Hey Ya

vid

Under Cover Martyn by Two Door Cinema Club

 

Our performance at Magoos.

Rolling in the Deep by Adele

Our performance at Magoos.

Student Performance Evening Evaluation

On wednesday the 10th October we did our Student Performance Evening. With a planned opening time of 6:00 pm and performances starting at 6:30, we were allowed entrance to set up in the venue from 4:30. In this time we made sure that we got any needed equipment down there, such as amps, drumkit, microphones etc. Although there were a couple of things which were forgotten at first, we had allowed plenty of time to go back up to the college and get them. Once the PA system and stage were set up, we did some sound checks to make sure the balance between microphones, amps and the drumkit were correct, but also an appropriate volume for the small venue. We finished setting up at 6 pm when the people were starting to arrive. In my opinion the setting up and pre-organisation were good. Although there were the odd problems such as forgetten equipment, we allowed enough time for anything to be sorted out.

The venue was Magoos bar in Henley. http://www.magooshenley.co.uk/ It is a small local bar. They say "Open stage. All acts considered". For this reason it seemed a good place to hold such an event. The building is long and thin with a bar at the front with tables etc. And then a seperate room/bar at the back through an archway with a small stage, PA system and bar stools and a few tables around the edge, allowing for a small audience to gather. I think the size of the venue was perfect, as there were enough people there to fill up part of the space in the middle, without blocking too many people's views, and to feel like the night had a good turn out, rather than a bigger venue where it would have been awkward due to not enough people to fill the large space. The sound also worked well in the venue. It was all a good volume for the size of the venue, and the mixer allowed Ben, who was in charge of levels, to adjust any levels which weren't correct while we were performing.

The perfomances were split into solo performances in the first half, followed by an interval, with group performances in the second half. Each person in the group performed in at least one thing, whether it be a solo or group performance. As a drummer, and with it being a fairly small venue, I felt that a drum solo may be too loud/difficult, also considering that space meant we could only take a minimalistic drum kit. I choose instead to play the Cajon in one group performance, and the drum kit in another. I performed Under Cover Martyn on the Cajon and Rolling in the Deep on the drum kit, and then Hey Ya (the group performance) on the Bongos. These performances all went well, and were all quite well balanced.

Although the night as a whole was a success, in some ways better than we had expected, there were still some things which we should pay more attention to next time we do such an event. One of them was the timing of the evening. We had decided on a rough outline of 6 - 10pm, with an interval at around 8. The first performance of the first half started at 6:30, however the acts of the first half were finished by 7! This meant that the interval was an hour early. After this, the second half finished at around 8pm. This was two hours earlier than expected. Although this didn't matter for the people already there, it did matter to those who had planned to come later on at say 8pm or 9pm to catch the last of it. It also wouldn't had mattered so much if we had simply put the start time on the poster, but due to putting the finish time too, it would be expected to anyone reading the poster that they could turn up at 9:30 and still see music. In order to prevent this happening next time, I think each act should time their performance, and then the team organising the line up could work out roughly how long the evening will last. It might also have been good if we'd started later, as 6 pm is quite early for evening events, especially on a weekday when people often don't finish work till 5 pm.

Although some people did a few different performances, there were a number of people in the class who only did one act. In order to make the night last longer next time, we could do more than one act each as a minimum, maybe each person has to do a solo and a group performance. We could also advertise it as being more open to the general public to come along and perform - more like an open mic night.

A small problem was that the mixing desk was at the back of the stage, meaning that whoever was mixing couldn't get a proper idea of what the mix sounded like to the audience. This meant that Jack kept having to mouth to Ben to "turn up the guitar" etc. It would make more sense to have the mixer at the back of the venue. However, the PA system was the venue's, so we didn't have much choice. An alternative would be to have a coms system where someone at the back with a headset could tell the person at the mixer what to turn up/down.

Although the venue was a good size, the shape was a bit awkward due to being long and thin, the stage was cramped. Because of this, a lot of the performers blocked the entrance to the toilets/fire exit. Next time we could pick a similar sized venue but with a bigger stage. Also, the equipment could have been better arranged, as the mics were in front of the piano, causing the singers to be slightly seperated from the band, but also causing the mics to be in front of the PA system's speakers. This caused feedback. A little more care in equipment positioning would fix this next time.

Next time we need to make sure that we have someone film the entire night, as although people got friends or parents to film their own acts, not everyone was filmed. Next time we should make sure that we arrange for someone to specifically film every act. Another note on the organisation side was to make sure that we knew every bit of equipment needed, as we ran into problems with lack of extention leads, and the odd missing items such as the Cajon which we had to go back and get, and so on. Next time we need to put more consideration into these details.

These problems look like a lot, but to the audience, most of these problems weren't noticed, and all together the night went extremely well and was a lot of fun. We had a good turn out, creating a nice atmosphere in what was already a very atmospheric building, and all the acts went smoothly. There was also a great variety in acts which made it interesting. The feedback we got was very positive, and the manager of the bar said that he was delighted with how the night went and would be happy for us to do it again or possibly set up regular nights - say once a fortnight. I am also happy that my acts, luckily, were filmed. Next time, I will make sure that I do a drum solo, and also arrange personally to be filmed.

Event Poster

This is the final poster that I created.

 



Advertising and Promotion

In order to organise the 'Open Mic Night', I am part of the advertising and promotion team. The purpose of this team is to spread the word about the event, and organise how we are going to advertise it, what we are going to call it, and make sure we get all the information we need in order to advertise it. My role in this is to design a poster. I have experience helping with the graphic design of Henley Symphony Orchetra flyers on Photoshop. (get evidence of this) I will use the skills I have from my experience doing this and my Art A level. I will consider appropriate orders for text and which information the other members of the team give me that are most important to have in big font or small font and so on. I will also check with other members of my team who are also designing forms of advertising such as journalism to make sure we use the same colour scheme etc.

