Sunburst - Rudy McWilliams by Rudy McWilliams ec1719806

lauriecrump — 2025-02-17 12:08:43 UTC

ec1719806 — 2025-03-24 11:42:23 UTC

Week 1 - 24/03/25

ec1719806 — 2025-03-31 10:43:19 UTC

For the first week, I researched tutorials of how to play the three new songs me and my band added to the set list. One of them being hard times which initially had trouble with learning because of the rhythm of the song, before band rehearsals I learned the chords and when we practised I found it easier to play the song with my band.

Week 1 - 26/03/25

ec1719806 — 2025-03-31 10:59:09 UTC

I found that playing hard times with my band helped me a lot with the overall process of learning the song, we have been meeting once or twice a week to ensure we are prepared for our performance. I was also learning the song in my own time which I will attach a video of.

Week 1 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-03-31 11:13:09 UTC

This week I feel I have achieved a lot with and without my band. I have conducted my own personal research by finding out the correct chords for all the new songs we have picked, the whole week went quite smoothly and I feel confident that my band are progressing well. I am very proud of what we are all achieving so far, I also like how we have fully agreed on our setlist, This is the setlist in order.

The night we met
Mama said
Her
Easy way to cry
I'd love to change the world
Hard Times

I will continue to work on my project.

Week 2 - 31/03/25

ec1719806 — 2025-04-11 16:26:16 UTC

In the second week I continued my research into the different songs I was performing, this week I focused more on the night we met by lord Huron. In the performance I will be fingerpicking over the other guitars

Week 2 - 02/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-04-11 16:58:51 UTC

At first I felt playing the night we met with the band slightly difficult, only when certain band members weren’t present so I had to play the lead rhythm and I was slightly too fast and couldn’t keep tempo. After a few run throughs of the song I quickly fixed this problem.

Week 2 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-04-11 17:05:53 UTC

This week we didn't have a full band, so we had to improvise by playing other peoples different parts. In the night we met I played the main rhythm and lead as Jamie wasn't in. Emily also wasn't in so we had to improvise a drum beat to keep rhythm with the song. I feel going forward as a band we need to be more organised and communicate more to organise more rehearsals throughout the spring break.

Week 3 - 07/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-04-28 10:21:53 UTC

This week was the start of our spring break holidays so I had lots of time for individual practise, I used my spare time I had on the Monday to continue practising my parts and making my individual parts even more solid. Everything is going great so far.

Week 3 - 09/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-04-28 10:57:47 UTC

Though we were off for spring break, we organised a rehearsal to practise our songs again and we made some great progress within the band, the songs are really coming together at this point.

Week 3 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-04-28 10:58:02 UTC

This week we could have organised more rehearsals but I made due with what we had.

Week 4 - 14/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 15:31:10 UTC

On this day I worked more on my individual study for my weekly Monday class as well as practising my guitar parts in the study room, when I got home I practised even more.

Mama said is a song by cat Clyde, it has quite a similar chord progression to where is my mind by the pixies.

Week 4 - 16/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:01:35 UTC

We got another practise session down on the Wednesday practical class, we decided to try and incorporate more mics so everyone could sing the chorus on our last song of the set hard times. We thought this would be good as it soul encourage the audience to sing along.

Week 4 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:02:03 UTC

This week was great as we decided to experiment more and get the band more involved vocally, creating a general better atmosphere all round within the band. Everything is starting to come together very well and everyone is excited to perform our songs.

Week 5 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:02:25 UTC

Despite being off for Easter break we made the effort to come in and practise our set list, we made some big decisions like removing a song from the set list and re-running the set without it to know if we had made the right decision and we felt we definitely have. The new set list is as follows.

The Night We Met
Mama Said
Easy Way To Cry
I’d Love To Change The World
Hard Times

Week 5 - 21/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:06:10 UTC

We were off on our Easter break so there was no class today, I took the time to practise my individual parts and the communicate with my band in our group chat to set up another band rehearsal, we came to the agreement that we would book a practise room on Wednesday evening though we were off on our break. I also done some more research into each song we were playing.

Hard times is a song by Paramore, it is a catchy upbeat song that an audience can join in with.

