RSL 230: Live Music Performance Exam ‘18
Exam Brief 2017-2018 (A&R Audience)
Task 1
My candidate number: (Mr Flowers will put this here). My centre number: (Mr Flowers will put this here).
My name is Cameron McDermott. The instrument I will be playing for this performance is Piano. The brief requires me to (write the brief in your own words) play a 15 minute performance for the label A&Rs.
Through my performance, I want to achieve the following personal goals:
1) Develop my piano playing skills by practising new techniques and going over them again to master the skill.
2) Be able to continue playing once i have made a mistake by carrying on playing once i have made a mistake instead of stopping
3) Be able to play the whole 15 minutes with little to no mistakes by practising all my songs in the order of the performance to play the best i can when i'm doing my final performance.
To help achieve the above goals, I think I have the following skills that I can use:
1) My first good skill is: I am able to pick out the instruments and the tune of what I need to play. This is important because a lot of the time I can't find the sheet music for a lot of the pop songs we are doing. I will need to rely on my listening skills to help know when i'm playing something correctly and incorrectly.
2) My second good skill is: having good piano technique in my hands. This is important because I need to be able to play a whole song fluidly to make sure it sounds good for the audience I will need to rely on my technique to make sure I keep the song going.
3) My third good skill is: that I can work out melodies by listening to them. This is important again as sometimes I cannot find the sheet music for our songs. I will need to rely on this to work out some of our songs and maybe add my own sort of style to it by changing it up a bit.
I will know if I have achieved my goals at the end of the assessment because my piano playing skills will be more fluid than before. When I rehearse the 15 minute performance there will not be many mistakes or none, I could also listen to my early recordings then compare that to the final performance.
The audience I am performing to is Artists and Repertoire. Their expectations will be high. I will meet their expectations by practising a lot and performing my 15 minutes to them the best i can with the highest quality as possible.
I will perform music in the following style: rock. This is because all of my songs are in the rock genre therefore i will be doing it in the same style.
The audience I am performing to is Artists and Repertoire. Their expectations will be high. I will meet their expectations by practising a lot and performing my 15 minutes to them the best i can with the highest quality as possible.
I will perform music in the following style: rock. This is because all of my songs are in the rock genre therefore i will be doing it in the same style.
My personal image for the event will be my school uniform because we have to perform while wearing it, however if i were able to choose what i wear then i would have a casual rock style to suit the style of rock im performing.
My ideas for the performance are play a selection of songs with different styles to show off my skills as a piano player. This is because the audience will consist of A&R execs who will be scouting for talent. I intend to choose songs where i use both hands, some with involvement of chords and some with melodies. I will do it by playing the songs below.
The set list I will perform as my given repertoire will contain the following songs:
1) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication 5:32 mins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1igfvBXPqe0
2) Blur - Song 2 2:05 mins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLUVTlbmcAI
3) Sublime Song title: What I Got Estimated length of song: 2:57 mins. I have chosen this song because it is significantly harder to play than song 2 and shows off my skill and techniques i can do on piano.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoM_qFLCq88
4) Mac Demarco Song title: Chamber of Reflection Estimated length of song: 4:00 mins. I have chosen this song because it uses varied notes and chords which can show off my piano playing capabilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jwtC5K0bsI
The total estimated length of my set list will therefore be 14:30 minutes.
I have chosen to play these songs in this order because it starts with songs that are easy to play like californication and song 2 which are more widely known and quite catchy, slowly transcending into harder to play songs which can show off my piano skills.
I will need to involve the following people in my performance: no one. This is because im am performing solo and only need the piano to perform my final piece.
I will need the following resources and equipment: Keyboard because it is the instrument i am performing with. I will also need an amp to increase the sound of my instrument so you can hear it better with the backing track.
Health & Safety
When performing live, I will need to consider the following health and safety issues:- Sound Level. How I will make sure I am safe: Make sure the amp isn't too loud, this will ensure safety as the noise level will not be too high to prevent damage to the ears.
- Cables. How I will make sure I am safe: Make sure there are no cables in the way of my performing area and make sure they are not tangled to ensure i don't fall over while performing also maybe tape them to the ground so they don't move about while i am performing.
- Electricity. How I will make sure I am safe: Make sure the cables and equipment are not faulty by testing them before performing to ensure no electrical accidents occur.
- Fire Exits. How I will make sure I am safe: Make sure there are fire exits available near me in case of an emergency like equipment catching on fire.
I used the following website to help me with my research: https://www.ampband.co.uk/health_and_safety_advice.html.
I will spend my time by doing work on my blog, rehearsing and practising at school and home by going over my chosen songs in the order i will be performing them.
Diary and Plan of Work
Week 19 Monday 15/01/18 & Tuesday 15/01/18 (2 hours):
Plan: Work on Californication.
What went well: I got the chords down, and learnt a new part during the chorus.
What needs work: playing the whole song with no mistakes.
