Proficiency with instrument

This is incredibly important to be able to master your instrument as it means you can put on a more impressive performance which will leave your audience wanting to hear more. This is why I will provide evidence of my vocal ability as well as knowledge on the theory aspects.

Stage Presence

It is important to create a stage persona that can engage a whole audience as this is what makes people want to stay once they have heard what you can do. Without good presence your audience will most likely get bored and may even leave because they are there to be entertained in which ever way you plan to do that. My persona is very similar to myself but I act more relaxed to come off as confident.

Preparation

It is always important to come prepared with all of your stuff learned. This will make it a much quicker process to bring you in for a real gig. The faster you are able to be ready for a performance, the more people will want to hire you for your reliability. This could include preparing structure and/or lyrics sheets, I will provide examples of these in my live performance section.

Ability to accept mistakes

It is important to accept mistakes because you do not want to restart any songs when possible because you are paid to only play for a certain amount of time and with that you also do not want to eat into your time when trying to fix a mistake. I have examples of how I make mistakes while on stage but I am quickly forgiven by the crowd and once the performance was over, I was told that many people didn't notice these.

Music Theory Knowledge

This will provide you with the language you need to use to be able to communicate how to fix something or change it. In the music theory section I will explain which areas I am proficient in.

Knowledge of the how the music business works

Before you perform, it is necessary that you know what you are being paid for and why. For example if you perform your own song then you could be paid not only for your performance but also for the use of your song by signing up with Performing Right Society. I have written multiple essays on the music business, these include case studies, copyright and contracts. These can be found in the Music Business section.

References

Jim Ottewill (July 2021) ICMP

https://www.icmp.ac.uk/blog/essential-live-performance-tips-musicians#3

RoleCatcher (December 2024)

https://rolecatcher.com/en/skills/hard-skills/communication-collaboration-and-creativity/performing-and-entertaining/perform-live/

Elle Ayres (October 2024) PRS

https://www.prsformusic.com/m-magazine/business-and-money/report-live-performances-setlists-josh-franceschi-you-me-at-six-peaness-new-order

https://youtu.be/Th9MjmYyPqY

Skills / Presence

During the performance I had great opportunities to show off my strengths that I discussed in the section above. The first one, our original song, I would say was technical wise the best. We switched between time signature, and we all got to create challenging parts, such as the bridge, I was belting in a high range and the length of it really challenged my vocals.

Original

https://youtu.be/xqjkqFuaX_0

During this song, it was a great opportunity to use my stage presence and crowd control. The video does not provide the crowd's reaction so it may seem as though we lost the crowd during the bridge but in fact the crowd was incredibly hyped up and were waiting until I screamed so that they could start the mosh pit I instructed them on.

Falling Away From Me

https://youtu.be/O8BC8Y4txwQ

Forgiven mistakes:

There were moments in the performance in which I made mistakes. In this first video, you will see that my movements of the microphone caused the wire to fall out at 1:20. I kept singing and smiled about it which made the ones who noticed, forgive me and the rest didn't even notice that it happened.

Hit Me Like A Man

https://youtu.be/aRum7OxDyHc

During this next one, due to my movements on stage the microphone would feedback. I would laugh these off and immediately move which would subconsciously direct the crowd to do the same. There are also moments in which I would lose breath and could finish a note or I would hit the wrong note but I didn't let it show that it fazed me and again, I immediately moved on which the crowd did the same. Thanks to my reaction to the mistake, it didn't affect the memory of whole performance and the crowd continued to thoroughly enjoy themselves.

Metalingus

https://youtu.be/9HENGsARHOk

I have recordings in which I came out of an illness with a rough throat so it made it difficult to sing these pieces from my one to one lessons. However, I took care of my throat the whole morning of and gently warmed up for the whole day before recording these videos. I was unable to sing deeper notes quite as well but despite the issues, what this video presents is my focus during difficult times to use the correct techniques even though it was incredibly difficult to do so. On the most part, I sang these songs exactly as I wanted but when I did have any mistakes I would move on and keep focusing on the next thing to come.

Crazy

https://youtu.be/UtHiBOO8tas

Since You've Been Gone

https://youtu.be/YeHtM6REsl4

• My ability to work outside of my comfort zone

• I learn my material really quick

• I can perform whistle notes and can perform impressive techniques

• I have good crowd control

My weaknesses would include:

• I find timing difficult

• I can get to excited on stage, making me lose temporary control of my technique

• Uncertainty of how to move on stage

• I am nervous playing any other instruments

Once these have been established, we agreed to make sure that we all get a chance throughout the set to show off our strengths and to challenge our weaknesses. Because we discussed these, it made rehearsals easier as we could help each other with our weaknesses and we could all challenge each other to become better and more versatile musicians. My weaknesses were challenged well. In the first performance I was asked to play the conga which challenged both my timing and my uncertainty with other instruments. Then for the final performance, I was asked to play the bass, unfortunately, we had to cut the song because it was the newest song so it wasn't as tight as the rest of the set. But my band definitely challenged me. They also gave me ideas for how to move on stage and what I could say and after out auditorium performance they helped me find a way to relax on stage.

