Individual Reflection
The mock performance for this project has already shown much improvement from past rehearsals we have done which is great. One strength in my performance can be seen in the end of Somewhere Only We Know, this is where I successfully played the final two chords while gradually getting slower. The use of this technique gave added more layers of depth and texture to the arrangement of the song, I also played the final chord in time with the rest of the band. As seen in previous rehearsals this is something I used to struggle with, however in this performance I have improved a lot and therefore managed to play it in time. For the most part of the performance with the exception of the end of Rocking around the Christmas tree I played all the stabs on beat with the band, which was also another thing I used to struggle with. The accuracy of the stabs in this performance added sharpness and rhythmical tightness into the music, this made our mock performance sound professional and organised. Another strength of this performance was that I was able to play all the chords from memory all with their inversions, this allowed the chord changes in the songs to sound more gentle and fluent. As voice leading is a technique often used in professional music concerts, this shows great professionalism and knowledge of the set list of the performance.
What Could Be Improved?
Despite the many successes of this performance there is still much to be improved, one being the dynamics of the performance on the keyboard. This was most noticeable in ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ because the piano is constantly being played, in this song I played the keys on a flat dynamic level. This made the music sound boring and un-energetic, therefore I must improve the dynamics by having them vary between song structures. In the chorus I would like to play the dynamics at a forte level to give it more focus in contrast to other parts of the song where I would play it at a mezzo piano level. Changing the dynamics would make the song sound a lot more interesting to the audience and other listeners. There were many technical issues during this performance which impacted my performance, one being that I could not hear myself in the monitor. Meaning I could not hear it when I made any errors such as going off time because I had no sound that could alert me to my mistakes, this sustain pedal also did not work which made the set list sound very staccato and detached. To avoid issues like this in future I will go on another keyboard or do a sound check on the keyboard before the performance takes place.
Rocking around the Christmas tree was the song I made the most mistakes on, mostly surrounding the structure and the stabs in the music. When performing this song I am not confident with playing the final stabs that lead into the outro, in this performance I ended up not playing these stabs due to lack of confidence. This reduced the build up of tension in the music and damaged the overall impact of the music for the ending, to become more confident with these stabs I will practice them at home along side the original record to get it right. Then hopefully by the final performance I will be confident with playing these stabs in time with the band, furthermore delivering rhythmical tightness to the music. To even further improve this song I must become more familiar with the song structure, this is because I missed the two chords at the end of the verse because I was not aware of the change in the songs structure. Therefore I must listen to this song more to become more confident with the structure as well as practice at home to learn it from a practical point of view.
Group Reflection
This mock performance went very well due to the amount of effort we have put into it as band. One strong point that can be seen in this performance was the harmonies the singers used in Somewhere Only We Know which added more depth to the music and made it sound more peaceful and gentle. We also showed a great amount of professionalism in this performance, this because there were often loud feedback signals which overpowered the music making it difficult to play. However all of us played through these disturbances with no mistakes as we waited for the sound engineers to fix them, this shows great performance skills and determination. Another strong point of this performance was stage communication, this is because everyone looked around on a regular basis into the audience and at the different band members. Looking up and interacting with people on stage looks very confident and professional which is why it is one of our strong points in the performance.
What Could Be Improved?
Despite the great skills demonstrated in this mock there are still many areas for improvement, one being knowledge of the song structure. This is because in Rocking around the Christmas tree Millie began singing the verse instead of the bridge, this was audible in the video meaning a real life audience would notice the mistake. Therefore Millie must practice the song more often in order to confidently know the lyrics for each part of the song structure, singing the wrong lyrics in a song looks unprofessional and may give the impression that you do not know the music. Therefore it is very important to have memorised your set list before appearing on stage. Another way we could improve the performance is to have Lucy talk to the audience for a little bit longer while Niall and Tia are swapping instruments. This is because this period of time between the songs can be very boring for the audience if they only have to watch two people change their instruments for a minute, therefore Lucy should engage them by asking them if they are enjoying the show. This will make the audience more excited and engaged in the performance and it will remove any awkward silences from the intervals between songs.
In conclusion this performance went very well as we have improved in many areas since our previous performances, the main areas for improvement we need to work on includes learning the structure of our music so that we don’t play the wrong chords or sing the wrong lyrics. As this was a reoccurring mistake in the performance. Personally my biggest area for improvement is timing, as there were many moments were I dragged behind on the stabs and sometimes even missed chords in the music.
Feed The World
This is rehearsal footage for the mock performance on Feed The World by Band Aid, this performance went well however there were some issues that need improving. One strong point of this performance is that no one needed sheet music to perform, meaning we all confidently know the song which shows great professionalism. The best thing about this performance is that we all enjoyed ourselves which is the main thing, as this song was made to bring everyone together to both enjoy themselves and bring awareness to serious issues. Also it is important to enjoy the performance on stage otherwise the audience will most likely not enjoy it. This performance was also very good because we managed to play the ending on time with one another and played the final three chords correctly, this is an improvement as sometimes we missed the final three chords because we got lost in the song structure due to it’s repeating lyrics. The ending to this performance sounded very grand and professional, which is what we want in the show ending song. This song is looking very strong at the moment, however there are some small improvements that need to be made in order to deliver the best performance possible to the audience.
What could to be improved?
One thing that could be improved in this performance would be to learn the bridge, this is because someone was going off key in the bridge which caused dissonant clash between the notes in the bridge. This sounded very unpleasant and messy, therefore whoever is playing it wrong needs to correct themselves by running through the song more and learning the chords in the bridge. To improve the stage presentation of this performance Meg could also take her hands out of her pockets as it makes her look very reserved and shy from the perspective of the audience. Why is not what we want, because in a performance we all want to come across as confident so it looks like we know what we are doing on stage with music. Another way we could improve the performance would be by changing the arrangement very slightly, this is because the synth patch on the keyboard is very difficult to hear. Meaning the chords I am playing and the synth lead Ellis is playing is barley audible, meaning the layers of instrumental texture in the music are missing which removes some of the impact of the song. To improve this we could find another synth patch on the keyboard which is louder or have the chords and lead played on a different keyboard to make it sound more audible in the music. Making the synth audible in the music would both give me and Ellis a purpose in the music, as well as add some atmospheric sounds over the music therefore adding more depth into the performance.