My Technical Rider

What I require for my performance:

• A dynamic microphone- with a adjustable stand
•  An XLR lead 
• PA System (a sound distribution system with a mic, amplifier and loudspeakers)
• A system on which to play musical backing tracks 

Song Selection: Musical Theatre

I am a huge fan of musical theatre and I think to work in the West End was a pretty big dream I had as a kid. I'd still like to do it now but I can never be sure if I would find work! My favourite musicals include; Cats, Wicked, The Lion King, Les Miserables. I would really like to go and watch more shows this year, I'd like to see The Book Of Mormon, Chorus Line and Matilda. I think the song for this section that I'll sing is I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables. Recently I went up to London to watch the show in the West End, I have to say I preferred Anne Hathaway s Fantine in the film version. I feel with the film Fantine you can really connect with Anne as she's singing because it's so raw and powerful., the actress in the show had a lovely voice but it wasn't raw and emotional enough for me. This is probably because most stage and musical theatre actresses have a specific voice and sometimes it's harder to produce the emotion in their voice without going off key; and there would be a lot of people in the theatre to hear you do that!I chose to sing this song because I enjoy singing it and it's a beautiful emotional song and I think it'll be a chance for me to show the more musical theatre side of my performing skills.

This is Anne's version of Fantine 'I Dreamed A Dream'

Equipment-What is a Technical Rider?

A technical rider is a document which specifies the types of equipment to be used, the staff to be provided, and various business arrangements in preparation for a performance.                                

Sound: 

• Sound system, generally described in terms such as 'a professional quality 3 or 4 way active system', frequency response  and power  are also common.
• Sound desk—it is normal for engineers to specify a list of preferred desks and also minimum requirements (such as number of channels) from other desks as a backup. Requests for recording equipment or feeds for recording are sometimes included here.
• Channel/input list—a list of the instruments being used, including preferred microphones and inserts.
• Monitor requirements—often included alongside the channel list, detailing the number of wedges and mixes required, a section similar to the front of house requirements detailing the need for monitor desk, graphic EQs and other outboard. If a monitor engineer is to be provided by the house it is generally requested here.
• If the artist brings large amounts of equipment (such as the PA system) then power requirements are likely to be stated here.

Lighting

• Depending on the size of the production this can vary between 'provide a front wash and x kW of back lighting' to specific lighting plots of equipment
• The number and type of follow spotlights to be used
• Number of lighting technicians
• Power requirements
• Truss weightings (when the lighting system is provided by the touring production.)

Back line-  This refers to the equipment the band may require, originally it was really just amplification equipment but it has expanded to the instruments like bass guitars and keyboards.

• Some bands will not transport the full back line due to the expense of transport (generally if performing only a few times in each country/area) and may have the venue provide some to all of it. Larger items like amps, cabs and drums are more likely to be requested than guitars which many musicians treat more personally.
• Risers—a riser is a raised area of stage, the size and positioning of risers for musicians (such as drummers, orchestra wind sections) are specified here.

Other

• Crew—productions typically specify the number of local crew the venue should provide as well as any technical staff.

Why are Riders important and why are some notorious? 

Van Halen requested in the technical rider that a bowl of M&Ms be provided in their dressing room with the brown ones removed. Failure to do so would not only mean that the band would not perform, but the venue would still have to pay the full fee. The objective of this wasn't due to any excesses on the part of the band, but was a method to determine how much attention to detail the crew at a local venue paid to the requests specified in the rider. Should the bowl be absent, or if brown M&Ms were present, it would give band members reason to suspect other, legitimate, technical and safety issues were also being performed poorly or were outright overlooked. David Lee Roth stated in his autobiography that this request was made as a result of faulty workmanship at a venue on an earlier tour which nearly cost the life of a member of Van Halen's road crew. He added that at one venue where he found brown M&Ms, the management's failure to read weight requirements in the rider resulted in the band's equipment sinking through the floor and causing over $80,000 of damage. Riders are very important not just for comfort or selfish issues but for health and safety issues and legal requirements. 

Dealing with issues during a performance

During any performance there is the possibility that certain issues and technical problems could occur and it is good to have an idea of how to deal with them should they happen.

Firstly there is the common issue of nerves, nearly every performer will suffer from being nervous. This can affect your performance as you will usually be very tense and this can affect your voice and it can throw your concentration and seriously affect your singing. There is no easy way to deal with being nervous but usually the best way to deal with nerves is to relax and take control of the situation and imagine yourself giving the best performance possible. It's good to be nervous because that means that you want to do well and you have lots energy to give a strong performance. You should always be prepared and have plenty of practise with what you are singing and when you feel like you can remember every little detail of the song then it's good to just leave the song and have faith that you know exactly what you are doing.

