Category: Unit 10

Recently our bass player decided to leave the band and take a path into management rather than performance as it is something, he is more comfortable with and he was admittedly holding us back musically. This has left us without a bassist set in stone, however our lecturer has volunteered himself to step in when we need him to be. This has changed our band a bit in how we rehearse and what sound we have been left with in comparison to others. It also left us wondering what styles of music we could try to tackle without a key element to most music, and after watching other college bands perform at our Christmas gig and previous events, we thought about how beneficial it would be to have a keyboard player join our roster to help fill the bassists space. 

We tried to speak to both key players in the year below us before the Christmas break, asking if either of them would be interested in joining our band along and giving them some songs to look at during out time back. Out of the two of them, one of them came back to us after Christmas having learning all of them and after rehearsing with him the change it brings texturally is shocking. We are currently playing ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, ‘Good as Hell’ also by Lizzo and ‘Don’t Start Now’ by Dua Lipa with him on keys. All of them are very keyboard heavy, so adding a keyboardist was a very good choice as trying to recreate keyboard parts on a guitar is challenging and I learnt that when we first started looking at Prince’s tracks… 

As a band we think the next step will be for him to learn our Prince songs, which we have been playing without any keys and me trying to fill in everything on my guitar. I will finally be able to play my true parts and fulfil the whole three-minute solo within ‘Purple Rain’ without cutting it short as we have done previously.  

I have finally decided to invest my hard-earned money into some guitar effects pedals to add textually to our performance. There is a significant use of delay on the guitar in ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, so accordingly I got delay pedal to improve our performance, at the moment I am just trying to figure out how many milliseconds to delay it by which is tricky, but I am sure I will get it. Alongside that new pedal, the Wah pedal will be making a return within “Kiss” and “When Doves Cry” it took a bit of getting used to but I have now mastered it, a wah pedal simply alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name “wah-wah” which Prince clearly loved as it is featured in a lot of his tracks.  

I have also been using a chorus pedal in ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince and in a couple other songs where it seeks fit, this pedal thickens the texture of the guitar, making it sound like multiple guitars are playing at once which can get a bit messy if the settings aren’t used correctly…  

These expensive new and old additions to our setup, as well as the addition of the drummers SPD-SX (a sample pad), are really pushing our bands capabilities. They are going to make our band look and sound a lot more professional in comparison to others which is always a win in my book and not mention how we are also learning a lot about how to develop our setup! 

When I finally took the plunge into researching modern artists, I began looking at ‘Lizzo’ not just because we just so happen to be covering her songs, but because of her outstanding performance at Glastonbury as it somehow kept me engaged throughout which takes a lot most of the time.   

Even though she was performing to a backing track and shaking her body around the stage I couldn’t help but notice how all her songs had different choreographies which included herself and her backing dancers. You don’t see many solo artists willing to get up on stage in a leotard, dancing and singing as lively as her. Not to mention that amazing flute solo, reading into many articles I also found out that she is a classically trained flutist which is neat. 

Her dancers bring another layer to the show as it is something to watch to go alongside with the song. After mentioning this to our singer something suddenly clicked and we then we decided to propose the idea of introducing dancers to our performance to the performing arts department within out college which was something new to all of us. There are many dancers that would be willing to help source this crazy dancing idea from. Not to mention how both our own lecturer and the performing arts lecturer thought it is a was an amazing idea and we should start working on it straight away. 

However, this all seemingly worked out in our favor, there were dancers already had a routine to ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, so they have started to teach it to our singer the routine and adapt it for a live performance on stage. We have gone through it with them once so far and we are hoping to have routines to most of our songs in time for our FMP gig. This introduction of dancers really sets our performance aside from the mostly generic rock ones which will take place at our FMP especially when it comes to stage presence and being professional. 

Lizzo’s outfit alongside her backing dancers corresponded with the theme and what she was putting across to her audience. As far as I am aware, I think we are going to take inspiration from their Glastonbury 2019 outfits with the theme of purple yet again, so I can finally make use of my Prince outfit again. 

Yet again we are putting in the extra effort in our costumes again, just like at The Ashcroft arts centre, it will really set us apart from the rest of the bands, with the ideas behind  costumes and the dancers keeping the audience engaged far more than we have managed to before. Personally, I think it is a is a great idea and can’t wait to see the final product when I get used to a couple dancers twerking in front of me…  

Our setlist is primarily focused upon comparing songs from the 80’s to songs now. This term we are currently focusing on pop music, these artists such include Lizzo and Dua Lipa. However, I thought it is about time that we have a song that can push the drummer and I further than before, as these four chord pop songs are driving me crazy…  

Our setlist currently consists of the following, 

• Kiss – Prince 
• When Doves Cry – Prince 
• Purple Rain – Prince 
• Good as Hell – Lizzo 
• Juice – Lizzo 
• Don’t Start Now – Dua Lipa 
• *Rosanna – Toto* 

When we jam in rehearsal whilst the singer is doing her own thing, we start to the intro to ‘Rosanna’ by Toto, there is no explanation towards it. This song it would still fit into our theme as it was released in 1982 which is a plus side If we decide amongst ourselves if we want to perform it.  

This swiftly leads me on to the comparison of back then to now, there are a lot of features and characteristics in Pop music that have changed over the years mainly due to rapid development of technology. One of the critical parts is to do with the structure and story telling that takes place within songs now in comparison to the 80s.  

