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After recieving feedback for my first summative assignment, I have brainstormed three main areas that I can improve on for the coming term:

I feel that an important area to be made a focal point is song choice. Last term I spent too much time deciding what song I should sing that I ended up deciding on an LPW song fairly last minute I plan on being decided on a song by the end of week 3 so that I can spend more time on it.Being surrounded by peers who mainly enjoyed playing and listening to rock/indie music I felt that I shouldn't choose ballad/country music. I have since learned that I will achieve more in my career singing songs that I excel in and I enjoy. Another area I feel that I need to focus on is my confidence and comfort on stage. Although I included this in my smart targets, I do feel that this will happen over time and not by a certain deadline. I know that I am slowly improving every time I get up on stage to perform so I guess to make this a smart target, I will be monitoring my confidence journey in my diaries. I spent a lot of time writing in my diaries about my struggles with this but didn't do enough to break through that anxiety and step out of my comfort zone. The last area that I feel dragged me down was my lack of production skills. I feel like performance and production is like “English and maths”, one will always be better than the other. I think that I will always be a better singer and performer than I will be in production. My plan is to practice as much production as I feel I need. I have learnt that I work better over time, as and when.

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After thinking out the areas I need to improve on, I have been able to visualise how to turn my areas of improvement into opportunities to succeed. I have used these ideas to form smart targets.

1) Stage presence: I aim to to battle this in bitesize practice over the coming weeks by taking steps like performing in the mirror or on camera so that I can see how I look on stage and build on my performance techniques. I feel that a key cause of stage anxiety is not only appearance, but confidence in my own vocal technique too. So with that said, I aim to record my warm ups and technique practice so that I can improve on areas I am not happy with which should, in turn, build by self confidence.

2) To create a well mixed and balanced demo. I aim to practice using the software for small projects to familiarise myself with different production techniques.

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This week I have started to try out some songs that I enjoy singing to trigger some ideas of songs to record and perform. I am mostly trained in pop/ ballads and country so these are a few genres that I would like to explore in this project. Some artists that inspire me are Taylor Swift, Adele, James Bay, Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Sara Bareilles. I am intending for my band (containing guitar, bass and drums) to play for me and will find a pianist if needed. I am hoping to develop control and strength in my voice to be able to sing these genres efficiently. At this point for my demo, I want to sing a ballad slower in tempo to showcase my best strengths and I will find this better to mix and master as I know what I want it to sound like. I will contrast with a more upbeat song for my performance so I can work to improve my stage presence and put on a successful, engaging show for an audience.

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Week 2: SWOT analysis based on feedback.

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Week 2: SWOT analysis based on feedback.

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Strengths:
- Grade 8 vocal tone, control, pitch and techniques like runs, vibrato and falsetto.
- Basic demo mixing abilities.
- Efficient representation of genre.

Weaknesses:
- Lack of research and referencing on musical influences.
- Inefficient stage presence and engagement.
- Timing errors in demo.

Opportunities:
- An umbrella opportunity is that I can use my feedback to help me to overcome my weaknesses and turn them into strengths.
- I can use my access the waterbear HQ and canvas content to widen my knowledge of Logic Pro and other production techniques.
- I have access to rehearsal space to practice performance techniques.

Threats:
- A threat to my growth in confidence is my anxiety.
- I don't have access to production software at home.

From creating a SWOT analysis of my abilities, I am able to use my current knowledge and strengths to my advantage and my weaknesses as opportunities to be my best self.

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To help me regularly practice and improve, I have made myself a weekly practice routine to follow and record. I haven't included timely deadlines as I can't practice under time pressures so my goal is just to complete these tasks by the end of each day and record them for my diaries.

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I have attached a snippet of my scales practice. I sang a major scale, minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor.. Weekly practice should help my musical ear.

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Since suffering with a long term cold I have noticed a weakness in my vocal range. I have been practicing vocal slides so build bridges between vocal breaks. 

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Practicing 'ba ba ba' scales is helping to strengthen my diaphragm and prepare me for staccato style singing in 'hold back the river'.

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Week 2: Hold Back the River small pond rehearsal.

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Week 2: Hold Back the River small pond rehearsal.

