evaluation 2 - Finalished ( RE DONE)

Evaluation 

Focus points of evaluation

-performance
-

- Rehearsal process

Reflection of project proposal 

Initially, i said in my proposal that i would like to try different things i haven't before for example, singing jazz pieces and i spoke about how successful my live lounge went, which made me come to the idea of trying more jazz for example but also in my artist interview i didn't meet my targets of trying different thing so i wanted to take it upon myself to focus on that for my final performance. Another pointer i put on my project proposal was about my performance side of things and how when reflecting back on fake love the only factor i was disappointed in was my mic technique and performance i stood there looking very timid and nervous which in fact i would of liked the opposite so i took it upon myself to set a dance routine for my final diploma showcase in which i wrote in my proposal. Overall with my targets i am very disappointed with myself for not sticking with ' Ain't misbehaving' as i feel that would of not only met my targets but would of pushed me to limits and challenged me vocally , and i was pleased by the fact i was still not coming out my comfort zone to try new things like for example singing indie , but i really hope i can take this on board and focus purely on this target next year. On the other hand as for the dance side and performance side i felt i improved a lot , especially in my last song when i was not only making contact with the singer singing with me but dancing along , even thou it wasn't a set routine i felt that when i improvised my dancing i let more comfortable with what i was doing on stage and in general, it made m less weak with the way i performed instead of being nervous turning the adrenaline into excitement. Becky, in my feedback commented on how i managed to successfully be more comfortable on stage with introducing my songs as well as performance wise. After the performance, because my tutor Tom as well as Aly know how nervous and shaken up i get by the fact of being on stage they said i managed to complete something well out of my comfort zone which not only improved my confidence humongous amounts but also made me very proud of my achievements. From the negatives in my performance i would say not performing to the best of my ability that i can do at home , is something i can still work on coming back I'm September. But because  had another singer , this was another main reason i wasn't able to do as much as ild hoped because ild originally planned to do 3 different songs of different genres to show each different side of me and my vocal ability , i will make sure i carry on trying different genres so that i can contend with my target and make sure i reach it as i am very ambitious in doing so. An unfortunate thing for us as a band was that because we had trouble with musicians we had to tackle obstacles such as switching guitarists 3 times but not only that we also originally decided for my original song to be on piano as it is more of a piano based song although Louis wasn't prepared and had no time , he also didn't turn up to a rehearsal which put a negative into the situation as well as our guitarist being a vocalist who was also focusing on his own assessed band. luckily for me, Keith was well prepared and learnt things major ally fast which gave a positive affect to my performance of my original song., even if it wasn't what wed hoped with piano , it still turned out better than expected. 

( part of our rehearsal timetable ) Because our guitarists was on his own band , we made sure we created a timetable as part of our action plan, although i felt we didn't quiet keep to it and went of track which is some of the main factors our rehearsal process wasn't as good as expected. eventhugh i left my weekends free on the timetable i made sure was still working on the weekends on harmonies for example and my riffs that i was finding difficult as well as focusing on written work. Ild have hoped we could of had more rehearsal time.

 Our Rehearsal progress 

In our rehearsals i started of as a solo artist which in fact didn't end up occurring , i start of with Izak as a guitarist. I would of hoped i would stay solo but i was happy that i cared about someones Else's grade and supporting them throughout their joinery as well as mine.
Our rehearsal wasn't as good as we expected because we had originally started of as Izak as a guitarist who was in fact fantastic although because he was on holiday for a week and didn't come back till Wednesday evening we didn't have a chance to rehearse in which fact tom our leader helped us by giving us another guitarist who was working solo , so was able to multitask and work at home as well as help us. Although we didn't arrange a rehearsal on Tuesdays and Fridays, Oscar unfortunately had work for some of the rehearsals but we were so desperate to get some Rehearsals done that we asked Keith another vocalist who can play guitar as well to step in for us , not only did he help me vocally but he also approached my vocals in another way as i originally started of with 5 songs in mind and two as back up, i showed Keith my song by my inspirational artist ' Dua Lipa' - thinking bout you although straight away he recognised it wasn't good for me because of how low she starts , so i decided to show me my second option of nobody love tori Kelly, in which he suggested could be improved and turn out to be a good performance , so he helped me with my vocals begin accurate and precise.

