Instrumental Lesson Diary

Monday 5th October 2015

My lesson went good and my teacher said that I had good projection. But I need to keep working on the 1st half of the song so I knew exactly where to come in and when there is an instrumental part. My target was to know where to breathe in certain parts of the songs like just before I go into a high note.

Monday 12th October 2015

My lesson went very similar to last weeks but I kept going out of key so we didn't record that lesson because we know this song can be improved and so my target was to listen through the whole song.

Monday 19th October 2015

I had a really bad cold this week so it still didn't sound great so we just ended up talking about how I could improve my singing skills and where I see myself in the future (singing wise). My target is to get better for next lesson, only joking it is to memorise the 'ah' part.

Monday 2nd November 2015

I completed the song fully but needed to work on my projection I haven't fully covered from my cold it was still affecting my voice, so I am putting off the recording for this week, my target is for my projection.

Monday 16th November 2015

The lesson went well and this was the lesson after my birthday so we talked about that for a minute and then did the 1 to 5 warm up then we were ready to go, I was prepared to record so we did a run through and recorded it successfully! My target is to decide whether I want to start a new song or keep put with this one a just perfect it.

Monday 30th November 2015

I decided to keep going with Your Song and go to my instrumental lessons, and to start off we did the usual warm ups and then got straight into the song which is Your Song the Ellie Goulding version and then after a run through we just discussed the problems/ struggles I had with the song, we kept going over the high notes which I needed to reach. I was beginning to find that the song was easy to learn but there are a few high notes to reach.

Monday 7th December 2015

When I arrived to my singing lesson my teacher said that we should do less warm ups and more actually practising so then we could record and so we went through the song fully and recorded half of the song because we needed to work more on the ending and the recording you can hear the piano more than me actually singing but of what you can hear of me it sounded okay. My target for the next lesson is to practise the high notes again.

Monday 14th December 2015

We recorded again today but this time I made sure to keep my phone away from the piano and you can hear me clearly, but my voice doesn't sound as confident as the last recording. My voice tends to go a bit quieter so my target for this week I need to practise my projection.

Wednesday 13th January 2016

Today I went to my music lesson and I had a really bad cold so we spent more time planning then we did actually singing and so we listened back to the recordings I have and we have decided which one was the best recording. My target for this week is still my projection as she couldn't hear the difference this week.

Wednesday 20th January 2016

Today we warmed up my voice with several warming up songs like the 1 to 5, my throat was better than last week and so I wanted to have a go at singing today. We went through the first part of all of me and basically tried to perfect it, then next lesson we will be going through the second part of the song as that needs a lot more work than the first part and we didn’t have much time left. Miss also reminded me to think of a few songs as we are changing the song at the end of the term so she would like me to start thinking, I have a few ideas in mind but we will talk about it next week.

Wednesday 27th January 2016

Today I warmed up by doing several warm ups and then we started going as I needed to work on the first verse again, I need to work on my breathing in the song and learn where he takes his breaths so then it’s easier for me to sing his song and focusing on how my singing is rather than on my breathing. My targets for next lesson are to rehearse the song and learn where he breathes in the song.

Wednesday 3rd February 2016

Work on how I am going to stand so I can be heard and also to make sure I can hit this certain note in the chorus. My targets are to check the words/ underlay listen to the recording to help with tricky bars, next lesson I will be recording to the end.

Wednesday 10th February 2016

This lesson I hardly warmed up because we were recording and wanted to do it twice in case one sounded better than the other. I have to practice the ee exercise to help strengthen my voice. I am still singing ‘All Of Me’ at the moment, just working on my rough patches in the song now then I should be changing my song at the end of the term. Target for next lesson is to go over the end of the song so I can record next lesson again.

Wednesday 2nd March 2016

Spent most of the lesson warming up, I had a sore throat and so I needed warming up and so we decided to talk about what songs I have in mind as this is the last lesson before the end of term, the songs that I was thinking of were- yours by Ella Henderson Someone Like You by Adele and last of all Read All About It by Emeli Sande. My target over the week off is to think of a song to do for when I get back.

