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November 28, Coming Home - Performance Analysis

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November 28, Coming Home - Performance Analysis

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Overall, I thought our performance was very strong, we had a completed song with verses and chorus, with well arranged vocal ideas. Our strengths during this performance were our ability to organise a song in an interesting way, such as laying out the vocals from two character's perspectives. I believe the simple strumming in the ukulele complimented the vocals and the melancholy vibe that we were aiming to create. Some weaknesses however, were that sometimes the melody felt empty, and there were some gaps in the song, but I think this could be solved by adding a keyboard playing a melody underneath. The levels of this performance were good, except that I tend to sing louder than Beth, as I project my voice further, and naturally have a louder voice. In future I will work on making sure I sing at the same volume as Beth, as to not overpower her vocals when we sing together. I agree with the feedback we received, it was a well structured piece which responded to the stimulus in a positive way.

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November 28, Earth and Mars - Performance Analysis 

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November 28, Earth and Mars - Performance Analysis 

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This performance, in my opinion was very strong. The levels of volume were good, as we could hear both vocal parts and ukulele clearly. I agree with the feedback we received, we were proud of the colourful and bright lyrics that we'd written, and we did aim to produce a heartwarming vibe with this song. A weakness in our performance was the tempo - when we began the song we started at a slower tempo, then sped up when we got to the second verse and the chorus, but then managed to maintain this speed through the rest of the song. In future, I would make sure that we kept the same speed throughout the song. There were also some higher notes that I didn't manage to sing quite right, such as during the third line "her head is full of dreams". This issue could be solved with just a little more practice, and really listening to the ukulele to see what pitch I need to sing at. Some of our strengths were writing lyrics that complimented our stimulus well, and layering the vocals with different melodies added variation and excitement. The ukulele gave us the peaceful, relaxing vibe that we were after, so don't think any more instruments needed to be added to make the performance better, expect for some subtle percussion such as the bongos, to help us maintain a constant tempo.

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QS16   3 Room 3 Week 11 Lydia and Beth 2

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Given Stimulus - Syria Article Evaluation 

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Given Stimulus - Syria Article Evaluation 

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I believe that this was my best performance working to a given stimulus. Beth and I worked well together, and we worked very hard to develop a song which was thought provoking and sad, like the stimulus was. We approached the stimulus well, by writing lyrics from two different characters' points of view - almost like telling a story. I think this gave an individual take on the piece, and also made it more melancholy, as we tried to make the lyrics as personal as possible. A strength in this performance was our ability to respond to a stimulus well, and also structuring the song so we both Beth and I had important roles. Another strength would be our ability to use vocal techniques such as call and response to portray an idea; we used this technique to show a conversation of mutual feelings between the mother and the daughter. Some of our weaknesses would be that we did struggle to stay in time with one another at some points, but with more rehearsal this would be solved. To make our performance even better we could have added some extra instruments such as a keyboard to enhance the melody and add more depth to the song, and to fill out the melody, as there were some gaps, and in parts it sounded empty. We could also work on the vocals, by adding techniques such as harmonies or ornamentation, to give the melody a more powerful effect, to truly highlight how powerful the stimulus is. Overall, it was a very strong perforce, as Beth and I work very well together. We're both comfortable with each other, enough to share our ideas for the song, and we both had the same idea of how we would like the song to go. I believe that we really connected with this stimulus, and we developed a good contrast with by using the ukulele, as it is generally perceived as a very happy sounding instrument, and we used it to play a minor key and to write a very sad song.

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As we spent a lot of time practicing and rehearsing our song 'Earth and Mars' at home, Beth and I also had the time to rehearse another song, in response to a given stimulus, which we also practiced at home. The stimulus that we were working from was an article about a young Syrian girl who is waiting to legally leave the country alongside her mother and father, and witnesses her father get caught in a bomb dropping. Our initial thoughts were that this was a very heart wrenching, thought provoking stimulus. We were inspired to write lyrics using words from the article, and write them from the points of view of both the child and the mother, who are distraught over the death of their loved one. Similar to our previous song, we chose to use use a ukulele, playing single strummed chords, to give a really sad feel, also emphasized by playing in a minor key, and using minor chords, such as Am, Dm and Am.

