Across the semester, I’ve tried to improve upon my presence and engagement whilst performing. In previous performances at Surrey University, I’ve been told to communicate more with the audience and be aware of my presentation as I come on and off stage. Working collaboratively with Jedd Owen-Ellis Clark, my vocal teacher, we aimed to inject more vitality into my repertoire and refined my approach to varying styles of performance that remained natural and authentic. This included both bold and energetic delivery to a delicately introverted and emotional approach dependent on the works. We discussed the importance of my selection of pieces, whether they melded well into a cohesive set and whether they displayed a certain level of difficulty which was inclusive to both demanding vocal and performance techniques appropriately reflecting the story of the songs and strengthening my appearance on stage; allowing me to effectively captivate an audience. 

 

Despite focusing solely on vocal technique throughout the semester, I found Sophie Gurney’s eloquent flute performance of Dave Heath’s 1978 piece ‘Out Of The Cool’ extremely inspiring and beneficial to my development. Although fully notated in classical format, this was Heath’s first work written for a fellow flautist Richard Blake, following the chords and rhythm of modern contemporary jazz. Watching at the Lunchtime Concert on Wednesday 12 October, I was completely entranced by Sophie’s soft approach to the slinky modal opening as the piece smoothly transitioned between bubbling rhythmic grooves and explosive moments of dynamic range. Sophie painted a stunning musical arch as she played, interweaving through dynamic light and dark and thoughtfully designating the appropriate moments to accent with climatic volume intensity as she reaches the peak of the flute’s range, filling the venue with sound and her delightful clean tone. It was a bold and unfamiliar style of piece that celebrated so much of Sophie’s expression and musicality, taking the audience through an exploration of angry and passionate inflections all whilst Sophie remained completely still centre stage. 

 

This performance was so enriching for me as I recognised many things within my own growth as a musician. I realised what effect your choice of repertoire can have as an audience member, breaking the barriers of classical music in this case and performing a classical jazz work that shares such a breadth of intonation. I now construct my sets with this in mind, selecting works not only for their pleasant value but also with intent to create an unpredictable performance that challenges myself and grabs an audience rather than avoiding risks and singing pieces that feel too ‘safe’. I now understand the worth of tone and expression, that the score itself is not enough to fully connect with an audience and it is much more beneficial to immerse yourself within the music to create the emotional shading across the piece. There is also a huge value in stillness. Whilst singing, performers have the advantage to use their facial expressions and movement to convey various feelings, yet Sophie was able to exude a multitude of sentiment with the restriction of holding her instrument. It proved the simplicity of a performer’s presence on stage and that most importantly, actions should remain natural for an authentic performance. Perhaps stillness is more suitable for emotive works rather than a forced portrayal of feelings through the use of movement. On the contrary, I question whether stillness forms a more rigid and formal attitude when transferred to my own jazz performances and that a relaxed approach where interactions with the accompanist is welcomed could benefit more whilst improvising. 

 

The USIME ensemble showcase with guest pianist Doctor Steve Tromans offered a remarkable insight into improvised performance and how an ensemble communicates with each other as well as with the audience. All students were asked to create indeterminate scores where a collective of performers would have to follow a set of instructions, reacting to picture diagrams, to the roll of a dice in a game of chance or even responding to actions made by audience members, all in which change the musical material or the trajectory of the piece. Effectively, the musicians are performing and composing simultaneously and are often left to ‘sense’ when the work has finished between them. 

 

The ensemble’s performance of Diren Darbaz’s ‘Tree of Emotion’ focused on a flow chart-like diagram that asks performers how they feel in the moment, whether they are happy, nervous or in control, emotions usually central to the experience of performing. As the musicians follow the chart dependent on their feelings, they landed on a short piece of musical notation which they were restricted to throughout the performance however it was up to them to choose when they started playing, what tempo to play in, what octave and how long they would play for before finishing. Diren’s score provides so much freedom for the performers and left the audience hanging on to every note as an unexpected soundscape of instruments evolve in harmony and dissonance, almost like an insight into a person’s brain as their thoughts and feelings flutter about through anxiety and relaxation. Immersing myself into the performance, I noticed how the musicians were truly expressing the embodiment of their emotions through music. Darbaz’s approach to improvisation demonstrated the benefits of embracing your feelings whilst performing and using nervousness to your advantage. Accepting your emotions and re-purposing them as the driving force of performance forms an honest and authentic portrayal on stage.

