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I plan to complete planning stage by the 29th of February . This includes planning what I want to achieve as a performer, research on the genre of music I want to focus on and data on aspiring musicians in the UK in 2024 and the future.

Starting from March I plan to work on my CV as a musician and gather evidence for my live performance and theory of music work and I plan to have it all completed by the 27th of May, giving myself two full months to gather as much evidence as possible.

I plan to have all my artefacts ready by the 13th of May so I have two weeks to complete my evaluation and double check everything before submitting everything for the final deadline on the 29th of May

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List here the details of the artefacts you will include and the dates you will include them:

a minimum of 4 examples of live performance work

a minimum of 4 examples of the theory of music work

CV/Biography

contracts/copyright evidence

Any other artefacts related to your role

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Skills like technique, stage craft, availability, flexibility, good communicational and organisational skills and are necessary to be a good performer.

Knowing and understanding music theory is also essential to be a good performer

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Duvet by boa final performance (HND final performance)

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Young hearts run free by Candi Staton (artifact 1)

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Young hearts run free by Candi Staton (artifact 1)

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Video from my recital

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Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staten from recital

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I decided to keep a log of all the open mics I did starting from March, to add to my portfolio of live performances.

This was also to push me out of my confort zone and work on improving my stage presence by performing outside of college as much as possible

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Music Business Advice, demonstrating my understanding of copyright regarding music and music contracts.

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I play second trumpet in the Edinburgh University Sinfonia Orchestra. The most recent piece, "The Moldau" (Vlatlava) by Bedrich Smetana, is written in the key of C, then in A and then in E, as the trumpet is a Bb instrument this means I have to transpose.

To play the sections written in the key of C I have to transpose two semitones higher, for example my first note is written as a C natural but I play a D natural. In the next section, written in the key of E what is written as a G natural, I play as a C sharp which is 6 semitones higher.

When transposing it's important to remember the sharps and flats of the key signature you're transposing in.

Being comfortable with transposing and playing in different key signatures is a very important skill to have as a trumpet player, as it makes you a versatile performer, ready to sight read and play in different key signatures.

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This is my submission for my vocal technical exercises in which I sing 9 scales: the major and the minor scale, major and minor pentatonic scale, the major and minor arpeggio, the minor blues scale, the harmonic and the melodic minor scale.

Being comfortable with scales is really good for a performer in general, especially for me as I am interested in scat singing in jazz and improvising on bass, guitar or trumpet with other musicians.

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Chord progressions and cadences (artifact 1)

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Chord progressions and cadences (artifact 1)

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This is the music sheet for one of the songs I worked on in my song writing class, arranged for voice and piano.

I wrote the piece in C major, which symbolizes innocence and naivety, to help me convey those feelings musically.

The first chord progression that accompanies the melody line is I-vi-iii-V, which repeats twice, while the main melody varies slightly.

The second chord progression for the next section is I-ii-iii-V. There is a perfect cadence (V to I) between the different sections, which was a conscious decision to make the first section sound finished before going onto the new section.

This is repeated three times, and then two more, once adding a IV chord before going to the dominant chord (V). Going up stepwise adds tension before going back to the tonic.

The last time I added a Dominant 7th  to add momentum before resolving back to the tonic, creating a perfect cadence.

Understanding how chord progressions can build and release tension during a composition or song, and how cadences can affect the ending of a piece is a good skill to have as a performer, when arranging or composing pieces or when improvising with other musicians.

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Technique is the most important skills to have as a musician and performer, a building block upon which other essential skills can be built. As a singer especially, it's important to learn the right techniques to ensure no damage is being made to vocal chords.

Some techniques include vocal dynamics, belting, vibrato etc.

The attached song is from my recital and I chose the most technically demanding song from my recital, "Brazen (weep)" by Skunk Anansie.

The song starts with a soft, almost spoken voice, in which my natural vibrato comes out easily. For the chorus there is a quick change in dynamics, going straight into a strong and loud mixed voice.

From the video of my first rehearsals, you can hear me really struggling to belt certain parts of the song due to poor breath control, and as a result sometimes using my falsetto to reach the higher notes. This is a perfect example of how poor technique can negatively affect a performance, because using my falsetto, therefore a weaker attack didn't allow me to express the emotions of song.

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As a performer, stage craft is one of the most important things, because people who come and see your shows want to have a good time, and to ensure that, it's going to be about so much more than your talent as a musician.

