Last post - evaluation

MUSICIANSHIP EVALUATION

Throughout this semester I think that I have improved so much compared to where I was at the start of the year back in September. Not only has my piano skills grown, but I have learnt how to use music software such as ‘Pro Tools’, my confidence has grown and I have actually performed in front of an live audience playing the keyboard and also singing as a group.

When creating my individual piece I originally wanted to try and write my own song; however, when sitting down and trying to write some lyrics I couldn't put pen to paper even with a theme. I found this task really hard for myself so I decided that writing a song was not the best idea for me.

I then decided to sit in front of the keyboard and play around with different chords and recorded what I thought sounded really well. After recording some chords I went on to use a music programme called ‘Pro Tools’ which is a music software were you can create music using different kind of instruments and also edit your own music.

This software is very new to me so trying to put together other instruments was very tough for me. Once I had got the hang of it I started to created different pieces using the piano on the software with the midi keyboard. I also added in a little bit of guitar to my piece to make it sound different.

When creating my piece I found it much easier to create a piece of music by having a story. My story was about my journey in my first year of university doing music. By having my story I was able to put my emotions into the piece and also create the uplifting melody at the end of my piece to show that I had achieved something this year.

When listening back to my piece you can hear that there is some gaps in my piece, this was due to putting recordings into my piece and using copy and paste for my repeated parts. To improve this I would listen back more carefully when making my music so I can prevent this and I could also get someone else to listen to my work.

To make my piece sound better I would use more piano techniques which I did not consider as much. One technique that I can use to help improve my piece was ‘split chords’. This is when the sustain pedal is used to let the note last longer when playing; however, the sustain pedal does not stay down at all times it is pressed after every note to stop all of the notes building up, if this is prevented you get a lovely flow of notes. I also looked at using the sustain pedal on the keyboard to help me create a soft flow in the music and also when to use it.

My piece was based on the style minimalism which I think I matched it really well because I had influences from artists such as Philip Glass and also Ludovico Einaudi who are both amazing artists who show off their work so well.

Bibliography

·      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWyhy220FsQ (split chords) – accessed on 31/5/15

·      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg2K8BIfF1I (using the sustain pedal) – accessed on 31/5/15

·      https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HA9RapwJvzIC&pg=PA63&dq=using+the+sustain+pedal&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XilrVe_JL4ac7ga-8YK4CQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=using%20the%20sustain%20pedal&f=false (sustain pedal) – accessed on 31/5/15 

Improvements for individual piece.....

From listening to my piece it is clear that some parts do need improving.
At the start of the piece you would of heard that the block chords at the start are very strong and heavy which are due to the recording quality , another way that I could improve this is by using the sustain pedal which lets the notes last out that little bit longer which makes the notes smoother. 

A technique to improve this is a using a technique called ‘Split chords’ .

This means you can play two notes one after the other with the sustain pedal down which makes the chords sound delicate. 

There is also a few gaps in the piece I have created which you can hear quite clearly. This is because of the way I have done my piece on Pro Tools as I have copied some bits of the music for it to be repeated. When doing this in the feature I should listen back to my music a lot closer so I can spot silly mistakes like that. I need to make sure it also flows nicely throughout the piece to give it that smooth melody.

To also help it match my story a bit more I would use the sustain pedal more to create that soft feeling when the notes are playing and also use more of a range of the piano to vary the melody.

Artists such as ‘Phillip Glass’ and ‘Ludovico Einaudi’ vary the melody by using the sustain pedal ina very similar way – for example in one of Phillip Glass pieces ‘Glassworks’ it is very clear that you can hear him using the sustain pedal as you can hear how smooth the notes are and that he does not keep his foot down continuously, Glass puts his foot down when he plays a new note to stop all the notes building up which will allow the audience to hear each note smoothly. 

Individual piece

Its Show night!

So for my group performance I was starting to get nervous as I had never played music in front of an audience! I personally felt more confident with the 60's 'Psychedelic' song as it was simple chords with simple vocals which I did not feel too much pressure because I knew that I could play well in this piece.

For the 70's 'Disco' song I was not very confident at all on the day with this piece because I was struggling in rehearsals because not only was I performing music for the audience but I was also dancing in-between music which did knock me off in rehearsals because I was feeling the pressure of doing well for both assessments. 

Luckily on the night time everything went really well and I feel like I performed my best and I really enjoyed playing music in front of an audience. I was really proud of what my group had achieved as a trio and how well we had all progressed over the weeks! 

Pro Tools? How do I use that?!

Pro Tools is a very new piece of software to me and it did take me a while to get used to it!

Since missing the workshop earlier in the semester I was attempting to teach myself asking the technicians for help every know and then!

Once getting the hang of it I managed to create a piece that was completely different to the piece I have created.

I wanted to experiment with different instruments and how I could edit them with some re verb and other things.

Now this piece went well so far in until it got to one point where it did not sound right.

So learning from making that piece I moved on to my individual piece and I did have some recording which I could not remember the chords for so my piece is made up of recordings of my piece and also bits that I have created on ‘Pro Tools’.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Kr9iAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=pro%20tools&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=pro%20tools&f=false

Since I was new to Pro Tools I looked up a book on how to use Pro Tools and found this book really helpful as it told me how to set up things like the midi keyboard and also things on recording with a microphone and also how to edit things.

Who is Philip Glass?

Philip Glass was someone who I looked at when creating my music piece. I listened how he played the music by listening when he was using the sustain pedal and also how he used short phrases to create long pieces of music. I was inspired by Philip Glass because his music is brilliant, I loved how smooth it was and how much it flowed the whole way through.

•An American composer

•Born 1937

•He has created loads of pieces for different styles such as:

- keyboard

- Orchestra 

- Dance

- Music for film

- Large ensemble 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tykImG0WAsAC&lpg=PP1&dq=philip%20glass&pg=PR2#v=onepage&q=philip%20glass&f=false - accessed on 25/5/2015

What is Minimalism?

When planning my piece I looked at the style of minimalism, artist such as 'Philip Glass' are famous for this.

Minimalism is when a short piece of music is repeated over and over again to form a piece of music which is often stretched out for a long period of time.

‘A style or technique that is characterized by extreme sparseness and simplicity’

‘Minimalism is the perfect example of a musical

style that is cultivated without being classical’

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minimalism  - accessed on 25/5/2015)