#MD5320

[sophietribe]

Rehearsal Strategy Write up:

How often did you rehearse?  Once or twice a week. 

How long were your rehearsal sessions? 1.5 Hours

Where did you rehearse? University rehearsal rooms/ my house (Cheltenham/Bristol). 

How were your rehearsals structured? 

Set up what I needed (equipment e.g., mic). 

Write down a list of things I need to do in the rehearsal and tick off as I go.

As I rehearse, I record the session. I make sure I listen back for mistakes, and I improve. 

I use what I like from the recordings. 

How often did you rehearse on your own?

As I performed many of my performances by myself I did mostly all the rehearsals on my own. Sometimes I would ring/bring a friend along for another ear for the positives and negatives. 

How often did you rehearse in a band? 

Only four times that I had rehearsed within a duo. 

Have you spent time rehearsing individual parts of songs and how did you rehearse them? 

When working with Daisy I would work on my own parts of the song/s such as, lyrics, and melodies. I would also help her if needed. Before going into the session I would rehearse by making a mind map or write lyrics beforehand. When in rehearsal I would easily make melodies and make them fit towards the brief and what was being worked on in the session. Whether this was by myself or in a group/duo. 

How has you time management affected your performances? 

I feel that my time management was good, and I made sure I disciplined myself into making these deadlines for the performances (planning + rehearsal sheet). When it came to performing there were struggles where I couldn’t perform so I had to reschedule these performances to a later date. This was due to uncertain circumstances. 

How did the tasks impact your rehearsals?

The tasks impacted my rehearsals well. The tasks inspired me and made me want to rehearse. Whether this was working alone or in a group/duo, it was a good environment, gained loads of experience, and experimentation. 

How have your rehearsals impacted your performance? 

With rehearsing 1-2 times a week I felt I could’ve done more practice within the performances. I felt that most of them were rushed and seemed non- professional if this was to be performed in front of a public audience.  However, the feedback on them was good from friends and I have time for improvements. 

What has prevented you from rehearsing and how can you work round this?

I wish I could’ve rehearsed more and possibly done more public performances, however there were obstacles in the way from me reaching this goal.  Whether it was workload, personal life, or feeling uninspired at the time. Ways that I could possibly improve this next time would be to be more disciplined, relaxed and perhaps work with other people/ bands to feel inspired. As I feel working by yourself sometimes can be exhausting and de motivating.

[rosestiff]

Music Performance: The Final Performance

Here is the link to the video of our final performance:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvdBR-wxuds

[arthurmears]

Final Performance video

[sachasmithh]

Music Performance - MD5320

Task 7 - Final Performance Manifesto

Our final performance I think portrayed everything we wanted it to within us as a band. You can really see in the video that it looks much more put together and we look as one as a band.

Our final stage set up was Josh in the middle on the piano and us 4 vocalists around him with 2 on each side. We as vocalists were sat on high stools while Josh was on a lower seat at the piano. I think this worked really well with our vision as we got to look down at josh playing piano, but it also meant we had a clearer view of each other, because we were tilted in slightly it gave off the more intimate vibe.

I made sure this time the visuals suited the 3 songs, what with only having the picture at the beginning only shown for about 5 seconds and then it fading into the clouds, last time I edited it so that the colours changed every 3 loops of the clouds, but I decided this time it needed to change more frequently so I decided to edit the colour every loop of the clouds, not necessarily change colour drastically but just subtle enough that it blends in nicely with the next loop.

The clouds represented feeling calm and relaxed which we think suited us best, it was for our audience to connect with our music and find peace as we sang. The lighting we had for our stage also matched our visuals which was good and tied it all in together. We also made sure it was more lit up so that the audience could see us clearly and therefore could connect with our faces and stage presence.

Another performance I got inspired by is ‘Summer Walker, Usher – Session 32/Come Thru (Live)’. In her performance she also sits on a stool and has a big screen behind her which is also clouds. She has pink ambient lighting on the stage and on her but outside of the stage it is black, she has created an intimate stage and that is also what we wanted to achieve.

From previously struggling with sound difficulties, sound checks and not hearing ourselves properly. We made sure for our final performance we got a proper soundcheck and that we could hear our vocals in the PA, what we struggled with last time was that we couldn’t hear each other’s vocals as the piano was too loud in the PA, and its crucial for not only singers but for when we are singing 4 harmonies as we need to make sure we can concentrate on our own harmonies so it sounds perfect.

