Seems so long since i last updated my blog haha. Anyway, tomorrow i will be going for Calvin and Shihui's dance competition, and i will also have my own performance at Tampines East CC.
Time is very tight for me and i think that this happens alot to me. :x like stuff dont always go as planned. Haha. but that is life so just have to live with it.
Anyway my singing group didnt have much time to rehearse together so we can only practice on our own and today will be our first rehearsal together before we perform tomorrow. It's a little frustrating that we cant practice more but everyone is working and it's impossible for everyone to fit in everyone's schedule.
I have another duet with my other friend too and the auditions are coming up soon. I am pretty scared that it will sound messy, because this song is not just about the vocal talent, but the singer's chemistry with each other. I may be long time friends with my duet partner, but i think we're not tight enough yet.
Good luck to NIJI tomorrow! :)
/Hopped! Thursday, September 06, 2012
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New practice on drums / Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Hello! Sorry i haven't been updating much, but that DOESN'T mean i haven't been practicing. :p
Just a quick update on what i've been doing recently since the last post:
I had to show my first practice routine to the class, and for the solo piece, i drummed to a song called "Fudepen Ballpoint pen" LOL. yes. I drummed to it before, but i felt that i improved la. Tim R told me i should go buy a drumset to practice. But my parents don't really allow cause got no space. So im still stick with my drum pad + Compact drums. :( but it's still fine! I can prctice with the school/studio's drumset so everything's still alright.
Then next is for the record label. Qingle asked me to session for billy for drums during one of the record label sessions. It was rather last minute so i only had one and a half day to learn the song, but i was familiar with it, so it's fine! haha. I asked billy to teach me as well. Actually i think billy is an awesome teacher. haha. When i was jamming with the rest of the musicians, it felt rather cool. Like, although it was stressful because it seemed like everyone's so good. But from that session i realised that i need to have DYNAMICS when i drum. Means i need to have a wider control. Brandon was listening to me drum at that time and that was his comments. I appreciate that because i could have never been able to tell if i was sitting at the drummer's seat. Haha.
Okay then so far the major things are just those 2. haha. I'm going to have yet another last minute performance this friday so i hope that it'll be alright, since it's so last minute we didn't even have time to jam. haha. but im sure it'll all work out if my band members practice! Haha. I'll DEFINITELY practice, so it's fine. HAHA
Anyway this post is supposed to be about my new practice routine. Last time i was drilling on the basics of drumming, like the strokes. This time, i decided to focus on one part, mainly the semiquavers, on the hihat. Below shows my practice routine. Everything is sort of explained in the video. :D
The video is abit out of sync at some parts though. :x no idea whyyy..
Enjoyy!
Warning: The way i practice may not be correct so follow at your own risk.
/Hopped! Wednesday, July 18, 2012
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A gig / Saturday, June 23, 2012
Hello all. So sorry it's been such a long time since i updated. I have been tied up with so many things that i really didnt get a proper chance to breathe haha. But my mama always tells me that it's good to be busy. So it'll seem like i'm not lazing my life away. haha.
Anyway im going to write about a gig i've had with my Band, Six Harmonix, on a saturday evening. I think it's on the 16th. :D
It all started when we were jamming and some japanese guys came over and heard us play. Then they asked us to perform for a farewell party for their friend and obviously, we agreed. It was like an opportunity knocking on our door. But my sister also went to do some background check on the venue etc to see if these people can be trusted or not. It seems very weird but one can not be too sure about such things, judging from the fact that we didn't know this guy at all.
Everything was okay until our band had a rather major dispute. I'd prefer not to go into detail though. All i could say that we desperately needed a sessionist. But we settled it easily with the help of a fellow DMATer, Kayann. Because we were going to play four songs, and it's practically impossible for Kayann to learn (and somewhat master) all 4 songs, so we decided to spilt the job. I will drum to two songs, and he will drum the other two.
It's a lie to say i wasn't stressed. I am in the band as a vocalist, so drumming for this band was something new to me and i did not want to be the one to drag my whole band down. So i worked really hard and tried to practice when i had the time to. I woke up early and booked a studio early in the morning so i could practice with a real drumset etcetc.