For this a performer should confidence, good stage presence and know how to interact in the audience.

Confidence is one of the most important things, especially for a singer because if you're fronting a band for example, the audience will be the most focused on you and things like body language and eye contact really affect the atmosphere and the way the audience responds to your performance.

That is something I struggle with as a performer. I definitely feel more confident singing while also playing guitar, or when I'm playing bass or trumpet in ensembles or bands,

and you can tell when you watch me perform, as I've received feedback from my lecturers stating so.

Some advice I got from my vocal teacher was to try performing with sunglasses, which can help improve confidence the same way holding an instrument does: it creates a barrier between the performer and the audience. While it's not ideal because it means you can't make eye contact with the audience it's a good starting point. This is a video from my recital of me singing "Young Hearts Run Free" by Candi Staton. While my stage presence still isn't great, the sunglasses helped me embody the sassy disco persona and feel more confident.

There is an improvement from my final performance back in January in which I had no confidence and my body language didn't match the song at all, as I wasn't moving at all, kept my hand in my pocket and struggled to look up at the audience at all. I still have a lot to work on for my stage craft but techniques like this will help me get there in the long run.

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Availability, flexibility and communication 

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Availability, flexibility and communication 

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A really important skill as a performer is being able to apply the skill we practice everyday in emergency situations. I got asked to help out a UAL3 student with his final project with less than a month of preparation. The setlist of 5 was mostly rock/blues, definitely the genre of music I'm the least comfortable with, but I took my skills as a singer that I use for my own projects and applied them in a different scenario, learning melodies and lyrics of songs that I didn't know and a new genre that made me explore new emotions and ways of expressing them, using different parts of my vocal range, a lower spoken voice for 'Oh well' by Fleetwood Mac, aggressive and loud vocals for 'Layla' and 'Rock and Roll'.

I also helped out an HND2 student for his performance class, playing bass and doing harmonies for 4 songs and guitar for one song. In this scenario we only had little over a month to prepare 6 songs due to an emergency situation because his original band fell through.

We kept our rehearsals schedule tight and had focused rehearsals and did a decent job for the final performance.

As I'm a beginner bassist rather than trying to learn the official tabs for 5 different songs we worked on arranging simplified and intuitive versions of the basslines that would be easier for me to remember. So based on the key of the piece and the chord progressions the guitaritst played, I would play the root notes and take some inspiration from the original bassline, while still keeping it simple. These kind of problem solving skills, are essential for a performer: I took the knowledge and skills I had in bass and used them to prepare for a gig in a short amount of time.

These two experiences gave me a hint into what life as a session musician could look like.

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First recording of Layla by Derek & the Dominos

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First recording of Layla by Derek & the Dominos

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I have chosen the role of performer. Through creating this portfolio I plan to gather evidence of my skills primarily as a singer and guitar player, and secondarily as I gain more knowledge and experience as a trumpet player, bass player and songwriter. Ultimately this portfolio will help me get in contact with talented musicians to work with, give me access to perform in public and lead to a career as a performer.

In the near future as a new performer I want to prioritise working on my confidence and managing nerves in order to perform at my best when I do. To achieve this, I plan to push myself out of my comfort zone and try to perform in public as much as possible, starting small by performing in front of friends as much as I can, performing at open mics at Edinburgh College and eventually at open mics outside of college. Another way to work on this would be to get used to performing in front of a camera as well, by working with videographers from college.

The genre of music I would love to specialise in as a singer and trumpet player is jazz, in its more modern and wide definition. Having said that, as a performer I wouldn't want to restrict myself based on a music genre, as for example I play classical trumpet and am interested in funk as a beginner bassist. My ultimate goal is to always keep learning and expand my skills as a musician to different skills, instruments and genres and I believe open mindedness will help me become a more successful musician.

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recordings or videos from:

-band rehearsals, including my HND1 college band, my band outside of college and another HND1 band for which I play bass.

This shows skills of communication and active practice as a performer, showcasing my guitar skills and different styles of singing as my college band focuses on pop songs and my band outside of college is more jazz and soul oriented.

This will also showcase me working on harmonies, applying the skills I'm learning in music theory.

-EUMS sinfonia orchestra rehearsals. This showcases my skills as a trumpet player outside of college. As trumpets don't usually play a lot in bigger ensembles such as orchestras, this allows me to focus on timing as we have to be precise with our entrances in the pieces and be confident counting bars in different time signatures and tempos.

