Unit 1
Eagles go gaga
Band members - Ross (Vocals), Dane (Bass), Will (Drums) and Brian (Electric Guitar)
Session 1 - 11/09/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
Today, we hope to learn at least one song (Peaceful, Easy Feeling) and plan for another.
What do you hope to achieve individually today?
For myself, I aim to learn the chords and structure of the song, as well as learning the lyrics
for the chorus for the harmony.
What went well in this session and why?
We managed to decide on a song - Peaceful, Easy Feeling - and started learning our individual parts for it. This is good because the song was easy to learn so we got around to practicing it quite quickly.
What went wrong and why?
However, learning the structure of the song was quite hard because we'd never heard it before.
What are your targets for next week?
For next week, I want to learn the lyrics for Peaceful, Easy Feeling and learn one Lady Gaga song.
Session 2 - 18/09/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
In this session, we wanted to play through Peaceful, Easy Feeling fully and learn - then add - the harmonies in the chorus.
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
My goals were to learn my harmony line for the chorus and sing along as well as playing the guitar.
What went well in this session and why?
I succeeded in learning the harmony and we managed to play through the entire song with the harmonies - this is good because it made the song sound more interesting and now we can learn another song as well as practising this song and making it sound better and fixing some minor issues with the vocals.
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What went wrong and why?
On the other hand, we messed the bridge and outro up because one of the vocalists didn't know the lyrics to the song and most of us were still new to the structure of the song.
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What are your targets for next week?
For next week, our main focuses will be on learning a Lady Gaga song (Till It Happens To You) - for me, learning the chords and chorus lyrics for harmonies - and to practise singing while playing the guitar for the chorus of Peaceful, Easy Feeling.
Session 3 - 25/09/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
Today, we want to sort out the instrumental arrangement for Life In The Fast Lane since 2 of our vocalists are off.
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
I personally want to learn both the chords and at least some of the lyrics for the song because I'm doing the main vocals for it. I would also like to make sure I use a different voice on the guitar (either open or bar chords) so it doesn't sound too similar to the lead guitar part.
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What went well in this session and why?
In this session we managed to both sort out the arrangement and play through the entire song with only a few minor mistakes which is good because it means that all we need to do now is add the vocals.
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What went wrong and why?
However, I didn't know all the lyrics so we only had the vocals for the first verse and chorus. It also made it harder to tell when the chord changes were so there were a few mistakes.
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What are your targets for next week?
For next week, I would like to learn the lyrics for Life In The Fast Lane and learn the guitar chords for one of the Lady Gaga songs (Til It Happens To You)
Session 4 - 02/10/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
In this session, we would like to get both Eagles songs we have so far (Life in the Fast Lane and Peaceful, Easy Feeling) fully sorted; we need to add the vocals to both and make sure we're not out of time.
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
Individually, I would like to learn the lyrics to Life in the Fast Lane and sing along while playing the guitar on the first and third verses and all of the choruses.
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What went well in this session and why?
We added the vocals to Life in the Fast Lane which means we can now move on to some Lady Gaga songs. I also managed to play the guitar while singing which adds more to the song.
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What went wrong and why?
However, we couldn't do a Lady Gaga song today because we need another person to play the piano which means that this will take longer to sort out. Also, the other vocalist didn't know when to come in on certain parts which threw the rest of us off.
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What are your targets for next week?
For next week, we're going to learn Till It Happens To You and Marry The Night. I'm also going to learn the lyrics for the Eagles songs so I don't have to rely on a sheet.
Session 5 - 09/10/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
In today's session, we would like to get at least 1 Lady Gaga song (Till It Happens To You) sorted and play through the 2 Eagles songs we already have sorted to make sure they're okay.
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
I personally want to be able to play through the song playing both the guitar and my verse and chorus in Till It Happens To You and I want to sing Life In The Fast Lane without a lyric sheet.
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What went well in this session and why?
I managed to sing Life In The Fast Lane without a lyric sheet so that means we another song sorted and we can move onto more of the Lady Gaga songs. I also successfully sang my parts in Till It Happens To You without making too many mistakes on the guitar.
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What went wrong and why?
However, we messed Till It Happens To You because we haven't learned the structure of it yet so we left some parts out.
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What are your targets for next week?
For the next session, I aim to learn the chords for (and play them) for Marry The Night and Edge of Glory.
Session 6 - 16/10/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
Today, we would like to practice the songs we already have to make sure they're performance ready (specifically Peaceful, Easy Feeling and Life In The Fast Lane for the music showcase on Thursday.)
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
Individually, I need to be able to sing my parts in Life In The Fast Lane and Till It Happens To You without lyric sheets so I can perform them.
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What went well in this session and why?
I sang Life In The Fast Lane without a lyric sheet so we can now perform this on Thursday and we can move on to some of the Lady Gaga songs (specifically Edge Of Glory and Marry The Night)
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What went wrong and why?
However, I couldn't sing Till It Happens To You without a lyric sheet because I still hadn't learned my parts properly; we'll have to spend more time learning this so we'll have less time to learn other songs.
