-       How to sing scales and use my voice more effectively

-       How to work in a band

-       The basics of Logic Pro

Before taking the course I had little knowledge of these things so it was great to learn some new skills and improve my musicality.

Regarding the project, although I enjoy the tech side of music, performing is where my passion truly is and for that reason I would like to be assessed on my live performance rather than a tech based project.

Lyrics – Genius.com, [2017] "Paramore - Hard Times Lyrics | Genius Lyrics"

Available at:

https://genius.com/Paramore-hard-times-lyrics

accessed 25.04.25

Lyric video - Sunset Sounds, [2024] "Paramore - Hard Times | Lyrics"

Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwah_U2C_EQ

accessed 25.04.25

As a model for stage presence for myself I will use this video of Paulo Nutini and Gerry Cinnamon from YouTube :

Paulo Nutini:

isleofwightfestival, [2015] "Paulo Nutini - Candy - Isle of Wight Festival 2015 - Live"

Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHauhYNSBog

accessed 25.04.25

Gerry Cinnamon :

GERRY CINNAMON, [2024] "Gerry Cinnamon - Canter [live at Hampden Park"

Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCtIuOHQDjo

accessed 25.04.25

• "Her" - The American Dawn

• "I'd Love To Change The World' - Ten Years After

• "Easy Way to Cry" - Sunburst (our original)

• "The Night We Met' - Lord Huron

• "Hard Times" - Paramore

• "Mama Said" - Cat Clyde

I will make a separate post talking about each song a bit more!

It is possible this will change but as of now it looks like we have the set list!

23.05.25 we have decided to drop "Her" from our set.

• The Mash House in Edinburgh is ranked #104 out of 243 nightlife spots in the city, with a 4.0 rating based on 43 reviews on TripAdvisor.

• Capacity 350 club show / 230 live show

• The Mash House is a former church that has been transformed into a multi-purpose venue.

I mention this because in the music industry it is somewhat frowned upon and at least uncommon to hear anybody singing in an accent that doesn't sound American or English.

This is something that I do not like as it takes away the uniqueness of ones voice and in my opinion can make a song more boring than it ought to be. Thats not to say that American or English people shouldn't use their accents, it just means that if everyone else tries to copy theirs then there is no variety and I'd argue that is a bad thing.

Here is an article on the topic of why most people don't sing with a Scottish accent:

https://lovetovisitscotland.com/why-most-scottish-people-dont-sing-with-a-scottish-accent/

26th March

• We spent the majority of the session practicing the new songs we have added to our set. [ The Night We Met, Mama Said, Hard Times]

• Managed to play through "The Night We Met", sounds promising.

• Struggled to play through "Hard Times" so most of our time was spent on trying to work it out.

• Didn't get time to look at "Mama Said" but overall a decent session.

2nd April

• Played through all the songs.

• I would say we now have a good understanding of all the songs and how they should sound.

• None of them are perfect yet but for how much time we have left to get things sounding good it's looking exciting.

• I would say that "Hard Times" is still needing the most work.

9th April

• This week was a holiday but most of us still came in.

• We spent this session tidying up the songs and being as efficient as possible with the numbers we had which meant just playing the songs over and over and correcting any mistakes.

• Me and our other vocalist also looked at what harmonies we will be doing in the songs which will add nice texture to them.

  
  

16th April

• This week was also a holiday but we pretty much had a full band so we were able to get a lot done.

• We really tried to crack down on "Hard Times" as it was needing the most work, I think we made good progress with it.

• We also added a little pause in the build of our original for dramatic effect.

• At this point all the songs are sounding good but "Her" and "Hard Times" still need work

23rd April

• We made the decision today to drop "Her" from our set as it just wasn't cutting it. We don't have enough time to get it to a performable standard so it is safer to drop it than perform it badly.

• Plus, this means that we can dedicate more time to all the other songs and make them sound as good as possible, which is what we spent this session doing.

• By the end of this session we had successfully played through all 5 songs to a good standard and I think we are more comfortable with the thought off performing in a few weeks.

30th April

• At this point we are just running the set list over and over again.

• We got some pointers from one of the lecturers on a couple of the songs so now we know what we need to focus on from now until the gig.

• I think we are ready to perform now. It's not perfect but it's close and with at least one more rehearsal before the gig things are looking good.

7th May

• Well today was the last proper rehearsal we will have until the gig.

• Not much really happened apart from just repeatedly running the set list.

• I think it's starting to set in that a week from now we have to play live and I could sense a bit of nerves in the room.

• To conclude these rehearsal reviews, I would say that we have sufficiently rehearsed for this gig and I am confident we will perform well. We definitely could've been more productive at points and started a bit stronger but overall, a job well done.

Lord Huron, [2015], "Lord Huron - The Night We Met [Official audio]"

Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtlgYxa6BMU

accessed 25.04.25

Cat Clyde, [2017] "Cat Clyde - Mama Said [Official Video]"

Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqXdU1IK2JI

accessed on 25.04.25

25.04.25

I don't have any recordings of the song yet

Ten Years After, [2017] "I'd Love to Change the World"

Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUGE8Y07-2k

Paramore, [2017] "Hard Times [OFFICIAL VIDEO]"

Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEB6ibtdPZc

• capturing and keeping the interest of the crowd

• having the correct levels of energy at the right times

• making musical sense

In order to capture the crowds interest, the opening song needs to be one of the best on the set in my opinion. This is because some people really will just turn round and go to the bar if they don't like what they hear straight away. Even if they don't physically leave, they will lose interest in your performance which is why I think you must start strong. After the audience become interested , they will be far less likely to walk away and far more likely to stick around to the end. Now, once you have their attention you have to be careful not to lose it. I think one can accomplish this by building in energy each song, creating an eager expectation for more from the audience. In short, start strong and smooth, slowly build the energy and then go out with a bang. Our own set list followed this line of thinking:

1. The Night We Met - Lord Huron

2. Mama Said - Cat Clyde

3. Easy Way to Cry - Sunburst

4. I'd Love to Change the World - Ten Years after

5. Hard Times - Paramore

Regarding the correct levels of energy, this is a fairly simple concept. I don't think it wise to start a set all guns blazing with a high energy song. But rather ease the audience into the performance song by song and then end the set with the highest energy song.

Finally, making musical sense is of huge importance when making a set list. If there is too much of a contrast between the genres of songs it will confuse the audience. They won't know whether to scream the words or gently smile and bop their head. And if the audience are confused, they can get uncomfortable and leave. So when making a set list, it is important to make sure the songs transition well into each other.

First is the research I done. Although I touched on many topics in my research, I found the most effective to be the importance of a good set list. Applying the logic that I stated to our set list really enhanced our performance and I did not feel for a moment that the audience wasn't interested and enjoying it.

Secondly, the resources we were all given to complete this project was great. The accessibility of rehearsal rooms meant that our band never went a week without a good few hours of rehearsing which made a good performance possible. On top of this we had lecturers available to give us pointers, instruments ready to use and effective spaces to do research E.G booths in the college.

In terms of the skills and knowledge I have developed doing this project, I would have to say that I am far more confident working in a band than I previously was. Bearing in mind that I am normally a solo musician, I was apprehensive to work with such a big group. But by the end of the project that emotion vanished and I had a great time in the final performance. Also, I learned about what it takes to lead a band effectively which is a great skill for anyone to have.

Looking back, I would say the proudest moment for me definitely has to be the final performance. All the band done so well and I feel my stage presence and energy, things that I was focusing on, were on point. The crowd received our performance very well and we were showered with compliments once we got off stage. A successful night for a successful project!