Pat's Blog

Here's Pat's blog, its more of a band blog than anything, here we go!

patssss7846.blogspot.com

Different (Original Composition)

Here's the video, I will make a post tomorrow out lining the changes made with the additional comparisons with the original and the changes made to the song apart from form.

- Sami Lee

Exam

So we had our exam yesterday. All that hard work which ended in a quick 25-30 minute session which will turn into our practical mark for the year. A little scary, but I actually think we completed all the songs one of the best times we have all together. The only 'bad' thing that happened me was when my floor tom fell down halfway through No One Knows, but luckily there was a gap where only the bass was being played, so I quickly tightened it up again.
I think the exam went really well, I was very stressed before hand, getting the drum kit together, but I calmed down right before we started playing and suddenly, it wasn't all that scary or nerve racking. I was just someone behind their drum kit, playing songs they'd heard a millions times over again and again.
It was really fun to play, and we all decided it was a shame that this band thing wouldn't be a 'regular' thing, but Nick said he'd be more than happy to come back and play  with us. Me and Pat are good together, but then Nick adds this whole other level of tightness that we get when playing, and that all started when we started playing Yellow last year.
I think we've all come a long way since then. Nick's had his guitar pieces to do, me and Pat have gotten better at playing with one another, and I actually sat down and decided what instrument to play, which will be again tricky for next year, but I know it'll be sorted out.
I think that I've worked hard this year, and apart from one time where I forgot to do the song analysis, I've gotten pretty good marks, which I was worried about at the start  of this year, with the whole 'year 12 music' thing and only doing a semester of year 11 last year.
Next year will also be different. Maybe a new instrument, maybe not? I'm not sure yet, but seeing as it's actual year 12 for me, it adds to how much I worry, because I want to be able to do good next year, and this year was pretty alright for me, but next year there's theory and assignment work. I know I can do it, I'm still worried though.
And who knows? This might be the last you hear of me. I might use this blog for next year or I might create a new one, who knows, so I might add more in the future. Or we might go to Top Acts (if we do, it'll be for Dani California I reckon, I just have this feeling if we do, I mean, we might not, but I'm always optimistic) so you'll hear from me then.
I'll post some photos soon, as soon as I get them, and I hope you've enjoyed this blog (so far?).
So that was my year 12 music journey, pretty good, and I still remember back when I had to buy a china cymbal for one song (3's and 7's, which was cut, thank god, Pat couldn't play it without two guitars) and even further back where I thought I could pull of doing Muse and Queen songs by myself (who knows, maybe I could of, but I think drums were the right choice for me this year)
Anyway, I have had a great year this year, feel free to look around my blog more and I shall see you when I see you.

Till next time

- Sami Lee

Practice After School

The exam is in like five days. Gulp. We've added another song. Double gulp.

It'll be fine, I know it will, but still man!!

Any way, we've been doing a butt load of practices this week, we did so much we were sweating yesterday, and we hope to do more today and tomorrow.
I'll hopefully post something about my focus area soon, give a little detail about it, I might make a new page.
Yeah, I'll do that. 

- Sami Lee

Practice After School

The exam is in like five days. Gulp. We've added another song. Double gulp.
It'll be fine, I know it will, but still man!!
Any way, we've been doing a butt load of practices this week, we did so much we were sweating yesterday, and we hope to do more today and tomorrow.
I'll hopefully post something about my focus area soon, give a little detail about it, I might make a new page.
Yeah, I'll do that.

- Sami Lee

Practice

I wanna see if Nick is down for a bass and drums practice this Friday.
I don't know  where he'll be though...
We all need to practice more.

- Sami Lee

Recording Today!

So we recorded our original composition today, it sounds really good, like a live recording. I thought the drums might have been to loud, and the wash effect I wanted to get for the cymbals wasn't really working either, I think it's a mixture of getting it wrong, concentrating on watching the little light on the recording thing to make sure it doesn't clip and the actual recording itself. Cymbals are loud.

- Sami Lee

Here it is, take it

New Video

So I have a video of me playing drums for Different, our original composition, so I'll upload that soon! We should be doing a recording tomorrow, so I'll upload that to YouTube and put it up on here. Should be good, see you soon!

Apologies

So it's been.... Two, three weeks since I last posted? Terrible, I know. And there's no way to excuse it, I didn't have time, let's go with that!
Anyway! The composition drumming has been changed, but only slightly, so there's not much to report upon, the main reason I have not been updating this journal enough, because Pat has had to change it the most. For me, the form has been changed, its been shortened, and the how many times the crash gets hit has in the choruses has been changed from quarter notes to eighth notes.
We're also thinking about putting a solo in the middle of the song, in the bit where the dynamics change to just the guitar and drums, bridge part 1 if you like, but with two weeks until the exam tomorrow, I'm a little weird about it. I'm a little weird about everything. I'm a little nervous. This is big. Yeah.

Changes to Composition!

After my drum teacher listened to our composition, he told me that it might sound better with eighth notes instead of quarter notes in the chorus, to give it more of a overall rather than a stopper. This helps the song not lose its momentum and flow through the song.