-ensembles in college such as brass ensemble, concert band and orchestra. This showcases my skills as a trumpet player and my involvement with college ensembles. Playing in smaller ensemble means being confident, having endurance while playing, and being able to play in time with everyone. Playing different trumpet parts also allows me to have a further understanding of composition and the constructions of chords and harmonies. For example I have the trumpet 1 or 2 parts, playing the main melody line for some pieces, while for other pieces I play the parts that may be viewed as less 'relevant' but they are just as important as they help keep the rhythm and create interesting chords and harmonies.

Another college ensemble I'm a part of is choir. Being an alto also helps to grow my understanding of harmonies and be more confident singing parts that compliment the main melody line, a skill which I can apply when I'm singing harmonies in different scenarios.

written work including:

-music business ~ I will include my research on music contracts and copyright from my music business memo, as understanding concepts such as these is essential for someone interested in becoming a part of the music business

-music theory test results ~ I will include test results from music theory tests on topics that are most useful to me as a singer, for example intervals, chords and scales as I can apply this knowledge when working on harmonies and improvising.

-songwriting ~ I will also include any songs I write or co-write with friends and band members as when writing my own songs I can make make creative choices that suit my voice the best, therefore showcasing my skills better than when I sing covers.

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Jazz in 2024

Although in a slightly different form, jazz is still very much alive and constantly evolving, in broader and less strict ways than ever before. The internet is to thanks for this as it allows musicians to share their music for free, introducing newer generations to jazz.

A great example of this is Laufey, a jazz singer-songwriter with a classical background who rose to fame thanks to social platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. Most recently she won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album with her album Bewitched, which also broke the record for the biggest debut for a jazz album on Spotify and reached No. 1 on Billboard's Traditional Jazz Albums chart.

The jazz scene in the UK and Europe

Some of the best jazz festivals happen in Europe, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival based in Switzerland, A Love Supreme based in Sussex and the Umbria jazz festival in Perugia, Italy. There are flourishing jazz venues everywhere around the UK, such as the Vortex and the 606 Club in London and The Jazz Bar in Edinburgh, which welcomes young jazz musicians and frequently has student run jam sessions that are a great opportunity to be introduced to the jazz scene.

UK music industry stats 2023

According to UK music, the music business has recovered since the pandemic, producing £4 billion in music exports in 2022, almost double the rates in the previous year.

Other relevant data from the 'This is Music' 2023 report is:

-Music industry employment figures recovered to 210,000 in 2022

-Music creators earning more than £200,000 per annum typically earn 60% of their income overseas

-PPL hit an all-time high of £272.6 million, a 7.8% increase from £252.8 million in 2021Performance income increased 66.4% year-on-year to £228.9 million in 2022

-employment rates stood at 210,000

Although this data suggests the music industry in the UK is in a promising place at the moment, there are still many challenges that musicians may face due to the cost of living crisis and Brexit.

How to promote your music

In our digital age, it's easier more than ever for independent artists to promote their music online, without being signed to anyone or having to spend a big budget.

When done correctly, social media can be a great tool for this. When starting a social media account thinking about your target audience based on your image and music is a great start. Other good tips are to be authentic, to interact regularly with fans and most important of all to be consistent!

Something really important is also to keep up with social media trends, for example recently evidence shows that short form content, meaning videoclips that are only a few seconds long, is the most effective social media strategy. This is evident with the rise of social media platforms such as Tik Tok, which has taken the Internet by storm these past few years. However it's important to be sharing content on as many social media platforms as possible.

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Rayborn, L. (2024) Is Jazz Dying?, Treeside Music Academy. Available at: https://www.treesidemusicacademy.com/features/is-jazz-dying-top-young-jazz-musicians (Accessed: 04 March 2024).

Stassen, M. (2023) With the biggest jazz album debut in spotify history, awal says Laufey is bringing ‘jazz to gen z’, Music Business Worldwide. Available at: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/with-the-biggest-jazz-album-debut-in-spotify-history-awal-says-laufey-is-bringing-jazz-to-gen-z/ (Accessed: 04 March 2024).

Edwards, A. (2023) This Is Music 2023 Economic Report, UK music. Available at: https://www.ukmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/This-Is-Music-2023-Economic-Report.pdf (Accessed: 05 March 2024).

