Evaluation of performance

Our class performed a gig at college at the end of January. Although there were a few setbacks, I'd say the overall performance was a success. The audience seemed to enjoy the show and I noticed a few people bobbing their heads and others dancing during a few songs. This must mean that it appealed to at least some people.

We managed to fill most of the seats in the theatre but if we'd began promoting the event earlier we might've been able to reach the capacity limit. The Facebook event page was probably the most effective method of promotion we used. It allowed us to invite as many people as we wanted and allowed us to post details about the show. The only obvious flaw is the fact that we don't know everybody at college so not everyone will have seen it. I think the poster we used would've worked much better if we'd printed it in colour to make it more eye-catching. Also, if we'd printed more of them to stick up round college it would've worked better. To maximise the amount of people attending it might've also been useful to print out flyers.

During my band's performance I made a lot of mistakes. It could've been due to the fact it was a completely different atmosphere than I was used to and I felt under pressure to perform well for the band. Either way I would've definitely benefited from more rehearsals. To get each section of each song down to muscle memory would've also meant I could focus more on how I played each note rather than just trying to play each pitch correctly.

Although I heard some good feedback from members of the audience about our song, "Feeling OK," I still regard this as my least favourite out of the five we performed. I don't think I put enough time into adapting my guitar parts. During rehearsals I began by improvising melodies just to keep the structure together whilst we learnt it. Although this seemed to work for the audience, I think I could've made it better if I'd actually thought about the melody and fitted it to the drums and bass.

The equipment we used was different to what we used in most of our rehearsals. I used a much better sounding amp in the performance which was handy. However I couldn't seem to control the volume levels appropriately in the performance because I wasn't used to the amp and footswitch combination. The initial distortion volume level was set for a different band as well and because our band were on first, it was barely audible when I switched. This made me hesitant to touch the footswitch when it wasn't essential which was detrimental to the overall sound. Despite all of this, I am sure that this amplifier increased the sound quality of the guitar compared to the one I was originally going to use. I would've also benefited from the use of a boost pedal.

In regards to the creative side of our music, I think there was a lot of room for improvement. In my composition, "Enter Earthboy," most of the sections were repeated in order to fill the song out more. Although audiences are probably used to hearing repetition in music, instrumental music tends to be more interesting if it is constantly introducing new ideas or building on old ones. If I had spent more time focusing on little details and harmonies and adapting melodies within the piece it would've been much less repetitive. Similarly, I think that I should've written in some new ideas for "Feeling OK." Although I feel that the original bass hook from "Feel Good Inc" (the inspiration for this piece) was successfully put across to the audience, I also think that it was overplayed. It could've been altered throughout the song once it had already been established in order to give a new layer of interest to the piece. 

One thing that would've definitely benefited the performance would be more physical movement. This is one of the things in any piece of music that sets it apart from simply listening to a recorded version. Audiences like to have something to watch whilst they listen to music. If they go out of their way to visit a performance then they should expect to be entertained visually. My physical performance was almost non existant with only the slightest hints of movement. This is because firstly, I would've felt stupid forcing unnatural movement and secondly, it would've distracted me even further from my already flawed performance. I do however understand that this is an important part of performing and I am sure that it will become easier with more experience and practice. Ensuring my pieces are thoroughly practised will also aid this in the future.

Overall I think that if we'd spent more time practising rather than procrastinating and had spent more time adapting what we'd written then we would've put on a better show. I don't regard the performance as a failure at all but if we'd done this then it could've sounded even better. These points will be essential in the future if I am to perform with minimal mistakes.

Evaluation of rehearsals

Me, George and Brad were set a task to rehearse 5 chosen songs for a performance. Both me and George had to choose 2 each and Brad had to choose one. For each of our choices we had to take control of the rehearsals acting as a musical director. This was sometimes straight forward although we have encountered some problems.

Our first rehearsal involved just me and George experimenting and trying to formulate a theme for our band's songs to follow. We regarded this rehearsal as just initial ideas because Brad wasn't there at the time. We would've needed his input to decide as a group what we were going to do. We were originally going to write our own songs for our choices but decided this would probably not be the best idea. This is because we all listen to completely different styles of music and to all agree on one style would be difficult.

Both me and George agreed that it may be a good idea to cover recognisable songs but play them in a completely different style whilst keeping the main hooks intact. We tried this first with "When The Sun Goes Down" by Arctic Monkeys with the intro of the song remaining fairly similar and a drop into a smooth jazz style at the first verse. Although this was fun at the time we decided not to use it and instead looked for something more interesting to work with.

We eventually reached a decision on what we would play. I chose to cover "Feel Good Inc." by Gorillaz and "Dreaming Of You" by The Coral. George chose to cover "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn & John and "Jerk It Out" by The Caesars. Brad chose "Mr Clean" by Marcus Miller after experimenting with ideas for a Beatles track.

As a band, we used the time in our first rehearsal inefficiently. We were trying to come up with ideas for "Young Folks" but as it was only an early stage, George hadn't had much time to think about what he wanted to do with the song. We were also distracted by other people in the same room and felt we would find it easier to progress in a private practice space. As a musical director I think that once George knows where he wants a song to go he can easily describe to people what he wants them to do. He can be indecisive up to that point however. I understand why though because during the initial stages of practising I also find it difficult to think of ideas and communicate them immediately. George also benefits from contributions from other band members and takes other opinions into account.

