Intro
For my initial assignment I chose to perform the main theme from a video game called ‘Detroit Become Human’ on keyboard. I chose to play this piece of music as it is from one of my favourite video games due to it’s emotional story line and soundtrack. The soundtrack for this video game was composed by Nima Fakhrara. The reason I like this piece so much is because it reflects the main themes of the plot very well which are hope and sadness, the compositions ability to reflect on these themes inspire me and are the reason I like this piece of music so much. The original theme is arranged with a piano, violin and violas. At home I do not have access to an acoustic piano so I had to perform on a digital keyboard. During this performance I displayed my practical skills on piano and my ability to use the sustain pedal smoothly in between chord changes. In the B section the bass clef has octave jumps which is a skill I have also displayed in this performance.
For a little bit of context this piece of music comes from a video game called Detroit Become Human, this game is about robots which are used as slaves to humans. However these robots begin to have human emotions, this gives them the desire for freedom and an escape from the oppression they are under. This leads to an uprising where the robots campaign a right for their freedom, and this leads a civil war where the humans begin to violently act against the robots. Leading to segregated society between robots and humans. The original theme is around 3 minuets long, however I am playing a piano arrangement that I have found on muse score, I will site the notation at the bottom of this page.
What went well and what went wrong?
In the video I played well to the rhythm on the notes for the majority of the performance, however at the end of the B section my hands tripped over the notes resulting in me losing the rhythm and playing some wrong notes. This could be avoided with more practice over the composition as a whole. The dynamics in the A section contrast with the dynamics in the B section which went well as the original composition does this. This raise in dynamics signifies a strong surge of hope for the characters in the video game. The dynamics in the B section could be quieter as the piece comes to an end, this reflects on the sad aspects of the characters and the oppression they face in the game. To have emotional dynamic expression when performing you can play the music with your own personal emotion, this is what many artists do to give their audience an emotional performance. My technique playing the first 4 bars of the piece could have been improved by playing the treble clef notes with my left hand at the bass clef notes with my right hand, doing this would make the transition from the A section from intro easier, in my performance there was a slight gap in the music from the movement transition in the music.
The presentation of the video could be better as I filmed it on my phone as it was leaned up against a wall, for this to be improved I could rig up an overhead camera or use a MIDI particle effect which is very popular in piano covers today. To get a better angle and presentation I could plug my keyboard into a MIDI particle app and hook up an over head camera and start filming my performance. At the start of the video you can also hear talking, this does not look professional for a piano cover. To resolve this I can cut the video to remove the talking and maybe add a fade in transition effect to make it look more professional. After rereading the sheet music I noticed that I have played the final 2 bars of the music wrong, I have replayed the intro where as the notes in the treble clef are different at the end of the music, to improve this on my next performance of this piece I will be more observant when reading the sheet music and practice with the correct ending. The sheet music also says to perform an accent on the first note of each arpeggio, this is something I did inconsistently during the performance. To improve this next time I will practice with performing the accents in the music. My form at the piano was strong which is very important when performing music, this is because bad form looks unprofessional and can cause long term health problems. Good form on the piano is sitting up straight and sitting at a comfortable distance from the piano.
Self Assessment
Practical skills- Merit, I believe I achieved a merit because I played the majority of the piece correct, however I could improved on my technique while using the pedal and using dynamic articulation.
Evaluation- Excellent, I believe I also earned a distinction in my reflection because I have shown deep thought on how I could improve my performance. I also talked about what I think I did well and linked all related material such as Sheet Music and the original piece of music to my page.
Targets
- I aim to improve my pedal skills on the piano
- My target is to also add more dynamic contrast in future performances
- I also aim to also become more fluent in reading sheet music
source list
Reedman, I., 2018. Detroit Become Human Main Theme. [Sheet Music] Musescore. Available at: <https://musescore.com/user/29540621/scores/5209318> [Accessed 23 September 2021].
Youtube.com. 2019. Opening Credits (Full Theme) | Detroit: Become Human Unreleased OST. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ0Nk07_5po> [Accessed 20 September 2021].