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Tuesday 31st January 2023:
My band and I decided to book a 2 hour rehearsal slot to practice this weeks CPW song 'Hold Back the River' by James Bay. I am very glad that we get to study this song as one of my artist inspirations is James Bay. This term we have more opportunities to explore creative and alternative ideas in our covers. James Bay predominantly specialises in pop, ballad, folk and soul music. His music is generally very soulful, emotional and contains use of different vocal registers, runs, tight vibrato vocal growls and breaks. I thought this week would be a great opportunity to explore these different techniques as well as play with the genre and make it unique.
In the attached voice memo of todays off- timetabled rehearsal at small pond we have explored a lot of alternative decisions we have made that differ from the original track. We decided to make the vibe of the song heavier in terms of instrumental techniques and vocal belting as well as maintaining the dynamic changes in the original track. Between 2:46 and 3:14 we have kept the dynamic build up to the chorus the same as we felt that this was an engaging touch made by the original artist. We then explored the idea of changing the rhythm to half time in the chorus following this section for the rest of the duration. From 3:56 to 4:12 in the last chorus I played around with extending some notes and using vocal slides to differ from James Bay's original melody and I feel this fit the genre that we were attempting. A big challenge for me was changing from different vocal ranges and registers. For example in the verse (0:48-1:17), the vocals are quite low in my register so appear very quiet so we ( as a band need to work on balancing our volumes so that my vocals can be heard without ruining the tone with belting. I then have to change from this register to around an octave higher (1:19- 1:45). The structure of the original track is Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus, bridge/ outro. Another change we made to fit our desired sound was to create a new intro using chords from the chorus in an indie rock tone to then strip back the thick texture and dynamics for the first verse (0:20-0:49). Also heard in this section is the use of distortion on the lead guitar which differs from the original track.

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This a section of our performance of Hold Back The River by James Bay. This snippet is from the beginning of the bridge until the end of the song. 

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Write up of Hold Back The River Performance.

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Write up of Hold Back The River Performance.

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In the first 30 seconds, I am singing the bridge of the song. I chose to sing this in head voice and directed  the band to form a crescendo building up to the last set of choruses. I started in head voice and slowly changed registers into belt zone to fit the crescendo. I found that this required a lot of control and slight effected my stage presence. Despite this, I found that my stage presence was good for me in this performance. I can see more hand movement and body movement that usual which is a good sign. As feedback from the rehearsal, I was asked to sing in a raspy tone and I feel that I did this very well in the provided video. After this performance, I have officially chosen this song for my performance element of my formative. I felt musical adrenaline when I performed this song. I already fell in love with the original but by making it heavier, I have formed a more enjoyable performance as a whole.

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This week in Pre- production and CPW we played our version of Chain of Fools by Arethra Franklin. I have quite a controlled ballad voice and have often been compared to Nancy Wilson so I wasn't very sure my voice would suit this song. However, I realise that I can sing some Amy Winehouse songs and both artists are quite soulful singers so this helped me with the style that I sang this cover in. To further fit the style that Arethra sings in I practiced vocal rasp and grit through imitation. I don't have the correct range to his some of the higher notes in the verses like she does so I compromised and used my mixed register and belted head voice.

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While searching for some Amy Winehouse influences for this weeks song, 'Chain of Fools', I came across 'Valerie -Live at BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge'. This is a live version of her well known song 'Valerie. What caught my attention is the raw vocals and backing vocals along with the stripped back atmosphere and instrumentation. I thought this would be really enjoyable to record with my band because it is very chilled, laid back and had more opportunity for my band to play around and improvise if they so please.
This is my chosen song for my Demo.

For this song I will need a guitarist, a bass player and a keys player, and I will sing the backing vocals myself.

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At the end of my chosen demo song 'Valerie', there are some vocal runs that I find quite difficult so I have been practicing this exercise to move through notes of each scale with ease in preparation for runs.

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Above is a PDF of a proposal that I have written out.

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To help to ensure that I am on track, I created a weekly Action plan/ timeline. There are 4 pages, as you scroll down you will see theses in order.

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This week, I created a rough demo highlighting my lead and backing vocals along to a backing track. The two harmonies are a 3rd below and a 3rd above the lead vocals. These occur throughout each chorus and in verse section after the second chorus. I attempted to form “gang vocals’ by recording 2 tracks of each harmony at different microphone distances to thicken the texture of the backing vocals. My cover is inspired by a stripped back, acoustic rendition of 'Valerie' that Amy Winehouse performed at the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. I listened to the track multiple times to single out each vocal line and I tried to replicate them. I recorded this mainly to see how they sound and I am happy with them. I am still deciding wether I would like to have different singers to sing the backing vocals like Amy Winehouse did or to sing them myself. Either way, this demo will be useful to refer back to.

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This week I have been poorly so I have been on vocal rest at home. I decided that I would spend this time organising myself, researching and personally reflecting.