 

Similarly, Jedd guided me in lessons to experiment with my portrayal of emotions, emphasising my movements as a caricature and then reducing that to utter stillness so I could seek a natural balance of character and physicality that suited the mood of the music and remained genuine to the emotions portrayed. We introduced various vocal cries on highlighted notes and lyrics or added glottal pressure on vowel sounds to phonically mirror emotion into my voice. Ultimately, I feel I have massively improved with my presence on stage regarding both physicality and vocal technique. I have been able to establish my performance skills with nuanced expression in a way that feels believable and captivating to an audience. However, considering all the vocal techniques concurrently whilst performing can sometimes only simulate the sentiment you want to portray and it’s important to take moments to reconnect with the lyrics before stepping on stage.  

As a musician, I feel most comfortable in jazz, pop, or soul settings where improvisation is widely celebrated and where performers often work from condensed scores; lead sheets, tabs or rehearsing loosely by ear. Although this has advanced my aural musicianship, easily interacting with other jazz and pop performers, and flexibly improvising around impromptu harmony, I recognise that I have many weaknesses when facing classical repertoire and written scores. 

 

At the beginning of the semester, I successfully auditioned for Surrey University’s Chamber Choir but quickly withdrew after one rehearsal fearing that I would be intimidated by new material or would slow choir practise as I struggle to sight read unfamiliar scores. Surrey’s University Choir offered a more approachable environment where I could challenge myself in a classical ensemble of varying skill which granted more freedom for improvement. Mistakes were expected and I could apply myself with enthusiasm without concern of impeding the ensemble’s practise time. Weekly rehearsals have directly targeted my undeveloped sight singing abilities and helped me reconnect with classical performance, shaping myself as a more well-rounded musician. 

 

Within the first couple of sessions, I realised I would have to change my vocal technique in order to achieve a balanced tone and blend within the choir. Instead of using a more concentrated quality or ‘chest voice’ that is affiliated with jazz or soul genres, I consciously worked on lowering my larynx and supporting long breaths correctly from my diaphragm executing a pure and resonant colour suitable for classical music. Russell Keable, our choir director, was able to help us with this, taking us through a weekly warm up that consisted of various vocal exercises that focused on breathing technique and vocal range. Most breathing activities included increasing increments of breathing time and sustaining a stable breath output across long bars, breathing in for 4 bars and out for 8 and then gradually stretching this breath to 8 bars in and 16 bars out. I discovered that once my breathing was supported correctly from my diaphragm it naturally extended my vocal range when repeating scales, something I have now applied for both my ensemble and solo practice. 

 

Vowel enunciation also became an essential mechanism for a pleasant blend. It was important as an ensemble to establish the vowel sounds collectively, dropping our jaws slightly to create more space for the vowel and softening ‘ah’ sounds to avoid a harsh ‘a’ accent. Since everyone participating all came to rehearsals with different experience, it took a few weeks to achieve a more delicate blend of voices. Russell often asked performers to listen intently to the singers around us unifying our tone quality, sometimes practicing pieces in a circle so that sound travels towards each other as we notice all the inner harmony resonating in the middle. This helped us massively when rehearsing ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ by Morten Lauridsen, a sensitive story of the birth of Jesus to be performed at Holy Trinity Church for the University’s choir and orchestra Christmas concert. Sung acapella, voices are completely exposed and many parts divide into passing dissonant harmony. Practising the parts facing inwards or towards each other allowed us to solidify the clashing harmony parts with confidence but also prevented all singers from going flat or sharp without the support of any accompaniment. Conversely, taking this rehearsal technique away and performing outwardly as normal felt as if we lost a lot of resonance and that the richness of our tone was weakened. It was a rehearsal technique suitable for developing confidence, but I have learnt not to heavily rely on this when prepping for a performance. 

