Because of the coronavirus COVID_19 pandemic, we had to this final performance as a live stream on YouTube as we could not have a physical audience in the room with us. This was strange at first as we were in a room with no audience but it was still classed as our performance even though it didn’t really feel like one! To make the live stream, our sets were recorded in different angles which would then be taken away, edited, synced with the sound and then put together as if it was a real live performance. As the camera on me was facing behind me, it did not bother me too much in the final performance, especially because we had already been recorded like this in the mock the week before. In terms of lessons, we had to do many online workshops when we couldn’t be in the building. Personally, I quite liked this as I was able to work in my own environment with no distractions like my friends around me. I found that I had more access to online resources on my own laptop as in College, many websites are blocked because of security reasons. I could also work when I wanted to and it felt like there was a lot less pressure on us to be working at specific times. So, overall, even though it felt strange to be working at home, I actually quite enjoyed it!
In my initial assessment, I set myself three targets to try and complete by the end of this project. One of these was to try and make my timing more on point. I feel like I did improve upon this target by practising the songs more to the actual backing track, a metronome and with the rest of my group during rehearsals. This made sure that the tempo was always on right. I also found it easier to keep a steady timing alongside the rest of my bandmembers compared to a backing track. Another target was to become more confident with using a right-hand lead as well as left. I did not improve on this much this project however I plan to work on this in my drum lessons so I can move around the kit with both left and right-hand lead, therefore improving my drumming techniques dramatically. My final target was to work with other musicians to form a band or ensemble. I managed to complete this very easily as that is exactly what project one is about! I felt like it improved my confidence as I enjoy playing with other musicians live compared to a backing track.
I feel like most of my research for this project was both relevant and useful as I did lots of research on the topics in this project for example; the music industry, health and safety, live performances and more. I also did extra write-ups as I was interested in this first project and wanted to know everything I could about live performances! I did research and wrote about the science behind music like soundwaves and how different microphones work depending on their intended use. I also researched the importance of instruments in music and how different instruments should work together during performances. I could have done some more initial research into the aspects of live performance. I write about them during the live performance analysis’ however I failed to explain what they actually meant beforehand.
My practical skills in this project were shown very well in terms of rehearsals, performing and live sound workshops. As I am used to rehearsals and performing, this wasn’t much of a problem for myself; the only problem was being in a totally new band and learning new songs with them whilst getting to know each other and their strengths/weaknesses. However, in the end, I believe we delivered a convincing performance and we showed our practical skills on our instruments extremely well! I really enjoyed the live sound workshops as I have always wanted to know how live sound systems are set up. Because of this, I can help my other band in setting up our PA system for gigs when we eventually get back to performing. I thought these workshops were going to be confusing because of the number of wires and other things to remember, however, feel as though I and my group understood it fairly easily and managed to remember it all at the end, which is vital if we are going to pursue a career in music and live performances.
Although I am interested in almost all aspects of music, I feel like live performance would definitely be something I might consider as a career. I feel like being a live performer also has some aspects of working on live sound, being able to record and compose your own music or parts to music as you need good originals to gain a strong following. This is why live performance appeals to me so much as I also enjoyed the live sound workshops. Despite this, I am also yet to see what the other projects are like and whether I would want to do a career in those eg. recording, composing or even management and promoting. I think I would like to do my final project on live performance because I play many instruments and I feel it is the thing I have the most experience in and therefore will excel in compared to the other topics. To do a live performance as my final project, I need to improve my communication with the group and audience and work on my stage presence. However, this could change depending on how the next two projects go; I might enjoy them more than performing as I have never done composition or recording before.
To make this project better, we could have done some work on promotion; we could have made some social media accounts for our band and promote our performance live stream on those. This might have given our show more attention and engagement. We could have also looked into possibly composing our own song instead of doing as many covers as we did. I feel this would have made our performance more impressive and distinct to the other groups. This would have been difficult to do in our time limit, however, with some help from the tutors I believe we might have just been able to get it done, but composing our own song was never thought about at the time. If we had spare time, we could have also tried to professionally record one of our covers. This would allow us to learn about the recording studio before project three and it could have made us feel a lot more professional as a band.
Overall, really enjoyed this first project and my first few months at college! I feel like this project really showed my skills as a musician and it has improved my confidence and playing hugely. In terms of the work, I completed almost everything as soon as I got it as I know that keeping on top of this larger than expected workload is vital. To make sure future projects go as well as this one, I need to carry on keeping on top of my work, be determined to work and I need to know to persevere if things go wrong. I should also ask the tutors as many questions as I can as the more questions asked, the more knowledge you will gain. Roll on project two!!