Week Twelve 16/12/14

Individual Work For Assessment

When beginning to write my lyrics, I realised that the track I had selected did not reflect the idea I wanted to portray. I decided to change my track selection to an acoustic version of the song 'Crazy' by Gnarles Barkley. I have sampled this acoustic guitar track within my performance. The track does not sound anything like the original recording meaning that I am not tempted to sing my lyrics in the same style; I am able to put my own stamp on the performance.

When writing my lyrics, I took a lot of inspiration from the book titled 'Fragments' (Buchthal, S and Comment, B 2010) using poems and diary entries from Marilyn Monroe herself. I also used some very well-known quotes from her. I carried out a lot of research into Marilyn Monroe including her earlier life so I could get an insight into her thoughts and her feelings. Hopefully, my lyrics will capture her personality and my audience will understand the aim of my performance.

I have wrote the whole song including two verses and a number of chorus sections. All I have left to work on is the end section of the performance where I am going to include riffs and trills to communicate to my audience what I am capable of doing with my vocals. I am also going to use my improved ability to harmonise in various areas of the song to make it more entertaining and interesting to listen to for my listening audience.

The quotes I took inspiration from include;

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.” 

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”   

“This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And baby, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soulmate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”   

“A wise girl kisses but doesn't love, listens but doesn't believe, and leaves before she is left.”   

“Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.”   

“You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself.”   

(goodreads 2014) 

I also took a lot of inspiration from the song 'I wanna be loved by you', performed by Marilyn Monroe herself, for the chorus section within my song;

My lyrics and rehearsal recordings are displayed below;

Verse One

Beneath the make-up and behind the smile,
I'm just a girl, who wishes for the world.
And I try to give them enough,
But they want too much.

Please don't talk about me when I'm gone,
It's all wrong, that's not what I want.
So you think you know,
Who is Marilyn Monroe?

Chorus

I just wanted to be loved by you,
Just you, nobody else, just loved by you.
I didn't want nobody else, I just wanted to be loved by you,
You, only you.



Verse Two

People change so you can learn to let go,
Things go wrong, things go right, but then you know,
That you can trust no one but you,
Not everything you hear is always true,
This life is what you make it.

I'm out of control, I make mistakes,
There's only so many times a heart can break,
A wise girl kisses but she does not love,
She listens but she doesn't believe,
And before she's left she leaves.

Chorus

Chorus
(sang a lot softer to range dynamics)

Final Chorus (including riffs over the original lyrics to showcase my vocal abilities)

End

When I next work on my individual performance, I am going to complete the recording process by recording the piece as a whole and then add in harmonies, sounds such as 'oo's and potentially incorporate elements of body percussion. I am going to use a trial and error approach to see what works and what does not and hopefully I will be able to make my performance the best it can possibly be.

Week Eleven 02/12/14

Group Work For Assessment

In this rehearsal, the groups main focus was to perfect our song including vocals and staging. This was done to ensure that all performers were confident in preparation for the final performance. We now have an audience to perform to so it is vital that the performance looks effective as well as sounding precise.

We began by incorporating additional extra harmonies and 'oo' sounds to add texture to the piece, in particular to the more empty sections. Some songs such as Wreckin' Ball sounded extremely empty as there was only one voice singing. By adding extra harmonies and other vocal sounds, texture was added making the piece a lot more interesting to listen to. We broke down the entire song to work on and tighten all of the individual harmonies so that the piece sounds clean and precise. As so many harmonies are included it is extremely important that no one is off key as it will disrupt the whole performance. An extra harmony we devised is displayed below;



After working through the vocals, we worked on polishing the movements incorporated within the performance. There is a very varied order of movement including clicks, claps and stamps to make the performance visually interesting. We have worked on the idea of being similar to a barbershop layout so we must all perform in exact unison. Similar to our vocals, if one person performs one movement out of sync, it will ruin the whole affect of the piece.  

We continuously worked on the performance as a whole making sure all vocals were in time with the clicks, claps and stamps which are used as a beat to follow. After this rehearsal, I feel extremely confident for the final performance as all aspects have been polished and the piece now feels performance ready. As long as we all perform with great confidence and conviction, the piece will communicate successfully. A full rehearsal of the song is displayed below;

Individual Work For Assessment

When focusing on my individual work, I have thought more in depth about the type of stimulus I want to use within my lyrics. I have decided that I want to base my piece around Marilyn Monroe but I thought it may be interesting to potentially use diary entries that she had written. Using a poem would be much easier as the rhymes are already present and the poem would simply just need to be put to the music. Using diary entries would challenge me as a song writer as well as giving me the opportunity to explore my own writing style using a stimulus. I am going to select certain lines from the extracts I have found and include them within the song. I am going to write my lyrics around the selected lines; the diary entries are the inspiration for my writing.