Overall, I’m super happy with our final performance I think it went really well and I can visibly see how far we have come as a band. I think we have finally found our musical identity and who we are vocally and who we are vocally within a band.

Here is our final performance:

https://youtu.be/GrwQicy76EI

[elliepensom]

MD5320 - Final performance manifesto

Overall, our image for the final performance will consist of a moody aesthetic that will change with the songs throughout our set and will further be complimented by our visuals and lighting.

At first, we were unsure what our band image was and how we wanted to portray ourselves. As our music is an eclectic combination of Soul, Rock, Jazz, and lo-fi styles. Up to this point, we have found it hard to pin-point and settle on our overall aesthetic.  To combat this, we have drawn inspiration on our final performance ideas, entailing stage setup (Lighting, visuals) and overall sound, from two of our main song writing influences, The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys (Tranquillity base album aesthetic).

We came to the decision surrounding our overall sound, and image aesthetic via collectively liking the 70s retro theme that occurs throughout the Tranquillity Base album but also the Darker Blues-Rock feel from The Black Keys. After much thought we have decided to base our image around a darker retro aesthetic, which was taken from a mixture of our two main influences. We felt this particularly worked well with the feel of the songs we have written and has allowed us to take from a wider range of sources in the creation of our visual aesthetics.  

Sound wise as our influences mainly fall into more Indie-Alternative rock and create a heavier sound within a lot of their work, we instead want to be a little more stripped back, something, we feel, will suit our overall instrumentation better, and will add to what our identity is forming into. Our musical identity, as a group, I feel is a cumulation of each of our individual styles and our intention for this set is to showcase the different things we individually can do as musicians. I intend to showcase many different techniques and runs that I have learnt over many years of practicing the violin, which is something that is a huge part of my performing identity.

To fit the visuals in with our image, we decided to tailor each background video to the overall vibe of the respective song. This was something we had found particularly challenging from our first performance with visuals, but taking on the feedback from that session once we had established what our image was going to be, the whole creative process for making these images became a lot easier. To create these images, we used Adobe After Effects, a software commonly used in a lot of visual creations in major industry projects. For lighting, we want to use different colours for different songs. Colour changes will help to impact the different moods that come out in each song. For example, our song ‘Every time’ has quite a soft, calm, and slightly melancholic feel which would pair well with some moody blue or soft purple lighting. For ‘Saydo’, as it is a happier tune, a soft yellow/orange will suit better and for our final song ‘Possessed’ a darker red alongside some harsh white tones, will impact the drama in this song more.

Our Visuals: Backgrounds

Our final performance (25/05/2022):

[felicitymitchell]

MD5320- Final Performance

For the final performance, I made the change from using backing trakcs to playing the ukulele. I swapped out one of the songs from the last performance for two new ones to be able to give a fresh performance. My stage attire consisted of a black top and blue jeans to give a stage-appropriate yet causal vibe to the performance. I decorated the mic stand with flowers again, and I wore a black top as I wanted the flowers to stand out. I had a different visual for each track in the same style so that the performance felt like a transitional but cohesive experience. incorporating the session we did on visuals and lighting I used pink/purple lighting to match the aesthetic and set the mood for the performance. I think the performance went really well. I was happy with my stage set up and how everything looked and sounded.

[uogjustjosh]

Week 3 - Aesthetics

In this week’s lecture we looked at performance aesthetics. We looked at what constitutes aesthetics, and how we can use aesthetics, much like branding, to create an artist image and identity for ourselves. We looked at how various artists, in various genres and of varying levels of international recognition have a clear aesthetic, and how important it is to create one that is true to yourself. We also investigated how best to interact with your audience, and how this changes depending on your genre of music. 

After this we went downstairs and created a mood board using Pinterest. I had never used pinterest before or created a mood board, so attempting to learn how to use the software and learn about creating a mood board for myself was challenging enough. In addition I soon learned that in both pinterest and mood boards, colours are important. I am colourblind!

Whilst I did not personally enjoy this task (as I felt I was just creating a series of random images), I felt I still chose images that were relevant to me and my interests. I have attached my mood board below:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/joshjr2309/aesthetics/

Next week we have our first set task performance of Silk Sonic’s ‘Leave The Door Open’, so my main focus is to rehearse that by myself, as I will be unable to rehearse with my group, due to me being away for the remainder of this week.

