On 13th of may i had Paris Afshar's degree project final performance. I have been doing the rehearsals for this project for a number of weeks now and have committed a lot of time to the practices. The performance went very well and it was good experience for me as i was playing a new genre and a different band line up than i am used to. Paris was very happy with how the show went and with my performance on the night as well as my commitment to the project. Pleasing the client you are working for i vital in a performance career.

We also had the album launch for my bands album on the 1st of may. We had put in a lot effort into the night and it paid off on the night as we managed to fill the venue with a crowd of around 100-150 people. This night displayed strongly our ability to organise, promote and carry out a successful gig, and that we are all round very professionally minded musicians.

Throughout april we have been planning extensively for the album launch for my band eat dr. ape. Organizing this event involves lots of communication with various people such as the venue manager and merchandise manufactures. For the launch we want to have available 50 cd's, 100 drop cards and badges. This meant i have had to push my interpersonal skills in order to establish good communication with various people, in order to make sure we will have what we need for the night. We have also had a strong promotion push in order to make sure that a lot of people are aware of the event and to ensure that there is a good turn out on the night. This has meant that we have had utilize effectively all out promotional means such as online social networking sites, flyering and posters. Being able to market yourself or a band effectively is vital in order to succeed in the music industry as it is highly competitive and you need to make yourself known amongst the thousands of competitors. We have also be planning our set very carefully and putting in link sections between some songs to make the set flow nicely. We want the set to sound very professional so we are focussing strongly on playing the songs to a exceedingly high standard, as well as displaying a well thought out and planned performance. It is vital to plan your performance effectively as it translates to the audience that you are a very well rehearsed and professional act, and you manage to keep the attention of the audience a lot more.

i have recently been involved in doing 2 more recording's one for another perth college student and one for an aberdeen college student. The one at perth college was for Jamie Rosie and he wanted me to play on a funk track that he had written. I only got a copy of the recording the night before and the first time i listened to it was in the car on the way to do the recording. This shows my ability to quickly pick up the feel of a track and build up a mental idea of what i am going to play. When i got to the studio, jamie had decided that he wanted to change the structure about which meant i had to be organized and write down the new structure in a way that i could follow. this shows that i am very focused and professional when doing a recording and i can lay down a good drum track after having little exposure to the piece that i am playing along to. This demonstrates that i have good potential in becoming a session musician as being a session musician is all about quickly learning tunes and being able to play them to a high standard with little or no preparation. 

The second recording i did was for Grant Anderson a student at Aberdeen college. He asked me to do it after we had played together in my brothers band. I was very pleased that i got asked to do this as it shows that he thought i would be a good person to do his drum tracks after working with me on another project. A lot of session work is obtained by being asked to do other jobs by people you have previously worked with, so this shows that people see me as someone who is a good drummer and a good person to work with. In this recording Grant wanted me to do a drum track to 2 different songs. The first track i new very well as we had played it a number of times prior to the recording, but the second track was again a case of just listening to a rough recording and figuring out what i would play. The tracks where also done to a click track which was more good experience as a lot of professional sessions will be done to a click track. 

These two recording sessions that i have been involved in demonstrate strongly my ability to become a session musician as i have displayed a professional attitude, proficient playing skills and someone who is easy to work with. 

I have spent some time in the studio with my band Eat Dr Ape, recording a 7 track album. The recording process was great experience for me as the drum track where done to a click. Playing to a click is a skill that i really want to develop and excel at, as very frequently, one of the requirements of a session drummer will be the ability to play to a click very accurately. I Think i worked quite effectively playing with the click track and i was very happy with my performance on the recording. Another challenge we faced when doing the recording was making sure we didn't run out of studio time and have to rush at the end to get the tracks finished.  Being able to get your tracks done as quickly and effectively as possible is a vital quality to have in order to be a successful session musician as studio time is expensive, therefore employers want high quality takes as quickly as possible. 