Quality vs Quantity:
Quality is about the time/effort/ thought that is used to create good work.
Quantity is about how much work you do. Quality doesn't always need to take lots of worthless time, as time is often wasted to build up quantity. Quality is usually made of basic building blocks and planning of realistic ideas and goals.
I have often felt that focusing about the finer details in terms of developing my musical skills distracts me from achieving my goals. For example, I have recently been trying to write my own songs but I constantly over think fine details to the point where I have writers block.
I ,personally, am a perfectionist which is a blessing and a curse. I often find myself constantly trying unrealistic ways to better myself as a musician in my work which is a great way to be but it also prevents me from developing a basis of ideas. To move from this mindset I am going to attempt to discipline myself to stick to my ideas.

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This week I have been researching ways to make mixing easier for me on Garageband.
I found that there are presets for EQ so I can find one that best suits my genre. (Garageband,2023).

Another target of mine is stage presence so I found a website that has some tips that I would like to follow. They are:
* Embrace what makes you unique.
* Use the whole stage.
* Avoid lapses in energy.
* Choose a great outfit.
* Record your performances.
* Know your audience.
* Practice makes perfect.
(Musichouseschool, 2023)

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This week I completed a procrastination quiz so that I would understand more about myself. This way I can find a way to beat the things that I struggle with.

There were four quizzes.
1: Am I a Perfectionist?
2: Am I a Warrior?
3: Am I a Pleaser?
4: Am I Rebel?)

Scores:
* Perfectionism definitely contributes to your procrastination.
I can definitely agree with the score I got for this section. I lack a lot of confidence in myself and the work I do due to my anxiety so I am often afraid of what I might not be able to achieve. This effects the work that I do and means I cannot concentrate in topics I am not interested for competent in.

* You are definitely a warrior, which contributes to your       procrastination.
I have learned from this section that I am a warrior. I cannot complete a task unless I am completely engrossed in it. In my case my main interest is singing and performance. For example, I know in my head that learning about the music industry is very important for my career but I can't focus in this class as well because I am just itching to sing.

* You are definitely a pleaser, which contributes to your procrastination.
I have always been told that I'm a people pleaser. I find it difficult to put my needs before someone else, saying no to people and putting myself on the line in certain situations to prevent social discomfort. This has always left me in awkward and uncomfortable situations because I can't stand the idea of being disliked or unhelpful. After completing this section of the quiz, I am going to try and put myself and my career first as much as I can because being a pleaser can sometimes weigh me down.

* You are definitely a Rebel, which significantly contributes to your procrastination.
I don't agree 100% with these results but in black and white they are true. I am a very spontaneous person, sometimes described as a 'dog with a bone'. I am either lacking motivation, or I get an idea and I need to fulfil it immediately. I also get frustrated sometimes if I can't fulfil these ideas right away. However, I wouldn't say this is me as a person because it is either one or the other.

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After completing the procrastination quiz, I learned some ways of staying motivated from a teacher.

Malsow's Hierarchy of Needs:
* Self Esteem
* Self Actualisation
* Love and Belonging
* Safety needs
* Physiological Needs

Combatting Stagnation:
* Working with a friends
* Verbalise that you will be productive
* Tidying up my work environment
* Accountability partner
* Act as if the deadline is today
* Vision board

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WHY?
I have always loved and been surrounded by music from a young age. My dad was a musician and a DJ and is a big influence for the music I enjoy to listen to today. My dad was diagnosed with Motor Neurones Disease 6 years ago and has lost his motor ability and ability to speak, which means he is no longer able to play or sing. I know that it will make him proud if I succeed as a musician. It also gets me through everything.

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This week I booked a room at Brighton Electric Studios to rehearse my rendition of Hold Back The River by James Bay. I tested out singing the first section of the chorus an octave higher than before in my head voice moving into the second chorus section in the same key but in my belt register. After trying this out, I realised that I prefer the idea of singing it lower then into the higher belt section to create a dramatic change.

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week 9-Hold back the river performance feedback 

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week 9-Hold back the river performance feedback 

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This week I had a feedback performance rehearsal at The Prince Albert. The main focus of this rehearsal, for me, was stage presence as I lack the skills in this more. As you can see in the last chorus, I placed my leg on the floor monitor in front of me. It seems like a simple movement but for me this was a big step in my performance development and I am really proud of myself. Another choice I made was taking my microphone off the stand in the second verse. I didn't focus too much on my singing in this rehearsal. I also found that the reverb in certain section emphasised my voice in the gaps. Against my initial smart target in performance, I feel that I am really fulfilling this as much as I can!

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Above is a screen grab of the different EQ settings that I used inn my demo. 1) Backing vocals. 2) Guitar. 3) Final Mix. 4) Lead vocals.

