Going into the semester, an area of my musicianship that I really wanted to develop in my guitar tuition sessions and extracurricular ensembles was my ability to improvise effectively. Several years ago, this was the area of my guitar playing where I excelled the most, however, since coming to university, I feel that with becoming a more all-rounded musician, my improvisation skills have remained the same or possibly worsened. This could have been down to exposure to other areas of musicianship, such as music production, writing more harmony and riff-based material, or frequently playing in and listening to genres which don’t typically include high levels of improvisation.

Over the course of the semester, I have therefore been focusing heavily on relearning and effectively using scales/modes, which has largely been during my guitar tuition sessions and independent practice. Additionally, I have been looking for further inspiration to reignite my passion and ability to improvise, such as listening to more improvisatory genres (e.g., Jazz, Progressive Rock) and watching online concerts in which this is a consistent feature. Thus, Tom Misch’s set for the NPR Tiny Desk Concert series really stood out to me, especially because he is one of my favourite artists, and because I am performing one of his pieces for my performance 3A assessment (“Movie”), which is also performed in this concert.

The overall performance was hugely admirable, however a few aspects that I believe went especially well were the ease with which Misch manipulated motifs in all three songs to create long improvised solos, along with the powerful building outro in “It Runs Through Me”, and the overall connection that the band had with each other, and with the audience. This inspired me to take fragments from the guitar lines (particularly in “Movie”) and use them to build my own improvisation sections in my performance repertoire, similarly to what Misch did throughout this performance. Another noticeable part of this concert was how Misch regularly switched between picking using his fingers and a plectrum, especially in “I Wish”, in which the specific tones created by each type of picking really shone through. This inspired me to do the same in my performance of “Movie”, due to my desire to create diversity in different sections of the piece through my playing, which I have now done by playing a fingerstyle pattern in verses but switching to using a plectrum for a more powerful tonality in choruses and my improvised solo section. 

In my opinion, one suggestion for improvement would be for the drums to be utilised a little further e.g., including more ghost notes, varying beats a tad more, inclusion of more fills in transitions. Despite being aware that Tom Misch’s style of Indie-Soul is typically more based on guitar ideas/motifs with a simple rhythm section to accompany, I would still personally like to see the drums shine a bit more often, especially as each other instrument has at least one section comprising of a solo or more virtuosic playing. 

Particularly intriguing parts of “Movie” in this concert were the frequent chord modulations in the piano solo section and how the pianist improvised over these. I took inspiration from the variety of rhythms and motifs used, and have gone into my guitar tuition sessions with the intention of implementing these to produce an improvised solo of my own which remains to the song style. This has proved to be a huge challenge due to using a range of very particular scales and then making the transitions between chord changes smooth. However, my teacher was able to provide me with many motifs and ideas I could use to make my solo shine, which I have been consistently working on in the lead up to my performance. I would now say that my confidence when improvising in all my performance 3A assessment pieces has grown considerably, particularly in “Movie”, which has the most varied and lengthy solo section(s).

 

Lunchtime Recital – 16^th November 2022

On the 16^th November 2022, I attended a Department of Music and Media Lunchtime Recital Concert at the University of Surrey, where during the weeks leading up to this, I was very much looking forward to experiencing a concert of this type for the first time, partly due to the variety of instrumentalists performing – Seth Lyons (guitar), Ben Webster (saxophone), Tom Armstrong (piano), and Tom Risley (piano). I planned on utilising this opportunity to inspire and adapt my playing style and techniques for my performance 3A pieces, along with songs for my bands, particularly because one of the performers was also a guitarist. Furthermore, I viewed this as a useful indicator to the general formality of a lunchtime recital and how it would be structured, because I would be performing in one two weeks later for the first time, so this was a great opportunity to have any questions answered and to calm any prior apprehensiveness.

Two prominent features of Seth’s piece were the fact that it was all finger-picked, and the consistent inclusion of multiple different harmonics. One of my aims for the semester was to develop particularly my ability in finger/hybrid-picking and inclusion of harmonics in riffs/solos, due to two of my performance 3A assessment pieces heavily including these techniques. Seeing these being demonstrated very well by Seth provided me with more clarity and knowledge on further ways I could use these techniques in my own playing, which I was then able to take forward into my guitar tuition sessions to develop.

Another area of my performing that I have been wanting to develop further over the course of the semester has been my stage presence and confidence in performing. I started off the semester already feeling comfortable performing in front of an audience, due to experience playing gigs with multiple bands; however, I wanted to incorporate and gain further knowledge of more techniques I could use to pull off a convincing performance, especially in preparation for my final performance 3A module assessment. I was fortunate that in this lunchtime recital, a noticeable aspect of both Seth and Tom Armstrong’s performances which went well was that they had good stage presence even though they were sat down whilst playing, and that they also had good control over their instruments. From watching this concert, I have thus been able to make subtle tweaks to my live performances e.g., making more eye contact with the audience, along with moving more accordingly with the dynamics of the piece; which has not only made me feel more confident whilst playing live, but has also appeared to create more of an overall audience reaction.

An improvement to Seth and Tom Risley’s performances that I would suggest would be to not make it obvious when making a mistake, as I noticed them make certain facial expressions whenever they made an error. Looking back on prior performances with both my bands, this is something that I have also tended to do, so seeing this from another perspective provided me with reassurance that it wasn’t just me doing this, but also motivated me to pinpoint why I did this and work hard to erase this issue from my future performances.

