The second gig we attended was the Manchester Bombing Concert. This gig was presented in the outside the David Hockney Building in Bradford College. This included us filming the concert and observing the performance, I also performed a 20 minute set list. For this concert there was no particular job role, except to observe both their organising and performance skills so that we could further improve ours. The college organised the whole event.
EVALUATION
Their organisation skills were fairly successful in some ways, due to having a variety of selected acts performing. From music students to various other students performing on stage, this gig was enjoyable and I found it engaged with the audience. There were a range of ensembles and solo acts also performing. This meant that it showcased a variety. However their organisation skills were also unsuccessful. This is due to being vague about what the event was for. As at the beginning, before all the performances, there was an announcement that this was for supporting everyone Manchester Bombings this meant that if anyone came after the announce (which many did) then you wouldn’t know the purpose of the concert. As well as I believe that the timings for the acts were wrong too as many people did not know when they were performing.
The many acts that did perform had good performance skills and communicated with the audience extremely well. Since this was a fairly casual event/gig, everyone had good stage presence and awareness of the stage size. They were all looking out to the audience several times.
However, in some ways, I believe that the performance throughout was slightly unprofessional, as still it was entertaining, but there was a lack of professionalism. This is due to the timings of the performance, which was stated in the organisational evaluation, and many not knowing when they were performing. In addition they brought the keyboard later on this is because they forgot that I needed a keyboard to perform my pieces. This is why, when we organised our Charity Gig, we collected an equipment list and a set list of who was playing and when. Overall I believe that this concert was successful as it showcased a variety of acts, however it could have been better with more organisation and some sort of promotion which would lead to the awareness of the Manchester Bombings, and overall the purpose of the event.
My Performance
I performed 5 pieces within this gig, they were:
In this performance I wanted to include a mixture of covers and originals as I don’t get many opportunities to showcase original material. Therefore including 3 originals meant that I could have a variety of pieces that showcased different things. This links to the Charity Gig as our band also performed one of my originals.
I rehearsed at home for this gig throughout the couple of weeks before, this meant that I had to ensure that I had a set list ready as well as learning lyrics within the week before the gig. I found this difficult as when I get on stage to perform I get nervous; therefore I sometimes forget my lyrics. This has happened in various gigs, but after performing more and practising more, this has meant that I have increased my confidence to be able to perform on stage more successfully. Since I also play piano, I have to memorise several chords for each piece, therefore this also becomes challenging when rehearsing and this means that I have to be well prepared.
In this specific gig, it helped me to gain more confidence when performing. This means that the more I perform the more I gain confidence. Therefore I enjoyed performing both at the Classical Piano Recital and the Manchester Bombing Concert because it gained my confidence which would mean that I would be able to perform at the Charity Gig a lot easier and more successfully.