Personally, I really enjoyed this performance and I think it was our best performance yet, bearing in mind we were all pretty nervous about it beforehand! I think it went a lot better than the mock one and compared to this, I felt a lot more confident in my own drumming as I was no longer as bothered about getting recorded. I’m also very glad that we managed to get all 4 songs done in time; we persevered and I think this shone through all of our performances. There were lots of things we could have done better in the performance, however, overall I believe it went really well to say it was our first real show as a group! Next time we perform as a group, we need to take into account these improvements to make our next show even better.
Group Performance Strengths
I think this was our best showing in terms of our timing. Throughout all of the songs, I felt that we were all very precise in our tempo which shows that we, as a group, work really well together and we are all concentrated on each other as well as our own parts. In rehearsals, sometimes during the breaks of songs we would drift out of the tempo however by practising and keeping a steady rhythm on the hi-hat during breaks, we all managed to reinforce our rhythm in time for the final performance. Keeping in the same tempo is vital for any live show as it shows cleanness and fluency.
As well as timing, our communication with the audience was improved here and this can be seen when Lucy introduced us to the virtual audience. She said something along the lines of ‘Hi, we’re Day Trip’. Even though it doesn’t seem like much, if we were not introduced, nobody would know our name and who we are. This engages the audience and it makes them want to carry on listening as it adds a distinctive and almost direct part to our set.
Even though we did not introduce the songs, I believe we still showed a much-improved sense of fluency between our songs transitions. Almost everything was recorded in one take (except for Clocks as there was a problem with the sound in the first take) so we had to make certain that everyone knew the set and the cue to start the next song. I was impressed at Morgan swapping his bass mid-set as he did this with both ease and speed. If there was a lot of waiting between songs, the audience might become bored and simply tune out of the performance, which is obviously not good! They might also be uncertain as to if the set has finished or not if we were not as prepared as we were.
Individual Performance Strengths
I feel like my own confidence saw a massive improvement in this final performance. As I am already in my own band, I am really used to performing to live audiences already, therefore this performance was even easier as there was no physical audience there. This is one of the reasons as to why my confidence shone through here, especially during Moving To New York where I gained the confidence to start doing stick tricks. I knew this was risky as if I dropped a stick we would have to start again, however, I feel like I pulled it off well and it added flair to my playing and the whole performance in general. In addition, I also stood up at the end of our final song whilst also hitting the crash. I usually do this is performances anyway as I feel like it adds a lot to the big ending of the show.
As a drummer, it is my job to keep the metre and rhythm tight as if there were no drummer, the rest of the band might struggle to do this. Many peers pointed out that I kept this flow very tight and therefore this added to the feel of the entire set. If I did not keep the rhythm’s tight, the songs would sound quite heavy-handed and uncoordinated as there is no solid backbeat. I did this by practising at home to both thee songs and a metronome and by also listening to the other people in my group whilst performing.
Group Performance Improvements
Even though we were working on our stage presence, I feel like it could have been much improved. Morgan on bass seemed the most confident out of our group, as he was moving around an showed that he was confident through his body language. I feel like if we were to do this performance again, the people standing up could be more like Morgan. And, to further improve this idea, people should not look like they are glued to the spot. For example, when Meg plays an important part on guitar, she could move closer to the front so she gets deserved attention. By doing this, the audience will be more engaged as it expresses excitement and enthusiasm.
I mentioned in the strengths that we were all extremely proud of Lucy for introducing us during the intro to Clocks as we knew she was really nervous about talking to the audience. Even though she managed to do this brilliantly, it would have been even better if we introduced our next songs as well. This could be something we can work on if we do another live performance later in the course. This is because communication with the audience is vital to keep them engaged in the show and it will help them remember the performance more as it makes it a little more personal to the watcher.
In Clocks, we accidentally played another few bars of the chorus before going into the bridge, which is not what we did during other performances and rehearsals. I’m not sure why this happened, however, it did throw some people off, including me, and Morgan had to stop playing for a couple of bars to find his bearings again. This is a problem as if the audience noticed that we slipped up a little, it will look bad on us as it might show that we don’t know the structure and haven’t practised enough.
Individual Performance Improvements
My communication between thee other bandmates could have been better as I didn’t really look to them to make sure they were performing fine and knew exactly what they were doing. However, this is quite difficult to do as a drummer as you’re usually behind the rest of the group, in which I was here, which means if you do try to communicate with the singer, for example, they will most likely not see you. My communication with the bassist is vital for any performance as we follow each other in almost every aspect of the show. To improve this for our next live show, I should work more with the rest of the group, especially the bassist in performances.
Even though I was enjoying the performance and I showed enthusiasm in my body language by standing up and doing stick tricks, I still need to work on my facial expressions. These are important as it shows my passion for playing live and performing with a group. As well as passion, it brings out my energy more as I feel that body language plus smiling and looking engaged will make myself feel more confident and so I will end up performing better. I can do this by always being aware of my presence to the audience and planning to work on this in my spare time or in rehearsals with my group.
Targets For Our Next Performance
-Improve communication between ourselves as a group and also with the audience.
-Be able to talk to the audience and engage with them more by introducing our next songs and just generally talking to the watcher.
-Everybody needs to work on their stage presence as moving around the stage will make use look more confident and enthusiastic.