Modern pop – “Juice” by Lizzo 

• Introduction (I): The introduction sets the mood and it is an instrumental. 
• Verse (V): Yet again the verse begins the story of the song.  
• Pre-Chorus: These help to build up the suspense towards hook within the chorus and to draw out the track. 
• Chorus (C): The chorus is the most memorable lyrical points in this pop song, just like older songs it is the hook. 
• Verse (V2): Continues progression of the story.  
• Pre-Chorus: Building up the hype again to reinforce the hook once more. 
• Chorus (C2): The second chorus reinforces the hook even more.  
• Bridge (B): The bridge on this song is purely lyrical, it only once happened once in this song and forms a contrast with the repetition of verses and choruses previously. 
• Chorus/Outro (C/O): Repeating the chorus and keeping the good vibes there bringing the song to a strong ending. 

As you can see there is not much of a story being told in this modern song, most people who listen to this genre on the radio are only there for the catchy chorus and the melody that flows throughout the track. The use of a “Pre-Chorus” throughout also solidifies its main intent these days, which is to build up even more hype in the chorus. To me there is nothing interesting about the repetitive instrumentals that go alongside with these pop songs, which mainly revolve around the same four chords and some boring lyrics. However, to the general public they’re something they can all sing along to and enjoy as there is not much change which is a plus side for performers. 

To compare this pop song, I am going to be looking at a song by Prince, one of the most influential musicians whose career took off within the 80’s with hit tracks like “Purple Rain”, “1999” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. But the track I am going to be looking at is “When Doves Cry”, it has a few features that our modern pop song did not have, and it is a track within our set. 

 80’s form – “When Doves Cry” by Prince 

• Introduction (I): The introduction sets the mood and is usually instrumental, although sometimes it may include a spoken recitation, like in Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” 
• Verse (V): The verse begins the story of the song. 
• Verse (V2): Continues to develop the story. 
• Chorus (C): The chorus is the most memorable lyrical points of the song — the song’s hook. 
• Verse (V3): Another verse continues the flow of the story. 
• Chorus (C2): The second chorus reinforces the hook further. (x2) 
• Bridge (B): The bridge, which may be instrumental or lyrical, usually occurs only once in the song and forms a contrast with the repetition of verses and choruses. In this track it’s a guitar solo which depicts a turning point in the story.  
• Chorus (C): The final chorus repeats the original chorus to fade, or it just stops on the first chord. 
• Outro (O): This Implements features of the previous choruses bringing the songs story to a gradual close. 

The song starts off with a bold guitar solo, Prince was notorious for showing off his capability whenever he could. After this the story has begun within the first verse and it progresses through another verse before arriving at a chorus. Like the modern pop song, the chorus contains the hook which most listeners will always remember. In the 80s a bridge was always an opening for a potential guitar solo and Prince went all out because he knew his fans would enjoy it regardless. The final chorus within this song brings the story to an end and the outro helps the flow of the album, not to mention bringing the track to a swift ending.  

Something else which has changed over time from now and the 80’s is the instrumentation and dynamics which rely upon technology. Within the 80’s the introduction of synthesisers and sampling was on the rise due to new technology being created. Prince was drawn towards this and it includes drum machines, a wide range of synths which can all be heard in a lot of his songs, especially on the soundtrack for “Purple Rain”. 

At the time Prince was at the forefront of pop and dance music, and on many occasions, he has be credited for ahead of his time, sampling is now something used very commonly in pop songs because it is easy and stress-free due to even further progression of technology. 

Prince stuck to what he knew best within both recording and live performances, and these are electric guitar, bass guitar, piano and drums. These instruments are buried within many modern pop records, but they’re drowned out with vocals. At Glastonbury in 2019, Lizzo chose to perform to a backing tracks played by her DJ that seems to be made up almost entirely of samples found on Logic and Pro Tools. 

The increasing use of a backing tracks within live performances changes the feel entirely within songs, not to mention that these artists are trying to bring their music to large paying audiences.  

Although there are many differences between songs from modern music to tracks from the 80’s, there are a lot of similarities too. We are hoping to show you all these similarities are differences at our FMP gig when we will perform handful of different songs from varying decades, showing off our skill and adaptability to family, friends and the general public. 

For the FMP as a class we must organize a gig, this will include hiring out a venue, meeting the required ticket sales and bringing our equipment setting up the backline for the stage. This term my band will be required to put forward our planned proposal and this encloses how we will present ourselves, along with our new sound.  

As chairman, I have previously organised for everyone to have their own role catered to their personal skill set. To achieve a successful event there must be roles so no one is doing nothing at any given time throughout the evening. Within our class we must determine where we would like to play based on how many people will roughly come along and the distance that would have to be travelled for all parties.  

The venue can’t be too big or too small, for example we have played ‘The 1865’ twice and the crowds have always been big and lively until the end of the evening. However, this time round it will only be my year group playing which consists of three bands.  I am going to be keeping an open mind to two different attributes not only performing but managing also within preparation for the final major performance. 

Out of a long list of venues that came to mind based on my personal experience, I have now narrowed them down to cater for a college gig because there are a lot of variables which can prevent such going forth. Locally, we have venues such as; ‘Ferneham hall’, ‘The Wedgewood Rooms’, ‘The Heartbreakers’, ‘O2 Guildhall Southampton’ and ‘The Stage Door’. Unfortunately, it is incredibly unlikely for us to fill a venue bigger than ‘The 1865’ so that rules off two of those from the starting line.   