Chords:  Am, Dm, E7, Am

Coming Home - Lyrics:

I'm trying to forget but I can't
And now I always see your face
I recognized your boots
The ones you wore
When you walked me to school

And now my heart
Is beating faster than ever
And all I can remember
Is the way you'd smile from ear to ear

When are you coming home
When will you be coming home
I miss you and I don't know where to go
(Repeat)

All that we had
Is the clothes on our backs
Just trying to hold ourselves together

Mother says she'll never forgive herself
She should have been clever
Should have been somewhere else

And now my heart
Is beating faster than ever
And all I can remember
Is the way you'd smile from ear to ear

When are you coming home
When will you be coming home
I miss you and I don't know where to go
(Repeat)

Come home
Come home
Won't you come home
Please Daddy just come home

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This week, me and Beth had decided to write and perform a song together, as a duet. We found this stimulus, and it inspired us to write lyrics based around being so in love with someone, that you're sure their mind and their soul is like the universe - beautiful and intricate. As for the actual instrumentation of the song, we decided just to use chord sequences played on the ukulele, as we believed that this would give us a relaxed vibe, just like you were singing to your significant  other on a lazy morning. We also wanted our song to have a lighthearted feel, so we wrote this song in a major key, alongside major chords such as C, F and G.  We structured our song to sound like we were almost singing to/about each other, and layering the vocals on top of one another during the middle 8 helped develop this idea, and so did singing in unison during the chorus. Layering and building up the vocals in the middle 8 also helped to symbolise the idea of feelings building up and exploding into a chorus love.

Chords: C F Am G

Earth and Mars - Lyrics:
She sleeps under a blanket
Made from stars in the sky
And her head is full of dreams
And galaxies and shooting stars
But nobody listens to her 'cause
She doesn't have a pretty face
To match her pretty mind
But I, myself, I find

She's so down to Earth
And I'm all up in the stars
I hope she shows me the oceans
Because I'd love to take her to Mars
(I'd love to take her to Mars)

I wish I could take a rocket
To her brain just for the day
There's always light in her eyes
An electric soul she cannot hide
And I think her face is a flower
Blossoming and beautiful
Like a meadow in the Summer
Always getting warmer

She's so down to Earth
And I'm all up in the stars
I hope she shows me the oceans
Because I'd love to take her to Mars
(I'd love to take her to Mars)

I'd love to take her, I'd love to take her
(The rain reminds me of you)
I'd love to take her, I'd love to take her
(Because it's falling hard and I am too)
I'd love to take her, I'd love to take her
(The rain reminds me of you)
I'd love to take her, I'd love to take her
(Because it's falling hard and I am too)

I'd love to take her, I'd love to take her
(She says she wants to take me to mars)
I'd love to take her, I'd love to take her
(Show me the galaxy in her arms)
I'd love to take her, I'd love to take her
(But she's already my star)
I'd love to take her, I'd love to take her
(And I hope I'm inside her heart)

She's so down to Earth
And I'm all up in the stars
I hope she shows me the oceans
Because I'd love to take her to Mars
I'd love to take her to Mars

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Own Stimulus - Horror Video Performance Evaluation 

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Own Stimulus - Horror Video Performance Evaluation 

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This was our best performance based on our own stimulus. We chose this montage of horror films as it has just been Halloween. We also thought that this stimulus would give us the opportunity to experiment with a different kind of song, in a creepy style that none of us had really challenged ourselves with before. It's a different stimulus that nobody had used before either, so we thought it was really interesting to respond to and develop. As a group, we worked really well together. We found that it helped that the vocalists of the group (me, Yvie and Simran) to leave to room for a while to work separately on writing and developing the lyrics and melody. This also gave Rueben, Matt and Jordan the chance to figure out the instrumentation and the structure. We then put everything together and it came out really nicely. As for the actual performance, the levels of every instrument were all correct, and everyone was playing/singing at the same volume - every part could be heard clearly, and nobody was too overpowering. We communicated well as a group throughout the rehearsal and throughout our performance, so everyone was aware of what they were playing and when to come in. For our strengths, I feel that we executed our ideas responding to the stimulus really well. Our idea to sing ever so slightly out of key worked as well as we hoped, and so did our other ideas such as using the piano playing solo for the intro and for the outro, to give the song a circular structure. The song however did have a very slight weakness regarding timing issues, but I feel that with more practice and potentially making use of a drum beat, these would be solved. Fortunately this issue was very minor, and didn't detract from the actual performance. If we were to redo this  performance, I would add a drum beat, to keep everyone in time, whether this was produced from an actual drum kit, or just using a pre-recorded drum beat from a loop pedal. This would eliminate the small timing issues that we experienced and make the performance perfect.

