Tomorrow I will have a lovely artist profile on Thisbe Vos for you, but for now all I shall do is ramble slightly. Like I said, this blog documents my musical journey, so therefore I'm allowed to ramble.
Well, I think one could safely say that yesterday was the best day of my life, despite the fact that I actually 'forgot' to sleep the night before. I say 'forgot' but really it was just my insomnia, and in fact I spent the whole night on twitter which is never healthy. But anyway, I was happy because I got mention from the Filipina singer Sitti who is like an idol to me. Everybody has an artist or maybe even more who they aspire to be like because it's part of your musical persona, how you learn your tastes and styles, and for me that is her.
The second fabulous part was that I became number 1 locally in the jazz charts, with my song 'Your Only One'. Obviously, this is a big achievement considering who I am and what I've been through.
Anyway, I'm currently working on some more songs which I'll upload very soon, and I have some small gigs locally so things are great in that department.
If you'd like me to review your music or and do an artist profile of you please feel free to comment.
As a final note, I'm working on getting my Facebook profile smartened and more full of content, feel free to take a look: http://facebook.com/AstridGwynedd
Music, fashion and rants about the peculiarities in the life of a musician.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Sick Days
As you possibly know, I've been out of action with the flu and a nasty throat infection for the last two weeks, (hence my frequent blogging). Now, obviously this has been a downer on my music-making abilities, and I've been falling behind with my request list of covers. However, I've found that it has almost also been quite useful.
Instead of just lazing around for the full two weeks, I put my time to use and I listened to some of my roughs, my covers, and of course Your Only One. Not to say that I didn't laze around, I did *cough* watch all of season 6 and 7 of NCIS, but I listened back on these old things and I wrote feedback on each one. First, I wrote things that I liked about my songs, as my violin teacher always taught me to look first at the positive things because every performance, even if sung by somebody who has the voice of a strangled cat, has to have one positive thing about it. Then, I wrote everything I didn't like about it and everything I want to work on for live performances and recordings. For example, I hate my pronunciation of the word 'my'.
It may seem stupid, but little things like that often get forgotten and can make all the difference. I've realized that there is a lot I want to work on both vocally and instrumentally, and I know that if I focus on those specific areas, my recording and performance will become much better.
After I'd finished my self evaluation, which I kid you not, took me HOURS, I asked my brother to do an evaluation. Now, obviously I wasn't going to ask him to do it in the same depth, but I just asked him to pick out one thing that he liked and one thing that he didn't about each song, to see if we had chosen the same areas or if he spotted something entirely different. Of course, people have different musical tastes and biases and levels of training - I mean, my brother is classically trained like myself but loves electronic game music. This will only broaden your understanding of how people interpret you as an artist though, and while you might not necessarily agree with what they say, it won't harm you to know. I highly recommend doing this as it can certainly produced a much more polished, professional sound.
As a bonus, I'll tell you since I got my voice back, I did record this. You can hear an example of my strange 'my'.
Instead of just lazing around for the full two weeks, I put my time to use and I listened to some of my roughs, my covers, and of course Your Only One. Not to say that I didn't laze around, I did *cough* watch all of season 6 and 7 of NCIS, but I listened back on these old things and I wrote feedback on each one. First, I wrote things that I liked about my songs, as my violin teacher always taught me to look first at the positive things because every performance, even if sung by somebody who has the voice of a strangled cat, has to have one positive thing about it. Then, I wrote everything I didn't like about it and everything I want to work on for live performances and recordings. For example, I hate my pronunciation of the word 'my'.
It may seem stupid, but little things like that often get forgotten and can make all the difference. I've realized that there is a lot I want to work on both vocally and instrumentally, and I know that if I focus on those specific areas, my recording and performance will become much better.
