For the ensemble performance module in college we had the opportunity to perform a gig in the college cafeteria, me and my band took advantage of this gig and did a performance which I believe went very well. Throughout this video it is clear to see many improvements we have made while performing our set list, however in this video it is also clear to see many mistakes we have made that need improving.
Individual reflection
We started the set list of with happier which I believe went very well, one strength shown in this performance was my ability to play the arpeggio in time with the rest of the band. In this rehearsal I performed on an acoustic piano meaning it was a lot more important to have the correct pedalling throughout the song over wise the notes would all be held down and sound messy. Therefore I had to focus on both playing the correct chords and the timing of the sustain pedal being released, in this performance my sustain pedal skill worked very well with the music which adds to the strengths of the performance. In this song I reset the pedal at the beginning of each chord change so that it only sustained the notes within the chord, this would allow the sustained notes to harmonise with one another. If I held the sustain down for more than one chord it would sound very messy as all the notes would clash with each other creating a dissonant array of notes over the music, it was very important to avoid this during the song. A small strength shown in this song was also an improvement from my last rehearsal as I chose to accent the note laying on the top of the arpeggio to emphasise the 6/8 time signature of the song so that it was more clear to hear for the audience. This also caused the accented note to ring through the music due to the sustain pedal which added more depth to the arrangement of the song therefore making it sound more interesting to the audience.
Another strength I showed throughout this performance was use of the correct posture at the piano, this has improved a lot since my first rehearsal as I was slouched over the piano. This both looks terrible from the perspective of the audience and also has negative effects on your health, which I have talked about on a previous page. My posture in this performance was correct as I was sat up straight and was also sat at a comfortable distance from the piano, allowing my hands to extends onto the piano to comfortably and accurately play the songs. However my stage presentation could have been improved by looking up from the piano more often, wether that be looking at the audience or my own band members. This is because for most of the performance I was looking down at the notes on the piano, it is best not to do this to often or it makes you look shy, scared and nervous from the perspective from the audience. The cause of me looking down at the piano was because I did not want to play the wrong notes or chords by looking up, therefore to fix this issue I will practice more often so that my muscle memory is comfortable with playing the song while I look away from the piano.
Love yourself was the second song and the weakest of the set list in my personal opinion, this is because of the dull piano arrangement which needs to be improved as I am only playing block chords. However there were a few strengths shown in this performance, one of such was my ability to play the chords in time with the music, this is because on my first rehearsal of this song the rhythm of the chord changes were too fast for me and I struggled to play them in the correct timing. However in this rehearsal I had the ability to play all the chord changes in time with the guitarist in the band, now that I can play the chords I believe I should change arrangement to make it sound more exciting to the audience, I could do this by adding inversions to improve the flow of the song or add an arpeggio to emphasise the rhythm of the music. Due to the lack of rhythm and timing in the arrangement of the song I believe it would be best to focus on implementing an arpeggio into the song arrangement.
One another strength shown in Love Yourself the rhythm of the chorus, this is because in comparison to the rest of the song the chorus is the most exciting due to its faster rhythm. This is because on the piano I played the chord more with the rhythm of the guitar which made the music sound more soulful and energetic. I believe this was the best part of the song because, in the verse I only played the chord every bar which sounded very boring and empty. Therefore in future performances I must have developed more exciting rhythms for this song to make it more interesting for the audience. In conclusion the biggest weakness in this song is lack of rhythm in the piano arrangement which makes the song sound dull, boring and empty. Therefore to fix this issue I will practice this song at home to try and find an arpeggio pattern which suits the songs beat.
The final song we performed in our set list, and also the strongest and most professional sounding. one strength that can be seen in this performance is was the contrast in rhythms between the different sections of the songs structure. It is important to have variations between the song structures because it allows the audience to guess what it coming up, this makes the performance a lot more interesting to the audience as they do not know what is coming up. However the variation between parts of the songs structure could be improved by adding more dynamic contrast in the song, I could do this by playing the verse at a piano level while playing the chorus at a forte level. Doing this in the performance would make the chorus stand out from the rest of the song and by giving it more energy and volume for it to take the spotlight for the song. Therefore if I was to perform in the cafe again I would use more dynamics in between parts of the songs structure to make the audience more engaged in the performance.
Another strong point to this performance was the ending to Comethru, this is because I added a fancy ending to the song which gave the performance a powerful ending. I made the fancy ending on piano by playing the final chord in the song, which is C major 7 and moving it up an octave every 2 beats. This made the music sound grand and epic, therefore delivering an almost cinematic ending to the performance. The very last chord I played in this ending was a C major without the seven, this is because playing the regular triad C major sounded more resolved at the end of the song which is why I chose to end the set list on this final chord. Despite the good qualities this ending had there was still room for improvement, the main thing that could have been improved in this ending is fluency when moving the chord up the keyboard. This is because I hesitated for one second before laying down the final chord in the ending, this built up tension in the music which was not wanted in this song. Therefore to improve upon this by next performance I will make sure to practice the ending so that I get comfortable with moving the chord around in different octaves fluently. Fluently playing the chords will help remove the tension I created in this performance and help make the song relaxing and peaceful to the audience.