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This, in my opinion, was one of our strongest performances. The levels of all the instruments and the microphones were perfect - we could hear every person's part clearly. The guitars, piano and vocals were all playing quite different parts, but they blended very well together, and created the perfect creepy song. In agreement with the feedback we received, one of our weaknesses was that there were some slight issues with timing, but these could be easily solved with some more practice, and fortunately they didn't detract from the rest of the performance. Our strengths, however, were being able to respond to the stimulus in an effective way, and being able to structure our piece into (very nearly) a completed song. We were also good at experimenting with different ideas, such as having the vocals sound slightly off key, and executing them the best we could. In future, we could consider adding drums, to keep everybody in time, and adding a few more line son lyrics to make the song complete.

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QS16 3 Wk 10 Room 4 Response to own stimulus

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QS16 3 Wk 10 Room 4 Response to own stimulus

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This session involved working from our own stimulus. As a group, (me, Simran, Yvie, (vocals) Matt (guitar), Jordan (guitar) and Reuben (keyboard)) we chose to write a song inspired by a horror stimulus - a montage of spooky scenes from classic horror movies. Our initial thoughts and ideas were to write in a minor key, so the piano and both guitars were playing in the key of C minor. We thought that by using this key, it would really give our piece the haunting feel we were after. For the intro, we decided to just use the piano for the first few bars, and build up the rest of the instruments. The piano plays one bass chord, followed by several higher notes, to make the piece sound really creepy. We also decided to try and make the vocals sound slightly off key when we all sang together, but not too off that it didn't sound right, but just enough to give a scary, almost strange impact on the piece.

Lyrics
Pretty crimson trickling down your face
Your face, your face
(repeat x3)

There's no monsters underneath your bed
They're all inside your head
Sleep my precious, rest your weary head
Your head, your head

Ooooooohs

Listen while the wind is howling
Sleep another day
(repeat)

Ooooooohs

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Dubstep Horror Film Remix OfferCity/Meg & Dia

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Uploaded by Jasmine Olivas on 2015-08-08.

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Generally, I do believe our performance went very well. As a group, we worked well together . All of the ideas from the members of the group were listened to, and we incorporated everyone's thoughts as best we could. Our strengths in this performances were our harmonies, and how we performed them so that sometimes they were expected, and other times they weren't. This added variation to the piece, and in my opinion, made it more interesting to listen to. Our weaknesses, however, were that sometimes we did struggle with timing, as we didn't have any instruments to keep us all in time. We also slightly struggled with staying perfectly in key, again, a result of not having any instruments. I do believe that we could make this piece perfect with more practice, and potentially add a subtle keyboard just playing gentle, quiet chords to keep everyone in time and in key.

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QS16 3 Wk 9 Room 4 Response to own stimulus

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QS16 3 Wk 9 Room 4 Response to own stimulus

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During this session,  we decided to work from a given stimulus: the storyboard. Before the session, and after looking at the stimulus, we (me, Beth, Simran, Yvie and Matt (all vocals)) thought it would be really powerful and fitting to perform our song a cappella. This idea was centred around the woman in the car, and how our lyrics portrayed her thoughts, and we thought that because the woman is alone in the car, our vocals should also be alone, with no accompaniment. The lyrics we wrote are also a metaphor for a troublesome relationship, about not being able to get rid of a partner who is now haunting you. During the first verse, all members of the group sing harmonies in unison, but at the second verse, only Yvie and Beth sing. We decided to structure our piece in this way because it helped to symbolise the thought processes of the woman in the car - the vocals change throughout the song, just like the thoughts of the woman change and develop.