After this, we finally discussed what songs we should learn for the next week. We agreed that we would pick two songs every week until we had enough that was required for a set as well as some extra in case any songs didn't work.

Before rehearsals we all expected each other to come in having learned the song fully by the next week.

From then on our rehearsals would have the same schedule for a while. We would practice and prepare any needed notes before we come in, having fully learnt the songs. I would prepare by creating a structure sheet first to visualise the changes, then I would hand write the lyrics to memorise them, then write them out again on the computer again help memorise and to also have a legible copy in the rehearsals just in case. Then we would go into our rehearsal, starting with warm up songs we have already rehearsed to dust off any cobwebs (apart from on the first session we went straight into playing our first two songs). After that we would start playing the two new songs and the finally we would incorporate it into the rest of out set. We all had a chance to pick a song, although not all made it into the set unfortunately due to time restrictions.

Once all the songs have been played, rehearsed and ironed, we continued ironing further and also began to have fun while playing together during which we really began to look like a real band. We also decided we wanted to write a song so we began with a rough instrumental created by Cameron, then in the week of practice, we would all create our own parts to the piece. We kept changing small details very often but we finally ended with a great finished piece which allowed all of us to use everyone's strengths in a singular song.

Attached below are examples of the structure and lyric sheets I had created:

The content covered in the tests is detailed below.

Clefs: identifying notes in the treble and bass clefs; sharp, flat and natural signs

Major keys: identifying major key signatures and scales up to four sharps and flats 

Intervals: identifying major, minor, perfect, augmented and diminished intervals within an octave (with and without key signatures)

Rhythm: identifying note values and rests, including dotted notes and rests, for semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver and semiquaver 

Time signatures: identifying time signatures of 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 and 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8

Major and minor scales and chords: identifying and notating major, minor, pentatonic major, pentatonic minor and harmonic minor key signatures and scales up to four sharps and flats; identifying and notating triads and seventh chords from major scales up to four sharps and flats using chord symbols and Roman numerals 

Below is a video of the scales I learned:

https://youtu.be/m5zRqQl2JPw

Here I have uploaded my essay on Music Business Contracts. This is important to understand as a performer because you will often get into contracts with manager, Record labels, venues and so on. There are some expectations to be met by each party, so it is important to be knowledgeable on these expectations so that you don't get taken advantage of but also to be able to negotiate the terms.

Here I will provide a link to my song writing essay. The reason why I submit this under the music theory section is because throughout the essay I describe different musical techniques that are helpful in my performances. The artist I chose to write about was Sabrina Carpenter because she radiates confidence and fun on stage and that is also thanks to the music she wrote or picked. This is detrimental to a performance to pick songs that fit the band and that are not only focused showing off but more importantly to entertain the crowd as that is what is going to sell the most.

These include:

My first performance as a solo vocalist in a gala day for Gorebridge in which I performed 'To Believe' sung by Jackie Evancho.

I would then go to join the National Youth Choir of Scotland in which we performed numerous times.

I have performed in Voodoo Rooms twice as in two different bands in front of a crowd paying to see us as well as the other bands performing with us that night.

I would get the chance to perform in the Edinburgh College Auditorium in front of my classmates as well as others who had been invited from the college from different courses to watch us.

I had taken part in an open mic during a Christmas celebration my college had organised and also at Banshees in which my own band performed to a crowd who had never seen us before but still enjoyed watching.

Then my most recent performance was at the Mash House in which we played a 25 minute set for a large crowd filling out the whole room. This was my best performance in which I made the crowd participate in a successful mosh pit.

While I have experience in a stage setting I feel it is important to also acknowledge my experience in studio sessions.

My first time was with the National Youth Choir of Scotland in which we were part of recording a tape of children's songs.

After that I had experience in Edinburgh college in two different times to record our band covers.

Once the day of the performance comes then I gradually warm up my vocal throughout the whole day. I begin with humming and then I will practice easier songs. Then once it is about an hour before I perform, I will practice the difficult parts of the songs until the sounds I want happen.

In the attached word document you can see examples of this: