Responding to a Musical Stimulus by https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk Weekly responses to stimulus given to us in lesson with Micheal Wynne en-us 2016-10-04 11:50:23 UTC 2018-06-28 09:11:19 UTC hello@padlet.com Week 1 - Djembe Drum jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/128123960 During our first session the stimulus we received was a percussive instrument called the Djembe Drum. Without any context given we were told to contemplate what ideas came to our head when we saw this drum and for me and the group the drum connoted ideas of African tribal music. From that idea we thought about what sound we wanted to create and a theme that kept on occurring was the Lion King , so we developed this further and came up with a Lion King inspired song. I used the Djembe Drum in the performance to create an upbeat, tribal groove which when assisted with the guitar and bass created a warm, major tonality, which sounded similar to our main ideas of the Lion King.
Towards the end of the session, the singers struggled to think of their own lyrics and we started to struggle for time towards the end, so we decided to use lyrics from the Lion King itself to match up with the instrumental and we ended up with a finished piece.
In conclusion, I believe we responded to the stimulus relevantly well as our final piece was preformed confidently and the song itself was strong. However, if we were to improve it would be better if we could have came up with original lyrics and came up further ideas from the idea of the Lion King to make the itself song much more original, with more in-depth thought put into it.


 
]]> 2016-10-04 11:51:57 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/128123960 Week 2 - Story Board jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/128153370 This week in our Live Music Workshop we were asked to respond to a storyboard as a stimuli and to work in groups to come up with a song based upon the given stimuli. 
Straight away when we were discussing ideas and we all agreed that the song should be in a minor key, as the story board for us connoted ideas of fear and danger. We took this idea and Will came up with a dark, minor riff which he had previously worked on along with some lyrics. I also previously recorded some car noises onto my sample pad which I incorporated into the introduction of the song. This set the mood of the song and worked well in the final performance. 
Furthermore, we developed our musical ideas further and decided to make the introduction a crescendo to connote ideas of a chase and also to express the fear that is building during the chase.
In conclusion, the final performance went relatively well despite a few timing issues due to a few mistakes on my half but all in all the final performance and song turned out successful. However, if the song was to improve it would be good to have more lyrics especially in the chorus and perhaps even another verse just to add more of an in depth structure to the song but despite this the song turned out well and i believe we responded to the stimuli relatively well. The audience fed back to us that to improve we could have done with further lyrics with the song and I think the song would have been better if it had more of a longer song-like structure so for next time I will improve on the feedback.]]> 2016-10-04 13:22:42 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/128153370 Week 3 - Syrian Refugee Article  jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/128212338 Throughout this session our task was to respond to an article which demonstrated the devastation and horror of the Syrian refugee crisis which is still a current affair. In my group, we discussed what feelings that article gave us and what musical ideas we had regarding the stimuli and we decided to write a song as a ballad but with a minor, dark tonality to it. Joe presented some lyrics and chords he previously worked on and seemed to be the strongest in the group so we decided to develop this to a further degree.
As we progressed with the song we developed a proper structure and ended up with a finished song. 
In conclusion the final performance  was confident and had no technical errors within the song. The sound levels between the instrumentation and the vocals worked really well (especially the harmonies and call and response) and everybody preformed with a sense of oomph which i believe made the performance a strong one.  However, the biggest contribution to this song was the lyrics, which were well thought out and incorporated within the music superbly. The audience fed back to us that the keys, vocals and guitar worked especially well and the sound was full which was good to hear.]]> 2016-10-04 15:23:28 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/128212338 Week 4 - Moving Image  jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/128760724 This week in our Live Music Workshop we were asked to respond to a moving image stimuli, which depicted a story of a young girl in a happy fantasy world with rainbows and unicorns. 
When we gathered all of our ideas together our instant thoughts we ideas of happiness and almost dream like, so we immediately decided to write the song with a major tonality and to make it sound positive. We developed these ideas further and after contemplating the ideas that the video gave us, we decided to make the song almost like an acid trip after the rainbows and unicorns shown in the video give us psychedelic connotations. 
From this I wrote a chord structure on the keyboard whilst meg came up with some lyrics. After this I thought the structure to Cate who learnt this and played keys during the song, as well as guitar. Nathan's riff on guitar suited the song really well and really made the piece sound psychedelic, adding a nice element. 
In conclusion, the final performance went well and despite a few technical errors the song was delivered well and was strong. The electronics worked really well along with the instrumentation as a whole and the lyrics complimented the song greatly. However, we learnt from the audience feedback that to improve next time the levels could have been better as the guitar was too loud, creating difficulty to hear the vocals but aside from that the performance on a whole went well. 