Marilyn Monroe was a very troubled character in history and wrote a lot about her personal feelings, as well as writing unpublished poems. I think it would put a complete twist on the original recording of Pumped Up Kicks if I were to perform Marilyn Monroe's words from a first person point of view. Some examples of extracts are displayed below with the highlighted sections which I intend to either directly use within my song or use as inspiration to write lyrics;

1. “I haven’t had Faith in Life
meaning Reality—what
ever it is
or happens
There is nothing to
hold on to—but reality
to realize the present
whatever it may be
—because that’s how it
is and it’s much better”

2. “Fear of giving me the lines new
maybe I won’t be able to learn them
maybe I’ll make mistakes
people will think I’m no good or laugh or belittle me or think I can’t act.”

3. "life starts from now
trust in the
Ida—I have still
faith in the simple Been obeying her—
it’s not only harmful
for me to do so
but unrealality [sic] because
in my work—I don’t
want to obey her any longer
and I can do my work as fully
as I wish since as a small child
intact first desire was to be an actress
I have
I will not be punished And I spent years
Play acting until I had jobs
Or trying to hide it
enjoying myself as fully
as I wish or want to
I will be as sensitive as
I am—without being ashamed of it"

4. "trust in the
faith in the simple
objects and tasks—(sense
memory—outside and inside
objects)"

(Vanity Fair 2014)
 

I have looked at the song titled Don't Forget Me from the series SMASH as inspiration as this song is sung from Marilyn Monroe's perspective, similar to my idea. I thought it could help me with the delivery of my piece as my song will be from the same point of view;

 

My aim for next week is to begin to write lyrics, hopefully a first verse and chorus. I will use my stimulus of the diary entries as well as using chance methods if I become stuck within the creative process. I am going to carry out intense research into Marilyn Monroe's life and look into her work so I have thorough knowledge of what I am writing about. I am still planning to steer away from a story telling theme as the original piece is written in this way. My song will be similar to a personal auto- biography, as if it is coming from Marilyn herself. This completely flips the original song by giving it a personal twist as well as using a totally different style and genre.  

Week Ten 25/11/14

Group Work For Assessment

In this rehearsal, the group began by working on creating an ending for our performance. After receiving some feedback from Hayley, we have realised that to some audience members our piece may not communicate well. It may just seem like we have crammed numerous random songs into a five minute time slot. By creating a running theme or having a poignant conclusion, the whole piece will tie together. We thought it may be effective to each select a section of one song to sing at the end of the piece over the top of the main tune, as shown in Fig.17.

 

Fig.17

We also worked on adding harmonies into the performance to make it a lot more interesting to listen to. As well as this, we introduced the idea of staging to make the live performance visually interesting, therefore maintaining audience engagement. The harmonies we have created are displayed below;

'Don't Matter' with Devin singing the main tune, Jen and Gil singing the harmony.

 

 

'I'm Yours' with Devin singing the main tune, myself and Jen singing the harmonies.



'Hey Soul Sister' with myself singing the main tune, 'Where is The Love' with Jen singing the main tune and myself singing the harmony, 'Best Song Ever' with Devin singing the main tune.

 

We are planning on adding numerous additional harmonies and vocals underneath the main vocal tune, including 'oo' sounds. When considering staging, I was given the responsibility of planning what would look effective from an audience perspective as well as incorporating sounds using movement. I decided to maintain a repeated section of movement including simple stamps and clicks which we can constantly come back to in order to create a recurring theme. On songs such as 'Wreckin' Ball', we are using numerous stamps followed by a click to mirror the original music used. Within the song 'That's What I Go To School For', we perform a repeated section of slapping our legs to create sound. We also incorporate the use of the microphone stand to create a strong base sound that everyone can follow.

 

After this rehearsal, I am feeling a lot more confident about our group performance. Once the planned harmonies are tight and everyone is comfortable with the movements, the performance will be very effective. The only aspect of the performance I am worried about is that certain members of the group are not confident with performing harmonies as well as performing alone as they feel too exposed. A lot of pressure is put on the singer who is carrying out the harmonies because if they are out of tune, the whole section will be spoilt. We need to work on developing the confidence of the group as we rehearse so that the final live performance is successful.