Ticket sales, this is a variable based upon how many people are in my class decide to sell the minimum of tickets which is 4 each, but to be able to afford a venue like the O2 Guildhall in Southampton this also includes ‘The Wedgewood Rooms’ and ‘Ferneham Hall’, because they’re purely designed to cater to large crowds. Not to mention that the price of a ticket would have to be raised immensely and everyone would have to sell a lot more tickets each…  

This now leaves me down to the two smaller venues in Southampton and my choices for these are ‘The Stage Door’ and ‘The Heartbreakers’, both in which are situated close to the train station in town centre which is convenient for the large majority that live in Fareham like myself. Before the gig you could spend the day shopping with friends to avoid last minute travel which is always stressful which is something nobody wants before performing to a live audience. Another benefit is a change of scenery, the music scene within Fareham is a definite contrast when put next to Southampton.   

Before considering either of the two venues you must think about the logistics because without them everything could soon crumble beneath your feet. Throughout the evening these are aspects that I’d think about to make sure everything runs smoothly, which is stress reducing.  

• Setting a timeline -on the day of the gig, including when the performers and any staff need to arrive to set up and prepare the venue for the audience. 
• Plan door staff to handle tickets and sales, hand out wristbands, and so on. (Ask the venue if you are expected to provide staff for the needed roles too.) 
• Follow the rules for the venue – this always includes the health and safety protocol and stay professional, no drinking before performing and keeping within a safe limit. 
• Sort out your pricing and ticketing – Making sure we have enough money off our ticket sales to cover cost for the venue and potential staff hire.  
• Check if there are any curfew or license concerns for the venue in question – Create a running order so performers are not tempted to overrun, warn them of the curfew and playing past that point this isn’t possible.  
• Making a list of equipment that must be brought with us and what the venue may provide for you, ask the performers for a list of any specific equipment they need for their set too.  
• Establish who is setting up the equipment and who is on the mixing desk on the night, communication is always the key element here. 

Task 1: Exploring the Musical Marketplace

Proposal: The Preachers: Ellie Thornton (Guitar), Lucy Uttley (Drums) and Millie Grace (Vocals).

As a band, 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 like ‘Lenny Kravitz’ and ‘Prince’, the latter of which we have played before. This genre is drawing us away from the comfort zone of rock, and we will also be pushing ourselves by bringing in different elements of modern music.   

This movement towards more popular music also introduces the use of synth and samples. Our drummer will bring in their Roland SPD-SX sample pad and our guitarist will use a delay pedal, a wah pedal and chorus pedal in order to achieve the ‘pop’ sound. This is very different in comparison to what we usually would play and will challenge us further than before.   

The choice of pop music such as ‘Lizzo’ and ‘Dua Lipa’ will easily get the audience involved as it is mainstream music that they will recognise. This is the same for ‘Prince’, and when we have played this before we have seen a big response from the crowd. The vast arrangements of his songs were hard to recreate with our limited instruments, but we used our skill to cover it. The introduction of the sample pad will also help fill out the songs, especially now that we have lost one of our band members.   

Our bassist recently left; however, our guitarist has suggested to switch between bass and guitar, and we are hoping to get a keys player which we could then use to fill out the bass parts. We could also load bass parts onto the SPD-SX. Our bassist leaving has let us push ourselves and that is why we want to challenge ourselves with modern pop and introduce the sampling element.   

This term we will progress as a band by challenging ourselves with songs we perhaps wouldn’t have thought of playing before and finding ways to cover the arrangement. The FMP provides the opportunity to push our playing and ability without letting anything hold us back.   

Task 2: The Tools of the Trade

FMP Venue and Preparation

For the FMP as a class we must organize a gig, this will include hiring out a venue, meeting the required ticket sales and bringing our equipment setting up the backline for the stage. This term my band will be required to put forward our planned proposal and this encloses how we will present ourselves, along with our new sound. 

As chairman, I have previously organised for everyone to have their own role catered to their personal skill set. To achieve a successful event there must be roles so no one is doing nothing at any given time throughout the evening. Within our class we must determine where we would like to play based on how many people will roughly come along and the distance that would have to be travelled for all parties.

The venue can’t be too big or too small, for example we have played ‘The 1865’ twice and the crowds have always been big and lively until the end of the evening. However, this time round it will only be my year group playing which consists of three bands.  I am going to be keeping an open mind to two different attributes not only performing but managing also within preparation for the final major performance.

Out of a long list of venues that came to mind based on my personal experience, I have now narrowed them down to cater for a college gig because there are a lot of variables which can prevent such going forth. Locally, we have venues such as; ‘Ferneham hall’, ‘The Wedgewood Rooms’, ‘The Heartbreakers’, ‘O2 Guildhall Southampton’ and ‘The Stage Door’. Unfortunately, it is incredibly unlikely for us to fill a venue bigger than ‘The 1865’ so that rules off two of those from the starting line. 

Ticket sales, this is a variable based upon how many people are in my class decide to sell the minimum of tickets which is 4 each, but to be able to afford a venue like the O2 Guildhall in Southampton this also includes ‘The Wedgewood Rooms’ and ‘Ferneham Hall’, because they’re purely designed to cater to large crowds. Not to mention that the price of a ticket would have to be raised immensely and everyone would have to sell a lot more tickets each… 

This now leaves me down to the two smaller venues in Southampton and my choices for these are ‘The Stage Door’ and ‘The Heartbreakers’, both in which are situated close to the train station in town centre which is convenient for the large majority that live in Fareham like myself. Before the gig you could spend the day shopping with friends to avoid last minute travel which is always stressful which is something nobody wants before performing to a live audience. Another benefit is a change of scenery, the music scene within Fareham is a definite contrast when put next to Southampton.  

Before considering either of the two venues you must think about the logistics because without them everything could soon crumble beneath your feet. Throughout the evening these are aspects that I’d think about to make sure everything runs smoothly, which is stress reducing.