]]> 2016-10-06 11:34:07 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/128760724 Week 5 - Feather Stimuli jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/132177646 During this weeks Live Music Workshop we were instructed to bring in our own stimuli to work on, and we choose to work on a song based around a feather. We choose the idea of a feather because if you look at it further and in greater depth, its known that if you see a feather falling from the sky its known to be a symbol of an angel falling from heaven.
We incorporated these ideas of a feather into a song by having a calm, smooth gradual build up at the start and end to represent a feather fluctuating up and down in the sky. The piece was composed in a major key in order to convey feelings of happiness but also hope.
The final performance went really well and the song was preformed both tightly and confidently with few technical errors.  However, in order to improve the sound levels should be adjusted better for next time as the lead guitar was too loud for some members of the audience which we learnt through the feedback after. There were also some timing issues within in the piece but apart from that it sounded good and fitted the stimulus perfectly. To improve next time we could do with a proper bass as , even though Andy played bass notes on the guitar it isn't the same as a proper bass and it would have added in an extra layer to the sound.


]]> 2016-10-20 18:06:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/132177646 Week 6 - Breakup Stimuli jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/136136350 This week our stimulus was focused on a breakup in a relationship, magnifying on the bittersweet feeling after a breakup when you've just lost a partner. For this song Caitlin had already written some lyrics so I sat with her on the keyboard and worked out a melody for her to sing along with a chord structure for the piece. We set out to write a song which connotes feelings of bitter-sweetness and the major, uplifting music juxtaposes the sad, melancholic lyrics which works really well and fits the stimuli. 
.The final performance went well and everyone played their instruments confidently. However, the audience gave us feedback that the levels could have done with being better as the ukulele was hard to hear, along with the bass guitar. Furthermore in the final performance there was a error after the first chorus with the strumming of the guitar but was quickly resolved and the rest of the piece ran smoothly. Despite this the performance went well and I believe the song matched the given stimuli well.


]]> 2016-11-08 16:03:54 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/136136350 Week 7 - Karma Stimuli jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/146802727 In today's Live Music Session we focused on the subject of karma which is the result of either good or bad luck based on a persons actions. For the music we wanted to aim for an upbeat feel to juxtapose with more angry lyrics to create a sarcastic tone to the piece. Andy came up with a guitar riff to suit the style of the stimulus and Nathan followed with a bass line then we all talked about the arrangements of the song, and decided to start it heavy and crash in it with large dynamics to then go into a softer section, which helped with the accompaniment of the keys. 
Meg wrote lyrics to the song but had to leave so during the final performance we just had to play without lyrics which was a shame as it didn't make the performance sound as strong.In addition, the lead guitar kept ringing due to feedback which didn't sound good in performance but an audience member complimented the feedback so perhaps the audience viewed it more favorably. Despite this, everyone was in time and I thought the performance was tight, with a good interaction between all band members. The feedback from the rest of the group was also positive and they caught onto the idea of the music having a sarcastic tone which was also good as it was the message we were trying to display. To improve next time we should have vocals in the song and stop feedback from the guitar but aside from that I thought the preformance went well, with tight instrumentation. ]]> 2017-01-12 15:07:38 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/146802727 Week 8 - Party jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/146803919 This week in our Live Music Workshop our stimulus was meeting a girl at a party that you really like. We wanted to set this party in around the 60's and 70's so we took influence within the music from bands such as The Who, The Jam and The Beat who were popular among the youth at the time. Originally Louie had a riff which he had previously worked on but when we tried to develop it further we couldn't get it to sound right with the sound which we were trying to achieve, so we used a chord structure that Andy and Nathan came up with which suited the sound we were aiming for much better. Whilst the music was being written Louie wrote lyrics to accompany the song and we ran through the song a few times. However, because we spent too long writing the music we didn't have much time to rehearse the final song which showed in the final performance as the lyrics weren't learnt properly and the instrumentation wasn't quite tight enough. The final performance didn't go too well as the bass guitar cut out towards the end resulting in the song being cut short and the ending didn't run smoothly because of this. However, we did receive some positive feedback as the audience liked the drive of the song, the break before Louie's guitar solo and the drums. The audience also gave us the feedback that the vocals could have been louder and it could have been delivered better if the vocals were learnt or written down so they could be sung properly. In conclusion, I would say the performance didn't go to well due to the technical errors but the song was well written and we acheived what we set out to do musically which was to have a 60's/70's sound. To improve next time we should manage our time more efficiently in order to have a longer duration of quality practice time which would have resulted in a more confident performance. Also we could do with writing down the lyrics so if they aren't learnt they can still be sung properly and we should also bring spare leads in the case of one being faulty. ]]> 2017-01-12 15:10:50 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/146803919 Technical Requirements jamesdcahill https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/268840793 What equipment do you need on stage?
How many plugs, etc.?
What lighting do you want on stage?

Justify the equipment you need and the lighting that you want to have on stage and say how it links with your music.]]> 2018-06-28 09:11:19 UTC https://padlet.com/jamesdcahill/wdd7231ot8dk/wish/268840793