Before we actually began rehearsing it, me and George experimented with some ideas for "Feel Good Inc." We played it with a swing rhythm and eventually began jamming the Pink Panther theme tune half way through. We thought this might be a good twist to include in the song. This song was my choice so I had to act as musical director during rehearsals. I found it quite difficult at first to convey the ideas I had in my head. This was probably because I wasn't entirely certain if they would even fit together. This led to me, Brad and George spending a while reaching the same barriers each time with no idea where the song was going. If I had thought of some ideas more and written them down the night before, I might've found it easier to progress. As a musical director, I find it quite difficult to explain what I mean in a way that other musicians will understand clearly. I was open to constructive suggestions but was also willing to reject them if I preferred another idea. I also discovered that I can easily forget ideas from one rehearsal if I don't record it in some way. I needed to write down the structure for each song to remind me how we played it.
I eventually managed to get my ideas across during a rehearsal for "Feel Good Inc." and decided to contrast the dynamics throughout the song. I personally liked the sound of switching suddenly between soft and loud, however I was persuaded against the idea after performing to the class and hearing their input. They had a reliable perspective on how the audience might react so I settled with a less extreme version with each part flowing into each other more smoothly. We included the Pink Panther theme tune and then included a guitar solo. Brad suggested that we altered how the solo started by shortening the length between it and the Pink Panther tune. I had originally suggested that we should extend it for a couple of bars longer but I preferred Brad's suggestion so we decided to use that instead.
When we came to practise Brad's choice, "Mr Clean," it took us a while to get going. Brad had previously given me and George the sheet music to learn before we started practising it. This had a basic structure and gave us both a chance to learn the main hook. The choice to send it to us before hand saved us some time. When we began practising I thought that Brad was finding it difficult to explain what he wanted us to do. We all made suggestions but he didn't tell us what he thought of them. Brad decided to perform the song as a jazz standard, taking turns to solo and returning to the head throughout. We all agreed that this would be an effective way of doing it. The structure was difficult to remember after this rehearsal and by the time we began rehearsing it again, we had mostly forgotten what we had decided on. It took us a while to rebuild what we had achieved in the first rehearsal of it but we reached a similar outcome.
I changed my mind on "Dreaming Of You" as a song choice. I had originally decided on it because it is a recognisable song and we were under time pressure to choose our songs. I tried various ideas with altering it into something unique but couldn't produce anything that I liked. After hearing George and Brad jamming whilst I entered a rehearsal I joined in for a bit. George was playing a simple but interesting bassline and I asked him if I could adapt it into my second song choice. At home I started playing around with some chords that would fit with it and wrote a few riffs that might compliment it in different sections. Doing this I gathered enough material to piece together a tune. 

As the gig is nearing, we have to decided to ask another drummer, Carl, to fill in for Brad. We don't have long left to rehearse and because Brad needs to practise for another band as well we feel that it's a better idea to split the work between two people. Carl is an easy drummer to work with because he contributes his ideas and also seems to know what to play, despite my inability to explain accurately what I want from my song choices. We have altered the song structures completely along with Carl's help on drums. This is partly due to the fact we couldn't remember exactly how we originally structured the songs but also because we want to ensure that the listeners enjoy our performance on the night.

All three of us decided to go into college on the weekend so that we could get as much done as possible. We met Brad there and ran through "Mr Clean" once. This didn't seem to be that effective for me because I still couldn't remember the structure and would've benefited at the time if we had run through it a few more times. I then showed George my ideas for my new tune and we managed to write a few sections before Carl arrived. Once he was there we showed him and he suggested some ideas for the drum beat. We eventually decided on relating it to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica because one of the riffs we used sounded vaguely similar to a riff in that. We decided this would be appropriate to fit with the theme of plagiarism. Throughout the day we filmed each song so that we could actually practise at home. This was probably the most successful rehearsal so far because we managed to get so much done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4ydWsnhtwk&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbBawv9ZaCc&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RtwTE8MaMg&feature=youtu.be

The final tune we needed to arrange was "Jerk It Out" by The Caesars. This was George's second choice. I think this rehearsal has shown me how much we've all progressed in rehearsals since the start of the year. George asked me to learn the synth part at home the previous day so when I came into college it gave us more time to work on structure rather than having to wait for me to learn it. We managed to get a lot done in a short space of time because George decided early on that we would follow the structure of the original fairly closely. This allowed us to learn the first half of the song quickly. George had previously discussed with Carl that we might include a Latin feel after the second verse to mix it up. We tried it out and soon after that we managed to agree on how it would sound. In comparison to our first rehearsal I think this one was a lot more successful in regards to time keeping and enthusiasm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TJcuB_HwJE&feature=youtu.be

Before our gig we have fitted in as many rehearsals as we can so we can not only ensure we know all the parts but we can practise the more difficult sections and adapt them into something more appropriate. Obviously this is partly down to the fact that we have barely any time left but also I think we are now enjoying rehearsals much more.

I think that throughout most of this task, our rehearsal strategies have been mainly ineffective. Nobody seemed particularly enthusiastic to learn and adapt the songs so we have rarely practised over such a long time. Although we've achieved much more in the most recent rehearsals, as a whole our attitude towards it has been lazy. If this situation comes around again then I will discipline myself to practise more and try to encourage band members to do the same. I will also make sure I learn everything I need to and think of ideas before rehearsals in the future, even if I don't particularly enjoy it. This will be good practice for if I ever get involved in session work.

As a musical director I think I have progressed in the way that I find it easier to take control than I did at the start of the year. There is still a lot of room to improve though.