What could be improved?
Despite the wide amount of promise this performance has shown there is still much to be improved for the final performance, one thing that needs to be improved on my behalf is timing. This is because on the first song we did not all start on the same beat, meaning it beginning sounded very unorganised and messy. Starting at different times in the music creates a sense of lag in the music which is very audible to the audience, therefore making the performance sound very messy. This problem however is a very easy fix as to solve this issue we could have someone count us into the song, this would make it easier for us all to join in at the correct time in the music. Therefore in the next performance to prevent us from starting the song at different times we will have someone in the band count us in order to improve the timing of the music.
Another issue regarding timing occurs in the bridge where it can be seen that I play the bridge out of time, due to the piano’s role of carrying the rhythm through its arpeggios, the song loses its sense of rhythm while the piano is out of time. Therefore negatively impacting the arrangement and performance of the song, this problem was caused by lack of confidence surrounding the structure of the song. This is because I forgot the bridge was coming up and was about to play the verse again, this lead by to miss a bar in the bridge and loose the rhythm of the music. To avoid an issue like this in future I will listen to the song a lot more as well as practice it a lot more to become 100 percent confident with the structure and rhythm of the music to stop this problem from happening again in the future.
The main issue that stands out to me in this performance is lack of organisation and professionalism, this issue can be spotted when we finish our first song and move onto Love Yourself. The problem was that I did not know the chords confidently to this song and I did not want to ruin the band due to the lack of my own knowledge, so I went away from the piano to get my not book from my tutor so that I could read the chords. In the video it could be seen that I left the stage for this, this should never be repeated as it shows lack of professionalism and organisation which negatively impacts the performance. If I was to this again I would at least keep the notebook with me at the piano so that I would never have to leave the stage, If I kept the notebook with the me the audience would never see me reading the notebook nor leave the stage. Therefore my performance would appear to be more professional that it was here. Another issue with this event is that I needed a chord sheet to perform the song, this shows lack of knowledge surrounding the set list, this appears to the audience as unorganised and unprofessional. Therefore to avoid using sheet music for my next performance I will practice the song 4 times a day until I have memorised the song completely meaning I will not need sheet music to aid me in my performance.
Another element that needs to be improved from this performance is the piano arrangement for Love Yourself, this is because it is very boring and basic at the moment meaning it lacks the interest of the audience. The arrangement for the piano in this song is only play triad chords to the rhythm of the guitar, meaning it does not have a strong rhythm nor sense of timing. There are many different options that can be used to improve the piano arrangement such as adding arpeggios to emphasise the timing of the song. Or I could use voice leading to make the chord changes sound more fluent and gentle. During the performance you can hear my tutor clicking to the beat of the song to give it a sense of timing, this suggests the songs timing and rhythm is not strong enough to play as the audience had to help us out. Therefore I believe the best option to improve this song would be to add an arpeggio pattern to emphasise the timing of the song more, meaning the audience will not have to help us out by clicking. To find an arpeggio pattern I will experiment with trying to find an arpeggio in this song by playing along to the original song and improvising along side it.
Another mistake I made in this song was very minor and probably occurred as a one off mistake, this error can be seen at the beginning of the final chorus in Love Yourself where I play a wrong chord. This causes a dissonance in the music which rings out through the song, therefore making it sound unpleasant to the audience. This was mistake was just a case of accidentally playing the wrong chord meaning it most likely wont happen again, however I will continue practicing the song so that I am more confident with transitioning between chords making it less likely to play a wrong chord in the future. One of the biggest mistakes in this song was not playing the instrumental, I did not learn this part of the song as I thought I was told not to play it. This meant that when we got to the instrumental in the song the guitarist was playing by himself, this made the music sound very empty and therefore put the guitarist in an awkward situation where he was playing by himself. Now that I know this was a bad decision I will learn and play the instrumental in future.
Our last song comethru went very well however there were some very audible mistakes in this performance that need to be fixed, a re-occurring mistake made in this performance was playing the wrong chord at the end of the verse. This is because every verse either ends of a F major or a G major, in this performance I left myself guessing which one to play which lead to playing some wrong chords in the song. This mistake can be heard very clearly in the music as it sounds terrible when played along side the guitar as they clash with one another. Therefore the main cause of this mistake was lack on knowledge surrounding the chord arrangement of this music as I did not know what chord to play, therefore to fix this mistake by my next performance I will look over the tabs again to confidently learn the chord progression so that I don’t play any wrong chords.