Statement of Participation
Kayleigh Johnson - selected the songs to incorporate, planned the staging of the performance, choreographed/blocked the movement used within the performance

Jenni Cunningham - selected the songs to incorporate, devised harmonies to include in each section, performed chords on piano for rehearsal purposes

Devin Gilbraith - selected the songs to incorporate, assisted with the movements included within performance

Gil Parker - selected the songs to incorporate

Equipment Requirements
4 microphones
4 microphone stands


Individual Work for Assessment

When looking at my individual work, my main aim was to select a track to write lyrics to. I have found an acoustic version of the song Pumped Up Kicks originally by the band Foster The People. The lyrics are written in the style of writing that I really admire which portrays a story;

'The lyrics are spellbinding, around the issue of gun violence and absent parents. It can be very effective to almost belie the profundity of a lyric by setting it to a cheerful, bouncy chorus. The starkness of the vocal production in the verse helps give a sense of isolation and aloneness.' (Ewer 2011)

The lyrics featured within the original recording are displayed below;

Robert's got a quick hand.
He'll look around the room, he won't tell you his plan.
He's got a rolled cigarette hanging out his mouth, he's a cowboy kid.
Yeah, he found a six shooter gun in his dad's closet hidden with a box of fun things.
I don't even know what but he's coming for you, yeah, he's coming for you.

[Chorus 2x:]
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run faster than my bullet.

Daddy works a long day.
He be coming home late, he's coming home late.
And he's bringing me a dark surprise.
'Cause dinner's in the kitchen and it's packed in ice.
I've waited for a long time.
Yeah, the sleight of my hand is now a quick-pull trigger.
I reason with my cigarette
And say, "Your hair's on fire, you must've lost your wits, yeah."

[Chorus 2x:]
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run faster than my bullet.

Ru-ru-run, run, run, run [4x]

[Whistling]

[Chorus 4x:]
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run faster than my bullet.

(AZLyrics.com 2014)

The version of the song I have found removes all original instruments and is played using an acoustic guitar. This completely strips down the piece and makes it almost unrecognisable. This version does not sound like the original which could potentially make it easier for me to write my lyrics to. At the moment, every time I have attempted to write lyrics to a track, I am performing the lyrics in the exact same style as the original piece which is the opposite of what I want to achieve. This track gives me the opportunity to sing how I want to without simply imitating the original artist. It is rather difficult to pick out where the verse's and chorus' are within the music so I will be able to put my own stamp on it.

In terms of lyrics, I think I am going to steer away from story telling as this song is a storytelling kind of song. I am either going to write a piece in a completely different genre, perhaps a love ballad, or write around a literary character. I think I will begin to write both of these ideas and see which piece I can progress further with and develop.
 

Week Nine 18/11/14

Group Work For Assessment

As this lecture was our groups first collaborative rehearsal, we wanted to create our first performance in full. This included the actual songs we used, the order of the songs incorporated, the sections of each of the songs and which group member sings which section. The songs selected and the order they appear is displayed in Fig.15.

 

 

Fig.15

 

The creation process in this rehearsal resulted in our performance reaching the time limit of five minutes. This means that the second song we had initially planned to create, does not actually need creating. There are some overlaps included which creates a link between the songs used. There is also a lot of repetition of some sections  of songs to add texture and make the piece interesting to the listening audience. Now we have created the initial song, we need to focus on how to develop it and make it ready for performance. We are going to include harmonies throughout but there is also potential to include other performance elements to develop the piece further. We could potentially use our vocals as instruments, perhaps to create a baseline. As well as this, we could use our bodies to add subtle sounds such as clicking over the top of the main tune, potentially using recording. We also need to consider and plan aspects of our presentation as well as our performance. As a group, we need to plan the staging of the song, the lighting we want to feature and whether or not we are using microphones. We also need to think about what we are planning to wear and how we want to look generally during the performance. Staging ideas are displayed in Fig.16.

Fig.16

All of our planned ideas have positive and negative aspects so as a group we discussed which idea would be best.

Idea One
It would be visually interesting as there would be constant movement, so the audience would be engaged throughout.
The performer in the back spotlight would be blocked and therefore not be seen by the audience.

Idea Two
Similar to Idea One, it would be very visually interesting as there would be a lot of movement. All performers would be seen by the audience at all times, even when they are not stood in the spotlights.
As performers are so exposed to the audience it would be vital to create and maintain a strong connection with the audience. Performers would constantly be aware of what they are doing as they can always be seen.

Idea Three
Similar to the other two ideas, it would be visually engaging from an audience perspective, but in a different way. As each performer steps singly into the spotlight, the other performers who are not singing the lead vocals will be singing harmonies in the background which will look effective.
Unless entrances and exits are completely tight, this idea will look rather untidy and could easily go wrong during the live performance.

After weighing up the pros and cons, we have decided on Idea Two. We are all confident performers so we thought this would be the best idea. As Performing Arts students, we are all capable of using character and emotion within a performance which I think will really improve the general delivery of the piece by making it memorable.

