LO4 Be able to perform as a musical ensemble

LO4

4 Be able to perform as a musical ensemble

Types of audience: eg peers, friends and family, public

Communication: type eg verbal, physical, musical; with band members; with audience

Stage presentation: image eg costume where appropriate, stage make-up; stage presence and awareness; use of space eg movement, placing of equipment; sight lines

Musical competency: intonation; instrumental tuning; pitching during performance; tightness; tempo; handling of section changes; beginnings and endings; technical proficiency; critical listening and response to ensemble requirements eg balance; sensitivity and dynamics.

13/12/12

In today's lesson we performed one song to the class each and filmed it, we decided to sing the Kings of Leon- Milk. We then had a feed back session and the class told us how they thought our performance went. We were really surprised with the feed back that we got, it was really positive and everyone seemed to really enjoy our piece. The only constructive criticism that we got was that on a couple of parts me and Daisy do some Oh's in sync and they said we could harmonize this to just make it a little more interesting and so the audience don't get bored. We are going to work on this after we have completed the other 2 songs because we feel they need a lot more work on than this, but it's something we definitely want to do. 

After we performed these pieces and gave each other feed back, we then went into our groups to continue to rehearse, we decided that in the song Jamie T-Sheila Archie had too much to learn and me and Daisy, the vocalists, didn't have enough, so the second verse we have split up so all 4 of us take it in turns to do lines. We found this actually will make this sound better and we then all have a part.

Next lesson we are going to choose our 3rd song so we can then all practice them over the weekend and we are also hoping to get Sheila finished, and video some more so we can upload these to our blogs.

Here is the feedback and performance videos from this lesson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfJyXCvN6tQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8friy-Y2clA

20/12/12

Today was the day of the assessment. My group went in an hour early and rehearsed with all the equipment to be ready for the real thing. I felt we rehearsed the best that we have ever sang these songs. We recorded this rehearsal to for Sheila. We did change a bit of the song Pompeii, we extended it and changed the guitar a bit because we felt it was quite simple and maybe a bit boring at some points, so at the end we added a more upbeat part which slows down to then bring the pace back up again which we really loved. The song Sheila is one that we all kind of struggle with, just due to it having quite a fast pace and that can be quite difficult for the boys to keep up with as they are playing guitar at the same time, so doing both these things at once can be quite confusing, but we have gotten there in the end and we are all really proud of each other with how well we have done these pieces.

Here is some rehearsal footage from today's lesson before our final performance which we performed in front of a few people for some last minute feedback:

Jamie T Sheila- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59RLm17l-BI

How I feel the assessment went: 

I felt the assessment went really well and I think I performed the best that I could have, I could have perhaps showed a bit more confidence in my performing. Although I felt unsure of the words I did actually know them but I think it was more of a panic/nervous thing that made me feel like I needed them. I think we could have perhaps done a few things better, maybe sort out some better harmonies although I do think it sounded really nice with me and Daisy singing whilst Archie and Charlie sang as well which created a nice harmony and sometimes when it's simple it can sound so much better. I think we have all improved on these songs so much over the couple of weeks that we have had and they have turned out really well.

Here's the videos for our assessment:

Kings of Leon- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY84Mg9AU6k

Bears Den- Pompeii- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz-SXUjeyhE

Jamie T- Sheila- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpPqvaO6vxo

We also performed Pompeii at a gig in the Kenton Theatre at the Rebecca Poole concert. Here is the footage of this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIuhdyGJuig

When we performed this ensemble piece in the Kenton for what to wear, we decided that the boys would wear shirt and jeans and Daisy and I decided that we would both wear a dress or skirt and shirt, we wanted to all look smart and be wearing similar stuff to make us look more of a band. For our stage presence we decided to have Daisy and I to be stood at the front, and Archie and Charlie behind us, we all had microphones. We didn't want it to be such a static performance so Archie and Charlie stood a step or so behind their microphones and moved towards their microphone when it was their time to join in.