• Setting a timeline – on the day of the gig, including when the performers and any staff need to arrive to set up and prepare the venue for the audience.
• Plan door staff to handle tickets and sales, hand out wristbands, and so on. (Ask the venue if you are expected to provide staff for the needed roles too.)
• Follow the rules for the venue – this always includes the health and safety protocol and stay professional, no drinking before performing and keeping within a safe limit.
• Sort out your pricing and ticketing – Making sure we have enough money off our ticket sales to cover cost for the venue and potential staff hire.
• Check if there are any curfew or license concerns for the venue in question – Create a running order so performers are not tempted to overrun, warn them of the curfew and playing past that point this isn’t possible.
• Making a list of equipment that must be brought with us and what the venue may provide for you, ask the performers for a list of any specific equipment they need for their set too.
• Establish who is setting up the equipment and who is on the mixing desk on the night, communication is always the key element here.

Comparing modern music to the 80’s

Our setlist is primarily focused upon comparing songs from the 80’s to songs now. This term we are currently focusing on pop music, these artists such include Lizzo and Dua Lipa. However, I thought it is about time that we have a song that can push the drummer and I further than before, as these four chord pop songs are driving me crazy…

Our setlist currently consists of the following,

• Kiss – Prince
• When Doves Cry – Prince
• Purple Rain – Prince
• Good as Hell – Lizzo
• Juice – Lizzo
• Don’t Start Now – Dua Lipa
• *Rosanna – Toto*

When we jam in rehearsal whilst the singer is doing her own thing, we start to the intro to ‘Rosanna’ by Toto, there is no explanation towards it. This song it would still fit into our theme as it was released in 1982 which is a plus side If we decide amongst ourselves if we want to perform it.

This swiftly leads me on to the comparison of back then to now, there are a lot of features and characteristics in Pop music that have changed over the years mainly due to rapid development of technology. One of the critical parts is to do with the structure and story telling that takes place within songs now in comparison to the 80s.

Modern pop – “Juice” by Lizzo

• Introduction (I): The introduction sets the mood and it is an instrumental.
• Verse (V): Yet again the verse begins the story of the song.
• Pre-Chorus: These help to build up the suspense towards hook within the chorus and to draw out the track.
• Chorus (C): The chorus is the most memorable lyrical points in this pop song, just like older songs it is the hook.
• Verse (V2): Continues progression of the story.
• Pre-Chorus: Building up the hype again to reinforce the hook once more.
• Chorus (C2): The second chorus reinforces the hook even more.
• Bridge (B): The bridge on this song is purely lyrical, it only once happened once in this song and forms a contrast with the repetition of verses and choruses previously.
• Chorus/Outro (C/O): Repeating the chorus and keeping the good vibes there bringing the song to a strong ending.

As you can see there is not much of a story being told in this modern song, most people who listen to this genre on the radio are only there for the catchy chorus and the melody that flows throughout the track. The use of a “Pre-Chorus” throughout also solidifies its main intent these days, which is to build up even more hype in the chorus. To me there is nothing interesting about the repetitive instrumentals that go alongside with these pop songs, which mainly revolve around the same four chords and some boring lyrics. However, to the general public they’re something they can all sing along to and enjoy as there is not much change which is a plus side for performers.

To compare this pop song, I am going to be looking at a song by Prince, one of the most influential musicians whose career took off within the 80s with hit tracks like “Purple Rain”, “1999” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. But the track I am going to be looking at is “When Doves Cry”, it has a few features that our modern pop song did not have, and it is a track within our set.

 80s form – “When Doves Cry” by Prince

• Introduction (I): The introduction sets the mood and is usually instrumental, although sometimes it may include a spoken recitation, like in Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.”
• Verse (V): The verse begins the story of the song.
• Verse (V2): Continues to develop the story.
• Chorus (C): The chorus is the most memorable lyrical points of the song — the song’s hook.
• Verse (V3): Another verse continues the flow of the story.
• Chorus (C2): The second chorus reinforces the hook further. (x2)
• Bridge (B): The bridge, which may be instrumental or lyrical, usually occurs only once in the song and forms a contrast with the repetition of verses and choruses. In this track it’s a guitar solo which depicts a turning point in the story.
• Chorus (C): The final chorus repeats the original chorus to fade, or it just stops on the first chord.
• Outro (O): This Implements features of the previous choruses bringing the songs story to a gradual close.

The song starts off with a bold guitar solo, Prince was notorious for showing off his capability whenever he could. After this the story has begun within the first verse and it progresses through another verse before arriving at a chorus. Like the modern pop song, the chorus contains the hook which most listeners will always remember. In the 80s a bridge was always an opening for a potential guitar solo and Prince went all out because he knew his fans would enjoy it regardless. The final chorus within this song brings the story to an end and the outro helps the flow of the album, not to mention bringing the track to a swift ending.

Something else which has changed over time from now and the 80’s is the instrumentation and dynamics which rely upon technology. Within the 80’s the introduction of synthesisers and sampling was on the rise due to new technology being created. Prince was drawn towards this and it includes drum machines, a wide range of synths which can all be heard in a lot of his songs, especially on the soundtrack for “Purple Rain”.

At the time Prince was at the forefront of pop and dance music, and on many occasions, he has been credited for ahead of his time, sampling is now something used very commonly in pop songs because it is easy and stress-free due to even further progression of technology.

Prince stuck to what he knew best within both recording and live performances, and these are electric guitar, bass guitar, piano and drums. These instruments are buried within many modern pop records, but they’re drowned out with vocals. At Glastonbury in 2019, Lizzo chose to perform to a backing tracks played by her DJ that seems to be made up almost entirely of samples found on Logic and Pro Tools.