Lyrics:
You're like a creature in the night
I can feel you sneak up behind me
With your hands on my throat
And your voice in my ear
You always told me what I wanted to hear

You put a poison in my mind
And spell on my heart
Now I can't seem to shake you off
You tore me down from the start

I always felt it in my chest
That you were suffocating me
You kicked me down to the floor
Ripped my dreams from my head
Left me wishing that I was dead

You put a poison in my mind
And spell on my heart
Now I can't seem to shake you off
You tore me down from the start

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Our performance definitely needed work. We definitely could have benefited from more rehearsal time. In hindsight, we should have put all the lyrics that the vocalists had written together before the performance session, so we would have more time to practice our performance. We started off well, but unfortunately towards the chorus our timing was completely wrong, and the singers were not all singing the same tune.
I agree with the feedback received from the group and the tutor - our piece definitely had potential to become a good, well structured piece, with more rehearsal and concentration during the session. The vocals also needed some more volume from Yvie and Beth. Our strengths in this performance were our vocal harmonies, we executed them well and the different pitches the vocalists were singing at blended together well. Our weaknesses however, were timing, as we didn't have drum beat, we weren't always playing/singing in time with one another. The piece did have potential, but the timing needed work and more communication during the performance was needed to make the piece really great.

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QS16 3 Wk 8 Room 3 Response to own stimulus

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QS16 3 Wk 8 Room 3 Response to own stimulus

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This week,our group (me, Beth, Yvie (vocals), John (guitar), Reuben (keyboard) and Otis (vocals)), were working from our own stimulus; an outline of a pair of lungs filled with flowers. Our initial thoughts and ideas were that the lyrics should use metaphors, to describe a relationship which although looked pretty on the outside, may be harmful and negative on the inside - such as, I believe, the stimulus suggests. The first two lines of our lyrics: "when you planted flowers in me, I thought I'd grow as tall as a tree" , are a metaphor that symbolizes trusting someone to care for you and help you to thrive, but instead being let down. Other ideas we had regarding the actual composition of the song included having the piano play chords as a bassline. We also decieded that the acoustic guitar should also play the same chords as the piano, but use picking to give a distinct, powerful melody, to compliment the harmonised vocals. We built up the texture towards the chorus, by adding more strumming patterns played on the guitar; we thought this would add variation to the song, and therefore keep it interesting. By using harmonies we were able to really show off the skills that we have as vocalists, and I also believe it helped to emphasise the emotional lyrics. Otis also wrote a rapping verse, in response to our lyrics, with the same metaphors relating to Earth and nature, and relationships. This again added variation to the song, and the change in vocal technique helped to symbolise the changing of feelings between the two partners.

Lyrics:
When you planted flowers in me
I thought I'd grow as tall as a tree
Breathe in new air
Breathe out the dust
We'll say goodbye to the souls that we trust

I need to forget the past
Plant a new flower or two
Say goodbye to the old
And welcome the new

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October 31st, 2016 - Performance Analysis 

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October 31st, 2016 - Performance Analysis 

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Overall, I do think our performance went well. There were no mistakes made by any of the members, as we were all properly rehearsed, and all felt fairly confident in our performance. We achieved the punk vibe we were aiming for, and gave a good, solid performance. Despite some difficulty regarding volume during rehearsal time, the levels for our performance were mostly correct, although we couldn't hear Beth's vocals very clearly, probably as a result of the other instruments being fairly loud, and not being able to turn the microphone up louder, as they would have started to feed back. I also found that we worked well together as a group, as all ideas were listened to and incorporated as best as possible. Having two vocalists also enhanced our group, because we felt more confident singing together, which therefore made the vocals more powerful.

I respect the feedback that we were given; we definitely could have hugely benefited from having a drummer - a beat was needed just to fill out the song and really emphasize the punk genre we were writing in. Also, some more lyrics would also have been useful, as there were some gaps in the song - which could be easily fixed by having more time to rehearse and doing more planning before the session. In future, we could also experiment with adding a middle 8 or a bridge section, to add variation to the song, and to keep the listeners more interested. During these sections, variations on vocal technique could be added, such as harmonies or using a round, to further make the piece more exciting. Our strengths were responding to to the stimulus effectively, through the lyrics we used, and effectively delivering an upbeat, punk vibe in our music. Our weaknesses were volume levels, as not all the vocals could be heard perfectly,.

