Lunchtime Gig:
As the set up was much more relaxed, having no stage lighting and only a small PA and having only passers by as an audience it felt a lot less nerve-wracking. I feel that as a band, we communicated well with each other and this led to a very smooth run-through with neat endings. Unfortunately, we were missing three of the band members but I think that this may have helped in our success.
Autumn Leaves:
I followed the structure of the song really well, had awareness of dynamic control and the mistakes I made in the beginning melody could be considered to be an attempted use of rubato rather than an obvious mistake. The solo was phrased in the best way that I have ever performed it, using various octaves and notes, and remaining in key the whole time. At the ‘stops’ section I was ready to play the melody and did so successfully, which is unlike the other performances of this song that we have done since.
The second time we played through this song was much better than the first, I made no mistakes in the melody and it became the only performance where this was the case. However, my solo on the first version was much more coherent.
Bags Groove:
Out of the whole set list, Bags Groove was definitely one of my weaker songs throughout. After continuously losing my place throughout this performance, I realised that in future I would need to learn the chords inside out. So in order to improve, I did so. My solo on this was a little bit all over and felt slightly awkward. I felt that it was difficult to follow the structure and carry out a solo on this particular piece, so I requested to not have a solo and found that my accompanying performance was much more successful on the mock and final performances.
Cantaloupe Island:
I found that my solo followed the main melody line and therefore fit very well. It also helped that I knew the structure of the arrangement and was able to add embellishment to quiet moments and follow the chord changes. Chris and I were perfectly in time with the melody although I feel as though as a band towards the end of the song were increased in tempo slightly and made the song feel rushed. My solo on the second play through was very similar to the first but I would certainly say that the original one was executed better.
Mock Performance:
Autumn Leaves:
During this performance, I successfully played the chords and melody without mistakes. This is difficult to do due to the changes in tonality of the song (changes from major to minor keys). My solo was diatonic and phrased well. However, towards the end I feel as though I lost my place in the song and my phrasing became more random and less coherent.
Sunny:
Once again, I played this song’s harmony well. The chords were correct and in time. I do not, however, feel confident in the way in which I performed my solo. The phrasing is virtually nonexistent and I appear to be confused about which notes are in the key, adding to the lack of phrasing. In future performances I feel as though writing down the key on the sheet music or chord chart may allow me to create better sounding and much more confident improvisations.
Cantaloupe Island:
This song was by far my strongest song during the set. As it was the first song that we learned, I had confidence in the playing of harmony and melody and really understood both structure and key signature. This allowed me to play a solo that made use of multiple octaves effectively. I made sure that I filled any gaps with a phrase and adapted my solo to the chord changes.
Bags Groove:
Although I did not solo on this song, I believe my band communication and harmonic accompaniament was good with only very few mistakes.
Pais Tropical:
I adopted the single note solo technique for the majority of my solo in this song. I felt that is was easier to follow along with the key and structure, occasionally adding other notes so as not to make my improvisation tedious. The chords for this song are easy to follow and I felt that I played it well.
Final Performance:
Autumn Leaves:
I really liked the solo I did on this song. It was phrased well and diatonic with a range of octaves used. This was, in my opinion, the best solo I have done throughout the module. Unfortunately, I did mess up the return of the melody but I put this down to poor communication within the band (a reoccuring problem throughout the performance in general). In future performances, I believe that the length allocated for solos should be reiterated to avoid confusion. As we did not establish a soloing order on the setlist until last minute this then made it difficult to practice and put into action. Overall, my harmonic accompaniment was carried out well although there are changes in tonality and the confusion regarding solos.
Sunny:
I found this song fun to perform, the chords are simple and so I made little to no mistakes harmonically. I also thought that my solo was a great improvement on the mock performance. It was phrased better and I carried it out with confidence right up until the end. Additionally, it was diatonic and remained interesting throughout.
Cantaloupe Island:
During my solo I followed the notes used in the melody, which was a technique I found to be successful in the lunchtime gig. This made it easier for me to focus on phrasing the solo without worrying about remaining in key. I opted for using mostly only 2 notes in a phrase and followed chord changes effectively. The only struggle I feel I had in this song was yet again with poor communication as some played their solos for an extra chorus and it was very difficult to follow the structure.
Bags Groove:
Once again, I did not do a solo in this song and simply played the harmonic accompaniment. However, I feel as though I found this hard to follow and made a lot more mistakes than I had done in previous rehearsals or performances. I put this down to nerves.
We decided to cut out Pais Tropical for the final performance as our set was very lengthy and it was our least put together performance.
To conclude, in future I will make sure to learn the key of songs, practice both the set and writing solos and create setlist in good time to avoid mistakes and poor communication.