Rhythm Wave

This year during my time on the HNC music performance course, I joined Rhythm Wave, the samba band at Perth College. Joining the band has been a great experience as it has allowed me to broaden my skills as a drummer by practicing rudiments in a genre I have never played before. I had to adapt very quickly when joining the band as I was given one of the main parts and there were a lot of songs to learn. With the help of my close friend Jennifer I have been able to pick up the drum rudiments very quickly and improve on them every time I rehearse with the group. By being able to pick up the role of the Rapiki player so quickly it shows I am good at adapting to rhythms I am not usually used to playing. This in turn has improved my confidence as well as my technique as a drummer because the rudiments I have been learning are fast which have aided me in first study. As a result of joining Rhythm Wave I have been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to play at Glastonbury as part of the band, I look forward to playing with the band and enjoying the festival. I also look forward to learning from this fantastic experience and applying what I have learned from the experience in all aspects of my drumming when I get back. 

My Last Gig as a HNC student

Last week the band 'Insert Red Hair' took to the stage for the last time at Perth college. Myself along with Lauren Baillie, Jamie Stewart and Katy Forrest had spent a long time preparing for this event and were looking forward to the performance. Our set list included 3 covers and 4 originals so I was excited to see what the audiences reaction would be. However it didnt get off to a great start as the sound engineers informed me they didnt have a drum kit. So I took it upon myself to hunt down a drum kit and carry it over to the union for the gig. This frustrated me a little but I knew that if I didnt get a drum kit to the union, no one else would. So I didnt really mind. When it came to the actual gig itself it must have been clear on my face how upset I was by the overall performance. What was performed perfectly not 2 hours before the gig, went to shambles. Not one song was performed correctly and to the satisfaction I wanted. I found myself getting very upset and frustrated throughout the entire performance and this was very apparent to both my fellow band members as well as the audience. However I would firstly like to apologise for my behavior, as well as explain the lessons I learned that day. I learned that as a musician, you have to have those gigs that went wrong, because how else can you improve? You also have to have those bad gigs because they test your relationship with other musicians, If the band can come out of a gig that went awful and still be best friends, then you know in your heart you were meant to play with those guys. If you come out of a gig thinking that every person in that room will hate you for being such a terrible team player, when they infact tell you that you did a good job no matter what, and they dont mind that you got upset, then you know your working with the right people and in the right environment. Next time, I will accept that the gig wasnt a great success, and work on the negatives to make them positive. I will learn to keep a smile on my face whilst performing no matter what and learn to make the most out of any situation. After all, you can only get better. 

New Opportunities

Last summer, I spent a lot of time with other musicians. Getting to know them and generally wasting away the summer days drinking and experimenting with music. I was under the impression it was all just a bit of fun. However i recently received a phone call from 2 of the musicians I spent time with requesting that I write music with them over the course of this summer as part of 2 separate projects. For a session musician this is good networking skills. My spending time with other musicians in a comfortable environment being myself they have now approached me in confidence requesting that I be a part of their new musical projects. I am very excited to see what the outcome will be and will also hopefully have brand new original recordings ready to go forward into the HND with. I guess its all about who you know, and how you behave when in other musicians company that make you a great musician. They haven even heard me play drums yet, just enjoyed my rather interesting banter, I look forward to summer 2011 now and cant wait to get started!

No More Guitarist...

As you all well know, i am part of an all girl band called Adams Demise. As mentioned in my previous blogs we hunted and searched for a female guitarist to join our band. We worked with Cassie for a few months but collectively as a group decided that we no longer thought she was right for the band. This decision was based on Cassies current behaviour out with the band as well as her contribution to the bands activities. We felt she didnt put much effort into our material and that her personality no longer suited the rest of the groups. When making this decision we all got together and had a mature discussion. The rest of the band were in two minds about whether to give her another chance but I could tell they were all feeling sorry for Cassie and didnt want to admit their true feelings about her participation in the group. So I stepped up and decided that I knew she wouldnt be in the band for much longer anyway and that we better tell her sooner rather than later. When making this decision we all used teamwork, initiative as well as honesty which are all important factors when becoming a session musician. I felt that my contribution to the conversation was mature and the fact that I took the lead in encouraging everyone to come to their senses and to be confident that this decision was right for the bands future. This also means that I now have the confidence to make blunt decisions in the future, even though I may not like them. There are some decisions you have to make as a musician that you may feel uncomfortable and sometimes upset about making, but in the music world, you have to be strong otherwise you wont get to where you need to be. 