[sophietribe]

                                                 Chapel Questions

My performance 

How have you responded to the Chapel?

I think that the chapel has amazing acoustics to perform in, however as I have never performed in a church before I felt slightly overwhelmed. I loved that the natural reverb bounced off the walls, it was incredible and complemented my vocals.

What original music did you perform and why?

Daisy and I performed one of our songs called ‘Happier’ which, is written by me. It’s about a relationship that is toxic. I performed this song due to the emotional attachment I have with it and that I really wanted to share it with the audience in an emotive environment.

What instruments did you use and why?

 Daisy and I used raw vocal and acoustic guitar. I feel there’s something vulnerable, authentic, and intimate about someone playing and singing with a guitar. 

Discuss how the music is played - technique (instrument / mic etc), dynamics, tightness, feel etc.  Did it fit or respond to the space

The acoustic guitar was played gently and strummed which added to my soft reverbed vocals and added to the vulnerability to the song. It reflected the space well as it is already a calm environment. 

Emotional impact - how does it make you feel? Do you think it matches the artist's intention?

I feel I am quite an emotional person in general and I reflect emotions onto others through my vocals. Teddy could tell that my performance was emotional due to the song lyrics and the way I sang from the heart. We choose to be seated in order to create an intimate and emotive space for the audience. Being on the same level allowed the audience to relate or connect to my story, music and relationship. I hoped that I would create a sense authenticity.

What is your overall thought of the performance? Did it go well? How could it be improved? Did you enjoy it?

I think it went well, hearing the recording back. However, I couldn’t hear myself that well on stage, so next time I would do a longer soundcheck. I get very nervous still when performing. Working on my confidence skills and trying to be more open to the audiences responses, might help me improve in the future.  

Kai, Jack, Adam, and Alex

How have you responded to the Chapel?

Compared to my performance this rock performance by Jack, Adam, Kai and Alex was impressive. They used the chapel to an advantage by making loud noise which, was reflected by the acoustics of the chapel. 

What instruments did you use and why?

They used bass, guitar, and drums. 

Discuss how the music is played - technique (instrument / mic etc), dynamics, tightness, feel etc.  Did it fit or respond to the space

Played with loads of distortion on the guitar. Drums played with force with loads of cymbals. The whole space felt full of sound and reflected the space well. However, for some the sound may have been too loud, which would of detracted from the song.

Emotional impact - how does it make you feel? Do you think it matches the artist's intention?

I love rock music and felt a connection. The guys, especially Kai, connected to what they were playing.

What is your overall thought of the performance? Did it go well? How could it be improved? Did you enjoy it?

The music was incredible and unique as I have never seen someone play rock in a chapel. However, the setting of the space didn’t reflect the music, it made me feel like it shouldn’t of been in this location. On the other hand the music felt unique as they were pushing boudaries with the music and venue.

[rosestiff]

Music Performance: Manifesto of live performance

I want to create an immersive experience for both performers and the audience during our final performance, I aim to achieve this through my stage set-up, Lighting, Visuals, and Outfits as well as the performance itself.

Firstly through the stage set-up, Josh is on the piano in the centre of the four singers. Creating a theatre in the round type feel to the performance, I believe will add to the immersive experience we want to create. We also have decided to use stools for the performance, this is to create a relaxing, laid back environment that feels intimate, matching the energy that the songs themselves give off to an audience.

Furthermore, through Visuals and Lighting. I will create an immersive experience through pastel colours, specifically through visuals. a selection of pastel-coloured clouds will play throughout the three songs, helping to keep the same energy flowing throughout the entire performance. We will also show a photo of the five of us at the start of the performance, which will help to portray the intimate atmosphere that I am aiming to achieve throughout the final performance. In terms of lighting, we will have minimal colours, continuing the idea of a clean colour palette. Allowing the main focus to be on the visuals throughout the performance.

In terms of outfits, we have decided to all wear black. This allows the vocals and visuals to be the centre of the performance rather than a certain member of our group. However, we decided that Josh should wear a white top. Due to him playing the piano, as well as being centre stage.