‘There is a distinct difference between playing your songs well and giving them everything you’ve got. Most bands and artists can play their music well, but the few that put their heart and soul into every performance are the ones you will remember forever.’ (Loudon 2011)

No one is blocked by anyone else and therefore can be seen throughout the whole performance. The main thing we will have to focus on is ensuring each performer knows their entrances and exits into and out of the individual spotlights. If we can tighten this up, it will be very effective, interesting and entertaining to watch. A recording of our first rehearsal is displayed below;

In our next rehearsal, I think our focus should be incorporating harmonies to create a thicker sound and make the piece more interesting and harmonious. We should also experiment with using our voices in different ways such as using a vocal baseline. This would make the featured songs sound completely different in comparison to their original form which is what we would like. We want the song to be tight in terms of vocals before incorporating staging as the vocals are going to be quite complex. Once rehearsed and performed with conviction, the piece should be impressive for our audience to listen to; then we can work on making it interesting to watch.

Individual Work for Assessment

When considering ideas for my final solo performance I thought it would be beneficial for me to play to my strengths and cater for my preferred performance style. This would include using a character within my performance. In terms of lyrics, I think I may write around either a character from literature, a certain theme or with the intention to tell a story. In terms of genre, although I am using already created music as backing, I want to make it completely unrecognisable by changing both the lyrics and the genre. I am writing the lyrics myself which will definitely alter the original song and make it more diverse. In terms of genre, if the selected song falls into the genre of dance music, I could change it into a love ballad to completely flip the original expectations of the song.

Effective examples of the intention I am hoping to achieve is via the Radio One Live Lounge. Artists cover other vocalists songs but put a twist on them to make them sound completely different in terms of genre. Artists who usually play music in a very specific genre completely flip listener expectations and play a song in a completely different genre;  pop stars are challenged to play live and, most notably, test their supposed raw talent and versatility on a cover song (Zadeh 2014)

 

Although lyrics are not altered at all, the genre is drastically changed which is the intention of my piece. In this example, the band Arctic Monkeys completely change the song Hold On, We're Going Home, originally by solo artist Drake, by adding guitars and drums. The track is completely changed simply due to the instruments used and Alex Turner, as the lead singer, has a very different styled voice to Drake so the song is very different.

Some acoustic tracks I could potentially use to write my lyrics, which are similar to the Radio One Live Lounge idea, are displayed below;

 

Rather Be originally by Clean Bandit  

 

 

Pompeii originally by Bastille

 

 

 Summertime Sadness originally by Lana Del Rey

 

 

Don't You Worry Child originally by Swedish House Mafia

 

 

Latch originally by Disclosure

 

These songs come under a dance style genre which is out of my comfort zone but these versions put a twist on the original recordings. These tracks take away the dance feel by making the music acoustic and slowing them down in tempo. By writing new lyrics, I could further change the track by changing the intention. For example, Don't You Worry Child could be made into a slower, more loving ballad, which I think may be different, but effective.

 

Once I have written my lyrics, I will need to decide whether I am performing live within our lecture or playing a recording. At the moment I am leaning more towards recording my piece. If I record it I will be able to record harmonies to put over the top to add texture and make it more interesting and appealing to listen to. If only a simple melody was used, it would not be very successful; harmonies create new dimensions and enhance vocals. One of my main areas of improvement has been to develop my abilities to harmonise and now I have improved, I think it would be beneficial to show my improvement through my final performance.

 

My aim in terms of my individual piece, is to confirm which backing track I am going to use and also to confirm my final idea so that I can begin to write my lyrics. The sooner I begin rehearsals, the sooner I can complete my track and improve how it sounds using harmonies and other elements of performance.

 

Week Eight 11/11/14

Individual Vocal Work

I spent this week analysing my own performance style so that when writing lyrics for my original solo song, I am fully aware of the style I perform best in. When considering my own performance style I carried out research into my preferred genre of Musical Theatre. I am going to compare this research to numerous other styles but I firstly wanted to establish my own preferred style and what techniques are included.

The article titled 'Voice Check: 10 Tips for Healthy Singing' written by Chloe Veltnam (2009) provided me with ten detailed explanations from eleven experts on how to maintain a healthy voice, in particular within the genre of Musical Theatre. As this is my main vocal practise and preferred singing style, I thought it suitable to delve into the genre deeper. This particular style of singing is enormously demanding. It requires the ability to handle a wide variety of vocal genres, as well as the robust good health to do eight shows a week on a regular basis' (Melton 2007). The expert advice given proves that the article is extremely reliable in terms of the information provided, although some may disagree with some of the stated points.

In terms of the techniques discussed, most of the presented points are very valid. The point about warming up the vocals before a performance being important is the one that stood out the most. As a singer in this field, I know how important it is to warm up your vocal chords; attempting a difficult song without warming up could potentially cause serious damage. Some performers are able to sing without warming up but this is extremely frowned upon as 'warming up the voice is absolutely essential to a singer's ability to prevent injuries' (Veltman 2009). One expert says to 'develop a warm-up routine that slowly 'wakes' the voice and brings it into alignment with breath control and natural support' (Veltman 2009). Without warming up, a performer is leaving themselves open to injury which is not a professional approach. As a performer, it is needed and therefore should be looked after efficiently. This is why I am currently developing a warm-up routine.