When the day of the gig came, we reduced our performance to 3 songs. Meaning i would drum to one song, and Kayann would drum the remaining 2.
Here's the video of my performance, i drummed to the song "Fudepen Ballpoint Pen" :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3tW09XyvXQ
Obviously, i made some mistakes, and ONE REALLY HUGE MISTAKE. HAHAA. my sticks flew out durning one part of the song. But i was rather calm about it (as stated by Kayann) and tried really hard to maintain the beat with one stick only. haha.
But overall my band commented that i did a rather good job so i'm rather pleased with myself. :D
I hope to get more performance opportunities so i can drum more, and have more exposure as an instrumentalist.
/Hopped! Saturday, June 23, 2012
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Audition and Performance. / Monday, June 04, 2012
Hey.
It's been a while since i last updated. I didn't really record a video of me practicing, but i still am everyday! :D
Two days ago, my band went for an audition to an event. And Yesterday, we had our *first* gig in a long long while. It actually felt very good. :D
My band had some issues before we performed though, but it was great that we managed to sort it out quickly.
I learnt that managing a band can be really tough, but music is about feel. So as long as we've got the heart and the will, we can do anything. :D
Will upload videos sooon.
Until then, see y'all soon! :D
/Hopped! Monday, June 04, 2012
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E Journal post 05 [Drums] / Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Hello. haha.
I made my sister jam with me then i recorded haha. Personally i feel that my drumming improved alot leh. haha. Like Really. Feels more confident? hahaha. I dont think i made any mistakes la.. I THINK. LOLOL I was trying to harmonise while playing drums hahah, Hope to master that!! But it's really hard! haha. I know i have one harmony off somewhere at the end. Oh well.
Song is Price Tag, if you all dont know.
Haha time to do some shameless advertising LOL.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SixHarmonixMusic
Sia Harmonix is my band LOLOL. We do mostly cover songs. But we will have our original soon (As soon as i write it...) We have quite a number of videos up in that channel haha. So do check them out if you're free.
And We're going to perform, but i dont know particularly what day/date yet. LOL. But when i do, please support!
okay so now, enjoy~
See Y'all!
/Hopped! Tuesday, May 22, 2012
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E Journal Post 04 [Drums] / Monday, May 21, 2012
Hi all! Posting about my practice again! :D
Today Billy taught me and jieling a few useful practices. So yeuup. I re-devised my practice routine! :D hahahaha.
Warning: The way i practice may not be correct so follow at your own risk.
Anyway, in this video, i was sort of practicing my strokes. I practiced more of the left hand because i think it's pretty stiff. Like reeeallly stiff. So i just accented on the 1 and 3 and made the 2 and 4 a little more silent.
Next part i just did a simple RRRR-LLLL-RLRLRLRL-RLRR-LRLL kind of motion. Billy told me and jieling what the proper name of this is called but i kinda forgot so after i'll ask him again, soon. LOL.
Then the last part is where i do just RLRLs indifferent beats. First is Crotchets, then Quavers, then Semiquavers. My semiquavers are pretty weak. So i guess i need more work on that. :x
That's it for this video then. :x My adobe premier crashed on me so i edited this video in windows :( :( :(
I'm going to practice this on a daily basis and make myself feel comfortable with the way i hit the drums.
Main goal: NEED TO LOOSEN UP LEFT HAND GRIP. IS TOO STIFF. :x
See Y'all!
/Hopped! Monday, May 21, 2012
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E Journal Post 03 [Drums] / Sunday, May 20, 2012
Hi all! Sorry for the late post. I keep forgetting to take videos of myself practicing. :x But i was kinda doing the same things though. Like practicing with a click for 30 minutes continuously, then doing song covers for as long as i want. LOL
Anyway today i had jamming with my own band. (Called Six Harmonix LOL Check it out hahaha) Then i was thinking "Oh maybe i can make them help me in taking a video!
So there, i made my Bassist, my Rhythm guitarist and my vocalist accompany me as i do this drum cover of the song Butterfly. LOL. (My lead guitarist was LATE -as usual- so we did it without him. hahahaha)
I made a few mistakes but well, i'll improve. Definitely! HAHHA.
I think i did pretty good although there were mistakes haha.