Brief:
Your school is hosting an awards ceremony for local community organisations. You have been asked to provide a 10-15 minute performance appropriate to the event.TASK 1 Planning
My statement of personal aims:Through my contribution to the event I would like to achieve the following goals: I would like to perform 4 whole songs fully playing the correct cords and doing the correct cord switches. Through this i would like to improve my confidence on the stage and within my group.
I think that I have the following skills which I will use to help me achieve these goals: Determination (I have the ability to continue trying to do something, although it is very difficult), critical thinking (I have the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement) and musical talent (I can learn music quite quick and sometimes even by ear.).
How I will know if I have achieved it:
I will know if I’ve achieved it because I will be able to perform my final performance with all the qualities above and also my group and I will have a clean performance with no mistakes. If my group can fully get through the four songs i will be happy as i believe whatever we do will be to the best of our ability and as long a we give it 100% I will happy and i believe that is all we can achieve.
How I will meet the expectations of the audience:
The brief that we have been given is quite open but as we know that the audience will not all be young we have mixed new and old songs together to create a set that hopefully everyone in the audience will enjoy.
Plan of my contribution to the performance
The requirements of the brief and how I will meet them:To complete the brief I must at least perform 4 songs. This will help us to complete the 10-15 minutes time we must perform for. We have to have quick switches between songs and also perform the correct material to create a good sounding piece of music.
What I intend to do:
For my live performance I will play bass and piano with my
group(Jenna, Bryony and Owen). We decided to put our two strongest song at the
beginning and end which was "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran and
"Wonderwall" by Oasis. This created a pattern of slow, fast, slow in
our piece which i also thought worked very well.
How I will do it:
To create the best piece possible we used all of our rehearsal time and also with the help of our teacher who helped us to pick up on any areas where we were lacking something. Also we recorded ourselves a few times then watched it back and looked where we did not sound very good. The dress rehearsal helped us with this two as it put us on a position where we had to perform in front of people and also allowed us to look back and reflect on our performance.
Who I will need to involve:
In our performance we will have to involve Jenna and Bryony who sing as a duet. Both have a very good vocal ability so should not disappoint in the performance. Also Owen on the drums who is amazing at the drums and i have done a lot of practice with his so it should sound good. I will check with my music teacher Mr Flowers, and my instrumental teacher to see if I have learnt the parts correctly and to received feedback along the way. I will also ask audience members for their feedback after the dress rehearsal and live performance.
The resources I will need:
In our group we need resources such as mic's, a bass. a piano and drums but also we need access to the internet to search for the cords and also so we can listen to the songs we are going to play so we can insure it sounds as good as possible.
The time needed for each song/activity:
To ensure that our performance is as good asp possible we need to record our songs and also perform a dress rehearsal which will put us in a environment similar to in which we will do our final performance in. This will allow us to see how we cope while performing and we can improve,
The health and safety issues for rehearsals and the performances:
The possible health and safety issues with the equipment we are using are that many if the electrical equipment is broken in the school and many wires may be breaking which can come very unsafe especially as we are not using our own equipment for most of it. Also many of the equipment is very heavy for example the amps way a tone and if one of them landed on you it could d0 some real damage. Another thing that you must be aware of when using the musical equipment is the leads as when using a lot of different equipment you have to connect them with lots of leads and sometimes these leads may become tangled. This could mean that someone could get caught in them or trip over them and hurt themselves. With the speakers and all the sound equipment you must looks out for how load they are on because if they are on too load you could burst someones ear drum. Finally with some many people in the room it could become a bit claustrophobic and also it could get a bit too full and some one may get hurt as the could fall over someone or ever fall into something trying to move around.
I can ensure that myself and others are safe during the rehearsal process by making sure that all the leads are tidy and i can use the most safe leads that are the most unbroken and use as few leads as i possibly can and also tidy them away so no one can trip over them. Also i am going to make sure that we use the biggest room we can as then it will not get full and there will be no chance that anyone will become claustrophobic or fall over anyone while in the room. Finally when carrying the heavy amps or instruments im going to make sure that the person is able to cary it and if not im going to make sure that more than one person is holding it and there is no possibility of anyone getting injured.
If we are more safe when in our group it allows us to have a much more enjoyable experience as you do not have to worry about calling over or being in a small space you can just play music and enjoy yourself. We will have to make sure that all cables are secure and all amps are not up too high to ensure the noise levels don't hurt peoples ears. Also we will have to make sure that none of the electrical items could catch fire. Finally we will have to ensure we are secure on the stage in case we fall off as that could be possible.
Citation for the above health and safety information: https://danieljamesmitchell.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2013/11/21/health-safety/
My set list:
- Ed Sheeran- Thinking out loud (with Jenna, Bryony, Jake and Owen)
- TLC-No Scrubs(with Jenna, Bryony, Jake and Owen)
- Oasis-Wonderwall (with Jenna, Bryony, Jake and Owen)
If we were performing one genre we could dress up in that genre but as its a variety i believe casual wear is suitable, as we are not performing just one genre of song i believe we should just wear casual clothes. However, as we are performing at school, it is a school requirement that we wear school uniform. I will need to make sure that I am dressed smartly in my uniform.