I got the CD of the songs that i am going to play for Paris's degree project this week and have been listening to them to work out my drum parts. The songs are different to what i usually play and listen to so it is going to be interesting and beneficial to my playing to be involved in this project. Being a session musician means you will constantly be presented with varying music styles, but you have to be able to get into the style and feel of the genre and make the tracks sound perfect. I am also going into the studio next week with my band Eat Dr Ape to record a 7 track CD. I have been preparing for the studio by rehearsing with the band and getting the songs tight and refined. I also took note of all the tempo's of the tracks and have been practicing my parts on my own to a click, so that i am ready to play to the click in the studio. I think that it is important to prepare yourself as much as you can before entering a studio so that you don't waste anytime and get the job done as quickly as possible. Studio time is very expensive so when people are looking to employ a session musician their going to want someone who can get their track recorded to a high standard as quickly as possible.  

in my absence from my regular blog entries i have been very musically active and involved in projects, activities and gigs that have greatly developed my skills and experience in becoming a session musician. The first project i was involved in was recording a single track for Alex Mckeating, Alex wanted a demo track recorded for his new band that he was starting up so that he had material to show prospective band members. It was very valuable experience for me as it was an opportunity to be put in a very session musician like situation where by i had limited time to learn a track yet be fully ready to record it in a studio. This meant that i had to approach the situation very professionally and make sure that the few practices we had where constructive and we used the time effectively. When it came to recording the track at lofi, it was the first time i had played with the bassist as in the rehearsals it had just been me and alex. This was good for developing my interpersonal skills as i had to quickly get to know someone i was going to work with that day and make the situation feel relaxed so that we could record a good track. I imagine being a session musician will involve meeting new musicians all the time so being friendly and approachable would be vital. If u are relaxed you play a lot better so it is good to put people at ease so that everyone can play to there best ability and get the best results possible. The session was also done as a live recording, therefore the track had to be totally right all the way through as it wasn't done to a click so now drop in's or loops could be done. This meant i had to stay relaxed, focused and have faith in my abilities to give a good performance. This has given me great confidence in my playing and my skills as musician, i am very pleased with my performance on the track and Alex and his band mate are also very pleased with the sound. Being a session musician is all about pleasing the person who has employed you so i was pleased that Alex was happy with the turn out. The whole experience i found was a great opportunity for me to approach a project very professionally and develop my skills as a session musician. Also i now have a good track that i can use as evidence of me in a session that i can hopefully use to get more work.

Another event that i was involved in was a fund raising gig in the Tunnels in Aberdeen. What made this gig more challenging than usual was that i was playing in two of the bands on the line up. Not only was i playing with my usual alternative rock band Eat Dr Ape, i was also playing in my brothers project which is a folk/reggae band with an african influence. The two bands have very contrasting styles and the drums have a very different role in the two bands. This meant that i had to change my approach to my playing for the two different performances to ensure that i made the both bands sound good on the night. To be a successful session musician you need to be versatile  in the genres and styles that you can play, and adapt to the feel and the vibe of each artist that you play for. This gig was  great for me to develop these skills, so that i can be a good choice of drummer for many artists no matter what the genre. The gig was also recorded so i have evidence to show my versatility and my ability to quickly change my approach and style in a live situation.

One of the most exciting projects that i have recently been involved in was playing Carlos Nunez at Celtic Connections. I got the opportunity because i am a member of Perth College samba band Rhythm Wave. Ronnie, the band leader, had been contacted by Carlos and asked to provide a rhythm section to five of his pieces that he would be performing at the show. The tracks that we where playing where very different to anything i had ever played before and the role that i played in the performance was totally different to anything i had experienced before. The pieces were all very progressive and involved having to count bars a lot. This was new to me as i usually play very section based music which doesn't involve the need to count bars very much as you just remember were the changes are. So this experience with the need to really count and stay aware of where i was in the tune was very new to me and it really developed my skills in chart reading. Reading charts is vital to being a session musician as you can be handed a score and be expected to play the piece almost immediately, so this experience of chart reading was very valuable to me. Carlos Nunez is also a world renowned musician and was one of the main headline acts of the festival. This meant i had to be extremely professional in my approach to the project, such as showing up to all the rehearsals on time, and quickly take on board all direction given to me from Ronnie or Carlos. In my session musician career i hope to have the opportunity to play with lots of greatly respected musicians, but the only way you will get the gigs is if you can play exceedingly well and are very professional in your approach to your job. We also didn't play with the rest of the band until the sound check on the day of the performance, as in the rehearsals we were just playing to a backing track. This meant that i had to be aware of any changes that differed to the recorded track so that i still played everything correctly and produced a good sound. The final performance was in front of close to 2000 people in the Glasgow Concert Hall so i had to make sure i didn't get nervous and still approached the performance with confidence and delivered what was required of me. I found that the whole project was a great insight into the professional music performance industry and gained much valuable  experience that i can use to pursue my session musician career.