Thursday, 27 June 2013

Learning Outcome 4 - Be Able to Evaluate the Workshop Process In Light of Performance

Artistic and professional: production values; effectiveness; creativity; clarity of interpretation; execution of



vocal and/or instrumental performance skills; fulfilment of objectives; audience response; target setting;


working relationships; self-criticism; management of time and tasks

Vocational: eg target audience for work, potential for further development, nature of work and possible



markets, economic viability


Performance Evaluation

Artistic and Professional

I believe that the production aspect of our performance was up to quite a high standard. We managed to create a backdrop which was synced to our performance, play a long to a click track and we included various different genre influences, key changes and we also used synthesis.
The effectiveness of our synthesis was quite good because helped include sounds that you'd wouldn't usually get out of an ordinary instrument, this helped to broaden the instrumentation and make our songs sound a lot more busy and together as a pose to quiet and lost.

The use of the backdrop in sync with our playing was a very good idea because it made our performance seem so much more professional and it evoked many more emotions for the audience watching us. I believe using the backdrop in sync with our playing especially helped give off a sense of sympathy to the audience.

Listening back to the final performance I think that everyone could be heard clearly and effectively. This was achieved because I got asked to set up all of the equipment e.g. microphones, mixing desk, electric drum kit, pianos, speakers, synths and guitar amps. Because it was my responsibility to set up all of the live sound I also sound checked each band that played on the night to make sure that the levels were perfect and every one was heard equally. I also had to make sure that the mix between the front of house speakers, back of house speakers and the fold back speakers didn't drown each other out and weren't too loud or quiet.

After the performance I thought the audiences response wasn't too bad at all, we were the first group to play so I didn't expect a huge cheer but judging on the size of the audience I like to think that their response gave off the impression that they all enjoyed our performance thoroughly.

My group as a whole all worked together really well. Everybody had an input into our compositions and the way we performed them. We managed to practice outside of college time round each others houses and off of timetable in college, such as in lunch or free periods. This really helped us to build a good working relationship throughout the group. We had also created a Facebook page in order to organise meets and remind each other of work that we each had to do. This proved to be very handy if people had missed a practice and we had made changes to the song which they were unaware of.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlgM90H-aBY

Above is a link to an unlisted video of our group doing an off timetable practice in the Easter holidays round Will's house (the drummer). Unfortunately three of the members of the group couldn't make it to the practice because of


To the left you can see a screenshot of the Facebook group we created in order to organise all of our meetings and changes to work. It was also used to post on videos we could use in our peace and conflict videos as a backdrop.You can also see that all of the members of the band are in the group which is good because it means that nobody was left out.

Our time management as a group overall was actually quite good, everybody responded to notifications and messages to meet up and practice very quickly which made it a lot easier to organise ourselves and build our ability to work as a team better. The only thing that I wasn't too happy about when it came to time management was the fact that we left the backdrop videos quite last minute. Although we managed to get them finished and synced up to our playing which was really good, it would have been better if we weren't so rushed doing it.

Overall I am relatively proud of my contribution towards this task within the group. I made an extra effort to show up to all of the practices, take on every bodies different suggestions and ideas and implement the suggestions and ideas into the different tasks. I would have liked to interact with certain members of the group more so that we could have given off an even better performance when it came to the night.

Vocational

I believe that the main target audience for our conflict song/performance was mainly aimed towards adults, possibly older because of some of the content we referred to in the backdrop videos. Although we did try to have some elements of modern day conflict e.g. student riots and army shooting game footage such as Call Of Duty.

I believe that this unit could have been done better if we had managed to develop the songs further, possibly by making the two songs blend together through modulating gradually into the correct keys. This way the performance would sound more professional and would add more artistic, complex aspects to the music to interest the audience further.

Learning Outcome 3 - Be Able to Take Part In a Workshop Performance


Presentation: eg solo, ensemble, live, recorded, acting, singing, dancing

Performance skills: eg use of body, voice, instrument, communication with an audience, communication

 
with other performers
Live Music Workshop Performance

Conflict Song:

Unfortunately the embedded video function on Blogger.com is not working so instead I have pasted the YouTube link to the performance of the song below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wotzO467MUI

In this video you can see how the final outcome of our song used the majority of the ideas that we came in the class discussions. One of the ideas that was most effective was when Sophia (trumpet/cornet player) played the last post behind the audience.

Another thing that was very effective in final outcome was the way the videos interacted with the song, especially the lyrics when there were videos of people screaming on "they were screaming, something" and when there was a video of the soldiers playing the last post at the end at the same time as Sophia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmZJbUoKyI

above is a link to the conflict video we made and used as a backdrop for the live music workshop. you can hear that we have a basic guide track recorded with just piano and vocals. This was done so that the metronome had something to follow and it was easier to sync the video clips to the song.

Peace Song:

Again, unfortunately the embedded video function on Blogger.com is not working so instead I have pasted the YouTube link to the performance of the song below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6OWDcxFwx5o&feature=endscreen

The video of the live performance of the Peace song clearly demonstrates how we have included all of the ideas from past discussions and adapted them for our performance on the actual night.

You can hear how we have a strong reggae influence with a chilled out off beat tempo which is supported by a cheerful sounding chord sequence. This is used effectively to give the song a happy more optimistic tone to resemble peace.