Lastly, the songs themselves will hopefully create a dream-like atmosphere throughout the performance. When it came to deciding the set list and the order in which we play each song. We thought about the way we would play with an audience's emotions according to the order of songs. So we have decided to perform the two more emotional songs and the beginning of the performance. Finishing with a more upbeat but still mellow track, that ends with the four singers singing in unison. Adding to the immersive experience I want to create for both performer and audience.

Throughout the performance, we are going to make eye contact and smile throughout parts of each song. The choice of stools is going to help this laid back approach that I believe fits with the style of songs as well as our performance. This style will help us to feel the emotion and vulnerability of the three songs, allowing us to communicate our emotions to the audience in the rarest and most immersive environment.

Overall, I am really proud of the performance that we have put together and cannot wait to finally see it come to life.

[youngblizzardzombie]

Music performance session 11

[sachasmithh]

Music Performance - MD5320

Task 6 - Developed Performance

Completing this performance felt like a massive sigh of relief, I felt like this performance was 10x better than our last. Everything just felt much more together what with our songs, our stage presence, our confidence, and our stage design. I felt less awkward and more confident with what I was singing and how confident we then felt as a group. I think the group didn’t expect it to go so well so because of that it gave us a huge confidence boost and from that we then knew we could smash it the next time.

For our final performance I think we will work on our harmonies so we have them on lock, which will hopefully give us even more confidence. I will also adjust the visuals so they will fit 3 songs and it looks perfect.

Here is our performance:

(The audio didn’t work for our video until 4 minutes 30 seconds)

https://youtu.be/aSHCVDFTgpI

Here is the feedback we received:

“This was a successful performance that was well-rehearsed and planned. It is clear you have developed ideas and techniques throughout the module and it is good to witness the engagement with previous feedback.

The vocal performances were all very good and well supported with the piano. The level of confidence is evident, and the group worked well together. The harmonies have been well designed and help create a sense of timbral progression and audience engagement.  

Aesthetically this was a step in the right direction with all performers visible and a sense of balance across the stage. This helps to increase the stage presence, audience engagement and sense of confidence. The 2 level approach with high singers and low pianist could be developed or balanced further, more space on stage could help this and although impractical for this performance it could be worth moving the drum kit for the final performance.

The use of visuals was also good, providing a textural bed without detracting from the presence on stage.”

[brandaann]

MD5320: Music Performance: Session 10 - Create, Practice & Refine

This week, we focused on writing and getting our third song together for our final performance.

We wanted to use our Christmas song but not have it as a Christmas song. So I went away and wrote a verse, pre-chorus and chorus changing the theme to a love and relationship song called ‘Not our time’ which is about being in a toxic relationship and you feel like its just not your time yet and there’s a lot of growth needed for something to work. Everyone liked the lyrics and I finished them off in the rehearsal room with assistance from everyone else. Rose and Sacha helped a lot with the structure and chaining parts up. We also collectively decided this song should be more upbeat than the Christmas one was as our other two songs for our performance are kind of slow so to differentiate it a bit we sped it up.

Here is a link to a run through of the song:

https://soundcloud.com/brandan-396174615/not-our-time/s-FodJiRExZE6?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing  

[anyasmith]

week 9- 3rd performance (staging)

this week we did our third performance of the module!

after this performance i feel a lot happier. there were minimal mistakes and the vibe felt less awkward due to the stage set up! being able to look at the others perform made me feel more comfortable and confident!! i am very happy with how we have developed  not only our stage set up but also the songs and our stage presence! 

to improve before the final performance, i think we will become stronger on our harmonies as a group, our confidence will increase yet again and also we will develop our visuals again! however, we smashed this performance and has given us the boost we needed as a group!

video of the performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSHCVDFTgpI

here is our feedback:

‘this was a successful performance that was well-rehearsed and planned. it is clear you have developed ideas and techniques throughout the module and it is good to witness the engagement with previous feedback. 

the vocal performances were all very good and well supported with the piano. the level of confidence is evident and the group worked well together. the harmonies have been well designed and help create a sense of timbral progression and audience engagement.  

aesthetically this was a step in the right direction with all performers visible and a sense of balance across the stage. this helps to increase the stage presence, audience engagement and sense of confidence. the 2 level approach with high singers and low pianist could be developed or balanced further, more space on stage could help this and although impractical for this performance it could be worth moving the drum kit for the final performance. 

the use of visuals was also good, providing a textural bed without detracting from the presence on stage.’