Another fix that could be made in this song would be control of the sustain pedal, this is because on the crescendo at the end of the verse there were times were I held the pedal down meaning the chords were still ringing out. In previous rehearsals we agreed that we wanted there to be a second of silence before diving into the chorus to make the music more interesting, holding down the sustain pedal removed the element of silence in the music therefore making it sound less interesting. In future when performing this song I will be more conscious of the sustain pedal so that I quickly take my foot off of it at the end of the crescendo, which will overall make the song arrangement sound more snappy and sharp to the ears of the audience.
The final mistake I made in Comethru was lack of timing in the song, this is because in this song performance there were moments where; I missed chords, dropped out too early or went out of time in the music. This made the song sound unorganised and unprofessional on my behalf therefore all of these issues must be corrected as best as possible before the final performance. A moment I missed a chord can be seen in the second chorus where I missed the first chord, this made the music sound unnatural and incorrect to the audience. This issue was caused by a lack of focus in the song as I was not ready to play the chorus after the crescendo, this caused me to miss the chord however in the next bar I jumped back in. To avoid future issues like this I will be more focused and attentive to the performance so that I make less mistakes in the performance in general, as lack of focus was a contributing factor to all of the mistakes made in this performance. A moment where I dropped out too early can be seen in the last chorus during the crescendo, in this moment I only played the crescendo for half of the time I should have before dropping out. This reduced the overall build up of tension in the arrangement of the song and reduced the impact of crescendo of the song by making the instrumental texture thinner, therefore in future I will make sure not make this mistake again by rehearsing the crescendos more often so that I am confident with playing them correctly.
Band Reflection
Throughout the performance we showed a lot of improvement as a band, one major improvement we have made as a team includes great stage communication. As when one of us made a mistake we would look at them to prompt them to correct themselves, this was very effective and shows great critical listening skills when performing as we could hear when someone was even slightly off time. We also looked at each other when something went very well, for example at the end of the song when I was finishing the set list on piano both of my band mates gave me a smile of encouragement. Therefore we also have learnt to support one another on stage during the performance which is a great skill to have as a musician. The guitarist in our band also showed great knowledge of the set list during the instrumental in Love Yourself, as he managed to play the instrumental in time without the accompaniment of the piano. Therefore he showed great knowledge at skills of timing during this moment in the performance.
What could be improved?
Though we have shown much improvement as a band there are still many improvements we can make as a team from this performance. One weakness shown in this performance was lack of knowledge surrounding lyrics on behalf of the singer, this is because in this performance she is using her phone to read the lyrics to the song throughout the performance. Doing this in the final performance would look unprofessional and unorganised, therefore it is best to learn the lyrics off by heart by the time we reach the final performance. Therefore the singer should run through the songs more often to memorise the lyrics quicker so that she gets confident performing without them. Reading off of a phone also negatively impacts your stage presence as it prevents you from looking at the audience more often, which can cause them to lose interest and not listen to the performance which is another reason she should avoid using her phone for lyrics.
Another error the singer made in Happier was singing the lyrics for the last chorus of the song while we were only in the first chorus, singing the wrong lyrics can throw off other band members and cause them to lose the structure of the song. Therefore it is important the singer is also familiar with the lyrics and structure of the song, so that we can all play through it fluently with minimal mistakes. The singer also got frustrated with this mistake and sang the lyrics in a rushed and aggressive tone, this looks very unprofessional from the perspective of the audience. Furthermore it is important that we all keep calm when we make mistakes as the audience may not even notice if we just move on from it, in this performance due to the singers reaction the audience will have noticed this mistake. To improve this error the singer must listen to the song more often so that she becomes familiar with the song structure, meaning it will be less common for her to play the song structure wrong.
A improvement we need to make in this performance is reducing the time it takes to transition between songs, this is because we wasted a lot of time in this performance by changing between songs. This was mainly caused because the singer needed to search up the lyrics for the next song on her phone and get it to load up, this took around a minute. This time span is not too long, however people have very short attention spans therefore it is important we move onto the next song as soon as possible so that we don’t lose their interest. To improve the time between transitions the singer must learn the lyrics so that we do not waste time moving between songs, during the song switches the guitarist was also playing around with different tunes on the guitar. This makes the performance sound unorganised and messy, due to the band playing different songs to the ones in their set list. Therefore while changing between songs we should all be quiet and respectful until we are ready to continue with the set list. One final way the performance could be improved would be by the singer introducing the set list and the band to the audience, as we just played each song back to back with no interaction with the audience. The negatively impacts our stage presence, as it makes it less likely for the audience to engage with our performance without us communicating with them. Introducing the band also looks very professional and organised, therefore in the final performance it is important we do this to improve the our stage presence and professionalism.
The final improvement we could all make as a band would be to look up from our instruments more often and look up at one another and the audience more often. When looking down at your instruments it makes you look shy and uncomfortable on stage which is not what you want in a performance, therefore we should look up our instruments to look confident when performing the music on stage. It also shows the audience that you are comfortable with playing your instrument without staring at it constantly, which furthermore shows great professionalism and instrumental skills to the audience which is very important in the music industry.