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Historique

2nd November 2007

1:45am: Karaoke Week... erm, ends
Had completely forgotten that I had in fact chosen to strategically return to the Fortress this weekend. It was a bad miscalculation; next week was the time, for multiple reasons.

1. That's Mum's birthday weekend, something I'd seriously forgotten.
2. Can't complete the Karaoke Week, not that this matters much. I probably needed a break from it.
3. I didn't realise until today this involved missing auditions for the voice-overs for Surge jingles and adverts. Now that is something I would have wanted to go for.

Never mind.

First full lesson with Shylo is tomorrow; there'll be a summary post of it soon afterwards. Then it's on to a 4pm lecture, and then it's straight on to Southampton Central station for the 1754 to the Fortress. Return journey will be the 1052. That'll get me back into Southampton for lunchtime, allowing me to get back in plenty of time for my 3pm radio show.

I'd already mentioned my plans for lighting desk operation and programming for theatrical productions; a suitable opportunity (i.e. 'not a show where operating the lighting desk equates to self-harm') is actually almost imminent, a production of Absent Friends in a fortnight. Show runs from the 15th to the 17th, the lighting is extremely simple, and it's been confirmed I will be in charge of the lighting desk. I've already learned how to operate and run the desk, and even did so for moving lights (not applicable here) in one training session at the campus nightclub (creating a lighting cue that consisted of two dark blue lights and one white light cutting from one wall towards the centre of the dancefloor; no explanation of the thinking behind that one is required for this readership); I'll need reminding, but that's it.

Oh, the Thursday fun...

* Stag's Head; Atomic Kitten, The Last Goodbye. I think I've got a better performance of this one in me.
* Old Fat Cat; Enya, May It Be. Proved precisely one thing; my voice really is at least moderately powerful, more than was optimal here.
* Old Fat Cat; Linkin Park, In The End. Now this may have been a kneejerk response to the last one. The rapping, one slip at the end aside, worked very well; the singing was fine when it was singing, the transition to almost-screaming failed miserably.
* Stag's Head; Avril Lavigne, I'm With You. I'm almost positive this stays in 3/4 throughout. I'm also almost positive that this was one of the best performances I've ever done. It helped that I didn't have time to get nervous; I'd picked this song right after the first performance, executed the Hobbit Plan from last year, came back to the DJs waiting for a group that missed their slot, and so instead of someone challenging Rule 1, I was thrown right onto the stage. And performed most agreeably. This song seems to suit my voice brilliantly (once transposed an octave, natch); the verses sit comfortably low, the chorus is in a range I can sing very clearly, the bridge is in a range that almost demands singing loudly. Without recourse to the sheet music, I would guess this covers a range of roughly A3-D5.
3:29pm: Not what I'd planned
Shylo's lesson was cancelled with under three hours to go, as she had a cold.

Never mind, this opened up an opportunity to see a performance by three musicians on the 'jazz/pop' side of the music department's yawning artificial chasm. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Was this entirely down to the fact I bought earplugs? Most certainly.

The drummer in an ensemble with a saxophonist, trumpeter, pianist and bass guitarist produced a sound that reminded me of pre-Strachan game show music; either side of that were two female singer-songwriters, each of whom performed three songs of which one was their own. Both were enjoyable; RC [maintaining my convention, there] had a very well-crafted guitar-pop song, inviting comparisons with KT Tunstall, preceded it with one from Regina Spektor and followed it with a Des'ree song. Fortunately, not Life, but Kissing You, with just a piano accompaniment and also unamplified; suddenly, we had the layout of the classical vocal performances (of which I have now heard twelve) extrapolated to a somewhat familiar piece of popular music. It is in such circumstances that one realises the limited scale of the stylistic divide, and the folly of perpetuating it as much as Soton and many others do.

(Relatedly, a thought; many (most?) popular music ballads fill a niche barely covered by classical music; songs for piano and contralto. While there is an abundance of piano/soprano music, and no lack of choice for piano and most male voices, the lower female voices are sorely underserved.)

The other performer, BL, was an excellent example of my 'clarity and versatility' motto for singer-songwriters. Especially the versatility element; her self-penned number sat noticeably low, her final song (another Regina Spektor song, and one I'd not heard before) saw her soaring upwards (without loss of clarity that was not attributable to the microphone) before making some most peculiar sounds. To a melody. Overheard two other vocalists talking about the difficulty of this on my way out.

Most agreeable, and next week I finally get to hear VR singing, closing a programme begun by a flautist and a pianist. (The lesson with Shylo will be at 10am, and of course you'll be updated.)
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