Context: Good – I have shown a lot of ambition throughout all aspects of this project by taking notes, doing extra research and asking questions on the things I didn’t understand. I’ve learnt a lot through taking a lot of notes, taking photos/videos and trying to do things as much as possible, like getting involved in setting up live sound because I didn’t fully understand it.
Research: Good – Most of my research was done through asking questions or power points but I did do a little research on the area I was struggling with the most, my performance. I looked at a variety of different sources, like articles and videos from my favourite artists, so I had a variety of different opinions and techniques to help guide me. My research also included me just getting involved instead of watching until I felt confident. For example, I didn’t understand the mixing desk during the studio recording, but I just went and sat down to do it and asked questions as I went along.
Problem Solving: Good – The problems we mainly around the timing and performance, for me. To begin with, I had some trouble with the barre chords in “You’ve got the love”, my index finger wasn’t quite resting properly on the 1st and 2nd string, so it made a buzz sound. To solve this, I practiced my part every night, then my finger just got used to bending that way. Then, I had trouble playing in time on “Love on the brain”, because the timing was in 6/4 when I’d only ever really played in 4/4. To solved this, I practiced to the track, I followed the keys, so I knew when Isaac’s pinky went down, I was supposed to play, and I followed the kick drum, so whenever Abi hit the kick, I played. This gave me a strong foundation to follow until it ingrained in my head when I was playing. Then, in my management role, I had to keep track of everyone’s progress, so I got a note book and kept writing down what they needed help with, like Lucy had an idea for Adam’s seating plan, so I wrote it down and spoke with him to see if it was possible, which it wasn’t because of how many people we had to fit in. I also arranged the running order, with Nic’s help, so that we could fit everyone in without the show being too long, which meant we had to turn down a few solo performances. Then I had to work on my performance aspect, which I researched about and then practiced by filming myself, in my room, and then saw what I needed to improve on, like swaying more and looking out into the audience with a smile.
Planning and Production: Good – Over the 6 weeks we had, I practiced in the band and a lot in my own time. This helped me become more confident within the music aspect of things, so I would then be more confident in the show. I did a lot of planning by practicing with the song and recording myself, so I could see my errors and correct them. For example, the way I was looking down and not moving around, which I fixed before the final show. My production was great, I’d say, because I fleshed out all of my insecurities, like the timings on the second song, and worked until I got it right, so then in the show, it was all good. Also, for the live sound set, up I researched a bit on how to set up my instruments and asked questions about it, like changing the sound from distortion to clean, so I was confident in my sound, and that if there was a problem, I could fix it.
Practical Skills : Good – Music wise, I don’t think I messed up in the last performance. However, my performance skills could still have been better. I think I did a lot better than all the other times I played, but I still didn’t move as much as I thought I was. I hope it did come across like I was enjoying it though, and that I was confident, because I did/was. If I was to do it again, I’d probably try walk around instead of just sway, but I wasn’t really sure if I could pass the monitors without getting feedback, which I could’ve researched or asked about, to be honest.
Evaluation and Reflection: Good – I think I explained everything well, and included how I was feeling, to make it more explicit. I explained what I would do if I had the opportunity to redo it and I explained all of the strengths and improvements needed.
Presentation: Excellent – From what I can tell, everything is there and it’s all clear, in as much detail as I could. I provided pictures, I Harvard referenced as much as I could, and I got as many videos as I could. Everything has clear subheading’s, so you can easily search it up on the right page, like micing up the amps in live sound etc. I tried to be as ambitious as possible, by including everything that I was told, researched about, tried out, problem solved and thought.
Overall Grade: Good – I really was aiming for higher but I think I needed to do more individual research and I needed to push my performance more. However, I’m going to do more research and push myself more in the next project to get an excellent!
Self Declaration:
I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.