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)

How did I start to create my individual piece?

When sitting at the piano I just started experimenting with different chords and doing different things till I found a sound that I liked.

After experimenting with other different sounds I decided to start putting my piece together using the programme ‘Pro Tools’, another new skill I aimed to learn this semester)

During my piece there is no singing as I am not yet confident as a vocalist, but it is something I would like to improve on in future)

I based my piece on minimalism, (a form of contemporary classical music) as I felt more comfortable with this style as I think it suits me when creating a piece as I cant write lyrics for a song very well.

Back to group rehearsals!

With everything going very well in rehearsals my group was always on task and always stuck to deadlines which really benefited us because it meant that we could make any improvements from feedback we were given, we could work out staging and also costumes. 

I fell like we all worked really well together as we did help each other if one of us was stuck especially me since I was still struggling to play with two hands! 

With more practise over the weeks I hopefully will be confident enough by performance time because I do want to show how much I have improved since coming to University and doing things I did not dream of myself doing! 

My Journey.....

Beginning – Slow movement, simple chords

-Emotions:

-Unsure

-Confusion

-Worry

-Hope

Middle – up’s & downs

-Emotions

-Growing confidence

-Small steps

-Having a goal

-Frustrated

-Doubt

Ending – Uplifting melody

-Emotions

-Happy

-Achievement

-Memory 

This plan demonstrates the emotions and things that I want to put into my individual piece that I am going to create using 'Pro Tools' and my own recordings.

Ideas for my individual piece

Since last semester did not go quite as well for me when creating my individual piece I decided that I would make more of a plan this time round to help me 

create my piece. 

After reflecting on last semester and my individual piece I decided that I wanted to do another piano piece but this time one that was one hundred percent my own.

So with jotting some ideas I was not sure on what I actually wanted to do.

I reflected back on last semester and this semester on how much I had improved with my piano skills and general confidence in music. I therefore decided to do a piece based on my journey of my first year with music!

So since I had my idea I decided to make a little plan based on what chords I was going to use, how I was going to structure the piece and the emotions that would go into the piece.

An example of using split chords

Just by even listening to this music by 'Phillip Glass' you can easily hear how each note goes into another smoothly and sounds fluent all the way throughout. 

More piano techniques

SPLIT CHORDS:

This technique was really useful for myself especially for my individual piece. 

Split chords does sound confusing but it is really easy once you understand. when playing on the piano you want your notes to run smoothly into each other without sounding bad or clashing. 

One way to prevent this happening is to use the sustain pedal whilst playing your chords/notes. By using the sustain pedal it allows the note to last a little bit longer and also gives it that smooth, delicate feeling when the note is being played. 

So it is a really easy technique to use and is also very common in music pieces to help the music flow nicely. 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nUkcl-JAXlYC&lpg=PP1&dq=beginner%20piano%20technique%20books&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q&f=false  -  Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course, Book 1: Lesson * Theory * Technic – accessed on 25/5/2015

Piano Techniques

To help me with the keyboard for my group performance I thought it would be a good idea to look at some piano techniques that would be very beneficial to myself. 

FINGER PLACEMENT:

When playing the piano it is always good to have a nice curved hand to allow full range of movement whilst playing the piano. If you were to straighten out your hand you will notice that your fingers are all different lengths which means if you try to play the piano with a straight hand not all of your fingers will be on the keys which restricts what notes you can play. If your hand is curved you are more in control of your finger placement. (Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course, Book 1: Lesson * Theory * Technic - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nUkcl-JAXlYC&lpg=PP1&dq=beginner%20piano%20technique%20books&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q&f=false  - accessed on 25/5/2015)
 

70's piece

For the 70's piece myself, Reece and Anailia decided to stay in the same group and create a more upbeat song so we went with the genre 'Disco'! 

I was really pleased that we went with Disco because I love the songs ABBA created such as 'Dancing Queen' and also 'Mamma Mia'. (http://www.songfacts.com/artist-abba.php - accessed on 25/5/2015)

So for this piece we decided to again go with an original song which was written by Reece. When discussing what instruments we wanted to play live we went with the keyboard which was played by me and the electric guitar which was played by Reece and Anailia would sing the song with Myself and Reece joining in on the bridges. 

This piece was a challenge for me because not only was I using one hand for the keyboard but I was using both my hands at the same time. This was very new to me because I am in the process of trying to teach myself how to do this without looking down at the keyboard constantly.

Even though there was only four notes to play I did still find it hard and I do need to keep practising whilst I am at home because when we perform this song to our audience I cant be looking down at the keyboard because that will make the piece seems boring and with it being such an upbeat song I knew I had to know what I was doing in order to enjoy myself whilst on stage. 

I have also found some good piano techniques which i feel would benefit me alot!(see next post!)

60's piece

For the 60's piece I was in a group with Reece and Anailia.

We decided to for a pyscidelic piece that we were going to create ourselfs. The song was written by Reece and Reece also did the main body of the backing tack alongside Anailia. With me not having any experience on pro tools I had no idea how to use it! I gave my input on what I though sounded good and what could be changed and also different ideas on what instruments could be used for the backing track. 

I also used this time to practise on the piano and working on not looking at where my fingers were placed so that I could remember the chords. 

For the performance we decided that Reece would sing the song and play an electrical gutair, Anailia would play the base gutair and I would play piano.