One section of the article that I did not necessarily agree with was the section titled '5. Enlist the A-Team'. One of the experts said

             '...that the best teachers have a good grasp of how the body works from a mechanical standpoint: "A singer needs to find a teacher who is knowledgeable in anatomy and physiology, who has good eyes and ears and can direct the student in a healthy manner to achieve whatever it is the student has set out to accomplish." (Veltman 2009)

I disagree with this statement on some levels as each performer is extremely different both in vocal style and in teaching preference. Although a teacher would need to acknowledge their students capabilities and enhance their abilities to help them improve, it has very little to do with anatomy and physiology, in my opinion. Good eyes and ears are most definitely needed but 'your mentors should be able to tailor your training to your needs and style' (Causey 2014) in order to develop further. One performer may require something from their mentor that is completely different to someone else. Teachers need to be diverse and cater for their student.

In terms of breath control, the article refers to it being 'the only physical part of singing' (Veltman 2009). Within the genre of Musical Theatre, there is a lot of physical movement and gesture in order to develop character within a performance, so breathing is not necessarily the only physical part, but it is an extremely important part. If a performer does not breath correctly when singing, especially if the performance includes demanding vocals, the sound created will not be correct. Lack of breath could result in notes sounding strained which is not what a performer wants as the audience may think they are not capable of successfully performing the song they are singing. Without proper breath control singers tend to rely on their head voice too much making their performance much weaker. This style requires a strong diaphragm/ability to breath for successful projection. When a performer has good, strong technique in terms of breathing, numerous positive effects become evident in terms of performance;

            'The results of proper breathing technique may include better control over the breath and thus the quality of the voice's tone, more efficient use of the breath resulting in less breathiness or 'airyness' in the tone, the ability to sustain notes for considerably longer and to sing longer phrases, increased lung capacity, a natural (unforced) increase in volume, improved overall stamina or endurance, minimized tension in the chest, shoulders, neck and face, less pressure on the vocal folds, and better oxygenation of the entire body.' (O'Connor 2013) One section which I will personally take a lot from as a performer is the section titled '6. The Power of Cross-training'. As I have only ever been trained in the style of Musical Theatre, I have never thought about training in other areas; this section of the article informed me just how important it is to train in other genres and styles of music.

            "Cross-training across all styles is the key to being able to perform them in artistically coherent and safe way," says Lader. "If you sing opera you should also practice singing pop songs. This is important, because it prevents injury and strengthens, balances and coordinates the many parts of the laryngeal musculature. Plus, singing in a different style from what one is accustomed to can help to raise a red flag if there is something wrong with the vocal cords that needs special attention." (Veltman 2009)

I am now going to learn about other styles and genres in an attempt to push myself musically to give me more diversity as a performer, as well as better range and capability.
In any style of music, the voice or instrument used should be the main priority. As a musical performer, without a voice or ability to play an instrument, there would not be a performance. This article is extremely beneficial for a performer within the genre of Musical Theatre as it provides them with tips and potential guidelines to follow to develop their vocal abilities, as well as taking care of their voice. I have personally took a lot of the provided information on board and am now going to incorporate these tips within both my preparation for performance and actual performances. One statement which really stood out and stuck in my mind within the article was that 'the voice is a fragile instrument' (Veltman 2009). I never really considered myself as a 'musician' until I read this text. In my mind, you had to physically play an instrument to be considered a musician; I now realise that the voice as an instrument in itself and is just as important and valued within the Musical Theatre industry.

An example of my preferred style is within the song Without You from the musical Rent. I prefer to perform with a character so that I have a motive and an intention to my performance. I think I am going to write a piece with character when it comes to writing my final piece, which are extremely emotional may assist me.

I now feel more prepared to write my solo performance. I am fully aware of my own strengths and weaknesses within my own vocals and feel ready to create my original piece.

Week Seven 04/11/14

Work in Lecture

In this lecture, my main personal focus was deciding on what my final individual performance was going to include, as well as allocating myself into a performance group and discussing performance ideas. My group consists of myself, Devin, Jen and Gil.

To begin with, the groups within the class performed their individual arrangements to receive feedback. Our arranged performance ended up being a collaboration of two songs; Stand By Me by Ben E King and Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston. Both songs share an extremely similar baseline so it was rather straight forward for us to create the piece. We included numerous harmonies and overlapped the songs to add texture and make the performance interesting for our viewing and listening audience. With a recorded vocal baseline, we were able to create three parts within the chosen songs including difficult harmonies. The feedback we received is displayed below;

• The group had very good stage presence when singing and created an effective ensemble layout by being spread out. This meant each section could be heard clearly.
• Good quality of performance generally, it was evident that a lot of time and effort was spent to make the vocals tight.
• The selected songs really complimented each other so the arrangement was strong in terms of the overlapping and harmonising.
• The recorded baseline was effective within the performance. Originally, I was going to perform the baseline live but the piece seemed empty. With the baseline recorded, I was able to add more dynamic to the performance and sing harmonies to make it more full and interesting.  

