My music blog

Hi all.  Bec here… starting yet another blog.  I’ve had my main work blog for quite some time, but it has grown stagnant.  When I’m focusing on one thing in particular, and so busy with it, writing in a general what-am-I-doing blog becomes less appealing.  So I have created this blog, specifically for more in-depth description of what I’ve been up to with my music studies.

I’m continually working on planning for my full website, and the plan re: blogs there is to have one for each section – photography, modelling, music, writing, design.  That way I can be more specific and post more interesting content instead of making a way-too-long post about nothing in particular.  This blog is kind of the beginning of that.  It will be about all my musical endeavours, opportunities, projects, and I’ll talk about my progress with my degree – Bachelor of Music in contemporary voice, for those who have just stumbled across this blog.

For those who don’t yet know me, I also have a writing blog for poetry, prose, songs, and other such things.  I also write reviews, though that has just started.  I also model and do a bit of photography, some of which can be seen at RedBubble… I’m working on getting more of it displayed in a better place soon.  I also do drawings & designs.

Anyway, I’m going to start by posting entries from my old work blog here, backdated.  Then I’ll start the new writing.

Thanks for coming with me for the ride

Bec

Update time

Things have been going pretty well.  Happy new year, by the way!  Last year was a great learning experience for me, very hectic and stressful, but I think this year will be better.  Now that I’ve got a good idea of how things work at the Conservatorium, I think I will be able to handle my workload a lot better.  My results turned out pretty well in second semester – a Distinction in voice, Distinction in gospel choir, and Credit in core studies.

This coming semester I’ll be taking voice, gospel choir, advanced core studies, foundation theory, and history of jazz.  Should be a little more busy but a little more manageable.

On the singing front, late last year I did some recording work for local songwriter Justin Collins, who had some tracks recorded but needed vocals.  This was my first paid singing job, and I really enjoyed it.  Justin then rushed off for a trip around the mainland, so the editing isn’t finished yet, but when it is and when the songs are available, I’ll let you know!

The Southern Gospel Choir performed at “Sing Salamanca” again this year, along with Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes, and Michael Spiby of the Badloves.  It was a great concert, with many people turning up to sit on picnic blankets and sing along.  I’m not sure when our next performance will be, but we start rehearsing again when the uni semester starts, so stay tuned!

I also have my first paid live gig coming up.  A pianist friend of mine, Nathaniel Richardson, and I will be performing for an hour and a half at a wedding on the 31st.  I’m pretty excited about it, and it’s given me an excuse to learn a few new standards (not that I need an excuse!)

Videos!

This is a little bit exciting! I have updated my YouTube page with several videos of my end-of-year-10 Ogilvie High School concert, a few from the Southern Gospel Choir’s concert earlier this year (Andrew Legg’s PhD assessment), and 2 of the sets which I modelled in at the Hobart Fringe Festival Fashion Show this year. Here is a sample:

The SGC (Third from the left in the front row):

More to come! Be sure to go check out the others.

Becca

Well, hello, July.

So how have I been going? Well, let’s see what’s been happening in my diary since April 26th, which was when I last updated here. Most notably after that was my mid-semester tech exam on May 12th, which went quite well. I was examined (that sounds so funny!) by my vocal teacher Fiona Stewart, and Andrew Legg, who is now Dr. Andrew Legg – his PhD was finally confirmed – and who is also currently acting Head of the Conservatorium, since Professor Knehans stepped down. The exam was a little nerve-wracking but I didn’t make too many mistakes, and came out with an averaged (between the mark from each of my examiners) mark of 78.5 (out of 100) which is a Distinction, and 1.5 away from a High Distinction. I was pretty pleased with that!

The “Disciples” from the Southern Gospel Choir, which on this occasion was me and about 9 other people (not including the band) I think, performed a few songs at the Environment Ministers dinner at Wrest Point on the 30th of May. It was a fun gig and I really enjoyed singing with this small group in a professional environment. I also stayed on afterwards to watch Andrew Legg & Maria Lurighi perform their “Bacharach” set, which was inspiring. Maria is an amazing singer and performer. And the next night, I attended the concert of iCon, the Conservatorium’s contemporary ensemble made up of my teachers Andrew Legg, Kelly Ottaway, Alistair Dobson, and other wonderful Hobart musicians. They play some wonderful stuff, I don’t know what to call their style but it’s great!

On Friday 6th of June myself and a slightly different mix of Disciples sang at the launch/press release of the Festival of Voices at Hadley’s Hotel. It was interesting to hear of how the Festival of Voices’ Jazz/RnB/Gospel stream would be counted as a full unit – 12.5% – towards the Associate Degree in Music Studies (and the Bachelor of Music, which I am doing).