After I'd finished my self evaluation, which I kid you not, took me HOURS, I asked my brother to do an evaluation. Now, obviously I wasn't going to ask him to do it in the same depth, but I just asked him to pick out one thing that he liked and one thing that he didn't about each song, to see if we had chosen the same areas or if he spotted something entirely different. Of course, people have different musical tastes and biases and levels of training - I mean, my brother is classically trained like myself but loves electronic game music. This will only broaden your understanding of how people interpret you as an artist though, and while you might not necessarily agree with what they say, it won't harm you to know. I highly recommend doing this as it can certainly produced a much more polished, professional sound.
As a bonus, I'll tell you since I got my voice back, I did record this. You can hear an example of my strange 'my'.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Artist Profile: Ayesha Pike
Click the 'Play Now' button to hear.
Name: Ayesha Pike
Country: England
Instrument: Vocals
Genres: Jazz, Soul
With effortlessly smooth vocals, this London-born vocalist has to have one of the most beautiful recording voices that I've ever heard. Superbly developed and flawless, her voice captivates and soothes you.
She went to the BRIT school, known for training talents such as Amy Whinehouse, Adele, Jessie J. and Imogen Heap. She has a music degree, and is currently studying for a Masters in Jazz Performance. This girl is pure talent, and when I came across her Reverbnation profile, I was blown away. I could not believe that she had so few song plays, and so few fans. Hence, I had to do a profile for her. If you do one thing to day, make it be to listen to her fabulous music.
Songwriting: Which approach to take?
People often ask me how I write songs and if I can teach them how to write their own. The simple answer is no, I can't. Songwriting is unique to each individual person. There will be many books and articles out there on how to write the 'perfect' song, but honestly? It's mostly complete rubbish. There is no single way to write a song every time.
There are methods out there that say you should take a theme and write as many words as you can think of about this theme on a piece of paper before beginning. Some people do find it easier to do this, and then begin to figure their song out from there, but it is not always necessary.
One method can be to choose the title first. But then, you have to be sure that it is a title that means something to you. Writing songs for songwriting's sake is never going to make a good song. Good songs should touch people, and mean something to yourself so that you enjoy performing them. My song Your Only One was written in this way. I was sitting there, feeling sorry for myself and wishing I meant everything to somebody, when suddenly I thought 'screw this, I don't need anybody, I need music!'. So, I took out the ol' uke and sat down. I messed around singing and trying to find a chord progression that fitted with the tune and suddenly a song was born.
In general, this is my preferred way of songwriting despite the fact that it has no structure. However, I have also used other methods, such as creating the instrumental part totally before the lyrics. This works because you can create a perfectly theoretically structured piece of music to mold your lyrics around. Helpful, because the music can serve as a huge source of inspiration as to the mood and theme of the words you choose.
There are many other ways that people use too. Sometimes the inspiration just hits you, and you can just write it straight out. Some songs totally write themselves. They key is, not to necessarily take a scientific approach to it. If you do that, your music will most likely be boring. Experiment, let the music flow through you. Often, I pick up my instrument and record me just randomly jamming and singing any lines that come into my head. Of course, this leaves me with recordings of nonsense, but they are like little pots of gold. Each of them has some line in that I can use somewhere, and often more than one. Just experiment, and see what you come up with.
Monday, 30 January 2012
Band Profile: Blackbeard's Tea Party
Click the 'Play now' button to hear the awesomeness.
Members: Dave Boston, Laura Barber, Martin Coumbe, Stuart Giddens, Tim Yates & Yom Hardy
Country: England
Hometown: York
Genres: Folk Rock /Folk/ Ceilidh
Facebook | Twitter | Myspace | Website | Soundcloud
Naturally I'm fond of this band because they're based in Yorkshire, but they happen to be fantastic too. I own both of their albums, have seen them live, and have a T-shirt.
They are available for events and of course, ceilidhs, and can form a smaller unit if necessary to accommodate whichever event or gig they are playing. Altogether they are a flexible group, and full of energy and life. Perfect listening for those who enjoy a bit of folk music. I highly recommend their new album, Tomorrow We'll Be Sober, which is available on Itunes.
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