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This week I booked a 3 hour session at Small Pond Studios to record my demo for Valerie. At the last minute I realised that I needed a keys player so my partner played in the part for me at the studio. We recorded all parts: Lead Vocals, both backing vocals, bass, guitar, piano and I even used a shaker for some percussion while I was singing. I was really happy with this take. When I got home I started mixing which was quite easy because the stems were close to my vision already. I just added some reverb and played around with some EQ.

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Attached to this post is a Soundcloud link. This is a link to my finished, mixed demo of Valerie.

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Grade 8 popular music vocalist, I enjoy covering ballad artists and an looking to start writing my own music in the near future :)

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I am overall satisfied with the outcome of my project. I feel that I have improved in a few skills since my last project. I chose two contrasting songs and I am very proud of the way they turned out.

For my demo, I chose the song ‘Valerie’ by Amy Winehouse because it is a song that I know very well and there was a lot that I could do with it. Unlike last term, this term I chose songs that were in my comfort zone. I decided that for a higher chance of success and self satisfaction, I should choose songs I know will sound good and I could get a clearer vision. I have always admired the sense of improvisation that Amy Winehouse seems to have in terms of rhythm, runs and pitch so I wanted to practice and make this one of my skills. This being a slowish pop ballad, I figured that this was a better as a demo as it doesn’t require a lot of movement in performance and I though I could show off some of my vocal skills in a clear, mixed recording. I really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere this rendition creates and how the lead and backing vocals fit together so soothingly.

For my performance, I chose ‘Hold Back The River’ by James Bay. Originally, this song is a slow, acoustic love song with passionate vocals travelling through registers. I am very fond of this song and its artist and I knew that I could change a lot about it. My first vision for my performance was that I wanted to connect with the song emotionally and be moving around a lot on stage. When we did this song for our Pre- production class, my drummer mentioned it being heavy metal which led me to the idea of indie rock. I really love the repetition in the bridge with the potential for a eye opening dynamic build up with instruments and vocals. I have always appreciated the space to show variation of different vocal registers and even more with an Indie Rock version. I also explored a lot of different techniques with this song.

I usually learn songs by listening to them on repeat constantly. I sing along with the lyrics in front of me once I have the melody in my head. I didn’t have much trouble learning this song fluently as I was already familiar with it. I already love harmonising with my favourite songs so working out the harmonies for ‘Valerie’ was a breeze (I found that the three part harmony was split in 3rds). My inspiration for my rendition of ‘Valerie’ was the BBC Live Lounge studio version. I made the decision to sing the backing vocals myself, differing it from my inspiration.

For ‘Hold Back the River’, I changed quite a lot. I changed the structure (gaps between chorus and next verse, and added an intro before the original intro consisting of the bridge chords. I used a raspy tone (similar to the likes of ‘PINK’. I also changed the melody in the last bridge/ outro.

For my Demo, I started out my recording a practice demo along with a backing track to practice my harmonies and melody. Later on in my project, I booked a slot at Small Pond Studios and recorded all of the instruments in together. I learned to do them together after last time when my timing was off due to recording at different times. I then mixed my vocals and instruments using preset EQ’s on garage band until I liked how it sounds. I thought that this would familiarise me with the different styles I could make using EQ. I also added reverb.

My performance mainly required lots of practice as a band, which we did. On my stage presence rehearsal I felt I had a breakthrough with my confidence. I was walking around the stage, singing with emotion, using my hands, and I even put my foot up on the monitor.

Learning and Improvements of Demo:

Although I am not confident in Logic Pro X, I feel that I have definitely improved my skills since last term in recording tracks, applying reverb, EQ presets and timing. Although I am not confident in production, I feel that I provided a clear decently mixed track. I practiced lots to perfect the vocal runs at the end of the song as well as the ‘professionally, slightly off timing’ of the vocal rhythm. I think that I portrayed these skills to the best of my ability in the recording. I am also very happy with the accuracy of the backing vocals and the technique that I used to form soft sounding backing vocals. Since last term I have improved in my time management as I chose my songs more early on leaving me more time to develop them.

Learning and Improvements of my Performance:

I was confident in my vocals and my band because they always sound generally tight. My voice has been on and off recently and I feel that it wasn’t my best performance vocally and I slightly blame the fact that I didn’t warm up efficiently. However, I am so proud of my performance. At this stage in my journey, it couldn’t have been any better. This term, I was repeatedly thrown into the deep end with performance expectations from my lecturers and I am so happy that they did because it gave me no choice but to grow.

Overall, I am very happy with my performance and my demo. There is definitely always room for improvement but I feel that I have grown as an artist with this project.