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What are your targets for next week?
For our next sessions, I need to make sure that I know the chords for Edge Of Glory so we can practice it with Erin. I also need to learn all my parts fully so I can sing without having to rely on any visual aids.
Session 7 - 30/10/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
In this session, we want to get Erin in to practice Edge Of Glory by Lady Gaga. We also want to rehearse the songs that we already have to make sure they still sound good.
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
Personally, I would like to learn and play the chords for Edge Of Glory on guitar so we have some rhythm behind it.
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What went well in this session and why?
In this session, we managed to play Edge Of Glory fully so now we have 4 songs finished - this means that now we have half of the songs done, so we only need the other 4 sorted next week.
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What went wrong and why?
However, I got the tempo of the song wrong since I haven't listened to it much before and it sounded more pop than punk - to fix this, Ross is going to do the keyboard part to make it sound more like generic pop than ska punk.
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What are your targets for next week?
For next week, we want to practice Life In The Fast Lane so we can perform it on the radio and learn the chords/arrangement for Heartache Tonight by the Eagles so we'll have 5 songs sorted.
Session 8 - 06/11/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
In today's session we aim to play through Heartache Tonight fully and practice our other songs to make sure we remember the arrangement of all of them.
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
Personally I'd like to learn the lyrics for the chorus of Heartache Tonight and figure out the harmony for the beginning of Heartache Tonight so I have something to do besides playing guitar and it doesn't sound flat.
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What went well in this session and why?
During this session we learned Heartache Tonight fully so now we only have to learn One Of These Nights, Marry The Night and Teeth - it'll be less stressful around show week because we already know a majority of our songs.
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What went wrong and why?
On the other hand, however, it took a while to sort out because Ross and I didn't know the lyrics so we didn't know when to come in and could only do the one song.
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What are your targets for next week?
For next week, I'm going to learn the lyrics for Teeth.
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Session 9 - 13/11/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
Today we'd like to go through Heartache Tonight and Teeth to make sure that we know them.
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
I want to sort out with Ross which parts we're doing in Teeth since we only have 2 singers to split the songs between and it would make the song sound more interesting.
What went well in this session and why?
We did decide who's doing verses and who's doing backing vocals (I'm doing main vocals and we share the choruses)
What went wrong and why?
However I still can't figure out a good harmony for Heartache Tonight because I can't figure out what the notes would be a 3rd higher or lower.
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What are your targets for next week?
Next week, I'm going to talk to my tutor to sort out the harmony for Heartache Tonight so it sounds better than just having one vocalist; go over the chords for Edge Of Glory - Marry The Night is now just Brian and Ross so we only have one more song to go through as a band; and go over the chords and lyrics for every song since we now have most of them sorted.
Session 10 - 20/11/18
What do you hope to achieve as a band today?
With my band today, we're going to rehearse all of our songs that we have in preparation for next week. Me and Ross are also going to sort out any harmonies we still need (Heartache Tonight and One Of These Nights)
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What do you hope to achieve individually today?
I need to figure out the harmony for Heartache Tonight and learn the extra lyrics in the second chorus. I also need to make sure I know the lyrics for Teeth so I don't need to use a lyric sheet.
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What went well in this session and why?
I remembered all of my lyrics and Ross knew all of his so we didn't have to drop any songs or spend longer on any specific song. We also got the chord arrangements for the Lady Gaga songs sorted - we changed the arrangement for Till It Happens To You sightly so it was easier to play - so there wouldn't be any awkward pauses or mistakes.
What went wrong and why?
On the other hand, it took longer to sort Marry The Night out because originally, Abbie was going to do it but now Ross is doing it so he had to learn the lyrics during the session.
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What are your targets for next week?
For next week, I'm going to keep practising our repertoire and practice singing Heartache Tonight so my voice gets used to belting out the higher notes in the chorus.
1st Show - Carlisle College, 28/11/18
What went well today and did you enjoy it?
I enjoyed playing today because we played all of our songs with barely any technical issues and people were clapping along to Life In The Fast Lane and Edge Of Glory. Also, I think that my stage presence has improved so I don't look bored while playing and feel more comfortable playing on stage.
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What went wrong and could this have been prevented?
I forgot about the chord changes in the chorus for Heartache Tonight which could've been prevented by practising playing through the song before going on stage since it was the first song in the Eagles set. I also forgot about some of the lyrics at the start of the second verse in Teeth - this could've been prevented if I looked over the lyrics before going on stage. The missed 'Show me your teeth' could've been prevented as well by going over the lyrics before going back on stage for the Gaga set.
2nd Show - Carlisle College, 29/11/18
What went well today and did you enjoy it?
I felt more comfortable performing on stage after the first night because I knew what I was doing and I went over things that I struggled with the night before (lyrics in Teeth and chord changes in Heartache Tonight). Because of this, I feel like my overall stage presence was better.
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What went wrong and could this have been prevented?
Ross got the lyrics for the last 2 choruses the wrong way around (both have extra lyrics) - we could've avoided this if we went through the lyrics together before going out on stage since we were on first.