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.