 For me, I can get very stressed about performing, but sometimes it's usually down to my lack of preparation! So one of the things that I'm working on is practising regularly an making sure I rehearse in front of a few people it prepares me for the actual performance. I usually visualise the performance going well and that helps a lot, deep breathing and gentle warming-up exercise help me to feel prepared and relaxed because it's just like being in a singing lesson and preparing to sing a song for my teacher. I really enjoy performing now and singing has become something I really enjoy doing when being in front of a large crowd, this is usually because I can't see past the stage lights so I can't see all of these people! 

Sometimes it's performing in front of a small intimate crowd of people that I get really nervous about, probably because you can hear every note and every little thing you're doing with your voice and you body language and posture. I shall be working on this because in later life if I were at an audition I would have to sing or perform in front of a small group of people and it's a very good skill to have. Another thing I have been trying to work on is my stage presence. Usually, at school concerts there isn't much need to have some kind of introduction but I think I should try and develop a way with interacting more with the audience and acknowledging them during performace. This can help as they will then be able to connect with the song and with me performing, this in turn makes my performance more successful. I do not have a problem with musical theatre as I feel a lot more comfortable when I am a different character and it's easier and makes the performance more enjoyable for me and in turn more enjoyable for the audience. I need to take this across into my singing recitals and have confidence in my performance. 

Then we have technical issues. This could range from microphones not working to feedback or to problems with levels and volume. If this was a large scale stage production then there would be many tech rehearsal to check every piece of equipment and prepare for the performance. A paper tech is when a written plan is produced by a meeting of each of the designers (lighting, sound, set and costume) and the stage manager. This process is so called because all of the technical aspects are written on paper and the stage manager then places this information into the prompt book. Another type of tech run is a dry tech. This is simply when the stage, sound, lighting and costume designers see how their plans work with one another and they can then adapt their designs. This is all done without the performers. A sound check is carried out to check the levels of the music, sound effects, or microphones used during the performance. Changes are made as necessary to correct volume, pitch, or feedback problems. Lastly, for stage shows, the fly rigs or battens are tested for weight and accuracy of cueing with sound and lights. If there are moving set pieces, the crew will test their operation and mechanics (if they are automated) and practice their movement, flow, and position on and offstage. Then a tech run is carried out either a full run or cue-to-cue which can be a tedious process where the performers have to go through each cue for lighting of sound, then a a full run this is when a complete rehearsal of the performance takes places with all of the costume, sound, , lighting, set and props. Then afterwards any last minute changes are made to the satisfaction of the director. Once the director is completely satisfied then the performance can go ahead. When a production is long-running then pick-u p tech rehearsals can take place; this is when any problematic scenes or bad moments during the performance are dealt with and rehearsed to make sure they don't happen again. Of course for my performance there is no need for any tech rehearsals or dress runs. However I will have a few rehearsals with my music teacher and my singing teacher. This is mostly to correct any problems they want to address with slight pitching, tuning, volume or diction issues. Before I do my performance I will have a quick level check and adjust the volume of the microphone and the height of the microphone stand. 

With this performance it should be relatively simple and to prepare myself I will do the correct warm-ups and preparations. 

Song selection: Soul

"People Get Ready" was a 1965 single by The Impressions, and the title track from the album of the same name. The single is today the group's best-known hit, reaching number-three on the Billboard R&B Chart and number 14 on the Billboard Pop Chart. The gospel-influenced track was a Curtis Mayfield composition, and displayed the growing sense of social and political awareness in his writing.
The version that I will be singing is by Eva Cassidy. 

Song Selection: Pop/ R&B

For this genre I have chosen to sing 'Clown' by Emeli Sandé. The song was written by Sandé, Shahid Khan, Grant Mitchell and produced by Khan under his production name of Naughty Boy. The story of the song talks about Sandé's first experiences in the music industry, mainly reflecting her search to get signed by a music company and the encounters with several music business people in the industry. Commenting on the song, Sandé said: “It’s about how I felt when I was trying to get signed, I was going for all these meetings and people were looking at me like ‘What do we do with you’? It’s about not allowing yourself to be judged by others or to be taken for an idiot. I feel the video reflects that.”

Singing Lessons: Working On A Song

During singing lessons after a warm up we move onto to working on a song, sometimes I will come to the lesson with a song in my mind that I want to work on or usually my teacher will choose a song for me to do. My first singing teacher that I worked with shared a lot of my music taste and we worked on lots of folk and country songs as well as some more popular songs. Another teacher I worked with got me to do a lot of different style songs so as to have a more diverse collection of work. I have to say I wasn't very comfortable with some genres for example, RnB really isn't my style! I understand why I have to try and sing more genres of song but to be honest I'm not very comfortable with some styles. Some genres I have found interesting are country; in particular bluegrass, rock, punk, and classical singing.