Undercover Martyn

In our last lesson, we decided to practice 'Undercover Martyn' by Two Door Cinema Club as we are doing this on the open mic night. I will be playing Cajon, as we are doing an acoustic cover. Emma will be singing, Dan and Spencer will be playing guitar and Seb will play bass. We are doing a less upbeat arrangement of the song. We worked on which parts of the song should be kept calm and simple and which parts should be louder and more energetic. Once we had done this, we realised that we kept speeding up on the energetic parts, so we worked on keeping a steady tempo and not speeding up just because we get louder. I think it is almost there, and with one more practice we should have it perfect.

My Other Blogs

These are the links of my other blogs:

http://willhowellworkdevelopasamusicensemble.blogspot.co.uk/
http://willhowellsolomusicperformanceskills.blogspot.co.uk/
http://willhowellmusicperformancetechniques.blogspot.co.uk/
http://willhowellmusicinthecommunity.blogspot.co.uk/
http://willhowelllivemusicworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/
http://willhowellauralperceptionskills.blogspot.co.uk/

Significant Musical Experiences

• I have been playing drums for over 9 years (since I was 7). I have done Trinity Guildhall drum grades at grade 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7. I gained a distinction in both 5 and 7, and got 96/100 marks for grade 7. I am now working on grade 8.
• I Played drums/percussion in orchestras at primary school.
• When I was in my last year at primary school (Aged 10), a friend of mine took up the electric guitar. He had also previously played drums meaning that he had a drum kit too. We decided that we would start up a band because of this, and began practicing and writing songs. We then realised we needed a bass player, and so our other friend bought a bass and began to learn it. We eventually called ourselves Negativity. We did various performances in school assemblies and other events held at our primary school. We also played at the Henley Youth Festival. We played mostly our own songs, and later on began doing covers too. We stayed together as a band for 5 years. When we were in year 9 we changed our name to Twist of Fate. We played the Henley Youth Festival most years too, as well as other battle of the bands and so on in the local areas. You can see us playing at the 2009 gig night at 0:25 seconds to 0:48 here.
• I took classical guitar lessons for a few years and although I didn't take an exam, my guitar teacher said if we were to do one, I would have done grade 5.
• My secondary school is endorsed with a prize from the Lion's Club in Henley, whereby one music student each year is awarded £200, or 2 students £100 each. I won this award at the end of year 11 for my general work throughout the music GCSE such as the composition, but especially in recognition of my drumming, and got the £200 prize! I put this towards getting an electric drum kit, allowing me to practice later on in the evenings without disturbing the neighbors.
• Every year, a music exchange takes place between Henley and Leichlingen, our twin town in Germany. You can either do Jazz or Classical (orchestra). I have taken part in the Jazz a few times meant spending 3 or 4 days with our German guests and 3 whole days being tutored by professional jazz musicians. At the end of this we perform our pieces to a public audience/parents, the other groups and so on. At the end of this we have a chance to see the tutors perform which is always amazing, as each tutor plays a different key instrument.
• While in year 11, I started taking music theory lessons to help with the GCSE and because I felt having more knowledge in music theory would be generally helpful to anything I do in music, or composing. I took the AMRSM grade 5 exam in summer 2012. I got a merit.
• Berkshire Meastros rock courses.
• Jesus Christ Superstar.
• Saw Ian Peice live.
• Seen lots of live music, a wide range of styles of jazz from gypsey jazz to big band.
• been to orchestras since i was young seen people such as nigel kenedy, tasmin little more than once as well as other top soloists.
• Went to Reading Festival 2012 and saw my favourite band Foo Fighters.

Rolling in the Deep

In friday's lesson (14/08/12), we were given the option to perform a song either solo, or in an ensemble. I chose to group together with five others to create an ensemble. The performance was going to be acoustic, and there wasn't a drumkit, so I chose to play the bongos. We performed Rolling in the Deep by Adele. We had two girls singing (one lead vocalist, and one backing vocalist). We also had two acoustic guitars and a cajon player. To make the arrangement work for cajon and bongo at the same time, I suggested that the cajon player mainly played just the main beat - the bass drum on beat one and snare drum on beat three. This left space for me to accompany it. I did this by adding ornamentation between these main beats, such as three against four rythms, and other fills. The performance went really well, especially considering we had only practised it twice before performing.

My Musical Goals

I have been playing the drums since I was seven or eight. I am now seventeen and currently working towards my Trinity Guildhall grade 8, which I aim to take sometime between christmas 2012 and summer 2013. I am aiming to get a distinction. After this, I will do a diploma. Looking to the future, I aim to get in a good band - possibly a few, and do regular gigs at venues and pubs, or even become famous and play festivals. This is something that I would enjoy, and also get paid for, which would be amazing. I am also into recording myself play, and for this reason am into posting 'Drum covers' of my favourite songs on Youtube. I enjoy the whole process of making these: learning and perfecting the song, recording and mixing the drums, and filming it. I also like the fact that I can see my progress from looking at my past videos, and as I am a perfectionist, I am always looking at what I can improve about my drumming for future videos. I aim to become popular on Youtube by getting more views and subscribers, and to build up a catalogue of my drumming ability to have at hand - for example if I was auditioning for something. Other future ambitions are to get work playing in musicals, and also do session drumming/become a recording artist.