The group was referred to as being extremely similar to a female barber shop which inspired us in terms of brainstorming ideas for the final marked group performance. It was a huge compliment to us as we realised just how well our voices complimented each other and how well we were able to create music without the use of instruments.

 

 

Group Work For Assessment

 

We want our final performance to show how our work has developed from this performance so we think the best option is to create an arrangement. After carrying out numerous pieces each week varying from abstract pieces to musical arrangements, we weighed up the positive and negative aspects and think that an arrangement would be beneficial to us in terms of creativity as well as challenging us musically. Our group discussion is displayed within Fig.13;

Fig.13

After carrying out some research into the chord progression including C G A F, I have found that there is numerous popular songs which have this included in them. This means that we have many options to choose from to create the piece. An example of how certain songs can mould into one and overlap is the YouTube video titled '24 song titles form a 4 chords song (C G A F)'. I think this example; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQYg6uZLRKE will benefit us greatly when it comes to beginning our groups creative process. We are going to use experimentation, improvisation and chance techniques to see what works and what does not necessarily work. As the group performances are required to be a minimum of five minutes we have decided to think about a second idea to create and perform, as shown in Fig.14;

Fig.14

Although this idea will be a lot more difficult in terms of creativity, I think it will be good for the group to be challenged musically. It is extremely difficult to change a song in terms of genre to make it sound different but I think if we focus and work well together, we will be capable of doing it successfully. I think it would be beneficial to take a song that it is more out of our comfort zone in terms of performance and transforming it into a piece that we are more comfortable and confident with. In the upcoming weeks, we will need to decide as a group which genre we are going to be working on and research potential songs we could perform.

 

 

Individual Work For Assessment 

In terms of my individual performance, I think I am going to work on an arrangement. The original requirement was to create an original composition lasting between approximately three to four minutes, this could be either performed live or played on a recording. We were asked to write both the music and the lyrics involved within the performance. As I am not yet comfortable with playing an instrument, I would not feel completely confident accompanying myself when performing. My idea for my solo performance is to use an already existing piece of music and write new lyrics to sing to the chosen track. I may also choose to change the genre of the original song to put a twist on my piece and make it seem more original. I want my performance to show my creative identity and I think this type of piece will do exactly that. I am going to carry out intensive research into numerous genres and backing tracks to see what I feel drawn to in terms of writing lyrics and creating a song.


Individual Vocal Work

In terms of my own personal development I have been working on my vocal warm-ups to develop my vocal range, strength of my voice, voice placement, diction and ability to sustain notes. I have been carrying out these warm-ups before any vocal performance to ensure that my voice is not damaged in any way. When considering my devised solo performance, I want to develop and improve my vocal technique so that I am capable of a lot more within my performance. I want to be able to reach more demanding notes with confidence, use vibrato effectively and be able to pronounce all of my written lyrics with good  quality diction. The warm-ups I have been using are displayed below;

 

1. The first exercise moves up and down the scale using an 'ah' sound. This developed my range and the strength of my voice when singing.
2. The second exercise also moved up a scale using the vowel sounds 'A, E, I, O, U.' This also developed my range as well as improving my diction.
3. The third exercise includes moving up a scale using the lyrics from the song 'Doe a Dear.' This exercise again developed my vocal range, strength and my ability to sustain longer notes.
4. The final exercise includes the song 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' to develop diction and ability to sing lyrics clearly. This exercise improved my diction when singing and voice placement.

  

 

Individual Instrument Work

As well as working on my vocals, I have also been looking into lessons on YouTube for beginners learning how to play the piano. One video that I have found included teaching note names, finger exercises for strength and dexterity, how to play piano with both hands, simple chords and basic improvisation with chords and a melody. I am going to use this video to begin to learn the piano and progress through each of the lessons to improve. There are numerous lessons from Mark Andrew Hansen which I am hoping to progress to in order to learn more skills and develop as a musician. It would be ideal for me to be confident enough to play the piano and accompany myself within my final solo performance but I need to be realistic.  

Week Six 28/10/14

Work in Lecture

Within this lecture the group focused on how to create an effective adaptation of a song. This benefitted us greatly as it provided us with useful knowledge and assistance in terms of ideas for both our final individual performances and our final group performances.