 

The lead up to the concert was overall very smooth. When the original programme schedule was released, I roughly calculated the length of all the repertoire to ensure that the concert wasn’t overflowing and that it wasn’t going to overrun. Also, no tech spec was required beforehand due to the entire orchestra being string instruments, so I didn’t need to take any action on hiring out equipment for the concert.

 

Prior to the performance I put several measures in place so that the tech rehearsal and performance preparations could run fluently and that all performers/tonmeisters were content before the concert went ahead. A particularly intriguing example of this was setting stage lights, as this was the first time I’d used any type of stage light system/box. I discussed with the conductor what lighting they wanted and wrote down the correct settings needed so that I could confidently switch the lights accordingly during rehearsals and the performance. This is now knowledge that I can take forward for various future situations where I may find myself managing a concert or perhaps assisting with a lighting display.

 

During the concert myself and the other coordinator took it in turns to oversee the concert from the green room, ensuring conductors were able to swap when needed, and attending to the concert assistant to make sure they were content with the tasks we had delegated to them. Through doing this I learned that one must be proactive throughout managing a concert and that there is always another job that can be done, even if it appears that the concert is going exactly to plan, which is luckily how the performance itself turned out to proceed.

 

Once the concert had finished, I congratulated the performers and conductors on their excellent performance, and proceeded with delegating tasks within the team whilst taking initiative to complete tasks of my own. My aim was to make sure that the studio was left in pristine condition as per when we arrived. I clearly communicated with performers to make sure they had packed up all their belongings in the green room and to find out how they wanted their scores collected/distributed.

 

Overall, I had a very positive experience of co-coordinating the concert, as I was able to build new connections with fellow musicians in a professional environment, where I also felt I gave a significant contribution to producing a well-structured, successful concert. I was able to develop soft skills such as time management, team communication, and adaptivity; along with gaining knowledge on an area of music performance that I wasn’t largely familiar with.

 

Towards the beginning of the semester, following on from a performance at The Water Rats in London, the members of Meet the Fishermen and I collectively decided to set goals for the rest of the year, which consisted of ensuring regular rehearsals, boosting social media exposure, playing at least one show, and recording songs for release.

 

Over the course of October to December we rehearsed every week in various locations, such as the PATS building on the University of Surrey campus, and Pirate Studios in London. We were also presented with the challenge with our drummer being based in Leeds during university term time. Thus, I contributed to planning a schedule where the other three members rehearse each week in London/Guildford, and then the whole band once every month in Leeds. Going by this schedule enabled me to regularly bring forward creative input for new songs and put together plans for the Leeds rehearsals so that we could work as efficiently as possible as a band. 

 

We played a concert on 11^th November in Feltham, which was very different compared to anything we had done before, as we had double our usual set time, and thus we decided to include a few covers in our setlist. I then drafted a repertoire that would predominantly showcase our own creativity through original songs, but would also appeal to a wider audience by including covers that people would recognise. This worked perfectly during the show, as the audience participation and interaction was very prominent through the set, resulting in me feeling the most confident I ever have done in my live playing and stage presence, which is something I have been able to take forward to more recent concerts I have played at e.g., Drag Me Down shows, department LTR’s.

 

Since the end of September, I have been posting various pieces of content on the band’s social media pages (predominantly Instagram), such as in-rehearsal videos, band photos and links to concert tickets and our Spotify page. Through doing this I have learned subtle techniques which result in platforms’ algorithms working in our favour and reaching the correct audience e.g., carousel posts, polls, and post boosting. As a result of this, our following has grown by nearly 10%, and our songs on Spotify are being consistently streamed.

 

Additionally, I am currently recording my guitar parts for a selection of songs which we are intending to release as singles over the coming year. Once I have done this, I will collaboratively help record the other guitar/bass parts in sessions in the near future. These recording sessions will be hugely beneficial for myself and my bandmates, as we will give creative input on the songs as well as learning various recording methods from each other. Once the guitar and bass parts are finished, we intend to book a recording session for drums towards the end of January, with vocal recording, mixing and mastering to follow shortly after.

 

I joined my other band Drag Me Down at the beginning of September as lead guitarist. However, prior to this I recorded guitar parts for a few songs that will be released from early 2023 and I had been familiar with the band’s catalogue of songs on Spotify. During rehearsals for upcoming concerts, I challenged myself to add my own twist and style of playing to the already composed lead guitar parts I would be playing e.g., by including tapping techniques and sweep picking. Through doing this I was able to develop my ability in arranging guitar parts whilst also getting creative feedback from my bandmates.

 

Before becoming a part of Drag Me Down, I had never played in a punk band, so this brought a new way of performing live, because punk rock concerts are typically very high in energy. Although I already had confidence performing in front of people, I had to further adapt my stage presence and ability to really “put on a show” as well as playing intricate guitar parts. This proved to be a challenge at first, as I had to develop my ability in having control of an instrument whilst physically moving around a lot. However, after I had “settled in” after playing my first show with the band in October, I found that my overall performing ability had grown by the time our next show in November, and I’m now hugely looking forward to evolving with the band as a player and a performer as we play more live concerts.