Last night I sent out the agenda to everyone within my class so they had a vague idea of what is going to be spoken about during this session. You can see the following document below;
When everyone arrived we started roughly ten minutes, it was hard to grasp everyone attention, because it was the first time we have ever had something ran by a student rather than a lecturer. To make this process a lot easier the first time round they all came in to help, ask questions and to discuss the points on the agenda.
Here are the minutes taken from this meeting, everything that happened within order is below.
The choice of pop music such as ‘Lizzo’ and ‘Dua Lipa’ will easily get the audience involved as it is mainstream music which they’ll instantly recognise. To explore and support this we will need evidence, last year ‘Lizzo’ performed at Glastonbury on the main stage which we have been drawing most of our ideas from such as the dancers, the use of purple (which we can link back to ‘Prince’) and the liveliness within all of her tracks. I will be looking into Lizzo’s early and late live performances such as the “NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert” she did in August 2019 and one of her early performances “Live At SXSW 2017”. We will be drawing inspiration from all of these performances and reviews as it is all available online so I can watch all of her gigs from the comfort of my bed!
Problem Solving
To be able to recreate this crisp, modern sound we have had to introduce some tech of our own this includes the introduction of a sample pad, alongside the vast amount of effects pedals which I have on my end. At the beginning of the term we have lost one of our band members but luckily we got another one back. After a week or so we found a keys player which helps massively to fill in the void within these arrangements, even if it is a sustained chord… Our bassist left which has opened up this new opportunity for us push ourselves further than we could have ever done before with him still being with us.This is the exact reason as to why we want to propel ourselves away from the other bands with modern pop, as it requires us to come up with our own arrangements to these songs so we are able then able perform them to a live audience without it sounding to scarce.
Planning and Production
At this current moment in time it is hard to say if and when we will be able to put on a gig, because of this global pandemic (COVID-19). It is going to be challenge within itself for everything to go to plan, the government have banned public gatherings so there is no way we can practice as band. Having chosen our set weeks prior to this outbreak we all know what songs we need to practice at home. As a band we have already discussed the order of our set, it will start off with a modern track which is then followed up by a older one so there is a contrast throughout our set. Another aspect we are focussing is finding the appropriate costumes for us and our dancers. They’ll be bold and vibrant to represent the era that these songs have came from, this may be the most difficult aspect to fulfil, due to the global pandemic we have seen all clothing shops closed, and online retailers only providing the essentials.
Practical Skills
If we are going to be able to successfully recreate this modern sound and look, as a band we’ll have to dive into the mainstream market and see what everyone is going after in the long run. In most modern pop songs there is a catchy vocal melody followed up by a strong backbeat which you can just slap on at anytime. In the background of these tracks you’ll find plenty of effects going on in the background, there is never a second where it is dull. As a band we are quite tight and know when to lay off when someones part has to stick out, for this genre it would have to be the drums and the vocals. I have to embrace that I am merely filling in behind the vocal melody so it hits the audience just that bit more. Our previous sets have been very guitar heavy, so I have been trying to gage the audiences attention, but now I’ll take a step back and let our singer show off more. I will be focusing around these simple chord structures, so I will spice things up with some different voicings along side my unique playing style which has been moulded by many genres throughout my time in college.
Evaluation and Reflection
Throughout this project I am aiming to reflect and evaluate on how effective my methods are weekly upon my musicians blog. By having this platform it makes it easier to track my rehearsal diaries, as well as videos of me playing and photos of theory work I may have completed or struggling with. We are all surrounded by technology, so by being able to document all of the following this will be a key asset for my progression as a musician. I will be able to see my mistakes, and hear them as well, so I can constantly improve upon my technique and expand my theory knowledge. Once we have performed at our final gig, I will be writing an evaluation where I am going to be assessing my own ups and downs during, along with my whole bands performance. This will consist of how effect our set was, and what things I would have changed if we were to have an opportunity like this again. By being aware of mistakes that this enables us to look for ways to improve ourselves as a band and individually.
Presentation
We are planning to present our ideas within our proposal to other bands in our class, and then accordingly receive their feedback. If this is not a possible option anymore, as a band we will criticise each other and look over our progress individually and all together. All of my progress will be published upon my musicians blog for everyone to see, this will include evaluations and self reflection. There will be SMART targets set every week for me to follow, and there will be a review at the end of the week going through what I have achieved and what I have not yet got the hang of. With all of the following documented properly there will be a timeline where I can follow my work from the very beginning to the end.
Members: Ellie Thornton, Millie Grace and Lucy Uttley.
As a band for our final unit, we have decided to mould ourselves towards the pop genre, with modern artists such as ‘Dua Lipa’ and ‘Lizzo’. We will also draw from icons we have previous artists we have covered such as ‘Lenny Kravitz’ and ‘Prince’. From all of the previous units I studied, I gathered a lot of information on many different genres and their specific characteristics which benefits me when it comes to playing them. This genre will be drawing us all away from the comfort zone of rock which we have all grown up playing with ease, and we will also be pushing ourselves by bringing in our own elements to these scarce arrangements within modern music. Not only will this be a challenge for the whole band but it will be great to see how an audience will react to real instruments playing these digital arrangements, most modern pop music is built up around samples and a few chords… Personally, it will challenge me more than previous units, I will organise all of my equipment, like effects pedals, when it comes to practising I will be doing it more than usual to build up my tolerance when it comes to playing these simple songs, over playing will definitely be a threat to me. The main focus in these pop songs are the lyrics and the vocal melody, so we all have to be careful to take a step back and support our vocalist as much as we can throughout rehearsals, and when we perform. Our overall concept will be to draw from the music we have previously played in the other units, most of these songs are pre-2000’s and most of the tracks are by ‘Prince’, and then we’ll be contrasting them with a new era of music which is heavily reliant upon technology.
The video below is from our original project proposal, because of COVID 19 we are unable to record another video together as of yet but we will be sure to complete this when it is safe for us to do so.
Ellie Thornton Music 