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QS16 3 Wk7 Room  2 Response to own stimulus

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QS16 3 Wk7 Room 2 Response to own stimulus

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This week, the task was to work from our own stimulus. As a group (consisting of me, Beth (vocals), Josh(guitar), Adam(bass) and Callum(guitar)), we decided to build on a stimulus the group had previously picked out when me and Beth were absent last week - street names.

The members of the group from the previous week has decided to play in major key, and to play at a fast tempo, to give the piece a punk/rock vibe. We also incorporated a long introduction, which I believed helped to emphasize the idea of spending time being lost on new streets in new cities.

To begin, me and Beth listened to the guitar/bass piece the group had previous come up with, and developed some lyrics and a melody to fit the music and the stimulus. The lyrics written were inspired by getting lost, and searching - just like you would if you were in an unfamiliar city, with unfamiliar streets. We sung in unison, as we didn't have time to work out a perfect harmony, and we also believed that that singing in unison would create the idea that we were 'getting lost' together.

Lyrics
Crawling in the dirt to you
Blood in my mouth, mud in my eyes
My vision is blurry and now I know why
The demons pull me further down

Reaching for you in my darkest hour
Trying to find my way outside
Looking for the light that's in my dreams
Now I can see
That I can't keep holding on to you

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October 3rd 2016 - Performance Anlaysis 

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October 3rd 2016 - Performance Anlaysis 

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Unfortunately, our performance didn't go as well as we had hoped. I think that we tried to execute too many ideas at once, so we ended up with an incomplete piece which didn't sound as good as it could have. The levels of the instruments were also not right, as the vocals could not be heard over the top of the rest of the instruments. We also didn't have time to rehearse properly together as a group, due to some disagreements between members, so the vocals were not quite in time. If we were to redo this performance, I would ensure that the levels were correct before performing, and also ensure that I was confident in my vocals, and that we had rehearsed thoroughly. Some mistakes were also made by some members, due to the lack of rehearsing we did. I agree with the feedback we received from both the audience and our tutor - that our piece definitely had potential, but we should stick to one and idea and make it perfect. I also agree that remembering parts is essential, so more rehearsal would have been key. More organisation prior to and during the session would have helped our piece reach its full potential.

Overall, we did work well together as a group. I do, however, believe that more communication would have benefited, as our ideas would have blended together much better. If we also had just used one idea and built on it, instead of trying to experiment with several, our piece would have been much better. We also would have benefited from more rehearsal time to make sure all member were fully confident, and to prevent any mistakes being made during our performance. Our strengths included using a good, well thought out, upbeat vibe, as we believed this fitted the stimulus well. Our weaknesses however, surrounded communication between the members, as we weren't all certain on what we were doing for some parts of the song, and not producing one idea to a good standard.

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QS16 3 Response to moving image Wk4 Room 2

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QS16 3 Response to moving image Wk4 Room 2

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During our live music workshop on 3rd October, we were working from a moving imagine stimulus. This was my first session at magnet, due to being absent because of having surgery. Our group involved me (vocals), John (guitar), Josh (guitar), Adam (bass) and Tyler (drums).

I thought this stimulus was interesting; it inspired me to write uplifting lyrics. I based my lyrics around ideas that life can be sunshine and rainbows, but it doesn't always turn out that way. I was unable to write lyrics for a full verse/chorus/verse/chorus structure, as we were pressed for time, so I managed to complete one verse and a chorus.

Lyrics:
Life looks better over the rainbow
You have to know the way to go
It might not all be sunshine
Even flowers need a little rain

Through the clouds and rain
One day the sun will shine again

The stimulus also provoked thoughts of using an uplifting beat, such as a fast paced bass line, all in a major key. We also decided that the beat from the drums should also be upbeat and played at a fast tempo, to encourage listeners to dance and emphasise the positive lyrics. As a group, (consisting of me, Adam, John, Josh and Tyler) we all agreed that our piece should have a funky vibe - something that would encourage listeners to dance to it. We also agreed that playing quickly on all instruments would help give the piece the dance feel we were after.