Final Evaluation

Introduction

For my final evaluation, I will be using the gibbs reflective cycle.

Viva Voce

Aims and Objectives

Overall, I managed to follow through with most of my original aims and objectives. The just of my aims and objectives in my proposal, was to establish a confident lineup of musicians to play a range of my own compositions and covers as well as successfully promoting the band and playing a few warm up gigs before playing one final performance. The only section of my aims and objectives that I didn’t follow through on was recording one of my own compositions and creating a video to accompany this. However , I did gather a lot of useful and good quality video image throughout the process of us performing live. I also did some professional recordings as a session pianist with Dineo’s band.

I felt that I did really well to hit most of my original project aims and objectives and would have never of dreamt at the start of the project that I would have ended up performing alongside the musicians that I did in Mother Fungus. I am really proud of the compositions that I created and the way in which I managed the ever developing sound and personnel of Mother Fungus. We played a few great gigs over the course of the project to mostly full venues and I put these successes down to the constant promotion that I did throughout the project. I was so lucky to have been able to work with the amazing artists being Charlie and Baldev who came up with some amazing designs and really boosted my vision for Mother Fungus. The rehearsal structure was definitely quite a stressful part of the final project as due to all of the band members including myself being so busy, we often weren’t able to hold weekly meetings. However, I was really proud of everything that we achieved in each practice session and the focus that we kept as a group.

In certain areas such as songwriting for the band, a lot of the responsibility fell onto my shoulders. As I needed to hit deadlines for the performance, I was the main organiser for the band and the one organising the promotion and event management. I worked hard to keep the band as democratic as possible as I really respected everyone in the band and wanted them all to be proud of the band that they were performing in. As we continue to progress after this project, I am hoping that the responsibility will equally be shared throughout the band and that I can relax a bit more and focus on my own part in the band.

Unfortunately, due to the set up of equipment at our final performance, we didn’t manage to get a recording from the desk. I was hoping that if we did , we could release it as a live session mix and also use it to apply to festivals and future events. Had I have known the set up for the final performance earlier, I could have arranged for our mock gig at the 1in12 to be recorded this way instead, as everything was mic’ed up during that performance. Although my saxophone playing is okay, due to the fact that I haven’t practiced as much on it, the standard of my playing is a bit below my keyboard playing. I therefore would have loved to have had a saxophonist and horn section that played these instruments as their first ones or to a high standard than I can currently play. When listening to recordings of the band, I think that this could really benefit us and I will continue to look our for a horn section for this band in the future.

Overall, I think that the amount of things that this band achieved and the level that we played at throughout the project was amazing. I learnt so much by playing as a part of this collective and had a great time. Taking this band on into the future, I think we will continue to focus on more jazz, funk and hip hop styles. I have loved doing more ambient music, however I think this will be another project that I undertake with Ian as a separate part of Mother Fungus. I think that we will be looking to record some of our material in the near future so as to release and allow us to promote alongside performing. This is a priority as I have received a lot of requests about people wanting to listen to our music online and it would be great to formalise some of our compositions.

Production Plan

Throughout my project, I tried to keep in the track with my production plan as much as possible. This allowed me to break down the huge tasks that I had set myself into achievable sections. By doing weekly evaluations, I could refer to where I was at in relation to my project plan and therefore I could see if I was behind or ahead on different sections.

By preparing for my project with a detailed production plan and having thought about potential problems that I might face along the way, I felt much more prepared when I did face different problems and interruptions in my project. When days arose that consisted of me either not knowing what to do, or how to go about it, it was amazing to have such strong framework to fall back on and it guided me in times of confusion.

The production plan was great for outlining smaller tasks that I cold take on and outline certain places that would measure my project progression. These milestones included having songs completed in a certain week as well as performing a mock gig in a certain week. By being able to continuously work towards smaller attainable goals, I was much more motivated throughout the project than I would have been without them as it required me to have a strong and high level work ethic.

Where the production plan wasn’t so great was in times where I ran into unprecedented problems. The main problem that I faced in my final project was one that I had thought of but hadn’t recognised the size of the problem when starting the project and this was my workload. I was involved in a range of massive projects a session pianist and they were to a much bigger scale than I though they were going to be. As I hadn’t originally planned for these complications, I therefore had to work on those on top of everything on my production plan. This led for a stressful first few weeks when my schedule was at its fullest.

Overall, the production plan more than served its purpose and allowed me to steadily apply myself and my energy to creating a well structured project. Although I had a very strong daily practice routine for my instruments, I felt that I could have created a stronger personal rehearsal routine for learning different songs for different people. I think that this would have allowed me to approach my heavy workload in a disciplined and structured way.

When taking on future projects such as this, I will look at making a similar production plan, however I will look to update that plan as I go and try to create other supportive plans to deal with any developments or issues that I may face. This will allow me to have a structured and supportive framework that is continuously developing and should allow me to face any problems with confidence.

Session Pianist

Over the course of my final project,  I was lucky enough to work on a number of projects as a session pianist. These included Dineo’s EP, Zed Leppelin, Chicago and playing as a cocktail pianist.

I loved having the opportunity to be included in working on so many great ideas and with so many great musicians. I might not work with the same people in that capacity again and I feel privileged to have been offered so many opportunities. I think that we all created some incredible work and will look back at our achievements fondly.