Ideas for the performance:
In order to make sure the whole thing runs as we wish before the set we are going to spend time practicing, also we have organised how we will individually enter the songs and also before starting we will have a sound check, once everything okay we will start the 10-15 minute piece.
In our group we need resources such as mic's, a bass. a piano and drums but also we need access to the internet to search for the cords and also so we can listen to the songs we are going to play so we can insure it sounds as good as possible. We also need a stage to perform on in front of our audience to show the professionalism of the set.
Rehearsal Schedule
Rehearsal 1: 4th JanuaryIn today's rehearsal we got given the brief. For the brief we discussed in our group of Myself, Owen, Jenna and Bryony what songs we should do so that it matches what we have been given as a brief. Owen and I both mentioned wonderwall as we have played it before and it is also a very solid song of ours. We decided that it would be best to go home and think of four songs each that we believe would be best and then next rehearsal discuss what 3/4 we will decide to include in the final performance.
Rehearsal 2: 9th January
For the rehearsal today we each came to it with 4 songs that we believed were suitable for the final performance. From this we decided that we were going to perform wonderwall which is a strong song that Owen and I can both perform together, thinking out load which is a great song to play for all of us and it allows for Jenna and Bryony to show off their voices, and our final song was No scrubs which we believe was quite an upbeat song that would be fun to perform but also fit the brief perfectly. For the rest of the lesson we performed Wonderwall as a group.
Rehearsal 3: 16th January
In today's lesson we decided to focus on the song No Scrubs. We split up and each used the internet to find out what we had to play and what would be best when performing, from this i looked up the chords on the piano and started to practice. At the end me and owen came together and started to try and put it together.
Rehearsal 4: 23rd January
This week we decided to come together as a group more and Owen and I continued to play together. We went over the song about 3 times, each time looking how to improve for the next time. Toward the end we even came together and played it once through as a whole group. This helped me to see where i could improve and also showed us how we will need to structure our performance while playing the song.
Rehearsal 5: 30th January
As we only have 2 songs learnt so far we decided it was time to move onto our third song to fill up the 10-15 minutes time period we needed. This was Thinking out Loud by Ed Sheeran . I found this song easy to learn. I looked up what i needed to play on the piano and then worked on it throughout the rehearsal before at the end finally going over the song once with Owen to see where i stand and what i should improve in time for next week,
Rehearsal 6: 6th February
As this was our final performance before our dress rehearsal we decides that it was time e came together and practiced the whole piece as a group. We did this for the whole hour and every time making improvements until it was perfect. We worked on the switches between songs and also how we were going to present ourselves on the stage.
DRESS REHEARSAL ON STAGE and rehearsal in practice room: 8th February (2 hours)
Rehearsal 8: After school / Lunchtime Rehearsal
Throughout half term I kept practicing, making sure that I knew everything I needed for when we came back after the break. This allowed me to sit down listen to the songs and really think about how i was playing in preparation for the final performance.
Rehearsal 9: After school / Lunchtime Rehearsal
In the final rehearsal before our performance we went over everything we had been doing over the past 6 weeks. We looked back at our dress rehearsal and looked where we had to improve to make sure that everything was perfect. We went over the songs over and over and made sure we weren't going to mess up when it comes to the real thing,
PERFORMANCE: WEDNESDAY 22nd February
TASK 3 Evaluation:
Strengths Reflection:
What went well during the performance:
I believe the performance went well as both Jenna and Bryony sung in tune to the song without and mess ups. Also Owen kept me in time with a solid drum beet that i could play both the piano and my bass over. I think that my part could of been improve by changing the chords to Thinking out Load in the chorus however as my first ever official performance i was very happy with how it went.
What I did well during the performance:
I forgot to change chords for the chorus in Thinking out Load but i played the verse chords because i forgot. The performance still went well. I was happy with it as although i was nervous i held it together and i believe the performance went cleanly and sounded good.
Improvement Reflection:
What could have been done better if I were to perform again:
There was some places in which I believe I could of played the cords cleared than I would of liked. As a group I i think that if we had of played more together and had more rehearsals there slight errors could of been prevented, however it still went well.
- Quicker Switches - We needed to practice more as a group as I believe we could of done more rehearsals. We could of worked on the switches between songs and could of made them quicker.
- More group practice - We needed to practice more as a group as I believe we could of done more rehearsals. We could of worked on our performance overall and make it sound even better than it did.
- Learn the Chord Changes - To do this I needed to practice them more at home. I think that if i had of done this i would of not forgotten the chord change in Thinking out loud.
Feedback from others:
- I forgot to change chord progression in Thinking out load - Change the chords for the chorus.
- Vary my chord playing style also.
- Make more eye contact and communication with the audience.
How this feedback helped with my evaluation of the performance:
I didn't realise that i should vary my chord playing style so this has helped me to improve as now when i look at my next piece I can look and the playing style and try and switch it up. I will play to backing tracks or to the original recording (as long as it is in the same key) so that I can hear if there are any chord changes. This has and will improve my musical ear. I will need to perform more to a live audience to improve my nerves and that will allow me to communicate better with the audience.
Conclusion:
From this performance i have learnt a lot about myself and how i deal with being put in a performing environment and also a lot about music and how i can improve going forward in my musical career. I believe as my first official performance it went well however there is always things to improve on so i am going to go away and make my improvements ready for the next time.
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