I had felt that the overall performance had gone extremely well and felt that everyone had played their sections perfectly. I had left the stage feeling extremely happy with how all the tracks were performed and felt that I had played exceptionally well with only a few small mistakes which I felt were not very noticeable. I also felt my solo had gone well with only one or two issues. I would say that the small mistakes were due to being very nervous on the day of the performance as I wanted to ensure my playing was up to par. 

 

One of my favourite aspects of this performance was the smooth transitions from one track to the next. It is not an easy thing for one to be able to transition from one record to the next without making it obvious to the audience. However, they had executed it so well I was not able to tell when first piece was finished and when the second one had started. It definitely made me want to see if our band could replicate it for our own performances. I found the guitar solo in Purple Rain to be played perfectly. Not only did the guitarist play all the correct notes and melodies with no issues, but the feel and movement of it was perfect. One could tell when he started to play that he was completely in the zone and was able to play it almost effortlessly. I found the harmony between the electric guitar and bass to be excellent in terms of how the performers played as well as there being no harmonic clashes. The timbre of the bass was smooth and rich and gave the overall performance a nice and thick texture. The last thing I had written in my notes about the performance was the dynamics on the piano. I felt the piano was able to accompany the other elements in the band very well. They were able to create space when needed extremely well when needed as well as able to take up space during the build ups to the choruses.

 

The next performance I had watch was Shannon Do and Margaret Roberts performance of Sonata In D Minor for Cello and Piano. I found the harmonisation of the piano and cello work well together. Both performers well able to accompany each other well as well create space for each other. Their movement throughout the piece was very comforting and was clear that they actually enjoyed the pieces that they were playing. They also were very articulate with the tempo markings which was a fundamental part of the overall sound and feel of the piece so I found that very good.

 

At the start of this academic year I had told myself that I wanted to improve my all round performance skills as well as persona as a performer. This led to me putting myself in unformattable situations to better my skills as well as help with my confidence as a musician. Over the course of this academic year I have done a variety electronic and instrument based performances. Before starting on any these performances I had promise myself to ensure that I stick to my goals as well as being on top of all my practises, both in groups and individual work. This is due to myself sometimes not practicing as much as I need to and skipping steps. However, I wanted to change that as I know I am capable of sticking to my program. I also wanted to ensure that all the performances went as well as smoothly as possible and that I was able to showcase my ability to perform to the highest degree.

 

The first performance I had taken part in this year was a digital performance in one of my modules which had consisted us doing live recording and looping on Ableton. I was extremely excited for this module as live looping is something I have wanted learn and do for a long time. When it came down to start on the project and create a live set I had felt very anxious as this was something I had never done before and I wanted to create a exciting and technical performance. I had also wanted to create a performance that clearly showcases the skills we have studied in class. Before I had started I had watched a few examples of live sets online and studied what skills the performers used and tried to follow some of their examples and incorporate my own style and sound to them. After a few days of practicing and experimenting with alternate sounds, I was quickly able to pick it up and had a clear idea of how I was going layout the set and what sounds and instruments I was going to use. Once I had created all the tracks and had a clear idea of how I was going execute, I had started to practise running from start to end of the set. My practise consisted of me going through the set every day and adding and changing certain aspects of the set which I felt that needed to be changed or improved. After a week of practicing I had felt a lot more confident with myself and using Ableton and could already see a change in my confidence. When it came down to the day of performing Infront of my class I had felt very nervous as well as excited. However, during the performance there was an issue with my software which had had an overall effect on the performance. Luckily, the technical issue had nothing to do with my preparation and was just a fault in the system. My teacher was very understanding that the issue was out of my control and allowed me to resubmit a video of my running through my set in my own time which was greatly appreciated. When I had re submitted the recording everything had gone to plan and my teacher was very impressed with the overall set and sound I had produced which I found very comforting due to it being the first time I had created a live set.

 

Another example of a performance I had taken part in his year was last semester where a fellow college of mine had an assessed performance and needed external players to accompany him. I had offered to play drums for him. At first I was little nervous to play drums for him due to not practicing or playing drums for at least a year and had lost a lot of my confidence. In order to prepare for the rehearsals with the rest of the band, I had decided that it would be beneficial to run through some basic exercises and rudiments to remind myself and ensure that my playing was up to par. I would run through the different exercises with a metronome to make sure that my rhythm and timing was perfect, I would then slowly begin to raise the tempo once I had felt confident with the previous speed. This had definitely had a significant impact on my playing and helped with my confidence. When it finally came down to start practicing with the band I felt that I was ready and felt more confident which had allowed me to play better than I had expected. When it came to learning all three pieces it felt a lot more fluent than I had expected which I was very satisfied with. I had attended all the rehearsals to ensure that If there were any changes, or sections which had been altered, I was aware of them and could adapt my playing to them. Playing with a band had also had a large impact on my playing as it meant that I had to focus a lot more on my playing in order to keep everyone in time, as well as playing with purpose is a lot more different than practicing by myself as it requires more attention to all the players and how they are playing and ensuring that what I play is perfectly in time and all the solos and fills are as clean as possible. When it finally came down to the actual performance, I went on stage feeling like I had prepared myself well and was focused on giving the performance my best. During the performance I was focused on my playing as well as ensuring what I was playing was in time and making sure my dynamics matched all the different sections of the tracks. In the end it was all a success and I had felt extremely happy with my performance and felt like I had reconnected with the drums again which had made me eager to get back into practicing a few times every week.