dansreflectivejournal

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 14

Rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals

Steady progress for my final recital and esplanade performance. On top of music, I want to work on stage presence with my band.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 13

Had my last lesson with Daniel Chai. It has been an invaluable learning journey with him for the past 2 years.

We just jammed on our last session, talked about future goals as a creative in the singapore industry. I get very insightful knowledge from Daniel not only for music but for livelihood as a musician as well.

I have learned so many new concepts and ideas in the past 2 years.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 12

Continued rehearsals as per normal. One struggle i find during my rehearsals is figuring two separate guitar parts.

I find it difficult to split the playing for my second guitarist. Do i just let him play chords, or is there something more intersting for him to do.

I think this is one of my weaknesses as a composer/arranger.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 11

Slowly getting better and recovering from my fractured foot.

I was able to drop by school for rehearsals this week. Unfortunately i couldnt make it for my lesson with Daniel Chai.

This week i worked on a new original with my band. It was an idea from my vocalist. She had amelody in her head, so i helped her find the chords behind it. I might add some crazy chord harmonies for this song especially in verse 2 where there are hits and spaces inbetween when the vocal is singing.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 10

Bed ridden for the whole week so i couldnt do much music. Speedy recovery to myself!

[dansreflectivejournal]

Smester 2: Week 9

Started rehearsals with my band!

We will be performing at Esplanade too on the 20th of April.

We worked on a few songs today. Mainly learning the songs and piecing everyone together in the mix.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 3: Week 8

I couldn't practice much this week due to personal reasons. Though ive been reading and watching contents about reharmonisation in pop songs.

Ive always wanted to write pop songs that have more complexed harmonies in them, instead of keeping everything relatively diatonic.

Maybe i should write a song for my recital based on this concept?

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 3: Week 7

Did some sight reading with Daniel Chai this week during our lesson. I think I am slowly getting the hang of it.

I realized that im not as good when im reading flat keys. Find it awkward to translate what i see on the score to how i visualize my fretboard.

Tried to find a way to help myself out, but i think i just need to familiarize myself with it.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 3: Week 6

Played for Lasalle's Composition Concert this week.

It was an experience, albeit a confusing one. We had a hard time with the IEM and monitoring mix throughout the entire set. Volumes were fluctuating up and down and it was so uncomfortable while performing.

It is a lesson to learn for us as musicians though. As performers we have to stay professional on stage and try our best to deliver the show even if there are some hiccups from other parties involved.

The audio/techincal difficulties was such a let down because we put so many hours into preparing for this show. wish things could've been better on the audio production side.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 5

Couldn't attend lesson with Daniel Chai due to personal reasons. However, I have been working on something for my final recital. I wrote a song with my friend Ben, going for that John Mayer Gravity-ish vibe.

Would love to have a rotary vibe synth on this track. Maybe i can work something out with my keyboardist for my recital.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 5

I have been working on the song i wrotr with Masha, and managed to gte my band to jam that song. Here's a rough idea of how it would sound like in a band setting, without vocals.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 4

This week i mostly practiced for a gig in lasalle. Ill be sessioning for a band who is playing for Lasalle's Composition Concert coming in a couple of weeks.

Excited to be playing with new people.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 3

Worked on improvisation this week. After writing last week's song, I wanted to come up with a solo that meaningful and also melodic. Went back to John Nathan Cordy's video to steal some licks and ideas for entering a solo.

Working on my legato playing as well to really suit the vibe im going for for this particular song.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 3

Shared with Daniel a song I wrote with a friend of mine, Masha.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 2

This week I am prepping for a gig. I will be sessioning for local artist Xena Giam.

As a sessioning guitarist, one thing i struggle with is fitting into the pocket and sound of the band. I am constantly listening and trying to figure out what my role is.

Daniel Chai shared that from his experience, usually as a sessionist, thinking as a layering instrument is very important. Add to what is already present, think creative without altering the sound of the band too much. Will try to figure things out!

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 2: Week 1

Met Daniel Chai after our December Break. Told him that i wanted to focus on my song writing aspect totally this semester.

On time to time if i dont have any material to share with him, we can work on guitar related stuff.

[dansreflectivejournal]

Semester 1: Week 14

Last week to prep before recital.

Ran through the whole set list with my band. Worked on a lot of finer details.

I find that my live arrangement for mt sam kim inspired song is a little hard to "feel" as compared to when im recording and producing the demo at home. I Cannot really pinpoint the reason why but i think it has something to do with the comping pattern of the second guitar line. It makes the song have a 3/4 feel instead of a 6/8 bouncy feel.

We worked on sound a lot especially for the keys and the guitars.