Week 5 - 23/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:06:42 UTC

Though we were off on Easter break, we decided to come in for our normal Wednesday practise. There wasn’t many of us in so we made do with what we had and started doing full run through of our songs. We also decided to remove a song from our set list as we found it quite boring to play and thought our set list would be better without it, the song was “Her” by The American Dawn.

Week 6 - 28/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:20:26 UTC

This was the second week of our Easter break so there wasn’t any rehearsals planned, we discussed our set list over our group chat and I done some individual practise. I also researched another one of my songs.

The night we met is a song by lord huron, it gained recognition from the tv series 13 reasons why.

Week 6- 31/04/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:20:58 UTC

We organised a practise session to make sure everything is sounding great before our gig, we felt we had to practise longer because of the change to the set list. We made some great progress with the new changes and are all happy with how it’s turning out.

Week 6 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:21:28 UTC

This week went well considering the gig date is getting closer and how we have made big changes to the set list, the performances are getting better and better each rehearsal and the day of the gig will be even better.

Week 7 - 05/05/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-06 16:30:57 UTC

We had no classes today because of the bank holiday so I done some research into another song that we were performing.

Id love to change the world is a song by ten years after, its quite an old song but its a good song to play on acoustic and play to a crowd.

Week 7 - 07/05/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-08 16:59:05 UTC

This day my band done our music box session and performed our original song easy way to cry, unfortunately I was unable to attend. I will attach the video.

Week 7 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-05-08 20:21:20 UTC

I couldn’t make it to the music box session this week but my band done very well, performing and recording our original song will give us the opportunity to showcase what we can offer as a band, it will make people excited to come to the big and watch us perform our songs.

Week 8 - 12/05/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-08 20:47:01 UTC

The week of the gig! I spent my Monday working more on my padlet and getting some extra practise in before the gig on Wednesday so I know I am prepared for what is to come. I also done some more research into the venue (the mash house) as I haven't been there before and had no idea what to expect, this gave me a better idea of the kind of place we would be performing in and take some of the pressure off.

The mash house is a unique venue in Cowgate, An inspiring space with walls of rustic brick, industrial scaffold fixtures, natural wood and contemporary lighting, The Mash House exudes a cool and unique atmosphere. With lots of different bands playing to a whole range of audiences.

Week 9 - 19/05/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-08 20:47:22 UTC

This was the last week of the course, I spent time finishing my Padlet and reflecting on the performance and thinking abut what I could have done better, I am just making the most of the day in college as it is my last Monday of the course.

Week 8 - 14/05/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-08 20:47:50 UTC

The day of the gig. We got a practise room really early to run our setlist a few times before our performance just so we were that bit more confident, after we had a chat with Ni and then headed into town on the tram. we got to the mash house in time for our soundcheck and everything ran smoothly. Our performance ran very smoothly overall, the whole venue was great and a good experience.

Week 9 - 21/05/25

ec1719806 — 2025-05-08 20:48:13 UTC

Today was a week after the gig, there wasn’t any band work to do so nothing very practical happened although Ni gave us time to go on the computers and work on our padlets, which is what I done today. Next Wednesday we will review the footage of the gigs and Ni will talk us through what we done good and could’ve done better.

Week 8 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-05-08 20:48:29 UTC

I think the build up to the gig was quite intimidating and we had our issues within the band but when it came to the day of the performance, everything went a lot better than expected and was in my opinion our best performance of the setlist. We all worked very well together dynamically and had a lot of fun together on stage. There weren't any major issues about the performance that stood out to me other than a few mistakes that you couldn't really notice but overall the gig went well and I'm happy with how we performed.

Week 9 - Evaluation

ec1719806 — 2025-05-08 20:48:39 UTC

Since This is the end of the course it has given me a lot of time to think and reflect on the course as a whole and how I have handled it, I am very glad that I chose to do this course, it has made me a better songwriter and gave me more confidence. I would never have thought id be able to get up on a stage and perform a full set list in front of an audience but I did it and I'm very glad that I did, I do hope to do more gigs in the future and write and record some of my own stuff that I have been working on and maybe get it out there. In conclusion I think the gig went extremely well and the whole night was great with lots of other great bands playing. If I done this project again or one similar to it, I would definitely spend more time on it and not leave it till the last minute so I have the best chance of getting a decent grade.