Rehearsal Journals

Rehearsal Journals

Rehearsal One

Today’s rehearsal took place in MG10, one of many rehearsal rooms in the Madley Building. The rehearsal was scheduled to begin at 10:30am and end at 1:30am, then leading into the rehearsal time supervised by Derek. Today, all five members of my band were present (Eleanor, Declan, Alex, Ally, and myself) and we decided that today we would throw around ideas we have worked on by ourselves before the knowledge of our band was put upon us. Out of this, the song “Golden Eyes” was written thanks to an old fingerstyle riff/rhythm I had created inspired by artist Jose Gonzales. The lyrics were written by Declan, a piano melody was created by Eleanor, Alex came up with an ambient guitar track to piece together the low rhythm and high piano melody, and Ally began to work up a simple drum beat that would hold the song together as it progressed and intensified, eventually leading to a crescendo and genre-switch towards a more punk-rock sound with distorted guitars, power chords, and a solo. While this is only the very beginning for our band, I firmly believe we will go very far together and am excited to see what comes in the next few weeks

Rehearsal Two

Today we returned to MG10 Madley Building, once again starting at 10:30am and concluding at 1:30pm. Ally and I arrived one hour early, and therefore began to set foundations for a new song to work on alongside “Golden Eyes”. This one, however, was a song Ally had come up with at home and was willing to share with the group. At 10:30 sharp, we were joined by Declan, Alex, and Eleanor, all of us were ready to commence adding and rehearsing “Golden Eyes”, and Ally felt confident in demonstrating her new song to the other band members despite the personal nature of the song. With this, the new song “Falling For You” was added to our band’s setlist. Not only did Ally bring attention to a new song, but so did Eleanor, with a song titled “All Yours”, a soft pop-rock style love song with lively chords and a fast-paced gentle drum beat. At this point, it was very obvious we were succeeding in melding our main genres of preference together in an incredible manner, and songs were no challenge to create as we were all on very similar wavelengths when it came to chord progressions, additional lyrics, and more. With today’s rehearsal, we once again proved that we are on track with song creation and potentially moving at a faster pace than many other bands; allowing us to have an upper hand and stress-free time outside of rehearsal sessions.

Rehearsal Three

Today was the day we finally had the chance to rehearse in the basement. After arriving alongside Ally at 9am, the remaining members of the band arrived at the usual starting time of 10:30am. Today, however, I would introduce a new song different to Golden Eyes; a song known as “Worth Our While” was written and demonstrated to the band, and it was picked up and enjoyed immediately, proving to be a more popular song than Golden Eyes originally was. Unfortunately, this would mean that Golden Eyes would (for the time being) no longer have a place on the recital setlist, replaced by this newcomer song. Aside from this, today was primarily built upon the organisation of song arrangements, suggested by Eleanor. After a quick discussion, it was decided that All Yours would open with a piano solo and Eleanor singing, followed by my chords, followed by Ally’s drumming. Falling For You would open with my guitar followed by Ally’s vocals, followed by my backup vocals, followed by Eleanor’s piano, Alex’s ambience, and Declan’s harmony. It was also decided that Worth Our While, the replacement of Golden Eyes, would be the entire band following from a time-in from Ally on the drums. At the end of this quick session and re-rehearsal of the new sound for each song, we were pleasantly surprised by Declan’s new song “Green Snake” a fast paced funk-inspired song with some extremely fun and exciting potential! Once again the band proved itself to be more than just a band, and we are all extremely excited to see where things go from here!

Rehearsal Four

Today we returned to the basement, and at the same time as usual, we began with everybody present; an almost perfect band attendance has been recorded at this moment in time! Today we sat down and had a serious talk; we need to finish introducing new songs and seriously start to hammer down on the songs that we’re doing on the recital night at Lion Arts Factory in only one week’s time. With this, a necessarily strict rehearsal session was set in motion; opening with All Yours, leading into Falling For You, followed by Worth Our While, and then the opportunity for Alex to bring in his new song as a filler for the empty space Golden Eyes had left in our setlist. While a name has not been decided for this new song, the entire arrangement was organised almost immediately, and the song was completed and up to standards with our older songs in the exact same amount of time it took to organise the arrangement. After this, we rearranged Green Snake and added in multiple dynamics, namely a slower intro and a reggae-fueled second verse and post-chorus sequence, and not forgetting an entertaining stop-section with Alex soloing over the silence we’d create.

With this, our band – now named Aether – had a full 5-song setlist ready to go and ready to burst onto stage in all its lively glory! As a band we have managed to blend together countless genres in wonderful, seamless ways, creating a Fusion Pop sound of extremely unique levels! We are incredibly proud and excited to share what we have created, and are looking forward to the future as a proper band in our free time outside of our course!