Practice Plans

Song 1: Sparrow, piano piece	Phase 1: Warm up with scales and arpeggios, listen to song all way through, play through song half-way through	Duration:   10-15 minutes
	Phase 2: Go back to parts I struggle with and go over them multiple times, record these parts and identify what is the problem, practice what I hear is the problem	20-25 minutes
	Phase 3: Play song half-way through and record when confident, listen back and identify further problem areas and make notes	5-10 minutes

 

Song 2: My Favourite Things—Jazz Arrangement	Phase 1: Listen to song, print out lyrics and sing through with backing track, work with accompanist and find tabs for guitar for a jazz arrangement	Duration:   10 minutes
	Phase 2: Go though song and record and identify problem areas, work on them until confident	20 minutes
	Phase 3: Record and go through whole song, record and make note of further problem areas	5-10 minutes

Song Choices--Choosing Repertoire

For my performance on the bridge, I have chosen to do these two songs:

• 'Sparrow' by Miika 153--Original Version
• 'My Favourite Things' Words by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers--Jazz arrangement

The reason I have chosen 'Sparrow' is because it is a challenge and not normally something I would play. There are big leaps in the right hand and some of the syncopation is difficult, for example at 0:37. There are certain parts within the song that I will have to practice more than others, as they are more difficult and technically challenging. I can do this by listening to the song and making sure that I know it inside out. In addition to this, the tempo changes throughout the song because it is not played with a metronome, so I will have to learn to play along with the song to make sure I get the tempo right, an example is at 0:51.

I have chosen this piano piece over others because I felt like I wanted to be able to play it and I felt emotionally attached to it. When I first heard, I cried because it is a beautiful piano piece and something I aspire to play.

The reason I have chosen 'My Favourite Things' is because it is out of my comfort zone and something I would have never thought of singing. I will have to practice breathing in the right places and my diction as the song is very well pronounced. Because I have chosen to do a jazz arrangement of it, it will be a challenge as I have never sung the genre of jazz before and will have to learn the style of it. I will need to listen the whole song and learn the words and make sure I know it very well so I can adapt to singing it in the style of jazz. I will have to think about my stage presence as it is an important part of my performance. I should watch some performances of this song and try and apply this to my performance.

I have chosen this piece over others because I really like the song and want to perform it. This song amongst others stood out because I don't normally like songs in musicals but this one I do.

Introduction

I have been askedto record my progress and practice towards a performance taking place in March. These are some of the things I have to think about:

Repertoire:
My repertoire is mainly made up of chords to mordern songs. I get chords off the internet and learn a song I want to know. I also know some classical compositions on piano and I make up my own compositions.
I mainly sing pop and alternative rock, so to expand my repertoire I could try different genres I would have never done before. For example: country and/or indie.

Planning a step by step practice schedule:
Because I am thinking of doing a piano piece and to sing, I have to first look for what songs I am going to perform. To do this, for my piano piece I can look through my piano books and choose one. I have to also do this for a song I am going to sing, but maybe look through the UK Top 40 charts and browse on Youtube to find a song I like and want to perform. When I have chosen my pieces, I must listen to them and learn them. For the song I choose to sing, I could find an instrumental version on Youtube with lyrics and sing along to make sure I know it. For the piece I am going to play, I could go through right hand and left hand separately and play with both hanmds when I feel confident.
Once I have listened and recognise the song and piano piece off-by-heart, I must start practicing it without the audio to help me. But before practicing my song, I should warm up my voice and do some vocal exercises. I could also do this on piano by doing scales and arpeggios.
After this, I should practice my piece. I should go through the whole piece and see where I am struggling and what I find difficult. I should go back to places I find difficult and practice olny those bits, then try and run through the whole piece and see if it has worked.

Technique, posture and physical aspects of playing/singing:
The techniques I need to think about when playing/singing are things like:

• breath control--breathing in the right places
• posture--having relaxed muscles when singing and sitting up with my back straight when playing
• voice placement
• diction--pronoucing words properly
• chest or head voice
• characterization
• moving whilst singing
• tuning
• emotional engagement
• learning a new style of music or song

Confidence, stage presentation and psychological aspects of singing/playing:
Another thing I need to think about is my confidence when performing. When I perform, I get quite nervous and I start to shake. This can affect my piano playing as my hands shake and I might end up playing a wrong note. To build my confidence, I could perform in front of my family and friends. Also, making sure I know the song inside-out will build my confidence.
When thinking about stage presentation, I could look back at other performances I've done and see what I need to improve when presenting myself. If I have an accompanist, I should use my performing space and move around instead of just standing still.
For psychological aspects, I shouldn't tell myself 'I can't do this' or 'I don't like this bit', I should think positively like 'I can do this', so I won't make a mistake.

Particular problems and how you have addressed them:
When I come across some problems, if it is a piano piece, I could work on the problems with my piano teacher and work on them until they get better. When singing, there could be a note I can't reach, so I could do some vocal exercises to improve my vocal range and be able to reach the note.

Working with an accompanist:
If I choose to work with an accompanist, I'd have to choose someone I get on with and trust to perform well. Also, I would have to make a practice schedule that would suit both of us, so we would have to agree on what's best for both of us.