Firstly if I know the song I'm singing then me and my teacher will usual sing along to the original, and if I don't know the song then I'll listen to it and pickup the melody and the lyrics. Then my teacher uses a backing track and I'll run through the song a few times with them listening and then they'll give me notes and things to work on and improve. If we have the lyrics or sheet music then often my teacher will write notes on it like places to breathe and certain dynamics. Then I'll run through it several times, each time concentrating on different aspects of the song, like breathing or annunciation.

My teacher will sometimes record the song so before the next lesson I can listen to it and then practise in my spare time until the next lesson. I've done quite a few concerts and sung solos in them so, if I have one coming up I'll work on that song and my teacher will critique things more to do with performance, for example gestures and posture, or annunciation and microphone work.

 One of the first songs I ever worked on with a teacher was called 'eet' by Regina Spektor, she still has a recording of it, then on my last lesson with her we sang it together, I could really see how much I had improved on those two years and there was a huge difference. You could tell how my breathing had improved, I have a very unique tone to my voice according to my teacher and it has developed very nicely and it means I can make songs my own because my voice is different.

'A Case Of You'

 This is the studio recording version of A Case of You, it will be one of the songs that I will sing for my solo performance. It was released on the album 'Blue'.

 
This is a live version of Joni Mitchell singing A Case Of You in London for the BBC, this was recorded live in 1974. I love this version because it varies so greatly from the studio recording. You can hear the passion and spirit in her voice, and you see and hear how she emotes whilst singing. I believe it is a great skill to feel and portray the emotions of whatever song you're singing.

Song Selection: Folk

The song I will begin working on first is A Case of You by Joni Mitchell.
Joni Mitchell:
Joni Mitchell is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. She began her career singing in small nightclubs in Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto. 
 In 1965 she moved to the United States and, touring constantly, began to be recognised when her original songs ("Urge for Going," "Chelsea Morning," "Both Sides, Now," "The Circle Game") were covered by notable folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her own debut album in 1968. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell, with popular songs like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock", helped define an era and a generation. Her more starkly personal 1971 recording Blue has been called one of the best albums ever made.Blue is one of my favourite albums. It is certainly one of my favourite folk albums.  Musically restless, Mitchell switched labels and began moving toward jazz rhythms by way of lush pop textures on 1974's Court and Spark, her best-selling LP, featuring her radio hits "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris."

Popular Songs: Big Yellow Taxi, Woodstock, Blue, River, Carey
My Favourite Songs: A Case of You, California, Big Yellow Taxi  Instruments: Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Dulcimer (or mountain dulcimer) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. Its origins are in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic), Ukulele, Auto-harp

Joni Mitchell recorded "A Case of You" in 1971, during her early folk period. The song was first released on the 1971 album Blue with Mitchell playing Appalachian dulcimer, accompanied by James Taylor on acoustic guitar. The recent release of the live album Amchitka - the 1970 concert that launched Greenpeace shows that the song was written earlier than 1971 as Mitchell performs a live version of "A Case of You" at the concert. The line "I am as constant as a northern star" is a quotation from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. I think it is one of my favourite lines from the song along with the second verse "Oh I am a lonely painter, I live in a box of paints. I'm frightened by the devil And I'm drawn to those one that ain't afraid. I remember that time you told me, you said love is touching souls, surely you touched mine because part of you pours out of me in these lines from time to time". I love this verse and the northern star line because I relate it to my relationship with my best friend. I think the reason I chose this song is because it reminds me of my best friend and in some way I think I could sing it to him. 

I will really enjoy singing this song and I hope I can convey my love for this genre and this artist through my performance. 

Exercises- A typical singing lesson: Warm-ups

This is the structure of a extended singing lesson that I would have, usually in one half-hour lesson I wouldn't necessarily do all of these technical exercises but it gives you an idea of what I do during them;


Gentle physical warm-ups:

• If I were a bit cold maybe just a bit of jumping about would loosen me up and warm me up. As well as warming your voice up , being physically warm is essential  as it  helps to maintain the correct posture which is vital for getting the best result from your voice.
• I'd swing my arms about and roll my shoulders this gets rid of any tension in the upper back or the shoulders which can cause you to tense up whist signing which can sometimes cause a strained sound. 
• Then I would warm-up my facial muscles, for example a chewing action stretches the cheeks and the lips. I would stretch and relax my mouth into different shapes which warms up all the muscles in the face It is important to also stretch the tongue as well, this really helps with annunciation and helps you to pronounce everything clearly and this aids for a better performance. 
• Also, when singing it is important to ensure you are opening your mouth as wide as possible and also making sure that you smile or shape your mouth correctly. This produces a much lighter sound and it improves the look of your mouth when you sing. Also, a smile adds to your stage performance. 

