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.
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