Looking back over the semester having strengthened my versatility, I question whether leaving the chamber choir was a beneficial decision and that stretching myself further could have resulted in a greater expansion of growth.

Link to PDF for easy reading.

Having never managed any event or concert before, I learnt a great deal whilst co-ordinating Surrey University’s Lunchtime Recital on Wednesday 2nd November. 

Working directly with Shiv Varma (the concert and events coordinator for Surrey’s music department), we quickly approached all students allocated a set for that recital. By doing this, we were able to accumulate all required details to start the construction of the programme, including any piece titles, composer credits as well as the names and instruments of all attendees performing on stage. Most participants were decisive and able to provide all information promptly whereas others needed more time to determine their set list and accompaniment. Although there was a level of pressure to have the entire programme confirmed in advance, it was important to allow time for each student to curate their set list and establish the accompaniment supporting them, ensuring their ability to have an individualistic performance that is applicable to them. After establishing a provisional programme that all artists had verified, we received a request from a student who no longer wished to participate since they had altered their module options and their attendance was no longer obligatory.  Although this unforeseen adjustment to the programme left the amount of entertainment a little sparser, we concluded that this alteration would not extremely disrupt the event and settled on the original listing excluding the student who was no longer enrolled on the module. 

Ahead of time, I immediately contacted the manager and assistant also allocated to support on that day, allowing for easy communication should anything unexpected disrupt the preparation of this performance. Unfortunately, the manager was unresponsive to my correspondence which meant that responsibilities between roles were slightly blurred and as a team, we had to use our initiative to cover any tasks assigned to the manager that was essential to our event coordination. This included the arrangement of the tech run. Taking all student’s specifications into consideration, I formulated the timings of our rehearsal by reversing the order of the programme. This meant that the last to practise was the first to perform with the intention that no ‘re-set’ or moving of equipment would be necessary minutes before the event. To coordinate this, I proceeded in notifying all contributors (Shiv, manager, assistant, sound engineers and performers) what time they were required and if they needed to follow any compulsory dress code. Despite being informed as early as possible, I received a request from a student the night before performance day who was unable to attend the specific slot allocated to them as their accompanist was only available for a limited time period. In response, I remained as flexible as possible, swapping the ordering of our technical run and working with Shiv collaboratively to re-arrange the programme so that the accompanist was able to perform first and quietly leave once finished. Luckily, both performers and sound engineers accepted these changes promptly allowing the morning tech run to ensue smoothly. 

On performance day, I spent the morning liaising between the sound engineers and artists so that any stage set up requests from performers were achieved. With the jazz trio, we decided to have the bass in the middle with drums and grand piano either side in order for all ensemble members to see each other clearly, communicate effectively and so that the drum’s resonance wouldn’t pour into the open top of the piano creating any unwanted reverberation. Similarly, we also took the positioning of the grand piano into great consideration, deliberating the best setting that allowed the programmed singers the opportunity to interact with the audience. It took a couple of attempts but eventually we came up with a successful arrangement. 

The rest of the morning consisted of each performer’s individual tech run. I oversaw each slot, checking that all rehearsals were contained to the time periods allocated. Simultaneously, I scrutinised the venue for any hazardous trips and made sure that Studio 1 was in a presentable manner. Once the performance had commenced, I remained responsible for the artists coming on and off stage ensuring they were punctual and that all equipment within the set up was in the correct place for their performance. 

Overall, I believe the concert was successful, running smoothly in a way that performers felt at ease. From the experience, I have learnt to be adaptable in the face of quick changes and that an abundance of preparation can help when encountering unanticipated issues.