Lord Of The Blings

This year as part of my HNC music course, I wanted to be involved with as many projects as I could manage. I was involved with Alex Mckeatings degree project entitled 'The Lord Of The Blings, A Hip-Hopera'. The project was a musical version of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy focussing on hip hop music. My role within the musical was to play 'Lego-lass', a female version of the character 'Legolass' but with an obsession with lego. The musical was a great success and alot of fun to be a part of, but there are always challenges and complications. The first challenge I encountered was being asked to rap in one of the songs. I have never done this before and very nervous about doing it, however i stepped up to the mark and did as Alex asked me which was flexible and adaptable which is a key aspect of becoming a session musician. Another example of being flexible and adaptable was on the night of the performance where there was a scene where a group of neds attacked the main characters. We realised just seconds before the scene that the main ned, Martin, couldnt take part because of costume changes. Therefore I was asked to take his place as the main ned. I had no idea when to go on stage or what to do so i improvised and the feedback from the audience was that the scene was hilarious and very enjoyable. I was very pleased that I was able to adapt at such short notice. The whole performance was a great success and very enjoyable to be a part of, Congratulations to Alex Mckeating himself and all the cast involved.


For the hobbits! 

Adams Demise goes live!

Dear Fellow Musicians


As a result of our time in the studio being successful, the girls and myself decided to begin a facebook page for Adams Demise in order to promote ourselves. I sat down with our singer Kayleigh and worked for a good five hours to get the page up and running. We included a comical biography of ourselves to show off our rather unique personality as well as various photographs and also an audio file of the recording we made of our first cover Crushcrushcrush. Within one week of the page going live we had 130 followers as well as over 200 plays of our track. As I am trying to become a session musician the popularity of the page meant I now have over 130 people who are aware of what I am doing within the band. It is important as a session player to make contacts as this can get you alot of business. The popularity of the page also meant we had built a good reputation for ourselves, so if I was to come into contact with someone with a possible business opportunity and mentioned the band, they would then already know what we were about and that we are fun yet reliable musicians. 


Check out the page and suggest us to your friends :)


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adams-Demise/210042642345431?sk=app_178091127385


Take care children....

Studio Sesh!

Hey all :)

Been a long time since iv given an update so im gonna go Jackie Chan on this blogging malarchy :)

After a couple of successful practices from the all girl band 'Adams Demise' we decided to hit the recording studio for a couple of weeks to record a cover of Paramores 'Crushcrushcrush' to use on our new Facebook page as an example of what we will be working on over the course of the next couple of months. We all worked really hard as a team to help each other out and also help the sound engineers out as best we could to make the record sound the best that we all could manage. When we were in the studio as a group, we had to cooperate with not only each other, but the sound engineers as well, however in the world of music it is commonly known that musicians and sound engineers do not normally cooperate as well as they should. However i feel that as a band working with sound engineers we didn't really know, we did a great job of being patient with both the engineers and fellow band mates, working together to improve on our own and each others performances, supporting each other when we got stressed or frustrated and gave criticism in a respectful manner, this all demonstrates teamwork and cooperation which are both important requirements of becoming a performing artist/ session musician. We also displayed self-confidence and awareness because we were all constantly making comments on how the track was being recorded and if we wanted something done in a different way as well as giving each other constructive criticism which not only builds our confidence in each other, it also builds trust between the group and I felt that by getting everyones opinion I was able to identify where my performance weaknesses were and plan on improvements when i practiced. All in all i loved the experience of being in the studio and thought it was a great advantage having the luxury of being able to practice working in the college studios in preparation for when I become a performing artist/ session musician.

Until next time....