I would say that the few rehearsals i has with Keith was really effective, as he knew how to make it vocally challenging and change up dynamics to make it more interesting , but he could also help with warm ups to help with the areas i was stuck on for example with diction Keith suggested i tried some tongue twisters and directed me through them which really helped me personally, with many difficulties i was facing. Not only did Keith help with the cover songs he also helped find more stable Bvs for me even thou they were stable he used the guitar to find the perfect 5th of ' judge me ' and ' i would judge you to' which i found really successful in the performance.

Although the performance was a success there was still little issues throughout the journey and in the performance that could be fixed for example , i spent a long time to pick a guitarist and stick with them as well as , my set list as i was tied up with songs that would show me vocally , and i would start songs and not finish them which i felt wasted a lot of time .

In order to improve upon my vocals and bus, i feel i need to not only sing along to tracks and try and find perfect 5ths but to also , try and find a song with harmonies in which could improve my technique by ' copying' or by using the scale and harmonising with that . Another improvement i could make is within my licks and riffs , in which when i had a tutorial with Becky she suggested i looked at Natalie Weiss and her videos of breaking down riffs , which would not only help me sing riffs but help me pitch every not correctly.

In my performance, i know that Lauren messed up on some of the Bvs of my original which did initially put me off although i didn't let this stop my i carried on , i also ended up making a mistake in my bvs, in her song singing the counter melody of ' i got issues you got them to' and coming in to early although i didn't let this stop me , i feel that if we were more prepared and well rehearsals we would of had a more successful performance.


The performance 

In perspective , i felt that our performance went well personally i met a few of my targets which makes me one step closer to achieving what i would like in future , although there was many problems and issues that occurred for example in my original song i would of have liked to have just me singing ' we never thought you'd be the one' because it detracted the emotion that line had as Lauren was singing it in another key and also not in sync with me which was disappointing, but personally i would change the time i came in with my bvs in her song as i came in early but i felt she could of played it off better and just carried on.

i also felt the chemistry between me and Lauren on stage could of been better taking all issues outside the stage out of the performance and connecting with each other for example singing at each other and looking at each other more to connect with each other i felt this wasn't achieved and should of been very cruital, i also felt she could of performed more to give more energy ti the performance which would of helped hold me in place a bit more, instead of being optimistic.

In the performance , i realise i didn't speak much only at the beginning when introducing my original song, i feel as if i should of introduced all the other songs and included the audience with the final performance song as they could of felt detracted from me and i should of also said something along the lines ' join in if you know the lyrics' for the chorus because not only would it have had an impact on the chorus but it would of helped balance my nerves more and gain even more confidence than i did.

On the positive side, i felt that i did use all the techniques learnt in rehearsal to give a vocally pleasing performance but not only that , i also managed to change it dynamically despite the fact i was so used to hearing the original and found it difficult to change the melody which Rodger had suggested to keep the audience in the lurch. i felt my tone was really good and i was in time with the guitar. But another factor is on the second verse nearly sang another ' when you lay down to rest' even thou its only in the first chorus but i did feel as if i played it of well and managed to carry on .

The final song could of been more stronger vocally especially with the riff, i was very disappointed in the way i gave it out as when rehearsed i tried different ways i managed to sing it significantly close to how she does it when practising with her but without i failed so Aly my tutor helped me discover other options which i forgot to do in there performance

I also felt for the final performance the 'HEYs' leading up to the riff wasn't very good as they were at different volume levels and it wasn't smooth , so i need to make sure i work on run ups as well as riffs.


Personal targets for myself 

- I feel as if because my harmonies are not as good as they could be that i need to make sure I'm analysing what I'm doing recording myself doing lead and trying to figure out harmonies from brain as well as using piano and for example harmonising with the major scale and trying different things, as well as reviewing videos with harmonies in them such as destiny child's song ' girl '

- I also need to work on my technique in riffs and licks as i feel really weak with what I'm doing at the moment and my approach to them although i tried my hardest with the tori Kelly song ' nobody love' and the riff i still didn't manage to get it so my tutor Becky Morton suggested i look at Natalie Weiss who breaks down riffs and helps correct every note, over the summer i will make sure i try to at least target myself to 5 episodes of hers.