I'll say more later, probably tomorrow after we've practiced again, till then, uhhhh stay cool

- Sami Lee

Apologies

Haven't written an entry in a while, this is because:

- My first assignment, the changing of the original composition, we've already been working on way before the actual assignment was given because we needed to shorten it anyway
- I've had nothing to document, practices are going good, we're just practicing our songs and working on dynamics and playabilty.

The only thing I would have to say is that I haven't really worked with my drum teacher as much because we just kinda talk most of the time, which is fine, he's trying to 'open my mind' as a drummer, which is fine, but the entire lesson is gone and the only thing I've done is played a few rhythms. I don't think he's actually seen me play drums yet, nor my songs. So that's been difficult so far, with six weeks until the exam. I've basically been working on the songs in my own time, which is difficult, seeing as I have no drum kit set up at home at the moment and I don't really get much class time on my own.
This year hasn't been the best for me and drums. No drum teacher for six months, then a drum teacher who talks to me a lot, but I'm too scared to just tell him that we've talked enough and we should start drumming. I'm a little shy I guess. And he's repeating himself a lot now, and I already understand most of the things he's saying.
Anyway. I've got to get through this, clean out the garage so I can practice, get Steve to actually help me out in four or five lessons or less because this exam is six Tuesday's away and I don't know how I feel about that.
It's a long time. It's a short time.

- Sami Lee

Original Composition

So we've changed the song slightly. Same form, we've just shortened it, taking out each part in between where we'd go back into the entry guitar riff. So I'll make another status tomorrow when we go over it again. This is also as a part of one of my new outcomes and all these journal entries are for another outcome which calls for journal entries.

- Sami Lee

Random Update

Everything's going well and on track. I haven't posted in a while. I'll post something tomorrow when we practice more.

Uhhhhhhhhhh have a good day

- Sami Lee

Changes to the Program

Sooooooooo 3's and 7's is gone. I don't mind, it means I don't have to buy that one singular $500 cymbal for it, so I'm happy.

Next! The program has changed slightly, here is the new one:

No One Knows - Queens of the Stone Age
I Know What I Am - Band of Skulls
Heatwave - The Living End 
Different (Original Composition) 
Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers

The reason why we've put No One Knows first is because it uses dropped tuning on the guitar (C Standard) so Pat can quickly get the guitar out of the way and not have to worry about tuning ever again. This song will also include a drum solo of about one minute in the second solo bass part of the song.
We've put I Know What I Am next because it's a little bit of a break from heavier stuff before we continue and it just kinda fits in well there too.
Next is my prescribed song, Heatwave. This fits here in the middle, because it's the only place it fits.
Different and Dani California are the real ones which we decided where they should be. We decided to end on Dani California due  to how uplifting it is and how well we play it. Different is second last because we can show how we've used the previous songs as an influence on it.
I'm a little nervous of the actual concert, we have a date, October 20th, a Tuesday, at 11:10am. Fun, fun, fun. I think I'm nervous because I'm getting marked at this sort of thing. Yeah, let's go with that. Yeah.

- Sami Lee

Oh yeah, practice yesterday went really well, I felt a whole lot better when drumming and everything ran smoother and we timed the songs, and everything, including the little solos and stuff we're meant to do, it all adds up to about 20 mins. I  think we're going to look at form of all these songs next week.

Song Analysis

This is actually one thing I don't like doing in music. Its just very repetitive and I really dig routine sometimes, but this is just a bit... Yeah, this is one thing I don't like. But I'll do it. I've added in a page for my song analysis' because the google doc I'm working from for class doesn't really work sometimes and I don't trust it very well at all.

- Sami Lee

3's and 7's

We might be taking this song off for Pat. He will need a range of different equipment to do this song unless with change it for him. I'm a little bummed, I actually like playing this song and it seems like a really good song to do for drums, despite the fact that I will need to buy a china cymbal for this song. I mean, that wouldn't be so bad, this song is fun to play and I'd like to play it, but whatever's cool as, I  don't mind at all :)

- Sami Lee

China Cymbals

Due to the use of a china cymbal in the song 3's and 7's, I will have to purchase a china cymbal. No issue, Pat has to get like $1000 worth of pedals for his performance. I still have no drum kit set up at home due to lack of space, but I think purchasing a china will be good, it will add diversity to my playing, like with I Know What I Am and how I need to use a tambourine.

- Sami Lee

Oh! Another thing............... Sticks! That's it, I also need to look at different sticks for different songs, to make each song sound different. My drum teacher recommended at least three different pairs, so I'll play around with everything.

Terms, Techniques, Elements and Priciples.

I have added in a page on the side where all the terms, techniques, elements and principles are used on this page with their appropriate definitions and meanings. Please enjoy, it took me a while to type out and I have the page that I referenced and got most of the terms from down the bottom.

My Youtube Channel

Here is my YouTube Channel where I post stuff like guitar and vocal covers, bass covers, drum covers and some originals I write and perform.