New Guitar Player

I am currently in an all girl band based in Perth playing alternative rock music, We desperately needed a female guitar player to complete our line up and after weeks of searching we finally found a female guitar player called Cassie local to the Perth area who had a similar music taste to the rest of the group. We arranged a first practice so that the guitar player could see how the band played and how she would fit in. In order for the guitar player to settle in the whole band require to have good teamwork skills as Cassie is inexperienced in working with bands so we all had to work together to make sure she knew what she was doing regarding what she had to play and keeping in time with the drums as well as the rest of the group. We also required good communication skills so that we could all discuss where our weaknesses were and discuss how we could make improvements effectively. We are currently working on our first single after recording a few covers and hope to get our facebook page up and running soon :)

Fat Sams Gig

The HNC performances at Fat Sams in Dundee was a treat and a half! All the band performed extremely well and it was a great day. It was an early start and it wasn't long before I had to use my adaptability skills during the sound check. Mark Mcsporran the drummer for the band "Mcsporran" wasn't available to sound check so I was asked to fill in his place, I wasn't sure about this at all as I has I hadn't played with the band or the song 'Slither' in months, however I pulled myself together and used some much needed adaptability skills which are essential for a performing musician and did the sound check for the band and it actually sounded pretty good. However during the sound check I managed to burst my knuckle on my index finger and found it very painful to play. I managed to pull through and changed the way i held the drum sticks so that it didn't hurt as much, this is another example of adaptation skills which is essential for a performing musician as anything can happen on stage and you have to be able to adapt to any situation and keep the performance going regardless of what happens. Another classic example of this was during my bands performance of Shania Twains 'Man I Feel Like A Woman' the crash cymbal fell off its stand at the point in the song where I needed it most, I would normally have stopped playing out of sheer shock however I quickly stayed in time and progressed on with the song replacing the crash cymbal with an open High-Hat, another adaptation example as well as motivation. All in all the gig was very enjoyable and I loved working with the members of my band. Im sure the crowd were well entertained, cant wait for the next one!

Graded Unit Employability Skills

Why are the following areas important for becoming a performer?


Teamwork: When becoming a performing musician, team work is essential as you will be placed in environments such as bands where you have to cooperate and communicate with others in order to share and express different ideas. Teamwork is also required when performing material in order to make sure the songs that are played are as tight and well played as they possibly can be.


Interpersonal Skills: Having interpersonal skills is essential when entering the music business, especially when being a performer as you have to be able to instantly build relationships with people you may not know very well as you may be asked to work with them on an important project. Having interpersonal skills as a performer is also important when networking with others, if you are recognized as an individual who can work well in any social situation, it will boost your reputation as a performer.


Problem Solving/ Intellectual Skills: In any profession it is important to have problem solving and intellectual skills, however when being a performing musician it is essential that you are able to handle all kinds of stressful and challenging situations and enter them with an open mind.


Flexibility and Adaptability: It is important as a performing musician to be able to chop and change arrangements where necessary, you may be required to reschedule practices and performers and has a professional musician you have to be willing to change events last minute in order to make things work. You may also be required certain genres you are unsure, unfamiliar or even that you may dislike, however as a musician you must be able to adapt to these kinds of situations in order to remain professional and successful.


Commitment: You have to be dedicated as a performing musician, for example turning up to rehearsals, recordings and performances on time is vital in order to keep a professional reputation.


Self Awareness/ Confidence: Having self awareness and confidence is important for a performing musician as your actions reflect on your personality, performance and attitude towards your work. You have to build a good reputation for being a hard worker and you must be confident when doing so in order to build a good reputation which will in turn earn you great opportunities. Where as something as simple as a bad attitude when performing could lose you a great opportunity.


Initiative, Pro-activity and Self Motivation: It is important as a performing musician that you can motivate and push yourself in any given situation and have the drive to succeed.

Good Morrow Friends

Evening all, first blog a go go!
The names Claire, and I'm studying HNC Music Performance at Perth UHI specializing in the Drum Kit and this is my blog :) I was originally planning on doing my blog based on my ambition on becoming a teacher, however I have realized that I don't actually plan on becoming a teacher till I've been there done that and got the T-shirt, so for the present time I'll be developing this blog in the process of me becoming a performer :) 


Keep happy children