- Lastly , i need to work on my very low notes especially as i wasn't able to perform Dua lipa's song ' thinking bout you' by doing this i need to train my lower range in doing ' food'

- And finally, i need to make sure work on my twang placement which will not only help with forsetoo vocals but will help with my resonance and placement and not being so airy in my vocals when singing which is something i struggle with a lot , the exercises i need to complete is exercises such as nasty neighs.

BLOG POST 6

Project 4 - Blog 6


Following , reviewing the video and pin pointing difficulties i had when performing to my lectures and peers to get feedback, i organised a rehearsal session with Keith, so he would be able to listen to my vocals and help improve certain areas, because you can never see or hear your own mistakes unless you listen back , i managed to improve on my dynamical flow for example in my original i spoke about ti being boring and not dynamically challenging so we spoke about using the guitar to strum and add some rhythm to it so that the vocals can follow, i felt that for the pre chorus this really worked out well and helped , and with the beginning part of the song we made sure do add a variety of techniques for example finger picking the bass notes to emphasise the chord progression and strumming the high strings to sound the chord and set the dark mood of the song because of the minor quality of the chords.  For the line  "when you lay down to rest" to slowly pick the ending to give the effect of the car sound that is filled in the production of the song and making sure the chord changes of that part is quick and solid.

I am really satisfied by the improved changes we made during our session after, and i felt more relaxed about my original song . Although we only managed to go through critiques of my original song i felt i improved masses of amount. I felt my vowels wasn't being pronounciated properly so we use loads of tongue twisters to ensure my diction was more sufficient , and so we were able to hear the words more clearly. Because my original song is mostly in my lower range in which i can sometimes find difficult to control i made sure i used ' foos' in which we learnt in Becky's lesson which i felt really helped me control my lower notes and maximise the richness of the lower notes is that they also wernt as airy , which is also a massive area i struggle with .

I had to make sure during this rehearsal process, that i worked through these difficulties and done all in my power to improve for my final performance in doing so another difficulty i faced i reviewed and reapplied myself with using the right diction was singing in time, so i used a metronome to work acapella as home for personal improvement along with keith playing guitar so that i could issues my timing a bit better which is something i always seem to fail to do, i was really impressed in the way i gave myself out for which improving all my issues in technicality.  

Evaluation
Following our performance, i was overwhelmed by the outcome and the amounts of support i was receiving especially as i felt very unrehearsed but the support gave me more adrenaline to fight for what i want, and to give out a successful performance. Overall i thought my performance on stage was more than i expected , i turned my nerves into excitement before i went on stage to manipulate my mind in thinking differently as i was extremely scared, i thought that from the from the first to the end song there was masses of improvement in the first song i was just warming to the idea of being on stage although by the end i was giving my all , my energy was feisty and power was more extreme. I thought that there were a few errors that could possibly be improved coming back in September and throughout my music performance. My biggest regret on stage was that i did not ‘ involve the audience’ which is something i planned to do in my proposal, i also didn't have enough set time to work out a dance routine although in the end it turned out better than expected performance wise as i improvised my dance moves.
If i was to redo the performance a second time i would change, the harmonies and make them more solid, i was very disappointed by laurens performance especially with her efforts within the final performance and the courage she had towards it and enthusiasm as well as rehearsal structure, i felt as if she rang over my riffs during ‘ aint nobody love’ which confused me although i managed to pick myself up which made me proud, i am very devastated about the harmonies in my original as they came in at the wrong points as well. Although as for the guitar playing i was very impressed because we had originally started of with izak as a guitarist which then changed to Oskar and then Keith who is in fact on the vocal course but volunteered to help us , because he knew my structure more of by heart and i was joyful, that he gave us a good start and very thankful to him as he had little time to do so. If i was to change my performance, i would redo my riff, as it was very wobbly, i would also redo the run up to the riff because i ended up with volume levels being very different from the first ‘ hey’ to the end one which also put my riff at fault as well as another singer singing it. 