To begin with we viewed the abstract or aleatoric pieces created in individual groups. Myself, Devin and Jen used our given object as inspiration and incorporated the whole group to use chance and improvisation. We asked the group to select an object in the room and when pointed at, create music with their object. The only stimulus the group was given was the object they selected, we asked them to respond to the egg using their instrument. This means the piece would include personal response. The feedback we received is as follows;

• There was no meaning or aim to the piece so it definitely fit the abstract genre.
• The piece was more chance than abstract. The instrument choice was unknown to us as we did not give a specific focus, we just said a 'random object'. It was also completely unknown what the final outcome/product was going to be.
• There was a strong element of improvisation within the piece in terms of structure. The participants simply responded to what was asked of them. The result of this is that every time the piece is performed it would be completely different which adds a sense of excitement to the performance. This is rather similar to the 'Storm' piece we had previously created.
• We were commended on how well thought out the piece was. Everyone within the group responded to the sound the egg made and really embodied the idea created.

We then focused on arrangements of songs and considered how arrangements are made. Our final performances, both individual and group, can be either an original piece or an arrangement so it was vital that we were educated on the characteristics and stylistic features included;

'An arrangement involves decisions about the choice of instruments and voices, the distribution of the pitches among the various instruments and voices, and the disposition of the diverse sections of the music, along with indications of dynamics, phrasing and so on.' (Shepherd 2003)

Within a group consisting of myself, Jen, Devin, Gil, Sophie and Kirsty we created an adaptation of the song 'Somebody That I Used To Know' by Gotye. The original piece is an adaptation in itself as it includes the classic nursery rhyme 'Ba Ba Black Sheep' played on the glockenspiel. The music video also relates to the meaning of the song by using abstract art. The lyrics within the song communicate that there is no meaning in the relationship anymore. This relates to the 'abstractness' of the video as abstract art also has no meaning. We adapted the piece by removing any instruments used and replaced them with voice. We used voice for the bass line and the melody. The original track and our groups adapted track is displayed below;

Individual Vocal and Instrumental Work

When considering my independent instrumental and vocal work, I feel that this piece has developed my ability to change instruments to vocal and create a whole new sound. The arrangement of this piece really influenced me in terms of my independent work as I now feel a lot more confident when arranging an original piece to make it different. I have now decided that I would feel more comfortable arranging an already existing piece rather than writing and creating an original song. Although I have made this decision, I am still going to work on developing my song writing in terms of both music and lyrics.

I personally really appreciate Billy Joel as a song writer and performer. His style of writing tells stories, evokes emotion in the listening audience and creates an image so vivid that it is imaginable. He is an extremely talented lyricist and song writer who inspires me to write myself;

“I notice that when I wake up in the morning, I’m singing something or humming something,” says Billy Joel. “I have something going on in my head – some music, some kind of theme – just about every day.” (American Songwriter 2014)

I think when I develop my ability to write lyrics I am going to use Billy Joel's work as inspiration. Songs such as 'Tell Her About It' tells a story and has a background to it which makes it relatable;

'Billy Joel talks about when he first started dating Christie Brinkley. He says that she was the first person he could ever just talk to, and they would spent hours just talking - this was the basis for "Tell Her About It."' (Song Facts 2014)

The song such as 'It's Still Rock And Roll To Me' presents ideas and concepts to the listening audience; Billy Joel was making a comment on musical styles and trends. (Song Facts 2014)

I am going to attempt to create lyrics in both of these styles of writing and use Billy Joel as an influence.
 

 

Work in Lecture

The group task for Week 7 includes creating our own arrangement of a section of an original song lasting between one and two minutes. The piece is to be performed rather than recorded and within the group we must try and make the piece our own. Myself, Devin and Jen had the idea of using the song 'Stand By Me' by Ben E King. We are planning to make the piece acoustic and tranform the instruments to vocals to create a whole new dynamic. For example, using our voices to create a baseline as well as using vocal to create the tune. We thought it might be effective to vary who sings which section; base, tune or lyrics, in order to add diversity to the piece as well as challenge ourselves vocally. The original song is displayed below;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTCfQ6Bb8QE

(Riahsha 2013)

Week Five 21/10/14

Work in Lecture

Within this lecture we focused on both abstract music and aleatoric music. This followed on perfectly from the previous session as this style of music relates to improvisation and chance writing.

Our groups idea from last week was based on the stimulus we were provided with as shown in Fig.12;

 

Fig.12

Rather than creating an abstract piece, we took something visual and made it literal by creating a concept. We thought that the image resembled a heart monitor so we thought it would be effective to use a heartbeat as the underlying bass line. The concept we created was based on 'life' meaning that we could feature either human sounds or everyday sounds such as cars and busy streets. The lines on the page may resemble life progressing; starting at birth, then increasing in size to show the increase in age and then finally ending on a straight line symbolising death. We got inspiration from a piece named Raindrop Prelude;

 

The recurring raindrop is similar to the idea we want to create with a heartbeat sound. We were asked to consider five questions when evaluating performances;

1. Would you class this as a musical performance?
2. What do you think the composer/performance was trying to communicate?
3. Do you think the group approached the task in the right way?
4. What would you have done differently?
5. Is this their work or the composers?

