Wheatbelt


Kevin Gillam 


Kevin is a Western Australian conductor , cellist and music educator. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music in performance on cello. He then worked in the WA Symphony and Arts Orchestra. Kevin has also had two books of poems published, in 2003 and 2007. 




Iain Grandage 


Iain is a composer of Scores for Theater, Dance and Concert Hall. He is in residence with the Young Orchestras of Australia. In 1996 and 1998 Iain was a musical director and arranger for the National Tours of Jimmy Chi's multi award winning Corrugation Road. 




Words I don't know 


Balustrade ~ a railing at the side of a stair case or balcony to prevent people from falling 
Tuarts ~ a type of eucalyptus tree that is native to the Southwest of Western Australia 
Torso ~ the truck of a human body 


What I see when I read Wheatbelt 


When I read this poem I picture an old rusty house with a wooden deck chair rocking back and forth on the Veranda as the wind blows and the leaves fly around. I see a bright blue sky, and feel the heat of the hot sun on my face. It glares into my eyes as I'm looking up at the galahs and hear them screetching amoung the trees above me. The sound of loud engines grabs my attention as a turn my head to see old rust trucks driving of in the distance. 

WEEKEND BLOGGING TASK 
One of the recital pieces I have chosen is song from Burlesque called "bound to you". It is from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Christina Aguilera . The track was recorded by Christina in 2009 and was released on November 19th 2010. The genre of bound to you can be classified as R&B, soul, jazz,blues or pop.  Bound to you also won a Golden Globe award for the "Best Original Song" along with her other song "You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me"

Version 1 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovTP3e_pYHA&feature=fvwrel

The fist recording of bound to yous to  I have chosen is the original version by Christina Aguilera. The tone of Christians voice starts of fairly piano and then begins to crescendo as it enters the chorus. The tempo of this song is fairly slow but builds up as the dynamics of her voice become fortissimo. Christians voice flows as the tone changes from pianissimo to forte. I found that Christina was really good at back phrasing especially at the start of the piece , she did it perfectly. 


Version 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jUKtlr4-uY

The second recording I have chosen is actually a cover piece by a young girl named Sabrina Carpenter. Throughout the piece Sabrina would break, this really changed up the song as she was constantly swapping from her chest to head voice. Most of the notes Sabrina sung in this piece were belted out in a fortissimo tone which really took me on the edge of my seat. She hit every single pianissimo note perfectly.


Which do I prefer?


It was defiantly hard to pick which version of bound to you i prefered because although they may sound so simular once i listened to them over and over they are both very different. Although I liked both, in the end Christians version was the one that really appealed to me. The way she blends her tones made the piece flow. The swapping from her head to her chest voice as the song diminuendo or crescendo was done perfectly and was very effective along with the dynamics and tempo of the piece. Sabrina's version was also good I just didn't like her use of fortissimo notes but other then that I really enjoyed it :)

During this week I did stick to my practice routine, I do have to modify my timetable a little bit though because I have realized I have some changes in my out of school curricular activities. My short term goal was to pick all my songs for the recital which i did manage to do with my singing teacher on Tuesday. :)

Hey!

During the holidays I consciously remembered to do my holiday homework. However, while I was away on holidays and during the Christmas and New years period I did forgot to practice. My goals weren't very realistic because once I got into holiday mode I started slacking off a bit,but the weeks leading up to school I made up the time and practiced how I had planned to which was for 45 minutes to an  hour 5 times per week . I also managed to organize a half an hour lesson with my singing teacher before I returned to school were she helped me revise and practice some of my holiday homework and also started organizing some of my songs for our assessment . Over all I think the time and effort I put into my music homework did benefit because I was less stressed coming back to school and knew i would be fine with the assessment for our flashcards and scales, but I do believe I could of spent more time practicing my scales :)

My Holiday Practice Routine,

Over the holidays my aim is to choose my songs for our first recital of the year, once I have chosen the songs I plan to pracitce them for an hour, 5 times per week. I will start by singing through my scales that my teacher and I have decided on that will help me with the songs im doing. I will then read through the lyrics of my song in order to warm up my brain and get a feel of what its going to sound like, I will follow that with listening to the peice of music a few times over so I grasp the melody of it.

I will then sing though my songs with a Metronome in order to keeep in time with the beat otherwise I'll never know exactly what pitch to start at. I will make sure I always have a keyboard around me just to make sure i stay in the right pitch.

My strategies for practicing my recital pieces will be to to sing my songs through line by line untill I have a feel and idea of the song. Once I have achieved that and gone over it a few times I will then sing through the piece agian but in a bigger section, I will sing it through verse by verse, if i feel that I am having trouble with any sections for the song I will take a break, come back and sing through the song slowly. Once I feel comfortable with the song I will then start practicing it from start to finnish

Hey , 

I practice best when Im relaxed and foccussed. I usually practice after school or even after dinnner, they are the times I usually have free and when my sister is around to give me tips because she is always honest! I try to practice in blocks of about 20 minutes because I loose consentration easily. I practice mostely in my room but sometimes in the lounge room depending on how I feel, I always have a drink a bottle on my bed side table because i tend to get a dry throguht when singing regulary. My practice tecniques are really simple, I just sing through my song line by line until i feel comfortable with what it sounds like.

Hey! I'm sha sha , a singer in year 11 at a school in Melbourne. I have been singing in school chiors since a young age, and performing in school productions throughout my schooling years. I have singing lessons once a week for half and hour where I practice the songs I have chose to learn. During the rest of the week I try to squeeze in time everyday to go over what I had been working on. I am motivated by fear, I like to be organised and know that I am 100% sure that I know exactly what is required of me.