In the video you can also hear how we change the tempo and the key at the end of the song to mix it up and build up suspense into a climax in preparation for the end of the song.

You can also see how we have got changed in the video resemble bright colours (like a rainbow). This was done to demonstrate equality. You couldn't see it in the video but we had all taken off an item clothing at the same time to present the colourful clothing we had underneath, this part of the choreography that we chase to do, as well as Sophia playing the last post behind the audience and then walking up after she had finished in the conflict song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YuxDydTvxg

above is a link to the video we did to go with our peace song. Unfortunately we didn't get enough time to record a guide track and match a click to its so this video isn't in sync unlike our conflict one.

Learning Outcome 2 - Know How to Apply Ideas Creatively


Development: shaping of ideas; exploring meaning; communicating meaning; applying different forms;

 

 

 
 
elements; techniques and/or structures; applying the chosen medium and/or media in different ways

 

Rehearsal: identifying and applying the required skill(s); practising and refining skills; giving and/or taking



instructions; time management; learning lines and/or moves



Rehearsal

Conflict Song Rehearsal




Here you can see how we have managed to interpret various different ideas from the bullet points that I made in class into our actual song. This video unfortunately does not contain all of the performers because unfortunately some of the were away on college trips but none the less it is still a productive practice.

As you can see in the video, Will (the drummer) is wearing a pair of headphones which is linked to the laptop. This is because we created the conflict video in order to interact with the song. Various videos change scenes in time with the lyrics. To do this we had to create a click track which followed the timing of the song and then made the video accordingly.

In this video you can also see how we have modulated the key towards the end of the piece to D major which allows Sophia (trumpet/cornet player) to play the last post which is used to evoke emotion towards the audience.

Conflict Song Structure4 bars intro (Just Piano and bass)
21 bars verse
24 bars chorus
4 bars random (Just Piano and bass)
17 bars verse
26 bars chorus
12 bars breakdown
8 bars of build-up
24 bars chorus
24 bars last post

Above you can see how our group took the time out of rehearsal to figure out the structure so that we all know what we are doing and don't get lost when performing the song. This is a good idea so that when it gets to the performance there will be less room for error.


Peace Song Rehearsal



 
Here you can see one of the practices for our peace song. Here you can also see how we have interpreted some of the various bullet points from our discussions into our final composition. Unfortunately again a few of the members of our group were away due to illness, but again it was still an eventful, productive practice.
In the video you can see how our song has a strong reggae influence which helps give off a peaceful up beat feel about the whole song. You can also see how the tempo and key changes towards the end to cause a more diverse atmosphere about the song, this will be good when performing it because it will keep the audience on their toes.

Learning Outcome 1 - Be Able to Interpret Ideas for Performance Material

Sources: themes eg social, cultural, historical, ethical, spiritual and/or moral issues; textual eg
autobiographical material, literary and non-literary text, poems, stories, dance notation, music scores, sheet music; visual eg painting, postcards, photographs, artefacts; aural eg music, audio recordings, live
sound; media eg films, videos, newspaper and magazine extracts
Exploration: eg exercises, improvisation, research, discussions, idea and thought mapping, try-outs

Introduction
For this unit our class got split into two groups. Each group would then have to compose a performance of two songs, lasting at least five minutes each. These two songs would need to be related to the set topic, your groups would also need to include interactive aspects when performing the two songs to an audience.

The themes we were asked to base the two songs around were peace and conflict.
for the interactive aspects we chose to create two back drop videos for each song. One video to reflect conflict and one to reflect peace.

Below you can see the bullet points of ideas that I put together from some of the various discussions me and my group had when discussing the songs.

CONFLICT


Themes
-        Powerful videos/images/newspapers/famous posters etc.
-        Start off with small scale conflicts and build up to bigger conflicts such as riots, and eventually war.
-        Videos start off switching from scene to scene slowly, but gradually build up in speed to build intensity.
-        Have a video that cycles such as peace leading to war, ending in peace, building back up to war etc.
-        Switch from 1st world country kid playing war game such as COD or Halo, then switch to scenes of real war/conflict in 3rd world countries.
-        Include samples of radio announcements and speeches.
 
Music
-        Start off acoustic and build up from there.
-        Switch from calm music to loud heavy music depending on the scene.
-        Minor key.
-        Modulate to a different key at some point.

PEACE


Themes
-        Iconic videos, e.g, man walking on moon, people holding hands, peaceful sunsets, people in harmony, having fun, peaceful nature ect.
-        Start off with something atmospheric, gradually change through peaceful animals to humans


Music
-        Written with a heavy influence or reggae
-        Up beat with major key, possibly major version of conflict song
-        Modulate towards the end
-        Have a tempo change

Group Things to Consider


Interaction
-        Change clothes in unison
-        Create backdrop
-        Audience interaction (clapping, dancing) 
-         Have the cornet play the last post behind the audience so its more realistic

Jobs
-        Teddy: Make Facebook group
-        Emma: Lyrics
-        Charlie: Make a collection of media
-        Sophia: Find YouTube videos
-        Will: Find possible music styles/influences we could have
-        Spencer: Find YouTube videos