The elements of a successful live performance
The elements of a successful live performance would be, an engaging audience that either is clapping along or looking at the band without looking or feeling bored, no visible mistakes on stage while performing, having fun and enjoying yourselves on stage or at least looking like you are having fun for the audience, feel and look confident with what you are doing on stage, no injuries to performers, audience or anyone attending the gig, and raising a good amount of money for the charity.
The job roles included in a live performance.
The uses of different techniques in support of a live performance
There are a wide rande of different techniques used to support a musical performance and make the performance the best it can be and entertaining for the audience. To make the performance entertaining visually, the band/performers need to think about what they look like while performing. They need to think about Stage presence such like presentation, positioning of band members, perform without fear and think about the movement on stage. Expression and communication with the band members, togetherness and the art of making the audience part of your performance by either making them clap along or talking to them and asking questions or even making them sing along. Lastly think about the stage itself and look at positioning of instruments and lighting.
Other than visually you need to think about what the performance should sound like instrumentally, for instance talk with your band about when different instruments should come in/drop out through out the songs. Talk about the texture, structure, timing and the rhythm. The structure is important because it will organize the song. Timing and rhythm is vitally important in a song.
Promoters
Promoters job roles include advertising and promoting the event/Gig and trying to get the as much people in as they can. There needs to be promotional material such as posters/leaflets either handed out or stuck on the building walls. Promoting the gig on social media such as (facebook page, instagram page, twitter account etc.) verbally promoting the gig for e.g. telling family or friends that there is a charity gig or promoting the gig on the radio, this was done by the year 2 students. They promoted the gig by sticking posters around all the college buildings and local pubs. They also promoted the gig on the radio. Promotion helped us to get the people in to watch and raise money fro the charity. If the promotion isn’t done there would be no audience, therefore no ticket, sales which in our case there would be no money raised for the charity, which leads to and unsuccessful concert.
Health and safety
Health and safety is very important when putting a live concert together. Risk assessments are included and designed to help minimise the risks to audience, musician and everyone that attends the event. Most of the time risks can be reduced; staff need to be trained in how to deal with these risks.
The common types of risks
- Manual handling – lifting
- Tripping
- Electrics – risk of electric shock
- crushing
- agressive members of the public
All electronics, instruments and plugs need portable appliance testing (PAT) this ensures that all the equipment and plugs are safe to use. To minimise and avoid the risk of tripping loose cables and wires should be kept tidy or duct taped to the floor, the best one to use is the silver on as its noticeable. Bring only bottled water to the practice rooms. water or pop drinks should not be allowed as that is a possible risk of electric shock.
When lifting heavy equipment make sure someone is there to help and you are not doing it alone.
The lighting should be not too dark or not too bright as that could damage/hurt the audience or performers eyes. Our tutor Ben was responsible for the lighting the on stage. It shouldn’t be very dark in the venue, as people need to see where they are going and there should be enough lighting on the stage so that performers see everything on stage while they are moving around on the stage, especially if there is a risen stage.
In case if an emergency or fire there needs to be quick access to and exit and someone that will safely indicate and lead the crowd out of the building through the emergency exit, also there exit signs need to be visible. Just before the Gig starts, the person opening the gig should ensure that the audience is aware of the safety procedure and tell them where the fire exits are.
The sound in the venue is very important. If the sound is too loud it could damage and hurt someone’s ears. There needs to be a live sound technician that is responsible for the sound, which in our case the staff members Stef and Nick were. The people responsible for the sound in their own instruments should also control and have the right sound level. it is advised for students to use earplugs at all times when theres excessive levels of music, while attending a gig or in the practice rooms. Earplugs could also be sold to the audience members.
People at the desk need to make sure that they don’t over sell the tickets as that could cause a risk of crushing in the crowd and also the members building stages for e.g. for festivals, they should strictly follow their health and safety procedure so that there isn’t any risk of injury and crushing. If there is a aggressive member in the public there needs to be security that could deal with that issue immediately and we had tutors that would deal with that.
Venue manager
Every musician/band need a venue manager that will book the musicians in a venue. We didn’t have a professional venue manager but the year 2’s that put the concert together told us about the gig and put us in it.
Live sound technician/engineer
The live sound technician is responsible for the sound in a live event (the person that sits behind the sound desk) the staff member Steph was responsible for that.
Instrument technician
The instrument tech checks the instruments, maintains, repairs, and adjusts the instruments to make sure they are safe to use and running correctly before the concert. Out tutor Nic and Steph were responsible for that.