Journal


 * 10/9/10- Band practice to get ready for the performance at the bonfire. I practiced with my band at my house. We worked on all of our songs and keeping them mellow. Also worked on some acoustic songs to add to our set list. 12 p.m.-5 p.m.
 * 10/10/10- My neighbor plays in a band and regularly does performances at restaurants and other places, so i went and talked to with him to try and get advice for setting up for performances. I got a lot of information about sound and transition between songs. 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
 * 10/13/10- I had band practice from 5p.m.-9p.m. We went over what we were going to do for the bonfire and we also put a set list together with 9+ songs on it.
 * 10/15/10- Today is the day of the performance at the bonfire. I went home right away and met my band members at my house to go over some songs to make sure we had them down. 3 p.m.-4:45 p.m.
 * 10/15/10- After band practice we loaded everything into two cars. We loaded up the drum set and three acoustic guitars in my car, and the PA system in another car. 4:45 p.m.-5:45 p.m.
 * 10/15/10- Once we got everything loaded up we headed to the school to set up. Once we got there we set up the PA system for the pep band to use. Since the pep band went on before us we went through one of the songs that we did not have down that well. After about 15 minutes of practicing the song we were good to go and all we had to do was wait for the pep band to finish so we could set up the rest of our equipment. 6 p.m-7:50 p.m.
 * 10/15/10- Once the pep band was done we had to rush to set everything else up because we only had about 45 minutes left until everyone had to leave. Everything was going fine until something was wrong with our amps. We then figured out what was wrong and fixed it right away but it cost us some time and we had about 30 minutes of playing time left. So I told everyone we had to start right away, and we did. 7:50 p.m.-8:20 p.m.
 * 10/15/10- Everything was set up and we started playing with me on the drums. After three songs I switched to acoustic guitar so all of us were playing the guitar. Our last couple of songs were familiar to the crowd so they started to sing along with us which was really cool. After we played all our songs we had to pack everything up again and head home. Over all it was a pretty good performance. 8:10 p.m.-10:30 p.m.
 * 10/30/10 to 12/19/10- I went to my music lessons to keep up on my guitar and drum skills. I learn from my teachers for half an hour each building my skills up so that i can hopefully play at another show. 3:20 p.m.-4:20 p.m. (for 10 days)

28 hours so far.

Reflection: For my project, my band and I played at the homecoming bonfire. The goal that i set was to have a successful show, be prepared and have no mess-ups. By being prepared and having few mess-ups, me and my band got together a few times before the bonfire to practice and go over the songs we were going to play. We also had to have everything ready the night before so we would not have to rush. Everything went good, we were prepared and ready to go but there were still some mess-ups which was OK because they were not big. Some things I learned from my topic are that music can effect the brain when being played which allows it to take in more information when studying. There are also many other facts that I did not know. Some things that I have learned about myself are that I can get people together to make something worthwhile. For example I got my band together to practice for the show at the bonfire. These skills will help me later on in life when I get another gig or performance somewhere. With the new skills I can get better performances by showing people what I am good at.