Month: December 2016

Final Show Day (performance)

Anneli, , , , , ,

I arrived at the venue 10:30 (half an hour later than the official time of the rehearsal had been announced). As expected, I was still one of the first to arrive and there was not much to be done besides wait until 12:40, when I was scheduled to practice with pianist Ed Wellman.

As I had been ill for almost 2 months prior to this concert, I had had relatively limited practice opportunities (5 individual rehearsals, 2 rehearsals with the pianist and learning the lyrics and changing the key of my own song only the night before sums it up quite accurately), but I was determined to do my best.

Running through “Kissing you” once was enough for both me and the pianist, whereas I ran through “Pretty Sun Hurts” twice, as it was more difficult for me to sing and play the guitar at the same time. Overall, I felt quite good and prepared for the show, even despite having difficulties breathing due to illness.

However, after practicing “Silver Dagger” with the whole course, I could suddenly feel my control over my voice starting to slip. As that song demanded more belting-based singing, it added more strain on my voice, because I am not in the habit of practicing  that vocal mode regularly due to my first solo teacher never having focused on it in our 8 years of vocal training together. Belting can be done without harming one’s voice, but only if it is done correctly (it requires loud volumes, but the louder the volume, the more potential risk there is of developing vocal constrictions),  therefore “many voice teachers believe (incorrectly) that belting is simply bad, physically and aesthetically. So, singing students are getting mixed messages.” (Gagné, 2015).

All in all, during the group song I was unable to establish a supporting breathing pattern (breathing in became very hard, but I was unable to use my inhaler for asthma as it loosens up the vocal chords in a way that makes singing on the same day impossible) no matter how hard I pushed my abdominal muscles, since “asthma can be extremely unpredictable and you never know when an attack will occur.”(Buttler, 2014). From that point onwards, I stopped singing and limited talking as well until the performance time arrived.

At 2 o’clock, the concert started as planned. There were only 5 people in the room besides the performers. It was difficult to breathe even while sitting down, but I was counting on the microphone and menthol oil to help me succeed.

When it comes to singing my first song, the start was very shaky: it took a lot of willpower and muscle work to gain control over my vocal chords and it was much harder to sing than it had been during the rehearsal. The first verse was immersed in my fight with my own voice (air makes the voice flow easier, whereas without being able to breathe properly, it becomes a tricky ordeal), but by the second verse I had gained a foothold over the notes and could concentrate on offering more of an emotional experience to the audience. In my opinion, the singing was not as powerful as it could have been, but I still reached the highest notes and managed to stay present and emotionally connected to the song.

As for my second song, I made 3 big mistakes with my guitar playing, but did my best to blend the wrong notes in with the correct ones as smoothly as possible and to make it seem as though a longer intro and a bridge were intentional, since “audience doesn’t need your fear, they have their own.”(TED, 2014). To be honest, I was quite proud of myself to remember all the lyrics and felt rather confident with my singing, since this rock-rooted song fitted a hoarse voice, I could follow my own tempo (making breathing easier) and it didn’t require a heavy belting or too loud volumes.

Last, but not least, after having sung my individual songs, I could relax more during the group performance. It was fun and enjoyable to listen to other performers and to melt my voice into the mixture of instruments. All in all, we maintained a good tempo (I tried to follow the trombone player, as in the rehearsal we had struggled to stay in the same tempo at times) and balance (I sang further away from the microphone, so that I could hear the instruments better). I gave my maximum to this song, no longer worried about losing my voice afterwards, trying to make the notes sufficiently clear and powerful. My efforts were rewarded: my voice carried well and strongly.

Overall, my performance was a success when taking the breathing difficulties into account. Even so, it felt frustrating that I had probably been able to sing more effortlessly if I had not sang with so much effort in the rehearsal, but such is the way of life sometimes and learning to accept circumstances and doing your best at all times despite difficulties is a big part of a musicians’ job description.

References:

Gagné, J. (2015) Belting: A Guide to Healthy, Powerful Singing. Boston: Berklee Press.

Buttler, B. (2014) Interview: Kristin Chenoweth On Singing With Asthma, Performing for the Phillies, and the Fate of Pushing Daisies. Philadelphia Magazine, 22(5), 1-3. Available from http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/2014/05/01/interview-kristin-chenoweth-on-performing-the-national-anthem/#hP4t1bK0Jdh5T8z5.99 [accessed 21 December 2016).

TED (2014) Elizabeth Gilbert: Success, failure and the drive to keep creating . Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_waBFUg_oT8&t=30s [accessed 21 December 2016].

Final Show Day (performance)

Final Show Day (summary)

Anneli, , ,

On 16th of December 2016, the second-year Bachelor of Music degree undergraduates performed in the Project Space Plus of the University of Lincoln campus. The programme consisted of individual performances (2-3 songs each) and a group song (“Silver Dagger”, the Joan Baez version). The rehearsal started at 10 o’clock and the concert itself commenced at 2 o’clock.