rehearsal voice notes:

https://soundcloud.com/anya-smith-458839725/csacoc-5th-april/s-fxeIOZA3k0g?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

https://soundcloud.com/anya-smith-458839725/ibaw-5th-april/s-1rwABywgS5X?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

-05/04/22

[elliepensom]

MD5320 - Session 8 - Task 6 - Our Developed performances 

After reviewing the two songs we had so far for our final performance, we decided to drop the first one and write two new songs that would fit more with the style of our first song 'Every Time'. When writing these two new songs, musically we’ve looked at dynamic range, how we’re keeping sections within the music open, and allocating our solos in sections, as to not play over one another and muddle parts. We’ve also discussed our stage presence, how we’re going to look, sound, where we will stand in our performance and started brainstorming about our visuals and lighting.

Below is a link to our rehearsal session of our new songs, in which we ran through everything similar to how we intend to for our final performance, minus the visuals and lighting.

[sophietribe]

My performance 

I really enjoyed my performance. Due to the circumstances of me not being able to perform at the university, I created my own stage set up. The theme I wanted to go for was a ‘Tiny Desk’ concert aesthetic, as it’s something intimate and cosy. I liked how my pink and blue in motion lighting turned out, as it seemed to achieve my goals of making the room more intimate and somewhat comforting for the audience. I felt I also portrayed this in other ways, such as me sitting down almost entirely throughout the performance except for one moment where I stood up. Hard work went into making the backing tracks for this performance. As I didn’t have any PA system nor microphone, I had to record the performance on GarageBand and put reverb on my live vocals and backing track vocals.  Even though this performance wasn’t in front of a live audience, I felt that mistakes were still made, whether this was vocals, piano or me dropping equipment. There are improvements to make however, I don’t see this as a fault, I see it as being authentic. If you can show mistakes and be able to move past them, it’s a good experience and it’s a good form of learning growth for people going into the music Industry. Another thing I thought was good about my performance was my speaking on stage. I felt I was good at introducing songs however, I could be more open to conversation with the audience. I believe this is due to me feeling unconfident within my performance. Further things to improve on would be to change lighting in-between songs. As I feel that lighting represents feelings and reflects onto how the audience might feel. I also felt that my stage presence could’ve been used to more of an advantage if I had built the stage better. However, there wasn’t much space to move around. If this were to be live in front of an audience, I would consider doing these improvements. 

Cherry Smoke

I really enjoyed Cherry Smoke’s performance. I found that their visual background choice was interesting and fun, this was due to the colours and the logo. The green and red lighting was also a good touch as well. I liked how the colours resembled the group themselves and from the logo ‘Cherry Smoke’. The group impacted me by making it seem as if we were in an 80’s diner or party listening to rock. It was a great aesthetic to have. The instrumentalists introduced the songs perfectly by gradually leading into the next track which, was executed professionally. As well as the singers, they introduced everyone in the group which, was a nice intimate touch. A few improvements the group could have possibly made to ensure their performance or next performance is better, is by making sure levels are corrected. I felt that the two singers could have possibly done a quick run through of sections of every song to make sure levels are without any fault. They had problems with belting into the mic or someone being louder than the other. Another improvement would to be more professional by not using phones. Considering they made the song the week before is understandable however, it isn’t professional. As well as this they also sang in unison the whole time which, wasn’t as nice to listen to. They could’ve had sectioned parts to sing as well as adding in some harmonies. The singers stage presence was good at times where they would interact and observe the instrumentalists however, they did stand on the stage looking at the floor at times. This could’ve been a great opportunity for them to interact with the audience, which I felt could have been more.

[rosestiff]

Session 10: Music Performance - Create, Practise & Refine

In this week's session, we looked at writing our third song ready for the final performance on the 25th of May! 

We decided to use a song we wrote in last year's module songwriting & context, however, it was originally a Christmas song. So Brandan went away and wrote a verse and chorus for the new song ‘Not Our Time’ Before meeting in this session to finish the song! Brandan was amazing and kept up with most of the lyrics with Sacha and I deciding on the structure of the song as well as who would sing what so that the song could differ from the other two we are performing. I'm proud of how this is turning out. 

We also decided to change the tempo of the song, and slightly change some of the piano chords which I believe sounds great. I'm looking forward to performing it now!

Below is a run-through of the song we wrote during the session: Not our time!

https://soundcloud.com/user-34745435/not-our-time-recording