June 11th was the day of my performance exam. I was accompanied by able musicians and fellow Con students Nathaniel Richardson (piano), Ben Spaulding (bass), and James Moult (electric guitar), as well as two non-Con but equally able musicians Aidan O’Mara (drums) and Dave Elliston (acoustic guitar/mandolin/and about a billion other instruments…) which made it really awesome. Singing with a band is loads of fun, and the exam went really well – only one small mistake. I felt really good about it. It would have been so much better with an audience though… but first-years aren’t allowed to have open exams, so I have to put up with one more slightly-stale-atmosphere-tiny-room-with-audience-of-3 exam. Oh well. I was examined again by my teacher Fiona Stewart, as well as a lady whom I believe is a classical voice teacher at the Con, and a classical flute teacher. Apparently the examiners are chosen at random.

I also, at various points throughout this time frame, had my keyboard, aural, and contemporary theory exams, which all went okay. I then was blessed with the glory that is known as 4 weeks of holidays! They are now drawing into their final weekend, and I am slightly disappointed in myself as I did not get nearly as much achieved as I wanted to. But I did do a lot of relaxing, which after my first semester at university was certainly welcome and needed.

I also saw Tania Bosak, a local musician, at the Theatre Royal. It was a SPECTACULAR show, and she is an AMAZING performer with many talents, not least of which are singing, playing the drums, and humour. I answered a silly quiz and won a bottle of wine, which was nice. My teachers Kelly Ottaway and Alistair Dobson were in her band, as was my friend and past accompanist Randal Muir and a host of other talents. If you ever get the chance to see or work with Tania Bosak, DON’T pass it up. She is completely fabulous.

One thing I did get achieved during my holidays was a whole unit of my degree in 4 days. Don’t look at me like that, I did! It was the Festival of Voices, of course. I did the Jazz/RnB/Gospel stream, which was of course run by Dr. Andrew Legg, Maria Lurighi, and Michael Spiby. It was an interesting experience, like the gospel choir but with less experienced (but equally enthusiastic) people, and a little bit of different material. Michael Spiby has an amazing voice, I must say. He seemed like a great guy.

And this week I have frantically been trying to get some stuff done before I throw myself back into school. Oh, I also found out my results for semester 1! I got 74 for gospel choir (Distinction), 62 for Foundation Audio (Credit), 63 for Foundation Core Studies (Credit), and 78 for my performance exam (Distinction – 2 away from High Distinction). Very happy with all that. Looking forward to doing better next semester!

Keep on moving on

Greetings! It’s been quite a while since I posted last… things have been busy! What has been happening? Well, apart from school and all that sort of thing, I have moved house… twice… in the past month. That has been rather stressful but now I am happily settled into my new flat.

Moving and the such has caused me to fall a little behind in my studies and practice, but now that I have a comfy new place I feel confident that I can catch up without too much trouble. I am preparing for my technical exam in week 11 (uni semester 1) which involves jazz standards, modes, scales and the like, and my performance exam in week 14, which involves a 30 minute program which I chose. Plus there’s theory, aural, keyboard and audio work. I’m having fun though, and my teachers are great.

In March I attended a number of workshops/talks as a part of the Amplified music festival. I found it all very interesting and useful, and learnt a lot about the music and songwriting industry.

On the 23rd I attended the Southern Roots Festival, which was just amazing. I had such a great day, saw some local acts and friends of mine such as Unleash the Nugget and Dean Stevenson, found a Keith Urban pick that was thrown into the crowd, and rocked out to John Fogerty! He was simply amazing. An absolutely superb performer and the whole event was also organised really well. I attended the afterparty at the Republic Bar & Cafe, where I met a guy named Sam Duffy. He’s an American guy who came down with the Music Maker Foundation, a fantastic organisation which provides relief to aging and needy blues singers, as well as getting their amazing music recorded. He approached me and said he’d noticed me dancing and enjoying the Music Makers performance at the festival, and we had a chat about music and travel and that sort of stuff. He told me that should I ever find myself in New York (which I really hope to, someday soon) I can give him a call and he could show me around and whatnot. Quite an exciting day in general for me! And yes, I got a John Fogerty shirt – and was photographed in it whilst at a Southern Gospel Choir rehearsal, for a newspaper article about Andrew Legg’s PhD assessment concert…

…which was on the 29th of March and was a huge success. I was chosen for this concert as one of the 9 “disciples”, who each have their own microphone, in order to boost the sound and blend of the choir. This was incredibly fun and exciting for me, as the gospel choir is definitely one of my favourite endeavours, and I put everything I can into it. The concert went well, and hopefully soon Andrew Legg will have a rather official title! Also coming up is a gig for the disciples and the Very Righteous Gospel Band at the Environment Minister’s Dinner. I’m looking forward to that!