As this was an assessed final performance of the semester, there were only 5 people in the room besides the performers: a photographer, two tutors (assessors), a representative of the media department and my significant other. A pianist (who accompanied 3 performers) was also present.

My contributions included:

  • Singing “Kissing You” by Des’ree (4 minutes long).
  • Singing and playing the guitar in my original song “Pretty Sun Hurts” (4 minutes and 50 seconds long).
  • Singing 4 verses in “Silver Dagger” (approximately 6 minutes long).

I also signaled the pianist (who modified the microphone volume during one of the individual acts) when to adjust the balance of vocals and guitar amplification during the concert and helped to pack up equipment afterwards.

Final Show Day (summary)

QUEEN + Adam Lambert (concert review)

Anneli, , , ,

On the 5th of June 2016 I went to see the Queen and Adam Lambert perform at the Tallinn’s Song Festival Grounds in Estonia. Standing in the VIP area, just a few metres from the stage, I was provided with a good view of the show. Admittedly I was probably one of the very rare few who had come to see Adam Lambert rather than the legendary Queen (especially due to the concert taking place in Estonia – a land, where Adam Lambert is relatively unknown and where openly gay artists like him are not very popular due to conservative society norms).

I have always thought of Adam Lambert as one of the most outstanding vocalists of the 21st century: with his ability to navigate between different vocal modes with a clarity and power that only Freddie Mercury could master (which was exactly why he had been chosen to tour with the currently living members of Queen), I was very excited to see him live. As for the band, for some reason I have never really related to their songs, apart from “Love of My Life”, even though I have always respected their multiple talents and excellent songwriting skills.

The main act of the night (Rootsi, 2016) came on stage two hours after the concert was scheduled to start, but the freezing audience (the weather was cloudy, windy and cold) was soon warmed up by well-loved tunes and a great show.

Generally speaking, the warm-up process lasted longest regarding Adam Lambert (for the reason mentioned above). His performance was theatrical and extravagant (praising Freddie Mercury’s performance style), but rather a tribute than an imitation of the original Queen frontman. His costumes and vocalisation as well as communication with the audience followed his own signature style (which has partly  been inspired by Freddie Mercury as was clear by how naturally he fitted with the rest of the band). Despite having a flamboyant style, wide vocal range and exceedingly skilled singing technique, Adam Lambert did not come across as a copy of his predecessor:

– He reached all the notes powerfully, but his ornamentations of the songs were characteristic of himself and the pop genre he has strongly been influenced by .

– His costumes were tailored to fit with the rest of the Queen, but had more of a glam rock appearance rather than the rock outfits that Mercury used to wear.

– He spoke lovingly of Freddie Mercury’s influence on the music scene and himself.

– He was very clearly enjoying the opportunity to be as extravagant as possible on stage (as that was what the fans of Queen were expecting, whereas usually he dials it down a little bit in order to have a more universal appeal rather than being categorised as a gay artist at all times). This was both the reason why Estonians (at least majority of the audience consisted of Estonians) gave him a lukewarm applause in the beginning compared to the rest of the band members and the reason that made the audience enjoy themselves so much after they got over the initial shock of seeing Adam Lambert’s self-expressions, which could be considered homosexual (a provocative dancing style, tight clothes, speaking with lots of exclamations, walking like a mannequin).

– His vocal skills left nobody in doubt about his unique talents as a singer and earned him the respect of all the audience quite fast.

As for the rest of the performers, they interacted with the audience masterfully and performed skilfully:

– Roger Taylor had a fun play-off with another drummer (a supportive act for some of the faster-paced songs, since Taylor, despite having ample talent, does no longer possess the same stamina that he once had as a young man), during which he showed some truly excellent rhythmic abilities and impressive speed, leaving the other drummer unable to compete.

– Brian May showed his great interpretational and guitar playing skills and created a great feeling of rapport with the audience (he had even learned to say “Hello” in Estonian). He also   did a sweet-sounding acoustic version of “Love of My Life”, proving to be a good vocalist as well.

– The bass guitarist (a new addition for the tour whose name was not publicly mentioned) kept smiling and giving friendly nods to the audience, which certainly lifted the mood in the front rows.

All in all, the flow of the programme was quite smooth: well-known hits, clips of Freddie Mercury performing, solo pieces and talking parts were fused together nicely. Not all songs were familiar to me, so I cannot say how similarly to the original these were performed, but for me personally, it was an eye-opening experience: I became more aware of the phenomena behind the timeless success of Queen and the ways in which to successfully communicate with the audience (both verbally and in body language).

References:

Rootsi, A. (2016) Queen+Adam Lambert: One Vision

. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9vLiZoXuEI [accessed 21 December 2016].

 

 

 

 

 

 

QUEEN + Adam Lambert (concert review)