Wednesday 27th April 2016

I had a lot of warming up today from being off for a week, and so I spent half the lesson where my teacher and I were talking about my posture and my projection and how I can help these problems I have. For my projection she said to sing to a poster on the wall that’s on the other side of the room to me, and for my posture I have to practice singing in the mirror and alter how I stand to make me look more confident. As for the rest of the lesson, I hadn’t chosen a song yet so I decided to go over my first song which was Your Song the Ellie Goulding version and see how different I am when I sing that to when I sing All Of Me and then try to add that to All Of Me. Target for next lesson is to decide on a new song to start.

Wednesday 4th May 2016

I warmed up with the ee exercise and counting from 1 to 5 song. I chose which song I wanted to do and that is Yours by Ella Henderson as I think that song fitted my voice the best out of all of them. I also did my first unaccompanied song but I kept forgetting where to breathe, my teacher said that’s normal because when we sing with a backing we hide behind the music when we sing so little mistakes can be covered with the music, so that made me feel a little bit more confident but that still needs working on. For next lesson I have to practice singing unaccompanied again then after I have done all I can in that then sing with the backing to make sure I know I can sing in tune and know where to breathe.

Wednesday 11th May 2016

I arrived at my music lesson and we started off with the 1 to 5 exercise as it warms up my voice we then also did the ee exercise as that strengthens the middle of your voice. I then moved on to a different warm up instead of your song I did Popular from the musical Wicked which went well until the middle of the song as I kind of started to rush till the end of the song, then after that I went straight into Yours and that went good but I kept messing up the words a bit so my targets are to memorise the word and to sing a little bit stronger so I look more confident when I sing.

Wednesday 18th May 2016

I carried on with yours and recorded it after warming up, for the warm up I did the “ee” exercise and count from 1 to 5 but this time holding the note on the 5. So after I had finished the warm up as I said I recorded and I even had time to pay it back and get feedback. Then after I got all of my feedback back I acted upon them targets and recorded a better one and then I wrote in my next lesson time and went back to lesson.

Wednesday 15th June 2016

I had to warm up quickly as I only could have a 15 min lesson, so I went down the octave and got started. I sang Yours to the best possible standard I could as I wasn’t able to  go to my last lesson and I didn’t have the longest lesson so I thought I had to make the best of it. I have memorised all of the song and she said that this was the best I have ever sang that song, and also said I will be recording next week. My target for next lesson is to work on descending my breath.

Monday 12th September 2016

We just spoke about what I want to get out of this year in signing lessons, also sort of planned ahead what songs I will be doing so at the moment I am starting with Read all about it my Emeli Sande then after I think I have done my ultimate best with this song I will move on to the next.

Monday 19th September 2016

Today I started on Read all about it, only I forgot my music folder so we had to use the actual song on my phone. This was a problem but we handled it pretty well and spoke about how this song doesn’t have many breathing spaces so we would have to figure out where to breathe. That is also my target for next Monday.

Monday 14th November 2016

This lesson i had forgotten my folder with my music in it, so we did work on the ipad. We started with a few warm ups these will help me with my breathing throughout the songs, strengthening my voice, they also make sure i can make my voice go high enough for the song and low enough. We then practiced the song say you won't let go. Next lesson i will have my music folder back.

Monday 5th December 2016

I had an exam that morning and so i had no music lesson.

Monday 12th December 2016

In this lesson i had exams all day and didn't realise i had a lesson and forgot my folder. My singing teacher said its fine she will teach me how to play Yours on piano so i can then sing and play the piano to the song yours.

Monday 19th December 2016

I had an exam that morning and so i had no music lesson.

Monday 20th March 2016
I have to think of songs for my solo performance so, I warmed up and that's what I did. We went through and recorded me singing 'Yours' by Ella Henderson. I can use this to help me improve, or to even listen back to and decide what song I want to do.