January 2008

Hi, everyone!

I hope you all had a great fantastic time during these Holidays!
I wish u all your dreams come true in 2008!!!

Of course! I had a great time with my new friends in London! New Year’’ day started with preparation of Japanese food, sushi etc, which was supposed to be made by one of my room mates and me. We did it just perfect! I’m not gonna describe all the ingredients we used and even the mysterious process of preparation, just wanted to make a note, if you are far from your family and friends, how important for a person to find someone to be with on these special days, who can make you feel warm, who cares about what you’re saying, to have fun with, to joke, say stupid things, laugh and later on not remembering why you were laughing so long.

I also practiced a lot preparing myself for the next (2-nd) showcase. It was a hard period for me, because I was far away from my family and people I love back home. Private life is one of the toughest moments when you’ŗe away for a long time, especially if you’re away from the man u love on Holidays. On Christmas I felt sick and was forced to stay at home till the New Year evening. But…how my good friend said “we’ve got friends to show you that there are two sides to everything, you can look at everything in more than one or two ways… Every situation has 2 sides.”

The 2-nd side of this situation wasn’t so bad, I was Networking, made some important researches, had chat with my friends via the Internet and finally went to London Central on the New Year eve! Which was not really a very good idea (those, who’s experienced that before understands what am talking aboutJ) coz it was veeery hard to get through the crowd. To watch exactly on the Parliament Square next to Big Ben’s was just impossible!  So we watched it from a distance. That moment was beautiful (but I miss my country’s views-Riga-my small Paris) It was raining and girls(!) NEVER WEAR HIGH HEELS on that night! Real Londoners know it already as I’ve noticed: they prefer flat shoes or boots and feel fine n comfortable with that. Also to get back home took us around 5 hours!
It was a big challenge to leave Latvia, where people know my name, my music, my personality and they know what I can provide them through the performance, session work or vocal coaching. UK is a completely new area for me it has a mix of different cultures which affects and creates specific individual musical directions, it has very high level standards in every area of music industry. There are a lot of opportunities, doors to knock on, you just need to be ready if “the right person” will open one of them.
Networking is a very significant part in music business nowadays. It eats plenty of time, but that keeps u upgraded in many aspects of musician’s life.

I have finished a Blues/Rock term (10 weeks!) and the highlight of it was our 2-nd showcase. I worked a lot, did my first live arrangement with the band, inspiring from different bands’ live performances. Created a special rock image, planned my own performance and went crazy on stage. Repertoire:

Here are some quotes of two different tutors from my assessment:

1-st.”Excellent use of the stage! Overall, excellent vibe-dramatic, energetic + interesting....”
2-nd.”Vocally you are very strong and stylish but I feel your performance was sometimes very over the top...”
 1-st.”Overall, damn fine set. Very entertaining and+ memorable with a high technical standard...”
2-nd.”Remember, you need to perform appropriately for the venue, size of the stage ...you sometimes took the attention away from the fact that you actually are a very good singer.”
The very honest and stringent judge for4 me is myself. I watched the video and my verdict is following:
Arrangement: I did a great job with talented musicians and singers, it really worked well
Visual: Image was appropriate for a song choice and music style
Stage tech.: 1) overall, my planning worked well, just need to be more grounded on high sustained notes and while belting 2) communication with the band was much better compared with the 1st showcase, but I agree with my tutors I could use a few moments more to involve a band in a process during the performance
Vocal control: I gave my best! Head voice didn’t wanna work at the beginning, but in general, it’s not my style of music, I used different technique: belting, mixed voice even distortion, different on-sets, off-sets, cry, vibrato and licks appropriate to the style etc, and I think I got the understanding of it.

William, thank you, you’ve noticed the work that stood behind all this, you commented my particular ideas in detail, I’m very grateful for that, that stimulates very much (of course I need to work harder U know I will, Wil)

Simon-I respect you opinion. I’ll bare in mind what you wrote to me for the next showcase and...I love u anyway.

Those of you guys who were there could have your own opinion about that, but I’ll never forget the energy and support U gave me back on that evening. Peace.
God Bless U All
Nicol  xxx
P/s        Next time I’m gonna write about:
1.Karen Grace and other tutor’s private lessons
2.Jobs for musicians in UK!!!