The increasing use of a backing tracks within live performances changes the feel entirely within songs, not to mention that these artists are trying to bring their music to large paying audiences.

Although there are many differences between songs from modern music to tracks from the 80’s, there are a lot of similarities too. We are hoping to show you all these similarities are differences at our FMP gig when we will perform handful of different songs from varying decades, showing off our skill and adaptability to family, friends and the general public.

Dancers and costumes

When I finally took the plunge into researching modern artists, I began looking at ‘Lizzo’ not just because we just so happen to be covering her songs, but because of her outstanding performance at Glastonbury as it somehow kept me engaged throughout which takes a lot most of the time. 

Even though she was performing to a backing track and shaking her body around the stage I couldn’t help but notice how all her songs had different choreographies which included herself and her backing dancers. You don’t see many solo artists willing to get up on stage in a leotard, dancing and singing as lively as her. Not to mention that amazing flute solo, reading into many articles I also found out that she is a classically trained flutist which is neat.

Her dancers bring another layer to the show as it is something to watch to go alongside with the song. After mentioning this to our singer something suddenly clicked and we then we decided to propose the idea of introducing dancers to our performance to the performing arts department within out college which was something new to all of us. There are many dancers that would be willing to help source this crazy dancing idea from. Not to mention how both our own lecturer and the performing arts lecturer thought it is a was an amazing idea and we should start working on it straight away.

However, this all seemingly worked out in our favor, there were dancers already had a routine to ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, so they have started to teach it to our singer the routine and adapt it for a live performance on stage. We have gone through it with them once so far and we are hoping to have routines to most of our songs in time for our FMP gig. This introduction of dancers really sets our performance aside from the mostly generic rock ones which will take place at our FMP especially when it comes to stage presence and being professional.

Lizzo’s outfit alongside her backing dancers corresponded with the theme and what she was putting across to her audience. As far as I am aware, I think we are going to take inspiration from their Glastonbury 2019 outfits with the theme of purple yet again, so I can finally make use of my Prince outfit again.

Yet again we are putting in the extra effort in our costumes again, just like at The Ashcroft arts center, it will really set us apart from the rest of the bands, with the ideas behind  costumes and the dancers keeping the audience engaged far more than we have managed to before. Personally, I think it is a is a great idea and can’t wait to see the final product when I get used to a couple dancers twerking in front of me…

Our new additions

Recently our bass player decided to leave the band and take a path into management rather than performance as it is something, he is more comfortable with and he was admittedly holding us back musically. This has left us without a bassist set in stone, however our lecturer has volunteered himself to step in when we need him to be. This has changed our band a bit in how we rehearse and what sound we have been left with in comparison to others. It also left us wondering what styles of music we could try to tackle without a key element to most music, and after watching other college bands perform at our Christmas gig and previous events, we thought about how beneficial it would be to have a keyboard player join our roster to help fill the bassists space.

We tried to speak to both key players in the year below us before the Christmas break, asking if either of them would be interested in joining our band along and giving them some songs to look at during out time back. Out of the two of them, one of them came back to us after Christmas having learning all of them and after rehearsing with him the change it brings texturally is shocking. We are currently playing ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, ‘Good as Hell’ also by Lizzo and ‘Don’t Start Now’ by Dua Lipa with him on keys. All of them are very keyboard heavy, so adding a keyboardist was a very good choice as trying to recreate keyboard parts on a guitar is challenging and I learnt that when we first started looking at Prince’s tracks…

As a band we think the next step will be for him to learn our Prince songs, which we have been playing without any keys and me trying to fill in everything on my guitar. I will finally be able to play my true parts and fulfil the whole three-minute solo within ‘Purple Rain’ without cutting it short as we have done previously.

I have finally decided to invest my hard-earned money into some guitar effects pedals to add textually to our performance. There is a significant use of delay on the guitar in ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, so accordingly I got delay pedal to improve our performance, at the moment I am just trying to figure out how many milliseconds to delay it by which is tricky, but I am sure I will get it. Alongside that new pedal, the Wah pedal will be making a return within “Kiss” and “When Doves Cry” it took a bit of getting used to but I have now mastered it, a wah pedal simply alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name “wah-wah” which Prince clearly loved as it is featured in a lot of his tracks.

I have also been using a chorus pedal in ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince and in a couple other songs where it seeks fit, this pedal thickens the texture of the guitar, making it sound like multiple guitars are playing at once which can get a bit messy if the settings aren’t used correctly…

These expensive new and old additions to our setup, as well as the addition of the drummers SPD-SX (a sample pad), are really pushing our bands capabilities. They are going to make our band look and sound a lot more professional in comparison to others which is always a win in my book and not mention how we are also learning a lot about how to develop our setup!

References

Heartbreakersbarvenue.co.uk. (2020). Heartbreakers | Bar and Live Music Venue in Southampton. [online] Available at: http://www.heartbreakersbarvenue.co.uk/private-hire.html [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

Juice. (2019). [Online] Atlantic Records. Available at: https://youtu.be/XaCrQL_8eMY [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

MusicRadar. (2014). Wah pedals: what you need to know. [online] Available at: https://www.musicradar.com/tuition/guitars/wah-pedals-what-you-need-to-know-609807 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

Pilhofer, M. and Day, H. (n.d.). The Music Theory behind Rock and Pop – dummies. [online] dummies. Available at: https://www.dummies.com/art-center/music/the-music-theory-behind-rock-and-pop/ [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

reverb.com. (2018). What does a chorus effect pedal do? | The Basics. [online] Available at: https://reverb.com/uk/news/what-does-a-chorus-effect-pedal-do-the-basics?locale=en-GB [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