Conservatorium First Impressions

Well, sort of. Seeing as I have really been lurking at the Con for three years, I can’t really claim that any of my impressions over the last couple of weeks are anything particularly new. But they are my first impressions as a Uni student.

After two orientation days, a week of classes, and various other activities, I can say that unfortunately I have not been overly pleasantly surprised, and do not expect all my classes to be sunshine and roses, but on the other hand, neither have I been disappointed. Foundation Core Studies (contemporary) is taught by Al Dobson, who is a great saxophonist and a cool guy, the class seems like it will actually be fun, and I am looking forward to learning the things which may be a little tricky to learn but once I have that knowledge… I’ll have some cred as a musician, I suppose! Haha. Foundation Audio seems like it’ll require concentration and work, but I’m willing to put that in, and it doesn’t seem it’ll be too difficult. Plus I find it quite interesting. Part of Core Studies is a keyboard class taught by Kelly Ottoway (wonderful keyboard and vibraphone player) which seems like it will be very useful. My final proper class is Tonal Theory… just as frustrating and boring as always… but I know it is necessary, so I’m soldiering away.

There is SO MUCH WORK to do outside classes. I need to do at least an hour of singing practice every day, plus vocal exercises, learning scales and modes, clapping rhythms, learning to recognise intervals, keyboard practice, working on the music program “Auralia”, and whatever theory homework I may get. I am no longer going to have a social life, it seems. Ah well, I should’ve expected it.

In the long run, I want this, more than anything else. To pass my courses at the Con, and to become an adept musician in various ways, is the most important thing in my life. And as long as I continue to feel this passion for my music – and I see no reason why it would stop – and this want to learn and improve, I should be okay with all the work.

I’ve been writing a lot of music lately, which is strange. I even got a pretty decent song finished. I think the Con is inspiring me.

Summer Rock School

From the 21st-25th of January, I attended the Conservatorium & Elizabeth College Summer Rock School.

This was an excellent experience and I learnt a lot, plus it counted as a whole unit – 12.5% of my degree – completed in a week, which is very handy.  The ages ranged from eight year old kids to adult Conservatorium students, playing keys, guitar, vocals, bass, and drums.  I had the opportunity to work, along with the other vocalists, with Dean Stevenson – a great Hobart musician who played at the Falls Festival and sang with the Southern Gospel Choir in Sing Salamanca – who is an energetic, fun guy and a fantastic performer.  I also worked one-on-one with Fiona Stewart, the lovely lady who is presumably going to be my tutor for the next however many years at the Con.  I got along with her very well, enjoyed her company and her teaching, and am very much looking forward to working with her this year.

The final tutor I worked with, one-on-one, was Lindsay Field.  He has worked with such musicians as John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John, and is simply amazing.  As a vocalist his voice is beautiful and full of power, and as a teacher he is incredibly inspirational.  He is one of those rare people who cares enough to really observe and perceive things about others.  He really knew me within minutes of meeting me, and this helped build a connection between us which was very beneficial in regards to my learning from him.  He taught me how the voice works – things I thought I already knew, but discovered I really didn’t.  I have learnt over the years to breathe down to my belly (as opposed to just in the chest), and that is good breathing technique for a singer.  However as I discovered from working with Lindsay, I was breathing down there and then not using any of its power!  Lindsay also encouraged me to use my “chest voice” much more and much higher than I previously had, or even thought I could.  All Conservatorium students attending the summer school had to present a 10-minute performance at the end of the week.  I sung Round Midnight, which I had done before, Don’t Mean A Thing (If it ain’t got that swing) which I had not, and I Heard It Through The Grapevine – that Marvin Gaye and Creedence Clearwater Revival classic with the excellent bass line.  In regards to the latter, I sung it in the key of D, almost entirely in my chest voice – and that was much higher than I’d ever sung in my chest voice before.  And it sounded good!

Lindsay taught me that the problem that I had with my chest voice was just in my mind.  Singing in classical choirs throughout highschool, I believed that my head voice was my “singing voice”, and my chest voice was my “talking voice”.  How wrong I was!  Studying Music Performance with Kalo Lowe last year, I began to learn how to use my chest voice.  And yet I still carried the belief inside me that my chest voice just wasn’t very good, or at least not as good as my head voice.  Lindsay helped me to believe in myself, encouraged me to just be me, and gave me confidence, through the opinion of a professional vocalist, that my chest voice was not at all something to avoid.  If I ever have the chance to work with Lindsay again, I will jump at it for certain.  Here’s his website, by the way, be sure to check it out:  www.lindsayfield.com.au

Well, thanks to Lindsay, Fiona, and the Con instrumentalists who played with me (thankyou to Ben on bass, Jeff on keys, my friend Johnno on guitar and of course the ever-awesome Konrad Park on drums) I felt my performance went very well and I hope for a good mark.  I have been a little nervous about coming to the Con – not only wondering what the other students will think of me, what level they’ll be at, whether they’ll want to play with me… but also what level we will be assessed at, whether it will be like the next step up from my pre-tertiary exam (in which I got straight A’s) or whether it will be much more advanced.  So it’ll be good to see what marks I got for this performance, to let me know where I’m at in relation to it all.  It was also good to see where the other Con vocalists were at, although they were all doing Associate degrees,  rather than the full Bachelor of Music.  I’m not sure if that makes a difference or not.  We’ll see when I get there, I suppose!

