31/10/09

It's Halloween right now ! Pity I am working tonight so I can't get drunk and obnoxious as I usually do...

Oh well. 

*sigh*

I'll entertain myself (and yourself) with my weekly graded unit post... goody...

This week at college First Study was a mild success as I 'performed' my solo arrangement of Octopus' Garden and it was valid, but with a few pointers and insights from Kev, I found out how it could be improved further. I also explained I was really not going anywhere with The solo arrangement of Hard Day's Night, so Kev recommended a solo version of Yesterday which so far is turning out to be more 'supple' to a reworking.

Also this week  I had a Graded Unit meeting with Marlisa which proved to be useful as it gave me an insight into what I should actually be doing. Fortunately she said that I was on the right track, so that's an easy nights rest. Session Skills was once again a very productive class as this week Gavin handed us the score for the classic Temptations track, My Girl. This was a better scored piece as it had notation as well as chord charts which kept me on my toes and gave me a change to practice my sight-reading. Our group rattled through the piece without any qualms or hiccups. Then Gavin asked up to transpose the piece. So we did. And it was successful.

You know what's coming now...

www.myspace.com/thexylophoneraceuk 

...

Thanks guys !

26/10/09

And yet again, not a whole lot has went down.

However, I'll try and squeeze out some information. First study went well, I feel that I got a better idea of developing a solo guitar piece. Me and Kevin also chatted about one of his gigs that I saw him play. I was quite impressed by his Gypsy Jazz musings. Also this week was a theory test, everyone had a mutual feeling of pessimism afterwards but I feel it went alright, however I feel I could have done better in the first section. We'll just need to wait and find out. I really enjoyed Session Skills again, as it is a very beneficial class. This time we rattled through What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted and then we aced Jackie Wilson's Higher and Higher, the world's most uplifting tune - as featured in Ghostbusters 2...

Erm... Anyway, outside of college I was very inspired by a band I saw. The band were The Paul Rose Band. I have never seen or heard a guitarist so technically and musically amazing. Stunning player. Check him out.

Also this week The Xylophone Race Myspace got a makeover.

Check it out.

www.myspace.com/thexylophoneraceuk

I'm not going to stop doing it so just go and look at it.

Laterz, eh ?

Daryl Hockin

12/10/09

Hey guys, another short post coming your way !

This week I was overjoyed to hand out CVs all of Friday morning and then get a job in the afternoon. Yeah... it's that easy, apparently. Maybe they were impressed in my HNC in music... The job's in a pub by the way.

Anyway this week at college, I found myself really enjoying session skills ! Which coincidentally will help me gain experience with becoming a SESSION MUSICIAN, can't get more relevant than that ! In the class, Gavin gave us our individual parts from the Motown classic, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted. The piece was fairly straightforward, with the odd stop-time and dynamics, but it was grand ! It helped me brush up on my sight-reading (even though it was just a chord chart) and working with musicians I had not played with before. We also 'chatted' with a representative of the Scottish Arts Council. Very insightful. I probably would apply for funding if I wasn't busy with college and whatnot, maybe in the future... 

Also this week I put up FULL LENGTH SONGS on my band's Myspace, THE XYLOPHONE RACE. You should CHECK IT OUT !

www.myspace.com/thexylophoneraceuk

And no, I won't stop plugging my band ! People on Facebook must be getting pissed off...

But that doesn't matter, because publicity is everything !

Bye guys !

05/10/09

Hey you guys !

Not so much stuff happened this week, sort of. My band, The Xylophone Race played a gig in Mad Hatters in Inverness. It was very well received and we had a great time. College-wise, Kevin encouraged me to 'better my practice time' and gave me ideas on how to develop solo guitar pieces. Also this week I started my planning stage for the Session Musician module of Graded unit, this has helped me reflect and analyse what aspects of my playing I am happy with and what needs to be improved. And that's pretty much it...

Why not check out The Xylophone Race Myspace Page ?!

www.myspace.com/thexylophoneraceuk

Thanks again.

Daryl Hockin