Sami Lee on YouTube

Practice

A while back I had a practice timetable that fit into about 30-40 minutes including warm up and down time. I was told that I should try and do at least half an hour of drum practice every day, but without a drum kit set up at the moment, that's a little hard. Anyway, here's the practice sceduale:

Start - Warm Up - Do whatever to warm up your hands and legs to play
5 mins - 40 Bar Exercises - Choose a 40 bar exercise and play it
10 mins - Counting Practice - Triplets, eighth, sixteenth and thirty second
15 mins - Work on Song - Work on any song I'm having trouble with
20 mins - Work on Skills - Flams, rolls, accents, grooves, rhythmic summaries
25 mins - Counting Practice - Triplets, eighth, sixteenth, and thirty second
30 mins - 40 Bar Exercises - Choose another 40 bar exercise and play it
35 mins - Warm Down - Work on song and try and warm down a little

That was my old practice schedule, so I think I might make my new one a little longer, at least an hour, with more time to work on each song, but breaking up everything all the way through again. I shall work more on technique and also my songs, so I will incorporate less exercises and more song work.

I also had my first and second lesson with my new drum teacher Steve. He's a really good teacher and I've already learnt a lot. He's very lenient in the way he teaches and has taught me a lot on how to relax, how to sit behind a drum kit, how to tune a drum kit and how to improve my playing. This might seem like simple stuff, but I was never taught this before, so even going back to the basic stuff will help me a whole lot.

- Sami Lee

Song List

We have discussed the set list, here it is!

I Know What I Am - Band of Skulls
3's and 7's - Queens of the Stone Age
No One Knows - Queens of the Stone Age
Heatwave - The Living End
Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Different (original composition)

We have placed I Know What I Am first due to me singing on it, and I'll need to get the microphone out of the way. We've placed the QOTSA songs together, which might seem like a bad move, but both songs sound very different to one another. No One Knows must also go after a song where I don't have to set up or move anything, so Pat can grab and tune his guitar before and after. Then we've put our prescribed songs next, Heatwave first then Dani California because that song feels like it finishes off well, then we've finished our set with our original composition to show comparison between our piece and the songs we perform.


EDIT:


We are changing No One Knows to go first because its a song that shows off both mine and Pat's abilities and because to start off with a song where I sing and then for me to leave again would be a biit weird. Also kinda a little bit weirded out about also having to show off my stuff because 1. I do not feel like a very 'awesome' drummer, really only quite mediocre, but I want to change that and 2. Although I do want to do that stuff, I feel a little bit hoggy over Pat, because like, he's the front man, and even if I was in that position, there's still the rest of the band that deserves attention, don't just focus on me! I like directing people's attention towards me so I can avert it to the people I think need it more than I do. That's why I like playing with younger kids, lift their spirits up, they get to chill with the older kids, it makes them feel like they fit in. Sorry! Getting a bit carried away, I'll leave now

- Sami Lee

Page Navigation

Due to dificulities on this website, for now, all the links for pages will be posted to this post and then at a later date, I will work out how to post all of these pages to the side. I used to know how to do it, but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment. So here they are:

Home Page

Explaining Unit 4 Outcome 1 

Introduction to my Songs

Unit 4 Outcome 3

Outcome 3 includes documenting over the coming semester how everything is going. I will use the Blogger post feature to post comments and blog posts including pictures and videos about once a week to really document and show how I am going. So far, my set list includes:

• No One Knows, Queens of the Stone Age
• 3's and 7's, Queens of the Stone Age
• Heatwave, The Living End (prescribed song)
• Dani California, Red Hot Chili Peppers
• I Know What I Am, Band of Skulls
• Different (original composition)

And my focus statement is:

'Rhythmic and percussion techniques used on drum kit in modern alternative rock, 2000 to present.'

I am pleased with both of these and they shouldn't change to much in the next semester, four of the songs on the list we can play through, the only ones we need to work on are Heatwave and 3's and 7's which we shall start working on this week. 

I have the drums pretty much alright on 3's and 7's, but there are still elements I need to work on. Having a new drum teacher will also really help me and I cannot wait to start having lessons with him. Even just cleaning out the drum room, I learnt about tuning up drum kits, how to sit behind a drum kit a bit better and even how to set one up a whole lot better.
This term for music should be good, my goals are to get every song down pat by the end of the term so we can start working on more improvisation with some of the fills I'm doing.
And starting next week, we will be working after school on Wednesday's to rehears for the end of year concert/exam. Can't wait!

- Sami Lee

Hey There

My name's Sami, this is my blog all about my Year 12 musical journey. I'll start posting more and more about drums and my whole experience playing drums in the band I'm in. My band consists of me on drums, Pat on lead guitar and vocals, and Nick on bass. Pat and I are the only two getting assessed, as Nick is doing purcussion on contempary guitar for his year 12.
Pat and I are in year 11, Nick is in year 12. Pat and I will be doing music performance next year, like year 11 performance, but the year 12 version.

Here's my YouTube for videos of me playing guitar, drums and singing.

Enjoy my page, I'll start posting more in the future!

- Sami Lee