Thestagedoor.org.uk. (2020). The Stage Door – Venue hire. [online] Available at: https://thestagedoor.org.uk/article.php/32/venue-hire [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

When Doves Cry. (1984). [Online] Toronto’s Massey Hall: Warner Bros. Available at: https://youtu.be/UG3VcCAlUgE [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

YouTube. (1984). Prince – Purple Rain (Official Video). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/TvnYmWpD_T8 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

YouTube. (1986). Prince – Kiss (Official Music Video). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/H9tEvfIsDyo [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

YouTube. (2016). Lizzo – Good As Hell (Video). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/SmbmeOgWsqE [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

YouTube. (2019). Lizzo – Juice (Glastonbury 2019). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/R9CTs1NsZRI [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

FMP Venue and Preparation

For the FMP as a class we must organize a gig, this will include hiring out a venue, meeting the required ticket sales and bringing our equipment setting up the backline for the stage. This term my band will be required to put forward our planned proposal and this encloses how we will present ourselves, along with our new sound. 

As chairman, I have previously organised for everyone to have their own role catered to their personal skill set. To achieve a successful event there must be roles so no one is doing nothing at any given time throughout the evening. Within our class we must determine where we would like to play based on how many people will roughly come along and the distance that would have to be travelled for all parties.

The venue can’t be too big or too small, for example we have played ‘The 1865’ twice and the crowds have always been big and lively until the end of the evening. However, this time round it will only be my year group playing which consists of three bands.  I am going to be keeping an open mind to two different attributes not only performing but managing also within preparation for the final major performance.

Out of a long list of venues that came to mind based on my personal experience, I have now narrowed them down to cater for a college gig because there are a lot of variables which can prevent such going forth. Locally, we have venues such as; ‘Ferneham hall’, ‘The Wedgewood Rooms’, ‘The Heartbreakers’, ‘O2 Guildhall Southampton’ and ‘The Stage Door’. Unfortunately, it is incredibly unlikely for us to fill a venue bigger than ‘The 1865’ so that rules off two of those from the starting line.  

Ticket sales, this is a variable based upon how many people are in my class decide to sell the minimum of tickets which is 4 each, but to be able to afford a venue like the O2 Guildhall in Southampton this also includes ‘The Wedgewood Rooms’ and ‘Ferneham Hall’, because they’re purely designed to cater to large crowds. Not to mention that the price of a ticket would have to be raised immensely and everyone would have to sell a lot more tickets each… 

This now leaves me down to the two smaller venues in Southampton and my choices for these are ‘The Stage Door’ and ‘The Heartbreakers’, both in which are situated close to the train station in town centre which is convenient for the large majority that live in Fareham like myself. Before the gig you could spend the day shopping with friends to avoid last minute travel which is always stressful which is something nobody wants before performing to a live audience. Another benefit is a change of scenery, the music scene within Fareham is a definite contrast when put next to Southampton.  

Before considering either of the two venues you must think about the logistics because without them everything could soon crumble beneath your feet. Throughout the evening these are aspects that I’d think about to make sure everything runs smoothly, which is stress reducing.

• Setting a timeline – on the day of the gig, including when the performers and any staff need to arrive to set up and prepare the venue for the audience.
• Plan door staff to handle tickets and sales, hand out wristbands, and so on. (Ask the venue if you are expected to provide staff for the needed roles too.)
• Follow the rules for the venue – this always includes the health and safety protocol and stay professional, no drinking before performing and keeping within a safe limit.
• Sort out your pricing and ticketing – Making sure we have enough money off our ticket sales to cover cost for the venue and potential staff hire.
• Check if there are any curfew or license concerns for the venue in question – Create a running order so performers are not tempted to overrun, warn them of the curfew and playing past that point this isn’t possible.
• Making a list of equipment that must be brought with us and what the venue may provide for you, ask the performers for a list of any specific equipment they need for their set too.
• Establish who is setting up the equipment and who is on the mixing desk on the night, communication is always the key element here.

Comparing modern music to the 80’s

Our setlist is primarily focused upon comparing songs from the 80’s to songs now. This term we are currently focusing on pop music, these artists such include Lizzo and Dua Lipa. However, I thought it is about time that we have a song that can push the drummer and I further than before, as these four chord pop songs are driving me crazy…

Our setlist currently consists of the following,

• Kiss – Prince
• When Doves Cry – Prince
• Purple Rain – Prince
• Good as Hell – Lizzo
• Juice – Lizzo
• Don’t Start Now – Dua Lipa
• *Rosanna – Toto*

When we jam in rehearsal whilst the singer is doing her own thing, we start to the intro to ‘Rosanna’ by Toto, there is no explanation towards it. This song it would still fit into our theme as it was released in 1982 which is a plus side If we decide amongst ourselves if we want to perform it.

This swiftly leads me on to the comparison of back then to now, there are a lot of features and characteristics in Pop music that have changed over the years mainly due to rapid development of technology. One of the critical parts is to do with the structure and story telling that takes place within songs now in comparison to the 80s.

Modern pop – “Juice” by Lizzo

• Introduction (I): The introduction sets the mood and it is an instrumental.
• Verse (V): Yet again the verse begins the story of the song.
• Pre-Chorus: These help to build up the suspense towards hook within the chorus and to draw out the track.
• Chorus (C): The chorus is the most memorable lyrical points in this pop song, just like older songs it is the hook.
• Verse (V2): Continues progression of the story.
• Pre-Chorus: Building up the hype again to reinforce the hook once more.
• Chorus (C2): The second chorus reinforces the hook even more.
• Bridge (B): The bridge on this song is purely lyrical, it only once happened once in this song and forms a contrast with the repetition of verses and choruses previously.
• Chorus/Outro (C/O): Repeating the chorus and keeping the good vibes there bringing the song to a strong ending.

