Singing/Vocals Class. October 16, 2009

Our early report cards have recently been sent in the mail and I recieved mine yesterday.

The math teacher gave me all E’s (which is odd because I’m not so sure I’m doing that Excellently)

The science teacher gave me all G’s (I think I’m doing FAR better in science than math, but I honestly wouldn’t know because we have not had any assignments in which we’ve recieved marks for. Science is just more interesting to me.)

The civics teacher left it blank (? I don’t know but she said without all those homework assignments I never handed in, I am currently standing at an 88% in the class, which is also tied for the highest mark in the class. The class average is 59%)

And in vocals I had all S’s (for ’satisfactory’. I find this extraordinarily insulting, considering how brave I’ve been!)

Anywho, I have been given singing parts for these three songs:

[Come Together - The Beatles]

I’m supposed to sing backup for the last three (out of four) verses for this song.

Today the other backup singers were away because they had some sort of sports tournament. So it was only me and the lead singer, and I think she was a little surprised that I remembered what parts I was supposed to sing.
You see, last time I kept loosing my spot and singing the wrong parts because I’d forgotten about the last-three-verses thing and, plus, we were sharing one sheet of lyrics among 4 of us. (One lead singer, 3 backups) They’d turned the music stand so I could not see.

Anyway, the teacher had one girl print out copies for all of us, so I had my own to look at. It gave me a little more isolation and confidence for some reason, knowing I could not at all do worse than I had the last time. So that confidence must’ve shown and I feel proud and honest in saying that I am getting better. Better with confidence, I mean. I know I’m a good singer.

[Where it's at - Beck]

I only get to sing “Where it’s at/ I’ve got 2 turntables and a microphone” which is great with me, since it’s all I know. Plus, I’m not at all fond of rap.

[Notion - Kings of Leon]

I only sing “Don’t rock it”. Or is it ‘Don’t lock it’? (‘Don’t knock it’?) I don’t know, nobody gave me any lyrics. I’ll figure it out eventually.

These are songs on the list I wanted to sing:

[Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen]

Because I love Queen, (in 8th grade, my class went to the Queen Musical on a school trip, and it was AWESOMAZING.) and the song sounds really cool and it’s fun to sing!

[All these things - The Killers]

Because I do have soul, and I am not a soldier.
This song makes me feel empowered!

[I will survive - Cake]

I tried for a solo on this one, but started spacing out before the chorus and never finished the song.
Whatever. I was still brave, and I bet that if I could try for it one more time, I’d get it! But the girl with the solo now deserves it. So maybe I’ll try next year if I take vocals again and this song’s on the list.

These are some other songs on the list I wouldn’t have minded singing:

[Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder/The Red Hot Chilli Peppers]

[Times like these - the Foo Fighters]

[Wake up - Arcade Fire]

This song was in the “Where the Wild Things are” trailer!

[Spiderwebs - No Doubt]

These are a couple of songs that weren’t on the list that I wanted to sing:

[Don't stop believin' - Journey]

[Old School - Hedley]

[No sleep tonight - The Faders]

[Somebody to Love - Queen]

[Runaway - Avril Lavigne]

Anyway, sorry if I’m boring you, but thanks for reading this far.

Nothing overly-philosophical today, I guess. I have some more philosophical stuff about vocals class, but it would involve talking about one of my friends and it’s rather personal and I do not have her permission to write about her yet, and I still have to verify her code name with her.

(Listening to Lillix)

Your blogger/singer,

Alex Violet!

How do they do it? October 10, 2009

This song is by a girl named Valerie: toiltpprprdctns on YouTube. It’s incredibly catchy and a good happy-dance song.

WARNING: This is going to be one of those really long and thought-provoking entries that I go off rambling quite a bit in. My English teacher last year said I should learn to centre my thoughts a bit better. So click ‘more’ if you’re really up for reading it all.

Palace of Mirrors Continued… June 22, 2009

FINISHED IT! About maybe 20 minutes ago I finished reading Palace of Mirrors and I’ve got to tell you, I LOVED IT. It’s officially my new favourite book!!! It has EVERYTHING- secrets, royalty, letters from beyond the grave, and a kiss.

SPOILERS! READ ON IF YOU DARE!

Okay, so there’s this peasant girl, Cecilia, who’s been raised knowing that she’s the real princess, and that the girl who’s on the throne now (Desmia is her name) is a decoy, there to distract the people who had murdered Cecilia’s parents a little after her birth.
So yeah, and then there’s this guy who’s been best friends with Cecilia like, her whole life (Oh my goodness I almost just typed life like lie) and his name is Harper, and his “mam” (that’s how the author spells mom/mum in the book) named him that because she really wants him to be a Harp-player since they’ll not send musicians off to this war that the country’s going through. (Harper’s father died in the war) BUT Harper really wants to be a soldier.
ANYWAY so Cecilia has this secret crush on this guy, but she never says it straight out. She keeps it secret.

SPOILERS OVER.

Sorry I have to go now. I’ll explain more of it in the Radical Reviews later. But it’s my FAVOURITE book. Oh, and plus Harper doesn’t know she’s a princess. Yet. Okay, NOW the spoilers are over…

Bye,
Sincerely,
Alex Violet.