Creativity - ISK Talent Show: Week 1

               Friday’s first practice proved that we are definitely a little rusty. Namin no longer has his own drum set meaning that he can’t practice in his own time and has subsequently not played since summer. I am however confident that this will not be an issue as he is capable of easily picking up his bit without any practice beforehand. I found that we didn’t get much done in our first practice as we were collaborating about the structure of the song for the majority of the time, like we usually do. Cole was not present at our first meeting but this was also not a problem as we hadn’t come to his part. David, who I have not previously played with before, impressed me concerning his skills. I look forward to what is to come next week.

Creativity - ISK Talent Show Performance

Having played guitar for a total of 5 years, in recent years, i have been in various rock bands with friends of mine. I started 3 years back with an old friend from Braeburn who went to Hillcrest and played the drums and my brother who also plays guitar. We started playing and ended up performing in various local concerts and venues including Tamambo at Village Market. The year was comprised of many memorable moments as I had never been on stage before. As I had suspected, I messed up multiple times while performing in the limelight. Nevertheless, I learned what it was like to play with other musicians and play together in a group effort, while at the same time greatly enhancing my guitar skills. I did not have, nor do I now, any knowledge concerning the theory of music as I cannot read notes. Through these experiences, I have learned music not by reading notes off a paper, but by playing by experience and the heart. I have recently stopped taking lessons as I feel that I can make sufficient progress by self-teaching.

               A year later, the Hillcrest drummer left to England, thus leaving us to recruit a new drummer. Conveniently, Namin, a friend of mine from ISK, played the drums as well. We picked up from where we left off for a year or so, until, conveniently enough, he too left the country.

               The following year my brother and I realized it would be too much trouble to recruit a new drummer and relearn all of the songs, thus putting us on hold. A few weeks into the new school year of 2011, Namin gave me a pleasant surprise by coming to my doorstep to tell me he was staying. Shortly after that, we deliberated about picking up the band from where we left off. We then heard about the upcoming ISK Talent Show which would take place on Friday 18^th October. The band had also participated in last year’s show, playing a 70s rock song called Rock Bottom. The song itself was a success but the judges were not fond of it as it was a guitar centered song. This is because 3 out of 5 minutes of the song were comprised of guitar soloing performed by me. Sadly not even the part where I played behind my head was enough to convince the judges, but nevertheless did win the crowd.

               We decided to get to work straight away hence recruited our old singer Cole and David as bass player. We also decided on a song: The Pretender by Foo Fighter. The genre of this song is relatively Hard Rock and requires fast playing of all the members. Having learned from my mistakes last year, this song is very all-around making it more singer-centered, thus demanding a lot of the vocals. Further collaboration proved that Cole was okay with ‘high-vocal demand’ aspect of the song. Another notable aspect is that David is by origin a guitar player, making it somewhat awkward for him to be playing bass. Nevertheless, he was more than happy to participate in our band and play the bass guitar.

               This brings us to our practices. We calculated that we had around 6 weeks till the final show. If we practiced once a week plus various times in between, we would have enough time to perfect the song. Our first practice will take place next Friday 30^th October. Since Namin no longer has his own drum kit, we have to practice in the ISK music room. I will write an entry every week of practices