As you can see there is not much of a story being told in this modern song, most people who listen to this genre on the radio are only there for the catchy chorus and the melody that flows throughout the track. The use of a “Pre-Chorus” throughout also solidifies its main intent these days, which is to build up even more hype in the chorus. To me there is nothing interesting about the repetitive instrumentals that go alongside with these pop songs, which mainly revolve around the same four chords and some boring lyrics. However, to the general public they’re something they can all sing along to and enjoy as there is not much change which is a plus side for performers.

To compare this pop song, I am going to be looking at a song by Prince, one of the most influential musicians whose career took off within the 80s with hit tracks like “Purple Rain”, “1999” and “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. But the track I am going to be looking at is “When Doves Cry”, it has a few features that our modern pop song did not have, and it is a track within our set.

 80s form – “When Doves Cry” by Prince

• Introduction (I): The introduction sets the mood and is usually instrumental, although sometimes it may include a spoken recitation, like in Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.”
• Verse (V): The verse begins the story of the song.
• Verse (V2): Continues to develop the story.
• Chorus (C): The chorus is the most memorable lyrical points of the song — the song’s hook.
• Verse (V3): Another verse continues the flow of the story.
• Chorus (C2): The second chorus reinforces the hook further. (x2)
• Bridge (B): The bridge, which may be instrumental or lyrical, usually occurs only once in the song and forms a contrast with the repetition of verses and choruses. In this track it’s a guitar solo which depicts a turning point in the story.
• Chorus (C): The final chorus repeats the original chorus to fade, or it just stops on the first chord.
• Outro (O): This Implements features of the previous choruses bringing the songs story to a gradual close.

The song starts off with a bold guitar solo, Prince was notorious for showing off his capability whenever he could. After this the story has begun within the first verse and it progresses through another verse before arriving at a chorus. Like the modern pop song, the chorus contains the hook which most listeners will always remember. In the 80s a bridge was always an opening for a potential guitar solo and Prince went all out because he knew his fans would enjoy it regardless. The final chorus within this song brings the story to an end and the outro helps the flow of the album, not to mention bringing the track to a swift ending.

Something else which has changed over time from now and the 80’s is the instrumentation and dynamics which rely upon technology. Within the 80’s the introduction of synthesisers and sampling was on the rise due to new technology being created. Prince was drawn towards this and it includes drum machines, a wide range of synths which can all be heard in a lot of his songs, especially on the soundtrack for “Purple Rain”.

At the time Prince was at the forefront of pop and dance music, and on many occasions, he has been credited for ahead of his time, sampling is now something used very commonly in pop songs because it is easy and stress-free due to even further progression of technology.

Prince stuck to what he knew best within both recording and live performances, and these are electric guitar, bass guitar, piano and drums. These instruments are buried within many modern pop records, but they’re drowned out with vocals. At Glastonbury in 2019, Lizzo chose to perform to a backing tracks played by her DJ that seems to be made up almost entirely of samples found on Logic and Pro Tools.

The increasing use of a backing tracks within live performances changes the feel entirely within songs, not to mention that these artists are trying to bring their music to large paying audiences.

Although there are many differences between songs from modern music to tracks from the 80’s, there are a lot of similarities too. We are hoping to show you all these similarities are differences at our FMP gig when we will perform handful of different songs from varying decades, showing off our skill and adaptability to family, friends and the general public.

Dancers and costumes

When I finally took the plunge into researching modern artists, I began looking at ‘Lizzo’ not just because we just so happen to be covering her songs, but because of her outstanding performance at Glastonbury as it somehow kept me engaged throughout which takes a lot most of the time. 

Even though she was performing to a backing track and shaking her body around the stage I couldn’t help but notice how all her songs had different choreographies which included herself and her backing dancers. You don’t see many solo artists willing to get up on stage in a leotard, dancing and singing as lively as her. Not to mention that amazing flute solo, reading into many articles I also found out that she is a classically trained flutist which is neat.

Her dancers bring another layer to the show as it is something to watch to go alongside with the song. After mentioning this to our singer something suddenly clicked and we then we decided to propose the idea of introducing dancers to our performance to the performing arts department within out college which was something new to all of us. There are many dancers that would be willing to help source this crazy dancing idea from. Not to mention how both our own lecturer and the performing arts lecturer thought it is a was an amazing idea and we should start working on it straight away.

However, this all seemingly worked out in our favor, there were dancers already had a routine to ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, so they have started to teach it to our singer the routine and adapt it for a live performance on stage. We have gone through it with them once so far and we are hoping to have routines to most of our songs in time for our FMP gig. This introduction of dancers really sets our performance aside from the mostly generic rock ones which will take place at our FMP especially when it comes to stage presence and being professional.

Lizzo’s outfit alongside her backing dancers corresponded with the theme and what she was putting across to her audience. As far as I am aware, I think we are going to take inspiration from their Glastonbury 2019 outfits with the theme of purple yet again, so I can finally make use of my Prince outfit again.

Yet again we are putting in the extra effort in our costumes again, just like at The Ashcroft arts center, it will really set us apart from the rest of the bands, with the ideas behind  costumes and the dancers keeping the audience engaged far more than we have managed to before. Personally, I think it is a is a great idea and can’t wait to see the final product when I get used to a couple dancers twerking in front of me…

Our new additions

Recently our bass player decided to leave the band and take a path into management rather than performance as it is something, he is more comfortable with and he was admittedly holding us back musically. This has left us without a bassist set in stone, however our lecturer has volunteered himself to step in when we need him to be. This has changed our band a bit in how we rehearse and what sound we have been left with in comparison to others. It also left us wondering what styles of music we could try to tackle without a key element to most music, and after watching other college bands perform at our Christmas gig and previous events, we thought about how beneficial it would be to have a keyboard player join our roster to help fill the bassists space.