Sing Salamanca

On the 4th of January the Southern Gospel Choir had a huge performance down at Sing Salamanca, which was part of the Arts Festival.  We sang plenty of our own songs, as well as songs for the audience to sing along to, including “Throw Your Arms Around Me”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, and of course the roof-raising “Hey Jude”.  The stage was an excitement in itself, being the largest portable stage in Australia…. it literally just folds up into one semi-trailer, and it’s huge when unfolded! We performed with two other artists, one of whom was the amazing Dean Stevenson… the other was Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes. We sang a punk-gospel song which his band wrote, and that was… interesting!  The crowd seemed to enjoy the whole show and raised their voices up, even willingly learning harmonies.  A huge success.

I was called today by someone from the Conservatorium informing me of a summer school they’re running at Elizabeth College next week, involving students from all three years in their degrees, and with the opportunity to complete a whole unit towards your degree in a week!  Sounds like something I’ll definitely be doing.  From what I gathered, it will be contemporary ensemble work.  I wouldn’t mind so much if it was hillbilly punk, really.  A unit in a week!

Other than that, just chilling out and looking forward to regular SGC rehearsals starting up, and becoming more and more nervous about starting at the Con.

Bachelor of Music coming right up!

So, the Southern Gospel Choir’s end of year concert on the 17th of November went really well, as always an amazing and fun experience to be a part of. On the 19th I had my audition for the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music. My audition-ers were Andrew Legg and Kelly Ottoway. The audition went really well, they seemed impressed with me, and the aural tests (echoing melodies, clapping rhythms, sight singing etc.) didn’t go too badly at all. I sung “Out Tonight” from the musical Rent, and Aretha Franklin’s “Won’t Be Long”.

On the 24th I went to the workshop for the Young Jazz Players’ Competition, that was reasonably enjoyable and it was nice to meet some of the other competitors before the semi-finals. The semi-finals themselves were on the 27th at the Rosny Barn. That was a fun experience and I had a great time enjoying the performances of the other competitors. There were many different instrumentalists, and one other vocalist, a lady named Siobhan O’Rourke who was very good and more experienced than me, having a year at the Conservatorium already under her belt. She beat me and I was not one of the five finalists, but I had a great time anyway and was happy to see my friend Rob Mason make the finals as I think he is a very deserving musician.

My written (theory) test for the Conservatorium was on the 10th of December. I was a little puzzled as there was no aural/listening part of the test, and the example sheet had said there would be. That was a bit frustrating as I spent the last three of my (quite expensive) theory lessons working on dictation, and it turned out that I didn’t even have to do any of that. Oh well, I suppose it was good that I learned it anyway. I am also happy as I discovered a friend of mine whom I met through the gospel choir has done an advanced degree in theory. He helped me refresh some stuff on the morning of my test, and he has started teaching private lessons. I’m thinking of maybe asking if he will give me lessons – I expect they’ll almost certainly be a lot cheaper than the lessons I was taking with Ashton Maggs, and there is the bonus of studying with a friend, which always increases motivation.

And this week it seems my work paid off, as I received a letter of offer from the Conservatorium offering me a place in the Bachelor of Music! I am very happy about this, although I’m hoping they didn’t just go easy on me, as I would like to be able to handle the level of the classes! I expected with my little theory experience I would get an offer for the Bachelor of Music Studies, which is kind of a lower-level course in which you can work your way up to the level of the Bachelor of Music. But nope… I got into the main one right away. Well, I’m not complaining, that’s for sure!

Semi-finalist!

Yep, I received an email today telling me I am a semi-finalist in the Young Jazz Players’ Competition.  So I have a workshop with James Maddock and Dan Sulzberger to go to on the 24th, that should be pretty fun, and then the semi-finals on the 27th of November.  I’m looking forward to it all.  I’m glad I got this far, because I was a bit worried that the recordings I made were rather dodgy and was hoping for the chance to demonstrate my singing live.

The Southern Gospel Choir rehearsal last night went well.  Don’t forget to book your tickets for Saturday’s gig, it’s going to be a great one.