10 Best Music Social Media Marketing Strategies in 2024 (2023) RSS. Available at: https://dittomusic.com/en/blog/10-best-music-social-media-marketing-strategies (Accessed: 20 May 2024).

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Supporting evidence - "Stronger than me"

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Supporting evidence - "Stronger than me"

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This is from my final performance with my HND1 band back in March, showing improvement of stage presence over two months.

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Stronger than me by Amy Winehouse final performance

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Supporting evidence - songwriting assignment

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Supporting evidence - songwriting assignment

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I had to analyse a song for my songwriting class, and apart from analysing the songwriting techniques I also did some research on the harmonic techniques and learnt a lot about chord progressions, modulations and the cycle of dominants and cadences. I then applied this knowledge when writing my own song.

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Live performance work

1. Technique (falsetto, belting, vibrato and voice dynamics) - video from recital '(brazen) weep' by Skunk Anansie

2. Availability/flexibility (HN2 final performance) - Duvet by Boa (guitar and singing) and Jamie by Weezer (bass and harmonies)

3. Availability/flexibility (UAL3 final project) - video from final performance 'Rock and Roll' by Led Zeppelin and Layla by Derek and the Dominos

4. Stage craft - video from recital 'young hearts run free'

Supporting evidence - video from my performance class to show an improvement in stage presence 'Stronger than me' by Amy Winehouse

Theory of music work

1. Scales - video submission of me singing the 9 scales Supporting evidence - music theory test on scales and video of me improvising a bassline using the major scale

2. Chord progressions and cadences - third composition task

Supporting evidence - songwriting assignment showing my research on chord progressions

3. Transposition - video from Sinfonia

Supporting evidence - music sheet, showing a piece of music in key of E, demonstrating sight transposition

4. Intervals and harmonies - composition task 2 on intervals

Supporting evidence - music theory test on intervals and video of me singing improvised harmonies for my performance class, applying my knowledge of intervals

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Layla by Derek and the Dominos (artifact 4)

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Layla by Derek and the Dominos (artifact 4)

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Layla final performance (UAL3 final project)

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Supporting evidence - improvising a bassline using the major scale

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Supporting evidence - improvising a bassline using the major scale

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I helped out an HND2 student with his instrumental instruction class, and here is a video of be improvising a bassline over a simple chord progression, using the major scale.

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Supporting evidence - music sheet in key of E

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Supporting evidence - music sheet in key of E

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Excerpt played in video, starting from section H bar 271

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Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin (artifact 5)

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Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin (artifact 5)

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Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin final performance (UAL 3 final project)

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Face for the radio by The View (artifact 3)

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Face for the radio by The View (artifact 3)

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Face for the radio by The View (HND2 final performance)

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Supporting evidence - music theory test results

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Supporting evidence - music theory test results

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Music theory results demonstrating my understanding of scales, and being able to recognise harmonic minor scales,natural minor scales, pentatonic minor and major scales.

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Supporting evidence - applying knowledge of intervals to improvise harmonies

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Supporting evidence - applying knowledge of intervals to improvise harmonies

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Falling by Harry Styles final performance

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Being familiar with intervals is a good skill to have as a performer and musician because it's really useful for ear training, relative pitch, and harmonies.

This is the sheet music for my second composition task for which I had to come up with a second melody line (the voice 2 soprano line) to harmonise with the first alto melody line. To do so, I applied my knowledge of intervals, using mostly perfect 5ths and perfect 4th as they are the most consonant intervals.

I switched to the pop course in November and was put into a band. Since the band had already been working together since the start of the year and had a performance in the auditorium two rehearsals after I joined, I simply added harmonies to the songs of the setlist they had so far, which I did quite easily and effectively because I'm very familiar with intervals.

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Supporting evidence - music theory test on intervals

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Supporting evidence - music theory test on intervals

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Supporting evidence - mp3 audio of composition

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Supporting evidence - mp3 audio of composition

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 'Brazen (weep)' by Skunk Anansie (artifact 6)

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 'Brazen (weep)' by Skunk Anansie (artifact 6)

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Brazen weep by Skunk Anansie from recital

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Supporting evidence - first rehearsals of Brazen (weep)

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Supporting evidence - first rehearsals of Brazen (weep)

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This video was one of my first attempts at this song, showing an improvement in breath control and technique when comparing it to the final performance during my recital.