Secondly if i was to change something else, i would take a risk with my orignal more instead of keeping it safe just because of little rehearsal i would take risks myself whether guitar followed or not, just so it would add more dynamically . I was also unhappy with some of my Bvs in lauren's song the one that stood out to me the most was ‘ i got issues you got them too’ which is when i was using counter melody although i realised this came in to early , and should of come in on the third line but one thing i would say positively about it was learning from mistakes and carrying on instead of letting it bring me down or the performance.
I felt that the communication between me and my band mates was intolerable and they didn't take it as seriously as i did therefore, i feel as if going solo may have had a better outcome for me personally especially as i learned about the loop pedal during it , i feel i should of been selfish at this point and thought about myself instead of putting other people first although from this i have learned that being independent is much more suitable for me as a singer and can get me further with what i want to achieve rather than helping people, on the

other hand i am glad i helped someone pass their diploma, i just wished they were more reliable. 

Throughout the whole process there was a lot of stress with rehearsal and harmonies and where to sing and not to sing and there was lots of unnecessary tears, i thought after how different it would of been if i went solo and only had myself to worry about. Another pointer i would like to add is that from the proposal to my final performance,i am not complete within myself as i didn't meet my own targets in my proposal which i had been meaning to do for a while right from the start and i thought i was going to be able to have the chance to do so, although from the experience i do hope that in year 2 diploma this is possible , i would of liked to have explored different genres and had i have taken the solo artist route i may have been able to do this more reluctantly .

One more pointer about our overall performance, i thought the relationship over the weeks me and lauren had been having and the ups and downs had been brought onto stage which made the chemistry disruptive and the audience were able to see that, as me and lauren didn't connect throughout the performance at all, but whereas if you compare our performance to other people to were more rehearsed and had a general connection on stage it was a more successful performance than ours.

I also felt , that the technicality and organisation of the tech team wasn't what i expected i felt there would have been more of a proper sound check / line check because i couldn't hear what i needed to hear half the time at which point i was already used to hearing to much of something and just let the show begin

Next time i have a similar performance, i will make sure i think about myself before others to be selfish first so that i can get the best in myself and get a better grade than i target myself to get , and i also need to know who is the most reliable, and use people who are interested in the same kind of music as me and my kind of set lists as well as my own music, i will also make sure i am more prepared myself and make sure i don't forget about my diary i create myself and to stick to it, 

PROJECT 4- BLOG POST 5


By the time i had finalised my set list, to meet my targets and make sure i could get my final performance as perfect as i wanted it required me to perform to my lectures and peers so that i could improve any fault, and also so i was able to record and get more feedback for lectures or other people that weren't present for example degree students or our technical development lecturer becky morton ,  as well as showing it to other people i could also self reflect on issues i was facing and how to improve myself as generally singers tend to not notice silly mistakes like their vowels and what there doing performance wise.

Looking back at the video, i realised it had the same structure throughout and dynamically it didn't change so i had to make some changes in which Rodger helped me to come to a different arrangement for example in ' rain' instead of keeping it simple and safe to take risks and trying new riffs especially with the ' black rose spills red' line as well. i also noticed some mistakes with ' with no warning sign' as i tried to do the harmony, which i need to make sure i can sing and listen to the harmony at the same time and i also noticed i was gong slightly out of key.
My diction and pronunciation wasn't as clear as i would of hoped particularly as this song has deep meaning and needs the lyrics to be pronouced clearly so the audience can understand the same emotion. Another fault i faced is that when i started of the song, i didn't start of strongly i started of weak which then kills the mood of the whole song and detracts everything that is the part of the purpose.

I noticed i had my ' we never thought you'd be the one' with the exact same melody and i felt as if this wasn't giving much and that it would be boring so i also thought there needed to be somewhat change there to improve the song in general and so that the audience are still hooked and to try something different for example taking risks and going higher for some parts.

I was also really hard to hear, so i needed to work on mic technique and diaphragm technique for example to try some anchoring to project certain notes that are sustained and long , and with mic technique to make sure I'm as close as possible so that every word can be heard

With the performance side, i looked back and realised i was a statue throughout therefore i needed to work more on laying out what i was going to do on stage during the song , and be more confident with the song and maybe for example point at people to direct them and so they know its towards them so audience interaction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7hqwMyGglU&t=3s