We tried to speak to both key players in the year below us before the Christmas break, asking if either of them would be interested in joining our band along and giving them some songs to look at during out time back. Out of the two of them, one of them came back to us after Christmas having learning all of them and after rehearsing with him the change it brings texturally is shocking. We are currently playing ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, ‘Good as Hell’ also by Lizzo and ‘Don’t Start Now’ by Dua Lipa with him on keys. All of them are very keyboard heavy, so adding a keyboardist was a very good choice as trying to recreate keyboard parts on a guitar is challenging and I learnt that when we first started looking at Prince’s tracks…

As a band we think the next step will be for him to learn our Prince songs, which we have been playing without any keys and me trying to fill in everything on my guitar. I will finally be able to play my true parts and fulfil the whole three-minute solo within ‘Purple Rain’ without cutting it short as we have done previously.

I have finally decided to invest my hard-earned money into some guitar effects pedals to add textually to our performance. There is a significant use of delay on the guitar in ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, so accordingly I got delay pedal to improve our performance, at the moment I am just trying to figure out how many milliseconds to delay it by which is tricky, but I am sure I will get it. Alongside that new pedal, the Wah pedal will be making a return within “Kiss” and “When Doves Cry” it took a bit of getting used to but I have now mastered it, a wah pedal simply alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name “wah-wah” which Prince clearly loved as it is featured in a lot of his tracks.

I have also been using a chorus pedal in ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince and in a couple other songs where it seeks fit, this pedal thickens the texture of the guitar, making it sound like multiple guitars are playing at once which can get a bit messy if the settings aren’t used correctly…

These expensive new and old additions to our setup, as well as the addition of the drummers SPD-SX (a sample pad), are really pushing our bands capabilities. They are going to make our band look and sound a lot more professional in comparison to others which is always a win in my book and not mention how we are also learning a lot about how to develop our setup!

References

Heartbreakersbarvenue.co.uk. (2020). Heartbreakers | Bar and Live Music Venue in Southampton. [online] Available at: http://www.heartbreakersbarvenue.co.uk/private-hire.html [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

Juice. (2019). [Online] Atlantic Records. Available at: https://youtu.be/XaCrQL_8eMY [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

MusicRadar. (2014). Wah pedals: what you need to know. [online] Available at: https://www.musicradar.com/tuition/guitars/wah-pedals-what-you-need-to-know-609807 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

Pilhofer, M. and Day, H. (n.d.). The Music Theory behind Rock and Pop – dummies. [online] dummies. Available at: https://www.dummies.com/art-center/music/the-music-theory-behind-rock-and-pop/ [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

reverb.com. (2018). What does a chorus effect pedal do? | The Basics. [online] Available at: https://reverb.com/uk/news/what-does-a-chorus-effect-pedal-do-the-basics?locale=en-GB [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

Thestagedoor.org.uk. (2020). The Stage Door – Venue hire. [online] Available at: https://thestagedoor.org.uk/article.php/32/venue-hire [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

When Doves Cry. (1984). [Online] Toronto’s Massey Hall: Warner Bros. Available at: https://youtu.be/UG3VcCAlUgE [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

YouTube. (1984). Prince – Purple Rain (Official Video). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/TvnYmWpD_T8 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

YouTube. (1986). Prince – Kiss (Official Music Video). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/H9tEvfIsDyo [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

YouTube. (2016). Lizzo – Good As Hell (Video). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/SmbmeOgWsqE [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

YouTube. (2019). Lizzo – Juice (Glastonbury 2019). [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/R9CTs1NsZRI [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].

https://elliethornton.music.blog/2020/01/08/proposal-2020/

Band: The Preachers

Members: Lucy Uttley, Ellie Thornton and Millie Grace

As a band, we have decided to mold ourselves towards the pop genre, with modern artists such as ‘Dua Lipa’ and ‘Lizzo’. We will also draw from icons like ‘Lenny Kravitz’ and ‘Prince’, the latter of which we have played before. This genre is drawing us away from the comfort zone of rock, and we will also be pushing ourselves by bringing in different elements of modern music.  

This movement towards more popular music also introduces the use of synth and samples. Our drummer will bring in their Roland SPD-SX sample pad and our guitarist will use a phaser pedal, a wah pedal and chorus pedal in order to achieve the ‘pop’ sound. This is very different in comparison to what we usually would play and will challenge us further than before.  

The choice of pop music such as ‘Lizzo’ and ‘Dua Lipa’ will easily get the audience involved as it is mainstream music that they will recognise. This is the same for ‘Prince’, and when we have played this before we have seen a big response from the crowd. The vast arrangements of his songs were hard to recreate with our limited instruments, but we used our skill to cover it. The introduction of the sample pad will also help fill out the songs, especially now that we have lost one of our band members.  

Our bassist recently left, however our guitarist has volunteered to switch between bass and guitar, and we are hoping to get a keys player which we could then use to fill out the bass parts. We could also load bass parts onto the SPD-SX. Our bassist leaving has let us push ourselves and that is why we want to challenge ourselves with modern pop and introduce the sampling element.  

This term we will progress as a band by challenging ourselves with songs we perhaps wouldn’t have thought of playing before and finding ways to cover the arrangement. The FMP provides the opportunity to push our playing and ability without letting anything hold us back.