Breathing exercises:

• Breathing is one of the fundamental skills in singing. If you do not have correct control over your breathing it can completely ruin a performance and every professional singer will have learnt how to control their breathing and learnt to breathe correctly. 
• To practice proper breathing you must first learn to breathe with your diaphragm. Breathing technique is to fill your lungs and expand into your stomach and expand your diaphragm not your chest and shoulders. This enable you to take longer breaths and to also support the notes when you sing especially when attempting very high notes and this allows you to not strain your voice. 
• Correct posture should be maintained to allow the diaphragm to expand properly and this also enables you to expand more of your lungs when your back is straight and your shoulders are back and relaxed. 
• When I first began singing lessons I would often find it difficult to breathe this way but you soon learn and it becomes natural. However, sometimes I do have to remind myself to hold correct posture. I notice a great difference between when I slouch and when I stand straight. 
• An exercise that I do for breathing is to breathe in for four counts, then hold the breath for four making sure that my shoulders are relaxed then breathe out for four counts and hold for four. Then I would repeat the process but with five counts, then six, seven and in my singing lessons I have manage to expand my time to 10 counts. The purpose of this exercise is to build up the amount of breath you can take in and the length of time you can hold your breath.  

Vocal warm-ups:

• Firstly I would do a few lip trills and some sirens (going from one note up the octave and back down with various noises) this warms up the lips and also the voice. 
• I would sing a few scales with different noises sounds. One sound would be a 'gug' sound to stretch and warm up the soft palate. Then other sounds such as 'may' or 'mi' to work the different muscles of the mouth and voice. 
• My teacher would play a small melody then would get me to repeat it to her, we would work up piano  and back down and this allows me to work on my range. 
• One exercise my teacher has me do is to make a whiny sound right at the front of my mouth and nose and then siren it up an octave. This nasal sound works the muscles and then relaxes them so I don't produce a nasal sound when I sing. 
• Then we would practice some intervals. This is when you sing the third or the fifth above the note played. Then my teacher would play two notes and I would have to tell her which note was the root note. Then some scales using the intervals. This all helps with some of the theory aspects of singing. 
• When I was taking a singing exam one of the exercises was a rhythm exercise. There was a few lines of lyrics and they would have to be sung the exact way the rhythm was set out. 

There are many way to warm-up and if I were singing a song that was particularly high or very low then we would do exercise working on the high end of my range and the low end too.

Song Selection

As the four pieces have to be of a different genre I have selected a few genres that I would feel comfortable singing. However I have also chosen some genres that will help my to improve and extend my skills but taking me out of singing the same styles of songs that I suit and are comfortable singing.

Genres:

• Folk; I listen to quite a bit of folk music and some artists I would select songs from would be Joni Mitchell, Kate Rusby and Eva Cassidy. Recently I have listened to songs of a Bluegrass style, it would be interesting to learn a song in this style but recreating the backing music or finding a track to accompany me would be problematic. 
• Musical Theatre; I love musicals and I find the mixture of singing whilst acting very enjoyable. Some of my favourite musicals that I would possibly sing a song from would be; Wicked, Les Miserables, Fame and Funny Girl.
• Pop; this is such a wide genre and I think I would edge more towards the alternative end of pop with artists such as Kate Nash or Gabrielle Aplin. Adele has several songs that I think would certainly work and push the strength I need in my voice and these songs would be more soul pop.  Other soul artists to select a song from would possibly be John Legend, Alicia Keys or Bruno Mars.
• Rock; I love classic rock and one of my favourite bands are Led Zeppelin. It would certainly be a challenge to sing a Led Zep song to the standard I would deem appropriate for performance but I  wouldn't  rule it out. Other bands I would consider maybe singing my own versions of their songs would be Nirvana, Biffy Clyro, Aerosmith and Fleetwood Mac. 
• Alternative/Punk Rock; I am a fan of bands such as Blink-182, Muse, Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Twin Atlantic and Hellogoodbye. Even though I enjoy singing along to songs of this genre I'm not sure if my voice is necessarily equipped to sing songs that are mostly sung by men. However it would be interesting to try and adapt some songs. 

As I'm very indecisive it may be quite a hard decision to choose  four different songs!

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to support and evidence my work towards part of my Extended Certificate in Music course. One of the Units in my study is Solo Musical Performance. One of the specifications is that I evidence my preparations and all of the practice I put in, so I have created this blog to support my work.

I am a singer and for my solo musical performance I have to sing four pieces of a differing genre. I also have to prepare by selecting my songs with my singing teacher and my music teacher. Through this blog I will be demonstrating how practice and preparation has improved my technique.