Notice- As I started rehearsing later in the project with Taunt I have got no footage of rehearsals with them aside from the mock performance which will be linked on this page.
Individual reflection
In terms of performance and stage communication this was the best performance, this is because I very often looked up and smiled at other band members. I also enjoyed myself a lot more when playing the music as I became a lot more confident with my keyboard playing ability. I could not hear my keyboard through the monitor during the performance which meant I had to play through trusting the drummer, to fix this problem I could have pointed my finger upwards to sign Lewis to turn up keys on my monitor mix. During the set list I also managed to play all my roles in the song correctly with little things to tidy up. One little thing I can tidy up is my pedal use in You’ve got the Love when transitioning between chords, this will make the music sound more fluent . I am confident in my knowledge of the songs to perform them in front of a live audience know as I only need little practice from myself.
Band Reflection
At the start of ‘You’ve Got The Love’ Tia was playing the guitar with distortion on which drowned out the other instruments as it wasn’t meant to be in the beginning of the song. This issue could be avoid if we all did a quick sound check before the start of the song to check all our instruments are working correctly. Later in the song when Millie started playing the organ patch on the keyboard the initially played the wrong notes, this lead to clashing with the instruments in the band. However Nic quickly went on stage to help her out and fix the problem, with more frequent practice of the keyboard part in the song it will be very easy to play even under the pressure of a live audience.
In love on the Brain Millie was not confident with her keyboard part in that song either, however Nic also helped her out and then it was played perfectly. Like on the other song, more practice will make her role easier to remember and play. A side from them two problems and my keyboard being in heard the performance went very well. This is because we all had great stage communication with each other and enjoyed the music we were playing on stage. A problem with Love on the Brain in our last rehearsal session was lack of knowledge around the song structure, this lead to the bridge taking us by surprise in the song. However in this performance we all managed to play the song with great rhythm, knowledge and skill. We are very close to being able to perform in front of a live audience to deliver and amazing performance, there are just a few problems that need fixing which I have addressed.
Individual Reflection
At the beginning of the song my keyboard was not making any noise, Nic noticed this problem and realised the keyboard was not plugged in. This mistake was my fault as I should have seen if the keyboard was working well before the song started, however even after it was plugged in it was still making no noise. I signalled the people working on the Live sound board to turn me up but the didn’t notice me until 4:00, to improve next time I should make it more clear that I need to be turned up by pointing my finger up. This will tell them that my monitor mix for the keyboard is too quiet. However once I could hear myself I dropped out of the music on time with the cues on the final chorus, the cue for us to drop out is after playing the chord progression 3 times. After the 3rd rotation we drop out for a bar and come back in. My stage confidence has also improved as I often looked around at my other band members and audience and smiled because I was enjoying playing the song. I also played the chords with a accent and staccato to make the chorus seem more aggressive, in jazz music such as ‘Mr Trumpet Man’ they use a lot of staccato and accents to give more energy and rhythm to the music.
Group Reflection
The singers in our band have improved rapidly in stage confidence and talking to the audience, as before when they were singing there hands were always by there side. But know they often point over to the audience and express themselves with the music. When the talk to the audience it is also more fluent and confident than last time, as there was hesitation as well as some information forgotten to be said before such as performing the chorus again. In the rests between the lyrics the also interacted with the audience by saying “you can go louder than that” this encourages the audience to put more energy into the music. There was a point in the 2nd verse when the singers went really quiet and some of the lyrics were missed, this might have been because they both forgot the lyrics of nerves. To avoid problems like this happening again they should go over the lyrics a few more times and therefore become more confident with the song. This mistake was quickly forgotten about after a bar though, this mistake will probably not happen again in the future as it might have been a one time issue.
The timing and rhythm of the instruments during the performance was really tight and professional, when listening back to the mock there is no issues with timing that I could spot. This is because we all hit the stabs with the drums on cue, we also transitioned between parts of the song structure very well and dropped out of the music on cue in the final chorus. The fact that we all know our cues perfectly at this time in the performance shows that we can deliver and amazing and professional performance to the live audience on the 20th of October. As Seven Nation Army will be the song to end the night we decided we should let Abi finish with a drum solo. The solo which was played was very advanced in terms of skill level and sounded great, the last hit of the drums is everyone’s cue to hit the final chord of F major. In the performance we all managed to do a good job of hitting the chord on beat with the final punch of the drum solo played by Abi.
Back To Black
Individual reflection
One thing I struggled with in rehearsals was memorizing my cue and when to come in and cut out, during this mock performance I managed to remember all my cues. This was something I practiced by listening to the song on the bus and playing along to the music at home. My stage communication is not perfect but it has improved from last time I performed as I am more comfortable with looking around at my band members and the audience. During the mock I also played the chords of back to black correctly, I have only had one rehearsal with taunt so it was difficult to prepare for a live performance. However I believe I did a good job performing, there is much to be improved skill wise and piano wise however I will talk about that in the section below.
There was a mistake at the beginning of the performance where I was playing my chords a bar shorter in length than I should have, this lead to a loss of timing in the music which could have thrown of the guitarist. This issue was caused by lack of confidence in my knowledge of the song, I tried to fix my problem by dropping out and coming back in when during the next chord change. My silence in the music however was very loud to the audience, next time I will avoid this issue by practicing the song more and becoming more comfortable with the timing. The articulation I was playing the chords in had too much of an accent on the staccato notes of the chords, this articulation in the context of the song sounded off with the rhythm of the other instruments. To improve upon this next time I will hold down the notes a little bit longer, this will make the notes sound more flowing and natural to the ear. I began playing the chords in a high octave on the keyboard and I was not convinced that I was playing at the right pitch, this lead me to jump down and octave in the middle of a verse. This sounded very bad in a musical sense and unprofessional, if I had to change the octaves know after making that mistake I would at least change at the start of a structure (e.g. chorus) to make it sound more professional and musical.
In terms of performance aspects I could have improved by stage communication, this is because I barely looked away from my keyboard. To a real life audience look down at your instrument can make it look like your are scared or do not want to be there, therefore for my final performance I must improve and look up at the audience and other band members. I am also stood quiet still during the performance, I am stood at the keyboard so there is a limit to how much I can move. However I could move more with the beat of the music and just express myself with the music I am performing.
Band reflection
The confidence of the band during the performance has improved since the last performance they had, I believe we in terms of confidence we are ready for a real life audience. Apart from the firs 3 bars at the beginning of the song the timing and rhythm was the band was very tight throughout. The interaction with the crowd during the performance has been improved as the speech flows more during the speeches, the confidence of the lead singers speeches has also increased when talking to an audience. This was just a mock and there will be a much bigger audience in the final performance, however I believe will all quickly adapt to a bigger audience when playing our music on stage. The bass and drummer kept a strong rhythmic foundation which is very important in order to keep supporting the timing in the band.
The performance was great however there was moments when Tom turned his back on the audience when playing bass, during a live performance you should not turn your back on an audience as it seems rude and like you don’t want to be there. To improve the performance one of the lead singers could mention Me and Tia before we off stage, this is because it looks very awkward just to walk off stage with no mention. The stage communication of me and Ben could have been improved a lot, this is because we spent most of the performance looking down at our instruments with focused faces. To fix this problem we must become more confident when performing on stage as well as our instruments, acquiring this confidence will allow us to look up from our instruments and enjoy the music we are performing.