I believe that our groups idea, when fully devised and created will be a very musical performance with a powerful meaning. The way we create the piece will be extremely effective in terms of what we are trying to communicate. I do not necessarily think that our ideas were the same as the composers as it is a very abstract image and our piece has context, but it is a different way to look at it and create something new. Our group definitely approached the task in the right way but unfortunately we were unable to create the final devised piece due to the fact that it would not be solely our work, we would need to use recorded sounds and organise them to create the piece. If we carried out the task again, I think we could of approached the image in a more abstract manor and simply created what was on the page rather than thinking too deeply into meaning and concept. I have researched into the sound effects we could potentially use within the devised piece. We can use this basis to develop our initial idea further in the future to create a more abstract piece;

Heartbeat sound effect

To symbolise the heartbeat within life. This sound is used as the bass.

 

Baby Crying sound effect

To symbolise birth and the start of the piece.

 

Children Playing Sound Effect

To symbolise life progression into childhood.

 

Traffic Sound Effect.

To symbolise further progression in life and portray how life develops.

 

Conversation Sound Effect.

To again symbolise progression in life.

 

Mobile Phone Sound Effect.

To symbolise the progression of society and life in terms of technology.

 

Heart Monitor Flat Line Sound Effect.

To symbolise the end of life within the piece.

When considering abstract music and its origins, art is the greatest influence; abstract art came first and abstract pieces of music followed. Abstract art and music is thought of as being unusual and different; artists think outside of the box. Within abstract music, there are usually no words or lyrics, as words assign meaning and the pieces do not require any meaning. Pieces are unrepresentational, unique and different with no repetition or recurring themes. This type of music forces the audience to question their thoughts as they are provided with nothing; they need to think and create their own concept behind the music. Musical artists want their audience to appreciate their music and create their own meaning;

'Music seems more abstract than other art forms because it represents emotional states, symmetry and repetition, and other intangibles. But just because you can’t see or touch these things, doesn’t make them any less real. In preliterate societies, music was probably one of the best methods for storing and conveying complex stories and information.' (Ethan Hein 2011)

One very powerful musical example was created by Boris Blatcher in 1953. He devised a German non-verbal opera without a story which involved only very simple movement. A more modern version of abstract music includes computer music with digital sound. Electronic music is now popular in the modern day which shows that the art is still very much alive. An effective example of the development is Maelstrom by Steinvord in 2012.  

Boris Blacher's piece

 

 

 Steinvord's piece

 

 

Aleatoric music is a sub-genre of abstract music which also links to what we looked at last week (chance writing).

 

'Simply speaking, aleatoric music is any music that has certain elements left to chance. Leaving something to chance is not the same thing as making a mistake or creating a new interpretation of an established piece. In aleatoric music, the ensemble, dynamics, rhythm, pitch, or form are randomly generated and performed.' (uremusic 2014)

 

This type of music can be created in three ways;

1. Use of random procedures to produce a determinate, fixed score
2. Mobile Form
3. Indeterminate notation, including graphic notation and texts

Although I struggled to understand the concept of abstract music at the beginning of the lecture, after listening to various different examples and gaining more knowledge on the technique, I feel like I understand the music a lot more. I feel that I am now able to question the music's merits and appreciate other ways that music can be created. In terms of my final performance, I think I may struggle to create a piece that does not necessarily have a narrative. Although learning about this style was extremely interesting, I think I will find it very difficult to create something within this genre myself so I think I will try to avoid it.

Next weeks task involves small groups creating a piece influenced by this session; the piece created needs to be either abstract or aleatoric. We were provided with a stimulus as a starting point. The object we selected was an egg shape with a smaller round object inside which created sound when shaken. Within my group we are going to try to think outside the box and not go for the obvious option; we want our piece to fit the abstract criteria and be interesting for our listening audience. We recorded a short extract of the sound the object makes to inspire our ideas for the piece;

Individual Vocal Work

When working on my individual work, I focused on developing my vocal skills in terms of increasing my range. As a performer I really want to improve so that I am able to sing a wider range of songs and make me more versatile as a vocalist. Two exercises I have used are displayed below;

 

This exercise challenged me in terms of the range used but it helped me to focus not only on the starting and ending notes, but the notes in between. It has assisted me to strengthen my voice and be more confident when reaching more demanding notes within a song.

 

 



 

These exercises also helped me to develop my vocal range, even more effectively than the previous video. You are provided with very in-depth instructions so you are fully aware of what to do and what not to do to ensure that the exercises are carried out correctly. The video then provides music to rehearse the exercise to which I felt was extremely beneficial.