Live Performance written Analysis.

Lindsey Stirling – Live Violin Performance:

Introduction:

Lindsey Stirling is an innovate Violinist who played in London for her second concert tour hosted in 2015, known as the ‘Shatter me Tour’ in this particular live performance Lindsey Stirling incorporated many different Genres into her performance such as Dubstep, Classical, Electro house, and Hip hop, creating a more ‘modern’ twist to Classical music. I chose this performance because it incorporates choreography, different genres, and very interactive with the crowd, and normally, I’m not into Classical or Jazz music, so when I was assigned to write a second analysis, I felt like Lindsey performances and songs relate to me more, and appeal to my type of preference. Lindsey typically makes songs mixing classical music with Dubstep and Hip hop, and it allows her audience of teens upwards to experience Classical music in a way that appeals to more teens, the targeted demographic. With one of her most known song being ‘Shatter me’ Lindsey is also a Vocalist, but in this particular performance, she doesn’t sing a lot, but in this performance, I don’t personally think it needed any words, With her dancing around the stage, it creates a very intense atmosphere, I personally don’t like performances that are still on stage, because they are boring to me, and when I watch performances like those, I don’t often feel like I’m present, that’s why I like Lindsey’s Live performances so much.


Venue and type of audience:

The performance introduces the audience to mysterious melancholy ambiance, as Lindsey appears on stage, a purple light illuminating her form, the dominating colour of the stage, as the rest of the stage is overtaken by darkness. The audience was cheering, standing, as the Dubstep seemingly joined hand in hand with the Violin, the lights blaring brighter with every note, the build up causing the audience to cheer louder, and Lindsey started to perform her choreography, having several dancers on stage, she performed while playing the violin in her hands, her body dancing along like she was apart of the beat, the stage was small in comparison to the audience, but the bright flashing lights on the stage made the performance the definite focus point. The lights were very intense on stage, with screens projecting stars and lights following the dancers and Lindsey onstage, I find the very aesthetically pleasing to look at, and call me biased, but she does incorporate all my favourite colours, she has Drummers onstage in the background, Along with a DJ, and pre-recorded backing vocals. The smoke machine adds to the ambiance of the performance. The audience is briefly shown throughout the performance, but from what I can see, they were all together, grouped around the stage and from what I can tell they were waving their hands in time with the music, jumping up and down and cheering along.

Communication:

Music is the main communication the performance, because the Violin was the man focal point of the performance along with the incorporated Dubstep, there was no need for words. Lindsey dances around the stage, coming to the edge and smiling at the crowd, making them feel included, with things being projected on the screen to the crowd that’s another form of communicating with the audience, With the crowd cheering her on the energy in the performance was amplified. Communication within the audience is also seen as they are dancing with each other throughout the performance. When Lindsey dances in time with others performing on stage, they are all in time and very expressive, performing with each other, the pianist in the back of the stage encouraging the crowd. With the Performance being focused on instruments it was hard to talk about Communication in a lot of depth, but they are some key points I’ve managed to spot that I’ve mentioned, I feel like Lindsey could’ve communicated with her audience a bit more, but apart from that, the performance was stellar.

Stage Presentation:

The performers used lighting and fog machines to their advantage in this performance, it allowed them to create different atmospheres throughout the performance and made me feel like the music was taking me on a journey, the past paced violin, and the Dubstep made me want to dance, with the heavy flashing lights increasing the intensity of the dubstep, and the screen in background creating an aesthetically pleasing backdrop, showing previous clips of Lindsey’s previous performances, the choreography, despite having instruments on the stage kept your attention throughout the entire performance, the stage being dominated by colours you’d associate with galaxies hence the musical piece ‘Stars Align’. Screens moving in time with the beat really added to the performance when the Dubstep would join in with the violin. The stage seemed relatively large, big enough to do such enthusiastic choreography, it looks like it took place in a theatre, having curtains behind the screen, and people stood in the very back, barely noticeable. The lights changed constantly throughout the entire performance along with the music, each sounding like an individual piece but ultimately, joining beautifully with the entire performance,

Music Competency:

Lindsey incorporates Classical, Dubstep, Hip hop, and Electro house into her performances along with striking choreography, with her main instrument being her Violin, she performs onstage with no words, dancing along to the soft melody of the violin and the hard beats that the Dubstep provides. She stomps her feet on the floor when dancing at certain points, the drums accompanying her along with the piano, microphone, Backing track, and pre-recorded vocals. The intention from an outside perspective is unclear, but even so, the music recaptures any audience, as a fellow fan of Lindsey’s music, and knowing quite a few of her songs, for me personally it’s about hearing the soul of the violin, the violin’s melodies are like an expression of the soul, and it plays with my emotions and active imagination, the choreography helping to intensify that feeling, When watching her perform there’s a sense of a journey, and a feeling of suspense, and hidden beauty, every note and melody, every beat, and harmony and the fast rhythm, makes my body react in steady adrenaline, that forms into a burning desire to dance along to choreography. Because of these feelings, it makes me feel like I’m there, I’m present in the performance, and it engages the audience and turns it into an experience, not just someone looking at a performance, for me I felt like I had become a part of the performance itself, and that’s what made it so powerful.

Summary/Outro:

Overall, I really love Lindsey Stirling as an artist, and she’s a great performer, who’s got a lot of talent and is very creative. I would like to have seen more communication to the audience, and be more clear about the narrative of the piece, maybe including the audience would’ve benefitted the performance, But as a whole, I love her as a whole, because she took Classical music, something I’m not usually keen on, and turned it into something I adore.