I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.
What went well?
The final performance went very well as we played all the songs in our set list to a high standard and the audience we played in front of enjoyed it, which was our main goal of the project. My stage communication and confidence has also improved since last year when I performed, this is because I was not scared to look at my other band mates and enjoy the music I was performing on stage. The written evaluations I have done over the project have also gone well as they have been detailed, they have also helped me understand what needed to be improved on by half as well as for other band members. I have also achieved most of the goals of my initial assignment which has helped me improve my skills as a performer and musician, I will talk in more detail about how I have achieved my targets later on in this page. When performing songs such as Transparent Soul I used chord inversions through the technique of voice leading, this makes the chord transitions sound more fluent throughout the song. Learning these techniques shows that I have quickly adapted to learning new songs to a point where I could start using more advanced techniques to make the music sound more professional.
What could be improved?
For my final project last year I did a very good job of balancing my practical work with my written work, unfortunately for this project I have under estimated the work load leading me to do a lot of catch up work near the end of the project. When I start my next project at college I will make sure to keep up to date on my written work as well as also focusing on my practical work, this will rid me of future stress in the project. I could have also improved my performance skills on piano by learning more advanced parts in the bass clef (left hand), this is because on Back to Black there is a left hand pattern which is very important to the rhythm of the song which I did not learn. Learning this part would make the song sound much more advanced and rhythmically charged, to learn more advanced parts in the future I will put a lot more practice in at home to make sure I am can push myself to learn more advanced parts. During the performance I was scared to look at the audience, this is because I have never been in front of such a big crowd of people before. Being nervous or frightened on stage can sometimes be recognised by the audience, leading to them not enjoying the performance as much as they should. To improve your confidence in front of an audience I just need to perform in front of more people until it seems natural to me.
This project I have not done much research as I should have, if I was to start this project again I would sit down and think about what topics I could have done more research on. One other thing I would do is post weekly vlogs to my digital space, this vlog would contain all the information of what I have been working on in the past week and what I want to achieve in the future week. I would also address new information and problems we have come across in the project, for example I would say in the vlog that I had been asked to play ‘Back to Black’ for taunt. Doing weekly video vlogs would not just be helpful for me, but for the person marking my digital space as it would inform them in more detail of what is taking place in the project.
Did you achieve your targets for initial assignment?
One of my targets from my initial assignment was to improve my pedal skills on piano, during this performance I believe I have become more comfortable when using the piano pedal during a live performance. For example in Love On The Brain the keyboard part requires you to play 4 note arpeggios, to make these arpeggios sound fluent I used the sustain pedal. It was important to start a new pedal at the beginning of each chord change, this required me to get comfortable with starting new pedals on the bat with the music to create flowing and smooth transitions in the music. I also used pedal in Seven Nation Army and You’ve Got The Love for the same reason, therefore practicing these songs with pedal has improved my overall skill and confidence with it.
Another one of my targets was to add more dynamic contrast in the music I was performing, during this project I tried my best to do this in the music I played for this project. For example the bridge in Love On The Brain is designed to build up tension which then get’s released in the chorus, the technique used to build this tension is a crescendo on the final chord (D major). Therefore to play this crescendo I played my instrument softly and gradually hit the key harder with each time I played the chord. This was an example of dynamic contrast which I used in my performance, but it was not the only example I can share. During the rest of Seven Nation Army when Lucy and Millie are speaking to end the show I carry on playing my chords by laying them down softly and gently. However when they say “are you ready for another chorus” I play a G sharp note every beat, before the music starts I played a crescendo with the note to build up tension before we all joined in with the final chorus. This was another example when I used dynamic contrast in my performance. Therefore I have achieved the target of my initial assignment by using dynamic contrast in my performance on keyboard, there were also many other examples of when I used dynamic contrast however I cannot mention all of them on this page.
My final target was to become a more fluent reader in sheet music, I did not achieve this target in my project this is because we did not require sheet music to learn the songs. To learn the songs we used tabs to figure out the chords as well as our own ears, therefore non of us needed sheet music for our project this time around. This is because sheet music is not typically used to learn pop songs in a band as they are quiet easy to learn, however with classical and jazz music sheet music will be used more often during rehearsals.
Did you enjoy it?
This project was very fun for me and I enjoyed every minuet of it. It was really fun to work as a band and help each other out when learning new songs and sharing new ideas, working in a band is definitely something I would like to do again in the future. Working hard to learn all the songs to performance standard was also very rewarding as it allowed us to perform in front of an audience of around 140 people. Performing in front of a live audience was an amazing experience, and I would love to do it again in the future. One of my favourite parts of the project was performing Seven Nation Army in front of an audience, this was because I loved the interaction between the band and audience. And it was amazing to see everyone enjoyed our music after all the hard work we put into the project. My least favourite part of the project was the mixing sessions we had with Lewis, this is because I personally don’t enjoy mixing music as much as I do making and performing music. After completing my final performance I realized that working in a band to perform music in from of an audience is a fun and amazing experience which I would love to do again.
SA grades
Context-I believe I have earned a distinction in my context as I have clearly explained my reason behind my research and reflection on my digital space.
Research- I think I earned a merit in my research this is because the quantity of topics I have researched has been short, however I believe the great detail and depth of my research has earned me a merit.
Problem Solving- In believe I have earned a merit in my problem solving, this is because I have talked about how I fixed many of the problems I have encountered throughout my written work on the digital space, however I should have gone more out of my way to to talk about them through a page dedicated to problem solving.
Planning and Production- I think I earned a distinction in planning and production as the contracts I made for the event where very professional. I also planned my goals and targets for future weeks in the project which helped me develop as a band member and musician.
Practical Skills- I believe I have earned a distinction for my practical skills on this project, this is because I have managed to perform professionally in front of a live audience with minimal mistakes.
Evaluation and reflection- I believe I have also earned a distinction on my reflection and evaluation, this is because I have talked in great detail about what I did well and what went wrong. I also explained how I would improve myself in future performances.
Presentation- I believe I have also earned a distinction for my presentation skills as I have organised my digital space so that it is visually appealing and written in a very professional and formal way. For example I often made grids when explaining different microphones or roles in my band to present the information in a more organised fashion.