jazzy, depending on your skill set and how much you want it to be like jazz. I knew that if I wanted to learn this song in a short amount of time I would only need slight jazz aspects used on a large scale for example, most of the chords to achieve what I want to achieve. I practised at home on my piano, constantly repeating this song, trying to remember the different chords and notation, so it was imprinted in my head meaning I wouldn't have to constantly be looking at the chords when playing and this worked extremely well.

Problems I faced 

I struggled originally trying to play the song on guitar and sing without changing  anything from the original which wasn't a good start. I also struggled with my vocals when it came to elting i struggled hitting the notes i wanted. I also really tried to work on making the song my own however i struggled with changing the rhythm of the lyrics as i have played the origial a lot in my personal banf so as hard to forget about the origina lin my head however i did in the end.

How i over came these problems 

I over came the fact i wasnt able to sing and play guitar by giving the guitar ppart to my friend kyran who played it for me when we performed live. He was very good and i told exactly what i wanted him to play and he didnt change it at all. Thans to him i was able to work on the vocals and he was the reason i was able to finish the song in such a short amount of time so i was very thankful about the colabiration.  I was able to work out the rhythm by not fcusing on the music and trying to make it my own and alot of practise aswell. 

Performance

My performance went extremely well however there were some slight vocal mistakes from me however kyran playing guitar was perfect. As the song belts a lot my voice struggled as i had been singing this whole day so my voals were slightly dry and fried. I was still able to do it and got a lot of positive feedback. My teacher was very happy with how the performance went thanks to the fact it wasn't what i said i was going to do but was different to the original. I was able to d the song without no lyrics going wrong however i did use my phone to help me so for the final performance im not going to use any lyrics. 

Rehearsing 

Due to a miss comunication on this task i had realised that what i believed to be compolsery for this task wasnt and it was only a suggestion, for example I fought that every song had to be creative by genre blending which i wasnt confident in doing due to time. I have now after speaking with my teacher decided to change my plan for three different songs due to time consideration and how creative these ideas will be.  Ive decided to leave unchained melody as it is the song i have put the most amount of work into and am extremely happpy with how it has turned out. Ive decided to change my ideas slightly for example when paying wondering why ive decided to change the vocal rythmn and the tempo of the song. For Mr pitiful im going to change it into a ballad changing the tempo and also getting rid of the vocal husky technique and sing it with a clean tone. 

In week five i decoded to use a app i had been introduced to by a friend called moises which uses mp3 mixes and then it is put into different sections in wich you can change the volume tempo and much more. This is amazing for backing tracks that you use when performing your songs.  I started by taking the vocals out and changing the tempo and seeing what tempo i can sing along to in the original rhythm and after that i then started experimenting with the different styles to see wether that makes the vocals easier to sing at the higher tempo. I then experimented with the set ad also fought it would bbe amazing when it comes to me showing someone my track and how i want it to sound. 

In these nexty two weeks i really wanted to look into my third song mr pitiful as now i know i can change my plans from what i wanted to do for my set list plans. For example i want to make this song rocky were as now ive come up with the ideas of turning it into a rock ballard which has aspect of 50s - 60s vibe and show of the jazz and soul in the vocals. I decided to get some insporation from people like gregory porter with the lyrics. I was able to take the song hey laura by gregory porter and use it as isporation and a starting point with the kind of singing style when it comes to the key and rhythm. I started of by learning the chords howether as there are only two different chords i struggled to experiment so i new i would have to use them chords as a starting basis and us chords that would work together. I want to elongate the tempo and beats the chords are played at as in the original they are very jumpy. I started experimenting with the distane pedal as i was told by my tutor jordan that my first song i should have used it to make the chords alot more smooth instead of jumpy. His reasoning was it makes it a lot calmer compared to quite agressive and in your face without the pedal being used in specific parts of the song.

Problems we faced

Rehearsing

I was really struggling to get my songs to what i wanted and as my piano understanding wasn't at the level i wanted it to be. I spoke to Judith and asked if she would be able to help me especially with the different chords that work with the two chords used in the song. The reason I asked Judith of all teachers was she didn't know the song which was important as i wanted it to sound nothing like the original this helped massively. I gave her the genre i wanted it to sound like and the rhythm for the performance and she was extremely helpful and i also told her what i wanted for the drums and she went on the drums for the performance and to see if she could play it. I also Listened to her when she suggested the chords and went and got tom a piano player in my class as for my performance I'm going to be doing a piano performance with a soundtrack with drums and possibly bass. I started asking in specific places if she could go down the piano and tried huming the note i wanted. Just to get the sound i wanted i got josh to play on drums lydia to play guitar and kyran to get the full sound i wanted and told them exactly what i wanted to be played. After doing this i know know the sound I'm looking for when making my sound track. I was able to finish my song after giving tom the chords and plan on performing it some time this next week. Im going to do a first performance with just piano and then another with a soundtrack to see if there is a very large difference. 

Problems I faced

We struggled with the fact that we didn't have the keyboard for the performance, so had to use the grand piano instead which messed up the sound for the performance slightly as it meant i had to have my vocals so loud. The reason for this is the camera was so far away. I had made a few mistakes when trying to cue tom to change the  part of the song leading to me singing the incorrect part of the song along side tom. This was started by tom playing the incorrect part of the song in the wrong place, this lead to me just singing it normally hoping he would notice. Luckly it kin of worked.  

How i over came these problems

The way I overcame my problem with tom. coming in to early was singing the part i should be singing in a different Rhythm, when he looked at me I would cue to change when he should too get us back on track with the song which worked extremely well.  The way we dealt with the fact not having a keyboard. In a way us playing it on the grand piano made it sound even better as you got that loverly acoustic piano sound and it being a soul song its a instrument it would have been played on.  The way we got good levels with the piano and vocals we turned me up on the pa and put the camera further back and closer to the piano as we cant change the volume of the piano and make it louder. 

Performance

Rehearsing

I started out by deciding if I wanted to use a sound track as i am pressed for time, although i don know if i only use one instrument I will be able to achieve what want. I asked tom the piano player on my last song if he wanted to play piano for my piece along side a backing track of guitar add dums he agreed. I know i can use the software my drummer showed me to take the drums and guitar of the trck and i can also chage the tempo however i dont believe i need to as the creative aspect is mainly on the vocals. For example the vocalist is extremely talented with huskey vocals but instead im going to try using scales and sing it in different keys throughout the song. I also want to use these different skills alng side in parts singing with the husky voice as both vocal techniques are things I want to improve on for my career.  I tok the different parts of the sonng and tried forgetting the original and making it my own with the scales. I didnt want to start of by learning scales but by trying different runs annd seeing what enjoyed the most.