Week 20 Monday 22/01/18 & Tuesday 23/01/18 (2 hours):
Plan: Work on song 2.
What went well: I played it perfectly with no mistakes.
What needs work: play it behind a backing track.
Week 21 Monday 29/01/18 & Tuesday 30/01/18 (2 hours):
Plan: Work on what i got.
What went well: I played the song the whole way through with a couple of mistakes.
What needs work: Play the song perfectly and know when the backing track will change.
Week 22 Monday 05/02/18 & Tuesday 06/02/18 (2 hours):
Plan: Work on chamber of reflection.
What went well: I played the melody with no mistakes but i need to add more chords.
What needs work: fill the song in more as i don't play for a bit during the song and find a backing track to play.
Week 24 Monday 26/02/18 & Tuesday 27/02/18 (2 hours):
Plan: Work on all the songs together.
What went well: I went through all off my songs at once to practise what i would be like in my performance, this went alright as i did make a few mistakes but it also sounded good .
What needs work: My transitioning between moving to other songs.
Week 25 Monday 05/03/18 & Tuesday 06/03/18 (2 hours):
Plan: Refine my playing for all my songs at once.
What went well: i have improved my playing of all songs at once since last week as i have less mistakes and my transitioning is not bad.
What needs work: improve my minor mistakes and play with a good backing track for chamber of reflection.
Week 25 Thursday 08/03/18 Dress Rehearsal Performance (2 hours):
Plan: Play all my songs without stopping.
What went well: I played all the songs with little to no mistakes.
What needs work: my last song had an off key backing track therefore i need to find a new one to make the performance sound the best it can.
Week 26 Monday 12/03/18 & Tuesday 13/03/18 (2 hours):
Plan: Play the songs with a different backing track for chamber of reflection.
What went well: I decided to use the original song as my backing track for chamber of reflection which made my playing of the 15 minutes sound much better.
What needs work: just focus on playing with no errors.
Week 26 Wednesday 14/03/18 Final Live Performance (2 hours):
Plan: Play all of my songs without stopping.
What went well: I played every song this time with little to no mistakes as my final songs backing track was changed.
What needs work: play with two hands on more songs as it could've have sounded more complex than it was.
Week 27 Evaluation Time (2 hours)
See evaluation below.
Task 2: My Performance
(Mr Flowers will upload a recording of your final performance here).
Strengths Reflection:
1. What went well during the performance? Think about the performance as a whole (the whole group performance): I played the first three songs well with little to no mistakes and i did not stop playing when i did make a mistake which kept the flow of the performance going. This made sure the performance was the best it could be.
2. What did YOU do well during the performance? Write about the strengths of your individual contribution: I hit the notes for my songs accurately apart from a few minor mistakes i did not hesitate while playing on stage as i focused on playing rather than anything else. This helped me to keep playing and play with the flow of the songs .
Improvement Reflection:
3. What could have been done better if you were to perform again? Both as a whole group and your individual contribution. i could have used my left hand for more of my songs to show off more technique in my piano playing skills.
4. Now write what you need to improve and write a strategy of what you will do to make those improvements:
Improvement #1: Add a solo for californication.
Strategy: How could you make that improvement?: Practise and learn the solo and improve my technique while doing so.
Improvement #2: Change the rhythm a bit in What i Got.
Strategy: How could you make that improvement?: Work on adding different parts to it as it is the same chords throughout the song but just played a bit differently at different parts.
Improvement #3: Work on adding a bit more to chamber of reflection.
Strategy: How could you make that improvement?: Start to practise what i can do and improvise a bit.
Feedback from others:
5. What was the feedback your received from your teacher, other group members and members of the audience?
- Fantastic timing, all chords were played smoothly and in time.
- Good use of playing patterns to change the rhythms to make the music more engaging - especially in 'What I Got'.
- Think about using your left hand more to play the bass note of each chord. You did this really well in 'What I Got'
- Attempt a solo during Californication to show off your piano technique!
- Begin to make more eye contact with the audience and start to smile more to give a feeling of increased confidence!
- Check the key of the backing track for 'Chamber of Reflections' , or check that you're playing the right notes.
6. How did this feedback help with your evaluation of the performance? e.g. what did they notice and comment on that you didn’t realise/know/think about? It helped me realise i need to make my songs more complex by using two hands at the same time more as this will show off my piano skills well, i also need to attempt a solo in Californication as i realise this would show off my technique, i also did not make eye contact with any of the audience this would have been good as it would have shown off confidence, and finally i should have practised more with a backing track for Chamber of Reflection as it sounded off
Conclusion:
7. Write a brief summary/conclusion of your performance: My performance went as well as i thought it could, and there was not many mistakes as you can't really notice the minor ones anyway the one thing that i could have done better was to add more variety to my piano playing as for most songs i only used one hand which shows off simple technique when i could have made it more complex, but overall i played good and it was the best i could perform from what i practised.
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