I learnt so much by playing on these projects and made some great connections with which I have been in talks with some about doing some musical projects after my course is complete. Dineo’s EP was a lovely process all round and I still can’t quite believe that I am playing on an EP that is so well produced and sounds so good on Spotify. Zed Leppelin allowed me to work with a lovely bunch of musicians as well as to experiment with a genre that I hadn’t really played before which was heavy rock. I also met Fraser in Zed Leppelin who would be a key part of my main project, Mother Fungus. Chicago was great in that I was working with a mixture of musicians from the two projects I have already mentioned as well as some other 3rd year degree students. It was amazing to be able to work as part of a pit band consisting of degree students and overall it was a great challenge. Playing in a restaurant allowed me to constantly challenge myself by developing my knowledge of jazz standards and by performing live weekly. I met so many amazing people when working in this role and received some very kind feedback which massively boosted my confidence as a performer.

Unfortunately this was too much to take on in my ten week project and forced me to commit all of my time to music instead of having a healthy balance in my life which led to some stressful situations.

I could have managed my time slightly better throughout the project as well as not taking on as much work and my workload as a freelance musician is definitely something that I am going to look into after this project.

If this situation arose again, I think that I would be more selective of the projects that I undertook based on how they would benefit me as a musician as well as how much of a positive experience I would get out of them. However I’m glad I did this just to see the required standard of a session pianist and what it involves to be dedicated to multiple projects at once.

Professional Development

During my final project , I took my grade 5 theory exam, my grade 8 piano exam and went to a couple of University auditions.

Overall, they all went really well and I felt glad to get the first two off of my chest as I had been meaning to take my Grade 5 theory for a while and it was nice to finish doing my grades. The interview formats were really interesting and I had some great discussions with the course leaders at Newcastle and Leeds Arts as well as a look around the facilities.

Overall my professional development experience was mostly good as I received a merit in my theory, a distinction in my Grade 8 and received offers from Leeds Arts and Newcastle. I did however get rejected by a couple of Universities being Glasgow and Birmingham which was a bit of a shame. I put this down to me leaving it so later to apply to University as well as expressing more of a practical interest in music , whereas some of the Universities were running more academic courses.

I think that I will probably take a gap year next year and therefore I hope that if I apply earlier to certain Universities, then I should get a better response. Having Grade 5 theory and Grade 8 piano should also boost my credentials.

I will continue to look at different ways in which I can progress as a professional musician in the future and the frameworks and qualifications that I can utilise to do this.

Overall and Aims For The Future

I achieved way more than I thought I would in this project and did more like half a years work in my 10 weeks. I discovered so much about myself as a musician and how to conduct myself as a professional going forward. I will massively miss college, but I now feel prepared to begin working as a musician.

I feel so privileged to have had all of the guidance and opportunities throughout my two year college experience and on this final project. I have met so many amazing musicians and creators and I think I am going to have no end of different things to do going forward. It will be hard to maintain a similar level of music involvement out of college, however I feel that I have learnt how to use the necessary framework to continue to develop as a musician in the future. I will probably look to study at University either next year or after a gap year and although Bradford college has been such an incredible place to study and develop in, I feel like I need to move on and experience living in another city and community. Manchester and Leeds are my top choices at the moment and I will probably look to reapply at Royal Northern College of Music next year as well as Leeds College of Music. Overall, I think that a more practical based course will allow me to develop in my key strength’s as a musician. In the mean time, I will continue to collaborate and develop my existing project Mother Fungus.  I think that a few members of the band are looking to record and EP as soon as possible and this will be an exciting and challenging endeavour to begin working on.

I have learnt so much being at Bradford college and have loved being part of a community that encourages and supports everyone to become the best that they can be. Before arriving at Bradford College , I was very limited on the piano and quite scared of performing live. I have seen my confidence as a performing musician and as an individual develop massively which is a feeling that is indescribable and overwhelming when looking back. I leave college being a decent performing musician with a good knowledge of music theory, arrangement and having a network of great music contacts.

I wish I had got more out of the music technology side of things and although I’m sure I could use logic to some extent, I would like to be more confident with that and Sibelius. This is an area that I am sure I will have the opportunity to develop in at University, however it means that my music tech banter isn’t quite on par with some of the other people on my course.

Overall, the skills that I have learnt on the course are ones which will hugely benefit me as a musician going into future projects. When I was looking at college courses, Nic advertised Bradford to me as a place where I would obtain a Grade 5 in theory and Grade 8 in piano and although I have obtained those qualifications, they are nowhere near my proudest achievements from this course. I have performed in Birmingham and London and multiple venues across Bradford playing a range of material which would have been mind blowing to me as a sixteen year old. I will however not be resting on these achievements and will always be looking at ways that I can improve and repay the gifts that people have given to me. This course has allowed me to believe in myself as a creator and the final project has shown me that I can write my own music and that I can work as a professional musician.

I don’t think that I could have got much more out of my college experience and therefore I don’t know what I would have done differently. I will try my best to maintain my work ethic and positive attitude as well as maybe improving certain things like my punctuality in a morning. I will try to build on my network of music contacts as well as as actively trying to create and perform music within Bradford. There are so many interesting genres to explore such as neo soul, jazz hip hop and ambient music as well as genres like blues which will keep me busy for years. I will look at trying to build my reputation as a local session musician and hopefully will be able to progress to some paid work. I am not fully sure what I want to do after University but would be very excited to get involved in some community projects as well as well as maybe the education system. Having seen what the teachers at college have done to help so many people enjoy music, I am inspired to somehow repay my good fortune but all in good time. We have no idea what the future holds for us but hopefully mine will involve much more music.