"Back On The Right Track"

By now it is obvious that it's not just me that is finding our current Graded Unit work tiring, frustrating, and um...tiring, which actually makes me feel better about it. IT'S NOT JUST ME!

...so the holiday lag is completely gone, time is running out, and in the words of Charlie Sheen 'I got one gear...GO!'.


This week began in a normal fashion, bass lesson on Monday where I demonstrated a chord sequence I had put together and then played the melody I had constructed over the top. This was a very successful task in opening up my mind in 2 ways, the first; how to piece together a good chord progression, the second; how to construct a simple melodic line using different scales that fit over the chords. Both very useful skills that I require to develop further to aid me with composing and in teaching. That was closely followed by a quick chat with Marlisa Ross about my Graded Unit portfolio I am currently developing (nearly done!). The rest of the day was pretty laid back to be fair, no Creative Industries class due to people doing their mock interviews (got mine this Monday!) and Music Theory was pretty straight forward. I got my 'weekly' dose of exercise between 4pm and 5pm with my return to dance class after missing a few weeks. I rather enjoy getting to through people around and flipping them upside down!


Tuesday saw me jamming along with folk, working on putting together an original composition by The Lost Hounds very own, Amy Rayner, a quiet afternoon with no Reggae rehearsal (I can't believe it's all over!) but back in later for the typical Tuesday rehearsal with The Lost Hounds. Another new song under-way and some good work on the 2 already complete. Let's hope we can get the others finished before the Drouthy Neebors gig!

On Wednesday I once again was showing around some new faces, yet another greatly enthusiastic bunch. I'm looking forward to working with some of these guys next year, that is if their spirits aren't broken too quickly with the abundance of college work they will have to endure! I also managed to get a video recording done of myself playing one of my bass pieces for my portfolio. I will attach a link to it further down.


Thursday morning was another opportunity to get my creative juices going when in Song Writing class we had to use our time to compose an indie tune. This was pretty successful, although we never quite got it finished in the time given. I took a back seat for much of it but used my knowledge more to guide others in order to achieve that 'Indie' sound. Certainly a harder task to carry out when there are more of you unlike the previous week when we had written a Reggae song. In the afternoon I spent time rehearsing with the Funk band also playing the Drouthy Neebors gig. We simply worked our way through our set which consists of:

• Everybody Dance - Chic
• Forget Me Nots - Patrice Rushen  (better known as the theme tune from the Men In Black films)
• Too Funk To Druck - Original composition of mine
• Cut The Cake - Average White Band

Friday was quite a productive day! I got up expecting to be teaching early on but no lesson appeared...tut tut Jenny! I will get that video of you being silly posted on here at some point as my revenge. So sure enough I decided to use my time constructively and went about recording myself doing a couple more performances to be used in my portfolio. I managed to get good takes of both 'Shame' (Barlow, Williams) and 'Rewind' (Nutini) however I had to drop a few decibels from my usual singing volume as the video camera is very sensitive to it! I also spent some time on Friday writing up some more of my lesson plans. This folio of mine is starting to look great now with most of the materials being done!



And now the BIG Highlight of the Week!!!
Ok so this week has just flown by, it's that time where everything that needs to be done must get DONE and in order to keep the stress levels at bay, what better than a game of rounders! Yes, it has been a long, long time since I've taken part in a game but Wednesday changed all that. It really was top class and I'm delighted that I got the first home run. Brings back memories of a healthier me! Great game, great FUN!



So there you have it once again. Another week, another story. I could rant on this Blog forever, I've rather enjoyed doing them. Still a few more weeks to go and then my ramblings may be silenced...maybe.


Go check out my Facebook page for all the videos mentioned above @ www.facebook.com/iambobhollis